Welcome to the guide on how to create a website in complete autonomy, longer and more detailed here.
The reason is clear, there is no interest in communicating such detailed and precise information collected in months, in some cases years, of study and training.
In the past, creating a site was stuff for geeks, IT technicians.
Today no more !!!
After the CMS revolution , the change that led to the birth of web 2.0 , it is now possible to create and manage a website without special skills.
Until a few years ago, the whole web was built on computer languages such as HTML and CSS . If you didn't know at least these two languages, it would have been practically impossible for you (and for me) to create a website independently.
There was only one way forward: hiring a professional to delegate the project.
And this was just the tip of the iceberg.
Editing documents in HTML required specific and detailed knowledge.
The situation lasted until the emergence of content management platforms called CMS.
From Wikipedia:
In computer science a content management system, in acronym CMS (in Italian content management system ), is a software tool , installed on a web server, whose task is to facilitate the management of website content, releasing the webmaster from technical knowledge Web programming specifications.
Among the most famous CMS for the creation of sites we mention WordPress, Joomla, Squarespace and Magento.
Through the control panels (below that of WordPress) it is possible to add pages, articles, photo galleries and in general all the components that build a website.
These software do not replace, and will never replace, a web professional , but it is true that opening a website is now easier than in the past.
I myself, denied absolute in terms of technology, I opened Open Company in total autonomy.
In this article, I will teach you how to create a website in WordPress, the platform I use.
The biggest advantage of creating a website on your own is not so much money saving, but the independence that you will acquire in doing things yourself.
If you are tired of running for someone else's dream, if you really want to improve the quality of your life, you don't have to change clothes, you have to start a training path towards freedom and independence.
Once you have acquired the technical skills to open a site on your own, then you will have all the necessary experience to understand what actions to delegate to the best website technicians.
In fact, the procedure described below is only useful for a technically simple project such as a blog or portfolio site for your activities.
The guide is absolutely not enough for larger projects such as creating a social network, for a site with an internal search engine and any other business with technical problems.
However, despite the limitation of someone who cannot program (like myself), it is truly possible to create a website that will be the starting point for your online business.
The guide is divided into chapters, all issues relating to the creation of a basic internal site from which to develop a serious and reliable internet project will be discussed.
Having said that, happy reading.
Index
1 Why open a website
2 Types of websites
3 Choose niche and domain
4 Purchase hosting
5 Purchase the template
6 Structure of a website
7 Write an article
8 Look after social networks
9 How to make money with a website
10 The secrets of a successful website
11 How to create a website: final considerations
WHY OPEN A WEBSITE
Ok, opening a website is easy, but you wondered why you should do it?
Before creating a site, it is useful to ask yourself the real reasons why we want to do it and then act accordingly.
There are different types of sites, the main ones we will see in the next paragraph, some can be created without spending a penny while others can even cost tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of euros.
This huge gap between a site's value depends on thousands of variables, the goals and ambition of the creator.
A site opens essentially for two reasons:
The first motivation is undoubtedly the most frequent even if there are still many who create a site just for passion.
I found my very personal formula, that is to express my opinions and if possible earn a little something.
This interweaving of intentions was born gradually over time, it was not planned because I believe that if you open a blog just for money you will probably be disappointed.
Earning online is very, very difficult, especially if you start with zero budget.
If instead you have a real business idea behind you, with well-defined budgets and intents, then your adventure is comparable to starting a business and therefore the starting conditions and the effort required will be proportional to the objectives.
TYPES OF WEBSITES
First, let's divide internet projects into five broad categories:
Let's start with the first one.
The personal diary is the virtual extension of the old and dear paper diary where you can put your thoughts in black and white.
Many people find immense benefit in externalizing their feelings and in fact many studies advise to let off steam and not leave thoughts inside our mind.
From a practical point of view, having a personal online diary is a legitimate choice that has no economic perspective, has no updating obligations or constraints to carry it forward.
To open a personal diary there is the Google platform called Blogger created for this purpose.
Creating a site with Blogger is easy, fast and above all free. You can use a fancy name to bring your thoughts to the web.
In the second category we have the blog or professional site , such as Open Company.
Blogs like mine are projects with multiple purposes, not just that of bringing my thoughts online. A professional blog is a terrific way to accomplish your goals.
Imagine that you are a freelancer with the desire to expand your turnover, or a writer looking for space to make your book known, or even a professional photographer looking for clients.
Having a professional blog or site to promote your skills has now become mandatory for any freelancer in any field of action.
I have skills in opening a business in the UK and I can help others to do the same but it is only thanks to the blog that I can spread my skills.
Creating a site of this kind is easy but requires a small economic investment in terms of hosting and top level domain.
This guide is dedicated to your type of situation.
Thanks to the tutorial, you can spread your skills thanks to the internet by spending a few tens of euros.
The third case is that of the company website.
If you have a business, big or small, you absolutely must create a professional website and spread your services.
Although we have not yet reached the levels of other European countries, in Italy more and more people use the internet to find the solution to their problems.
Are you looking for a plumber?
Of course, in the small town people still search through the yellow pages or the advice of a friend, but what happens in the big cities?
Pick up the phone and find the right professional with a quick search.
If you recognize yourself in this category, you must absolutely open your site.
This tutorial is also suitable in your case.
Fourth category is that of a start up site.
But what does start up mean?
The term is now used for any business intention making the real meaning of the word lose. A start up is a business where innovation is the fulcrum of the whole idea.
A start up needs a site with multiple functionalities and can even cost millions of euros.
Imagine the cost of a site like Bla Bla Car or AirBnB?
Internal search engines, applications, millions of pages, a real gigantic archive of a thousand resources. Creating a start up is a topic that is beyond this article due to the complexity of the project.
Last category is that of an e-commerce site.
An e-commerce or online store is a site with the specific purpose of selling a certain range of products.
If you want to create a successful e-commerce site you must specialize as much as possible by selling only a particular type of product.
Opening an online emporium is of little use because you will collide with giants such as Amazon and Ebay that leave no room for maneuver. If you specialize, you have many more opportunities to carve out your market.
To open an e-commerce site and be successful, you need to add a blog to the sales activity to promote the products.
The tutorial below is also suitable in this case.
CHOOSE NICHE AND DOMAIN
There is no website that has not talked about the importance of the niche.
The niche is a group of people with a particular and specific interest.
For example, lovers of Japan are a niche, who wants to learn Arabic is a niche, who wants to start a blog is a niche, who loves fishing is a niche and so on.
Read Also: Search Engine Positioning
The complexity of human tastes is divisible into groups and subgroups.
To create a site with hopes of success it is necessary to focus on a specific niche and put online content aimed at them.
This is not as easy as someone would like us to believe, managing a niche blog represents an activity comparable to a real job with all its difficulties.
In fact, even before producing content, you must have a very broad and unusual competence in the subject.
Currently the competition is very high, to stand out from the crowd you have to be able to produce content that is out of the ordinary, that is, extraordinary.
If you have the passion and the skills needed to do it, you have the opportunity to become the leader of that particular niche and turn it into a real job.
So, before opening your website, ask yourself who the target reader of your online project will be and from this answer start to develop an editorial and communication strategy aimed at your group of potentially interested people.
Read also: how to open a blog
PURCHASE HOSTING
Hosting is the physical space inside a computer where your website's files are hosted.
A website that has just started, with few pages and few visitors, does not need large spaces and therefore it is possible to choose a computer shared with other web pages, hence the name of shared hosting.
In my research, I changed several companies that provide this service and then stopped with the Siteground company .
Siteground offers several plans, for a blog just started the economic plan of 3.95 euros per month is more than enough.
Registering a domain and buying a hosting plan is very simple. Click on the button of the chosen plan and check in the search bar if the domain you have chosen is free.
The wizard is quite easy to do.
A small parenthesis about the domain.
The domain is the name of your website , in my case it is aprireazienda.com, the domain is very important because it is one of the few things that changing them later involves risks and additional work.
Consider well the name to choose but the basic advice is one: it must represent your business in the world as simple as possible that even your grandmother can understand and remember it.
You can also use your name, it is a right choice if you focus everything on personal branding , that is, the determination to promote your person in a specific workplace.
The benefits of buying domain and hosting with Siteground are enormous because they have 24/7 support 365 days a year and after two years I have never had a problem.
The performances are excellent and their technical work makes your site travel fast on the web.
PURCHASE THE TEMPLATE
Once the domain is activated, you can ask Siteground support to activate WordPress in your account. In truth you can do it too by clicking in the control panel, but if you are at the first experience ask them why it is still free.
I guarantee you that you will never have problems with them because they solve all the questions in a few hours. Sometimes it can happen to have malfunctions, but in my case they never happened and if there have been they have been resolved in no time.
Once the WordPress CMS is installed, you can start creating your website.
In the photo below, we see how the control panel is structured.
Give yourself some time to become familiar with the various functions, in a few weeks you will be able to use it perfectly.
You have to know that I was a perfect denied with technology until a few years ago, then the passion for communication and the blog made me overcome the initial difficulties.
If it wasn't for everyone, I would never have introduced you to WordPress as the tool to create your website but I would have advised you to delegate.
A small parenthesis on delegation to professionals.
Many webmasters do professional work that can never be replaced by a beginner but at the same time I suggest you postpone their use because in the early days the graphic look with nothing counts if you don't work on your site.
Having a beautiful and professional but neglected site does not lead to any result because visibility and traffic are achieved with beauty but with the substance of the contents.
This also applies to e-commerce, an online store without a blog will never be successful because the only way to reach a paying audience is through the publication of unique and interesting content for the reference niche.
So, before paying 1000-2000-3000-10.000 USD for a website, put yourself to work for at least six months, preferably a year, and see if you are able to keep up the pace and not lose enthusiasm.
As an autodidact, you have to install a template that is the graphic look of your site. This you can do it through the control panel, on the appearance item and then themes.
Here you can search for a free theme or go to the Theme Forest website and buy a professional one.
The advice is to start with a free one and change it as soon as you see that the project will have a future. Remember, the success of a website does not depend on mysterious variables but only on you and the commitment that you will put into carrying it forward in a professional and lasting way.
STRUCTURE OF A WEBSITE
The well-structured website has a pyramid-like shape where the apex is the name of your site, i.e. the domain, to then be divided into the various categories and sub-categories.
Let's take the example of a site on vegan recipes, a field that is having a real boom with interesting growth prospects.
The apex of the pyramid is occupied by recipes for example, the categories will be:
Within each category, you will find sub-categories such as for first vegans:
But be careful though, the arguments must be consistent with each other in order not to confuse Google about the nature of your website.
The various categories can then be connected to each other through tags , that is, a keyword associated with information.
Within the various categories and sub-categories, the various articles you will write will be inserted. Let's see how.
Write an Article
A web article is not equivalent to a newspaper article because the purpose is different.
An online entrepreneur who wants to create a website must also learn to write for the web because the blog is a fundamental part of a successful website.
In a website without a blog, there is no hope of increasing visitors without paying. Many decide to invest in advertising, and they certainly do well, but a project with long-term purposes must include a blog with unique and interesting articles.
To write an article, you start with the search for sources.
It is not always necessary, for example if you are competent in the subject, writing will come naturally, if you are not, you must document yourself to become an expert.
Many times, knowledge of English is necessary to draw on sources that do not exist in Italian. Many online entrepreneurs base their success simply by taking the ideas of the Anglo-Saxon world and bringing them back to the Italian market.
If some arguments are not valid in Italy, others such as personal growth and physical well-being are adaptable to the Italian market.
Writing an article on WordPress is as easy as on any word document, the only precaution is to respect the so-called SEO NYC on page parameters .
What does Seo on page mean?
When writing for a blog, the goal is to get to the top of the search engines. For example, if you blog about vegan recipes, your desire will be to reach the top for the keyword "vegan recipes".
To do this, you must write an article where the keyword "vegan recipes" is present within the text, possibly at the beginning and gradually without exaggerating the whole article, using synonyms and related words if possible.
But careful to focus only on the keyword, Google rewards content written for readers not for search engines.
Take care of social networks
Social networks are a fundamental component for creating a successful website.
When it comes to social media, the thought immediately falls on the king of social media, that is Facebook.
You should know that about half of the web traffic that arrives on large web portals derives for about 50% from Facebook and the rest from Google.
These two companies are the undisputed leaders while the others share the crumbs that remain.
I advise you not to disperse your forces in a thousand different social networks but to focus on the few main ones.
A site must essentially have a Facebook page where you can interact with fans and a Twitter profile.
This is the basis then, depending on the nature of the site, choose the other promotion channels.
Some choose Instagram, others Linkedin, unfortunately the management of social networks is a demanding activity and it will take you a long time so it is better not to waste your strength and focus on the few that you can manage.
Starting from Facebook, the advice is never to buy fans of your page because it alters the statistics and you have no feedback on the real appreciation of your website.
Social media are the litmus test of your work, if no one starts following you it means that something is wrong with your editorial strategy.
After the algorithm change, Facebook reduced the visibility of the page places. The fact happened because the social network decided to monetize visibility.
HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH A WEBSITE
The ultimate goal of every online entrepreneur is to earn something thanks to their work.
This is entirely legitimate if you provide real value to the customer.
For several years now, some have made a different choice, preferring to invent themselves in a system where they can collect money quickly for a short period of time.
This is the case with online casinos to name one.
I advise you to avoid these strategies and found yours in a completely opposite way, that is creating a truly useful service where word of mouth will spread your idea without particular efforts.
Still starting from the case of the site on vegan recipes, after reaching a discreet visibility, you can monetize your business in different ways.
The first is to join advertising circuits like Adsense and affiliate circuits like Zanox.
The second strategy is to create a product info and sell it.
The third is to sell the advertising space on your website directly.
In the case of vegan recipes, the spaces could be of interest to companies related to the world of veganism, for example.
The Secrets of a Successful Website
Everyone can open a website but only a few will be successful, have you ever wondered why?
I, after two and a half years of online work, I understand why some do it and some don't. I tell you the reasons:
Put your face on it : in an anonymous world, you have to establish that relationship of trust between customer and seller as in the society of our grandparents. Look at the sidebar, I could put an advertising banner on it but I prefer my face.
Perseverance : if it takes even a few weeks to create a site, it could take years of hard work and patience to create a successful one. If you are used to getting everything right away, online business is probably not for you.
Self-confidence : the hard path to success is made of continuous stops and impediments, of doubts that not everyone can overcome with the result of throwing in the towel after a few months from the start. A website needs time but also trust in its creator.
Real value : create a junk service and you will disappear even before appearing. The value of a site is based on the strength of its contents and the desire to really help. Many times a thank you message helps more than a bank transfer.
Be yourself and dare : in an ordinary world it is easy to do something extraordinary. I see many aspiring entrepreneurs imitating others of success but in this way you will never be able to have it because those who achieved it were in turn unique. Find your uniqueness and dare where others don't dare.
Real competence: many online entrepreneurs improvise themselves by creating a site of few pages and starting a promotional campaign on social networks with the hope of intercepting some customers. For pity's sake, the strategy may work, but I prefer another type of business based on real experience.
HOW TO CREATE A WEBSITE: FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
If you have come this far to read, you are well on your way because to create a successful site you will have to read and apply a lot.
This is just an input, a summary of everything you need to know to create a professional site from which to profit personally and economically.
Unfortunately it is not possible to completely deal with all the topics related to a website in a single post because perhaps not even a book is enough, but right now you know that you will not be able to delegate hard work to others but you will have to be the one who designs and realizes it a site capable of intercepting the public's taste.
I want to greet you with a sentence from Thomas Edison, the great inventor of the last century:
I have not failed. I only tried 10,000 methods that didn't work
If you recognize yourself in this sentence, I guarantee that the dream of creating a website can turn into reality.
If you recognize yourself in this sentence, I guarantee that the dream of creating a website can turn into reality.
Today, more than ever, having a site is necessary and you don't need to spend thousands of euros to understand that it would have been better to do it yourself.
If you believe this is your way, read the Web Digital Media Group guide where you will find the exact step-by-step procedure to create your online presence.
If you like Open Company, I ask you to share the post with your friends on social networks, to subscribe to the newsletter and to visit us in the Facebook group never give up.
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