Start-up businesses and small businesses can extend their presence into the Internet with a simple Website that is easy to create and manage. A basic Website just needs a few pages: the home page, a section providing background information on the company, a page for the company’s product offerings, a contact page, and a section for posting blogs and relevant news. This type of Website is easy to create and desing using WordPress.
Below are some simple steps you can follow to develop your start-up Website:
1. The first requirement to building your Website is to obtain a Web hosting service. Choose a Web host that is compatible with MуSQL databases and PHP. Once you have this, download the WordPress source code. Some Web hosts offer automatic installation of WordPress. If your Web host offers that service, go ahead and take advantage of it. If you prefer to do it manually, you need to create a MySQL database on your server. Take note of the server folder of your Website so you know the URL to input for unzipping the WordPress source code. See to it that you have granted yourself permission to read, write and edit your WordPress files. On your browser, go to your Website’s URL and install WordPress. After installation has been completed, you will be given an administrator’s password for your login.
2. Once you login to your WordPress account, you can change your password to something that you can easily remember. Download your chosen WordPress theme. To activate the theme, go to the control panel of WordPress and click on the appearance tab on the left portion of the control panel.
3. Start adding your Website pages by clicking on the section for pages. You can click on five pages to cover for your homepage, about the company page, products, blogs and news, and contact information page.
4. Look for the settings link and choose the sub-section for ‘reading.’Choose the ‘static option for your front page. You will be given a dropdown list for choosing your type of home page. Pick out the page that you are reserving for you blogs and news page. Save all of your settings.
5. From here you can simply upload the different content you want to appear on each of your Web pages. However, if you want to customize the look of the default theme, you may copy the HTML/CSS codes of your preferred site’s layout. Access your Website within your preferred HTML editor, such as Dreamweaver or TextMate. Look for the theme folder and access the style sheet within that folder. You have several options for customizing the style sheet. You can make small alterations to meet your design specifications. If you already have a set style sheet, you can just copy its contents. The last option would be to combine the default style sheet with your own customized style sheet by including it in the header.php file.
6. WordPress has the capability of putting together different php files. You will have a php file for your header, sidebar, footer, and for the central part of your page.
The best way to learn the process of creating your Website is to actually try it!
If you are interested in learning more about how to install/setup WordPress, please contact us.
