In this section, we are going to set up the WordPress website, hosted on a DigitalOcean droplet (server). A lot of this part is just getting everything configured correctly.
We will make sure our Domain traffic is pointing to our server, and verify ownership by enabling SSL (that little “s” on https:// – what’s that? You’re only now realizing that you no longer see http:// being used these days??)
We will get WordPress dialed in by installing a very basic Theme (Hello Elementor), and some core plugins to get us started.
3.1 – Deploy WordPress Droplet on DigitalOcean (how-to)
In DigitalOcean, under your Project, click on the Droplet > Deploy > Marketplace > WordPress
3.2 – Add A Records to point to WordPress server
In DigitalOcean, under Networking > Domain > add A records to point to Droplet address (both @ and www)
3.3 – Connect to WordPress server via SSH using Terminal
On your Mac, open Terminal app and type in
ssh root@123.456.78.284Replacing the 123 number string with your DigitalOcean server address
3.4 – Set up WordPress
This first login as root should take you through the setup process
3.5 – Configure SSL with Certbot
User certbot to configure SSL on your droplet. This verifies and registers your ownership so that web browsers will “trust” your site.
3.6 – Login to WordPress
Visit your website at the unsecured address (http://yoursite.com) as we have not configured SSL (https) yet! We will do that in the next step
3.7 – Configure Permalinks, https
Settings > Permalinks > post name
Settings > replace http:// with https:// This will log you out. Revisit https://yoursite.com and log in again. All is well!
3.8 – Install Hello Elementor Theme and Child Theme
Install Hello Elementor theme
Download Hello Elementor child theme
Install the child theme
Plugins
Plugin – Elementor
Install & Activate Elementor Plugin
Plugin – Jetpack
This can help monitor your site’s uptime. If there’s an error, if your server is unreachable, you will get an email notification.
Plugin – Wordfence
This helps us keep out bots and hackers. We can enable 2FA for login
Plugin – WP Files
This plugin gives us a file browser so we can easily upload files onto our website. Create a new folder called static/ or downloads/ and upload a pdf file. Now visit yoursite.com/downloads/my.pdf and see for yourself!
Forms
Contact forms should essentially be the goal of your website – to collect booking inquiries, email addresses for your contact list. You will have to connect Forms with an email provider (your GoogleAdmin account) in order for sending receipts or even forms to notify you to work! I like FleuntForms and FleuntSMTP to get this working.
Mailchimp
I personally think Mailchimp is super expensive. But it’s offers a great option for easy integration to begin building your email list.