Creating a website used to require a thorough understanding of HTML and how websites work. There also used to be a strong dependency between the content, stylistic look, and functionality of the website. In other words, to change the style or functionality forced one to change many parts of the site. Fortunately, middle layers have evolved to allow non-developers to create relatively complex sites that are easily changed without much effort. Of the options available today, the open-source WordPress tool has both broad support and is constantly improving.
Quick Install
1. Register your domain. Hover.com or use your host provider in step 2.
2. Choose hosting provider. But first, understand that Wordpress.org is software that is free to use anywhere. Wordpress.com is the same software running as a paid service provider (host).
a. If you know you want to use WordPress only, WordPress.com is the easiest entry point as they setup everything but has a number of surcharges.
b. If you want something that could go beyond WordPress, Hostgator.com is an excellent choice. It will also allow you to have complete flexibility (no surcharges) but is a little more complex to setup.
3. If you went with 2a., register and your site is ready. If you selected 2b., register and pay and the host will provide you with a login. Login into their site and only a few clicks will install WordPress for you (example from HostGator.com). For you techies, these couple clicks configures a MySQL database and the PHP infrastructure that is WordPress.
4. Now you have a live WordPress site and the fun begins! First realize you have a website which has many features one of which being a blog. Think of a blog as a feature of a website rather than the whole website (which it could be if that is the only feature you use). Wordpress (WP) started as a blogging platform so sometimes there is a misconception it can only do blogging. WP Posts are entries that are usually associated with a blog (time-based, by category). They could be used for things like company news or recipes. WP Pages tend to be more static but there is nothing that prevents you from creating a new page every day. So play around a little creating posts and pages.
5. Now that you have an idea of how posts and pages work, consider what you want your site to look like. Jump to the appearance section change try changing a Theme. You will see all the pages & posts on the site change at once. Very easy. The trick is finding the style and site design that works for you. There are numerous sites out there to show and sell your WP themes. Sometimes it is worth $50 to get something that looks great.
6. Next consider what functionality you need. Most functionality is added through WP Widgets or WP Pluggins. Widgets are little parts of a page or post that do something. Example – show weather, do a search, navigate by category. Simply drag and drop onto the template and they appear everywhere.
7. Plugins add significant functionality to the WP site. There are a few that are must haves while most others depend on what you want to do.
a. Must haves
Akismet – Spam filter for comments (if you have comments turned on). Provided with WordPress but you must register to activate the services.
b. Nice to haves
Insert Headers and Footers – Occasionally you do have to copy code into your site (example Google Analytics). This plugin makes it a copy-paste and no file coding.
Jetpack by WordPress – brings you some additional features
Google Sitemap – generates sitemaps Google can consume (improves your good search)
There is a lot of free and paid support for WordPress available on the internet. Don’t be afraid to play around as it is easy to undo changes. WP even versions your content so you can roll back to an earlier version!
