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Do you need a stunning website for your business? Do you want to build a powerful online store that will drive more sales? Do you want to make it quick with minimum effort? Look no further than the WordPress website. 

WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that allows you to create a website and publish content that you want to share with your audience. Whether you need a platform for your blog or an online store to sell your products, WordPress can help even marketing novices develop a picture-perfect website that will get you noticed. 

Using wordpress for business websites sounds more complicated than it really is. Let us guide you through the steps and you’ll have yours up and running in no time. 
 

A Brief Look Into WordPress

The WordPress site has a gigantic library of ready-made templates for you to choose from. Some of these are free, while others will cost you. Which reminds us, WordPress itself is free for anyone to use, as it is an open-source software created by the community for the community. Everyone can use, change, alter, edit and distribute the code.

But when you type WordPress into your search engine, two results will pop up: WordPress.org and WordPress.com.

WordPress.org - This gives you the full power in customising and managing your website. You can download the WordPress Software to be installed onto your website. It’s free to use, but to fully customise a website and create a unique website design, you will have to pay for the features and everything else that comes with building a custom website

WordPress.com - If you want everything done for you, you may find WordPress.com to be your ideal hosting service. It has an all-in-one option with a free domain so you’ll never have to buy one or pay for your hosting. If you choose this, your website url will look like this: www.mywebsite.wordpress.com. If you don’t want to stick with the free version, you can opt for the paid plan.

Between the two, we recommend using WordPress.org on the basis that it has enhanced customisation functionality and is compatible with all plugins and themes.

Let’s Create a Website using WordPress

Now that you know the basics, it's time to build your website. The first thing to consider is what hosting company you want as well as what hosting plan suits your business needs. There are monthly and yearly plans available.

>Here are some other key factors you will need to address.

1. The server location. IP-based Geolocation is a mapping of an IP address to a location of an Internet-connected computing or mobile device.

2. The purpose of the site. Are you developing a business website for your services, or an online store / e-commerce platform for your customers?

3. Cloud storage and bandwidth. Cloud storage provides bandwidth monitoring for you to track the in-region read bandwidth usage of your project's buckets.

4. Types of hosting you need.  Shared, dedicated or VPN.

Select a domain name

A domain name is a convenient way for users to know what site they are on. You can choose a free domain from the available domain names, or use a domain you own. For example, Elephant in the Boardoom’s domain name is www.elephantintheboardroom.com.

Domain names are a crucial step in building your online brand identity. The key to a strong domain is to pick something catchy, simple and memorable. For businesses, it’s best to stick as closely to your business name as possible.

Choose a Top-Level Domain (TLD)

Choosing the TLD is another essential task. To put it simply, in the address www.elephantintheboardrooom.com.au, “.com.au” is the TLD. Here are some more examples by country code.

Australia: .au

Philippines: .ph

Germany: .de

Generic TLDs are also commonly used, such as .com, .info, .net, .edu and .gov. Just make sure you choose appropriately if you go down this route

Pick a username and strong password

By using a strong combination of both usernames and passwords, you (the admin) can safely and securely manage your WordPress site. The admin has full authority and control over the site and its content. Hackers are rampant nowadays, so make sure you take your site security seriously. We recommend at least 8 characters, including uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters.

Make sure that your website is on HTTPS

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is an extension of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). It is used for secure communication over a computer network, and is used mainly on the internet. In HTTPS, the communication protocol is encrypted using Transport Layer Security (TLS) or, formerly, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). This prevents reading what’s going on between the visitor and the website thus making your website more secure

Customising your site

WordPress usually will automatically select a default template for you, however it’s not custom tailored to your business. If you want to make it more appealing to online users, customise your web design template. Find a theme that aligns with your business goals and offers the best user experience.

Settings Start here to customise your site.

Themes These will determine what your website looks like. Use themes to showcase your branding using a specific style and colour scheme that represents you.

Customiser  Here you can change the elements of your page as well as its general design. You can then add the branding, menus and widgets. All of this without having to write one line of code!

Widgets You can add playful widgets to your site effortlessly. Widgets are simple, pre-built blocks that serve a specific function and can improve your site’s user experience. Here are some examples:

• Search bar
• List of top posts or recent posts
• Archive of posts

Plugins WordPress allows you to install extra features and functions onto sites that aren’t included in the pre-built library. Choose from a wide range to suit your individual needs, like increasing your site speed or filtering spam comments.

Organising your website

The structure of your website can impact its usability significantly. You need to find the sweet spot between aesthetics and simplicity; don’t make it too basic but don’t overwhelm the visitor with extravagant graphics. Categorise your pages and content in a clear and coherent way. Remember that every website should be designed with the user in mind so that they can navigate it seamlessly.

Most websites will follow this general format:

1. Homepage
2. Categories
3. Subcategories
4. Individual pages and posts

WordPress is a simple and effective tool for beginner websites. It’s free, user friendly and can build a decent platform to promote you or your business. If you need help building a sophisticated website, we can help you out.

Elephant in the Boardroom is a website development agency that can help you grow your business online. Focus on your business while we take care of all things digital, so that you have more time to run the show while we build your online presence.

Sound good?  Talk to us at www.elephantintheboardroom.com.au.