Features of website development on WordPress

In this article, we will talk about the most popular content management system today – WordPress. We will answer the following questions:

• Or just make a website on WordPress, as many claims?
• Is it possible to create an effective website on this CMS free of charge?
• What plugins should I use if your resource runs on a WordPress CMS?
• Is this CMS suitable for creating a business card website?

We warn you at once: there will be instructions and tips for beginners in web development for those who are thinking about creating their website but are unsure which solution to choose for their task and how to implement it as quickly as possible.

Creating a website on WordPress: the basics

Or just make a website on WordPress, as many claims? You can create a simple website in half an hour.

This website will be with…

• By design. Standard and primitive. But still.
• Database for storing texts and other information.
• Administrative panel. The website, created in 20 minutes, could be edited: change topics, add new pages and posts, install plugins, etc.
• Secure HTTPS protocol.

In any case, creating a website on WordPress from scratch (without hosting and registered domain) should take no more than 3 hours, even if you are not a developer and do not plan to become one.

How to make a website on WordPress: the simplest and shortest instruction

• First, you need to add a new website to the hosting you have chosen. Before that, you need to register a domain for a new website.
• If hosting allows (and 90% of modern hosting allows), you can and should connect to the domain free HTTPS Let’s Encrypt protocol. Usually, it is enough to press one button or tick one tick. We do not mention it paid HTTPS protocols because the article, as already mentioned, is for beginners who need a simple website without unnecessary functionality. Let’s Encrypt is free for such websites.
• Then you need to create a database. You must select “Databases” and then click “Create Database”. Importantly! The database name, username, and password must be copied to a separate file and stored safely. You will need this information very soon!
• Now you need to download the latest version of WordPress. You can always find it at: https://wordpress.org/download/.
• After that, you need to upload the files from the archive to the hosting. It is better to do it using FTP (on hosting, there should be the detailed instruction), but it is possible to use the admin panel of hosting. Importantly! Only CMS files need to download. You download the archive from the official WordPress website. It needs to unpack into a folder. You should not move the entire folder to hosting. Only its contents: a folder named wp-admin, a folder named wp-content, a folder named wp-includes and files with the extension .php, .txt and .html. Hosting technical support will help understand FTP, upload files to hosting, and practically any other tasks that we have already mentioned and talk about in the article. Ask questions in the chat or write by email. Don’t be afraid. They used to answer the most basic questions in detail. If there are no answers, think again about whether you have chosen the right hosting.
• You need to enter the address of your website in the browser bar in the next step.
• Select the website’s language. In the next window, enter the database name, username, and password. Pay attention to the item “Table prefix”. It is desirable to specify a unique prefix. This simple procedure should increase the security of your resource (protect against so-called SQL injections). We also want to say about the item “Database Server”. In 99% of cases, there is no need to change anything. Leave the inscription localhost and click “Submit”.
• You need to enter the website name, username, password, and working Email at this stage. It writ here that you can not worry because all settings can change. However, if you are creating a WordPress website for the first time, we strongly recommend that you fill in all the fields very carefully. It is vital to use a strong valid Email and keep the password in a safe place. It is better to come up with your password right away. If you leave the one generated by WP, you will always have to copy it from a text document. It is unrealistic to remember the combination of numbers and symbols offered by WordPress. It is also desirable to choose a unique username. It also plays a small role in improving the security of the website. The banaler the name (like Admin), the easier it is for attackers to access the admin panel.
• All! You have a fully functional website. Just now, you can add a page “About us” and a page with a beautiful description of their services and start working with it.

To a person who has never dealt with websites, our instructions may seem complicated. You may need to contact hosting support several times. Maybe not everything will work out the first time. You will still have your website, even though:

• You have never studied programming.
• You are not when not engaged in design.
• You don’t have thousands (or even hundreds) of dollars to pay the development team.

A spoonful of tar in a barrel of honey

We agree that a website on WordPress can make as easy and fast as possible. But will this quick and easy solution be effective? Will it attract customers to your business? We are not sure about that.

For the website to start selling, you need additional settings. You need to invest time and money. We will talk about this below.

Is it possible to create an effective website on WordPress free of charge?

The concept of efficiency is different for everyone. Probably someone will be satisfied with a resource that looks like a business card. The main thing is to have the name of your company and the most necessary information about your services (products).

But we believe that 90% of companies (even the smallest) are not enough features of standard themes with standard settings.

How can the situation be improved? There are two simple options:

• Change the default theme settings. Sometimes you can just replace the image in the header (header) of the website to completely change the resource.
• Change the subject. It can do directly from the WordPress admin. From the official WP directory, you can download thousands of different themes for free.

They have passed a particular test, so they do not contain malicious code, are relatively fast to load and configure, and many of them are constantly being improved and updated. You can install a new theme from the admin in a few clicks.

You can choose a WordPress theme (or template) not only from the official free options. You can find many websites on the Web where developers sell optimized themes with excellent design and flexible settings. One such website (which has enjoyed a good reputation for many years) is themeforest.net.

Note that paid topics tend to outperform free ones.

• They have a more sophisticated mobile version.
• More modern design.
• More options. And they are clearer.

Among them, you can often find the solution that you need. For example, you have a cleaning company. It seems not the most common business. However, you can find hundreds of good themes created specifically for the resources of cleaning companies. The average price of a quality template is about $50.

How to choose a paid template (theme) for a WordPress website?

Creating and selling themes on WP is a severe and significant business. It develops not the first year. Fierce competition between developers forces them to offer a perfect product at a minimal price. Moreover, in 2018, developers are trying to create a quality theme and invest resources in its promotion.

Therefore, when choosing a template for WordPress, you can see:

• Real user feedback. Good topics are gaining tens of thousands of reviews. It cannot forget.
• Developer feedback on questions, comments, complaints and suggestions from buyers of topics. When buying a template from serious developers, you also buy a few months (usually six months) of technical support. After reading the owners’ comments and their answers, you can understand how well and quickly the promised support works.
• What version of WordPress does the theme work?
• Under which browsers the theme is optimized. Professional developers optimize the template not only for the latest versions of browsers but also for earlier ones.
• Which plugins is the template compatible with?
• Many other details.

Study all this information. Choose the solution with the most positive feedback and the opportunities you need. Be sure to test the theme before buying.

It will also not be superfluous to check the template for outdated and malicious code with the free plugin Theme Check.

Other valuable plugins will discuss below.

Conclusions: To what extent is a WordPress website a free solution?

You may disagree, but we believe that free CMS WordPress features are not enough to create an effective convincing representation on the Internet. A simple website built in 20 minutes will not sell. It can configure, but it is unlikely to do it yourself, without the involvement of a specialist for money. You can also buy an excellent user-friendly solution to turn a standard inconspicuous resource into an elegant website.

What plugins should I use if your resource runs on a WordPress CMS?

Here we will mention only a few. There are many plugins for this CMS – tens of thousands.

All in One SEO Pack

An add-on allows you to prescribe meta tags, close pages from indexing, and customize canonical URLs — the best free SEO plugin for a small website. In the free version, you can prescribe meta tags for categories. Therefore, if you have an online store with many types, you need to invest in a paid version of All in One SEO Pack.

Akismet

Plugin for filtering spam comments. You can use it for free if you have a non-profit blog.

Contact Form 7

A plugin for creating a feedback form has been installed in more than 5 million WP users. Constantly updated and has a rating of 4 and a half stars out of 5.

Google XML Sitemaps

Plugin for constant website map generation. Not. We recommend that you use it if you rarely or never update your content. It is easier to create a website, fill it with the necessary texts, generate a website map using a particular free online service, and copy it to the website’s root. If you plan to constantly update/change the content on the website, be sure to install the free Google XML Sitemaps.

WooCommerce

Plugin for creating online stores on WordPress. At the beginning of 2018, it use by more than 3 million people. The solution is available in different languages.

W3 Total Cache

A free plugin that should speed up the loading of your resource. The developers promise to speed up the website on the WP 10 times. But only if the plugin configures wholly and correctly. We do not recommend using it if your website has relatively low traffic (up to several hundred people). You are unlikely to notice any improvements, but there may be problems with displaying content and some features. The plugin is effective, but it is not compatible with all topics, and its work depends on your hosting.

Promo website on WordPress: Pros and Cons

On the one hand, a website on a WordPress CMS always requires a database and web server resources. This is an extra expense and complexity. Why do you need them if a small Internet business card still has low traffic and does not need to be constantly updated?

Do you agree? If you design a business card website, for example, in pure HTML, you will not need a database and many resources. And space such a website on hosting will take less than the solution on WordPress.

That’s just to make minimal changes to this website. You have to learn the basics of the layout. Or pay someone who knows how to edit a website in HTML. Moreover, today a business card website on WP will cost less than a resource on pure HTML.

With WordPress, such problems will not arise. Need to change your business address or CEO name? Or maybe you need to add a page describing the new service? Light! You only need to press a few buttons to edit the text in a Word-like editor.

Need a simple business card website? We advise you to do as Beyonce did – to develop (or order development) a website on WordPress.

WordPress website in 2018: we repeat the main points

When this article write (end of 2018), 29% of all websites in the world work on free WordPress, among them are tiny unknown blogs and huge portals that bring their owners millions and millions of dollars.

Such impressive results have serious reasons:

• WordPress is not only easy to install but also to fill with content. Understand the administration of this CMS is not more difficult than mastering the text editor Microsoft Word.
• CMS is constantly updated and improved.
• Thousands of free themes and plugins have been created for WordPress.
• Hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts worldwide in various online communities and forums will help the website owner at WP implement almost any idea in the field of web development.

However, it is worth remembering that the most straightforward and accessible solutions on WordPress may not always benefit your business.

Revive the design, increase the functionality and security of the resource on WP, create a quality website on WordPress that will work for you. You can with the help of professional developers.