“Domain names and websites are internet real estate.”
– Marc Ostrofsky
INTRODUCTION
This article is a no-fluff, no-BS, step-by-step instruction on how you can create a website in under 30 minutes, just like mine.
Before I begin, I am briefly going to tell you, there are many ways to create a website but simply, I’ll list down four that I know:
- DIY with coding such as HTML/CSS; good if you don’t want spending much money but put more time learning.
- Website building services, like Wix, Weebly or Squarespace. Easiest but very limited.
- Hire a website designer; if you have no time but money.
- CMS, such as WordPress, Joomla or Drupal…
The method I’m going to teach you today is listed in the fourth point; CMS.
It’s a good balance where you get to learn the basics of how websites work with a small learning curve, along with its reliability, flexibility, easy of maintenance and cost effectiveness.
It is the method I am most familiar with as this blog is dedicated to that method.
STEP 1: NAME YOUR WEBSITE
The internet jargon — domain — is pretty much the name of your website. What are you going to call it?
The easiest way is to get a pen and a piece of paper out. Scribble down all your ideas and go to Google and search for ‘domain checker’. Almost all web hosting services (which I’ll talk more about later in the article) will have this tool and check for you whether that name has already been taken by somebody else.
For your convenience, you can go to namecheap.com and presented in front of you, search for that name website you thought of and check if it is available. If not, someone else must in this world must have already taken it!
TIP: I suggest keeping you website name a maximum of two words e.g. walterplinge.com or johncitizen.com.
The next thing you need to consider is the Internet top-level domain extensions (TLD), i.e. .com, .org, .net, info.
And sometimes you may have option to add a country code TLD attached to it, i.e. .au, .ca, .uk, .us, etc. It depends on which web hosting service you use to register and it depends on their location.
It’s your choice; name it appropriately for the purpose of your website
STEP 2: FIND A WEB HOSTING SERVICE
A web hosting service is pretty much like your computer on the internet, which stores your website, emails, pages, etc.
Some giant companies like Amazon and Facebook manage their own web hosting service, but most businesses just rather pay a hosting service provider because it’s a lot cheaper, quicker and easier.
The web hosting service I use is this > CLICK HERE <
I personally use it to run all my clients websites because it’s just so fast and reliable. Typically there are many types of web hosting services, they include:
- Shared Hosting: This is the most common and affordable type of web hosting, where multiple websites share the same server and resources.
- VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting: In VPS hosting, a single server is divided into multiple virtual private servers, giving each website its own resources and operating system.
- Dedicated Hosting: With dedicated hosting, you get an entire server to yourself, which means you have complete control over the server and its resources.
- Cloud Hosting: Cloud hosting is a flexible and scalable type of hosting, where your website is hosted on a network of servers instead of a single physical server.
- Reseller Hosting: This type of hosting allows you to become a hosting provider yourself by reselling hosting services to others using the resources of a parent hosting company.
Cloud hosting is generally the way to go for all my clients website, as it allows you to easily scale up or down your website’s resources as needed, low risk of downtime, stronger security features, protecting your website from cyber threats. It can provide better performance than shared hosting, especially during peak traffic periods.
It is a little bit more expensive than shared hosting, but it’s worth spending that extra for cloud hosting
Once you’ve decided which service to go for and what name you are going to call your website, create your account and place the order.
TIP: If everything is too difficult so far, you can always contact your web hosting support team to help build your website, usually free of charge. Don’t be afraid to ask, you’re their customer!
If you’re so far so good, please keep reading!
STEP 3: INSTALLING CMS
So you gave your website a name, and found a home where you can store it. Now it’s time to install CMS — which is much like your operating system i.e. Windows, MacOS, or Linux, but for your website.
CMS is the platform where you can design your website and manage all the pages, etc.
So like our Windows, MacOS and Linux, you can decide which CMS to install. Popular options include WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.
I suggest WordPress, it’s the easiest CMS to use and this blog you’re reading is powered by it.
Anyways, once you login to your web hosting account, look for cPanel.
NOTE: It’s a good point to mention now you’re at this stage, to create yourself an email address with your website name. You can do it in cPanel, under Email and click on Email Accounts.
In cPanel, scroll down and click on WordPress under Softaculous Apps Installer. From there, click install now, and follow the wizard.
Remember, don’t get mixed up with CMS and cPanel.
CMS is a software application that allows you to create, manage, and publish digital content, such as websites, blogs, and online stores. CMS systems like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal provide users with a user-friendly interface to create and manage their website’s content without needing to know how to code. With a CMS, you can easily create and edit content, manage users and permissions, and customize the look and feel of your website.
On the other hand, cPanel is a web-based control panel that allows website owners to manage their web hosting account and server. It provides a graphical user interface to perform tasks like creating email accounts, managing databases, installing software, and monitoring server resources. cPanel is typically used by shared hosting providers and allows users to manage their hosting account without needing to use command-line interfaces or write code.
In summary, CMS is a tool for creating and managing website content, while cPanel is a control panel for managing web hosting accounts and server resources. They serve different purposes and are used for different tasks in web hosting.
STEP 4: PLAYING AROUND
Once you’ve successfully installed WordPress, you will be given a login username and password via email that you registered with.
TIP: You can always login your website by adding ‘/wp-admin’ after its name in the URL bar. For example: ‘www.yourwebsitename.com/wp-admin’
WordPress is super-easy to use. You can find all the themes, under appearance and plugins to make your website work the way you want it to.
Play around with it and you will learn from experience, the same way I did.
Now that you have a working website, now it’s time to turn that website into your money maker. Click here if you want to learn more about how to make money online with your website. Skip Steps 1 and 2.
Please leave any questions or comments below because I can help you out if I wasn’t clear enough and others can learn too. Don’t forget to join our newsletter to get more tips and tricks.