A Beginner’s Guide To Creating a Website From Scratch

Understanding the basics of web hosting

Websites need data processed and stored somewhere. Web hosting providers offer this with servers that remain continuously active to keep a website running smoothly.

Main types of web hosting

• Shared hosting is the more cost-effective and manageable option, with multiple websites sharing one server while operating independently. The downside is that your site can be affected if other sites experience high traffic or security issues.
• Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is the middle ground between shared and dedicated hosting. It involves one server divided into virtual independent sections. VPS hosting is perfect for growing websites that need more resources, control, and security – but it’s often expensive.
• Dedicated hosting is for larger, high-traffic websites and uses one dedicated server per site.
• Cloud hosting uses both virtual and physical servers. It’s reliable – if one server fails, another takes over. Plus, you often only pay for the resources you use, so this can be well-suited to smaller sites.
• WordPress hosting is a scalable and highly secure option for WordPress sites, one of the most common and user-friendly CMS.

There’s also managed hosting, where the provider deals with all the technical aspects of your site. Many services offer combinations of these options, such as Elementor, which provides managed WordPress cloud hosting at a particularly low price.

A domain name is a website’s address and needs to be purchased from a domain registrar or hosting provider. This is exclusive and unique to you or your product, so the domain name must be chosen carefully. Just like a logo and brand, a domain name should be memorable. Ideally, it’s also short, includes all the relevant keywords (which will help search engines find it), and is simply spelled.

The suffix at the end of your domain name is called an extension. There may be a benefit to being geographically identifiable, but if not, it’s possible to use a more global option like .net or .com. If your ideal domain name and extension have already been snapped up, it’s easy to find an alternative extension.

When choosing a hosting plan, the first thing to consider is the platform’s usability. Its control panel must be easy to navigate and have a simple interface. Some platforms provide one-click installers, control panels, and website builders with drag-and-drop editors.

Next up is support. All beginners will hit a wall when trying to fix a problem, and that’s when it’s time to call in the professionals, who are ideally available 24/7.

It’s essential that a website is always functional, loads quickly, and remains secure, so check user reviews to ensure that you’re choosing a respected hosting provider that can provide 99.9% uptime. SSL certificates encrypt data to prevent hackers from accessing or stealing any information and are necessary if you want Google to flag your website as ‘secure’. Automated backups are a no-brainer.

Some providers offer wallet-friendly perks, like a free domain name for the first year. Another way to pay less is to opt for a hosting plan that offers only the features you need. However, while you may not yet be ready to grow, ensure there’s room to scale up later.

Hopefully, you’ve already identified the purpose and audience of your site. Is it designed to sell, inform, or just showcase you? Deciding this is crucial before choosing a hosting plan, as it will determine how much traffic you expect and whether you need any specific software or features.

After choosing a hosting type (shared, VPS, etc.) and finding a plan that suits your budget, you need to decide how long to commit, as longer plans often result in discounts. Now, it’s time to set up your account and pay. If you’ve bought your domain name elsewhere, you must also direct the DNS to your new provider’s servers. Lastly, it’s time to choose and install a CMS from your provider’s control panel.

A CMS is ideal for a beginner as it lets the user create, manage, and modify digital content without needing specialist skills. It’s best to choose a platform that offers a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor with its own website builder, meaning it’s unnecessary to know any coding languages.

A good CMS also offers engaging and varied templates or themes for designing a website, plugins and extensions for adding features (such as contact forms), and other tools for easily tagging and categorizing content. WordPress offers all this and more and is one of the most popular options.

The easiest way to get WordPress is to go into the control panel of your hosting provider and set it up with a one-click installer, such as that provided by Elementor.

Once in WordPress, you can find and install any theme under ‘Appearance’. In ‘Plugins’, you can find security, SEO, and backup plugins. You need to install, activate, and then configure the plugins.

Now that the technical side is in place, it’s time to turn to your site’s usability. Of course, a graphic designer or UX expert can build an attractive and intuitive site, but if that’s beyond your budget, it’s best to choose and customize a theme. This is how you can set up your layout, color scheme (to match your brand), and navigation menu. Top providers like Elementor also offer user-friendly website builders that include AI content generation and assisted designs.

When choosing a theme, ensure it’s responsive so it shines as much on mobile devices as on desktop. WordPress and other CMS provide numerous free and paid themes, but there are sites dedicated to delivering top-of-the-range premium themes, such as TemplateMonster, ThemeForest, and MOJO Marketplace.

Your site needs to have its logo clearly presented at all times, be easy to navigate, and allow users to return to the homepage with just one click. Including About and Contact pages is essential if you want to connect with your audience.

The hosting provider and domain have been set up, the website theme chosen and customized, and the content is in place and looking great. But the work isn’t over. Here’s a list of everything you need to check before going live:

✓ Check, check, and check again. Make sure your content has been proofread and is evergreen and relevant.

✓ Verify that any media has been appropriately compressed and loads quickly and correctly.

✓ Test all links.

✓ Check that all forms and interactive elements function correctly.

✓ Try your website on different browsers and devices.

✓ SEO: Verify that all meta data is correct.

✓ Back up your site.

✓ Announce your launch via social media, newsletters, email, etc., and then celebrate!

Post-launch considerations

Your site has launched, but there’s no time to rest on your laurels. Although your site is live, you need to ensure the experience exceeds expectations. One way to do this is by setting up Google Analytics to get comprehensive insights into visitor behavior and traffic.

You can also turn to Google to optimize your SEO with Google Search Console. New Relic is great for more in-depth performance monitoring, and Pingdom is handy for understanding load times from different locations.

Plus, it’s essential to regularly back up, check, and update WordPress, themes, plugins, links, software, and security like firewalls. Most importantly, don’t forget that your content must be reviewed and renewed as often as possible.

Take it one step at a time

Fundamentally, building a website doesn’t have to be overwhelming if it’s broken down into bitesize chunks. First, carefully choose a domain name and extension and register it. Keep things simple by opting for a user-friendly CMS like WordPress, and make sure you’ve selected a solution that offers 24/7 support for those difficult moments.

Next, opt for a hosting provider and plan that offers precisely what you need. While you don’t need to pay now for extra features, ensure there’s the possibility of upgrading and scaling up your plan if needed. While it may seem far off now, there may be a time when you’ll want to add more bells and whistles to your successful site. You may even get a kick out of the creative and rewarding process.