Bluehost adds a new Wordpress Install Script

The install wordpress task using Bluehost just got even easier. Bluehost have intalled a new script that simplifies the process even further. You can have a new blog up and running in less than 5 minutes. Here’s a demo I just created to show me setting up a “Newblog” on my server using the new wordpress install script.

Wordpress Intall Demo using Bluehost Script

How to set-up Domain Name Redirects to “forward slash” addresses.

For example:   www.yourdomain.com/newredirect

Firstly why would you want to do set this up?

If you have a multiple page website, then there is no need to set-up redirects, assuming your website is structured correctly, then you will already have additional pages that already have a specific address, for example Product specific page, or Contact Us, or Location pages.

However perhaps you are using your domain with a network or affiliate marketing campaign, in which case you may want a short punchy domain name to use on your advertising material that will direct people to your affiliate pages.

Here’s an example of this in practice.  I use domain

www.utilities-dc.com  to direct protential residential customers to my affilaited Utility Sales site: http://www.uwdcvideos.co.uk/index.taf?exref=627824&v=1

but I also use www.utilities-dc.com/business to direct business customers to business specific sales pages: http://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/business/index.taf?exref=627824

Another reason is perhaps for Team support. You can purchase one domain name and use it for each team member to redirect to their own affiliated pages. For example the team building side to our network business has it’s own affiliated link. So I use domain www.join-our-team.co.uk and then use /intials for each team member to use if they so wish and this saves them to cost of an additional domain name purchase.

www.join-our-team.co.uk/dvd

Notice in this example the top level domain www.join-our-team.co.uk has a single web-page explaining to the reader that the “website name is missing an identifier”.  This is so that his domain is safe for team members to use without fear of their contacts, just dropping the “forward slash” bit and losing the prospect to an upline distributor.

So enough example of why you may want to use a domain redirect, and onto the:

How to set-up domain redirect (using Bluehost)

1. Either Purchase the domain name to be used for redirection directly with Bluehost, or alternatively use your regular domain provider and then set the “Nameserver” records to direct the domain to Bluehost (ns1.bluehost.com  &  ns2.bluehost.com)
2. Login to your Bluehost account cPanel
3. Select “Addon Domain” from the Domain Section
4. Type the Domain name (excluding www.) in the box for Step1. Domain:

   Bluehost will
   then automatically verify the domain is available to Bluehost and if
   you so will get the following message in the step 2 response section:

   “Ownership verified. The nameservers for the domain “your-domain-name” are currently set to NS1.BLUEHOST.COM, NS2.BLUEHOST.COM.”

   In the Step 3 section, select ADDON DOMAIN

   In the Step 4 section, either accept the filename for the subfolder
   of this domain on your account, or change this to a different name if
   you prefer. (personally I keep them the same as the domain name so that
   I can easily see which folder relates to which website)

   Now just Click the ADD DOMAIN button, and wait for Bluehost to finish the set-up (this can take a minute or two)

5. Back to cPanel Domain section, and now click on “Redirect Domain”
6. Select the Domain to use from the Dropdown selection (the domain will only be vailable here if you have followed the above steps to create the Addon Domain.
7. Enter the “/name” to use.
8. Enter the redirection address.
9. Click the Add Button.
10. JOB DONE

How to set-up additional domains (i.e. extra “Free Standing” blogs) on your Bluehost Account.

I use Bluehost for my chosen host provider for a number of reasons:

1. Competitively priced
2. Cpanel for easy online adminsitration (Filemanager, Domain Handling, ftp account set-up etc.)
3. Fantastico for easy Wordpress Install
4. Easy to create additional domains under the one account.

This post is regarding point 4… how to set-up an additional domain on your host account ready to install a new wordpress blog.

Step 1.

Purchase the domain of your choice. You can do this from the domain manager of your bluehost account, or if you prefer use one of the many domain providers that are out there. Personally I use either the Bluehost account because the .com names are cheap at $10/year each, or if I’m setting up a UK based website and need a .co.uk domain, then I I’ll use 123reg.

Step 2.

If you have purchased the domain from anywhere other than Bluehost, then you need to change the domain nameserver records to direct to Bluehost.

1. Login to the control panel for your domain and select “Change Nameserver” setting for your domain.
2. Set the name servers to: NS1.BLUEHOST.COM & NS2.BLUEHOST.COM
3. You may need to “Unlock” the domain before you can change the nameserver record, if this is the case then just look for the “Unlock Domain” setting, and remember to re-set the domain lock after changing the nameserver settings.

Step 4.

Login to your Bluehost Cpanel and select the “Addon Domain” icon

Type the Domain name (excluding www.) in the box for Step1. Domain:

Bluehost will then automatically verify the domain is available to Bluehost and if you so will get the following message in the step 2 response section:

“Ownership verified. The nameservers for the domain “your-domain-name” are currently set to NS1.BLUEHOST.COM, NS2.BLUEHOST.COM.”

In the Step 3 section, select ADDON DOMAIN

In the Step 4 section, either accept the filename for the subfolder of this domain on your account, or change this to a different name if you prefer. (personally I keep them the same as the domain name so that I can easily see which folder relates to which website)

Now just Click the ADD DOMAIN button, and wait for Bluehost to finish the set-up (this can take a minute or two)

… Job Done, you now have a new “Free standing” domain setup on your Bluehost account ready to install wordpress on that domain.