Having a website for yourself or for your company is as essential as owning a mobile phone in this age. Everyone is going online to look for information and shopping, so it is key to have a fully functional website that caters to their needs. However, if you know nothing about websites nor coding, do not fret! We have come up with a quick guide of building your own website for absolute beginners!
Choosing your Platform
There are so many platforms available to choose from, like GoDaddy, Wix or Squarespace. However, we recommend WordPress. WordPress is a free, open-source platform where it is easy, user-friendly, and super-flexible to use. Other platforms may need you to be familiar with HTML and CSS but with WordPress, you just need to know how the codes work. The rest of the heavy-lifting is done by WordPress itself (you can even learn about HTML by using WordPress!).
Another reason why we recommend WordPress is the plugins. These plugins are tools that helps you the run your website smoother. If you feel that you need a specific function to your website, you can search and download a plugin for it. Again, you do not need to know coding as you can improve functionality with a click of a button.
Picking your Domain Name and Web Host
After choosing your platform, you would need to think about your domain name. A domain name is like a name of your website as it appears on the URL. There are free options but it would under the platform’s ownership (eg. mywebsite.wordpress.blog). This domain name is good for a casual blog but for company website, that does not look professional right?
Instead you can pay a bit to your own domain name (eg mywebsite.com). Each platform has their own price plans which can be very affordable, even for a start-up.
If you have opted to buy your domain name, you need to buy hosting plans for your website. Web hosting is important as it allows your website to be online and visible on the Internet. Think of it as paying for someone to help keep your stuff at their home. For web hosting, we recommend Bluehost as they are cost effective, user-friendly and secure. They have different price plans depending on the needs you have, and you can upgrade and downgrade whenever you want. You do not have to worry about your website going dark.
Choosing a Theme
After creating (and settling payments) of your website, it is time to put your content into it. But before that, you would need to choose a theme for your website. Pick a theme that is the most functional and appropriate to your imagery. Ask yourself if you want your website to look simple with clear menus at the side or something that looks like a timeline and flows downwards. You can preview and experiment with the themes and see what suits you.
Creating the Pages
Time to create the pages. We recommend to have at least 5 pages in your website for search engine optimisation purposes. These pages can be like a homepage, about us, goals and mission, blog and a contact us page. On WordPress, you can simply start creating pages at the Pages tab on the dashboard. Type out or copy and paste the content onto your editor and publish it!
To ensure that the pages appear on the menu on your website, you would need to go to Appearance and to menus. There, you can drag and drop with pages and arrange them accordingly.
These are the basics towards building a functional website for beginners! Go ahead and create a free website to try your hand at it. However, if you are still facing difficulties or that you do not have the time, you can leave the web development matters to us! Contact us here for your website needs and we will make a gorgeous website for you!
Stay tuned for our next article about WordPress plugins!