Making a website is an effective way of presenting information to people from all around the world. While there are numerous free hosting websites, these are typically littered with ads and reduce the appeal for the site. Therefore, for the sake of this article, it is important that you go ahead and purchase a domain name and your own web hosting. This isn’t that expensive when first starting off, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
Installing WordPress
The easiest way to make a website is to use WordPress as your content management system (CMS). What this means is that, instead of having to go in and edit each individual file when you need to make changes to text, you can, instead, use WordPress and edit them from a dash board. For example, if you want to add a new page to the website, instead of having to copy and paste the template into a new notepad file and upload it via your FTP, you can instead publish directly from the dash board. It saves considerable amounts of time and, more importantly, it keeps things looking connected.
The first step is to download all the files from the WordPress website. Go for the latest edition because it includes the most recent security patches. Unzip the folder so that the files are now available for use. If you haven’t already, install a FTP software on your computer so that you can access the server.
Open your website’s cpanel and create a new database. Name the database after your site, give it a username and password and then connect both together. This is important because without the username and password, the WordPress files won’t be able to read what is in the database so there won’t be any way of having your articles stick to the site consistently. Once you’ve made your database, open the wp_config file and add the database information.
Log in to the ftp and then open the public html folder. Drag the WordPress folder here and let the files upload to the server. Once they’ve accomplished, go to the domain name and install the site. Create a password and finally, log in to the newly installed WordPress.
Preparing the Site
With the site all ready, it is important to give it a new look. If you don’t have much money, install a simple theme that you can find at the WordPress website. Just drag the folder into your wp_content folder and then enable the theme. This will give the site a totally different look and one that might be more in line with the type of site you’re trying to create.
Begin publishing articles. You can write articles as long or as short as you want. Add images and then publish them. To do this, simply click “add new post” and then go from there. WordPress has a built in text editor so it makes it very easy to write new articles and publish them in record time. This cuts out the wasted time of uploading a new file every time you make a site.
Creating a website is a great way of getting your business more known or creating an information portal on a specific niche. While it used to be difficult and expensive to get a site on the web, these days, it is much easier thanks to content management systems such as WordPress.
