Make Your Own Locksmith Website

Step 1 - Figuring out your Domain Name.

If you have a domain name already and control the account you can utilize it with your own hosting. Using your existing domain that has domain age and already has advertising is your best bet unless it's been blacklisted in some way. If you don't have one you'll have to purchase one from a company like Godaddy. I suggest getting your domain and hosting at the same place. If you need trouble transferring over your domain you can contact us here. You can do your research and study which ones are the cheapest, offer the best services, etc. I can also show you where I go. The links on this page are ads from Bluehost. Please feel free to utilize them or research your own source for a domain name and hosting.  Bluehost has both Hosting and Domain names in one place and I've been using them for years. As of the time of writing this 07/13/2019 Bluehost offers a free domain with the VPS hosting options I recommend.

Step 4 - Picking The Best Plan

Pick the best plan you can afford within reason. I do not recommend shared hosting unless you are under a very tight budget. The support can be good as most of the control is in the hands of the provider, but the benefits pretty much stop there. VPS is where it's at. If you can get your hands on a real dedicated server do that, but most locksmiths don't need anything of that extreme and a Virtual Private Server will do just fine and exceed what we need. When it comes to VPS servers you can pick one of the first 2 options. You can always upgrade. The basic VPS package will absolutely be a leg up over most of your competition as most go with the cheapest option (shared).  You will also have access to cool tools and things that normally cost a fortune (at lesser hosting options)

Benefits to having VPS

root access to your own virtual server

email addresses for days (create emails at no extra cost)

faster loading times (more resources dedicated to your site)

dedicated IP (great for establishing authority online)

can host multiple sites on one account at no extra cost.

Step 3 - Register Domain

You'll want to pick something that is easily readable, easily typable and is phonetically easy to understand and looks good while describing what it is you do. Asking a lot? yeah, it is, but that's the ideal domain name. I would prefer to have johns-locks.com then have johns-locks-keys-automotive-safe-opening.com , remember people will be typing this out, and you'll undoubtly have to repeat it over the phone at some point. Short and to the point. If you want to include keywords this can be done on pages other than the home page after you get your domain name.

Privacy - Protecting your identity

You want to make sure you purchase privacy protection for your domain name or your name, phone number, and billing address will be made public. This does not cost a lot with most domain companies.

Step 5 - Filling in your account and Payment Info.

Fill in your details and be accurate. This information must be correct. Be sure to use privacy protection or this information will be shown when people look up your sites information. Many web designers do not tell you this. If you value your privacy it's recommended to spend the extra few bucks and purchase privacy protection.

Payments can be made monthly or yearly, the more you pay in advance the better deal you usually get. If you've been in business for 10 years and expect another 10, buy the most time you can afford. If you are just testing the waters, month to month or yearly may be your best bet. Get the best hosting you can afford. You don't need to purchase the SEO extras, CodeGuard is good for backups but not neccessary as Bluehosts's VP Servers are capable of doing this automatically as well. Code guard is nice because it simplifies the backup and restoration process if the cost is neglible to you.

Step 6 - Downloading WordPress

If you'd like to install wordpress manually and you have technical experience with this sort of thing Download the latest WordPress release from here. This will give you a clean install of wordpress.

If not use the image here to install using Cpanel, this way doesn't allow for certain customizations and may install plugins you may not need from the very beginning.

Step 7 -
Setting Up WordPress (easy)

If you choose bluehost they have a quick click install for wordpress, I don't like to use this as I like to name my databases and set my own passwords as I do a lot of work with that stuff. Your call. More details below.

Setting Up WordPress (custom)

Upload the WordPress zip to your new hosting by navigating to the 'file manager' and uploading the zip file to the directory of your choice.
Find the file , right click and click on 'extract'
It will usually unpack in a 'WordPress' subfolder.
move the contents and subfolders into the public_html folder.

Go back to your hosting cpanel and navigate to MySQL and add a database.
Name the database and give it a very strong password navigate back to MySQL and add a user to the account.
now attach the user to the account on MySQL. Now goto file manager in your hosting and move all of the files and folders from WordPress to the public_html folder you want to host your site on. if this is the only site on this hosting, which it should be if you just got the hosting now.

After you are done this you can open your domain name on your favorite browser and start the installation process for WordPress.

Step 8 - The website is set up and Live

The website is ready for being edited, designed and have all your information on it!

Step 9 - Installing WordPress

Download the latest WordPress release from here.
Upload the WordPress to your new hosting by navigating to the 'file manager' and uploading the zip file to the directory of your choice. It will usually unpack in a 'WordPress' subfolder.

Go back to your hosting cpanel and navigate to MySQL and add a database.
Name the database and give it a very strong password navigate back to MySQL and add a user to the account, give it all the permissions available and accept.
now attach the user to the account on MySQL. Now goto file manager in your hosting and move all of the files and folders from WordPress to the root folder you want to host your site on. (public HTML) if this is the only site on this hosting, which it should be if you just got the hosting now.

After you are done this you can open your domain name on your favorite browser and start the installation process for WordPress.

Step 9 - The website is set up and Live

The website is ready for being edited, designed and have all your information on it!

Step 10 - Installing a theme

Installing a theme and adding details about your business

Step 11 - Installing the Locksmith Plugin

Installing the locksmith plugin to complete your Locksmith website!

Recommended Plugins to add -

Sucuri
Wordfence
SiteOrigin

Step 12 - Installing the Plugin

Click on the Add New Button and Search for the desired plugin.

Recommended Plugins to add -

Sucuri
Wordfence
SiteOrigin

Step 13 - Installing the Locksmith Plugin

After Installing the Plugin, Click on Activate!

Sucuri
Wordfence
SiteOrigin