Getting Started
There’s a few things you’ll need to get started, here’s how it works:
1. Web Hosting
Every website needs a web host before it can be viewed online. Think of this as retail space in a shopping center or mall. You rent the space and fill it with your items, in this case, a website full of content. There are several options that JG Media can suggest, however if you have your own web host, that’s fine too. You can skip this step, but you’ll need to provide some information to connect to your existing host and upload your WordPress website. Because WordPress is a content management system, it has two parts. Files and a database. Those will be covered in upcoming steps.
If you don’t already have a host, click here to sign up for our preferred hosting partner.
If you choose to host with HostGator, you can ignore the FTP and Database information as we’ll use their One Click system to install WordPress.
2. Domain name
This is the sign above your retail space, or rather what your visitors are going to type into their browsers to access your website. (myquickstarter.com, for example.) This can usually be purchased at the same time and place you sign up for web hosting. In fact, if you use our link in the “Web Hosting” section above, you’ll receive the first year of your domain registration for free!
3. FTP & Database Information
FTP allows for a direct connection to your hosting space with the web host and it’s the easiest way to upload WordPress files necessary for your site to run. Information on creating an FTP account at our hosting partner can be found at https://www.hostgator.com/help/article/how-to-create-an-ftp-account-in-cpanel
Your database username and password will be the last necessary bit of information required to install and set up WordPress. It tells WordPress what server to connect to and authorizes it to use a database to store information and content. Guidance on setting up a database can be found here.
* You may be able to have your hosting provider configure all of the above for you and most web hosting companies now have a very quick, automated method for installing WordPress. That way, you’ll just need to give us a WordPress username and password. We can then access your dashboard and very quickly install your entire website. HostGator customers can use One Click: https://www.hostgator.com/help/article/how-to-install-wordpress-manually#3
If you already have a WordPress installation you’d like to use for Quickstarter, that’s great! That’s the quickest and easiest method, but understand if that WordPress website already has content, it will be overwritten with your Quickstarter.
We make a backup prior to your new website installation just in case though. This method is as if you installed WordPress through your web host above. Just provide a username and password to log into WordPress and JG Media can handle the rest.