It is not that difficult to learn how to build your own WordPress website. In fact is is possible to build a website of your own in a few minutes. Here are the 5 tips you need to know.
1. Purchase a domain name relating to the theme or niche of your business. Try and purchase a .com domain name whenever possible. Good places to buy domain names is Go Daddy and Name Cheap.
2. Set up your own website hosting. This is true whether you will be selling other people’s products in business models such as affiliate marketing or network marketing.
If you are going to be doing blogging you should also host your own blog. Avoid using the free platforms. The free platforms are not the best option for professional websites.
Good website hosting companies include Blue Host and Host Gator. These are inexpensive and very easy to work with.
3. Transfer the name servers from the domain company to your new hosting company. You can find easy to follow instructions on how to do this from the hosting company themselves. There are many videos on hosting companies to help you.
4. Use the Fantastico feature in your hosting member’s area to set up a blog. Even if you will not be blogging using a blog as a website is the easiest way to build one from scratch.
Word Press offers many excellent themes you can choose from. You can also purchase more professional themes if you want.
You want to keep it as simple as possible if you plan on using your blog as a website. Keep in mind that people read from left to right, so whenever possible put your sidebar on the right-hand side.
The upper left one-third of a website is the hotspot. This is where you want to concentrate on any offers or products you are going to sell. This might also include where you put a sign-up form to your newsletter or free offer to help build your mailing list.
5. You can customize your website more in the future as you develop it. There are many tutorials on how to customize a WordPress blog. Also, there are many videos on Youtube to learn about WordPress.
WordPress offers several plug-ins that are easy to install. You do not need any technical experience to do this. You can also install your own header and footer as well as monetize your site as you see fit.
Following these steps, and using WordPress as your website platform, allows you to get started without any technical knowledge or experience.
5 WordPress Tips for Bloggers
When it comes to blogging, WordPress is the best platform. WordPress is a frequently updated blogging package that allows the most novice of computer users to set-up and updates their very own blog. The software is programmed in a way that it is not only easy to use but easy to modify and be creative with as well.
Here are five WordPress tips and shortcuts that will make your blogging experience better, easier, and more effective.
1. Permalink
This is very important for your SEO and ranks as a top tip no matter who you speak to. Most new bloggers go through this.
You just created a well thought out post, published it and then see it assigned an ugly URL that ends in “p=145″ or something like that.
You have to change this if you want Google and other search engines to respect your site and rank you higher. Go to the options section and then click on “permalinks”. Select custom permalinks and then type in “%category%/%postname%” (minus the quotation marks) as your new permalink structure. This will put the name of the post or the name of the category followed by the name of the post in the URL.
2. Search News
Do a Google News search using the keywords or niche of your blog. Then recap a news event and expand on it with a comment of what you think of that event.
Don’t just do a straight news recap as this will most likely be seen by your audience as poor content because they can get news anywhere. But giving some personal experience with regards what is going on in the news does make for some interesting reading.
3. The Error Page 404
Another great tip you can use with a WordPress blog to help keep people from leaving your site involves the Error 404 page. Most themes used with WordPress have an Error 404 page for when there is an error in a URL.
Hopefully, it doesn’t happen often, but when it does happen that someone runs across this (just like the search engine robots do) wouldn’t it be nice to put something more than just the standard error message there?
You’ll need to edit the 404.php file, which can be accessed from your WP Admin Control Panel. Redirect the error page to your homepage.
4. Plugins
If you’re using WordPress and want to make your blog a “do-follow” blog, meaning that links from your blog pass on the benefits of Google page rank, you can install one of the many do-follow plug-ins available.
5. Repost Your Old Posts (Pretty Smart Tip)
Repeated and regular postings will boost your page rankings. A great tip that can solve this problem of having to write and post every day or every week is to write a supply of blog posts ahead of time and then either save them as drafts or change the post timestamp option to a date and time in the future.
If you save them as drafts, you can use them whenever you need them. If you change the timestamp to a future date, then without you doing anything those blog posts will show up on those pre-defined dates as if you were blogging that day.
The power of the WordPress blogging platform is great as its flexibility allows for many tweaks, tips, and tricks to be used. All this customizes your blog and makes it that much more appealing to your visitors.
WordPress Tips for Beginners
WordPress is not merely a blogging tool but can also be used to create an awesome and pretty effective website. Here are some important tips for WordPress beginners to create an attractive website.
Keep it simple
One of the most important things you need to know before getting started is to figure the navigation as per the services offered. Your website is the same as a library where people are walking to find what they want. Thus, creating different pages for various products and services is fundamental. It helps to create your site simple and attractive.
Buy a domain name
Doing a little planning to purchase a domain name is crucial. Some people decide the domain name as their brand name and some focus on services.
Choose a theme
Choosing the right theme is difficult but not impossible. Plugin and themes, both are usually specific to an industry. A theme helps to give an attractive look and it includes widget locations, page layout, color choices and default font.
Create image gallery
Images help to make the site beautiful and attractive. Whenever you upload new images on site, you need to add a specific keyword with the title and little description as alt text.
Focus on the footer area
Footer is vital because here you can add links to important pages, write a little message or give a brief description of your website. Generally, people scroll down to look at your site at a glance. So, provide an informative footer for the users.
Keep WordPress secure
Hackers always follow the path of least resistance. Make sure, you always keep plugin and themes up to date and use a strong password. There are some plugins on WordPress to secure your website.