Building\u00a0a custom WordPress website\u00a0is a great way to express yourself creatively while adding another stream of revenue to your income or boosting the performance of an existing business.<\/p>\n
That said, there are almost 2 billion websites<\/a> in existence across the web, so it\u2019s important to know what you\u2019re doing before you start if you want to create a successful site.\u00a0Regardless of your chosen niche, you\u2019re going to have a lot of competition!<\/p>\n To help you in this endeavor, we\u2019ve created a complete guide to designing\u00a0the ultimate WordPress website. By following these steps, your website will\u00a0have a healthy following in no time.<\/p>\n Keep reading to learn more!<\/p>\n Before you can begin building your website, you need to choose a web hosting service, as WordPress is simply a content management system, it doesn\u2019t host websites.<\/p>\n As long as your chosen service meets the minimum hosting requirements set by WordPress, you can use any web hosting provider you like. That said, WordPress recommends the use of one of the following: Bluehost, DreamHost, and SiteGround.<\/p>\n When you\u2019ve chosen your company, you\u2019ll need to pick a plan. This will depend on the level of resources your site will require. If you\u2019re unsure, go smaller rather than larger. You can always upgrade down the road if you need to.<\/p>\n Once you have your WordPress and hosting accounts and thus have access to the backend of your website, you\u2019re ready to\u00a0start building. The first step you\u2019ll need to take is to pick a theme.\u00a0There are thousands upon thousands of themes to choose from, and it\u2019s an important decision, so take your time making it.<\/p>\n Start by narrowing down the selection of themes by the type of website you have. If you\u2019re\u00a0building an e-commerce website, the theme you need will be much different than someone running a blog.<\/p>\n Pro tip: always browse the live demos of potential themes. Your finished website probably won\u2019t be\u00a0exactly like the demo, but you can get a good idea of how that specific theme looks and functions.<\/p>\n When making a custom WordPress website, your theme is just the jumping-off point. You\u2019ll make tweaks here and there to make the theme suit your style and install plugins to enhance both your experience and your users\u2019.<\/p>\n Now, like themes, there are a wide variety of plugins to choose<\/a> from, and you don\u2019t want to overdo it. You can do a lot with your site without them,\u00a0you can even create a WordPress redirect page without plugin<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bogging your site down with too many plugins can negatively affect its speed and even put your security at risk.<\/p>\n Instead, only install plugins that you think will truly benefit you and your users. And when making your selections, remember that plugins are only vetted for security, not quality. Check out the reviews of each plugin before you download it.<\/p>\n The two plugins you absolutely have to have are an SEO plugin and an analytics plugin.<\/p>\n Without a solid SEO strategy, you can\u2019t hope to have a successful website. That said, SEO can be a bit overwhelming when you\u2019re first starting out, so a plugin to help optimize your site can be a lifesaver.<\/p>\n Yoast SEO, for example, will analyze your keywords and content and give you a report at the end of each post, making suggestions for improvement. This SEO plugin also helps with more technical processes such as managing sitemaps and robots.txt files.<\/p>\n In order to track the performance and growth of your website, you need access to analytics. WordPress offers certain performance metrics, but they\u2019re often inaccurate, not to mention they aren\u2019t detailed enough to be very helpful.<\/p>\n Your best bet is to install a Google Analytics plugin. This plugin will give you insight into how visitors use your site, which posts and pages are most popular, and how long the average user spends on each.<\/p>\n The best part about this plugin is that you\u2019ll be able to see all of this information right from your dashboard! You won\u2019t have to switch between websites and services to get the full picture.<\/p>\n After all the time and hard work it took to build your own WordPress website, the last thing you want to happen is for it to fall into the hands of hackers and bugs. Because WordPress is such a popular platform, it\u2019s a common target for hackers.<\/p>\n One of the best, and simplest, things you can do for your website is to keep it updated. Whenever a new version of WordPress or your specific theme comes out, download it immediately. It can be helpful to give WordPress permission to install them automatically.<\/p>\n You also need to get an SSL certificate. This is\u00a0included free with most hosting services, all you have to do is opt-in. An SSL certificate will encrypt all of the information on your site, including your and your users\u2019 data.<\/p>\n In addition, take care to make frequent backups of your site. If something happens to your website, you\u2019ll be able to download the latest backup instead of starting over from the beginning.<\/p>\n Building a custom WordPress website can feel complicated, but by knowing the basics, you can focus less on the initial setup and more on the creative (and fun) aspect of web design.<\/p>\n Use this guide to get your site started, then get to work customizing a WordPress template to make it your own. Before you know it, you\u2019ll have a beautiful, thriving website that you can be proud of.<\/p>\n For more web design tips and tricks, take a look at our blog!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Building\u00a0a custom WordPress website\u00a0is a great way to express yourself creatively while adding another stream of revenue to your income or boosting the performance of an existing business. That said, there are almost 2 billion websites in existence across the web, so it\u2019s important to know what you\u2019re doing before you start if you want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":4352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1202],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nChoose a Web Host<\/h2>\n
Pick a Theme<\/h2>\n
Install Your Plugins<\/h2>\n
Benefits of an SEO Plugin<\/h3>\n
Benefits of an Analytics Plugin<\/h3>\n
Keep Your Site Safe<\/h2>\n
Start Building Your Custom WordPress Website Today<\/h2>\n