A website is a beneficial tool, one of the best ways to develop an online reputation if you are an entrepreneur. Starting an enterprise online is not an expensive proposition. Assuming you have a computer and an internet connection, the only parts left are a website and a means to collect earnings.
Having a website means that anyone can find you anytime. A website is a powerful tool to enhance your online presence. There are so many people online everyday who are searching for information, sharing on social media or shopping from e-shops. You have to give them the opportunity to know about you and choose you between your competitors. Customers need to know that you are a company that covers their needs and not a company that is interested only for profits. What more efficient way to promote your business than a website? Using only traditional forms of marketing, you lose opportunities, time and money. A website is an essential aspect of any digital marketing strategy.
Here are some of the benefits of having a website:
• Improved credibility
• Enhanced online presence
• Strong relationship with your market
• Efficient promotion of your enterprise
• Valuable insight about your customers
• Finding new customers
• Staying ahead of the competition
• Improved SEO rankings
• Saving time and money
• Management of reputation
• Expanding market reach
• Professionalization of your brand
• Tracking your business constantly
• Showing your work
Nowadays, knowing how to make a website is one of the most essential skills you should have as an enterprise’s owner. If you know how to build your website, you will save a lot of money on web developers and designers, you will be able to follow market trends and put new things on your website without needing a programmer’s help and you will effectively stay ahead of your competition. Although, starting a website can be a terrifying thought.
There are many website platforms that you can use when building a new site. WordPress is a site builder and content management systems that users can download and install for free. It is the most popular website platform in the world, as it has unique features and it is quite simple for starters. It is extremely flexible and works with almost every third-party tool and service available to website owners. WordPress can be used in many different ways from simple websites to eCommerce marketplace.
WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are the top three free most often used site building packages, which can be customized to suit the needs of individual users. However, Joomla and Drupal are not as user friendly as WordPress and they do not have a similarly vast community as WordPress has.
Below you will find more information about WordPress that will help you understand why it is more suitable for your enterprise from other platforms:
- WordPress is not just a blogging tool, but a powerful website builder and a robust content management system. It is quite easy to use and flexible enough to make different types of websites. It is used either to run complex sites for large multinational companies or to manage small enterprises. WordPress package has a variety of basic and premium plugins that can cover your needs.
- You do not need to have technical experience and expertise to install and run a WordPress site. The user needs a domain name (the address of your website on the internet) and a web hosting account. You can install WordPress either through your WordPress hosting provider or uploaded directly from WordPress.org. Since you do that, the dashboard has all that you need to customize and create content.
- WordPress offers many options of Themes. Themes improve the appearance and the function of a website. Many of them are available to a new user, but you can also purchase more through marketplaces. You can change themes and your site’s layout any time you want. Moreover, WordPress includes the basic elements needed for the creation of a website. For more specialized activities, there are many plugins that users can purchase and install.
- WordPress sites tend to rank higher than others in search engines. WordPress websites are ranking higher for their keywords and also include many tools and plugins for optimizing content for SEO (search engine optimization).
- Another aspect is that WordPress websites are mobile responsive and mobile responsiveness is important for Google rankings.
- WordPress, although that is a content management system software, gives you the possibility to publish content. More specifically, WordPress has the “built-in” blog feature, so users who want to add a blog to their website can do it, without creating one separately.
- WordPress is a very secure and safe platform to run a website. However, there are always dangers when you are on internet, so you have to protect your website.
- WordPress follows accessibility standards. The core team of WordPress gave a special attention to make a software accessible to everyone.
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that allows you to host and build websites. But what is the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com? The difference between them has to do with who is actually hosting your website.
On WordPress.org, you download your WordPress software, buy a domain name on a third-party site, and manage your server. With WordPress.org, you have the full control of your website but that’s means also more responsibilities. You must purchase and set up your own domain name, themes, plugins, take care for its security. WordPress.org is free to use but you have to pay for everything else that you will need to your website.
WordPress.com hosts your website without downloading any software or managing a server. WordPress.com means less responsibilities for you, without paying for hosting or domain name. There also many options to make your website looks like as you want. WordPress.com has a free and paid version. The free version does not offer any custom themes or plugins and you have a WordPress subdomain. You can always upgrade your site, buy premium features or even a custom domain through a third-party provider.
How to build a WordPress site? Below there are 7 steps to help you:
1. Choose a domain name
First thing you have to do is to choose a domain name for your website. This name is the address when your customers are trying to find you on the internet. Keep in mind that if you are making a website for an enterprise, your domain name should match your enterprise’s name. Also, you have to decide about the domain name extension, which depends on your goal regarding the target audience.
2. Register a domain and sign up with web hosting
Before starting, you also need a website hosting. You need a web hosting, in order your website to be accessible for everyone. Web hosting hosts and stores your website content on a secure server that is always up and running. A good web hosting provides free domain name with SSL, one-click-install for WordPress, custom email accounts, unlimited or unmetered bandwidth and customer support.
3. Set up a website using WordPress
Since you have the domain name and website hosting, you have to install a website building platform, known as CMS. As we mentioned above, the better choice for you is WordPress. You do not have to worry how you will set up your website, as your web host mostly does it for you.
4. Customize your website design and structure
Now, you have to make your website look beautiful. Firstly, you can choose a theme for your website. There are many free and paid options available on the web. Moreover, you will choose the design of the website that you want. There are quite enough designs that you can choose the suitable for you. Once you have your company’s logo ready, you can upload it too. Another thing that you have to choose for your website are the colour scheme and the fonts. All this help you to create a unique website according to your preferences.
5. Add important pages and content
Web pages are easy to create in WordPress. The most used pages in a website are the homepage, the about page, the contact page and the service page. You can also add or remove the pages that they suit to your website and your enterprise.
6. Set up a navigation menu
The menu is what your visitors use to go from page to page on your website. You can have more than one menu to your website.
7. Add an online store
Adding an online store is an optional process. WordPress allows you to build a fully functional eCommerce online store. The plugin that you will need is WooCommerce, the most popular eCommerce solution for WordPress.
Do not forget that you not only have to create your website, but also it is crucial to improve it constantly.
Looking to learn more about how to build a website with WordPress? Check out this video.
