Step 1: Choose your website name

The first step in creating a website is coming up with a good name. This is called the “domain name”, and is something like “www.google.com” or “www.facebook.com”. It’s simply the name of your website!

There are two challenges: 1) Finding a name that isn’t taken and 2) Choosing the “domain” for your name.

The “domain” is the “.com” part. There are lots of options, such as .com, .net., .co and more. There are country specific domains as well, like .ca for Canada. The easiest and most memorable is .com, but many of the .com names are taken. For example, “blogcoacher.com” is now taken, but other domains, such as “blogcoacher.org” might still be available!

Step 2: Register for web hosting

Our favorite host is a california based company called “Dreamhost”. Register at Dreamhost (will open a new window) to get started.

Fill out your email address, and choose a password. Both need to be entered twice to avoid mistakes!

Click “continue” to go to the next page.

Step 3: Register your domain name

When you sign up for web-hosting (in Step 3) we’ll register your domain name at the same time!

Step 4: Install WordPress

Now that you have hosting and a domain name, your website is working! You could, at this point, start to upload your own files and design your own site, but this would be a lot of work. Luckily, someone else has done the hard work for us, and created a blogging system called “WordPress”.

To install WordPress, click on “Goodies” then click on “One-Click Installs” on the main Dreamhost menu. On the screen that comes up next, click on the WordPress icon. You should see the following screen. Click on “Custom Installation” and in the first drop-down menu, choose the domain name that you just registered. Leave the other option unchanged, so that it says “Automatically Create Database”.