In the digital age, it’s now easier than ever to build and create your own website. You no longer need to spend a fortune hiring a web developer, or even a designer.
Most modern web platforms help you create a design from scratch, using templates! Trust us, you don’t even need to know any tricky code (though a little HTML will always come in useful).
If you’re still not convinced, follow us through our simple step-by-step guide. Using these tips, you could even have your website online within a day. Let’s get started.
Buy a domain name
Your first step is choosing the domain name for your website. That’s the address, or url, that people will use to find your site. You’ll want something like www.mywebsite.com. It is now possible to choose a custom domain ending too. You can choose .biz, .world, .church, and hundreds of others. Use a domain service like GoDaddy or 1-2-3-Reg to see what’s available. It will then cost you just a few dollars to buy.
Choose a web host
Web hosting is a tricky concept to get your head around. We tend to think of it like fencing off a portion of the internet. Before you build your website, you need a plot of internet land. That’s what web hosting does. It sells you a small piece of the internet, and this is where we’ll construct your site. In many cases, you can buy your domain name and hosting together from the same site. We tend to advise keeping them separate, and don’t always settle for the cheapest web host. Pay more and you’ll get better speed and service.
Choose a CMS platform
CMS stands for ‘content management system’. It’s a complicated name for a very simple tool! Your CMS platform is the thing you’ll use to design and create your website. The most common platform is WordPress. With a WordPress account, you can choose a design (or theme), and tweak it to perfection. They’ll do all the internet wizardry, and get your site up and running. Another popular choice is Tumblr or Drupal.
Fill the site with content
You should now have the bare bones of your website. WordPress or Tumblr will help you choose a theme or design you love. Now, it’s up to you to fill it with text, images, and logos. Again, the CMS platforms make this nice and simple. You’ll simply input text like you would on a Word document. They’ll handle the tricky job of turning it into website content.
Optimize it for search engines
You’re almost ready to go live with your new site! Your last job is to make sure that Google finds your new site, and ranks it on their results page. This is the part where we’d consider hiring expert SEO services. It’s a tricky business of implementing keywords and teaking metadata behind the scenes. Get it right, and you’ll quickly find yourself on Google’s first page.
Keep it up!
Trust us, it’s easier than you think to create a website! Follow these steps, and you’ll be up and running in a day. Now that you’re up and live, you just have to make sure you can keep it going.
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