Creating a Blog on a Sub Domain
March 22nd, 2007 by KristinaHere are instructions for creating a blog on a sub domain of your website at Advanced Access. It is common for this to be done using blog as the sub domain. That way your website would be located at:
www.mydomain.com or mydomain.com
Your blog could then be hosted at:
blog.mydomain.com
Many people have different preferences on where they feel a blog should be hosted at. For various reasons, this is my preference. I will blog about those reasons another time but I wanted to have a post here that gives instructions on how to set it up.
First, you must select a hosting company for your blog. I personally prefer WordPress as the blog software and BlueHost as the hosting company. Advanced Access is a Windows based company and most blogs are Unix based which is why you need a separate hosting company at this time. I’m sure there are cheaper hosting companies than BlueHost but a) they have wonderful customer service and b) they have a one-button install of WordPress that is very helpful. Whichever hosting company you choose, make sure they can host the blog platform of your choice and be able to support you with any questions you may have.
With BlueHost, you will want to sign up for one of their hosting accounts with your main domain name. Even though your site is hosted with Advanced Access, you simply give BlueHost your domain as your ‘account’ name. You will not be changing your website hosting, this account is only a placeholder.
 Once your hosting is setup, you will need to call BlueHost on their 24 hour support line and ask what your IP address is. Explain that you want to have information hosted on a sub domain of your website and you need your current hosting company to point an A record record at BlueHost to make this happen. Most of the tech’s will understand what you say, and simply give you the IP address (fake example of an IP address would be: 64.12.35.12) that you need. Write this down and keep it in a safe place.
Your next step would be to email us here at Advanced Access. Our email address is: Support@AdvancedAccess.com or feel free to post it in our member’s Forum.
You would need to ask us that you need an A record be setup for Blog.yourdomain.com and it needs to be pointed to {the IP address}.Â
Once we set that up for you, you need to wait 12-24 hours.Â
After a day has gone by, log in to your account with BlueHost.Â
Under ‘Addons/Plugins’ it says: Fantastico (Auto-Installs) – Click on that option.
On the left, under Blogs, click on WordPress
On the right, click on New Installation
The first option is “Install on domaon” and has a pulldown. The pulldown will have your main domain and once the CName change has taken affect, it will also list your blog.mydomain.com
Select blog.mydomain.com and continue to fill out the rest of the options. The rest of the options are fairly easy, simply fill out a login and password, your email address, and leave the email account configuration alone. Click on Install WordPress.
Then, you will be all set to host your own blog off of your domain name. With any other hosting company, follow the first few steps until we setup the A record, or CName if the hosting company has a server name that you need to point to, after that contact them for instructions on how to get your blog hosted. If anyone has any other hosting companies they prefer, please feel free to comment on who you like and why!
Geez – Kristina, I wish you had posted this earlier.
Glenn
March 23rd, 2007
Kristina
March 23rd, 2007
Though I am not using this info to set up a blog it has been very helpful in setting up another third level domain for my IDX solution. http://Search.PhoenixHomes.com
Thanks for the easy to read and understand, step by step instructions!
Phoenix
April 6th, 2007
Glad you were able to use them for something, Matt!
Advanced Access
April 6th, 2007
I’ve used several hosting companies in the past and cannot pick any particular one that I’ve preferred. What I can say is that plenty of hosting companies will have Fantastico. If you are worried about the set up process of WordPress then you can always ask the hosting company if they have this tool. If they do have the tool then don’t sweat it as you will find it a very easy process.
Here is a list of hosting companies I’ve used most recently:
http://www.theplanet.com/ – This is a pretty large hosting company so costs may be a little out there for most of our blogging needs.
http://www.subtrex.net/ – Very small one man operation but decent for simple solutions like blogging.
http://www.webhsp.com/ – Like our Customer Support team, I found this company to have great Customer Support that is usually easy to reach when needed.
I know for sure that the last two both have Fantastico set up and ready to go.
John Jones
April 10th, 2007
More details for BlueHost.com setup:
When signing up for the account using your primary domain name, they’ll encourage you to “transfer” your domain to them. The instructions are for repointing your domain… DON’T DO THIS! Just ignore it
Additional instructions:
You don’t need to call them for the IP – It’s listed in the control panel on the left column under “Shared IP address.” You will need to e-mail AA support stating you want to point “blog.yourname.com” with an “ARECORD” to the shared IP given. Even though it’s shared, it’ll work fine.
Once you can log into the bluehost account, create the subdomain “blog” (or whatever you wish) using the subdomain tool.
Then go to Fantistico installs, select WordPress, select “blog.yourname.com” from the drop-down to install on the subdomain (leave the subdirectory box empty). Complete the information and click the next buttons until done.
In 24-72 hours after AA points the ARECORD, you’ll be able to see the blog at your new subdomain!
Mike Luirette
July 18th, 2007
WordPress is the king! I will be using this article to set up our blog on New York landmarks later today. Thank you for the info and suggestions.
Chris
December 2nd, 2010