Hello and welcome!
It’s great to see you here, and to work with you on your website. The full set of resources should be available again by the end of January 2018 (I’m doing a few updates and rewrites!) – see the schedule below.
Make sure you’ve downloaded your website planner and worked through the steps – it really is worth it! And once you’ve done that, you can get started on registering your domain, organising hosting, and setting up WordPress.
It’s quite likely that I’ll be setting up a private Facebook group or forum so you can ask questions there, but that will be determined by your feedback … so in the meantime, if you ever have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Remember, love your work!
I’m revisiting, fine-tuning and re-writing! These sections could well be available earlier than indicated, so if you’ve finished the first two parts, please get in touch, pronto!
30 January: 04. Setting up WordPress; 05. Functionality.
3 February: 06. Design; 07. Writing content.
5 February: 08. Putting it all together; 09. SEO; 10. Social media.
01. FREE Website Planner
Planning! Yes I know … but it’s the essential first step in getting your website going. You wouldn’t build a house without a plan would you? It’s the same for your website … it represents your business and you need to make a great first impression so your customers will buy your products or services. Simple as that! So, we’re going to start with some planning …
02. Register your domain
Registering your website address (domain) is an important part of your business plan. Today more than ever, it’s critical for your business – whether that’s bricks and mortar only, online only, or both. This tutorial gives you everything you need to know about why, how, and what you need to know about your domain.
03. Hosting and email
Hosting, cPanel, email … all words that can strike fear into a lot of people! It’s easy to get caught up in language that’s (I think) designed to baffle but really, it’s not that difficult as long as you know what you’re looking for, what’s important, and what’s not. In this tutorial, I’ll cover the ins and outs of choosing a web hosting plan, what the dreaded cPanel is, and how to set up your email. Some of these are one-off jobs … but you do need to know about them!
04. Setting up WordPress and plugins
In this step you’ll setup WordPress (WP), and the essential set of plugins. The choice can be overwhelming, so I’ll be focussing on the ‘default’ set I use for all of my sites, and then we can look at what other plugins you may need along the way.
05. Functionality (do you need a contact form?)
How do you know exactly what you want your website to do? If you’ve done the planning stage, you’ll have a reasonable idea and that will give you the ‘clues’ as to what to do next. Do you want an online store, do you want to build your mailing list, do you want a simple contact form or perhaps some way for your customers to be able to ask for pricing information or something else. We’ll cover the basics here, and point you in the right direction for the rest!
06. Design, themes, colours, images
This ‘lesson’ is all about how you want your website to look. It can take a few goes, but if you’re clear about what you want it to do, the design is all about making it look amazing! We’ll talk about themes, what to look for, colour choices, images, and how they all work together. This is the fun part 🙂
07. Writing all kinds of content
We’re really getting down to the nitty gritty here! This section is all about what you’re saying in your website. How to write compelling content, and focussing on your customers (not you!).
08. Putting it all together, QA and testing
This is the part of building a site that can be the least favourite! You’re almost at the finishing line but you still need to spend some time testing what you’ve got, making sure the images are appropriate and tagged properly, making sure there’s no typos, that everything works as it should. You might get some trusted customers, friends and family to go through your site and give you some unbiased feedback … challenging, but rewarding. You just have to make sure you don’t react to everything they say and really focus on anything that may need fine tuning!
09. SEO and analytics
Learn how to set up your analytics account/s and get your site indexed. And … the steps you need to take to get your site out there. It’s not just about getting your pages indexed, it’s also about getting other sites to link to you, and making sure you link to sites that are relevant to you as well. You want to do this in a good way … that works in Google, and gets you found!
10. Social media, promotion and getting your site out there
Now that your site is built, and you’re getting it indexed, this part is about how to tell people (your customers) that you’re online! Social media, email marketing, and general promotion. Find the tools that will help you find your customers.