Having a website is one of the most effective ways of disseminating information over the internet. To make a website, you need to understand a few simple things beforehand. This will help you come up with a website that will effectively reach your targeted audience.
To begin with, you need to choose a platform on which to build your website. There are a variety of website builders available. Some will allow you to build for free while others require that you make some payments. The most common website builders include Drupal, Joomla, Wix, and WordPress.
Most business owners, bloggers, and individuals use WordPress to create a website. This is because of its relatively friendly user interface. It also allows you to make a website using a number of themes and customizations. It is also cheaper in case you decide to purchase your own domain in as time goes by.
Here are steps on how to make a website.
1. Register a domain name
To make a website and connect to the internet, you will need a domain name and a web hosting service. A domain name is your web address i.e SiteName.com. The web hosting service allows you to connect your site to the internet. Without web hosting and a domain name, your site will not be recognized by search engines. WordPress offers free domains but you need to make sure that it is registered. The charges for registering a domain name is around 1500.
Here is how to register a domain name
WordPress offers free domains, but to make the website more professional, you need to register a custom domain and use it instead of the one provided by WordPress. This will change the address from SiteName.wordpress.com to SiteName.com. In case you had already started using the previous address and had some traffic, WordPress will automatically redirect traffic to your new domain so you don’t need to worry.
You will need to have an active plan on the site to register a domain name. Each plan comes with a free domain name and credit for one year of registration. The renewal is independent. You have the option of registering as many domains as you would like on your site but you will have to make separate registration payments.
Steps in registering a new domain
- Go to the Domains page by selecting My Sites- Manage- Domains.
- Click Add Domain
- Enter the domain you wish to register in the search box
- If the domain is available, it will show up below the search box. Click select to choose the available domain.
- Choose if you would like to add an email to your domain by clicking Add Mail or Skip. You can also add an email to your domain later.
- Choose if you would like your contact information to be public [Register Publicly] or private [Register Privately with private protection]
- Fill in the Domain Registration Information for the domain. The information must be correct and you will need to verify that you own the email address.
- Make payments to complete your registration and purchase a WordPress Plan if you do not have one already. If you have credits on your account, a prompt will be sent to you about how your domain is being purchased with credits.
2. Set up your website
Once you have purchased your domain name and set up your hosting, your website is nearly complete. You will then need to install WordPress on your domain. WordPress provides a one-click installation in the account control panel. You can, therefore, set up your website with ease.
Here are the steps to follow
- Log in to your hosting account
- Go to your hosting account
- Look for the WordPress or Website panel
- Choose the domain where you want to install your new website
- Click the ‘Install Now’ button and you will get access to your new WordPress website
After following all the steps on how to make a website and having all the requirements in place, you now need to design it and make it more appealing.
There are many templates available on the WordPress Dashboard and you can choose any to use in the customization of your site. There are more than 1500 free themes available on the dashboard and you can choose any of them to apply to your site. You will install your theme and change it at any time if you feel like it.
If you want your website to be more professional you can hire a web developer to customize a professional theme which you can also buy.
Here is How to Make a Website in 10 mins
3. Add content to your site
To add content to your site, you will go to the dashboard. Go to ‘pages’, the ‘Add New.’ From the space, you can add posts depending on the type of content you have specialized in. You can also add the categories under which to upload your posts depending on the specific type of the content that you are uploading.
Once the posts have been uploaded, your targeted audience will view and will want to interact by commenting. If you do not want your audience to post comments on your posts, you can disable them by following these simple steps.
- Click on ‘Screen options’ after inserting the content
- Click ‘Discussions.’ The ‘Allow Comments’ box will appear
- Untick ‘Allow Comments’ at the bottom of the page
You can go on and make more customizations and optimizations to reach a wider and more diversified audience.
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