I’ve been using WPX Hosting as my host for this site for many years now and have been loving the quality and features they offer. But last year I also realized you can have a total of 5 websites hosted with them, and pay for just one (on any plan you have with them).
So I moved my second blog and thus stopped paying hosting with another web host. And now that I had a new blog idea and wanted to set up a site for it, I knew I could do it for free again and just pay the annual domain name fee.
So in this guide, I want to show you how that’s done. I’ll use as an example the new blog I just started: Blogging Terms.
First, we’ll purchase the domain, then install WordPress (we won’t pay for hosting). Let’s dive in.
Buying The Domain Name
Go to My Services > Domains.
Click ‘Buy New Domains’.
Type the domain name in the search field.
All options will immediately show up, together with their availability (whether the domain is available for purchase or not) and the price for one year.
I want the .com version so I’ll click ‘Register’ next to the first item on the list of domains.
The item is then placed in your cart and you can go to it. Click ‘Continue’ on this page.
On the next page, you’ll see your order details and your client info, and can choose your payment method and proceed with making the payment.
Once that’s done, you’ll receive your invoice via email, as well as another email that the domain has been registered.
Another email will ask you to verify your email address so you can do that.
When you go back to WPX, under Domains, you’ll see the new domain there and that its status is active.
Now that you own the domain name, we can set up the new website.
Installing WordPress
Step 1: Go to My Services > WordPress Hosting, and click ‘Manage Service’ next to the product you have.
Next, click ‘Manage Websites’ in the menu on the left.
Step 2: Click ‘Add New Website’. This window will pop up.
Step 3: Write your new domain name and its extension such as .com [domainname.com] and tick the box next to ‘Install WordPress’. Then click ‘Next’.
Step 4: Fill in your login details for the WordPress website (you’ll use them any time you log into your WordPress dashboard so save them somewhere). Then click ‘Continue’.
You’ll then see a notification saying that they are working on adding your new site to your hosting account. Wait a bit.
I then received an email notification that the site is set up and I can log in. The URL for log in usually ends in /wp-login.php
From that link, I was taken to the WordPress log in page, entered the login details from earlier, and accessed my dashboard.
Step 5: Install an SSL certificate.
The website is currently with HHTP, but needs to be HTTPS, so let’s install the free SSL certificate that WPX provides with one click.
Go back to the WPX dashboard, and in ‘Manage Websites’, next to the new site, click SSL.
A dropdown menu will show, and you can pick the ‘Install Free Certificate’ option.
Click ‘Install’ on the next window, and ‘Yes’ on the next one.
In a few minutes you can refresh your page and see that it has been installed.
Step 6: Inside your WordPress dashboard, go to Settings > General in the menu on the left.
You can change your site title (so it’s not the URL itself), add a tagline and your site icon.
But the most important task now, to finalize the SSL certificate activation, is to add an S in http next to both ‘WordPress Address (URL)’ and ‘Site Address (URL)’.
Here’s mine after updating it:
Now when I go to the homepage, the URL shows HTTPS and the connection is secure.
Next Steps for Your Second Blog
And we’re done. That’s how you can start a second blog with WPX hosting for free.
Your new website is now live and you can start taking the next steps of setting it up.
That’s installing a WordPress theme, adding more plugins, publishing pages, designing them, connecting it to Google Analytics, publishing some content, and so on.
If that’s not your fist blog, you probably know how to take all these steps. If not, feel free to join us inside our membership and community Fearless Bloggers to ask all your questions, get access to some amazing resources and powerful strategies for bloggers, as well as the bonus course ‘Your First 50 Days of Blogging’ which is a great starting point.