What do a startup CEO, lawyer, and freelance photographer have in common? All of them need a website. It’s easier than ever to have a website in today’s digital world. Site builders make professional websites easily accessible to both designers and non-techies. It’s not always the best way to go. This field is a vastly different one. We are experts in the area and know exactly what to do. Based on our experience, Hostinger using WordPress is the best option to get started. Continue reading to find out how to do this.
Why it is worth creating a website
Even if your company is new, a website can be a great investment. A professional website allows you to reach global audiences, establishes credibility, and makes it easier for your business to scale. It also gives your company a permanent place on the internet.
Social media is a free tool that can be used to connect with customers and businesses. However, social media is not enough to connect with customers and reach more people.
Social media is subject to ever-changing algorithms. If you rely on Instagram or Facebook alone, it’s easy to lose customers and prospects.
However, a website is 100% yours when you make it. You can reach customers from different states, regions, and even countries. Your website can rank you for local searches on Google, especially for small businesses.
A website allows you to gather more information about your customers. It can be used to collect email addresses, and eventually scale them into a lead-generation system.
You have complete control over the content and branding of your website. This is also the best way for you to be found through search engines.
How much investment is required to create a website
Technically, you are allowed to create a website free of charge. However, this is not recommended.
Subdomains branded by free sites are often not viable for business use. You’ll also be limited in the amount of growth you can do with them. No free website platform provides enough storage, bandwidth, or resources to allow you to have a successful website.
Although your website may not be free 100% of the time, it is possible to have a high-quality website without spending a lot.
You can get reliable and fast web hosting for as low as a few dollars a month and a domain free of charge
Hostinger has been our top choice for web hosting new websites. You get four years of web hosting starting at $1.99 per year for just $100
A domain name will also need to be purchased, and it will cost you between $10 and $15 per year. An additional $10 will be charged for WHOIS privacy protection.
If you choose Hostinger’s WordPress Starter package, you will get a free domain. For $3.99 per month, you can get a domain free of charge, faster performance, and a server specifically optimized for WordPress.
You can secure a domain name for up to four years with a reliable web hosting service starting at $150-250.
You will get the best deal if you sign longer contracts. You can still get your website up and running for $100 by choosing a one-year contract.
Your site can be up and running in just a few hours. You can expect to spend at most a few days creating the site, copying and tweaking it to your liking.
Nine Steps to Make Your First Website
Let’s get to it.
Step 1 – Select a Hostinger Plan
Hostinger has been a leader in web hosting. It is reliable, has amazing features, and is dirt cheap.
To visit Hostinger’s website, click on the link.
Click Start Now to open the webpage and choose a plan from all the options.
We recommend choosing the WordPress Starter plan. It is located in the middle-left column of the image above. All the features and conveniences you need are included. You also get a domain name for free.
Remember that the rate shown is for a 4-year plan.
Click Select to see pricing for shorter commitments, such as one-year, two-year, or monthly pricing.
Step 2 – Go through the Hostinger’s Setup Wizard
To finalize your Hostinger web hosting purchase, enter your billing information and personal information.
To avoid any errors, please fill in all fields.
Hostinger’s wizard for setting up Hostinger takes over after you have submitted your payment information.
First, you will answer some questions about who the site is intended for and what type of site it will be. Next, you will need to tell Hostinger a few things: What kind of site do they want? Hostinger’s wizard will tailor the setup process for you.
Next, choose your preferred platform for building your site. WordPress is recommended for most websites. Hostinger offers WooCommerce and WordPress for those who want to sell products or services. Hostinger can help you set up a website store just like a blog.
Next, you can choose a template or theme from the screen. A blank WordPress site is also available.
You’re done with the setup process once you have completed this step. Next, Hostinger will give you a free domain name.
Step 3 – Find Your Domain Name
Your website’s address is the domain name. Our domain name is www.Kobedigital.com.
It is what customers type into their web browsers to view your content. It should be catchy and relevant to your business.
There may be some difficulties.
Your domain must be available. It’s more likely that the domain will be taken if you use keywords and common words.
It is best to choose unique domain names.
Hostinger offers two options once you have selected your template and platform. Hostinger allows you to secure a domain new or connect an existing one to your site.
The cost of the domain will be covered if you sign up for the WordPress Starter Plan. Select the left-hand option, and then search for a domain in the field below.
For an additional $10 per year, opt for WHOIS privacy after you have found your domain. Although it means that you will pay more, your personal information (such as your address and name) will not be publicly searchable. It’s worth the extra cost.
Hostinger will complete the setup and you are good to go!
Step 4 – Set up your WordPress website
Fortunately, Hostinger installs WordPress for you. Hostinger will install WordPress for you.
Click Manage WordPress to be taken directly to the section of your Hostinger dashboard.
You can also see which version of WordPress Hostinger is installed for you.
This is the end of it. You can always find the option to clean install WordPress again, or for another website on your Hostinger plan, at the bottom section of your dashboard.
Scroll a bit higher than the WordPress version to see the Edit Website. To make any changes to your site, you will be taken to WordPress.
You will be able to get more detail from this point on. Take a ten-minute break, hydrate, then focus.
To get to know the WordPress UX, take a look at every tab and section in WordPress’s menu bar. Many of them are easy to understand, such as Posts, Media Pages, Comments, and Settings.
We will be fine-tuning basic settings later to make your experience better. These are the three things you need to do immediately to get started.
1. Finalize your website title and tagline
Next, click on General. In the appropriate fields, type your Site Title or Tagline.
It is not necessary to add a tagline. You can leave the tagline blank if you don’t want one for your website. These can be changed or updated later.
2. You can set your website as a permalink
Permalinks are what the individual URLs or web pages of your website will look like.
It is important to select the best URL structure for SEO purposes.
Think about it: which one do you prefer, yourdomainname.com/about or yourdomainname.com/2018/aboutp?
Go to Settings and then Permalinks. A list of options will appear on your screen. You can check the Post name field.
3. Your WordPress website can be made public
Google will not index your website unless you make it public.
Go to Settings, then click on Reading. Clear the Discourage search engine indexing of this site option in the Search Engine Visibility section (or make sure it isn’t checked).
Step 5 – Choose and install a WordPress theme
Your website’s look is determined by WordPress themes. While you can modify themes, it is important to choose a theme that suits your needs. It can be difficult to modify themes once your website is up and running.
You have a default theme. You can change the look and feel of your website in just a few steps.
Open the official WordPress.org Directory.
There are tons of premium and free themes available. You can also browse third-party websites such as ThemeIsle or aThemes if you need more options.
You can follow the instructions below to install a theme that is not already in the WordPress.org directory.
Go to the main WordPress dashboard and select Appearance. Next, click on Theme. Click Add New at the top.
Enter the name of your theme (we chose “Hestia”) in the search bar and click on Install under that theme.
Once the installation is completed, click on Activate and your website will be fully enabled. After installation is complete, this button will be replaced by the Install button.
If you wish to install a premium theme, the process will be slightly different.
Follow these instructions to download your theme. The files will be downloaded in a.zip format. It can be saved to your desktop.
Go back to your WordPress dashboard and click Appearance and then Themes. Select Upload from the Themes page.
Click on Upload Theme. This will open a drop-down menu for file input. Select the.zip file that you have just downloaded by clicking Browse… Click Install Now.
Step 6 – Choose and install the appropriate WordPress plugins
Plugins can make your website look even better than themes.
You don’t want too many plugins. Too many plugins will slow down your website, which you should avoid.
When looking at plugins, think about your needs. Many plugins can help you with SEO, contact forms, and social media sharing buttons. As you build your website, you can always add plugins later.
Here are the steps to install a plugin
- Go to your WordPress Dashboard.
- Click on Plugin and then Add New.
- In the search bar, type the name of the plugin that you wish to install.
- Click on Install and activate after the installation is complete.
Now, the plugin has been added to your WordPress website. You will see it listed under your WordPress dashboard menu. To view the settings and add content, click on the plugin.
Step 7 – Create pages for your website
This is where you can create excellent, high-quality content for your website.
Pages can be anything from the homepage to an About page to a Contact page or a Portfolio page. To attract visitors to your site and aid with SEO, you can add a blog page.
You’ll find a link in WordPress’s left-hand menu that allows you to access Pages. Click on that item and click Add New in the submenu.
You can write on the entire canvas and create whatever you like. Once you are done, click Publish.
You can edit, revise and add pages at any time.
Step 8 – Improve the navigation of your website
You’ve completed all of the necessary tasks.
The only thing left to do is adjust your website’s navigation so that your content is more easily understood by visitors. It’s also a good idea to get brownie points from the SERPs.
This is how you can adjust your menus or widgets.
1. Modify the Menu
The theme you choose will influence the options available for your menu settings.
Click Appearance, then Menus to open the menu panel.
The left side shows all pages that can be added to a menu. While the right side shows the structure of the menu and its settings, it is located on the right. Drag and drop menu items to arrange them in the way you prefer.
After you are done, click Save Menu to save your settings.
2. Set the Widgets
Widgets allow you to place content in different areas of your website. Go to Appearance in the main dashboard and click Widgets.
You will need to grab the widget from the left-hand side and drag it to the right. You have complete control over the design of your website. However, it is important to consider how customers will view things.
You can still preview your site, but it isn’t live yet. Once you are happy with the results, you can continue to modify the menus and themes.
This is the part that takes the most time.
Step 9 – Launch your website!
Hostinger handles the installation of WordPress and prepares everything for you to make your site live. It’s ready for you to edit the design or add content.
Make sure that your domain points to the new website correctly. This information can be found in the WordPress section of your Hostinger dashboard. Hostinger will inform you if there are any problems. Your domain is properly connected if you can click Edit Website.
Your website is now live and available for visitors
Next steps
You want to relax and see your hard work come to fruition. It looks amazing, right?
Next, follow best practices to increase your website traffic. Blog posts, along with other marketing assets, are a great way to achieve this.
There are many steps involved: keyword research, best practices in SEO, monitoring progress, building an email list… and the list goes on.
It is a continual process in which you strive to improve and scale higher.
