Total Guide to creating your Website
Contents
- 0.1 Create Your Own Website Following These 4 Easy Steps!
- 0.2 Tip & Extra Info For Choosing A Domain Name
- 0.3 Why registering a right domain name is important?
- 0.4 Where Can You Register Your First Domain?
- 0.5 How to register your domain name?
- 0.6 Finding a Reliable & Cheap Hosting/Web Space
- 0.7 What is web hosting?
- 0.8 Shared Hosting:
- 0.9 Dedicated Hosting:
- 0.10 VPS Hosting
- 0.11 Hosting Service Providers
- 0.12 Where To Buy Best Web Hosting At Affordable Rate?
- 1 Content Management System & Installation
- 2 Designing Your First Web Site with no Programming Skills
Create Your Own Website Following These 4 Easy Steps!
Millions of people across the world surf the Web everyday. They are able to do by typing in something called a domain name into the address bar of a Web browser. A domain name is the name a web browsers scans for finding a web site. So, if you wanted to find a web site called www.yoursite.com, you would have to type in the address into the address bar.
Every domain comprises at least two parts: the actual domain name and TLD (Top Level Domain). Here, .com is the TLD, and yoursite is the domain name or domain label you can choose for your site. A domain name may contain many other labels, and subdomains.
Tip & Extra Info For Choosing A Domain Name
- Choose a domain name that is easy to spell and easy to remember.
- Short, catchy, and memorable domain name adds mobility to your Internet presence.
- A creative domain name differentiates between having a successful Web presence or wandering in cyberspace.
Why registering a right domain name is important?
A domain name provides you with an address for your web site on the Web. And, registering your domain makes your address official. You have a unique home address in the real life, likewise you need a unique address in the virtual world too.
Publishing your web site through a free web hosting site will give you a URL such as www.example.com/yoursite. This generic address takes away the professional, and credible looks from your site. However, a domain name such as www.yoursite.com creates brand awareness, and trust.
Where Can You Register Your First Domain?
Namecheap
- Annual Fee – $10.69 – Coupon Code can be applied at the time of renewal.
Pros
- Private registration: $2.88 / year Offers hosting service Economical as the name suggests Free subdomains Offers free .me domain for students
- Great 24/7 customer support
Cons
- Free Whois protection turned off by default
GoDaddy
- Annual Fee: $8.99 for the first year. $14.99 for each additional year
Pros:
- Private registration ($8.99 / year)
- Offers hosting service
- Deals available always
- Offers multiple domain, and multi year based discounts
Cons:
- Hidden charges
- Hassling checking out
1 & 1
- Annual Fee: $0.99 for the first year; $14.99 for each additional year
Pros:
- Private Registration
- Offers hosting service
- Deals available
Cons:
- Confusing and difficult hosting process
- Delaying customer service
- Difficult for newbies
HostWay.com
- Annual Fee: $7.95 for the first year; $9.95 for renewals
Pros
- Range of marketing tools to help users
- Excellent uptime
- Has 15 years of experience
- Global focus
Cons
- Delaying customer support
- Costs are a bit high for small businesses
How to register your domain name?
Okay, decided where to register your domain name?
Great! Now registering your domain name is the first step toward making your web site go live, and online. In order to obtain a domain name, you need to register the name first. A domain name registrar will register your domain name through ICANN. ICANN (International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is the governing body for maintaining, and creating TLDs. You are at liberty to choose your domain though.
The domain registration process instructions:
Select a good and unique domain names first. To do that:
- Go to a registrar’s web site, i.e., Namecheap, BlueHost, GoDaddy, etc.
- Test the domain names you have already chosen for availability.
- A credit card or a PayPal account is required for payment completion.
- Fill out the form with all required details as instructed by your registrar.
- The registrar will notify you when the registration is completed.
Precaution
Make sure you do not misspell your desired domain name. Once the payment is completed, it will be too late.
Finding a Reliable & Cheap Hosting/Web Space
What is web hosting?
After registering your domain name, your web site needs hosting on the Web. The term web hosting refers to a place where you can store your web site. All the files you upload for your site such as video files, audio files, images need to be stored on a computer (server) that is connected to the Internet, so that it can serve data to the people who try to access your web site.
Types of Web Hosting
While the basic principle of all types of hosting servers remains providing a storage center for your web site; storage capacity, freedom, technical knowledge, server speed, reliability make all the difference.
There are a few basic ways to differentiate between hosting packages. The technology used for the server generally divides the web hosting into four categories. I will discuss what they are, and what purposes they serve.
Shared hosting is the most common form of web hosting. In a shared hosting platform, the host accommodates a large number of users on a single server. Your web site is hosted on a server along with several other clients sharing the same number. One single server could carry as many as 3,000 sites. While you get to maintain your own domain name, and your own web site; all other web sites are stored in the same drive, served and processed by the same CPU. Putting a strain on the server, your site could crash, since page loading, image processing requires using the web server. When accessed by thousands of visitors at the same, failing to deliver so many requests; your web site could go down, or load slowly.
If we dig deep into shared hosting for root cause of the problem, a spike in website traffic simply incapacitates the server. All the websites from all other clients are competing to eke out the same scarce resources. The hosting company has few resources to offer you. Furthermore, if one web site in the hosting environment has some flawed codes, or simply sees a spike in traffic, it could use up as much as 70% of a server’s memory.
Pros of Shared Hosting
– Shared hosting is the cheapest hosting. It offers the budget option, thus it is best for beginners.
– Shared hosting serves great for sites with housing development/test purposes.
– Works best for personal blogging, chronicles at a cheap cost.
Small businesses can kick-start their online presence with shared hosting.
Cons of Shared Hosting
– Shared hosting is the least powerful of all hosting types.
– An uptick in traffic may lead to your web site crashing.
– Your web site may load slowly for web site traffic.
– No root access available.
– Poor site performance
Dedicated Hosting:
If you are annoyed, and anguishing from the cons of shared hosting, experiencing frequent site crashing, then dedicated hosting can ease your suffering. Because dedicated hosting offers renting an entire server exclusively for yourself. With a server dedicated for your service, you can enjoy the maximum control over the web server your web site is stored on. You have the only right to rent an entire server. And, that server can only host your site. With shared hosting, there may be thousands of clients on a single server. But, with dedicated hosting, you are the only client.
With dedicated hosting, many companies allow you to customize your server fully. You may be able to choose the type of memory, and adjust it. You can choose what type of OS to install, and tune other hardware elements integral for the server. This actually offers a lot of flexibility in propping up a server as per your requirement. However, you have to manage all the tools, and tasks required for running a server, and that include fortifying security, scanning the system, malware removal, etc.
Pros of Dedicated Server Hosting
– Offers more speed, and works faster than shared hosting since only one client is allowed for resource consumption.
– Dedicated hosting offers flexibility, and is great for enterprise managing purpose, building custom software.
– Provides strong security for your data.
– You can tune at software and hardware level with ease.
Cons of Dedicated Server Hosting
– Costs you a lot of money; can be very expensive.
– You need in-depth understanding of computers and server technology for software and hardware management.
– Requires time-consuming effort for hardware failure troubleshooting.
VPS Hosting
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. You take a bit of shared hosting and dedicated server hosting, then synthesize them, and you will obtain VPS. Evidently VPS offers a mix of pros and cons of both shared, and dedicated hosting. This type of server hosting divides a server into virtual servers, and each website on that certain server is hosted on their own dedicated server. As a result, you have your own dedicated server; much like dedicated hosting — just instead of a physical server, you have a virtual server.
A VPS server is split and shared as per the number of users. If there are 5 users in a VPS environment, and you are to allot 10GB of RAM and 100GB of hard disk space, then 2GB of RAM and 20GB of space can be reserved for each user. Once your hit your RAM limit, your sit may crash, but it will not cause a domino effect on others. Thus, it offers you speed and performance.
Pros of VPS Hosting
– Offers more access to server resources than shared hosting does.
– You will have more flexibility and control over your site.
– Great for custom application developers, and SaaS businesses.
– Secured hosting environment.
– Cheaper than dedicated hosting.
Cons of VPS Hosting
– Spike in traffic levels causes sites to malfunction.
– Other sites can affect your site performance to a degree.
Cloud Hosting
Experiencing performance lags, downtime, and delayed loading? Switch to cloud hosting as it offers unlimited ability to handle high traffic upticks/spikes. The previous three hosting plans I discussed crumble under traffic spikes. But, with cloud hosting you can limit the chances since a group of computers (servers) work in unison to host a myriad of websites. With cloud hosting, your VPS server is no longer limited to a single server, rather it is one among hundreds sharing computing resources. Herein “cloud” is a metaphor for a large number of computers woven together, working and sharing resources.
Resources of multiple servers can be used with cloud hosting, leading to efficient, and fast performance. Furthermore, it offers more scalablility (ability to handle a growing amount of work) than a traditional VPS. Cloud based hosting system offers you much more against malware, DDoS attacks (meant to disable an online service). Although DDoS attacks do not pose a security risk, they overwhelm your web site with traffic from multiple sources.
Pros of Cloud Hosting
– Able to handle a sudden uptick in traffic.
– Offers optimum performance for web sites with growing traffic.
– Great for businesses with a limited budget.
– Your web site can be scaled a lot further.
– Good for many production, development levels such as dev, test, etc.
Cons of Cloud Hosting
– Many cloud hosting companies do not offer root access.
– Relatively higher service cost.
Hosting Service Providers
Who are hosting service providers?
Every site, blog on the Internet requires hosting. As I discussed above how hosting offers storage for your data, information and files. And, the companies that offer storage are the hosting service providers. So, a hosting service provider will sell you server space, and related services for monthly/yearly fees.
How much does hosting service cost?
If you search for a hosting provider, you will be presented with more than one web hosting plan; designed to meet people’s need. Your hosting needs will dictate your plans. Also, the cost will vary as per the type of web hosting. You probably understood the types of web hosting from my previous article section, and already chose your type.
Are there any providers offering low-cost services?
Yes, there are plenty. In order to achieve security, flexibility, and speed for your web site and blog, choosing a reliable web host is mandatory. But, the service does not have to be exorbitant. In the next section of my article, I compiled the companies that are providing excellent services at affordable cost. I also included the amounts they will charge you. It is easy to be overwhelmed by hundreds of companies offering services for the price of water. Faced with a dilemma, you may end up investing in a wrong service provider. That is why I included corresponding rating for each service provider.
Where To Buy Best Web Hosting At Affordable Rate?
Bluehost
BlueHost is one of the most popular hosting service providers. Chosen, and trusted by millions of clients across the world, BlueHost was founded in 1996. With two decades of experience, and service; BlueHost is reputable for serving more than 850,000 WordPress web sites. Kick-starting your web site building with BlueHost will be a solid investment, as it is extremely fluid for functional, responsive, and stable pages for your business. Utilizing the most popular cPanel as its control panel, BlueHost hosting is easy-to-use, and control.Having cPanel as its control, newbies without prior hosting experience can build up their web site in a breeze. Also, you can manage files, databases, domains, and accounts without programming skills. BlueHost is reputed for its fast page loading speed. BlueHost does away with excessive resource consumption; protecting customers from heavy users through CPU protection. BlueHost is pretty strict about malicious users, and throttling their movement if one uses up too many RAM or CPU resources.
Special Features
- Offers user-friendly features for beginners without any prior hosting experience.
- Fast page loading speed.
- Excellent uptime; 99.9% — ensuring stability.
- Weebly site building software.
- Free domain; free site builders.
- 1-click WordPress installation.
- 24/7 customer support.
- Rating: 3.5 out of 5. Rating source: www.whoishostingthis.com
BlueHost Plan Costs
BlueHost offers several tiers of service for Shared, VPS, and Dedicated hosting services. BlueHost’s Basic Plan starts at $2.95 per month for Shared hosting service; leading up to $8.99 a year. The Plan also includes unmetered bandwidth, 5 email accounts and 50GB of space. Boasted as the most popular, BlueHost’s Plus Plan will cost you $3.95 per month. BlueHost offers several tiers of plans based on hosting types. The more you renew your Plan with BlueHost, the lower the cost gets.
iPage
iPage has decade-long experience of managing web sites, and providing hosting services. Its innovative track record, and excellent customer support earned iPage a place in the list of top 10 hosting providers. Shared web hosting with iPage is a great choice for small, and mid-range blogs and web sites as it offers reasonable prices for Shared, and many more plans.Special Features
- Weebly web site builder for newbies.
- Free domain registration.
- Free online store for eCommerce.
- Easy on the wallet.
- 1-click WordPress installation.
- Adwords voucher worth of $100.
- Rating: 3.8 out of 5. Rating source: www.whoishostingthis.com
iPage Plan Costs
iPage hosting Plans Costs range from $3.25 to $50 per month on average. iPage is now offering you a staggering low price $1.99 per month for a limited period to get your web site up and running.
HostGator
HostGator is a reliable web hosting service that offers various affordable hosting packages suited for small and mid-range businesses. HostGator offers dedicated servers for both Linux and Windows users. HostGator is user-friendly, and emails you with all the instructions, resources required to kick-start your web site. HotGator ensures that you get your web site up and running as attractive as possible.Special Features
- Packed with a variety of features.
- Weebly site building software included.
- Great at ensuring uptime.
- Wallet-friendly.
- WordPress web hosting management.
- Offers various eCommerce tools.
- 45-day money back guarantee.
- Rating: 3.3 out of 5. Rating source: www.whoishostingthis.com
HostGator Plan Costs
HostGator’s shared plans start at $3.33 per month. But, you have to sign up for longer terms; as far as six months. The Hatchling plan starts at $10.95 per month. The plan is packed with unlimited disk space, bandwidth, databases, and email addresses. The plan goes one step ahead, and offers support for one domain, and third-party applications such as Content Management, and eCommerce system. HostGator’s Linux-based VPS hosting plans starts at $19.95 per month. While its dedicated server plans start at $174 per month.
GoDaddy
You may have heard of GoDaddy as it invests in lavish Super Bowl commercials, TV commercials all around. Promising a better service, GoDaddy was founded by an American billionaire; Bob Parsons in 1997. GoDaddy boasts about powering the world’s largest cloud platform. GoDaddy intuitively integrates, and manages your web relative products very well. Managing your domain name, email, and hosting; GoDaddy provides excellent rock-solid uptime.Special Features
- Offers flexible, free web site building tools.
- Utility apps like Homefinder, PayPal, and Yelp for web site improvement.
- Windows- and Linux-based servers.
- SiteLock features
- Rock-solid uptime.
- Good customer support.
- Rating: 3 out 5. Rating source: www.whoishostingthis.com
GoDaddy Plan Costs
GoDaddy’s basic shared hosting package on Economy basis will charge you $3.99 per month. The pack includes a free domain name, 100GB of storage, unlimited monthly data transfers. You can create as many as 100 email addresses with the pack. The downside is that you have to sign up for a minimum of three months to purchase the pack. The Deluxe Plan starts at $8.99 per month. The cost will be reduced for an annual commitment. GoDaddy’s dedicated hosting plans start at $129 per month.
Content Management System & Installation
Installing CMS
Not so long ago, the only way you could design and develop a web site was to equip yourself with verses of HTML, and CSS codes before being able to write them by hand. You can now order a pizza from your phone, you can also design, and develop your web site without any prior coding experience. Thanks to simple, and easy-to-use CMS.
What is CMS?
– contrary to popular belief, CMS is not something you can install on your computer like a piece of software or program, rather a content system that you can easily edit to create, modify and publish web sites. CMS stands for Content Management System. I did say something about creating web sites without programming knowledge, didn’t I? Let’s find out!
How CMS eases your web site building journey?
– a content management system will ease your web site building processes. And, as a web site developer you will find CMS as a remedy for your painstaking quest in learning about HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MYSQL. With CMS, you will be able to formulate a highly professional web site without having to write a single line of code! Do not get me wrong. An understanding of those programming languages allows you to create a web site in customized ways, and having an understanding is good, but not mandatory. If you are a beginner; then with CMS, you can flex your muscle in propping up a web site like a pro!
How CMS works?
– web sites are built with databases. A CMS will utilize a database such as MySQL to ask for your content, and directly serve it to your web site. The same method will be in effect when it comes to publishing, and editing content. Also, CMS uses an application called administrative back-end for adding or removing functionality to your web site.
CMS Features
– Autonomy in publishing content for newbies.
– Easily editable content for non-technical users.
– Content can be restored and modified by multiple authorized users.
– Installing plug-ins or modules allows CMS expansion.
– Able to localize a site by translating it into many languages.
– Easy to use and easy to customize.
List of Open source (free) CMS’s
– In this section of the article I discussed 3 of the most used and popular CMS’s to get you started. I also discussed how you could install them. This will also introduce you to the types of CMS. These CMS’s are free for all to use, and the public can tweak them for improvement and functionality.
WordPress
– 50,000 WordPress websites are being launched every day across the world, and WordPress is used on more than 58% of web sites that use a CMS. Hold on! What is WordPress to begin with? WordPress is a open source (free) CMS, and is used to host and manage web sites and blogs. As stats suggest, WordPress is the most renowned, and commonly used CMS.
WordPress can be used to create blogging sites, and functional, attractive websites. The strength of WordPress comes from its quick installation process, and the huge user, and developer community that translates into more progress of the platform. The community is constantly working toward creating updated plugins (software component with specific feature), and enhancing the platform.
While WordPress was primarily built for blogging, its massive plugins make it optimal for large and complicated web site building. WordPress is an excellent platform for novice developers/newbies as its easy-to-use professional features would be quite difficult to include using CSS, PHP, etc. WordPress offers a plethora of themes, and templates, so you can build almost any type of web sites from personal blogs to eCommerce sites.
WordPress Installation Process –
Assuming that you followed my instructions as stated above, registered a domain name, made a contract with a good hosting company that knows WordPress. Hosting service providers that provide exclusive service for WordPress will spare you the hassle of creating a database manually using PHP, or MySQL. Many web hosts now offer tools such as Fantastico to automatically install WordPress for you.
I recommend that you use BlueHost, since BlueHost is an officially recommended hosting provider for WordPress. Plus, a free domain, and 50% off on hosting plans for WordPress beginner users will get you started.
Things you need to do before installing WordPress:
1. Download the most current version of WordPress.
2. Unzip the WordPress package to a folder on your hard drive.
3. Create a secure password.
4. cPanel hosting with Fantastico; Fantastico is one of the easy ways to install WordPress.
5. WordPress Installation Process
6. Log in to your BlueHost account, and click on hosting on the top bar. It will pass you inside cPanel.
7. Scroll down to Website Builders to select WordPress.
8. Click on Start on in WordPress Installation Pop-Up.
9. It will take you to the next page, asking you to select the domain to which you want to install WordPress.
10. Click on Check Domain, and configure the final few settings to install WordPress.
11. Check the Show advanced options.
12. Create a WordPress Username, and Password for login purpose.
13. Check Automatically create a database for this installation.
14. Also check Terms & Conditions.
15. Click on Install Now
The next screen will show that your install is underway. It will take about a minute for BlueHost to install WordPress. You will receive an email in your registered email address containing login, and password details. Secure them for future login.
Joomla
– Joomla powers some of the world’s most renowned brands, and eCommerce sites like eBay, Pizza Hut, and Kelloggs. Even Leonardo di Caprio opted for Joomla. Joomla is a leading popular CMS. It is an open source system like WordPress, which means it is free to use.
Although there are plenty of themes/templates, and plugins available to purchase, you do not need to pay to use Joomla. Joomla offers extreme flexibility in building static web sites — the sites that offer news feeds, polls, and search function inclusion. What WordPress people refer to as “plugins”, Joomla developers prefer the term “extensions”.
Joomla offers more 8000 extensions to enhance the quality of your web site. Joomla is extremely customizable, and suitable; that is why Joomla is often chosen by small, and mid-range businesses. And, also large organizations prefer Joomla. Joomla is multilingual, and secure.
How to install Joomla
Many hosting companies like SiteGround, Arvixe provide Joomla hosting. Choose such companies for ease of installation. I will recommend that you choose SiteGround. You can install Joomla through Fantastico Autoinstaller. Fantastico offers ease in installing.
Joomla Installation Process
1. Log into your hosting account, and cPanel.
2. Click on the Fantastico De Luxe icon.
3. You will see the Joomla link on the left side of your screen, and check it.
4. Click on New Installation.
5. A form will appear. You will have to fill in it.
6. Specify the directory where Joomla installation will be accessible at. Leave the field blank if you want to use Joomla for your home page.
7. Provide the username, and password in the Admin access field for admin panel access.
8. Include your full name.
9. Provide the site name for front page display.
10. Install sample data if you are new to Joomla. The data includes sample menu items, and articles.
11. When you finish filling in the form, click on the Install Joomla button. Confirm the installation on the next page. You will receive the login information. Secure the login credentials.
Concrete5
– visually pleasing, easy-to-use, simple, yet so powerful; Concrete5 is an incredible CSM. Concrete5 is one of the most user-friendly CSM’s on the market. Concrete5 offers Drag & Drop feature that allows newbies to drag and drop elements on and off their web sites.
You just need to log into your account with credentials as an administrator, click Edit in the top bar. You can even edit the elements — just click on them, and tweak them as per your requirement. Concrete5 is heavily customizable. Its Rich Text Editor allows you to set toolbar, and dimensions.
Concrete5 offers great balance between customization, and abstraction. Concrete5 has an active user base, community, and forums for discussion, and development. It has its marketplace for add-ons, plugins, and themes, which further allow you to decorate your web site. If you want to build a web site with an easy learning method, then Concrete5 should definitely be one of your picks.
How to Install Concrete5
Concrete5 has its own web hosting system. Many hosting companies also 1-click installation process for Concrete5. SiteGround, HostPapa, Squirrel Hosting are among many. I would recommend that you use Squirrel Hosting as its cloud hosting service offers 6GB of web space, 1.5GB of bandwidth per hour for $5.3/mo.
Installation Process
1. Log into your Squirrel Hosting account.
2. Select Manage Web Hosting from the menu on the left.
3. Find “Load eXtend Panel”, and click on it.
4. Click on the Concrete5 icon to load it.
5. Specify the directory where you Concrete5 installed in the Installation Directory Box.
6. Leave the box blank if you do not want to load it from a sub folder.
Click on Install.
7. You should see installing progress bar on your screen.
8. About two minutes later you will see installation complete notice.
9. Click on the address you see on the notice to continue to the Install Concrete5 page.
On the page, tick all the requirements of PHP, MySQL, etc.
10. Click on the Continue to Installation for a form to fill in.
11. Name Your Site – enter a name for your site.
12. Email Address – provide an email address for login purpose.
13. Password – provide a password. Make it tricky.
Confirm Password – confirm the password.
Sample Content with Blog box should stay ticked. After clicking on the Install Concrete5 button. You should see Install Concrete5 Progress bar; setting features for admin, and web site. A message will pop up congratulating you for successful installation. And, you are done!
Designing Your First Web Site with no Programming Skills
So, made a decision on CMS’s? I hope you opted for WordPress.
This chapter is web site designing. When it comes to web site designing, there are no rules regarding it. Anything goes on the Internet (when it meets the basic UI/UX rules). Website designing is the outcome of careful planning, and thought. Your web site represents you; represents your ideas, business, and your art. So, creating a web site as visually pleasing as possible is a must.
Spending time planning web site designing will result in an excellent site where visitors will return to again and again. Good sites experience spikes in traffic because they have some common features. Your web site has to be quick to load, easy-to-use, and easy-to-handle for starters. Clean, clear, cutting edge, yet simple designs can etch in people’s mind.
Many people want to build web sites, but later lose interest due to a lack of programming skills. But, now programming inexperience is no obstacle that you will have to hurdle. CMS made web site designing much easier.
So, either you can go through intricacies of Photoshop, CSS, W3Schools, Dreamweaver, etc to design a web site, or you can just pick a WordPress theme, add your text, and voila, your web site is live!
How WordPress will benefit a newbie?
– WordPress themes are ranges of files that function to produce an interface graphically. Also, they work as unifying patterns for a webblog. And, those files are called templates. Your theme modifies the way your site looks, also it affects the “feel” of your site.
– For your blog, or web site; your theme represents the “skin” of your web site. WordPress themes offer everything a newbie needs to get their web site started and running. WordPress themes are flexible, customizable, constantly updated, and improved. And, you do not need any design experience to use them. WordPress themes save you from going through the complicated, hectic process of coding, editing images, creating header, footer, navigation bars, etc.
– WordPress offers a wide range of varied themes; catering to the needs of all kinds of people. There are WordPress themes available for blogging, magazines, music, writing, photographing, restaurants, eCommerce, etc. WordPress has a plethora of free themes available that will prove beneficial for a newbie. You will not have to hire a designer to build a theme.
– WordPress is used to decorate all kinds of web sites. That is why there is a theme for each market. Each one looks better than the other. How could you pick out the perfect theme? Here are some tips, and pointers.
WordPress Tips:
1. Use a clean design like the Genesis Theme’s.
2. Look for simple navigational options.
3. Keep it simple.
4. Choose larger fonts, and extended white space.
5. Choose a responsive (optimal on phones, tablets, etc.) one.
How to Install WordPress Themes
WordPress has several pre-installed “default” themes available. They are well-designed, aesthetic, efficiently coded, and fully responsive. If you still do not find tthe theme suitable for your need, explore WordPress.org’s Free Themes directory. Keep my tips in mind, you are bound to find an apposite theme.
WordPress Theme Installation Process
1. Log into WordPress dashboard/site admin panel.
2. Navigate to Appearance > themes.
3. You will see a page showcasing your already installed themes. Click on Add New.
4. The next page will display and gallery of Featured WordPress Themes.
5. You could choose one, or you could browse through the Latest, and Popular themes available, or you can just search for the theme you want in the search themes box.
6. Pick one; hover over the theme, and click on the Install button.
7. WordPress will upload and install the theme to your site. You will see a notification confirming successful installation.
How to Install Plugins
Plugins are software components/scripts that provide more functionality for your site. Depending on the type (blog, store, or forum) of web site you have, you will need plugins. For instance, you may want to display most commented posts on your blog’s sidebar. There is a plugin to support that widget. There are popular WordPress plugins like Akismet, Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, Yoast SEO, etc.
Plugin Installation Process
1. Log into your WordPress Dashboard/site Admin panel.
2. Find Plugins, then click on it.
3. Then, select Add New.
4. Browse the plugin archive, and pick one.
5. Click on Install Now.
7. The plugin will be installed, and displayed.
The Dashboard
The Dashboard displays a quick view of your blog’s status. You can view recent comments, traffic stats, any updates, and many more. You will start building your web site from the Dashboard.
Access Process To WordPress Dashboard
1. You need to add /wp-admin to the end of your URL to get access to the Dashboard.
2. Type in the username, and password you used during installing.
3. After logging in successfully, you will see the dashboard.
How to Publish Posts/Articles/Contents on Your Website built by WordPress?
Posts are what form your blog, and they make up the primary content of your blog. To update/create a new post, simply click on New Post on the right side of the toolbar. When you are done composing, editing a post; hit Publish Post. Access Posts from the Dashboard to edit or delete a post.
How to create Pages on your WordPress website?
Posts can be displayed on your blog chronologically, but pages are not categorized by date, and static. Pages are for timeless content and displayed in the sidebar. An About Me or Contact Us page is what a page is.
Comments
For editing, viewing, and deleting visitors, browse the Comments section.
Customizing a WordPress Theme
You may need to make a set of changes as per your requirement to make your theme look more attractive. You need to go to Appearance > Themes for customization purpose. Click on the Customize button next to the Active Theme’s title. You can modify Site Title & Tagline to look how they will be displayed on your actual site. As you type the Preview on your right side will show how they will look. Click on the Save & Publish button once you are pleased with the changes. You can also make additional customization like modifying background colors, and background image as your wish.
List of Popular WordPress Themes
They are free, and they are premium WordPress themes available on the market. WordPress themes can make your web site look dynamic, and aesthetically pleasing. In this section of the article, I discussed the list of free WordPress themes to set a beginner’s course.
Hemingway
Hemingway is a multipurpose WordPress theme; popular for its clean, minimal features. It intuitively adjusts with designs that merge with the current trends. Hemingway can be modified, designed in ways to give it trendy, pleasing looks. Hemingway is extremely suitable for bloggers.
Features:
Simple, yet beautiful and artistic
Avant-garde
Customizable layout options
Responsive
Classic typography
Ratings – 5 out of 5 stars.
Active downloads – 30000+ Source- WordPress.org
Shapely
Shapely is an incredible free theme for WordPress websites; catering for beginners’ web development process. Professional, portfolio, or business websites; Shapely has a solution for any kinds of web sites. It offers a one-page design for those who do not have coding or pspecialized knowledge. It guides you in your journey of site ownership.
Features:
High functionality
Impressive graphics
Supports HD, retina displays
Simple usability
Skilled support staff
Ratings – 5 out 5 stars. Source- WordPress.org.
Activello
Creating a WordPress-themed website with Activello became much easier. It provides functionality, strength, and high-performance for online merchandisers. Suitable for food, travel or photography blog, Activello is highly responsive, and adjusts to any types of platform, be it Android, Windows or Apple products.
Features
Supports most popular premium plugins such as Gravity Forms, JetPack, Yoast SEO, etc.
Crispy, HD graphics
Extremely versatile
Suitable for lifestyle blogs
Ratings – 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Active Installs: 10000+. Source- WordPress.org
Upright
Upright is a purely structured eCommerce-ready theme; appropriate for commercial products marketing. It caters for company portfolios, featuring fluid sliders, sidebar color pickers, and customizable background.
Features
SEO ready
Loaded with many attractive features
Advanced Theme Options panel
Liquid-flow, and responsive
Optimizer
As the name suggests, Optimizer offers optimal functionality, flexibility, and ease for showcasing any types of web site. Optimizer will provide the viewers with an euphoric experience while browsing through your photos, text, and portfolios.
Features
Heavily customizable
Advanced Theme Options panel
Multipurpose layout options
Fully responsive
Ratings – 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Active Installs: 20000+. Source- WordPress.org
The Wrap Up – phew! Reading, and arriving here all the way from the beginning was quite a journey, wasn’t it?
But, not so difficult as I used to be a newbie when it came to building a web site. I faced problems, and found unique solutions to deal with them. That is what I described here.
In a rapidly changing virtual world, an updated web site surely defines your speed. If you follow this guide; from registering a domain name to customizing a WordPress theme; you will be able proficient in building a web site in 30 minutes or less.
You just need a bit of patience and interest.
