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 HOW TO MAKE A WEBSITE IN LESS THAN 15 MINUTES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At one point in time, knowing how to make a website meant that you knew how to design in Photoshop and code in HTML. Well, those days are gone because today you can make a website in less than 15 minutes and you don't need experience with Photoshop or HTML!

 

If you've decided that your business needs a website or if you'd like to create a personal website or blog but just aren't sure how to proceed, our tutorial provides step by step directions that are easy to follow and understand.

 

Websites aren't nearly as complicated as they seem. In fact, most websites today are powered by what is called a content management system. This is a "framework" so to speak that powers the website and makes it easy to add pages, blog posts and make changes to the website.

 

Wordpress is the most popular CMS and there are thousands of free themes available that can be installed at the click of a button. There's no HTML involved and even a beginner can setup a new Wordpress website. So, let's get down to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first step to developing a website is picking a domain name, registering it and setting up web hosting. Your domain name is the actual web address that your site will be located at such as www.example.com. The domain is not the actual website, it simply points to the server where your website is hosted at, which is why domains and hosting service go hand in hand.

 

Web hosting is a service where you are provided with space on a computer server, so that your website can be accessible at all times on the internet. This computer server stays running 24/7 and serves as the "host" for your website. Domains typically cost about $10 per year for a .COM address and hosting is about $10 per month with an average provider.

 

However, it's important to choose a reliable company when it comes to domains and hosting services as every business differs when it comes to up-time, speed, stability, etc. Finding the best deals can make a big difference long-term. After you have registered your domain and purchased web hosting, you can begin to build the website. This guide on how to make a website features a free content management system (CMS) called Wordpress. 

Wordpress is open source and has free themes and plugins developed by the community. This is essentially what makes Wordpress the best CMS on the planet. It's simplistic and it allows you to build a professional website even as a beginner.


Here is what you need to do:


Step 1 - Register The Domain

 


Choose a domain name for your website that represents your brand. Brandable domains are short names or phrases that are easily remembered. You can optionally choose a keyword focused domain as well, such as a keyword that relates to your products or services. The domain should be a representation of what the website is about. If your site is a business website, personal site or blog you should have a domain that corresponds to that. 


There are no hard set rules for domain names. You are free to choose any domain name you want as long as it's not protected by a patent by another business. Here are some quick suggestions to keep in mind when registering a domain name:

 


1. Choose something that relates to your products, services or content

2. Use an extension such as .com, .net or .org - they are the most popular

3. Brandable domains are short words or phrases that are easy to remember

 

 

Once you have an idea for a domain name head over to a registrar such as NameSilo.com, NameCheap.com or Godaddy.com. All three of these domain registrars are known and trustworthy sources for new registrations. Checking the availability of a domain only takes a second. If the domain you have in mind is already taken, simply keep trying until you have an idea that's available. You can use synonyms of words to come up with different variations for domains.

 

 

Step 2 - Setup Your Web Hosting Account


There are lots of web hosts to choose from. The most reputable companies are generally ones that stay away from unlimited space and unlimited bandwidth offers. "Unlimited" doesn't actually exist in web hosting, as there's no such thing as an unlimited hard drive and every host must have limits on bandwidth usage in order to stay profitable. 


A top web host is GreenGeeks.com. Green Geeks is an American business that has great support at a fair price. To setup an account simply head to their homepage and select "View Shared Hosting Plans & Pricing" and then the orange "Order Now" button.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tip: Opt for a one year plan and get your domain for free!


You can enter your domain name under the "I Need a Domain" section to register the domain with them or if you've already registered it with another company you can use the "I Already Own a Domain" section. Once you have done this, simply select "Next."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You will then be directed to the sign up form where you will need to enter your information and proceed with making your first payment. Remember to check for coupons online before completed your purchase. Web hosts often have money saving coupons available. "Take20off" is a coupon for GreenGeeks that may still be active.


Click "Create My Account" and wait for a confirmation email to arrive. Within this email you should find your login details.

 

 

 

Step 3 - Setting Up Your Website


Now you need to go to school and learn Photoshop, graphic design and programming. Not really. As mentioned previously, you don't need to know any of this to build a professional website in minutes.


Thanks to the powerful and simplistic CMS known as Wordpress, you can build a website in less than 15 minutes. Not only that but it will look just as clean and professional as any other site on the internet.

 


Green Geek's is great because they provide an automatic Wordpress installation tool within their control panel. 

 


Simply open up your browser and go to the Green Geek's customer area that you received login details for via email. Once inside, click on "cPanel login" next to your hosting account. This button should be blue. Once logged in, simply locate "Fantastico," it should look like a blue smiley face. This is their script installer and Wordpress is one of the most common installations that can automatically be done with Fantastico De Luxe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can find Wordpress on the left hand side under "Blogs." Click on "WordPress" and select "New Installation."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Select your domain name from the drop down menu and leave the "Install in directory" field blank. This will install WordPress on the root directory of your domain name, rather than at a sub-address such as www.example.com/sub-address. Installing WordPress in a sub-directory would only be useful if you had a different CMS for the main website.


Click on "Install WordPress" and Fantastico will install the CMS for you. Once complete, select "Finish Installation."


That's it, you're all done and WordPress has been installed on your website. It's incredibly and it only takes a few minutes to complete. There should even be a default theme installed for you on the website to give the site some character out-of-the-box.

 

 


Step 4 - Configuring The Website

 


Now that WordPress is live, you have a real website that can look very professional with some basic adjustments. To begin configuring the site, add /wp-admin to the end of your domain such as www.example.com/wp-admin

Use the login information that Fantastico either generated for you or you supplied yourself when installing WordPress.

You are now inside the WP dashboard, where you can edit virtually everything about your website.

All configurations such as adding blog articles, adding pages, changing the theme, adding videos, images, etc. are done from within this dashboard.


1) Appearance

 

Under the appearance section within Wordpress you can find an area dedicated to themes. If you click on "Themes" and select "Add New" you will find a screen where you can install and activate new themes. These are themes that have been created by other Wordpress users like yourself. Wordpress is open source, meaning that anyone can access the code and create their own themes for the Wordpress CMS. This is what makes it so powerful and it's why there are thousands of free themes available for it. Try installing a new theme, activate it and then go to the homepage and checkout the changes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appearance also houses a section called "Menus." This is where you can create and assign menus to specific areas that your theme supports. The most common area is the top navigational bar. You can create a menu and add your website pages to that menu so that your visitors can access those pages and read the content.

"Widgets" is an area under appearance that's dedicated to things you want displayed on sidebars or custom areas that your theme supports. If you have a theme with a right or left hand sidebar, you can use widgets to change what is displayed there. Footers, headers and other areas of the theme are often supported in the widgets section as well.

 


2) Posts and Pages


There are two main types of content for every WordPress website - posts and pages. Posts are intended as blog posts. If your website is a blog, this will be the most common type of content on your website. However, even company sites can benefit from running a blog. Don't be afraid to use both.
Use pages to create the actual pages for your website. The about us page, contact page, services page, etc. can all be done using WordPress pages and should not be created as posts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feel free to play around with this and test out new posts and pages as you please. Don't forget to go to Appearance -> Menu to customize the navigational menu for your website so that you and your visitors can access the new content you have just added.


3) Media

 

The media section is where all images and videos are stored and accessible for the website. Going here to add media directly is rarely done, usually you will just add media to posts or pages and they can then be edited or accessed from the media center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Media is simply an area to review all of the media you have on your site or upload new media in case you are using it outside of a post or page.


4) Users


The users section is of course what users have registered for your WP site. This will be the administration account and whatever other accounts you have created. Wordpress supports author accounts, editor accounts, subscriber accounts and even additional administration accounts if your website has more than one owner. Wordpress supports registration from visitors and the default role for a new registration is subscriber. This can be useful if you want to collect emails or have a specific reason for users to register.


5) Plugins


Plugins are one of the most powerful features of WordPress. A plugin is an enhancement that you can add to your website, designed for a specific purpose. For instance, if you'd like a contact form on your website, this can easily be accomplished by installing a plugin. There are plugins for almost everything possible. Plugins can help you enhance the SEO of your website, install a fully functional shopping cart system and turn WordPress into an e-commerce store, or even do basic things such as display the weather in the city your users are from.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are thousands of free plugins for Wordpress and thousands of paid ones as well. In the beginning, you should use only the free ones until you get familiar with Wordpress and how it works. You can easily spend a lot of money on plugins without making much in return. It's advisable to wait until your website is making money before experimenting with paid plugins.


6) Comments


Comments left by readers on your blog will be displayed under the "comments" section in WordPress. Be sure to review these and approve/reject them as you see fit. Often times, Wordpress blogs are spammed by bots and are subject to comment spam. If your blog is suffering from this, be sure to search for a plugin that can help protect you from massive spam. It can be really annoying to deal with constant bombardment from bots.

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