Millions of users are going online every single day. The Internet has become a convenient place for users to perform different transactions. It is indeed powerful. Businesses can take advantage of such power by creating websites.
Websites are online representations of companies. These websites enable customers to find what they need without driving miles away. As a result, having websites offer convenience to online users. Companies that use custom web design for their websites have a more personal touch. Customers can relate to this.
Website Building with WordPress
Building a website involves a lot of steps. Those who build websites for a living already know the basics. But, there are also those who are beginners in the field. They are not yet familiar with the process of building websites. Many of them believe that they need to be experts at coding.
Some of these beginners are actually small business owners. These owners may not have the capability yet to hire their own custom web design team. As a result, they may opt to do it themselves.
Thankfully, WordPress exists. Beginners in the field of website building can use WordPress to create a website. Small business owners can build their own websites through WordPress.
Check out the following tips on how to build a WordPress website:
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Tip #1 – Domain Name Registration
Think of the Internet as a particular city. The city has different buildings. Each building has a specific address. A domain is like an address for your website on the Internet. It is how users can go to your website through the browser. You can find the domain name on the address bar where you see the “www.”Having a domain name is your first task. The domain name should be easy to remember for your users. In most cases, this means you have to go with a shorter domain name. There is a higher chance of users visiting your website if its domain name is easy to remember. This leads to higher traffic, which can then affect your search engine ranking.
Getting a domain name is quite easy. You can reserve domain names through hosting companies or through registrars. GoDaddy seems to be the most popular among website builders. The cost of having a domain may vary. Most often than not, it comes with a yearly fee. If you cannot pay the fee, the hosting company or registrar can stop the operation of the domain name. As a result, users cannot access your website.
In some cases, you may already have a domain name in mind. But, someone beat you to registering it. The domain name you want may not already be available. Registering the same name is not possible. So, you will have to make another name again. Go with something short, easy and, if possible, relevant to what you do. Take note that having a keyword in your domain name can also help improve your SEO rankings.
As a beginner, you would want things to be understandable and less confusing. Going with a hosting company or registrar that has a user-friendly domain management interface will be great for beginners. With a simple interface, you can check your domains. Managing your domains can be easier if you register them with the same provider that will be hosting your website. We will talk about hosting providers in the next tip.
While managing domains is easier in this case, you can also keep things separate. Not registering your domain name with your hosting provider makes changing providers easy. That is if you are interested in changing a provider any time in the future.
Once you figure out the main points of domain name registration, you can proceed. The next tip is all about choosing the hosting provider.
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Tip #2 – Hosting Provider
A hosting provider is a company that makes sure your website appears on the Internet. They offer services that will help your website to appear on different browsers. Choosing a hosting provider is an important step to take. You cannot skip it.
The hosting provider has servers that store the data of your website. When you engage in the hosting services of a provider, you rent a space in their servers.
When it comes to the cost, it does vary, too, just like any service. Expect to pay more if you want a higher level of quality with the hosting services you are taking advantage of. But, of course, a high-quality hosting service also means that your website is in good hands. Quality hosting providers offer more when it comes to securing your website data. This means that your website data is safe and secure against malware and other threats.
At the same time, your website will be faster. There is also a low risk of your website experiencing significant downtime. Hosting providers can also manage your website for you. They also offer plenty of hosting features that you can make use of.
Another thing that hosting providers can give you is an SSL certificate. Having SSL certificates is almost synonymous with secure websites nowadays. With SSL certificates, your website becomes more safe and secure. This becomes useful when you are selling products via your website. Having SSL certificates will make donations through your website more secure, too. As a result, your customers will not worry about their money going down the drain for these transactions. The most important is that SSL certificates can affect your search engine ranking. The more secure your website is, the better ranking you will have in search engine results pages.
Choosing the cheapest hosting option for your first website will be a wise move for any beginner. Your website may not need a lot of file storage space or bandwidth at this point. This does not mean to say that you do not go with a reliable hosting provider. Find a reliable hosting provider. Check out their hosting services and features. As your business grows, you may also expect a boost in your profits. When this happens, you can invest in the growth of your website. You may upgrade your hosting services to accommodate such growth.
Going with a hosting provider that is also a WordPress host makes the entire process easy. Beginners can choose this route. But, it is not necessary, though.
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Tip #3 – WordPress Installation
Once you already have a hosting provider, it is time to think about CMS. CMS stands for Content Management System. This software manages and publishes the content of your company’s website. The CMS is not only responsible for creating and managing content. It can even allow website builders to create navigation menus, blog posts, and more.Of course, the most popular CMS among website developers is WordPress. Both newbies and experts alike love this popular CMS. WordPress is also probably the best CMS available out there. It is a structure that enables you to make a website the easy way.
What makes WordPress an awesome CMS is because it is a free, open-source platform. At the same time, it is secure, powerful, and user-friendly. The development of WordPress is a result of contributions from many developers and designers. This is possible because of WordPress being an open-source platform. Such contributions include creating themes and plugins. Improvements in the WordPress core software are also the results of these contributions. Today, WordPress powers a lot of websites to the tune of millions.
Of course, a learning curve has to happen for beginners. The interface is simple, making it easy for them to create a website on their own. But, there is a need for you to gain familiarity with the different aspects of WordPress. Familiarity will help make using the platform easier over time.
Do not think, though, that WordPress or any other CMS will build the website for you. You are the one who will make the website. WordPress is only a tool to help you achieve your goal of building your company’s website. You will have to think about what content or image you will publish through WordPress. Changing how your website looks can be possible with this CMS. But, you have to be the one to think about what you want for the website’s appearance.
Mind you, beginners are not the only ones using WordPress for building websites. Even top companies use it, too. This particular CMS has millions of downloads and installations, cementing its popularity.
You will need to install WordPress on the server where your website is. If your hosting provider is also a WordPress host, you do not have to worry about the installation. It is already on the server. Otherwise, you will have to install the CMS on the server yourself.
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Tip #4 – WordPress Themes
The WordPress Themes are responsible for how your website looks. A WordPress theme is a collection of CSS, HTML, Javascript, and PHP files. These files are responsible for holding your website’s content together. It is necessary for the presentation of your website’s content. As such, it affects what your users can see on their browsers when they visit your website.
WordPress offers a lot of themes. Many of them are free to download. But, you can also opt to pay for a premium theme you prefer. After all, choosing a theme is all about your preference. It may also be about how suitable it is for your company and your target audience. There are even website builders that change their themes from time to time. Choose a theme that suits your needs and preferences. You can always change it afterward.
Setting up a WordPress theme is quite easy. The process involves theme installation instructions. You just have to follow these instructions to the tee.
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Tip #5 – Content
Your website needs content. You have to be ready, though. Adding content is the most time-consuming phase in the custom web design building process. Take note that the WordPress theme set up in the previous step does not include real content. What you see there is only a demo content. You should replace it as soon as possible.
When it comes to content, you can add pages and posts. A page contains content that does not change often. For instance, the website’s About Us page tells your company’s mission, goals, and more. They do not change from time to time.
On the other hand, a post is an article that aims to provide information about a specific topic. Each post has a specific publish date, with the most recent one being on top of the list. Furthermore, you can also add content through the use of Widgets. Widgets are great for adding content, such as testimonials or slideshows.
What you publish on your website is all up to you. Remember, content is king. No matter how attractive your website’s custom web design is, low-quality content can still turn users off.
Proweaver Uses WordPress in Building Websites for Clients
When creating websites for you and other clients, we also use WordPress. If you want to focus more on the business side, you can leave the website creation to us. Our custom web design team can put up the website you envision for your company. We also have our writers who are ready to add creative and engaging content for your website.
Contact us today! Our staff will be happy to discuss our web solutions with you.