HomeBlogWordpressEffortless Cloudways WordPress Tutorial: Setup & Migration

Effortless Cloudways WordPress Tutorial: Setup & Migration

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If you’re seeking a thorough guide to Cloudways WordPress, you’ve come to the ideal spot. As an advanced user, you must understand the importance of optimizing your website’s performance and security for success in today’s competitive online landscape. 

Cloudways is a leading managed cloud hosting platform that empowers businesses to effortlessly deploy, manage, and scale their web applications on top-tier cloud infrastructure providers. With Cloudways, you can unlock the full potential of cloud hosting without the complexities typically associated with managing servers and infrastructure.

Whether you’re a small business owner, an e-commerce entrepreneur, or a developer seeking a hassle-free hosting solution, Cloudways offers a user-friendly interface, robust performance, and exceptional support to ensure your online presence thrives.

Cloudways combines the power of renowned cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and DigitalOcean, among others, with an intuitive management interface. This enables you to easily launch and manage your web applications, harnessing the scalability, security, and reliability of the cloud, all while enjoying the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of a managed hosting solution.

Cloudways WordPress

Cloudways Setup and Free Trial

If you’re looking for an easy-to-use platform to host your WordPress site, use Cloudways. 

To start on Cloudways, go to their website and click on the “Get Started For Free” button. This will take you to the sign-up page where you need to fill in some basic information such as your name, email address, password, and phone number. Once done, click on “Start My Free Trial.”

Verify your email address by clicking on a link sent in an email from Cloudways. After verifying your account successfully, log in using the credentials provided during registration.

Choosing The Right Server Settings

  1. Select Your Application: Choose WordPress from the list of available applications under the ‘Select Your Application’ drop-down menu.
  2. Name Your Managed App & Server: Give names for both the managed app (e.g., ‘The Wall Blog’) and server (e.g., ‘WallBlogServer’) as these help identify different apps or servers within one account easily later down the line if needed.
  3. Select Your Project: Create a new project by entering the desired project name like ‘The Wall Blog’ or choose an existing project before proceeding further into the process itself.
  4. Pick A Provider: Cloudways offers various cloud hosting providers like DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS, and Google Cloud. Select the one that fits your needs and budget.
  5. Select Server Size: Choose an appropriate server size based on expected traffic levels and overall resource requirements needed for seamless functioning throughout the entire website lifecycle.
  6. Select Your Server Location: Pick the closest data center located on the basis of geography so latency times remain minimal, thereby ensuring faster loading speeds across the board whenever users access to content hosted via respective servers themselves indeed.

Once you’ve configured these settings, click the “Launch Now” button at the bottom right corner of the screen, which initiates the deployment process taking anywhere between a few minutes up until a couple of hours depending upon the complexity involved within individual cases.

Cloudways offers a free trial period without requiring any credit card information upfront. This helps you to test out their platform risk-free before committing financially on a long-term basis. During this trial period of three days, explore all the features available through their user-friendly interface such as monitoring performance metrics or managing backups amongst other things too.

There are some key benefits for choosing Cloudways over traditional shared hosting providers including but not limited to the following aspects listed below:

  • Optimized Performance: With built-in caching mechanisms like Varnish Cache and Memcached along with dedicated resources designated per account rather than being shared among multiple clients simultaneously leading to improved load times overall hence better user experience provided;
  • Enhanced Security: Cloudways takes security seriously by offering features such as dedicated firewalls, IP whitelisting, and free SSL certificates, ensuring your website’s safety from potential threats at all times;
  • 24/7 Customer Support: The Cloudways support team is available all day to assist you with any issues or questions that may arise during your hosting experience.

Setting Up WordPress on Cloudways

Learn to install and configure WordPress within the user-friendly environment provided by Cloudways. A few clicks are all that is needed to have your WordPress website hosted on a dependable platform.

Installing WordPress Application in Just a Few Clicks

To begin setting up your new WordPress site on Cloudways, follow these simple steps:

  1. Create an account: If you haven’t already, sign up for a free trial at Cloudways Platform Signup Page.
  2. Select “Add Server”: Once logged in to the dashboard, click on the “Add Server” button located at the top-right corner of the screen.
  3. Pick Your Application: In this step, choose “WordPress” from the list of available applications. You may also select other options like WooCommerce or Multisite if needed for your project requirements.
  4. Name Your App & Server: Provide unique names for both your application and server to help identify them easily later on.
  5. Select Hosting Provider & Location: Choose from various cloud infrastructure providers such as DigitalOcean, Linode, AWS, etc., followed by selecting an appropriate data center located closest to your target audience. This ensures optimal performance and reduced latency times when accessing your website globally.

After completing these steps, hit the “Launch Now” button. The process may take a few minutes to complete, but once it’s done, you will have successfully installed WordPress on your Cloudways server.

Configuring Basic Settings for Optimal Performance

Now that you have installed WordPress on Cloudways, configure some basic settings for optimal performance. Follow these steps:

  1. Enable Varnish Cache: Navigate to the “Server Management” tab and click on “Manage Services.” From there, enable the Varnish cache by toggling the switch next to it. This significantly improves page load times and overall site performance.
  2. Configure PHP-FPM Settings: Under the same “Manage Services” section, locate PHP-FPM settings and adjust them according to your needs. A good starting point is setting memory_limit at 256M, post_max_size at 32M, and upload_max_filesize at 32M.
  3. Set Up SMTP: To ensure proper email delivery from your website (e.g. password resets or contact form submissions), navigate back to the “Application Management” tab and select “Email Configuration” under Access Details section. Enter the required information such as SMTP host, port number, username & password, etc., then hit the Save Changes button when finished configuring all necessary fields accordingly.

Note: If unsure about any specific configuration values mentioned above – feel free to consult official documentation provided both by WordPress itself along with various plugin developers involved too before making changes blindly which could potentially cause issues down line otherwise. Always remember to test thoroughly prior to implementing new features/updates live environment especially since even the smallest tweak might lead to unexpected results sometimes.

Installing Essential Plugins & Themes

With WordPress installed and configured, it’s time to customize your site with plugins and themes. Here are some essential ones to consider:

  • Yoast SEO: An all-in-one solution for optimizing your website’s search engine performance, Yoast SEO helps you create better content, improve readability, and manage meta tags easily. Download the plugin from the WordPress Plugin Repository.
  • Akismet Anti-Spam: It is a powerful anti-spam tool that filters out unwanted messages automatically. Get started by downloading it from the WordPress Plugin Repository.
  • Wordfence Security: Protect your site against hackers, malware attacks & other potential threats using this comprehensive security plugin. Install via the official link found here: WordPress Plugin Repository.

Also, choose an attractive theme that reflects your brand identity and complements your content strategy. The WordPress Theme Directory offers thousands of free options to suit various niches.

Migrating Your Existing Website to Cloudways

Transferring your existing WordPress site to the powerful infrastructure offered by Cloudways is a smooth process. With their dedicated migration plugin, you can be guided through each step of moving your website without any hassle or downtime.

Utilizing the “Cloudways WordPress Migrator” Plugin

The first step in migrating your website is installing the Cloudways WordPress Migrator plugin on your current WordPress installation. This plugin simplifies the migration process for users with limited tech experience, taking away much of the manual labor.

  • Log in to your existing WordPress dashboard and navigate to ‘Plugins’ > ‘Add New.’
  • In the search bar, type “Cloudways WordPress Migrator” and hit enter.
  • You should see the plugin listed in the search results. Click on ‘Install Now,’ followed by ‘Activate’ once installed.

Now you have successfully installed and activated the Cloudways WordPress Migrator plugin on your existing site.

Entering Required Information for Successful Migration

To begin migrating data from your old hosting provider over to the CloudWays server environment using this newly added plug-in utility, follow the below-mentioned instructions carefully:

  • Navigate back into the main WP admin panel area and select the option labeled as ‘Migrate’ under the tab titled ‘Tools.’ Herein lies the primary interface designed specifically towards facilitating the entire transfer operation efficiently and securely too.
  • At this point, you’ll need to enter some information from your Cloudways account. Log in to your Cloudways dashboard and click on the ‘Applications’ tab.
  • Select the WordPress application you created earlier during setup (refer to Heading 2 if needed).
  • On the Application Management page, scroll down until you find the ‘Access Details’ section. Here, copy both the ‘Application URL’ and ‘Database Name.’

Let’s proceed further by pasting these necessary details into corresponding fields present inside the migration plugin interface:

  • In your existing WordPress site’s admin panel, paste the copied Application URL into the field labeled “Destination Site URL.”
  • Paste the Database Name value obtained previously under the designated input box titled as ‘New DB name’ respectively. You will also need to provide additional information such as your email address and SFTP credentials for completing the entire process successfully without facing any issues along the way:
  • In the Cloudways dashboard area, navigate towards the specific application management console once again and locate the subsection named ‘SFTP/SSH Access.’ Copy the relevant username/password combination before proceeding back over to the original WP installation wherein these values can be entered accordingly within the appropriate text boxes provided here too.

With all required data now filled out completely, hit the button marked “Migrate” to initiate the actual transfer operation taking place behind the scenes automatically via integrated functionality offered through this powerful utility tool. Once the migration has been completed successfully (which may take anywhere between a few minutes up to several hours depending upon the size/content complexity linked with the website being moved), verify everything looks good prior to making the final switch-over live environment accessible by users globally.

Verifying Migration and Updating DNS Records

Once the migration is finished, it’s essential to make sure that everything has been moved over accurately. To do this, visit the Application URL provided earlier in the Cloudways dashboard (e.g., http://yourappname.cloudwaysapps.com). Now, you can proceed with updating your domain’s DNS records.

Follow these steps to update your DNS records:

  • Login to your domain registrar account (such as GoDaddy).
  • Navigate to the ‘DNS Management’ section for your domain.
  • Edit or add an ‘A Record’ pointing to the IP address of your Cloudways server. You can find this information under ‘Access Details’ in the Cloudways dashboard.

Changes made within the global Domain Name System may take anywhere between a few minutes to several hours before becoming fully propagated across the entire internet infrastructure worldwide; hence wait during this transitional phase too. With these steps completed successfully, you have migrated your existing WordPress website over to the powerful hosting platform offered by Cloudways flawlessly without any downtime whatsoever.

SSL Certificate on Your Site

An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is essential to ensure encrypted data transmission between a client’s browser and your web server resources. By implementing an SSL certificate, you enhance the overall security measures across your entire network architecture.

Why You Need an SSL Certificate

  • Data Encryption: With an SSL certificate in place, all sensitive information transmitted between users’ browsers and your site remains secure from potential hackers.
  • Authentication: The presence of an SSL certificate verifies the legitimacy of the server hosting your website, thus ensuring reliability for visitors accessing it.
  • Better SEO Ranking: Search engines like Google prioritize websites with proper encryption methods such as HTTPS over HTTP sites when determining search rankings. This means that having an active SSL can boost organic traffic to your site by improving its visibility in search results pages (source).
  • User Trust & Conversions: When users see a padlock icon next to their address bar indicating a secure connection via HTTPS, they are more likely to trust and engage with your site – potentially leading to higher conversion rates (source).

Add Free Let’s Encrypt Certificate on Cloudways Platform

Cloudways offers a free SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt, which is widely recognized and trusted by most modern browsers. Here’s how to set it up:

  • Login to your Cloudways account, and navigate to the “Applications” tab.
  • Select the WordPress application for which you want to install an SSL certificate.
  • Navigate to the “SSL Certificate” option on the left side of your Cloudways account and select it.
  • In the dropdown menu under “Choose Your Certificate Authority,” select “Let’s Encrypt.”
  • Enter your email address and domain name(s) for which you want to issue an SSL certificate. You can add multiple domains separated by commas if needed.
  • Click on the “Install Certificate” button, and wait for a few minutes while Cloudways installs your Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate automatically.

This way, your website now has an active SSL certificate installed. Users visiting your site will see a padlock icon next to their address bar indicating that their connection is secure via HTTPS protocol (source).

Troubleshooting Common Issues with SSL Certificates

If you encounter any issues during or after installing an SSL certificate on your site, here are some common problems along with their solutions:

Mixed Content Warnings

  • Solution: If users receive mixed content warnings when accessing pages of your site over HTTPS, this means that certain resources (such as images or scripts) are still being loaded using HTTP instead of HTTPS. To fix this issue:
  • Ensure that all internal links and resources are loaded using HTTPS by updating their URLs in your WordPress settings or theme files.
  • You can also use a plugin like Really Simple SSL to automatically update HTTP references to HTTPS within your site’s content.

SSL Certificate Not Trusted

Solution: If users receive an error message stating that the SSL certificate is not trusted, this could be due to one of the following reasons:

  • The certificate has expired. For this, you need to renew it through Cloudways’ Let’s encrypt integration as described earlier in this section.
  • Your website may still be loading over HTTP instead of HTTPS. Ensure that you have properly configured your site to load via HTTPS by updating its URL settings in WordPress and implementing appropriate redirects if necessary (source).

FAQs in Relation to Cloudways WordPress Tutorial

Yes, Cloudways offers a dedicated WordPress hosting platform that allows you to easily set up and manage your WordPress website. Their managed hosting solution includes features like automated backups, server scaling, and performance optimization for faster load times.

To host a WordPress website on Cloudways, follow these steps: 1) Create an account with Cloudways; 2) Choose the desired server settings; 3) Install the WordPress application using their one-click installation feature; 4) Configure basic settings for optimal performance. For detailed instructions, refer to this Cloudways tutorial.

Cloudways is suitable for both beginners and advanced users due to its user-friendly interface and extensive documentation. While it may require some initial learning curve compared to traditional shared hosting providers, the platform’s simplicity makes it easy even for non-technical users to manage their websites effectively.

Cloudways is considered an excellent choice in terms of managed cloud-based web hosting services. They offer flexible pricing plans along with high-performance servers from top infrastructure providers such as DigitalOcean, AWS & Google Compute Engine. Additionally, they provide exceptional customer support and various useful features like free SSL certificates and automatic backups.

Conclusion

By following this Cloudways WordPress tutorial, you will learn how to set up your account on Cloudways and choose the right server settings. You will also discover how easy it is to install WordPress with just a few clicks and configure basic settings for optimal performance. Additionally, you will learn how to migrate an existing website using the “Cloudways WordPress Migrator” plugin and transfer domains while setting up SSL certificates.

If you’re looking for a reliable platform that can host your WordPress site, then Cloudways is definitely worth checking out. With its intuitive design and robust capabilities, Cloudways is becoming a popular choice among businesses for hosting their WordPress sites.

Take your website to the next level with WallBlog! Check out The Wall Blog today!

Youssef Hodaigui is an entrepreneur, blogger and SEO expert with a strong track record of success in launching and growing blogs and websites. He has a deep understanding of search engine algorithms and the latest digital marketing techniques, and he is committed to helping bloggers and entrepreneurs achieve their online business goals.

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