Like the saying goes, "Never write any software except what you're selling." If someone else makes it, use that one. For me, I've extended that to hosting and configuring. Use the pushbutton Wordpress installation and accept the defaults. (And write a custom theme, of course.) Use the default email options. Follow the host's recommendations for DNS configuration.

If setting this stuff up were my job, I'd want to understand it. It's not, so I don't.