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Setting up a digital platform or website is a complicated and lengthy process according to a non-technical person. However, it is not as hectic as it looks if you have a little bit of technical knowledge. Building the first website is a challenge for everyone, but the technology has now made it so easy that you can get it done in even a single day. Here we are elaborating the entire process of building a website for your blog or your SME. By following the below-given steps, you can make your website live without facing any hurdle.
Register domain name
This is the first step in the process of building your website and making it live. You need to register a domain name for your website, which must resemble your business or services. This is an important step as all of your future customers will remember your website by your domain name and it will also be on the top of your website i.e. the address bar. Hence, the domain name is somewhat related to the services you are offering. Many of the names clicking in your mind are already taken as there are millions of websites available online. However, you do not need to get puzzled and choose the appropriate domain name from the list of available ones and register it.
Get web hosting
This is the second step, where you rent a place for your website to stay i.e. web hosting. There are numerous web hosting service providers available online, however, you need to be smart while choosing the perfect web hosting provider for your first website. You need to make sure that your provider is offering speed and is reliable for web hosting services. A good web hosting service provider also offers you great memory space and effective customer care service. Apart from this, you must also ensure that your web hosting service provider is offering you a facility to perform back end operations on your website with the help of a control panel.
Click here to know 6 web-hosting services that you can consider using.
Connect your domain name to web host
Now, if you have chosen a web hosting service provider, which is also offering you a domain name then you can simply skip this step. There are many web hosting service providers available over the internet, which are offering you this package. But, if you have chosen the registrar other than the web hosting provider then you need to connect your domain with your website hosting. For connecting your domain name to your web host, you just need to get your server name or DNS and plug it into your domain name registrar account. You can also take some help with your domain name registrar to get through this process, as you can find it a bit confusing for the first time.
Build the base of website with a CMS
CMS (Content Management System) is used to manage the editing operations on your live website. Every file of your website gets stored on your hosting server, and it becomes a pain in the head when you have to access the server to make changes. This is where CMS can be highly beneficial as it allows you to make changes in your website from the domain itself. You can simply log in to the domain and customize your content, setting, and layout without facing any hurdle. There are many CMS options available online such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and rainmaker, etc. There is no perfect CMS as we are completely aware that perfection is more of a journey than a destination. However, you can simply choose any of these CMS according to your convenience.
Choose a theme and design your website
Now it is time to choose the appearance of your website from numerous free and paid themes available for every CMS online. All of the themes are designed to look and function differently, hence, you need to choose them according to your business and the type of your CMS. These themes also provide you to customize them according to your requirements and are available at a cost of less than $100.
Click here to know about 5 free WordPress themes of premium quality.
Configure your website without messing things up
After setting up all the basic requirements, now you need to configure your website without messing things up. You can simply start with setting up the navigation, which will let customers access the essential parts of your website and business. You can choose two or three primary colors to represent your website and to separate, organize, and highlight the highly important areas of your website. Moreover, you also have the option to add plugins for the smooth functioning of your website as per your requirements. To protect your website from any mishappening, you can simply use a child theme. A child theme is basically a style sheet, which is kept apart from the rest of the files available on the webserver. You are free to embed CSS into that child theme to customize the look of your website.
Get the final touch up done
If you have reached up to this part, then congratulations you are almost ready to make your website live. Now you need to do some easy and enjoyable work like getting a logo for your branding, writing a copy content for your website, install analytics, and plan an appropriate marketing strategy. Making all of these things done, you are all set to make your website live on the internet.
Conclusion
Here we have showcased all the basic and necessary steps to build your first website. However, before getting started, you must keep one thing in mind that you can not achieve perfection in your first project. You will keep improving with every new project, so just try to keep yourself calm during the entire process. You can refer to many other tutorials and youtube videos for every CMS available in case you face any trouble while getting through your project. You will surely keep on improving with every new project, so just try to get it done with a calm and patient mind.