WordPress started out as a blogging platform, but today it’s used by millions of websites, from mommy bloggers to giant sites like TechCrunch, Mashable and more. WordPress is loved for its incredible ease of installation and use (if you can use a word processor, you can manage a WordPress website), plus the large community of developers ensures you’ll find plenty of help if you need it.
And what’s even better is that there are thousands of themes and plugins you can use to make your site absolutely unique without spending a dime. Yeah, that’s right…wordpress head to toe is FREE!
So let’s install it and take a look at it from the inside!
To begin, log into your cPanel and scroll down to the section that says “software/services” and click on “Fantastico.” This is the script that will install WordPress on your domain. A lot of techie folks will tell you it’s better to manually install WordPress. It is, and if you are will to work through the steps here’s where you find them. If not, stick with the following instructions, they are easy peasy.
On the Fantastico screen, select WordPress from the left column, then on the right side click “new installation.” Choose your user name, password, site name, and tagline (you can change these later), and click “Install WordPress.” In a few minutes, you’ll receive an email confirming that the installation is complete.
To see your new site, just type your domain name into your browser. Boom! There you are.
To peek under the hood, visit http://yourdomainname.com/wp-login.php. Enter your user name and password, and you’ll find yourself on the dashboard (the control panel for your site).
From here you can add posts and pages, change your theme, add plugins to customize how your site s, and create a contact page so that your soon to be clients can reach you.
When you’re creating the layout for your site you want to design everything with your user in mind. I highly recommend you pick up a copy of the book “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug for this purpose. Whether you’re new to creating website, or you’ve been doing it for years, this is a must own for anyone in online business.
That said, if you’re totally unsure of what to do, here are a few pages you might want to set up first:
•Welcome – this is the first thing visitors will see when they come to your site, so it needs to instantly communicate what you’re about and showcase an opt-in offer
•About – this tells visitors about you, your business, and why you’re qualified to do what you do
•Contact – provides a way to reach you
•Services, Products, Portfolio – depending on your business model
•Blog – a list of articles (blog posts) arranged by date
Of course, these are the most common pages you will find on a business website. You don’t need all of them, and there may be others specific to your business that aren’t listed here. Take time to work out a plan for how you’d like your site to be laid out (and read Don’t Make Me Think). And remember, WordPress is incredibly flexible, so whatever you choose can always be changed later.
Now you’ll need a theme so that you can give your site a personalized and customized look that screams you.
Resources
For the more tech savvy folks: The Famous 5 minute WordPress Install



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