In this blog we are going to cover the first few steps you need to take to make your very own website. You don’t need to know any code or have any experience designing websites before.
We will cover:
- Registering your domain name
- Your web hosting
- Installing WordPress (the web building tool we will be using)
Registering your domain name
Firstly, what is a domain name?
Initially websites used their IP, or Internet Protocol, addresses. An IP address is a string of numbers, much like a phone number, that is assigned to every computer like 191.124.184.129.
However IP addresses were difficult to remember, and so short human-friendly addresses called domain names were created. Domain names, sometimes referred to as a URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) eg, www.k-numerique.com were much more accessible and easier to remember.
Your domain name is unique to you, just like a fingerprint. When someone types it into a browser, they’re taken directly to your space on the Internet.
How/where can you buy a domain name?
Today there are tons of domain name providers – a quick google search will show the most popular ones in your country.
Some that i recommend which i have personally used are;
- Ions
- Godaddy
- HostGator
- NameSilo
Once you have decided on which URL you want to use, simply search its availability. If the URL you want is not available, you can try another provider or go for a similar alternative.
According to Growthbadger, a .com or .co domain should be the preferable choice. This is because these URLs command the most trust and tend to get better SEO rankingsSo
Hosting
What is hosting?
Web hosting is basically the space that you buy on a web server to store your website files – think of it like a rent space for your virtual store.
There are several options when it comes to choosing where/who you host your website with.
- With the domain provider
- With a web hosting company
- With a marketing/web design agency
- Locally on your own server
The right solution for you will depend on your budget, needs, and extent of your technical skills to manage and run the server.
If you don’t want the hassle of maintaining your own server but are happy to do server updates and other forms of server maintenance, hosting with the domain provider or with a web hosting company might be your best and cheapest option.
However if you’re after more support and don’t have the time or skill set internally, hosting with a marketing agency is your best option.
I would only recommend hosting locally if you have a very good internet, back up power lines, and a good technical understanding of servers.
Installing WordPress
For the sake of this section we will assume you’re hosting with either the domain provider or a hosting company.
During the setup of your domain you are asked if you want to install a web builder, or use your domain providers native tool. You want to select install WordPress (refer to the video tutorial above)
Once this is done you will be asked to create a name for the website, along with admin log in details – make sure you make a note of this.
You can access the website directly by using the URL and adding/wp-admin at the end. For example if your website was www.mywebsite.com to access the WordPress back end would be www.mywebsite.com/wp-admin ( You’ll be taken to your log in page).
If this is your first time designing a website, the first thing we recommend you do is pick a theme (pre set layout) , and work from there.
You are now ready to start building your website, adding pages, images, copy and working on your SEO. We will cover more about themes and designing your website in part 2.
For those of you looking to take your website to the next level, get in touch with us today at enquries@k-numerique.com.