WordPress has grown tremendously in popularity over the past decade, making it one of the most trusted platforms in existence today. According to Similartech, 7,344,631 WordPress websites are built on WordPress.
Creating a WordPress website might seem like an intimidating task at first, but it’s actually quite simple. With WordPress’ intuitive interface and thousands of available plugins, it’s easier than ever to create a beautiful, effective website that does exactly what you want it to do.
Here are eight simple steps that will help you put together your own site in no time at all.
How to Build a Website in 8 easy steps
1) Select the right domain name
Selecting a domain name for your business, product or service is an important step in any online marketing strategy. Ideally, you should aim for something short, memorable and easy to spell. You also want it to reflect your brand and set yourself apart from competitors.
While you can always change your domain name down the road (or have multiple options at hand), it’s important to get it right when you first start out so that you don’t have to keep going back and changing things later on.
2) Choose your web hosting provider
Once you’ve chosen your domain name, it’s time to pick a web host. If you have no clue what that means, it simply means that you need somewhere on the internet (called server space) where your site will live.
Your hosting provider stores and serves up your files – like images and videos – so users can view on their devices.
3) Install WordPress with one click
WordPress is easy to install, even for non-technical users. There are many options for installing WordPress, including one-click installs that make getting started with WordPress website development is easy.
While you could download and upload WordPress manually, using a one-click install simplifies much of the setup process.
4) Add Content
Before you can build a functional WordPress site, you’ll need content. This could be text, images, or something more complex like audio or video files.
Many templates come with starter pages that make it easy to fill your site with content right away. If not, you’ll need to know how to add posts and pages yourself; search Google for WordPress trends, tutorials and work through some of these basic training lessons before moving on.
5) Customize your theme
One of the best things about WordPress is how customizable it is. Themes, widgets, and plugins allow you to completely alter what your site looks like, how users interact with it, and even how it works (to an extent).
While most themes have their own set of settings. Customizing your theme by using either custom CSS or a plugin that allows you to override certain aspects of your theme’s code. A good example of these types of plugins are Genesis Framework or Headway themes.
The navigation menu is probably one of your most important design decisions, as it is how your users will move through your site. A good menu should make it easy for them to find their way around while also being aesthetically pleasing. There are tons of pre-made themes available, which will allow you to set up some basic navigation on your homepage quickly and easily.
7) Install popular plugins for extra functionality
One of WordPress’s main selling points is its extensibility. There are thousands of plugins you can use to add extra functionality and features, or to simply make your site more attractive. To get started with these third-party tools, browse around on AddPlugins and find one that suits your needs.
You can also search for specific functions using Google and directly download an appropriate plugin from its developer’s website. Once installed, you can activate it in your WordPress panel by going to Plugins > Add New. WIth these plugins simply your custom WordPress development services and leverage the advanced features of WordPresss,
8) Maintain your site with regular updates
It’s easy to forget your site maintenance after you launch, but regular updates are vital for attracting and keeping visitors. The SEO and UX benefits of regular updates are clear: If your content is frequently updated, Google might crawl it more frequently and rank it higher on search results pages; visitors will see that your site is active and come back regularly if they know there’s new stuff happening all the time.
Conclusion
Although setting up your own website might seem like a daunting task, with eight simple steps and an understanding of what you need, you can quickly and easily get started. Try out some of these tips, and then try building your own website – all it takes is just one click!
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