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2 Simple Ways in 2023

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2 Simple Ways in 2023

Setting up WordPress has always seemed like a complicated task to beginners.

Most tutorials take users through tons of backend files and custom codes that deter them from building their WordPress site altogether.

But what if we told you that the entire process is as easy as creating an account on Facebook?

Keep reading to learn how to use WordPress with GoDaddy with two simple methods.

Buying A Hosting Plan And Domain

Before using WordPress, you need to purchase a domain and hosting plan for your website. Since most people get confused with the two terminologies, here’s a more realistic explanation from WPBeginner:

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If your website was a house, then your domain name would be its address.

GoDaddy offers a bunch of great hosting packages — whether you’re creating a small portfolio or a giant e-commerce site — most of which include a free domain name.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to purchase them from GoDaddy’s website:

1. Open GoDaddy.com and sign up/sign in to your account.

2. Go to the shop page and look for ‘Basic Web Hosting‘ (not WordPress, VPS, Plus plans).

godaddy-web-hosting-packages

3. Compare the packages and click ‘Buy Now’ on whichever one suits you best. Here’s a brief comparison of all the plans:

  • Economy: Allows one website with 25 GB storage. Best for personal blogs, creative portfolios, and small business websites.
  • Deluxe: Offers up to 10 websites with enhanced 50 GB storage. Optimal for medium-sized businesses, professional artists/photographers, and small e-commerce stores.
  • Ultimate: Provides increased performance and up to 25 websites. Ideal for large-scale businesses, high-traffic niche sites, and global service providers.
  • Maximum: Features maximum performance, storage, and websites. Perfect for multi-national corporations, international e-commerce stores and marketplaces, and online forums.
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4. Select the duration of your plan from 1 month to 36 months (discounts go higher as you extend your subscription length).

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5. Enter your chosen .com domain name in the search bar and click on ‘Add’ if it’s available.

(Note: Free domain is only available if you purchase a 12-month plan or higher)

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6. Add extras like Web Security or Professional Email to your package if they’re not already included in your bundle. These offer the following benefits:

  • Web Security: Protects your website from hackers and integrates SSL to secure your user’s data like credit cards, passwords, etc.
  • Professional email: Gives you a special email with your domain name at the end, i.e., [email protected], so you can contact clients more professionally.

7. Review your order and apply any promo codes before proceeding to payment.

How To Install WordPress From GoDaddy

Once you’ve purchased a hosting package and domain for your website, it’s time to start installing WordPress.

Fortunately, GoDaddy adds a free one-click WordPress installer on a 12-month package (or higher) that makes the whole process easier.

Here’s how to use it to install WordPress from GoDaddy:

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1. Log in to your GoDaddy account. 

2. Scroll down to the ‘Web Hosting‘ section and click on ‘Set up‘ next to your hosting package.

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3. Click on the ‘Building a new website‘ option.

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4. Enter the domain name on which you want to install WordPress and click ‘Continue‘ or select one from GoDaddy by clicking on the ‘Use a domain in my account‘ button.

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5. Select a data center that’s closest to your target audience. 

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6. You will be asked to create a WordPress website. Click on ‘Yes, let’s do it‘ to continue.

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7. Create a username and password for your WordPress website. Re-enter your password and hit ‘Next.’

8. A progress bar will appear to display the installation status. Once it’s complete, an ‘Onboarding Successful‘ message will appear. Click on ‘Go to Dashboard.’

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9. Under your domain name, click on the blue ‘Admin‘ link next to WordPress to visit your new website.

How To Install WordPress Manually From cPanel

Manually installing WordPress can be a technical process, but it also gives you more freedom to tweak settings and customize certain elements of the website.

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Here are the steps to manually install WordPress via cPanel using GoDaddy:

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1. Log in to your GoDaddy account and go to the ‘My Products’ dashboard.

2. Scroll down to the ‘Web Hosting‘ section and click on the ‘Manage‘ button.

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3. Click on the ‘cPanel Admin‘ button in the top right corner.

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4. Once you’re in the cPanel dashboard, scroll down to the ‘Applications‘ section and click on the ‘WordPress‘ icon.

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5. To begin installing WordPress, hit the ‘+Install this application‘ button.

6. Here, you’ll be allowed to configure your website’s settings. Let’s take a look at the important ones:

  • Domain: Select the domain where you want to install WordPress (choose https if you have an SSL certificate).
  • Directory: Allows you to install WordPress on a specific subdomain (keep it blank if you want to install it on the main domain).
  • Administrator Username/Password: Create a new username and password for logging into your WordPress dashboard. 
  • Administrator Email: Used for WordPress account recovery if you forget your password. 
  • Website Title/Tagline: Enter your website’s name and tagline (which can be edited later).
  • Limit Login Attempts: Only select ‘Yes’ if you remember your password.
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7. After you have configured your website, hit the ‘Install‘ button at the end of the page.

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8. Once the progress bar is full, you can visit your newly installed WordPress website by clicking on the first link under ‘My Blog‘.

3 Things To Set Up For Your WordPress Website

Setting up WordPress on your website is just half of the story. In order to provide your users with a visually appealing and secure platform, you must check a few more things off your list. Here’s a detailed list of things to update on your website:

1. Selecting A Theme

In order to attract incoming visitors and convert them into customers, you need to have a beautiful, eye-catching website.

This is where you need to decide what theme to use. While there are thousands of options in the market, the best WordPress themes offer:

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  • Great loading speeds
  • Lots of customization options
  • A user-friendly drag-and-drop builder
  • Support for future updates

Next, you must decide what kind of niche you’re opting for. You can simply install a multi-purpose theme or choose one that’s specifically built for your use case such as e-commerce, online publications, portfolios, or agencies.

To make the process easy for you, here’s a short review of our top theme picks for GoDaddy WordPress websites. 

Astra

astra-theme-godaddy

Astra is probably the most popular theme in the world for two reasons; super-fast loading speeds and being absolutely free.

However, that doesn’t mean the theme lacks in any way. It’s actually used by NASA, Stanford, and other big institutions.

The theme is also incredibly quick — it loads in just 0.5 seconds on a freshly-installed WordPress website! You can also fully edit the header/footer and customize elements that other free themes reserve for paying customers.

Astra also seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce, Elementor, Yoast SEO, and just about any plugin you can name.

If you want to know more about this theme, read our complete WP Astra in-depth guide.


GeneratePress

generatepress-theme-publication

GeneratePress is an extremely reliable and fast all-in-one theme for niche site builders and blog owners.

It’s used by over 500,000 websites and occupies less than 30kb of space on a new WordPress website, no matter what web hosting company you’re using.

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You can get both free and paid versions of GeneratePress, but the premium plan offers more customization options and a year of support and updates.

One of the best features of GeneratePress is that it’s purely optimized for speed, so it will continue to load up within seconds after uploading content and installing tons of plugins.

For more details about the theme, read our full guide on why GeneratePress is rated as the fastest WordPress theme.

2. Installing Plugins

Managing a WordPress website can be a hectic task. Luckily, plugins can take care of a lot of extra work, like managing your site’s security, speed, content, and customer data.

Here’s a list of some essential WordPress plugins that every website should install.

WooCommerce

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WooCommerce converts your website from a simple blog into a full-blown e-commerce store within minutes.

It contains everything you need to build a successful retail website — storefronts, inventory/tax calculators, product pages, payment gateways, checkout forms, and much more.

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Although WooCommerce itself is completely free, you can purchase extensions to add extra functions like social media marketing, shipment tracking, and language/currency conversion.

Read our detailed guide on WooCommerce here.


Elementor

elementor-plugin-design

Elementor is one of WordPress’s most popular drag-and-drop builders, allowing you to conveniently design stunning websites within hours.

One of the best features of Elementor is its lightweight framework that helps your website load up within seconds, no matter how many elements you add to it. 

If you want to learn more about its features and capabilities, read our full review on Elementor.


OptinMonster

optinmonster-plugin-conversions

OptinMonster is a highly useful lead generation tool that has worked wonders for WordPress websites trying to convert their web traffic into customers.

Unlike traditional form builders, OptinMonster allows you to create stunning pop-ups and opt-in forms with their intuitive drag-and-drop builder. You can also A/B test different variations and get a detailed analytic summary of your campaigns.

For your ease of mind, OptinMonster also comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee if you don’t receive the results you expected. 

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To know more about OptinMonster, check out our full OptiMonster review of the plugin.


Rank Math

9 BEST Rich Snippet WordPress Plugins to Help Your SEO

On-page optimization plays a huge role in a niche website’s revenues and overall growth.

That’s why we recommend installing Rank Math to improve your search engine optimization and skyrocket your rankings.

Yoast gives you a comprehensive analysis of your site’s keyword optimization, internal linking, content quality, and other metrics that are crucial for algorithms to understand and rank your site higher on SERP.

It also allows you to attract organic traffic with social media pages and maintain your site’s health by redirecting errors.

To discover more benefits of this plugin, check out our complete guide in our Rank Math review.


JetPack

jetpack-security-plugin

JetPack is an all-in-one plugin for WordPress that can boost your site’s growth and search engine rankings with a single click. 

Trusted by over 5 million websites worldwide, JetPack takes care of multiple everyday tasks such as:

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  • Malware scanning
  • Spam protection
  • Automatic social media sharing
  • Image compression

JetPack also has a smartphone app that makes it easier to check on your engagement and site statistics, publish content, and receive updates when you’re away from your laptop. 

Additionally, the plugin comes with a free built-in Content Delivery Network to improve your loading speeds

3. Setting Up SSL

Securing your WordPress website with SSL is crucial for two reasons; gaining customer trust and ranking higher on Google.

The little SSL ‘padlock’ beside the URL makes visitors feel secure when sharing sensitive data, such as passwords, credit card details, and home addresses. It will also boost your Google rankings as the search engine rewards websites that offer data protection to their visitors. 

GoDaddy includes one year of SSL protection with the purchase of every hosting package over 12 months. You can also purchase their all-in-one Website Security plan for a discounted price or hand over your SSL duties to their team with their Managed SSL Services.

Conclusion

Learning how to use WordPress with GoDaddy hosting is a skill that can help you build your dream website or even charge other people to create one for them.

If you want to generate revenue from your website, check out our step-by-step tutorial on How To Start A Blog That Makes Money Using WordPress.

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Or, if you want to explore other web hosting services, check out our full comparison between BlueHost and GoDaddy.



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WORDPRESS

5 Hidden Features of WordPress.com – WordPress.com News

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5 Hidden Features of WordPress.com – WordPress.com News

Whether you’re a blogger, a developer, or fall somewhere between, you’re likely to discover something new and useful in this video.

Isn’t it amazing how you can learn new things about someone, even after years of knowing them? That’s how Jamie Marsland has felt in the last few weeks while diving deeper into WordPress.com’s capabilities. In today’s Build and Beyond video, he shares five incredible features built right into the platform that aren’t as well known as they should be. Whether you’re a blogger, a developer, or fall somewhere between, you’re likely to discover something new and useful. 

Ready to build on WordPress.com? Start a free trial today:


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New WordPress.com Themes for March 2024 – WordPress.com News

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New WordPress.com Themes for March 2024 – WordPress.com News

Five of our favorite new themes.

The WordPress.com team is always working on new design ideas to bring your website to life. Check out the latest themes in our library, including great options for small businesses, sports fan, nostalgic bloggers, and more.


Feelin’ Good is a vibrant (to say the least!) blog theme with a bold vaporwave aesthetic. Its nostalgic atmosphere pays homage to the daring, over-the-top visual art and advertisements of the ’80s and early ’90s. We’ve combined a lot of elements that shouldn’t work together, but do. If you’re looking for a dynamic, attention-grabbing, eye-popping visual feast of a theme, try Feelin’ Good.

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Click here to view a demo of this theme.


1711610762 938 New WordPresscom Themes for March 2024 – WordPresscom News

Low Fi is a simple blog theme featuring a narrow column layout that’s optimized for seamless browsing on mobile devices. With six style variations, you’re sure to find a palette you’re drawn to. Taking inspiration from the lo-fi beats music scene, the theme’s design cues, such as the square header image, offer a nod to album artwork.

The overall aesthetic is deliberately understated, with each element—from the muted color schemes to the textured background—crafted to evoke a sense of nostalgia and warmth.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.


1711610763 567 New WordPresscom Themes for March 2024 – WordPresscom News

Cakely is the ultimate WordPress theme designed specifically for passionate bakers, cake enthusiasts, and dessert lovers. Tailored for small businesses aiming to shine in the world of sweets, Cakely effortlessly combines style and functionality to showcase mouthwatering creations. Its vibrant pink color scheme exudes joy while maintaining a classy, clean layout with easy navigation. This theme ultimately strikes the perfect balance between professionalism and playfulness, making it an ideal choice for showcasing your delicious masterpieces.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.


New WordPresscom Themes for March 2024 – WordPresscom News

Treehouse is a carefree, fun, and friendly theme ideal for Woo stores selling children’s products. With its unlimited customization options, Treehouse enables you to set up an online shop with just a few clicks. Utilizing a soft color palette, playful design details, and simplified layouts, your site will attract a wide range of customers, from young parents to over-the-moon grandparents. This theme is fully responsive and cross-browser compatible.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.


New WordPresscom Themes for March 2024 – WordPresscom News

Major League Baseball’s 2024 season kicks off on Thursday, March 28. What better way to show your home team the love it deserves than with a baseball-themed fan site! With a somewhat old-school layout, this theme evokes some of the classic sports sites of the ’90s, back before fantasy leagues took over. The header and accent colors are customizable, ensuring that your favorite crew is properly saluted.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

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To install any of the above themes, click the name of the theme you like, which brings you right to the installation page. Then click the “Activate this design” button. You can also click “Open live demo,” which brings up a clickable, scrollable version of the theme for you to preview.

Premium themes are available to use at no extra charge for customers on the Explorer plan or above. Partner themes are third-party products that can be purchased for $79/year each.

You can explore all of our themes by navigating to the “Themes” page, which is found under “Appearance” in the left-side menu of your WordPress.com dashboard. Or you can click below:


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How to Get Started: Investigating Payment Gateways Online

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How to Get Started: Investigating Payment Gateways Online

When investigating a website, app, or online shop, one of the key questions you may need to answer is ‘How are they making money?’ 

Investigating the financial transactions of an organisation can reveal details about its connections and funding. Furthermore, if the website or app is engaged in illicit transactions, tracing the payment gateway can help achieve accountability by identifying what sites they are using to earn money.   Bellingcat has looked into the payment processors in previous investigations on far-right merchandise, Britain’s far-right influencers, and non-consensual deepfake pornography.

Credit: Nicolas Guyonnet / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect

Payment gateways are a technology that takes a customer’s payment information, checks it with their financial institution, verifies that the transaction is legitimate, and then completes the transaction. As explained by Forbes, online stores need a payment gateway to be able to facilitate payments. Companies including PayPal, Stripe, and Square are commonly used as a payment gateway for online purchases.

Most mainstream payment gateways (like Stripe and PayPal) prohibit their services from being used in illegal transactions including the sale of illegal drugs, the promotion of hate or racial intolerance, and non-consensual adult content. Finding evidence that someone is violating the Terms of Services of these companies – and how they are doing so- can lead to the closure of loopholes and accounts. It can also provide additional information about an organisation’s revenue streams. 

It is nearly impossible to conduct online transactions without a payment gateway. So it should be possible to find the payment gateway of an organisation earning money, even if it is not obvious at first. One resource that is extremely useful is Chrome’s built- in developer tools (other browsers also have similar tools). Below we’ll provide an overview of the tools to use and questions to ask when scrutinising payment systems. 

How are they Taking Payment?

For online transactions, you’ll typically see websites accept traditional forms of payment including credit cards, debit cards and, more recently, cryptocurrency. Since cryptocurrency is not subject to the same regulations as traditional financial systems, cryptocurrency is often used to process payments for illegal services. Since this does not need to be ‘hidden’, websites will usually disclose which currency they accept and how to transfer funds into a crypto wallet. There are other ways you can track funding through cryptocurrency, as discussed in this guide.

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If none of the above apply?  Other sites that use a payment gateway will accept money directly via credit card payment,  bank transfer, or through peer-to-peer payment apps (i.e., PayPal, Cash App, Zelle). If this is the case, you should be able to identify the payment gateway being used. In the case of the peer-to-peer apps, these services may be used by businesses and not just individuals’ transactions. They also require a bank account or credit card to use them. It is helpful to view transaction options on both the mobile app and web browser, in case the options differ.  It is also worth checking the currency that payments are being taken in – if it is a US website taking payment in a foreign currency, that can also provide clues. Further, if a website is using different payment gateways depending on the currency, this can lead to additional leads in your investigation. Payment options may also change depending on what IP address you are using. In other words, setting your IP address in the UK and then changing it to the US may result in different payment gateway options.

Where are they Soliciting for Payment?

Organisations may solicit for payment via a website or a messaging app like Telegram. It is important to investigate all avenues where  payment is being requested as each method may provide different clues for your investigation. For example, for some of the AI deep fake services we investigated here we found that companies would accept different payment methods depending on how you tried to pay – via their website, via a web browser or via Telegram. Sellers may want to direct their users away from their website to more private forums such as Telegram to facilitate transactions and avoid detection.

Is the Organisation Trying to Hide How Payment is Taken?

For some sellers, using a mainstream payment gateway may  violate the terms of service of that company. To be able to use their services, these sellers may  try to hide the nature of their goods from the payment gateway company. 

A Walk Through Example

Some sites may not show their payment options without signing up first. 

This was the case with the Nudify.VIP site which offers non-consensual AI Deep Fake pornography.  

Initially, the website states that their services are free. 

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“With our service you can undress any person in a photo absolutely FREE!” 

However, this is misdirection, as you are then prompted to log in or sign up. Only once you create an account do you discover that you need to pay to access the service and how much it costs.

After creating an account, we were presented with two options to pay, by card or crypto. 

You are then presented with an option to pay via crypto or via credit card, but it does not yet say what cards they accept or what payment gateway they use. 

Clicking through to ‘Go To Payment’ gives us a new screen that lets the user pay via credit card (ie MasterCard, Visa), a US Bank account (ie Wells Fargo, USAA), or through Cash App. 

There is no indication of the payment gateway they are using, but if we look at the URL on the checkout page, we can see that it no longer says that we are on a Nudify.VIP domain. This is a clue that users are being directed to the checkout page through another website. This method is used to hide the true source of purchases from payment gateway providers. There’s another clue  that the domain has changed- in the fine print at the bottom of the checkout page. Via the Checkout Page using either Cash App or credit card options, it discloses:

“By providing your card information, you allow aiphotos.art to charge your card for future payments in accordance with their terms.”

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This is another clue that the payment gateway does not know this belongs to an AI Deep fake service Nudify.VIP.

Three checkout options for Nudify.VIP: credit card, US bank account, and Cash App.

Use Browser Developer Tools to Investigate Further

All modern browsers have some form of built-in developer tools. You can search online for your specific browser (e.g. Firefox, Chrome, Safari). If you are in Chrome, you can right-click anywhere on the screen to get a menu and an option to ‘Inspect.’ You can also use keyboard shortcuts which can vary between MacOS or Windows. For Windows, you can click CTRL + SHIFT + I and on MacOS you can click Option + Command + I on your keyboard. Any of these actions will open the developer tools which allows you to  view the code of a webpage (such as HTML, CSS, and Javascript). This should appear on the right-hand side of your screen. While developer tools are designed to check for bugs or errors in a website, you can use them in your investigation.

There should be a list of tabbed options for you to view on the top menu bar. Clicking on ‘Sources’ shows you all the resources that the website is using. 

This is a good place to start to look for any clues about what piece of code is being used in the checkout process.  In the example below, one of the listed sources on the page is titled ‘js.stripe.com.’



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