WordPress is hands down the best and easiest to use content management system available for developing a website. The learning curve is not steep by any means for a newbie to web development. This is because the platform does not require you to have any prior knowledge of code to use it to build an impressive website.
Besides that, they offer tons of free resources to provide you with assistance and support along the way. Another amazing perk is that it’s free so you only need to pay for your domain name and hosting fees, which is done through other sources. If you want to use WordPress to develop a stunning and appealing website, here is how you can go about doing just that.
- Know What You Need
To begin, you will first need to secure a domain name and a web host. There are WordPress affiliated hosts who are willing to offer additional discounts on hosting fees and even free domain name registration. Once you have completed this part of the process it’s time to…
- Select Your Site Theme
You have thousands of options to choose from based on the feel you want for your website and all of them have been professionally designed. WordPress even provides you with guidelines on how to go about selecting your perfect theme, making it easier for you to make a choice from their generous offerings. Once you’ve made a decision, you can then install your theme and choose to customize or makes changes to it at this point or you can choose to do so later. Your next step is to…
- Add the Type of Content You Want On Your Site
While you may not have everything you want to add to your site at this time, you can always decide if your website will have a blog component or have pages only. At this point you can select add pages and begin to title each page to reflect the various elements of your site.
If you want to create a blog area just select add post and this creates a new post page for you where you can add content. You also have the option to add media in the form of photos or videos to add dimension to the content you are uploading.
- Fine Tuning Your WordPress Site
After you’ve added content, you really want your site to look stunning. You will have to tweak it to make it very functional and user friendly so that your site visitors will want to stay and explore. In the settings section you want to select the reading setting for your home page and / or your blog posts. Always remember to save any edits you do along the way.
Next you will need to title your site and also tag it if you choose. This will help it to be discoverable on internet search engines. You can then edit the menu on your site to display all the pages you want to be visible to your visitors. WordPress gives a brief description to help you make your selection. As mentioned before, the site is very user friendly so anything not mentioned here you will see as you go through the process of setting up the site. In this area you will also be given all the options to determine the order in which you want the pages to be displayed and so on. You can also manipulate the way visitors are able to comment on your page since this is an automatic feature with the site. After you’ve tweaked these settings to your satisfaction you can now…
- Add Extra Features
These come in the form of plugins which allow you to add extra facets to your site. For example, if you would like to be able to gather visitor contact information or create a photo gallery or even add tables, this is where you would look. They are all without charge and Yoast SEO for example gives you an indication of your readability and how recognizable your page content will be through a google search. You can explore the plugins to see which ones will serve your site best.
Once you have set up all of these basics, you can then go back into your admin account, add more information and continue to tweak until you feel that the world is ready for your site. You can always get an idea of how your site will be viewed by others by clicking the preview button.
If you have questions or challenges about troubleshooting or anything not dealt here the WP beginner site is rich with supporting information on common queries users may have.
You will not regret your decision to use WordPress for your website and it also saves you a lot of money in terms of eliminating the need to hire a web developer. You will feel quite accomplished as you look back and see the high level of professionalism and appeal you were able to achieve using this very simple and user friendly platform.
Author Bio – This guest article is a work of Glen Quinn on behalf of Digtal CRO, a digital marketing consultancy specializing in online business development. If you’re on the lookout for a conversion optimized WordPress website design for your new website, do get in touch with Digital CRO today.
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