WordPress is an awesome online tool for building and managing both blogs and websites.
It is one of the most easiest and popular platform for anyone who would like to begin a blogging or web design career. Not only is it easy, it’s also totally free!
With WordPress you can build endless professional websites for institutions, agencies, Non-governmental Organizations, Even eCommerce businesses!
What you’ll need for a Website.
To start building a website with WordPress, you will need the following:
- Hosting Account
This is basically a virtual system that acts as a storage unit or a memory palace, for all the content available on your website. Whether it’s images, files, written articles, videos etc; they are kept here.
There are hosting companies that offer packages of various memory sizes and charge per month, others charge yearly; depending on the space you need for your website.
For a start, you could opt for a smaller shared hosting account; which you can pay on a yearly basis and as you grow, or more people visit your website, you can consider upgrading to a higher option, which in this case is the Dedicated Servers, paid for per month. - Domain Name
This is any web address that people will have to type on search engines to view your website. For example: yourbusinessname.com, or BBC.com ,or Facebook.com, etc
” If your hosting account is large enough; you can have more than one domain sharing the same hosting service.”
- Install WordPress Software
WordPress is the brain at work on this entire process. What the software does, is that it manages all your content. Instead of you learning how to code and insert HTML codes; WordPress does it for you.
It has a very simple User Interface that shows you directly, what to put where, for the website to work. In fact, you’ll be using it similarly as you do on Facebook, or even Microsoft Word!
After purchasing the domain and hosting account; depending on the hosting company, you should find a one-click WordPress installation button on your hosting account. Meaning: You don’t need to set up anything. Only fill in the necessary details on the installation screen. - Install a WordPress Theme
A WordPress theme is basically ambiance setting that gives the website a certain layout, feel and look. So, picture it like a collection of many files with different functions that work together so as to produce a final unifying design/display.
There are free themes, mostly meant for basic use and premium ones for more professional outlook, especially for the corporate websites. One of the websites where you can find free themes is : https://wordpress.org/themes
For premium themes, a recommended website to buy from is : https://themeforest.net - Add Pages
Pages are the main frame that the users are directed to; after clicking on the navigation menus within your website.
If they want to view your gallery photos, then you will have to create a Gallery Page, and insert images on it.
If you need your web visitors to get in touch with you, without leaving the website; you will also need to include a contact page as well.
‘About’ page is vital. It explains everything – in-depth; that your visitors want to know concerning you or your institution etc.
Portfolio is another website that displays your past projects and helps the user see what you have done before on a given industry. Take it as a showcase of experience. - Get a logo
The final essential thing you’ll need for your professional WordPress website is a Logo.
This is normally found on the head part of the website. It is your unique sign with slogan on it as well. This piece of image or word or icon is used to identify your products or business as whole!
Some other things, though minor include Social Media Networks. This aids in publicizing your website to friends, acquaintances and family members on Social Circles. You can link your Facebook page to your website for more interactions!
With all the above requirements, starting a WordPress Website is like a leap to the foot!
Easy as ABC……!
