Step 1: Choosing A Domain Name
The first step is to choose the domain name for your website, which is nothing more than its address (e.g., google.com, cocacola.com, soccerblog.net and so on).Identifying A Good Domain Name
If you are not sure what you should look for in a domain name, here are 4 guidelines that will help you pick a good one:1. Good domains are short. The shorter your domain, the better. Consider that one word domains like Mobiles.com or Pizza.com are worth millions of dollars. You wont find any one-word domains available, however, so aim to get a domain with two words, like MobilesHub.com or SleekPizza.net. Choosing a domain with three or more words is fine as long as the domain makes sense.
2. Good domains are easy to spell. Your domain needs to be easy to spell, or else your visitors will end up on some other website. This means that you should avoid tricky and foreign words if possible. For example, the domain CappuccinoBar.com might be problematic for English speaking visitors. Cappuccino is an Italian word, and not everyone is aware where the doubles are placed.
3. Good domains are descriptive. Your domain must indicate to visitors what your website is about. Why? Because most people will use your domain when linking to your website, and if the domain itself is descriptive, people will be more likely to click on it and to visit your website. For example, FitnessCentral.com tells people what the website is about right away, while MrJones.com doesn't.
4. Good domains have a .com, .net or .org extension. When purchasing a domain name you'll be able to choose from many different extensions. However, there are only three that you should consider. The first one is the .com, which should always be your first call. If you can't get the .com version of the domain you want, then going with .net or .org should be fine. Just stay away from extensions such as .biz, .us and .info because most spam and malicious websites use these extensions, meaning that both human visitors and search bots will get suspicious when visiting your site.
A Brainstorming Strategy
If you are having a hard time coming up with domains that respect all the guidelines above, here is a simple strategy you can use: come up with a list of main keywords related to the topic of your website, and then add prefixes (e.g., super, mega, fast, quick, hot) and suffixes (e.g., central, spot, corner, zone, bay, hub, home) to these keywords. For example, if you want to start a website about computers, your main keywords could be computer, computers, pc, tech and so on. By adding prefixes and suffixes you would then have SuperComputer.com, SuperComputers.com, EasyPC.com, ComputersHub.com, PCZone.com, ComputersCentral.com, TechBay.com and so on. You can change the extension on each domain too, from .com to .net or .org.How To Find If the Domains Are Available
By now you should have a list of potential domain names for your website. But how do you find if these domains have already been registered by someone else, or if they are still available? You need a whois tool for that, which is basically a website that will access the database of registered domains for you.
A very simple and user friendly whois tool can be found at AjaxWhois.com. The tool will tell you whether the domains you are looking for are available or not in real time, as you type them.
How To Buy the Domain Name
Once you have found a domain name that you like and that is available, you'll just need to buy it (or register it, as the process is called). The easiest way to do this is by simply getting a hosting plan, as most hosting companies will give you the option to register a new domain name on the fly. In other words, you just need to sign-up for a hosting plan and they will register and configure your domain for you. In the next step we talk about how to choose a good hosting plan.Step 2: Getting A Hosting Plan
The second step is to choose a hosting plan for your website. You'll basically be renting a web server (i.e., a computer that has always-on Internet access) from a hosting company, and they'll host your website for you, making it accessible for any Internet user around the world. Choosing the right hosting plan is important, because it will have a direct impact on the performance of your website. Here are some guidelines you should follow:1. Do not use a free or a cheap hosting company. While it is possible to host your website for free, we highly recommend that you don't do it. Why? Because free web hosts usually display their own ads on your website (they need to make money somewhere after all), and because the service quality is usually terrible. Choosing a hosting company that costs only $1.99 or so would be an bad idea, too. Remember that you get what you pay for, and most reliable companies charge at least $7 per month.
2. Choose a Linux-based hosting plan. When signing up for a hosting plan you'll notice that the two main options you have are Windows based plans and Linux based plans. Does it make a difference which one you pick? Absolutely! You should go with a Linux based plan. Note that this has nothing to do with the operating system you use in your computer. A Linux based hosting means that your web server will be using Linux, regardless of your own OS. Linux based hosting plans are superior because they are more secure and have more features available.
3. Make sure your plan uses cPanel. The last point you need to pay attention to when choosing a hosting plan is the control panel. Some companies use their own control panel software. You should avoid them. Instead look for a company that uses cPanel, which is the industry standard. Apart from having more features, cPanel allows you to easily backup and restore your website, and it also comes with many pre-installed software packages.
If you want a recommendation for a hosting company that meets all the guidelines mentioned above, check HostGator.com. It is one of the largest and most reliable companies on the Internet, and yes, we use their services too.
Once on their homepage, click on "View Web Hosting Plans," and then choose the "Hatchling Plan." It is the smallest plan, but it is good enough for anyone starting out. Plus it only costs $8.95 monthly (or $6.95 if you pay annually). On the next page you'll be asked if you want to register a new domain, or if you already have one. Choose the "Register A New Domain" option on the left, and simply put the domain you have chosen there, as the image below illustrates:
On that same screen you'll be able to enter coupon code at the bottom. You can use the coupon "makeawebsite" (without the quotation marks) to get a discount of $10 on your order. After that you'll just need to complete your personal details and pay (either with Paypal or with a credit card). Your hosting plan should be active after one hour, and you'll receive an email confirmation with all the details.
Step 3: Installing WordPress
If you try to open your website at this point (by typing your domain in the address bar of your browser) you'll just see a white page with the specifications of your web server, as the image below illustrates.
The next step is to install a content management system (CMS) on your site. The CMS makes managing your site, its design and internal pages a very simple task. We highly recommend that you use a CMS called WordPress. It is an open source software, meaning that it is free and supported by a very large community of website owners. Secondly, most hosting plans come with an automatic installation script for WordPress, so getting it up and running will be straight forward. We use WordPress to power this website too.
First of all log into your cPanel (the control panel of your website). You can do this by typing www.yourdomain.com/cpanel on your browser, and then by entering your username and password (you'll find this information in the email you received from the hosting company).
Now scroll down until you find the "Software/Services" box, and click on on the "Fantastico De Luxe" icon. On the next page click on "WordPress." You'll find it on the left menu, under "Blogs." After that click on "New Installation."
On that new page you'll need to fill in the details about your site. You don't need to change anything in the "Installation location" section. Your domain should already be selected there, and the "Install in directory" field should be left blank, because we don't want to install WordPress in a directory (e.g., www.yourdomain/blog/) but rather in the root of your domain (e.g., www.domain.com).
Below that you'll find the "Admin access data," where you'll put your admin username and password. Finally, there is the "Base configuration" section, where you need to put your admin nickname, your email address, the name and description of your website. The page should look like this:
When everything is set you can click on "Install WordPress." The next page will confirm the name of the database that will be created for your site. You can click on "Finish installation" there. On that final page you'll get the details of the installation. At the bottom you'll see a form that you can use to email yourself the details of the installation (e.g., admin username and password). It is recommended that you use it so you won't lose that data.
Type your domain name in a new browser window to see how your website looks now. It should be something like this:
Step 4: Choosing a Template for Your Website
A big advantage of using WordPress to power your website is the fact that there are literally thousands of free templates available, created by the community of WordPress users. Note that these templates are called "themes."You should start your search for a suitable theme at the Official Themes Directory. On the first page you'll find a list of featured themes. Alternatively you can use the "Filters and Tags" interface to narrow your search to themes specific characteristics. Finally, you can also use the search box if you are looking for something specific. For example, if you are creating a website for your company, you could search for "business" or "corporate."
If you can't find a good theme in the directory, try using Google. Do you want to create a blog about swimming? Search on Google for "swimming wordpress theme." Do you want to to create an online store to sell products? Search for "online store wordpress theme." So on and so forth. Remember that you'll be able to customize your theme later on, so just worry about finding something that fits your general requirements.
Depending on your budget you might also consider purchasing a premium WordPress theme. It will cost anywhere from $20 up to $60, but the quality is usually higher when compared with the free themes. One website we recommend for premium themes is ThemeForest.com. The prices are quite affordable (around $30 per theme), and they have over 2,000 themes for all sorts of purposes and requirements.
Once you find a theme that is suitable for your website (either a free or a premium one) simply download the .zip file to your computer. Now you'll need to log in the WordPress admin panel. You can do that by typing www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin into your browser. After entering your username and password you'll be redirected to the Dashboard of the admin panel, which looks like this:
You'll have time to familiarize yourself with all the features and links you see there. For now just open the "Appearance" menu on the left, and then click on "Themes." On top of that new page you'll find a tab called "Install Themes." Go ahead and click on it. Now select "Upload", and choose the theme file you have downloaded to your computer. On the next page you'll need to put in your FTP information (you'll find this in the email you received from the hosting company as well). Click on "Proceed" and WordPress should upload and install the theme for you.
If for some reason the automatic theme install fails, you can always do it manually. You'll just need to unzip the theme on your computer, and then to upload it to your server via FTP. We recommend that you use a free program called FileZilla to do that. With the program running, connect to ftp.yourdomain.com, using the FTP username and password provided by your hosting company (you can leave the "Port" field blank). Once the connection is established, open the "public_html" folder you'll find on the right side of the program, then open the "wp-content" folder, then open the "themes" folder, and finally upload your theme there (the whole folder).
Now log back into the WordPress admin panel, click on "Themes" under the "Appearance" menu again, and you should see your theme listed there. Simply click on it to see a preview, and then click on "Activate," on the top right corner. Once your theme is active you can visit your website URL to see how it looks. Here is a screenshot of a sample theme we activated:
Step 5: Customizing Your Design
Once your selected theme is active, you can start customizing your design. The first decision you must make is whether you want a static front page or a dynamic one. If your website will be a content based one, like a blog where new articles get published frequently, then you probably want to go with a dynamic front page, displaying all the latest articles and posts there. In this case you don't need to change anything, as WordPress comes with a dynamic front page by default.If you are making a website for your company, to sell products or to offer your services, then a static front page is a better idea. You can create one by opening the "Pages" menu on the WordPress admin panel, and then by clicking on "Add New." After that simply write the title and the content of your page. You can add images, video and scripts if you want. Once you are happy with the page, click on "Publish."
The page should be live now, but it is still a normal page. In order to make it the front page you'll need to open the "Settings" menu, and then click on "Reading." Right on top you'll find a check box you can use to determine what should be used as the front page. Simply select the one you just created, and click on "Save Changes."
You can also customize any other aspect of your design by opening the "Appearance" menu and clicking on "Editor." Each file present there controls a different aspect of your theme. The "Stylesheet," for example, controls the general design settings like font size, color, theme widths, headline styles and so on. These settings apply to all pages of your website.
The .php files, on the other hand, control the layout of specific pages. The index.php file, for instance, controls the content of your front page. The single.php file controls the content of the single post pages. The footer.php controls the content of the footer of your website, and so on. Just remember to backup each file (i.e., copy the text to a word processor) before you start changing it, so that if anything goes wrong you can restore the working version.
Another section worth exploring is the "Widgets" one (you'll find the link inside the "Appearance" menu as well). On most WordPress themes you can add or remove design features (e.g., menus, links, search boxes) simply by dragging and dropping the widgets into your sidebar.
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