In this 21st century where people go for the internet even when buying a small single product, you need to have a website. Not having one means you are way back than others and losing out some potential customers.
If you are thinking that building a website costs more and is complicated then, think again. Now it’s not a problem with the help of platforms like WordPress. WordPress is easy to set up, simple to build, less coding knowledge and is cost-effective.
In this article, we are going to discuss 7 simple steps you need to follow and consider while designing and building your own WordPress website.
1. Identify what your website will stand for?
First of all, it is very important to identify what you are going to be and provide in this competitive online market.
Spend some serious time on thinking and clear out things for your website.
- Decide what value your customers are going to get when they visit your website,
- Simple and easy user experience
- Things your customers wants to see
- Search engine optimizations
- Conversion procedure.
Pointing out things at the beginning will help you in your entire website development process.
2. Choose domain name and hosting
After figuring out what you will do in your website now you need to choose a domain name for your website.
You must be creative while choosing your business name, register it and then buy a web hosting service for your website. But remember most of the popular names in the market are already taken. So make sure you come up with the best and suitable one according to your business and product.
Once you find the right domain name for your website, then you have to move ahead with purchasing. Web hosting gives the place for your business to set up and be accessible to all your customers. There are plenty of web host providers in the market with suitable plans for your business.
3. Outline your website content
SEO keyword analysis
Now, it’s time to identify the keywords which your customers are going to use for your site’s search. Actually, this is a basic SEO task you need to perform for ranking in a good position in any search engine.
You may be thinking this task may get complicated but all you need to do is head over to Google AdWords Keyword Planner and get the list of all keywords you need along with the information like their monthly search volume, suggested bid, related keywords and much more.
Website content
After getting a complete idea of how your customer are searching for your product, you need to write your website content according to it.
Try to include all relevant keywords in your content with unique, interesting and engaging contents. Remember, there are more than texts only which you need to focus on your site.
Improve your content with videos, images, interactive tools, infographics, and much more. Consider incorporating testimonial sliders that showcase customer feedback to build trust and credibility among your audience.
4. Site structure
Designing with Wireframes
Now, you need to focus on how your website will look for your customers.
In this step, you need to decide which content will be on which page, their structure, flow and patterns. There are several FREE tools out there that you can use to design wireframe of your website.
If you are confused about how to design your wireframe you can always peek at other sites for reference. At this stage, you don’t have to worry about your site color, fonts, logos, images and all.
Style and Branding guidelines
Once you are done with wireframe, now is the time to think how those designs will look in actual color and styles.
Take your time and focus on several key areas such as, typography, color combinations, imagery, iconography, spacing and logo of your site.
Make sure your website represents your business with perfect and appropriate attributes.
5. Building your website
Installing WordPress
After completing all above steps, now is the time to start building your WordPress site.
First, setup and develop your site locally because it will be much easier and quicker.
- Things you need in this step,
- Set-up XAMPP/WAMPP – local development server
- Download latest version of WordPress.
- Installing WordPress on your computer
Once you are done with these basic setups, you are all set to start with the theme for your site.
Installing WordPress plugins
WordPress plugins generally consists a group of functionalities which can be added to your website directly. You can extend the functions of plugins as per your requirements and get your longer tasks done instantly.
Choose your WordPress plugins which acts as bricks for your website.
Choose an appropriate WordPress theme
Now, you don’t need to write to each and every code for your WordPress website. All you need to do is choose the right theme. You can always customize the WordPress theme with your preferences, layouts and designs for your website.
If you have any confusion while setting up the theme, then there is always the documentation part where each step is described in detail format.
6. Use Google Analytics
Only building a website doesn’t mean anything, you need to track your website visitors, and here comes the role of Google Analytics.
Google Analytics is easy to setup and use. All you need to do is set up analytics tracking code on your WordPress website.
Things you’ll get from the analytics are
- Geographic locations
- Demography
- User flow
- Unique and repeating visitors
- Website traffic and much more….
The list just goes on and on as there are so much you need and work on for your website SEO performance.
7. Launch your WordPress website
Finally, your WordPress website is ready to launch now with the least amount of budget available.
It’s more straightforward than you think but has more areas to look at and consider working.
However, if you want a bespoke website exactly tailored to your requirements, you can also go for a professional WordPress Development Service. They will help you create a website with the exact design and features that you require for your personal and professional site.
