So you’re ready to start building with iPage.
Good choice. iPage is a budget web host that offers great value. It’s service is not quite up to the likes of Siteground, who I use for most of my sites, but they’re still pretty darn good for the price they offer.
Here’s how to get started.
Step 1: Sign up
First, head to the iPage homepage by clicking here. Click the big pink button to get started:
Step 2: Domain registration
First thing you need to do is choose a domain. iPage gives you a free domain with every account, which is nice. Just type in the domain you want and they’ll check if it’s available. Then head to the next page.
Step 3: Choose your package
The next page will be where you enter all your personal details – name, address and so on. Once you’ve done all that, you’ll need to choose a billing option. As you can see, iPage offers you different price points depending on how long you register for. You can a year at $2.99 per month, or 3 years at $1.99 per month. Obviously the longer terms give you more value, but it’s up to you.
You’ll also get asked if you want Domain Privacy for $9.99. I highly recommend getting this. Every website owner in the world is listed on public registries by law – everyone in the world can see this – including your name and address. With Domain Privacy, iPage will register their company details instead of your personal details. It’s worth it for the extra ten bucks.
They’ll also ask you if you want some other add-ons too. Web security and backups might be worthwhile – depends on how safe you want to be. Both of these can be done with free plugins on your site, but your host doing backups and virus checks too is a second layer of security most people like. Not necessary, but nice to have.
There is also some other stuff like SSL and WordPress Optimizations that you’ll get offered. You don’t need any of this (but feel free to get it if you want!)
Then head to the bottom and click “Check out”.
Step 4: Log in to your control panel
Once your payment goes through your account should be ready! iPage might want to do a ID verification which can take about a day. With me they actually took longer and I had to email them to hurry up, so if they take longer than a few hours, send them a follow up email. Usually they’re quite good though.
Once you’ve got your login details, head over to the iPage homepage and log in. You should get taken straight to your Control Panel:
Step 5: Install WordPress
Click the “WordPress” icon to start installing WordPress on your site. It should be in the first section, under websites.
(if you don’t see it there, you might be on the old control panel. In that case, use this guide here).
Once you’ve clicked WordPress you’ll get taken to a WordPress installation wizard. First you’ll need to choose which domain you want to install WordPress on. Choose your domain from the drop down box. Leave the directory section blank.
Then you’ll get asked for some details. This is all straightforward, just enter a generic site name (you can change it later). Enter a username and password to log in to later (write these down!). And then an email address. Easy peasy.
WordPress will then start installing. It will probably take about five minutes. Go grab a coffee or something.
Once it’s done, it will say “Installation Complete” and give you a link to view your credentials.
It’s also going to tell you you’re only 50% done, and try and sell you a bunch of other stuff here like themes and plugins. Don’t worry, you’re already done. You can start building your site now.
Step 6: Log in to your WordPress site
Now you need to log in to your WordPress dashboard. To do this, head to your wp-login page.
Here’s how to do that:
If your URL is www.example.com, your wp-login page will be www.example.com/wp-login. Type that in your address bar and you should get taken to a login page like this:
Log in using the same details you set up in Step 5. You’ll get taken to your WordPress dashboard.
Congratulations! You now have a WordPress site with iPage.
Ready to get started? Head to the iPage homepage and start building by clicking here.