Starting a website or blog can seem like a crazy thing to do when you start out.
There are so many things you need to learn and do.
So I have written this page to help you understand what you need to get started, and what order you should tackle things
You can also download my more detailed Free Guide to Starting a website and read it at your leisure.
Choosing a Website Hosting Company
One of the first things you will want to do is decide where you are going to host your website.
When you are just starting out, money is often a big issue.
So my first recommend is one of the cheaper, but good quality web hosting companies.
Bluehost offers shared hosting a a price that you can afford, and their quality and service is great too.
Another option, with better features and service is:
They are they hosting company I use for this site and recommend to my customers looking for top quality hosting at a reasonable price.
Whichever you choose, make sure it suite your needs and price criteria.
Linux is another option if you are more technical. Because ultimately the webserver and database are both going to be run on a Linux machine, no matter who you go with for hosting. I would go with one of the top hosts for Linux in that case.
Setting Up A WordPress Website
Creating your first WordPress website does not have to be difficult.
In fact, you can set up a WordPress website in about 10 minutes.
The following post will show you just how that is possible:
Setting Up WordPress in Under 10 Minutes
There is of course more to setting up a website than just installing WordPress, but it is certainly a great start.
Choosing a Theme (Look and Feel)
The first major step in creating a website that is yours is choosing a Theme.
Themes in WordPress language are the look and fell of your site. They are the colours, fonts, layout and everything else that personalises your site.
To get started with choosing the right them for your website, I recommend you take a look at the following blog posts:
How To Choose a WordPress Theme
Design Your Website With Zero Tech Skills
One of the biggest challenges you will face designing your website is the tech skills required.
Many of them are quite time consuming to learn, or require a bunch of plugins to overcome the challenge you face.
Luckily some very smart people have developed some easy to use tools for non techies like you!
In fact, this post was created (all the lovely boxes, buttons and styles) using the following tool :
Thrive Themes & Content Builder
Thrive have created some amazing themes to maximize your conversion (getting actual customers) but they have also created an very simple to use page builder for making stylish layouts, adding cool elements and animations (slide in buttons for example).
You can see how easy it is to use in the video below:
And it is all using a simple drag, drop and edit tool.
Although I actually have 12 years design experience, I use Thrive all the time to create awesome pages quickly an easily. Because designing them from scratch would take me a lot longer!
Check out Thrive and see what you think.
Adding Your First Bells & Whistles (WordPress Plugins)
The great thing about WordPress is that you can add just about anything to your Website with a plugin.
You can add anything from a contact form, social media icons, to backups and memberships sites.
As you grow your site and find new things that you should have, you can add the plugin that you need.
But getting started and finding the plugins you need at the beginning can be a difficult task.
So I have collected a list of the most important plugins you should have on your new WordPress site:
The Best Plugins to Start a WordPress Website or Blog
Plugins I Use & Recommend
The following are some of the plugins I use on this site and with most of my clients:
Thrive Leads - Building Your Email List
Social Warfare - Social Sharing Plugin
Backup Buddy - Make Sure you are 100% backed up
Further Plugins You Might Need
Once you have your site up and running and the most important plugins installed, you might also need some other plugins.
To help you get find the plugin you need, I have created a big post with some of the best WordPress Plugins:
Make Sure Google Finds Your Website
Most people do not know that just having a website does not put you on Google.
Google might find you after a while (who knows how long) but why not just let them know you exist, and where to find you.
I have written a helpful post that walks you through this process, which is not super complex.
I recommend you read and carry out these steps to make sure you get on Google's radar:
Hopefully you now have a good idea of the things you need to think about and the steps you need to take to create your fist website or blog.
For a more detailed dive into these topics, grab my Free Guide below.
