Be Online In Hours Not Days
Contrary to what you may have thought, or heard, a new WordPress website can be brought online in a matter of hours by leveraging pre-made, professionally designed, layouts like those shown below. All pre-made layouts are fully customizable and easily edited with no coding skills required. Start with the website foundational components and load a pre-made layout from there.
Portfolio
Business
e-Commerce
Website Foundational Components
Every website is built on three foundational components: a Domain Name, Hosting, and a Content Management System (CMS)
Domain Name
A Domain Name holds the address of your website and is used to register and locate your content on the Internet. A chosen Domain Name generally reflects the name of the business it supports (e.g., mybusiness.com).
Hosting
Hosting provides the computer/server infrastructure that your Domain Name points to and on which your website content is made publicly and securely available 24/7 on the Internet.
CMS
A CMS (Content Management System) provides the framework for creating, storing, and stylizing your website content and runs on the hosting infrastructure. The most popular and widely used CMS across the Internet is WordPress.
Getting Started
Getting started is as simple as following the steps below:
Procure A Domain Name
Domain Names are leased through Domain Registrars of which there are several to choose from. The lease cost for a Domain Name averages $10 to $15 annually. Some Domain Names are flagged as “premium” given the demand or competition for the name. These premium names have one-time fees in addition to the annual lease cost. Where possible you may have to get creative with your name search to avoid these premium fees. Using an alternative domain extension (i.e., something other than “.com”) is one work around. Alternative extensions like “.co”, “.io”, and “.info” are becoming more mainstream. Among the many Domain Registrars I have found Google Domains to be very affordable.
Procure A Hosting Plan
As with Domain Registrars there are several Hosting Plan providers to choose from. The key is to opt for one that offers an affordable entry point with the option to scale services should your website demands require it. There are two Hosting Plan providers who meet this criteria and with whom I have had a great experience: SiteGround and HostGator. Both are top tier Hosting providers with global reach, affordable plans, robust services, and exceptional customer support. Each provides a promotional discount at signup which can significantly reduce your startup costs and allow you to “test the waters” without breaking the bank. You can procure 1 year of hosting for as little as $33. Add the annual cost of Domain Name registration and you can take your business online in year one for less than $50 in component costs.
Click the banners below to compare the plan offerings of each provider. Most small businesses can make do with the entry level plan from each provider.
Should you follow the banner links below and purchase a hosting plan WP Web Caddy is eligible to receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. These commissions aid in providing the free WordPress tips offered on this site. Thank you in advance for your support!
Install And Configure WordPress
Most Hosting providers, including SiteGround and HostGator above, offer one-click WordPress installations. You first opt to create a new website on your purchased hosting plan, proceed to specify the associated Domain Name, and choose WordPress as the website application. All of the necessary WordPress directories and files are automatically created for you with default settings. At this point your website is live with a default layout and content – including a “Hello World” post. (See image panel)
While the default theme and layout are functional they are not visually impactful. Here is where a pre-made, professional layout can make a world of difference.
Import A Pre-made Template
One of the awesome things about using WordPress is that as an open source platform there is a network of developers around the world continually adding to the platform making it possible for you to obtain any look or functional requirement you desire. And much of the extended functionality is freely distributed just like WordPress itself. This extended capability and functionality is distributed in the form of themes and plugins which are managed via the WordPress admin panel.
Themes
A theme affects the presentation and layout of your WordPress content. While most are customizable they generally have a default set of colors, fonts, and layout templates.
Plugins
A plugin typically extends the functionality of your WordPress website - like the ability to sell products online, collect form data, or manage mailing lists. Some plugins extend the content creation capability of WordPress through visual, drag and drop page builders.
For our purposes we’re going to leverage a plugin called “Starter Templates”. This plugin will install the Astra theme and the Elementor page builder plugin. Together these will enable you to import and edit a pre-made template.
- Proceed to the WordPress Admin panel. (Enter yourdomainname/wp-admin in your browser and login with the credentials you specified when installing WordPress
- Go to Plugins and click Add New
- In the search box type “starter templates“
- Locate in the search results the plugin titled “Starter Templates — Elementor, WordPress & Beaver Builder Templates” and click Install
- Once installed click Activate
- Navigate to Plugins…Installed Plugins and find “Starter Templates“
- Click the link below the plugin title that says ” See Library“
- You can choose to watch the intro video or scroll down and click “Build Your Website Now“
- Choose “Elementor” as your page builder
- Search or scroll and select the template you would like to use. (note: some of templates require a premium license)
- If you have a logo file (.jpg or .png format) you can upload it now. Otherwise skip this step and continue
- Select the color palette and font family you would like to use (don’t worry these can be changed later).
- Complete the form and click “Submit and build my website“
- Once installed click “View my website“
That’s it! Your website is now active with the layout and content of the pre-made template!
Customize The Pre-Made Template
Depending on the template chosen above your website will now have one or more pages containing the template content. You’ll now want to edit that content to make it your own.
You can go to the Elementor website to access tutorials on how to use the Elementor page builder to modify the pre-made template. Or you can contact me via an inquiry form to schedule a 1 hour, one-on-one session where I’ll walk you through how to work with Elementor. I’ll show you how to edit the template text and images to make the site your own. I’ll also share some of my best practices for keeping your site stable and secure.
