Building a website can seem overwhelming, but with the right tools, the process becomes seamless. In this tutorial, I’ll guide you step-by-step on how to create a website using Cloudways hosting and the powerful Divi WordPress theme.
Whether you’re a freelancer, agency, or someone building your own site, this guide will provide you with all the details needed to go live confidently.
Getting Started with Cloudways Hosting
Before diving into website creation, you’ll need reliable hosting. Cloudways offers managed cloud hosting that’s perfect for websites built on WordPress. Here’s how you can get started.
Step 1 – Sign Up for Cloudways Hosting
Head over to Cloudways and sign up for an account.
You’ll be prompted to provide basic details, including your email, name, and a strong password. After registration, Cloudways offers a free trial, so you can explore the platform risk-free.
Fill out their registration form by entering your first name, last name, email address and password. Use the dropdown menus to select the options that best describe you.
Select the checkbox to agree with Cloudways’ terms and click the Start Free button to begin your free 3 day trial.
Activate your Cloudways account
Cloudways will send you an email to confirm and activate your account. Log into your email account and click the Activate Account option in the email.
On some occasions, Cloudways will request some additional information to activate your account.
This is nothing to be concerned about as it is just Cloudways way to try and prevent too many fake accounts being opened.
In this form Cloudways will ask for some additional information. If you are unclear of any of data they are requesting you can always start a conversation with their live chat by clicking the small speech bubble in the bottom right of the screen.
Once you have filled it out, hit the Submit Details button.
Once done, Cloudways will process your account and when approved, you will be sent an email to login and activate your account.
Click the Login & Activate button to log into your account.
Step 2 – Create a New Server
Once signed up, the next step is to create your server. Cloudways allows you to choose from various cloud providers like DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, and Google Cloud.
For beginners, DigitalOcean is a great choice. Set your server size based on your website needs (1GB RAM is a good starting point for most sites).
- Log into your Cloudways dashboard.
- Click on “Add Server”.
- Choose WordPress as your application.
- Select your cloud provider and server size. Digital Ocean 1GB should be sufficient for most starting sites.
- Select your location. Best to select one closest to your audience.
- Click Launch Now to spin up your server.
Just FYI
Your 3-day trial will be linked to this first server that you created. If you delete this server, your trial ends immediately.
The server setup can vary but from my experience you can expect it to be up and running in around 6-10 minutes.
Step 3 – Explore the Cloudways Dashboard
Once your server is ready, you can access its management dashboard. Here, you’ll see controls for server monitoring, security, scaling, and more.
Right at the top you have the main navigation to jump between the various sections of the dashboard. Most of your time will be spent in the Servers and Applications sections.
Let’s look at that in a bit more detail.
Let’s start with the Server Management Section
Click on Servers to access the server management dashboard.
Here you will be met with the server that you just created. Click on the server so that we can access the server management settings.
Here, in the left panel, you will find the following settings:
- Master Credentials: SFTP and SSH details to access the server.
- Monitoring: Overview of server resource utilization.
- Manage Services: Controls for core services like Apache, Nginx, Redis, and Varnish.
- Settings & Packages: Tools to manage and configure server-level settings like PHP execution limit, installed software packages, and maintenance.
- Security: IP settings for SSH/SFTP and MySQL access.
- Vertical Scaling: Tool to upgrade server size.
- Backups: Automated backup and on-demand backup settings.
- SMTP: SMTP service configuration for email delivery from your server.
Now let’s take a look at the Applications section.
In the top navigation, click on Applications
This will list all the applications that you have installed on this server. We installed WordPress when we initially set it up, so that should be displayed for you now.
Click on the application so that we can view the settings for it.
Once you have selected it, you should be faced with all the settings:
- Access Details: Access details like your application URL, admin panel credentials, application credentials, and MySQL access information.
- Staging Management: Cloudways’ free staging application creation and management utility.
- Monitoring: Analytics for traffic, PHP, MySQL, cron, and disk usage.
- Bot Protection: Cloudways’ free bot protection tool.
- Domain Management: Domain management tool to manage one or more domains pointing to your site.
- Cron Job Management: Cron job manager for your web application.
- SSL Certificate: Free SSL certificate generation utility.
- Backup And Restore: Application-level backup management tool.
- Deployment Via Git: SSH key generation for Git deployment.
- Application Settings: Application-level settings like folder, webroot, email sender, PHP-FPM, and Varnish settings.
- Migration Tools: Quick access to Cloudways’ WordPress migration plugin.
- Cloudflare: Cloudflare Enterprise configuration tool.
- SafeUpdates: Website and plugin update management tool.
Spend some time exploring the interface so you’re comfortable managing your website’s backend.
Setting Up WordPress and Divi Theme
Now that your server is live, let’s access the WordPress dashboard and install the Divi theme.
Step 4 – Access WordPress Dashboard
Cloudways automatically installs WordPress when setting up the server. To access your WordPress admin:
- Go to Applications in your Cloudways dashboard.
- Click on your WordPress application and find the Admin Panel link.
- Log in using the credentials Cloudways provided.
Step 5 – Install the Divi Theme
Once you’re in the WordPress dashboard, it’s time to install Divi.
If you do not yet have a Divi account, yu can head to the Elegant Themes website to get one.
- Navigate to Appearance > Themes > Add New.
- Upload the Divi theme ZIP file (available from your Elegant Themes account).
- Install and activate the theme.
If you are unsure on how to do this, I have an article How to Install the Divi Theme where I go into more detail on this.
Now you’re ready to build visually appealing pages using Divi’s drag-and-drop builder.
Step 6 – Install Essential Plugins
To enhance your site’s performance, security, and SEO, it’s vital to install the right plugins:
- Security: Install Wordfence for protection.
- Caching: Use WP Rocket for faster load times.
- Image Optimization: Install Smush to compress images.
- SEO & Marketing: Consider using Rank Math for SEO and Mailchimp for email marketing.
You can find these plugins by going to Plugins > Add New and searching for each by name.
Connecting Your Domain and Securing the Website
Now that you’ve set up Cloudways and WordPress, it’s time to update your website to use your own domain name instead of the temporary subdomain provided by Cloudways.
First, if you do not have one already, you’ll need to purchase a domain name. You can do this from popular domain registrars. I always recommend that you purchase your domain name separately from your hosting in which I go into more detail in the article Separate Domain and Hosting.
Once you’ve secured your domain, let’s move on to connecting it to your Cloudways server.
For this tutorial, I’ll walk you through how to update your Domain Name Server (DNS) settings using Cloudflare. If you’re using another DNS registrar, don’t worry—the steps are very similar, so you can easily follow along regardless of your provider.
Cloudways Server IP Address
An IP address is like your website’s home address on the internet. It’s a unique set of numbers that identifies where your website is hosted, so people can find it when they type in your domain name. In this case, we’ll use the IP address of your Cloudways server to link your domain to your website, making it accessible to anyone online.
To access your IP address, we head back to our Cloudways Application Managment dashboard.
Copy this Public IP by clicking on the series of numbers. Now we are ready to head over to our Domain Registrar to link it to the server.
Step 7 – Point Your Domain to Cloudways Server
To make your website accessible online, point your domain to Cloudways.
The short steps are:
- Go to your domain registrar.
- Update your DNS settings by adding the IP address of your Cloudways server.
- Wait for the DNS to propagate, which may take a few hours.
The longer steps:
Log into your Domain Registrar. For me this is going to be Cloudflare.
Go to DNS > Records and click on Add Record
Here we need to create an A record so that we can add in our IP address we copied from the Cloudways Application Management Dashboard.
Ok. Now we have the A record setup at the domain registrar, it is time to make the connection at the server application.
Let’s head back to Cloudways to do this.
In your Cloudways dashboard go to Applications > Application Management > Domain Management
Click the Add Domain button.
Here we will enter your domain name and then click the Add Domain button.
You will now find your domain you have entered in the Domain list.
Click the three dots to the right of your domain and select Make Primary. Confirm the selection by clicking Set As Primary in the popup.
This may take some time to run through your site but once has completed, you website will now be accessible by typing your domain name in your browser.
Step 8 – Add an SSL Certificate
An SSL certificate encrypts data and makes your site more secure. Cloudways makes it easy to add SSL for free using Let’s Encrypt:
- In the Cloudways dashboard, go to Applications.
- Select your WordPress site and click SSL Certificate.
- Make sure Let’s Encrypt is selected.
- Enter your domain name and email, then click Install Certificate.
Make sure your domain is your full domain WITHOUT the https.
Once the process has been completed, you will see a confirmation message and an auto-renewal option in the SSL Management section.
Make sure to set your Auto Renewal to Enable to ensure that the certificate is automatically renewed before it expires every three months.
Final Configurations Before Launch
Before going live, a few additional configurations are necessary to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Step 9 – Upgrade Your Cloudways Account and Set Up Email
Once satisfied with the free trial, consider upgrading your Cloudways account. Additionally, Cloudways offers an add-on for email hosting. You can easily set this up by:
- Navigating to the Add-ons section in Cloudways.
- Choosing the email add-on and following the prompts to configure it.
Step 10 – Configure Backups for Your Cloudways Website
Backing up your website regularly is crucial. Cloudways offers automated backups, but you can also trigger manual backups:
- Go to the Server Management section.
- Click Backups and adjust the frequency of backups.
- Enable local backups for extra security.
Step 11 – Test Your Website and Go Live
Before launching, test your website to ensure everything works. Check for broken links, run speed tests using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, and ensure your contact forms and other key features are functioning properly.
Once you’re confident in your website’s readiness, you can officially launch and start driving traffic.
Conclusion
By following this guide, you’ve learned how to create a website with Cloudways and the Divi theme from start to finish. Cloudways’ flexible hosting environment combined with Divi’s intuitive page builder allows you to create a professional, responsive website without the need for complex coding.
Now it’s time to go live and start building your online presence! Don’t forget to keep your site updated, secure, and optimized to ensure long-term success.
