Wordpress makes up a huge portion of websites... way more than you would expect. About 25% of all websites are built on the WordPress CMS (content management system)

What is Wordpress?

Wordpress is an online website creation tool. It allows you to create and post web pages and blog posts without needing to know any code. AKA a Content Management System

Who should use Wordpress?

-You want to build a website with limitless possibilities that can be altered or changed to your personal preferences at any time.

-You aren't sure if you want an eCommerce store

-You are considering posting articles/blog posts

-You'd like to manage your own pages/blog posts without knowing code.

-You don't want to pay the huge fees and maintenance costs of custom coding an entire site.

What are the downsides?

Wordpress will require some maintenance. You are going to have to update the websites software regularly.

How to build your first website with Wordpress

Step 1 - Pick a place to search and purchase your domain

-There are plenty of places to register and purchase your domain name. It's actually a bit more like leasing it... you have to continue to renew it or you lose it.

-We will focus on two for the podcast for reasons explained later

BlueHost.com

-Once you are here begin to check if the domain you want is available. The #1 you should go for first is yourbusinessname.com

Yourbusinessname.net

-If you have a very common name, you may have to get creative. Just make sure its something that makes sense and your customers can find easily.

-Purchase the rights to the domain now... this should be about $15 a year. (buy more years, save more money)

Step 2 - Get your Hosting set up

-Hosting is essentially where the data for your store will live.

-Godaddy and Bluehost both have 'Wordpress Hosting" - this means its all set up for a WordPress page. You don't have to hire a web developer to set it up for you.

-Choose your plan - monthly or annual fee (usually about $80-150/yr)

-Essentially the lowest cost option is probably enough to get you started.

-Look at the list and see if upgrades make sense to you.

-If you aren't sure call the company and tell them about your site, they will advise the right plan.

-Here's where you also get your business email address - you can get Google suite or Office online with a domain email for $5-$15/month.

Step 3 - Initial Site Set up

-This step will be easy if you used Godaddy or BlueHost. In a few clicks they complete all the steps for you.

Step 4 - Picking a Theme / Template

-The theme is the overall look and design of your site that has been pre-build by a developer. These are going to be from Free up to $100.

-Going with a prebuild theme is one of the benefits of WordPress. A lot of the work to set the site up is done, you just fill in the blanks.

-Under THEMES in your Wordpress Dashboard you will see an option to add new themes. You can search from tens of thousands of themes.

-Free themes are tempting, but they are free for a reason. Paid themes usually come with tech support and have more options.

-You can also check out Themeforest.net - this is a marketplace for themes. They are known for having great themes for a reasonable price. $50 will usually buy you a very good quality theme.

Step 5 - Install and Set up your theme

-Installing is easy, its right under that ad theme area of the WordPress dashboard. There are 100 youtube videos on how to do this.

-Once installed follow their instructions/documentation to the T! Start at step one and finish at the end. The theme has this set up for a reason.

Step 6 - Begin customizing

-Now that your site and theme are set up, you can begin to add your own text, images, menus and posts.

TIPS:

-Small image within text / Logo 150-300 pixels wide

-Large featured image - 500 - 1000 pixels wide

-Background image - 1500 - 3000 pixels wide

-If the page/post doesn't look like it should in the theme, contact support for the theme. Include screenshots and they can tell you if you missed a step.

-Work on one thing at a time - don't try to build the entire site in a night.

Should you hire help?

-If you are struggling with some of the above steps, you might want to hire some help to get the job done. You can find WordPress experts for a fairly low price on places like upwork.com or fivrr.com.

-Hire someone to help you with customizing, designing and getting things right. Since you are working with a WordPress theme, you likely aren't going to have to pay a ton.

-When hiring someone go to USERS in your WordPress dashboard. There you can give them a login, that you can later revoke if you no longer need their help.

-If you aren't a good artist yet, get some help with the images are your site.

-You don't always need custom images, check out places like Shutterstock, or istockphoto and you may be able to purchase some nice images for a professional looking site.

The next step is to continue watching videos online and reading about WordPress. You can get pretty proficient at updating and designing your site with practice.

Eventually you will figure out what parts you like, and which parts you want to always hire out.