Larkhill Talk has moved house. Its previous home (WordPress.com) was very easy to set up and maintain, but it was very limited. It was the equivalent of living in a neat and tidy bedsit; easy to move in and simple to take care of. Now it has moved up the property ladder and is powered by a self hosted installation of WordPress.org. Moving has given me much more control and flexibility over my site, but at times the process made me want to throw my computer out of the window.

WordPress.com is probably the easiest way to set up a basic website. The software is free, the hosting is all taken care of for you and even purchasing and pointing to your own domain is simple to carry out. It is really easy to change your header image and there are lots of themes you can add to get your site looking lovely in no time. However, if you want to customise the design of your site, make full use of WordPress plug-ins or generally have the freedom to change anything and everything then WordPress.com is easy to out grow.

WordPress.org is a richer version of the same software. The key difference is that rather than using it through WordPress.com you download the platform and install it onto your own server. This opens up another world of possibilities for your website, but the set up can be a trying process.

If you are starting from scratch then the process is slightly easier. Larkhill Talk was already on WordPress.com though, so as well as the set up of a new site, a transfer of information and domain from the old site was also needed.

Unless you have your own server, the first thing you need for a self hosted WordPress site is somewhere for it to live. There are so many hosting companies out there that it can be overwhelming trying to decide which is best. They all make bold claims about being the cheapest, best or easiest to use. But only you can decide which best fits your requirements. However, there are a few key things to consider if you are looking for a host specifically for a WordPress site.

WordPress needs to sit on a mysql database to be properly installed. If your host does not support ‘automatic formatting’ of the server space you purchase then you will need to create a mysql database on your server for the installation to work. It is probably going to be easier to find a ‘WordPress compatible’ host that does this part for you.

Once you have purchased your hosting space (and if necessary formatted your server) it is time to download the WordPress.org software. A good host that supports WordPress should have an option in its control panel to directly download the software onto your server. I used JustHost because they are very cheap at £1.95 per month (if you purchase a 5 year plan) and they support WordPress installations. However, I am not necessarily endorsing them because the process was initially far from easy and despite a fast response time from their support department, the information they provided was often vague and not particularly helpful. But I got there in the end.

To transfer all of the pages, posts, comments and pictures from your current site to the new one you can export your content as a .xml file. (It is advisable to back up before doing this). You’ll find the export and import options now under “Manage” in your blog admin area. Follow the steps to download the .xml file to your computer. This will be used later to import to your new site.

Once you have WordPress installed on your chosen host’s server, the next job is to change your nameservers to re-point your domain (assuming like me you had purchased a domain name through WordPress.com). This is done by following these steps:

1. Go to Settings->Domains in your site’s Dashboard.
2. Look for Domain Administration and change the password.
3. Copy or write down your Customer Number.
4. Click the “Manage Your Domains” link.
5. Login with your Customer Number and password. If it’s your first time logging in, you will be prompted to create a PIN number.
   You should now be logged in and see a list of your domains. (An image of the Domain Admin menu is below)

Once this is done it will potentially take a few days for the domain to re-point. When this is complete you will notice that your domain points to the new ‘blank’ WordPress site rather than your previous site which was full of content. At this point you can log in to your new site by visiting www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin.

The first thing to do is import your .xml file by going to ‘Tools > Import’ and following the prompts. Once this is done your content will be restored but you will have a blank canvas of a site to work from. You can now start playing with the richer features that a self hosted site affords. Enhanced tools such as themes, plug ins, widgets, the CSS editor and the custom header designer will help you to make your self hosted site many times more powerful than your old hosted one.