HOW TO MAKE A WEBSITE
HOW TO MAKE A WEBSITE
3 Simple Steps to Make Your Own Website:
You'll learn
how to...
1. Choose a website building platform
2. Choose a domain name (www.) and host
3. Setup, design and tweak your website
STEP #1: Choose Your Website Platform
At the
end of this guide, you should have fully working (and customizable) website
that should take no more than 20 to 30 minutes.
This guide is perfect for
people who’re interested in creating a…
- Business website
- Personal website
- Blog
If you want to start an online
store, read this guide instead.
BUT, before you start worrying
about colour schemes, domain name and web hosting, you’ve got to decide what
platform you’re going to build your website with.
What do I mean by “platform”?
Well, back in 2004 when I got
started with web development, most sites were built using HTML (code), CSS and
even Flash. These took a lot of time to learn and were tricky to master.
That’s why most people still
think creating a website from scratch is difficult or requires a lot of coding
and design skills – but that’s no longer true!
In 2016, content management
systems (CMS) like WordPress have made creating a website accessible to everyone.
To put simply, a content
management system (or website building platform) is a user-friendly platform
for building websites and managing your own online content, instead of using a
bunch of loose HTML pages.
Most Popular Site Building Platforms in 2017
Image and data credit: OpenSourceCMS.com
As you can see from the graph
above, nearly
half of the websites on the Internet are running on the WordPress
website platform.
Just look at these recent
statistics made by W3 Techs and BuiltWith.
Why WordPress and not website builders?
Because at this point there are
no better/easier ways to build a website… But more importantly:
- #1. It’s totally FREE, with many layouts/themes to choose from.
WordPress doesn’t cost a dime
to download or install, and there’s a huge community who have designed beautiful themes and templates,
making it easy to get going fast. You’ll never run out of uniqueness…
- #2. It’s VERY beginner-friendly.
If you know how to use
Microsoft Word, you already know how add your own content. WordPress can be
expanded with free plugins to handle just about any site you can imagine –
from gorgeous business pages to social networking sites. With “plugins”
you’ll be able to add contact forms, subscription forms, image galleries and so
on for your website – pretty simple, huh?
- #3. Small or large site? Great for both.
From basic blogs to beautiful
business sites and online stores, WordPress can handle just about any kind of
website. WordPress is used by eBay, Mozilla, Reuters, CNN, Google Ventures and
even NASA.
- #4. Your site will be ‘responsive’. Meaning it’ll work on mobiles & tablets, too.
The website you build will
instantly be responsive, looking great on every mobile device, smartphone and
tablet. No need to hire a web developer for that.
- #5. HUGE support and developer community available to help.
With so many people using the
platform (Webmasters, Bloggers, Theme developers and Plugin creators), it’s
easy to find QUICK help when you need it. In addition, WordPress has lots of
free resources both available on Youtube and their support forum.
In fact,
I built WebsiteSetup.org on
WordPress, too. Below are samples of homepage and ‘blog’ page (it used to be
blue, now it’s orange).
Of course, there are other website building / CMS platforms, too.
But, I would still use
WordPress.
Drupal is
a very powerful platform that is popular with web developers and experienced
coders, but it comes with a very steep learning curve that makes it a bad
choice for beginners.
Joomla is
similar to WordPress and works great for websites too, but you’ll need at least
a little bit of technical coding to make it work the way you want.
If you want more details, I’ve
put together a pretty comprehensive comparison between WordPress, Joomla and
Drupal.
If for some reason you don’t
want to build your site with WordPress, check out my Drupal, Joomla and HTML5
guides as well. They are all FREE to use.
For beginners, I suggest sticking to WordPress.
It’s the easiest platform I’ve
ever worked with, but it’s flexible enough to suit everyone from small business
owners, and freelancers to creative artists and bloggers.
I would look no further than
WordPress.
In Step 2, I’ll
walk you through the process of choosing a domain name and finding a space to
host your site.
In Step
3, I’ll show you how to install and customize your WordPress
website. Don’t worry – I’ll walk you through the process, with lots of images
as a reference.
If you have any questions/suggestions
for this guide don’t hesitate to contact me. Remember: I’m here to help!
P.S. Don’t download/install
WordPress yet, you’ll need to do it in Step #3.
- A domain name (a web address like yoursitename.com)
- Hosting (a service that connects your site to the internet)
The WordPress platform itself
is FREE, but a domain name and hosting will cost you around $3 – $5 a month.
However it costs less than a coffee, so it won’t break the bank.
Owning your own domain name
looks far more professional than having your site on someone else’s domain
(like yourbusiness.my-free-website.com), and it’s super affordable, too.
Plus, having your own hosting
will also make sure your website loads quickly and won’t go down for hours at a
time (pretty important for everyone who visits your pages.)
Where do I get a domain name and hosting?
I’ve
mostly used www.Bluehost.com as
a web hosting and domain registrar for myself and for my web development
projects.
Disclosure: Because I’ve used Bluehost and
found their hosting great, all links to Bluehost are referral links. I’ll
earn a commission if you make a purchase and you’ll get a
discounted price. This is how I keep WebsiteSetup.org up and running.
Their basic website hosting
costs less than a movie ticket ($2.75/mo) and they throw in a FREE domain
name (a nice perk to have).
Of course you can try other web
hosting providers and even try to host your site by yourself, but it’s a
very complicated process and often wouldn’t be capable of serving your
website visitors. So save yourself some money and get a proper host that
meets WordPress requirements.
When you get a domain name (and
hosting), you’ll also get a personal email account(s): You@YourSite.com – way
more professional than a generic Gmail or Yahoo address.
Already have a domain name and
hosting? Go ahead and skip to step 3, where I’ll explain how you can set up
your website.
What kind of domain name should I pick?
As an easy starting point:
- If you’re making a website for your business, your domain name should match your company name. For example: YourCompanyName.com
- If you’re planning to set up a website for yourself, then YourName.com can be a great option.
For this site (WebsiteSetup), I
chose WebsiteSetup.org
Domain names usually end with
.com, .org or .net, but in recent months, a huge amount of domain extensions
(the end part of the web address, like .com) have come out, ranging from
.agency to .pizza.
My best
advice? Avoid the weird extensions and go with .com, .net or
.org unless they perfectly describe what you have to offer – and even
then, see if you can find a more common name.
While .com, .org and .net are
commonly used and easily remembered, the domain extension craze hasn’t really
gone mainstream yet – so people may not find you if you use a really different
domain extension.
Any additional tips for choosing my domain name?
There are a few things that can
help you choose your domain name:
#1 Is it
brandable? For example, if you make a site about poetry then
best-poetry-website.net is not a good choice: poetryacademy.com or
poetryfall.com is much better.
#2 Is
it memorable? Short, punchy and clear domain names
are much easier to remember. If your domain name is too fuzzy, too long or
spelled in a strange way, visitors may forget it.
#3 Is it
catchy? You want a domain name that rolls off the tongue,
describes what you (or your business) does and sticks in the head. Coming up
with a cool name can be a bit tough since there are approximately 150 million active
domain names in the world right now – but don’t give
up.
There’s one rule that always
applies to domain names: If you
like it, go for it.
THINGS TO DO BEFORE THE NEXT STEP:
Do
some brainstorming to come up with a unique domain name that reflects your
future website, business or blog.
Secure your
FREE domain name and web hosting. For this I recommend Bluehost.com, but
you can pick any other web host as long as it’s reliable and simple.
UPDATE: I made a simple guide
for Bluehost users (which hosting package to choose & how to install
WordPress).
Now it’s time to get your
website up and running. The first thing you’ll need to do is install WordPress
to your domain.
Installing WordPress
There are two possible ways to
install WordPress, one MUCH easier than the other.
1. TO CREATE A WEBSITE WITH WORDPRESS (OR JOOMLA & DRUPAL), USE ONE CLICK INSTALLATION:
Almost every reliable and
well-established hosting company has integrated 1-click-installation for
WordPress, which makes getting going a snap.
If you signed up with Bluehost or
any other similar hosting company, you should find your “1-click-installation”
in your account control panel.
Here are the steps you should
follow (should be similar/same on all the major web hosting companies):
- Log in to your hosting account.
- Go to your control panel.
- Look for the “WordPress” or “Website” icon.
- Choose the domain where you want to install your website.
- Click the “Install Now” button and you will get access to your new WordPress website.
If you’re unable to locate it,
look here: How to Install
WordPress on Bluehost.
2. OR MANUAL INSTALL (if needed)
If for some odd reason (some
hosting companies don’t provide one-click-install for WordPress) you don’t have
the option to install WordPress automatically, look this manual guide below:
Installing WordPress
Manually (Click to expand)
Pssst – if they don’t have 1-click-installation,
maybe you’re dealing with a bad host!
Choosing a Theme/Template for your site
Once you have successfully
installed WordPress to your domain, you’ll see a very basic yet clean site:
But you don’t want to look like
everyone else, do you? That’s why you need a theme – a design template that
tells WordPress how your website should look. See a sample version below:
Here’s
where it gets fun: There are thousands of awesome,
professionally designed themes you can choose from and customize for a site
that’s all your own.
Here’s how to find a theme you like:
1. Log into your WordPress dashboard
If you’re not sure how, type
in: http://yoursite.com/wp-admin (replace
“yoursite” with your domain).
This is what the WordPress
dashboard looks like:
Everything is easily labelled.
If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, don’t sweat it – I’m going to show you
where to go next.
2. Access FREE themes
Once you’re in the dashboard,
you’ve got access to over 1500 free themes! Just look along the side bar for
“Appearance”, then click “Themes”.
I’ve even compiled a list of 15 most popular free
WordPress themes.
If you want something more
professional or elegant than what you find here, you can head over to ThemeForest.net where there’s a HUGE
library of themes to pick from at varying costs.
But before you do that, I
really suggest you at least try spending some time browsing the free themes.
Many of them are actually really professional and well made; so don’t write
them off.
As you can see above,
installing a new theme for your website is very easy.
You can search for specific
keywords and/or use filters to find themes that suit your style. Finding the
perfect theme can take a while, but it’s worth it.
You should also look for themes
that are “responsive”, as this means they will look good on any mobile device.
Just punch it in as one of your
keywords, and you’ll be all set!
3. Install your new theme
Once you have found a theme you
like, installing it is as simple as clicking “Install” followed by “Activate”.
IMPORTANT:
Changing themes won’t delete your previous posts, pages and content. You can
change themes as often as you want without having to worry about lose what
you’ve created.
How do I add content and create new pages?
With your theme installed,
you’re ready to start creating content. Let’s quickly run through some of the
basics:
Adding and editing pages
Want a “Services” page, or an
“About Me” page (like I have on my menu at the top of the site)?
1. Look along the sidebar in
the WordPress Dashboard for “Pages” -> “Add New”.
2. Once you’ve clicked, you’ll
find a screen that looks a lot like what you’ve maybe seen in Microsoft Word.
Add text, images and more to build the page you want, then save it when you’re
done.
Adding pages to the menu
If you want your new page to be
linked to in your navigation bar,
1. Save any changes you’ve made
to the page by clicking “Update”
2. Click “Appearance” ->
“Menus” in the sidebar of the WordPress Dashboard
3. Find the page you created
and add it to the list by clicking the checkbox next to it and then “Add to
Menu”.
Adding and editing posts
If you have a blog on your
website, “Posts” will be where you turn to next. You can use different
categories to group similar posts.
If you want to add a blog to your website, you can use different
categories and posts. Let’s say you want to create a category named “Blog”. To
do so, simply add it to your menu and start making posts.
Here’s what you need to do:
a. Create a new category by going to “Posts -> Categories”
OR
b. Create a blog post by going
to “Posts -> Add New”. Once you’ve finished writing your blog post, you need
to add the right category for it.
Once you’ve created your
category, simply add it to the menu, and you’re in business!
Customization & Endless Tweaks…
In this section I’ll cover some
of the basic things I’m asked about all the time that will help you to tweak
your website.
Changing Your Title and Tagline
Page
titles explain to searchers what your website is about, and
they’re also a big part of how search engines determine your rankings, so you
want to be sure they’ve got the keywords you want to target in them (but in a
natural way, written for real people).
You should use a unique title
on every page of your site. For example, my site’s title is “How to Make a
Website”.
(Can’t find it? Just hold your mouse over the tab
at the top of your web browser).
Taglines are
added at the end of titles across every page. My site’s tagline is “Step by
Step Guide”
In order to change the title
and tagline on your website, go to “Settings -> General” and fill in the
form below:
Disabling Comments for Posts & Pages
Some websites
(business/organisation sites mostly) don’t want their visitors to be able to
comment on their pages.
Here’s
how to shut comments off on WordPress pages:
1. While you are writing a new
page, click “Screen Options” in the top right corner.
2. Click the “Discussion” box.
The “Allow Comments” box will appear at the bottom.
3. Untick “Allow Comments”.
Want to disable
comments on every new page by default?
1. Go to “Settings ->
Discussion” and untick “Allow people to post comments on new articles”
>
Setting Up a Static Front Page
Some people contact me saying
they’re frustrated that their home page looks like a blog post. You can fix
that by making your home page “static”.
A static page is a page that
doesn’t change. Unlike a blog, where the first new article will show up at the
top every time, a “static” page will show the same content every time someone
comes to the site – like a home page you’ve designed.
To set up
a static front page:
1. Go to “Settings ->
Reading”
2. Choose a static page that
you have created. “Front Page” denotes your home page, “Posts page” is the
front page of your blog (if your entire site isn’t a blog).
If you don’t choose a static
page on your own, WordPress will take your latest posts and start showing them
on your homepage.
Editing sidebar
Most WordPress themes have a
sidebar on the right side (in some cases it’s on the left).
If you want to get rid of the
sidebar or edit out items you do not need like “Categories”, “Meta” and
“Archives”, which are usually pointless, here’s how:
1. Go to “Appearance ->
Widgets” in the WordPress Dashboard.
2. From here, you can use drag
and drop to add different “boxes” to your sidebar, or remove the items you
don’t want.
There’s also a “HTML box” – a
text box where you can use HTML code. For beginners, don’t worry about this bit
– just drag and drop the elements you’d like in your sidebar.
Installing Plugins to Get More out of WordPress
What is a plugin?
“Plugins” are extensions that
are built to expand WordPress’ capabilities, adding features and functions to
your site that don’t come built-in.
They’re shortcuts to getting
your site to do what you want to, without having to build the feature from
scratch.
You can use plugins to do
everything from adding photo galleries and submission forms to optimizing your
website and creating an online store.
How do I install a new Plugin?
To start installing plugins, go
to “Plugins -> Add New” and simply start searching.
Keep in mind that there are
over 25,000 different FREE plugins, so
you’ve got a LOT to choose from!
Installation is easy – once you
find a plugin you like, just click “Install”.
BUT –
before you go and install every single one, I suggest you read this article: Things you need to know about using WP plugins.
To save
you some time, I’ve put together a list of the most popular plugins that
webmasters find useful:
- #1 Contact form 7: My website has a contact form on my About Me page. It’s an awesome feature to have, as people (like you!) can fill in the form and send me an email without logging into their own email provider. If you want to do something similar, definitely get this plugin. P.S. Here’s a step-by-step guide for setting it up.
- #2 Yoast SEO for WordPress: If you want to make your WordPress site even more SEO-friendly, this plugin is a must-have. It’s free, and it’s awesome. You’ll be able to edit your title tags, meta descriptions and more, all from within the page itself – no more fussing with WordPress settings.
- #3 Google Analytics: Interested in tracking your visitors/traffic and their behaviour? Just install the plugin, connect it with your Google account and you’re ready to go.
Of course, this is just the tip
of the iceberg! Here’s a list of recommended
plugins by me.
Congratulations – you’re ready to launch!
HOW TO MAKE A WEBSITE
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Reviewed by
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7/18/2017
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