So you’ve started a business. Whether you’ve gathered your followers from social media or from foot traffic to your physical store it’s important that you have an online presence. I can’t stress this enough – having a Facebook page does not equal an online business.
To truly create more leads and customers online you need to own your online presence. So what I’ll take you through today is how to create a simple WordPress website in under an hour.
Let’s go.
What you need: A computer, a credit card & 1 hr of your time
How much will this cost?: Approximately $20 NZD / $9 USD and $8 p/m NZD on going.
Step one you need a domain name
A domain should not cost more than about $30 NZD. Do not pay more than this. Domain names are like buying a stamp, it doesn’t matter where you buy it from, it more or less does the same thing which is point to your website. The company that you buy it off does not hold your website so go crazy and buy one anywhere.
Step two you need hosting space
Hosting should not cost more than about $40 p/m I’ve found that if you do end up paying more it should have benefits like 24hr support, backup service and a more secure server.
If you’re starting out I would recommend something like Hostgator, Bluehost or WebDrive (in NZ). They’re pretty reliable. Hostgator is incredibly cheap and has 24hr support which I find really useful.
In this example head on over to Hostgator.com and register on this page.
Once you’ve entered your credit card details, and received a notification with FTP website details and Cpanel access then you’re ready to go. Don’t worry we don’t get too technical and you won’t need to code anything, just follow my lead.
Step 3, connect your domain to your hosting
In your website email from your hosting provider you should have the address details of your nameservers. Nameservers are like a street address with the server being your suburb. You have an IP address which pin points the number on your street – this the info you need to point your domain to your hosting.
This is what nameserver details look like:
Once you have these, go to your domain manager (where you purchased your domain). Login in and find ‘Update Name servers’ or ‘Update DNS’ somewhere in the domain manager. This varies depending on where you purchased it but it should look a little like this:
Click ‘Updated Name Servers’ then place the details of your hosting provider details in here. Firstly the address then the numbers.
Let me know below if you have trouble with this and I will try and help out.
Next:
Go to your hosting account info email that you received from your hosting provider and look for the Cpanel details.
They may look something like this: http://crx.websitewelcome.com:2082 or once you’ve updated your namesevers you should be able to go to cpanel.yourdomain.com
Step 4 – Install WordPress via Cpanel
Once you’ve logged into your control panel, scroll down to find ‘Quickinstall’. This is an amazing tool to supercharge your development. Click on that and then select ‘WordPress’ at the top left. I walk this through in the video below.
Once the install has been done you will be given access and your password for the admin section of your website.
Hooray!! Website is up.
Step 5 – Install a new theme
Now it’s a matter of designing the website. There are literally THOUSANDS of themes out there for WordPress ranging from FREE to $200 (possibly upwards). Your average theme should cost around $60 USD.
Click on the image above to go straight there to have a look.
Free themes are also available within your WordPress admin by going to ‘appearance’ > ‘themes’
You really can’t break the site chopping and changing your themes. Just click ‘add new theme’ and click install on any of the plugins you see:
Once you’ve updated or added any, go to the front end of your website by typing in your domain and wah-lah! The site is complete.
If you need any help with any one of the topics above please leave a comment below and I will try and help you out.
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