I remember those days when I was a novice and used to Google these words; so if you’re reading this, I’m assuming that you just bought a Domain and now wondering what to do with it. Well, you’re in the right place.
Now it’s time to build a website; building a website or a blog is not as difficult as many of you think. Even if you don’t have any technical skills, you can do it yourself without hiring anyone.
In this article, I’ll show you how you can build a fully-functional website within 20 minutes. Follow the below steps carefully and your website will be ready within few minutes.
Get a Web Hosting
So the first thing you have to do after buying the Domain name is to get a Web Hosting plan from a reliable company; most domain providers like GoDaddy, Namecheap usually offer reliable hosting plans. Since I use SiteGround to build my websites, below I’ll show you how to buy web hosting using SiteGround as an example. The steps are almost same for other hosting companies.
Most of the domain providers like GoDaddy or Namecheap offer hosting packages with their domain name. But they always have some limitations. I will never suggest you to buy hosting from a domain provider.
The better way is to go with a renown hosting like HostGator or Bluehost or A2 Hosting.
If you are still wondering why you need a web hosting plan, here is the answer.
Web hosting is a server where you will keep your site’s files like images, videos etc. Buying a hosting plan means buying some spaces from a remote computer to store your files. This computer will make your site accessible through World Wide Web (WWW).
There are different types of hosting plans like Shared hosting, VPS hosting, Dedicated hosting etc. Shared Hosting is the best choice for new sites that don’t have much traffic. It’s also the most affordable hosting plan.
Here’s a list of best 2 shared hosting providers.
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Bluehost
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HostGator
Connect Domain With Web Hosting
If you’ve bought a domain name and hosting plan from the same company, you can skip this step. Otherwise, you need to point your domain name to hosting server to connect each other.
Buying a domain and hosting from different places is a good idea. It makes your site secure. It also makes it easier to transfer your site from one host to another.
Connecting domain with web hosting is very easy. Just login to your Hosting account and copy your nameservers. Then login to your domain provider and edit your name servers.
You can find your name servers in welcome email or cPanel. However, you can also take help from your host’s live support.
Install Blog
To run and maintain your blog efficiently, you need to install a software on your host. This is known as Content Management System (CMS). WordPress is the most popular CMS that has been used by 25% of the websites in the World. It’s also the best blogging platform.
It’s very easy to use. With Onc-click Installation, WordPress makes it insanely easy to create a site/blog. You can install WordPress by yourself. All you need to do is, follow some simple steps.
Design Your Website
If you’ve chosen WordPress as your platform, then you can do it on your own.
There are plenty of WordPress themes out there. Whether you are going to create a personal blog or an eCommerce site, you will get available WordPress themes for that.
You can get a free theme from WordPress Theme Directory or you can buy a premium theme from Premium WordPress Themes Providers. I’d suggest you to go with a premium theme if you are serious about your site/blog. But if it’s just a personal blog, you can go with a free theme.
Here are some best premium WordPress themes providers.
- Elegant Themes – It has a variety of WordPress themes like Blog, Business, eCommerce, Magazine, Multimedia, Portfolio etc. You can get all its 87 themes for just $69 which means you are paying less than $1 for a premium theme.
- Thrive Themes – I use and recommend Thrive Themes. These themes have everything to convert your visitors into subscribers, customers, and clients.
- StudioPress – It offers SEO optimized, responsive, secure, customizable and easy to use WordPress themes.
Create an Email With Your Domain Name
You can set up a free email address ([email protected]) from your hosting cPanel or you can use Google Apps for $5/month.
Get Social Media Accounts
There are plenty of social media sites out there. You have to join some of them based on your audience. Some of the most popular social media sites are:
- Google+
Start Adding Content on Your Site
The success of your website depends on your content. Once you have your site ups and running, you need to start adding content on your site.
Here are some most important pages for your blog or website.
- About Page
- Services Page
- FAQ Page
- Privacy Policy Page
- Contact Us Page (Contact details, contact form and Google Map)
Submit Site to Search Engines
Whenever you create a new site/blog, you always want people to find your site easily. The easiest way people can find your site is through Search Engines.
To get your site found on Search Engines, you need to create a sitemap and submit it to search engines.
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