💻 1. Setup > A. Domain / B. Hosting / C. Point Domain / D. WP Users / E. Domain Based Email / [ More in Setup ]
💻.2. Explore > A. WP Dashboard / B. Settings / C. Themes / D. Plugins / E. Widgets / [ More in Explore ]
💻.3. Build > A. Pages & Posts / B. Nested Pages / C. Cats & Tags / D. Menus / E. Try Bricks Builder / [ More in Create ]
💻.4. Create [BRAINSTORMING] >
In the WordPress sidebar, hover over “Plugins”,
then click “Installed Plugins” from the dropdown.
The Plugins section works just like the Themes area.
As the red arrow shows, clicking Plugins brings you to the Installed Plugins view — where you’ll see any plugins already added (or none, if it’s empty).
The green arrow points deeper into the same section — to the Add Plugins area, where you can browse and install new plugins.
The Add Plugins area lets you install new plugins by browsing the plugin directory or uploading a plugin file.
You can find plugins by searching by name or by using the tabs at the top (like Featured or Popular). When you’ve found one, click Install Now. After it installs, click Activate to turn it on.
To upload a plugin, click Upload Plugin and choose the ZIP file. Uploaded plugins are installed right away and appear in your Installed Plugins list.
This tutorial uses WPForms Lite, the free version of the WPForms plugin. It’s available directly from the plugin directory — just search “WPForms” and you’ll see it listed as “WPForms” in the results.
There’s also a Pro version with more features, but that one must be purchased, downloaded, and uploaded manually. We’re sticking with the free version here.
You can find a dedicated overview on this site — including use case comparisons and when the paid version might be worth it — by checking out WPForms Lite and Pro.
Once WPForms Lite is activated, you’ll see extra links appear under its name in the Installed Plugins list — including options like
Settings, Docs, and even a prompt to upgrade to the Pro version.
Clicking Settings will take you to a general settings screen for WPForms Lite.
This is where you can tweak things like default behavior or integrations later on, if needed.
You don’t have to adjust anything here right now — but it’s good to know where this lives in case you ever come back to it.
Some plugins — like WPForms Lite — don’t just run silently in the background.
They actually show up in your WordPress interface.
After activation, WPForms Lite adds a new menu item directly to the sidebar,
making it easier to find and access its features.
It also adds a small welcome box to the WordPress Dashboard.
This is part of the plugin’s effort to onboard new users — and helps highlight where to go next.
Once WPForms Lite is installed and activated, you’ll manage everything through the new WPForms sidebar menu.
To create your first form, just click Add New.
That’s how you launch the form builder and start creating a contact form or anything else.
Once you’ve created a form, it’ll appear under All Forms,
where you can return later to edit, delete, or duplicate it.
Everything lives in one spot — simple, clean, and beginner-friendly.
Before you can start building a form with WPForms, you’ll need to give it a name.
This can be anything you like — just something that helps you recognize the form later. For example, you might call it “Contact Form,” “Basic Inquiry,” or “Super Plain Contact Form” like in this example.
The name won’t show publicly on your website, but it helps keep things organized inside your WordPress dashboard.
Once named, you’ll choose a template to begin — either a blank form or one of the pre-made options.
After naming your form, you’ll choose a template as your starting point.
WPForms Lite gives you a few built-in options — the Simple Contact Form is a great one to begin with.
Click Use Template to instantly load the form builder with that layout.
You can customize everything later, but this gives you a clean, functional form to start from without having to build one from scratch.
Once your form is loaded, you can customize individual fields using Field Options.
Click any field on the form preview, and the sidebar will update to show its settings. From there, you can change the label, format, and other options — like whether the field is required.
This gives you full control over what users will see and how they’ll interact with your form.
To add more fields to your form, click Add Fields in the left sidebar.
You can reuse field types (like text boxes or dropdowns), or drag in a new type — like a phone number field — if it’s not already part of the form.
Some field types (like phone, address, or file uploads) are only available in the paid version. But the free version gives you plenty of standard options to create a functional contact form that lets visitors reach you.
And if you ever need more, you can always upgrade later.
Once your form looks how you want it — even if it’s just the default setup — make sure to click Save in the top right.
Saving stores all your changes, so your form is ready to use.
You can come back and update it later, but nothing goes live until it’s saved.
After saving, click Embed to add your form to a page on your site.
This button starts the process of inserting the form into WordPress content — so visitors can actually use it.
You’ll choose or create a page next.
Once you choose use a shortcode, the embed code appears in a box.
Click the copy icon to copy the shortcode — it’s now ready to paste anywhere on your site, like in a page, post, or widget area.
After copying the shortcode, click the “x” in the top-right corner of the popup.
This doesn’t take you back to the form editor —
instead, it returns you to the All Forms screen in WPForms.
From there, you’ll see a list of your saved forms,
and you can choose to view, edit, or manage any of them.
This screen shows all the forms you’ve created.
You can return here anytime to view or edit a form, or copy its shortcode again if needed.
Hover over the “+ New” link in the top WordPress admin bar, then click “Page.”
This opens a blank page. Use it as the contact page.
Enter a page title in the top field. Then paste the form shortcode into the body of the page.
Click “Publish” in the top right corner to make the page live.
If the default Block Editor feels clunky or limiting, the Classic Editor plugin can still be installed for a more streamlined editing experience.
Support for this option may be removed in the future, but at the time this tutorial was created, it remains available and functional.
The contact page is now live. It includes the form that was added using the WPForms shortcode.
At this stage, you’ve:
Installed and activated a plugin
Created a contact form
Created a blank page
Titled the page
Pasted the shortcode into it
The form works, but the page is visually basic.
It’s often much easier to build and manage pages using the Classic Editor plugin instead of the default block editor.
In the WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New using the left-hand menu.
In the search bar, type “Classic Editor.” Locate the official Classic Editor plugin and click “Install Now.”
Once the plugin finishes installing, don’t forget to activate it so it takes effect.
A quick way to access a page is to visit it directly on your site.
Navigate to the page in your browser, then click “Edit Page” from the top admin bar. This opens the page editor without needing to go through the WordPress Dashboard.
A quick way to access a page is to visit it directly on your site.
Navigate to the page in your browser, then click “Edit Page” from the top admin bar. This opens the page editor without needing to go through the WordPress Dashboard.
When the shortcode is placed correctly — without extra formatting or blocks around it — the contact form displays cleanly.
This version of the page renders the form without showing any shortcode text or layout glitches.
A lot of content online looks like it’s meant to be helpful. It might be labeled as a review, a list of top picks, or just a casual post like “I found this and it’s cool.” But in many cases, that content isn’t created to help someone make a better decision. It’s created to earn money through affiliate commissions.
What affiliate links are for
Affiliate links exist to support content by allowing someone to earn a commission when a product or service is purchased through a link they’ve shared. That’s the whole purpose. It doesn’t add cost to the buyer—and when used responsibly, it can reward content that genuinely helps.
The problem is how these links influence what gets recommended in the first place.
How incentives distort content
Some affiliate content is shaped by payouts—where higher-paying products and services get pushed harder. But more often, the problem is something else entirely: laziness.
A lot of affiliate content isn’t the result of research or thoughtful guidance. It’s based on whatever’s convenient. A product or service is already popular, someone else is promoting it, or it has an affiliate program—so it gets plugged in without much thought. There’s no testing, no real consideration of what would actually help the audience, and no accountability.
In these cases, the product or service itself might be perfectly fine. But the recommendation isn’t grounded in anything useful, and that’s what creates the disconnect. It leads to content that promotes whatever’s easiest to monetize, skips stronger alternatives that require more effort to discover, avoids mentioning downsides that could reduce clicks, and simply recycles whatever’s already trending among other affiliates.
It’s not about how much something pays. It’s about why it’s being recommended.
A product or service that pays well isn’t the problem if it actually fits the use case. But when it’s included just because it earns—or because it was the easiest thing to grab—that’s not a real recommendation. It’s content that exists to sell, not to help.
How to recognize honest affiliate content
Genuine recommendations feel different. Affiliate links are disclosed openly. Pros and cons are explained clearly, not glossed over. The explanation comes before the link. Alternatives that don’t offer commissions are still mentioned when they’re relevant. And the content doesn’t rely on pressure, urgency, or sales language to get someone to click.
When an affiliate link supports a thoughtful recommendation, it adds value. When the link is the reason something was included in the first place, the integrity of the content falls apart.
How this site handles it
Affiliate links are used here—but never as the reason something gets recommended. Some products and services pay nothing. Others pay less than their competitors. If they actually work, solve a real problem, and serve the audience this site is built for, they get included.
Payouts don’t determine what’s shown. Usefulness, reliability, and fit for the audience do.
Every recommendation on this site includes two links side by side: a clearly marked affiliate link, and a non-affiliate version. That way, anyone who wants to support the site can do so with one click—without being forced into it. And anyone who doesn’t can still access the same product or service without friction.
No popups, no fake scarcity, and no pressure. Just clear information and real options — presented with your time and trust in mind.
Why Hosting Choices Can Look Fine at First — and Still Cost You Later
Many web hosting recommendations are influenced by affiliate incentives. That influence often shapes what gets promoted — not based on what’s reliable or useful, but based on what earns commissions. To understand how that works, scroll up to Hidden Incentives in Online Recommendations.
Once that’s clear, it becomes easier to recognize common patterns in how web hosting is sold — especially when it comes to pricing, positioning, and long-term reliability.
What Is Web Hosting, Really?
Web hosting is infrastructure. It’s what keeps a website live, accessible, and functioning smoothly. It stores the site’s files, manages uptime and speed, and often determines how frustrating things get when something breaks.
A good host does its job in the background — quietly, reliably.
A bad host appears fine at first — then slowly drags performance down through downtime, slowness, or support failures.
And often, that decline is masked early on by extra-friendly onboarding.
Sales chat is responsive. Setup support feels hands-on. It’s all about getting the account active and the site online fast. But after that grace period — often right after the refund window passes — service quality shifts.
Some companies do this deliberately: prioritize new customers, while gradually neglecting existing ones.
Others just aren’t equipped to deliver consistent support at scale. Either way, the pattern is common — especially with shared hosting.
Why Shared Hosting Gets Promoted So Heavily
Shared hosting is one of the most promoted types of hosting — not because it’s reliable, but because it’s easy to sell and easy to profit from. Many hosting companies offer shared plans as a low-cost entry point. And many of those companies run affiliate programs where commissions are paid out just for generating a new customer — regardless of which plan the customer signs up for.
That means affiliates often push the cheapest plan available, because it’s easier to convert — even though the payout is the same (or nearly the same) as recommending a better option. A $2.99/month shared hosting plan can still result in a $100+ commission, because the hosting company expects that customer to stick around long enough to cover the cost.
This dynamic is why shared hosting dominates most “best web host” lists — not because it’s actually good, but because it converts easily and pays well.
Why This Site Rejects Shared Hosting Entirely
MouseClickTutorials.com does not recommend shared hosting under any circumstances — not for beginners, not for temporary projects, not for anyone.
Even when managed by capable companies, shared hosting remains too unstable, too crowded, and too limited to serve as reliable infrastructure. It introduces risks and headaches that are completely avoidable with better hosting types. The environment is unpredictable, the performance is inconsistent, and the support is often too generic to be helpful when something goes wrong.
This position isn’t based on theory — it’s based on what actually happens when shared servers are overloaded, misconfigured, or mismanaged. And even without bad intent, it’s incredibly easy for problems to creep in unnoticed. One site’s spike in traffic or bad code can affect everyone else on the server.
Shared hosting is one of the biggest reasons new site owners feel like they “did something wrong,” when the real issue is invisible under the hood. That’s not a foundation worth building on.
The Issue with “Free” Domains
Many hosting companies advertise a “free domain” when signing up for a plan. But in most cases, the domain offer includes conditions:
The domain may be registered in the host’s name rather than the customer’s.
It may be locked or tied to the hosting plan, making it difficult or expensive to transfer.
The domain becomes the anchor keeping people on subpar hosting just to keep their site online.
The fix: always register domains separately with a trusted registrar like Namecheap. That ensures full ownership and makes it easy to change hosts at any time.
Why Cheap Hosting Isn’t Really Cheap
Low introductory prices like $2.99/month are usually misleading:
Most require paying 2–3 years upfront to get that rate
Renewal rates after the initial term are much higher
Core features like backups, SSL, and live support may cost extra — or be limited
“Unlimited” plans often include vague usage caps that throttle performance as sites grow
What seems cheap upfront becomes expensive over time — in stress, in missed revenue, and in wasted hours troubleshooting problems that wouldn’t exist on better infrastructure.
And that’s not just a figure of speech. If a site owner spends 40+ hours a year dealing with slow load times, broken features, unclear issues, and back-and-forths with bad support — and if that person would be paid even minimum wage for that time — the true cost of “cheap” hosting becomes obvious.
The value of reliable hosting isn’t just technical. It’s economic. It protects time, momentum, and peace of mind.
Understanding Hosting Types — and Why This Site Only Recommends Some
There’s no universal “best,” but some types of hosting are far better suited for actual website owners — and some should be avoided entirely. Here’s a breakdown:
Shared Hosting
Low-cost, low-quality. Unpredictable performance. Limited scalability.
Often oversold and oversaturated. Even beginners should avoid it.
Managed WordPress Hosting
Built specifically for WordPress. Handles caching, updates, backups, and security automatically.
Fast, secure, and low-maintenance — ideal for most creators, freelancers, and business owners.
This is the default recommendation for a reason.
VPS Hosting (Virtual Private Server)
A private slice of a physical server. More control and flexibility, but also more responsibility.
Best for those with technical experience or specific configuration needs.
Cloud Hosting
Highly scalable and fast — if fully managed. If unmanaged, it can become overly complex.
Great for ecommerce, SaaS, or platforms expecting rapid growth, as long as the host handles the technical side.
Dedicated Hosting
An entire server for one user. Very powerful, very expensive.
Best reserved for advanced use cases with high traffic or strict infrastructure needs.
Colocation
The highest tier — full control over physical hardware inside a rented datacenter rack.
Used for enterprise infrastructure, compliance requirements, or custom network architecture.
Not relevant for most site owners.
What Actually Makes Sense for Most People
For most websites — especially anything built on WordPress — managed WordPress hosting strikes the right balance. It’s fast, secure, and far easier to manage than alternatives that require technical upkeep.
There are more powerful hosting options for those running complex infrastructure or custom apps, but managed WordPress hosting covers the needs of most creators, freelancers, small businesses, and growing projects — without the stress.
The best managed hosts don’t just check boxes. They eliminate problems before they happen.
They don’t disappear when support is needed. They don’t nickel-and-dime for features.
They just make the site work — and keep it working.
That’s the experience most people are actually looking for. And that’s the experience this site teaches people how to build toward.
Why Your Host Isn’t Just a Checkbox — and What Actually Works for Most People
Most people picking web hosting treat it like a quick checkbox.
Domain, check. Hosting, check. Done.
But your hosting provider determines how fast your site loads, how often it breaks, how secure it stays, and how painful things get when something goes wrong.
It’s infrastructure — not a formality.
And one type of hosting still gets pushed far too often — especially by affiliate blogs chasing easy commissions.
Shared Hosting
This is where MouseClickTutorials.com draws a hard line.
Shared hosting is the $2.99/month pitch that sounds beginner-friendly… but quietly causes more damage than most new site owners can spot. Your site gets dropped into a crowded server with hundreds or thousands of others, all fighting for the same limited resources.
If another site spikes in traffic or runs unstable code, your site slows down — or goes down.
Support is slow, vague, and scripted.
Problems get blamed on you, with upgrade nudges as the default fix.
It often looks fine at first. That’s the problem.
When your site slows down or glitches later, you assume it’s something you did wrong.
But it’s not. It’s the hosting.
This site does not recommend shared hosting. Not for beginners. Not for anyone. Not ever.
Managed WordPress Hosting
This is the recommended path for most people building on WordPress.
Managed WordPress hosting is built to remove technical headaches. It handles backups, caching, updates, and security automatically — so you don’t need extra plugins just to keep things stable. The best providers offer fast performance and platform-aware support teams who actually know WordPress.
It’s low-maintenance. High-reliability.
And it’s the default recommendation here because it actually works.
VPS Hosting
A virtual private server (VPS) gives you more control and power — but also more technical responsibility.
You manage server setup, patches, security, and updates.
It’s great for developers and experienced users.
It’s not ideal for beginners or creators who want to focus on building content, not managing infrastructure.
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting can be powerful, scalable, and efficient — if it’s fully managed.
Otherwise, it comes with complexity most people don’t want.
Server configuration, cost optimization, scaling logic — it’s easy to get lost in the weeds unless the platform handles those pieces for you.
Used well, cloud hosting is a strong choice for fast-growing platforms, ecommerce sites, or custom apps. But for a first site or general-purpose WordPress site, it’s often overkill.
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting gives you your own physical server — with total control and no resource sharing.
It’s powerful and expensive, and usually reserved for specialized use cases: high-traffic apps, large media platforms, or advanced infrastructure stacks.
It’s not the place to start unless you already know exactly why you need it.
The Reliable Default
For most people using WordPress — creators, freelancers, educators, business owners — managed WordPress hosting is the most useful path forward.
It’s fast. It’s secure. It scales without stress.
And it keeps your site online, protected, and supported — without you needing to touch the backend.
That’s what this site recommends.
That’s what this site teaches.
Because it actually works.
Commissions will not be earned from this link.
*Not Monetized
Commissions will not be earned from this link.
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Commissions may be earned from this link.
*Monetized
Rocket.net is the recommended starting point for most users — it’s fast, secure, and built specifically for WordPress. It handles speed, stability, and security without overwhelming you with backend tasks.
But if you’re building something more complex, running multiple applications, or just want to understand what else is out there, here are a few other hosts worth knowing about.
These hosts are grouped by how much control and infrastructure complexity they offer — starting with other options in the same managed WordPress category, then expanding into VPS, full-stack platforms, and finally, enterprise-level hosting.
Templ.io
Templ.io is another managed WordPress host — in the same category as Rocket.net. While Rocket.net is the top recommendation here, Templ.io stands out for one reason: their support team is more willing to assist with technical issues at the code level.
If a plugin breaks layout or a script throws an error, they may help you investigate what’s going wrong. They won’t write your code, but they’ll go deeper than most.
Use if you want managed WordPress hosting with an extra layer of technical support — without leaving the simplicity of this hosting tier.
KnownHost
KnownHost gives you full server-level access through managed VPS hosting. You can install custom software, run multiple apps, configure email, and handle more advanced workflows than a WordPress-only host would allow.
Some plans still use cPanel, while others may include DirectAdmin — check the specifics before choosing.
Use if you’re managing more than just a WordPress site, or need flexibility that managed WordPress doesn’t offer.
Hivelocity
Hivelocity offers managed VPS hosting with strong cPanel support, full root access, and upgrade paths into dedicated servers or colocation — all without locking you into a proprietary dashboard.
You’re not limited to WordPress, and you don’t need to give up traditional tools.
Use if you want a cPanel-friendly platform with the freedom to run mixed environments — and the ability to scale far beyond VPS later if needed.
Servebolt
Servebolt doesn’t follow the VPS/cPanel playbook. It’s built from the ground up for speed — especially for dynamic sites like WordPress or WooCommerce.
They manage performance at the stack level: memory allocation, rendering optimization, backend tuning — all handled by their proprietary infrastructure.
Use if you’re running a high-traffic or ecommerce-heavy site where raw speed is a top priority and you’re okay with skipping traditional server tools.
Hetzner
Hetzner is known for high performance at extremely competitive prices — especially in the EU. They offer both dedicated hardware and cloud instances, but everything is self-managed. No hand-holding, no support for setup or configuration.
It’s powerful, but entirely your responsibility.
Use if you know what you’re doing and want total ownership of your environment for speed, scale, or regulatory control.
Colocation Providers
Colocation means you own the hardware. You rent rack space in a datacenter — they supply power, cooling, and bandwidth, but everything else is up to you.
This isn’t a web hosting plan — it’s raw infrastructure.
Used by SaaS companies, media platforms, and organizations with strict compliance, latency, or scaling needs.
Providers in this space include Hivelocity, PhoenixNAP, Equinix, Digital Realty, ColoCrossing, and OVHcloud.
Use if you already know exactly why you need this. If you’re not sure, you don’t.
Recommended resources are rated using a system inspired by traffic lights. This system makes it easier to find what’s actually useful for building websites, streamlining workflows, and boosting productivity across different areas. Resources are evaluated for their quality, reliability, and how much they benefit MouseClickTutorials’ audience.
Green Light resources are intentionally few. Very few resources are truly Green Light worthy, and from those, only a small mix is chosen. That’s deliberate — people only have so much time, energy, and money, so this tier exists to serve the best interests of MouseClickTutorials’ audience. If a resource appears here, it’s because it delivers proven value for those learning and building along with this site.
Yellow Light resources are also excellent, but not all are meant for the very top. Most wouldn’t make the cut for Green Light, though a few could. Their placement here doesn’t take away their value — it reflects the balance between curation, context, and the need to keep Green Light small and focused. Yellow Light provides more worthwhile resources that can still help this audience, without stretching the top tier too far.
There’s no “red light” category here. Low-quality or harmful resources aren’t listed at all. This approach is intentional, for a few reasons:
Practicality: Listing every bad product or service would flood the site with noise and make it harder to spot what’s actually valuable.
Liability: Calling out poor options by name risks legal issues like defamation. Focusing on trusted recommendations avoids that problem.
Awareness: In other parts of the site, industries like web hosting and affiliate marketing are explained in depth — so readers learn how to avoid pitfalls and spot shady practices without needing a blacklist.
Commissions will not be earned from this link.
*Not Monetized
Commissions will not be earned from this link.
*Not Monetized
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The content on this site is built around clarity, purpose, and respect for the reader’s time. Tutorials are designed to support real progress — setting up the essentials, understanding how the digital side of things actually works, choosing reliable products and services, building a site aligned with personal goals, and learning how to earn ethically online.
If something here proves useful, feel free to share it with anyone who might benefit. Thoughtful recommendations help good resources reach more people trying to build online with integrity.
No email newsletter. No pop-ups. No “sign up to unlock.” That choice is intentional.
Forced funnels, artificial urgency, and inbox campaigns dressed up as generosity are not part of this model. Content stays fully accessible — no gatekeeping, no gimmicks — because real value shouldn’t come with strings attached. Trust is earned through usefulness, not pressure.
Sustainable growth comes from honest content, ethical recommendations, and long-term relationships. That’s the model here, and it’s the only one worth building on.
