When starting a website, it can be confusing where to start. This guide will walk you through setting up your basic website.
1. Domain Name
A domain name is the name of your website. Website-Avenue.com is the domain name of this website. Your visitors will type this in to their browsers to visit your home page.
Domains can typically be purchased for under $20 per year. Each domain can only be puchased once, so you should register your domain
as soon as you can. You can register your domain at GoDaddy.com, the largest domain registrar.
2. Web Hosting
Now that your site is named, you need web hosting to store the files that make up your website. Today most web hosts come with a standard set of features and a control panel to administrate your hosting service.
Choosing a web host is an important decision and can affect the quality of your website. HostRocket provides a full featured web hosting plan with a 99% uptime guarantee and great customer service. You can create your account and start getting familiar with the interface.
3. Website Software
There is no right answer to which software platform to use for your website. However, some platform are far more beginner friendly than others.
WordPress is one of the most well-known platforms. WordPress is also tremendously adaptable so much so that even Microsoft moved its blogging service to WordPress.com in 2010! It can no longer be considered just for blogs but is one of best general purpose website platforms available and its free!
WordPress is known for its 5-minute installation and is very simple to get up and running.
WordPress is also very easy to customize. You can purchase a WordPress theme that can change the look and feel of your website at a fraction of the cost of hiring a web designer. With thousands of themes out there you can typically find one that meets your needs. If you know you will need a lot of customization, you may need to hire a freelance web designer.
Then you can can extend the functionality of your WordPress installation with the thousands of free plugins.
Now you should have a fully functioning website!
