According to an analysis done in 2017, 29% of small businesses don't have a website. That is counterproductive because 75% of small business owners think that digital marketing is the most effective solution for advertising in this day and age.
According to a different study, 37% of consumers say they shop online at least once per month and look through offers online before purchasing anything. That is good enough motive for every small business to have its own website.
WordPress is a platform for the easy and fast creation of complete websites of any type. Whether you need a blog, an online store or an informative static website, you can do it with WordPress.
WordPress was launched in 2003 as a blogging platform. Since then they've been upgrading it non-stop, the latest version in the moment of writing this article is 5.0. The latest upgrade is a tool for creating pages and posts, Gutenberg, which is more refined than the classic editor.
Nowadays, WordPress is used for every type of websites. From blog posts to full-blown tour guides, the selling of services and products, order tracking, informative static websites... If you need a website, the solution for you exists with WordPress.
The short answer might be a little confusing. That's why we'll try to explain in higher detail how and why you need the following steps:
WordPress.com is the easiest way to create a WordPress website, but it's not without its disadvantages.
One of those disadvantages is the payment. Simply put, some people don't have the means to or don't want to pay for a long term of one or two years, which you have to pay in order to have your own domain.
Also, on the cheapest subscription, you're losing functionality that you can have for that same price if you purchase web hosting. Also, you won't be forced to pay for the long term. The advantages of a monthly subscription are obvious. If you decide that you don't want a website anymore, you will not lose the money for the remaining period of your subscription.
If you need to create a website without spending a dime, this is the way to do it. Even if there are some disadvantages, it's good enough to give you a trial period for your website. But if you want your website to have a more serious look, we recommend you skip a few coffees and purchase web hosting.
The first step is the most important step. Everything is dependent on the content of the website. The design and name have to compliment the content of the website.
If you reached this point, you probably already know what the content on your website will be. Think deeper and make a detailed plan.
If you want your website to be a blog for dogs, think in detail if you want it to be for dogs in general or for a specific dog breed(German shepherd, wiener dog....). With this, you make choosing the name of the website much easier. Example, if your website is for the dog breed German Shepherd, the name of your website could be – GShepherd Info. But if your website is for dogs in general, it could be much harder to choose a unique name for your website.
This is the easy part. Choose a hosting provider and purchase web hosting. Then install WordPress by yourself or by using the tools for installing WordPress.
If you have special web hosting needs or want to know more, feel free to contact us.
Choose a hosting package, enter the domain name you want to use. If the domain you entered is in use, try using a different domain or use less used domain suffixes. Suffixes like .info and .blog have a better chance of being available.
It's not a secret that WordPress offers an infinite number of design choices. From free to paid, there's a design for every need. If you're looking for a free theme, searching is integrated inside WordPress. But if you're searching for a premium theme, we recommend searching on Themeforest.
We've used the potential of Themeforest for many sites and we can say for certain that they have a plethora of themes for everyone's needs. The designs are created by individuals or companies, most likely unrelated to WordPress.
The themes you can find this way are free to use, but also don't offer any special functionality. If you want to look at some premium themes with more functionality and ready-made templates, go to Themeforest.
After you buy a theme from Themeforest, you need to set it to your WordPress website.
If you have a theme from Themeforest, there's an additional step to upload it.
Fifth, click "Upload Theme", then "Choose file" and choose the theme using the pop-up window.
If everything is good, the theme will be installed without any problems. If a problem comes up, contact your hosting provider and they'll fix your problem.
In the beginning, without any digital marketing, you can expect a very small number of visits. Most of which will be your acquaintances or existing clients that found out about your website through you or your store.
With digital marketing, Facebook and Instagram. You can expect a lot more visits from multiple locations, with visitors that are looking for exactly what you're offering. Targeted ads are the most effective ads.
The longer your presence in the digital world, the more loyal users you'll acquire. Also, users that frequently view your website and social media profiles. To achieve this, you need quality content on your website that is frequently updated.
Without any news, people will be quick to forget about you. If you want to create a digital presence, you need to frequently, at least once a week, post new articles or photos. - At least on social media, to be able to keep your existing users.
Skip one coffee and buy hosting!