Learn how to Create a Web site in 6 Simple Steps

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The website you are on has over 2,530,346 visitors and has annual sales of over $ 1 million through their blog.

That's a lot of visitors and certainly a lot of money. But what did it take me to achieve this?

Take the big leap of faith and launch my website.

Building a website has gotten a lot easier over the years. It's cheaper, faster, and more straightforward than ever.

But what do you really need to build a website?

Detailed knowledge of web development, web design and coding? Lots of capital?

Not exactly.

Don't get me wrong, it would be amazing if you had the capital and ability to be fluent in geek language skills, but a stable internet connection and only an hour or two of your time is just as good.

In this step-by-step guide, I'm going to show you how to create a website from scratch in just one afternoon. Just follow the tactics below to avoid making the same mistakes I made when starting at Ground Zero.

Ready? Let's dive right in!

Your 2 minute cheat sheet

Here is your quick guide to creating a website. Remember, this section doesn't cover everything – just the critical steps.

First, choose the right web host. We recommend Bluehost for speed and reliability.

Then you need a domain name that states what your website is about. A .com domain name is best as it will help you earn brownie points in the eyes of visitors.

After registering your domain name, select a content management system or a CMS. You can consider WordPress, Joomla, or Wix, among others.

Finally, you've set up a version of a website. Congratulation!

But you're not done yet.

Next on your list is marketing your business. Since branding is vital today, you need to consider a logo, write your website copy, plan your marketing strategy, and definitely install Google Analytics.

Basically the exciting stuff you may already know everything about.

Now let's go into more detail on how to create a website.

Step 1: choose web hosting

Do you remember how your school library had those big categorized bookshelves?

A web hosting company is just like that bookshelf while the library is the internet.

A hosting service provider or web hosting company stores your website on a server and makes everything you publish on your website visible to the internet and your visitors.

These companies offer monthly or yearly plans for shared servers, dedicated servers, or virtual private servers so you can choose a plan that suits your security and support needs.

If your website doesn't collect or store any personal or financial information, you can always choose the basic plan. So you don't have to pay a lot of money.

But how do you know which web hosting company or web hosting service is right for you?

Site speed

If you want to make money from your website, you need a stable and fast web host.

Fast websites have many things to offer. They rank better, help with search engine optimization, and maximize conversions.

I would 100% recommend Bluehost as it keeps loading time minimal and short.

However, we also recommend that you avoid shared hosting or services that are too cheap.

Shared hosting means that you share your web server with thousands of other websites. In other words, the hosting speed is slow. Plus, you can even open up the server to spam websites which can leave you exposed to the brunt of Google.

As for skipping cheap hosting services, the rule here is simple: you get what you pay for.

The levels of security, speed, and availability wouldn't be as high if you're paying $ 5 a month, especially when you compare it to plans that cost more than $ 120 a month.

I'm not telling you to buy the most expensive plan – just avoid the cheapest hosting.

Availability reliability

Your web hosting service should always work properly. Otherwise nobody will be able to access your website.

A good hosting provider offers you an availability guarantee – for example "We offer a 100% network availability guarantee" or similar claims.

For example, if a hosting provider reports 99% uptime, your website may be down for 3.5 days a year. However, vendors offering 99.99% or 99.999% have downtime of around an hour and five minutes, respectively.

Look for a provider that offers an insurance guarantee. If your website goes down, you can be compensated with hosting credits.

Customer service

You need fast and efficient backup support when technical difficulties arise. Chat, email or phone – there are different support methods. However, in my experience, email is absolutely the worst. It's much better to get support over the phone or live chat.

Choose a hosting provider that offers 24/7 support. That way, if something goes wrong within minutes, you can get your business back online.

You should also check your Service Level Agreement (SLA) to get an idea of the type of support you will receive. Looking at the company's website will also give you an idea of their support team.

Scalability

Scalability is critical for two reasons. First, a hosting provider should grow organically with you so you can upgrade if necessary. Second, your website should be able to handle massive traffic.

To understand if your web host is flexible, consider the following questions:

Will the web host upgrade you from an entry-level shared hosting plan to an intermediate VPS when your traffic levels reach a certain level with no downtime?
How easy is this upgrade process?
Can the web host seamlessly support seasonal web traffic fluctuations?

You should try to find a solution that has all three check boxes checked.

Visit web hosting forums to learn more about others' experiences with providers. Then compare services and prices to determine the right plan based on your needs and budget.

With a web host provider set up, you can skip to step 2.

Step 2: Choose a unique and relevant domain name

Don't look for the perfect domain name – there isn't one. Some names are better than others, but ultimately, it's a small part of your business. The content of your website remains the most important.

A domain name is the address of your website on the Internet. Mine is NeilPatel.com and it reflects my personal brand, but yours can be anything you want, provided it's related to your company, topics you want to write about, or your name.

The possibilities are endless!

Here are some rules of thumb to help you choose the right domain name:

Keep it relevant
Stick to short, memorable names
Avoid numbers
Choose a .com, .org, or .net
Make sure your chosen domain name is available

Finding the perfect name is also possible using the following methods:

Method 1 – Brute Force Method

Many have the creativity to find the perfect domain name on their own. If you are, you need a domain name registrar to buy the domain and then look for the availability of your potential domain name.

Bluehost is a great place to start as you can get a free domain with their hosting plans for a year and check for availability.

I also advise you not to use hyphenated domain names (like neil-patel-marketing.com) even if you can get them for a dirt cheap price. It can get confusing.

Method 2 – use a tool

Some of us aren't very creative and that's fine.

If you get stuck creating a domain name, use name generators. Just type in a keyword or two and the generator will look for ways to combine those words into a domain name.

In addition to speed and downtime reliability, Bluehost also lets you check domain name availability. Visit the login page and enter your domain name in the field. Voila! You will have a name.

Note that your preferred domain name may not be available. Try confusing words, using a thesaurus, or adding a verb when this happens.

Now that you've chosen your domain name, the next thing you need is a website building platform.

Step 3: Pick a good website building platform or CMS

A quick google search for website builders and CMS will overwhelm you with the enormous options.

CMS stands for Content Management System. You can edit your website yourself within the domain, which will save you a lot of time and make everything easier. Customizing layouts, settings, content, creating new pages and posts, etc. is made easier thanks to ready-to-use website templates.

Here are a few options to consider:

WordPress. WordPress is number one when it comes to CMS. It's popular, user-friendly, and very easy to use. In addition, the platform has over 58,000 plugins that allow you to do almost anything you want on your website.

Note that WordPress.com and WordPress.org are not the same. While the former is a third-party website that you can create free blogs on, the latter allows you to download WordPress software to install on a website.

Wix. Wix is another website builder that makes things very simple. If you need a website with only a few pages, e.g. For example, restaurants, local businesses, freelancers, or portfolio websites, this might be a good option.

However, if you want to build a large site, Wix may be missing the advanced features needed to handle large amounts of data.

Drupal. Drupal is the most advanced website building solution, so the learning curve is steeper. Given the level of customization it offers, it seems like the hard work is worth it.

While I don't recommend Drupal for beginners, if customizing beforehand is a priority on your list, this is hands down the best option. You can always hire an expert to learn the ropes of the platform.

You have now set up a website. All you have to do is make it look great.

Step 4: design your website to look amazing

For every website builder, you need to install a theme. Topics can be free and paid. However, the latter looks more professional and gives you more flexibility in customizing your website. They're also not overly expensive, and can be bought for less than $ 100.

WordPress and Wix have some great free themes, but if you want to try the premium variant, you can try StudioPress.

The designs are based on the basic CMS, but can be customized to give your website a unique look and function. Shouldn't an artist's website look different from a SaaS or a restaurant?

The visual representation is incredibly important as your visitors will judge your website based on its appearance in a split second. If your website is out of date, untrustworthy, or not living up to its expectations, your visitors will be gone in seconds.

Fortunately, choosing a good topic is easy.

I recommend reading reviews on the subjects before choosing visual appeal and never choosing over functionality.

Yes, you want your website to look great with all of these fancy fonts and colors, but that shouldn't come at the expense of functionality.

In addition, you can always change the topic at a later time. Just don't change it often as it will hurt SEO and branding.

Step 5: use a child theme to protect your website

The best way to keep your website safe is to use a child theme. A child topic is a stylesheet that is stored separately from the rest of the files in your topic on the web server. Not only does this make your website difficult to break, it even protects you from re-changes when you update a topic.

Note that different website builders have different names for creating a child topic.

You create a "Subtopic" in WordPress, but you create a "Subtopic" in Drupal. Also, some websites do not allow you to create a sub-topic. However, you can always create a duplicate theme to act as a backup like in Joomla.

Step 6: Configure your website and add relevant content

At this point you are done with most of the technical part and can now finally focus on the more interesting things.

First, set up navigation so that visitors can more easily know what your website is about and give them easy access to different parts of your website. Pick a few colors to represent your site without going overboard.

For example, I chose orange and white.

Organize, separate and mark the important areas of your website to make them eye-catching and clear. You can also install plugins to keep your website running smoothly.

Here is a quick checklist of the things you will need in order to market your business, especially if you are looking to make money on the website:

Get a logo. This will represent your brand so be very careful here.
Write your copy of your website, including the home page, the "About Me" page, and other basic pages.
Install the Google Analytics code on your website to keep an eye on the visitors.
Plan your marketing strategy to find out the likes and dislikes of your visitors.

As for the final note, you need to understand online marketing, content marketing, and the often neglected link building in order to gain visibility on your website, generate leads, and meet your business goals.

Conclusion

While building a website does have some problems, the more experience you get, the better you get and the easier it gets.

While we've covered all the necessary details for creating your first website, if you get stuck somewhere, you can reach out to Google or YouTube to solve your problem.

Trust me, there are tutorials for almost anything on the internet.

Choosing a web host and CMS, website design, and marketing are just the tip of the iceberg. You can't expect success overnight, but just a little patience, you will see real progress.