How to make a photo blog
Do you want to have a photography blog like this?
Do you want to showcase your art to millions of internet users?
Do you want to create your online photo / art portfolio?
This is a detailed instruction how to make a photo blog yourself… read it carefully, follow easy guidelines and you will be ready to blog! (This is extremely detailed guide, so anyone, with any level of experience, can follow).
Before we start…
Before we get started, there are two things you will need to purchase: 1. Web host and 2. domain name. Web host is a server computer, physical drive connected to internet that holds your site files. Domain name is a hostname that identifies site on the Internet for example www.sandrophoto.com – Hosting service and domain name is essential to this guide. There are many service providers, but I recommend quality service provider: HostGator.com (opens in a new window).
I have been using hostgator service since 2005, rented several servers, purchased different hosting packages. Sandrophoto.com still runs on one of their servers – I have nothing but praise for their service, customer support is amazing, server speed outstanding. In my view it’s one of the few hosting service providers that actually delivers space and traffic advertised on the homepage.
In fact right now, hostgator is running a promotional offer for bloggers, use coupon code: ‘wordpress’ to get hosting for 0.01$.
Install WordPress
At this stage you should have a running host account, with propagated domain attached to it. (domain names need few days to register, this process is called propagation). I will assume you purchased service from the recommended provider with cpanel as host management software. This article covers in detail how to run blog on this specific software.
1.
Log in into your hosting account: type www.yourdomain.com/cpanel in the browser, and enter username / password.
2.
In the Cpanel, find and click: Fantastico De Luxe
3.
Now find wodpress blog installer, under ‘blogs’ heading.
From here, follow easy steps and your wordpress blog will be up and running in no time.
4.
To the right, you will be provided with some information about the version of WordPress you will be able to install. Read and click on ‘New Installation‘.
5.
Now, you’ll be able to determine which folder you’d like to have WordPress installed to, as well as some other blog information.
Installation Location: Leave the space blank, so that blog installs on www.yourdomain.com (if u choose install location ‘blog’ for example url to wordpress will look like www.yourdomain.com/blog/)
Admin access data: Choose the username and password you’d like to use in order to access the WordPress admin panel after installation is completed.
Base configuration: Type a nickname you’d like to use throughout the blog. The admin e-mail address is where notices, passwords, and other information about the administration of the blog is sent. Your blog’s name and description should be self-explanatory.
E-mail account configuration: You only need to worry about this if you plan to blog via e-mail. If you’ve set up a special e-mail account that you’ll use for blogging via e-mail, then enter the settings where applicable. (Bear in mind, you will need to enter an e-mail account password in order to proceed with the installation, simply use a false one if you don’t plan to blog via e-mail.)
When your blog information is complete, click on the Install WordPress button at the bottom. Verify that the information you provided is correct and click on Finish installation. Fantastico will create a brand new database for you and create the necessary WordPress files.
At this point, you should have blog running, online and accessible to million users. Test if installation went fine by going to www.yourdomain.com – If everything is fine, we can continue to the next step: adding gallery plug-in.
Add Gallery
What we want to do now, is to add gallery plug-in to the original wordpress installation. This is fairly easy, and can be achieved in few easy steps.
1.
Type: www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin (Enter username and password, you should receive default password on the e-mail specified during installation).
2.
Click ‘Plugins’ on the left navigation bar.
3.
Click ‘Add New’
4.
Search for NextGen gallery
5.
Click install
6.
Activate
This is it, all done! Refresh admin panel, and check new section ‘Gallery’ added to administration menu bar.
All Done! Enjoy your new ART blog…
Take your time to get used to wordpress interface, it’s intuitive and quite easy. Also google other optimization articles, there are thousands of plug-ins available for wordpress making it adaptable to any specific requirements.
If you have any questions feel free to post them here… I’ll try to answer all of them in timely manner.
Some useful links
Detailed gallery configuration instructions can be found here: http://dpotter.net/Technical/2008/03/nextgen-gallery-review-configuration/
Manual Method
There is a manual method of adding plugins to WordPress using FTP. It’s a tad more complicated, but learning how to utilize File Transfer Protocol will go long way in your webmaster career.
There are 11 comments on this post.
Trackback URL | Comments RSS FeedMay be a useful guide for some people, however from wordpress version 2.7 you can just install the nextgen gallery (and other plugins) from within the admin area. This is much easier (like fantastico) to install and doesn’t involve downloading and uploading the files etc
Thanks Jon, this information effectively cuts down the installation time by half… and also my little article into half. Anyways, it’s useful to know hot to use FTP, so I will not remove the extra part.
Hey great suggestions, thanks!
Article updated to take into account new wordpress 2.9 capabilities. It’s much more easier to install plugins now. New article is half size of the original.
Enjoy!
Sandro, are there any better alternatives to the NextGEN gallery plugin? Could you advise some great photo blog themes for WP? (paid/free — no matter) I consider starting my own photolog.
Pete » Hey! Thanks allot for the comments
I didn’t find anything better or even similar to NextGen gallery plugin in terms of functionality… it might be a bit confusing in the beginning, with too many customization options, but it’s the best.
On the other hand, there are many wp themes that incorporate functionality of a gallery, so you don’t really need a gallery plugin. To hunt for a photography wp theme (with gallery functionality) I recommend this site: http://themeforest.net/ (Note, in the search field select ‘wordpress’ and luse Photography or portfolio as a search keyword).
Thanks for ur information
I have a great time reading your post, I find it very informative and interesting. The suggestions was great and the guidelines provided was easy. Thank you ad good luck
Hey its really nice and reading the entire blog… recently started off with photography and enjoying it to the max… just want ur help in suggesting me few websites where I can learn online tricks and learn the same…….