So you have a friend who already has a domain name and paid hosting set up for themselves and is willing to give you some space on their hosting and a subdomain on their domain name for you to try out blogging without having to use ad-supported free WordPress.com or Google’s Blogger. Well, there are a few things you’ll need to tell them.
Your Blog’s Subdomain
You’ll need to know what you want your blog’s address to be. Let’s say you’ve decided to name your blog “The Book Report”. This will most likely be your subdomain, so your blog’s address would look something like this:
https://thebookreport.charlisbookbox.com or http://thebookreport.charlisbookbox.com – obviously “charlisbookbox.com” would be replaced with your friend’s domain, but you get the idea. So be ready to tell your friend what your subdomain should be.
Your Blog’s Title & Tagline
You’ll need to tell your friend your blog’s title and your blog’s tagline, if you have a tagline picked out. Part of setting up a self-hosted WordPress blog is adding the title and tagline. Now don’t worry, if you decide later you don’t like your title or tagline, they can be changed!
Your Preferred Username and Password
The WordPress admin panel will require a username and password. Give your host/hostess your username and password that you’d like to use. If you aren’t comfortable giving them the password you’ll be using, give them a different password, then change it in the users area of the admin panel after you’ve logged into the blog for the first time. Setting the username and password is also part of the installation process for WordPress.
Your Administration Email
WordPress requires an email address to be on file for the purpose of password resets and other emails that WordPress may need to send you. You’ll need to know what email address you want to have on file. You can change the email address later if you want or need to, but you’ll need to have something to give your host/hostess.
Now that we’ve covered the bases here, let’s take a look at what your host/hostess will be doing to set your blog up, shall we?
So there you have it – this is the process for setting up a blog using a friend’s hosting account and a subdomain off their domain. Next week I’ll show you how it works to set up your blog using a domain you purchased with a hosting account you’re paying for. Until next time…