Are you wondering How to start a Self-Hosted WordPress Blog in India? – well, you’ve landed in the right place.
Well, to be fair, it doesn’t really matter if you’re from India or anywhere else in the world, the process to start a blog is exactly the same.
So, even if you’re not from India, you can still use this guide to get started with your blogging journey.
Okay, before starting the Guide, you must first buy a Domain name and Hosting Plan.
If you’re not familiar with the words WordPress, Domain and Hosting then here’s a brief:
Domain name – is the address where you send people to read your blog, it is also called a URL; for example, facebook.com.
Hosting – is where you store your website’s files and data.
WordPress – is the application that runs your blog.
Here is an analogy for you to make it even simpler:
If someone asks you to open a specific word file from a flash drive, which is not your – first, you will need the file name, that is your domain name – second, you will need the flash drive (storage drive), that is your hosting – and lastly you will need an application like MS office to open the file, that is WordPress.
I hope you’ve understood. if not, let me know in the comment section at the bottom of this blog post.
How to Start A Self-Hosted WordPress Blog in India?
Okay, now that you have bought your web-hosting and domain name, I don’t see any point in delaying your blogging venture.
Let’s not wait anymore and get your blog up and running.
The 6 steps to Start A Self-Hosted WordPress Blog:
- Buy a domain name and hosting
- Install WordPress
- Install a theme
- Install the required Plugins
- Connect your new blog to Google Search Console
- Publish your first blog post and start blogging
#Step1 – Buy a domain name and hosting
We have already talked about what is a domain and hosting. So, let’s talk about why and where to get them?
FYI, it is possible to use your laptop or desktop to host a website. Just google it you’ll find the answers, but it’s not worth the time.
Even if you manage to set it up there are still going to be many complications, here are the most basic ones:
- – you’ll have to keep your laptop or desktop switched on all the time, 24/7 and 365 days
- – your laptop or desktop won’t be able to handle the heavy load.
- – it will constantly need technical assistance, anything goes wrong your site will go down.
It is a stupid idea to configure a hosting server of our own at home because it will cost you a lot of money and time.
So, the wise thing to do here is buying the hosting space you required, for a monthly fee from a company that will take care of everything for you.
Besides, buying a hosting plan will take away all the unnecessary hassles from you and let you fully focus on your main goal, to grow your blog.
If you’re looking for recommendations then here are the best service providers I know:
To buy Domain Name – Namecheap – you can save money in the long run.
To buy Hosting Plan – A2Hosting (I am currently using this one), Bluehost
So, go ahead first make the purchases then come back here. If you’re on a tight budget and you’re from India then Hostgator is another good option.
If you’re from India and looking for a hosting provider that accepts Indian debit cards and allows you to pay in INR, then, A2Hosting and Hostgator are the options.
#Step3 – Install WordPress
Now, I would suggest, don’t rush into anything and do whatever you’ve been told, not knowing what you did exactly.
Don’t just follow the steps I share, whatever you’re doing, understand it.
Take your time, take hours. If needed, take the whole day, even the whole week, but don’t just follow the instructions without having any clue about what you’re doing.
Think of it this way, you’re about to get into a new relationship. So, just like any relationship, you need to know it inside and out. That will come in handy in the long run.
I don’t want you to get too technical with it and screw your head up. I just meant that, be aware of the steps and consciously perform the steps. If you’re typing a URL, then just know why you did that, and what will be the effects.
You’ll thank me, if in the future you come across any minor issues or bugs with the blog, you will have a broader scope to troubleshoot the problem yourself, instead of depending on someone else.
Enough said, let’s dive right in…
Note: I am using A2Hosting for the demonstration. But the process is almost the same for any hosting plan from any hosting provider. And most of the time the dashboard also looks similar. So, just follow the steps, you’ll be ok. Still, if you find difficulties, send me an email I will help you out.
Okay great! Let’s get into details.
If you’ve bought your domain and hosting from different companies then first you’ll have to point your domain name to your hosting server.
But, in case you’ve bought the domain and hosting from the same company or got your domain for free with your hosting plan then you can skip this step and move forward.
Connect your domain to your hosting server
To connect your domain with your hosting server, you need to update your domain’s default nameservers with the nameservers provided by your hosting provider.
In my case, I have bought my domain from Godaddy and I’ll be hosting my blog in A2Hosting.
So, I will be updating my domain’s nameservers in Godaddy with the nameservers provided by A2Hosting.
Note: in case you can’t find your host’s nameservers, just contact their support and ask them, I am sure they will help you with the same immediately.
And if you’ve bought your hosting from A2Hosting then just use the nameservers shared below:
ns1.a2hosting.com
ns2.a2hosting.com
ns3.a2hosting.com
ns4.a2hosting.com
Just log in to the account from where you’ve bought your domain name and locate the DNS settings of your domain, and update the nameservers.
If you’re on Godaddy, this is how to do it:
Log in to your GoDaddy account, go to My Products from the menu, and locate the section that says Domains.
Inside Domains you should see your domain name, just click the DNS button seen against it (Refer to the image)
Now, inside domain settings scroll down to find the Nameservers section. Here, hit the Change button and a drop-down will appear, select Custom from the list.
Now two new blank boxes will appear, where you need to enter the nameservers you’ve received from your hosting provider.
In the case of A2Hosting, use the above-shared nameservers.
Enter one in each box, use the Add Nameserver button seen right-below to add extra boxes (refer to the image).
Once you’ve entered the nameservers correctly, just hit the Save button and you’re done.
Note: in some cases, the DNS gets updated right away and in others, it might take up to 48 hours to get successfully updated. So have patience.
In meanwhile, you can still install the WordPress in your hosting plan and connect it to your domain; and once the DNS is successfully updated you can access your blog by typing your URL in the web browser.
Before you could install WordPress, if you’ve registered your hosting plan with a different domain then you will have to create an Addon Domain for the domain where you want to install WordPress.
Create an addon domain
To do that, at first login to your hosting account or cPanel, navigate to Addon Domains, and create your domain.
If you’re on A2Hosting, then follow the steps below:
Login to your A2Hosting cPanel,
Locate Domains section, find Addon Domains
Enter your domain name and hit the Add Domain button below
In case, if you’re getting any error message, something similar to this – “You cannot park your main domain.” This simply means you’re trying to add the domain that you’ve already registered with your hosting plan while buying the plan.
So, you don’t need to add the domain you can directly start installing WordPress.
How to install WordPress on your Hosting Server?
Just follow the steps carefully and you’ll be good to go:
Step 1: – Log in to your hosting account ( in my case, I will log in to my A2Hosting account). If you’ve bought your plan from Siteground, Bluehost or Hostgator then log in to that.
If you haven’t already bought your hosting plan then here are the offer links:
A2Hosting – Get a 51% discount on the Regular price
Bluehost – Get a 60% discount on the Regular price
Hostgator – Get a 50% discount on the Regular price
Step 2: – Find the cPanel link and click on the button that says, “cPanel login”.
Step 3: – Locate the “WordPress A2 Optimised” icon inside the dashboard. In the case of Sitegroud or any of the other hostings, it will be just “WordPress”. Once you find it click it to go inside.
Step 4: – Inside the next page scroll down, you should see a screen with 2 buttons, something like the screenshot below; Just ignore the My Apps button and click on “Install Now”.
Step 5: – Fill out the form on the next page.
Software Setup:
From the drop-down, select your protocol and domain name.
Note: in the case of A2Hosting, the HTTPS protocol gets enabled by default once you’ve registered your hosting plan with the domain name or you added it as an addon domain. But in the case of Sitegoround, select it as HTTP and you’ll get the option to enable the HTTPS feature once you’ve installed the WordPress and have installed Siteground’s in-house plugin “SG Optimiser” in your WP blog.
· Keep the install path/ In Directory space blank.
In Site Settings:
· Give your blog a name; I am sure you have already decided what your blog name would be, but in case you haven’t, just keep whatever you like, you can change it later. Site Description is basically your tagline.
· Create an admin username, set a password, and type in the Email ID where you want to receive admin notifications related to your blog.
· Now while choosing your username, don’t just keep “admin” as it is easy for anyone to hack. And you’re also not allowed to use characters like, “-”, “@”, “#”, “$”, “%”, “^”, “&”, “*”, “(”, “)” or the so-called symbols.
Use your creativity and mix it up with some numbers and make it something non-guessable and yet you can easily remember.
Select your preferred language, and once you’re all set, click on the blue button that says, “Install”
…your installation will start now.