So you’ve decided to launch your online website in 2024 but don’t know where to begin? This article is your complete guide to setting up your website using WordPress hosting. Whether you want to start a business online or a personal website, the procedure is the same for all of them.
Getting your website online requires you to complete multiple steps including registering a domain name, purchasing hosting, and installing WordPress on it. All of this might sound too technical if you are a beginner, but don’t worry as I’ve made it quite simple in this 101 guide to set up your WordPress hosting.
I will be using WPX Hosting as an example in this article but the guidelines work for almost any hosting out there. What are we waiting for? Let’s teach you a few things about WordPress hosting right away!

What is WordPress Hosting? Why Do I Need it?
WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS) that powers a majority of the websites on the internet. WordPress hosting is specifically designed to host websites that are based on WordPress. This hosting has unique features that allow the website to perform even better with specific optimization.
A website can be hosted by any type of web hosting and still work on WordPress. But if you host your website on WordPress hosting, and then install the CMS, the performance will be significantly better. That is why it is preferred to buy WordPress hosting if you are going to install the platform later on.
You can purchase WordPress hosting from many different hosting providers. Some companies solely focus on offering this type of service such as WPX Hosting. Others offer WordPress hosting as one of their products. Don’t get yourself confused just yet, I will explain everything in this article.
How to Setup WordPress Hosting?
Now that you know what WordPress hosting is, let me tell you about the steps you need to complete when setting up your website.
- Register a Domain Name for Your WordPress Site
- Install WordPress on Your Hosting Server
- Set Up Your Hosting Control Panel
- Create Email Accounts for Your Domain
- Access Your Website Files through FTP
I will now go through each of these steps in detail to help you learn more about setting up your website in 2024.
Step 1: Registering a Domain Name
The first and arguably one of the simplest steps is registering your domain name with a certified registrar. A large number of web hosting providers also allow you to register a domain directly with them. I prefer doing so with WPX hosting.
To register your domain name, you will first go to the hosting provider’s website. Note that the domain name should be chosen wisely as it has to reflect your brand. Once you are on the domain registration page, enter the name you want to register. Here is a screenshot from the WPX domain registration page that shows where you will need to enter the name.

After entering the name, click on the search button and it should tell you if the given name is available. If it is available, you will simply choose a domain extension that you like and proceed to purchase your domain name. I prefer the “.com” domain extension as it sounds natural for all websites.
Simply fill in all the information you are asked and that’s it. That is all needed to register your domain name successfully. After your purchase, you will receive a confirmation email and all the information regarding your registration.
Step 2: Installing WordPress on Your Hosting Server
You will also purchase your hosting from the same provider. I chose the WordPress hosting plan of WPX when I was building my website. That plan is specifically optimized for WordPress and enables your website to perform much faster. After you purchase your hosting, you will need to install WordPress on your hosting server.
Go to the control panel of your hosting plan on the WPX Hosting website. You will see the following page when you are there. Simply click on the “Add New Website” button to install and start the procedure.

That will open up a dialogue box where you will be required to provide the details of your website. Enter the required information of your domain name etc. After that, you need to create the admin account for your WordPress website. The following screenshot shows the dialogue box where you can enter your desired data.

After you fill in the details, click on Continue to proceed to the next step. The next will simply confirm your details and installation of WordPress onto your hosting server. That’s all there is to installing WordPress.
Step 3: Setting Up Your Hosting Control Panel
You have already worked a little with the WPX Hosting control panel in Step 2 of this guide article. In this step, you will get to know the control panel a bit more. When you log in to your account and go to your control panel. The following is the main menu of the WPX Hosting control that you will see on the left side of your screen.

There is not much you need to do as of now. Simply get to know each of these tabs and what you can do with it. The “Service Details” section provides you with details of your purchased services from WPX Hosting. Similarly, the “Manage Websites” section allows you to add or remove websites from your hosting server. You can also install WordPress from this tab.
The same goes for the rest of these tabs. Each one allows you to perform certain tasks. Your job for now is to simply explore each of these tabs and know their functionalities.
Step 4: Creating Email Accounts
RECAP: You registered your domain name, bought a hosting plan, and installed WordPress on it. Now you need to learn how to create email accounts for your domain name.
Why would you need these email accounts? There are several reasons for this. First, a business email with a personalized extension helps you stay professional. The custom email gives your business more credibility as well. How do you create one? Read below to find out.
To create an email account, go to the “E-mail Boxes” section on the WPX Hosting control panel. Here is a screenshot of where you need to click and go.

This will take you to the email boxes section where you can manage existing email accounts and add new ones. Look at the bottom right corner and click on the “Add an email box“. The screenshot below shows where to click.

After doing that, a new dialogue box will be opened. This box requires you to enter important details to create your account. Here is a screenshot that shows everything you will be asked for.

Fill in all the details and configure the email according to your requirements. Lastly, click on the Submit button and your email box will be added to the plan. It will also have your domain name as a custom extension.
Step 5: Accessing Your Website Files Through FTP
FTP or File Transfer Protocol is a way of transferring files through servers on the internet. Once you create a website, its files are stored on the hosting provider’s servers. For several reasons, you will need to visit these files. You can do so by going to the FTP section on the WPX Hosting control panel. Click on the “File Manager” tab shown on the left side of your screen. The following screenshot clarifies this action further.

After you go there, you will be able to access all the files on your website. You can also delete the files or perform other related actions. The File Manager is the central hub of your website’s files and the data available on it.
What Next?
You have learned everything there is needed when starting to build your online presence. After installing WordPress and completing all other initial steps, you simply need to add a beautiful theme to your WordPress. This will get your website up and running for the time being.
Start by adding a nice homepage and other information regarding your brand. Then start posting other important content on your website. Installing necessary plugins is another crucial thing you could do. To summarise, now you have set up your WordPress hosting and you can start working to build a functional website on WordPress.
Conclusion
So let me do a little recap of this article. We went through the details of what WordPress hosting is and then discussed how you can purchase one. I explained how to register your domain name, install WordPress on your hosting, and then use the control panel to do things such as adding email accounts and accessing your website files.
This article is the general 101 guide for any beginner who wants to learn how to set up a WordPress website from scratch. Anyone who doesn’t have any technical knowledge or prior experience can simply read this article and then set up their website on their own.
I hope you learned valuable information in this article about WordPress, websites, and hosting. Please leave a comment below if you have anything else you want to know!
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