Here is the shortcut that will show you how to make a website in 6 quick steps that no website designer wants you to know. You can use an out-of-the-box theme, plug it in, add your content and there you go, you’ve got a website, with no coding or web design knowledge required.
The very first thing to do is pin this blog to Pinterest so you can find it and refer back to it anytime.
Your WordPress CMS (Content Management System) allows you to log in and add your own products, images, and content.
Don’t think you can DIY it?
Stay with me and I will show you how to make a website free of cost that looks like a pro did it.
There is a disclaimer though. There is a very good reason why people hire out this job.
It can be harder than it looks.
There are a lot of big decisions to make, such as choosing your domain name, deciding on what type of theme to purchase, with what type of functionality to add and ensuring you don’t choose a dud with loads of coding bugs and then there is setting it all up.
It does take a certain knack, but for the hardcore DIY’er with time on their hands it can be done.
So, give it a try and see how you go.
STEP 1: Choosing a Platform
With over 74 million sites operating on the WordPress platform, it is hard to deny that they are one of the leading website platforms in the world.
WordPress has thousands of themes and plugins at its disposal making the platform capable of handling a simple blog website to a full e-Commerce set up.
What we love most about WordPress? It is totally free. Yep, no ongoing fees, costs or charges. Unlike Squarespace, Shopify, BigCommerce and the like, you won’t have any monthly fees to pay and you’ll be able to host your website on your own hosting account which means you’ll never have any issues accessing it.
Don’t worry, you if feel like you have no idea about any of this, you’ll get the hang of it as you go. What I love about WordPress is if there’s something it can’t do out of the box you’ll usually be able to find a plug-in (or 200) that solves the problem. You’ll also have access to massive selection of site templates (called themes) Some templates cost money, but many are available for free. However, I don’t recommend the free ones.
You’ll also be able to have your own domain name, and email addresses.
Step 2: Set Up Your Domain and Hosting:
Before you can start setting up your website and selling online, you need a domain name and website hosting.
This can be done in the one place with Site Ground. We love Site Ground and use them for all of our businesses.
Register with Site Ground and pick your domain name (making sure it is available for use), select your hosting package (we recommend the basic package to start with as you can always go up) and then checkout.
In the additional extras boxes, we recommend the privacy upgrade as this will keep your more personal details confidential in searches but all the others you can get for free later on.
Step 3: Download Your Free WordPress Package:
Now that you have signed up with Site Ground and secured your domain name, you can download your free WordPress file from the cPanel (Control Panel) area.
Go to the WordPress tab and enter your details as prompted and click on “Install WordPress”. This will give you all the access you need to your WordPress site in just a few clicks.
Step 4: Pick Your Theme:
This is probably the trickiest part of your website build, and it isn’t even that tricky! The hardest part will be choosing your theme as there are 1000’s and 1000’s. Que an overwhelming amount of choice.
With thousands of compatible WordPress themes to choose from, how do you know which one is going to be best?
Pop over to Theme Forest by clicking here to get started and look for themes based on the following essentials:
– It needs to be responsive
– Ensure it is not to clunky and complicated, simple is better
– Check it is compatible with Woo-commerce if you are selling stuff
– Have a read of the comments area to check feedback on the developer
– Check the star rating, I always search by themes rated only 4-5 stars
Or you can take a shortcut and go with Divi from Elegant Themes. We use it and think is great for creating a website for your business. There is even a massive Facebook group dedicated to it.
Step 5: Install Your Theme To Your WordPress Site:
Once you have selected and purchased your ideal theme, you will need to upload it to your WordPress site. You will need to download the theme package to your computer so you can upload the files to your site.
Once you have done this, you are ready to upload your theme to your website. You can do this by going to your Plugins section of your WordPress website and follow the prompts to upload the theme.
Once that is done, you are free to make changes and add your content into your site.
Step 6: Install Useful Plugins:
The beauty of WordPress is there are countless plugins you can add to your site to give you amazing features and capabilities that you never thought possible. Probably the first, and most important, plugin we recommend installing is:
WordPress SEO
WordPress SEO is not just an SEO plugin, it is the complete website optimisation package. Apart from adding titles and descriptions to your articles, it also allows you to add open graph meta data, do page analysis, publish xml sitemap, and so much more. It is easy to install and setup and that’s why we use it on all our websites.
Backup Buddy
BackupBuddy is the easiest and most beginner friendly WordPress backup plugin. It allows you to quickly setup automatic backup schedule for your website. You can store your backups on the cloud and sleep easily, knowing all your content is backed up.
W3 Total Cache
Your site’s speed plays an important role in search engine rankings. W3 Total Cache helps you optimize your WordPress site for speed and performance. It allows you to easily setup page and browser caching, compress pages for quicker downloads, and setup a content delivery network for your static files.
Limit Logins
By default, a user can try to login into your site with as many incorrect attempts as they want. Most hack attempts usually rely on breaking into your site’s admin area by using password lists. Limit Login Attempts simply puts a limit on how many times a user can try to login. After a given number of login attempts it locks down the admin area for a limited time.
Wordfence
Wordfence starts by checking if your site is already infected and can make your site up to 50 times faster. Wordfence Security is 100% free.
Google Analytics by Yoast
Do you want to track how many visitors you have? Do want to know where they come from and what they do on your site? Google Analytics is the de-facto standard for measuring visitors on your site, and much more. Adding Google Analytics to your website is as easy as pie with the Google Analytics by Yoast WordPress plugin. • Simply add the Google Analytics tracking code to your site • Track 404 error pages and user searches • Get easy dashboards in your WordPress install • Set up specific reports for all sorts of actions.
Facebook Conversion Pixel
Facebook’s recommended plugin for inserting Facebook Conversion Pixel code into Posts, Pages, or any other post types. Conversion tracking helps businesses measure the return on investment of their Facebook Ads by reporting on the actions people take after the ads are served.
WP Smush It
This plugin in compresses all the images stored on your WordPress. This can save you space. It can save 30% to 40% per image.
Contact Form 7
This is a contact form that users of your site can fill out to contact you. You can customize each field to fit your needs. You can place it anywhere on your site with a short code.
So what do you think?
Are you ready to give it a go and make your own website?
Here are the quick steps:
- Register your domain name and hosting, use Site Ground for this.
- Pop over to Elegant Themes and choose a theme. My recommendation is Divi. Check it out by clicking here
- Site Ground will automatically install WordPress for you, so simply log in and install your theme and then set everything up.
