Table of Contents
Introduction
We are living in an age, where everything seem to be simple, yet it is not. For everything we need to do, there is help of the internet with us. It depends on us how we are going to use the information provided. In this article, we are going to discuss about creating a website. Whether you want to create a new website or simply improve the old one, you must know you can build any website without knowing anything about web development, design or coding. Yes, you heard that right, most of the people assume that building a website is going to be complicated and confusing. However, it is not. You can easily build a website by using some simple, yet essential rules and of course the resources. You know there are about over 200 million active websites, and a lot of them were made by regular folk like you and me.
Before anything you should know what the types of Websites are:
Deciding what type of website you should make is an important step as it will help you in figuring out how your website should look and what you want on your website. Honestly, there are numerous websites out there and today, we are going to cover a few for your knowledge.
A. Magazine websites
A magazine website is something which features photos, articles, and videos which are informational and educational for their audience. We know in the last two decades, things have changed, the magazine industry has changed from a print-only platform to largely digital format. This is the reason magazine websites are becoming popular and works well for informational websites such as for publications from universities and organizations. You magazine website must look like a magazine and you can start it by building a basic framework. Audience who land on your page should see a similar layout no matter what day they are landing.
B. Business Website
As the name suggests, it’s a website which is entirely devoted to represent a specific business. This kind of website must be branded like the business with same logo and positioning. And, it must clearly the types of products or services the business offers. Well, we don’t need to elaborate this but, every business out there should have a website and most of you must have seen business mentioning their websites. It’s a widespread expectation from a customer that you at least have a website and when they Google your business looking for more information, they’ll find a website. Honestly, if a business doesn’t have a website it makes them look less professional or legitimate.
C. Ecommerce
An E-commerce website is nothing but an online shopping site, from where people can order goods and make payments as per the convenience. These stores generally function as standalone websites, but can also be combined with a blog or corporate website. E-commerce website is best if you have products to sell. You can really enjoy the benefits as you don’t need to have a traditional bricks-and-mortar shop with things.
D. Blog
A blog is an informational website where regularly updated posts/articles are posted in an informal, conversational style. The blogs will be presented in reverse chronological order (newest blog posts first). These website when first introduced were mainly used as a type of online diary. People used to come and share what they ate for breakfast, what they did in a day, or even sharing their random thoughts, and so on. But now it has taken another dimension, blogs are much more than that. Blogs aren’t just for fun anymore, because now you can actually make money from a blog by adding ads and affiliate links.
Blogs can be written on a wide variety of topics. Some popular blogging niches comprise:
- Lifestyle
- Technology
- Food/Recipes
- Parenting
- Entrepreneurship
- Finances/Budgeting
- Makeup and beauty
- Health/Fitness
- Travel
Some popular examples of blogs include WPBeginner, Pinch of Yum, TechCrunch, and Huffington Post.
So, for the beginners I am writing this ultimate guide or you can say a tutorial that shows you how to make or create a website. I am going to take you step by step through the whole process from the very beginning. I will be covering everything from the software to the web page design to the final touches so that you are able to launch your website successfully. Today anyone can make a website, regardless of technical skill level, so will walk you through making a website-step-by-step. Let’s dive in!
Things which you need to build a website:
- Domain name
- Website hosting
- WordPress
For developing a functional website, these three things are most important. Firstly you need to secure a domain name (web address) and a web hosting account. These two things will ensure that your website is fully accessible to others. Once you have domain and hosting, you can create a website. It is generally recommended to create a WordPress website as it is the most popular website building platform.
Here is Step-by-Step Guide to build a Website:
- Step #1: Pick a domain name
- Step #2: Register and choose a hosting provider
- Step #3: Create a website using WordPress
- Step #4: Design a website for maximum impact
- Step #5: Write and prepare your content
- Step #6: Test your website before and after launch
1. Choose a Domain Name
A domain name is the bit of the URL which identifies a website. For example, xyz.com. You must have seen it in many places or entered it in many times. You can register them separately on various sites such as GoDaddy and Domain.com. However, most website builders provide it for free and offer to do it for you when you sign up with them. Later they charge a few extra bucks.
The way website is presented on the internet is because of the domain name, so it does counts. Below mentioned are some of the rules of thumb to choose a domain name.
Make it relevant. Obviously, it has to be relevant to attract customers to your website. It’s worth mentioning that if you don’t choose a domain name correctly, you may lose customers. So, you have to make sure that your domain name matches what visitors see when they visit your site.
Keep it short. Short and sweet names are worth remembering. So, if you like your visitors to comes again to visit your website, don’t pick a domain that’s dozens of characters long. One, it will look silly and other thing is no-one will remember it to visit it.
Avoid numbers. Okay now this could be tricky because some people like to add numbers. However, it is generally advisable to avoid numbers in domain names. It looks unprofessional and adds another element for people not to remember.
Check for the name of the branding. Make sure the same branding does not exist already. As you know there are a millions of websites out there on the internet and in order to be unique you have to select a name different from them. Millions of domains are already taken and you have to check whether yours will stand out.
So, once you’re sure about a domain name, simply register it as part of the sign up process.
2. Register your domain name
Once you are okay with the domain name selected, you’ll also need website hosting service. Website hosting means it is a service which hosts and stores your website files (content) on a secure server, which is always up and running. Remember, without a web host, your site will not be accessible to the visitors.
You can choose to have an affordable and reliable web hosting service for new websites. Honestly, it costs less than a cup of coffee. But it is considered to be an important investment for your website success. It doesn’t matter which website hosting company you sign up with, what you have to make sure is that it has the following features:
- FREE domain name with SSL (for security)
- Unlimited or unmetered bandwidth (no traffic limitations)
- One-click-install for WordPress (free)
- Custom email accounts
- Customer support, preferably 24/7 live chat
So, choose a website hosting with the following things above, you’ve likely found a good provider. There are many website hosting providers out there. They offer free domain registration and getting a domain name and hosting from the same company will save your time and money.
3. Create a Website with Wordpress
Now that you are all with the domain name and registration, now you’ll need to install software to allow yourself to have a website that you can manage, customize and build as you like. No matter which website you want to create, it can be a blog, online business or even an e-commerce site, WordPress has a great choice of options to help you run the back end of your website. WordPress is among the most popular website building platforms available on the internet. You will be surprise to know that it powers over 30% of all websites today.
The reason why people choose WordPress is because it makes it incredibly simple to build a website from scratch. With its pre-installed tools you can easily customize the appearance and features of your site by installing the right theme and plugins. And you what the best part of having a WordPress site is, you don’t need to know any code or be tech savvy to do this. Moreover, it is available for free and it’s also one of the best all-around software platforms that is available for creating websites.
The WordPress software is highly customizable, simple to navigate, extremely flexible, and easy to learn, and this is the reason most of the people and beginners love WordPress. In fact WordPress software powers some of the most well-known and respected websites on the internet. It is because of its popularity that there are thousands of website design themes and plugins available on the internet for WordPress to help you get your website looking and running just the way you want. Apart from that you can set the functionality as you need to get your website and running quickly and smoothly.
4. Design a website for maximum impact
Visual effect has its own important and it is no secret for anyone who is struggling to attract online traffic and increase conversion ratio. Your visitors will leave website within seconds if the first look doesn’t appeal to them. And, what will happen if your website is color-coordinated and well-structured, as compared to landing on a bland all-over-the-place webpage. So, this is how visual works.
This is the reason while building a website from scratch, you must work on its web design keeping in view the general aesthetics of your brand. However, the visual effects depends on the type of website you’ll building and it may limit your options to a specific number of pre-made themes and templates.
Best practices of Website Design mandate that you:
- Ensure that web design is optimized for a mobile device
- Make sure that your plan makes navigation easy
- Use a well-structured design
- Enrich the web design with unique elements
- Make sure that web design fits your business’ objectives
Finding the right theme
The theme that you choose should always suit the style and brand persona of your business. It must impress your visitors and convince them to spend more time on your website. Remember, if your website doesn’t evoke confidence and trust, it will not encourage visitors to come again on your site.
Some of the important points to consider while making a list of the features:
Clear navigation: It is important to have an accessible site where your visitors can find and access the info they need quickly.
Search bar: Search bar on the website helps your visitors navigate your site easily.
E-commerce support: If you are selling something, this feature is important.
Social media integration: Social media is something which can bring traffic to your site so making it essential to incorporate sharing icons onto your website.
SEO optimization: All these efforts are vain if you are not optimizing your website for the search engines.
Enquiry form: If you want to generate and collect leads, contact info from potential buyers is what you need. You’ll have to put up a contact form as well.
Comments section: You must know what you audience is thinking of your content. So, out a comment section and encourage customers to comment on it.
5. Adding content to your new WordPress Website
Kudos to you for running the website with your domain name, hosting, WordPress installation and themes. Now it’s high time that you bring your site to life. This can be done by creating content for it. Let’s keep this section real simple and cover the basics.
Add pages to your website and edit them
The first page which you generally need and people normally look for is an “About Us” page. It should be put at the top of page in the main navigation.
To create an About Us page you will need to…
- Click on the Pages link, this you will find on the left hand side of your WordPress dashboard. Then click on the “Add New” option underneath.
- The WordPress will take you to a text editing page. This will be similar to what you would use on Mircrosoft Word or on Gmail.
Add posts to your website and edit them
Posts which you need to add are very different to pages. Suppose you have a blog section on your website, you need to create your blog content on a post page. This way posts will then appear listed in your blog feed page.
Creating a post
On the left of your WordPress dashboard, you can simply hover over the Post link, and then click on “Add New”. Same as creating a page, you will see the same text editor layout. Here you can write your blog content in the large white space.
Creating a category for your blog post
Categories and sub-categories are important and WordPress gives you the ability to sort your blog posts into categories. You can organize your blog content into relevant topics, subjects and sections.
You will need to create a menu, if you want to add any categories pages, or posts to your main navigation bar. Go to the left of your WordPress dashboard, hover over Appearance > then clicking on Menu.
- On the Menu page, click on the text link “create new menu”.
- Give your menu a name and then click on the “Create Menu” button.
- After that add in the pages you want on that particular menu.
- Once you’re finished, press the “Save Menu” button.
6. Test your website
This step should be done throughout your web design cycle. As testing what you have done will keep you out from the last minute hustles. You must test your web pages as soon as you design them. Always remember that different brands of mobile phones do not actually have the same browser. So, make sure just test your site with whatever phone you have. And, if you have access to both an iPhone as well as an Android, check your site with both. Also, if you want to make sure and improve the chances of your website to work fine in the future versions of all web browsers, consider validating the code for your web pages.
Final words
Congratulations for successfully launching our website. Keep note on one thing, remain improving your website now and then to give your customers a hassle-free experience. A good website is never finished. You’ll see. The life of a WordPress site is a steady circle of stages six and seven. So, with a bit of theme customization and installation of plugins can be done for a good measure.
