Nowadays almost no business owner or company can afford not to have its own website. But what should be done if the necessary programming skills are lacking? Simple, just use a Content Management System (abbreviated as CMS).
How to Create your own website with WordPress?
Once installed, you can create, design and manage a site without having extensive HTML knowledge. One of the most popular CMS is WordPress and in order to take advantage of the advantages of this CMS, we explain below step by step how to create a site with WordPress.
1. Install the CMS
You can opt for WordPress packages where the necessary files have already been uploaded to the server, for example the WordPress hosting of 1 & 1 IONOS or choose to manage its installation independently . In this case, you need hosting, FTP access, a domain and the latest WordPress version. This guide to install WordPress will help you in the process.
2. Change the general settings
First of all you should adapt the general settings for your site and WordPress. Here in the first step the points “Site Title” (if you had not already included it in the installation) and “Motto” are important: in fact the title and the motto are practically the sign of your site, thanks to which the browser and search engines use this data to present your page to users.
So you should take some time to reflect, even if you don’t have to be afraid of not being able to remedy the errors: these fields can always be changed later.
Also in this section you change the settings related to the country , then the time zone, the language, the date and time format, and you can also change the writing and reading settings . In most cases the first ones are important once you know your work process better, while the reading settings establish with some precision how your articles should be shown.
Before changing the standard settings, however, you should stop and think about how you want to make your design. Thus it is important for example if you want a static page as homepage or if the most recent articles should always be shown (as in the case of a blog).
3. Change the content settings
Before leaving the settings section, you should still try your hand at permalinks . A permalink is characterized by the fact that the URL in question always contains the same article, unlike what happens with dynamic URLs. The use of permalinks therefore has two advantages: the first guarantees that your articles will be reachable even in the future at this address and that the links of these web pages do not refer to a page that does not exist. The second is that they virtually standardize the links to your articles.
So you can use “explanatory URLs”: the name of the article is then part of the Internet address , facilitating the thematic classification of the relevant page both for users in the flesh and for search engines.
4. Distribute roles and permits
After installation, you default to the administrator position, so you have the ability to add new users and permissions.
Role assignment is particularly recommended for larger teams. Above all the role of administrator should be given to trusted people, deemed able to modify the site and design with knowledge of the facts: reckless changes due to a lack of knowledge of how WordPress works can paralyze the entire site.
5. Install themes
The choice of one or the other will determine the appearance of the website and the presentation of the content on the front end . Themes can be WordPress or third-party (free or paid) and must be adapted for each topic . To do this, we recommend using the customizer . Also check that a responsive design is used and, if necessary, use widgets .
On Intenet there are many other platforms that offer themes. For example, on Themeforest , TemplateMonster or on the websites of other suppliers , premium themes are available , for a fee, but which allow a more complex design and offer much more possibilities for customization than for free themes. Many paid theme developers also offer configuration help and additional support.
To install a premium theme of this type, you must first buy it on the platform and then download it. You can then install it on your wall manually by clicking on “Add new” in the “Themes” section. The corresponding button is then “Load theme”, where you can select the file package on the hard drive and install it.
6. Define a menu structure
If you want to establish a precise menu structure for your site with WordPress, it is possible under the “Menu” item on the bulletin board. This way you will help your visitors while browsing . Also you can put a link to the static pages or show the posts of precise categories.
7. Install the plug-ins
With plug-ins give your site with WordPress additional features . Under “Plugin” you should already find some extensions. Like the themes, other modules can be installed: by clicking on “Install” you can install plug-ins from the official database and also manually insert files downloaded from other sites.
8. Create individual individual web pages
WordPress makes a distinction between pages and articles, although both are similar and based on content. However, the posts are arranged chronologically, while the pages remain static.
Typical examples in a blog are the “About Us” pages and the contacts page. Conventional WordPress blogs usually contain many more posts than pages. But as already written, with WordPress you can also create static pages, to which a greater value is attributed.
9. Publish the articles
The process of publishing an article is the same as following the creation of a page. In fact, even here you have the same editor available. However, the differences appear in the right sidebar: the publication settings are extended by the ” Put this article in evidence on the home page ” option . If you check this item, the article will always be displayed first, even if you post a new one.
10. Use the Media Library
Use the media library to store the media files used in articles. Images can also be accompanied by an alternative text that briefly describes what is shown. In addition to being essential in SEO, this text serves to ensure greater accessibility to the website.
Create the appropriate content
The suitability of the contents for your WordPress site depends very much on your target and on the effect you want to achieve . Do your readers want information on a specific topic or do they need concrete information about your company? Identify yourself in your future visitors or ask friends and acquaintances. Regardless of the topic you want to write about, some rules apply, to be taken into account in all cases:
Manage your site on WordPress
So far you have discovered how you can create a site with WordPress. Now we focus on how to manage and protect your page.
Actuality
If you have only created a static site, which for example provides information about your company, you must be careful that they are up to date . If your company changes location, expand your range of features or change prices, you should also fix it right away on your website. In fact the sites are for many consumers the first point of reference to receive information about your company.
Even if you run a blog or a news page, current events are important. Readers will return to visit your page only if you regularly provide interesting content . To keep the publication of the content under control, it is useful to create a drafting plan . This is especially true if a large team is working on content creation.
Safety
To ensure the accessibility and security of your site, you should take the following suggestions to heart:
Install updates: because you can close many security holes with these updates.
Create regular backups: you can do it manually or via plug-in and choose between freeware solutions and paid programs.
Guaranteeing protection with an adequate password: it is advisable to choose a long password (not only for WordPress) composed of letters, digits and special characters, which apparently have no understandable meaning.
To defend against cyber attacks, you can also use plug-ins like Limit which after a certain number of failed login attempts block the IP address of the user in question.
Preview WordPress updates in the control panel
Analysis
To get the most out of your site, you should monitor performance and visitor statistics . So you can react quickly to negative results and improve the strategy or technology used. To keep visitor statistics constant, you can use Google Analytics, although many prefer Piwik open source software, which requires a specific plug-in for WordPress integration, WP-Matomo .
To test the performance of your WordPress site, you can also use plug-ins or the free 1 & 1 IONOS web analytics service. So you’ll find out exactly where you can still improve your Internet presence:
Create a site with WordPress
WordPress is very easy to use after a brief orientation phase: if you need to manage content regularly, a CMS is the right solution for you, since you can create, manage and publish your content from the back end. Thanks to countless themes and plug-ins, your site will not even appear as a classic blog.
This tool also allows you to generate and customize a web page both for beginners, obviously with some limitations, and for those who already have a more elaborate programming knowledge.
The source code of the themes and plug-ins can be modified in the back end editor, although it is preferable to avoid this option if you do not work with CSS or with the PHP code, because you can endanger the entire content of the page web created with WordPress.
