A quick preface: This guide is not a generic guide, it's the way we would advise most people to get online with the best possible cost, input & time ratio. We have already covered an overview of platforms in this article. If you're looking for e-commerce, we wouldn't advise Wordpress, just use Shopify.
Let's start with what you will have by the time we've finished this guide:
- A domain name
- A hosting environment for a Wordpress website
- A Wordpress website
Let's get started
I've kept these next steps as concise as possible, read the paragraph ahead before actioning each section, as it's packed full of useful info to stop you from falling into any pitfalls
Domain registration
Register a domain name on Sitground. You can register through other domain registrars, but I would advise using Siteground so you don't have to deal with domain pointing on your first website (it simplifies a lot).
Pick a name you will NOT REGRET. This is important because if you choose a name you don't like you will have to pay for another domain name.
You'll want to choose a .co.uk if you're looking at going after a UK audience. If it's worldwide, pick .com. Also don't use hyphens nobody has used hyphens since the 90's.
Choose a hosting plan
Choose the cheapest package (Startup). There's really no need to pick the other two unless you're planning on having a lot of traffic on the first year. Pro-tip: It's unlikely.
Don't be fooled, it says shared hosting, but it just means that one piece of hardware is hosting multiple websites. This does not mean it will be slow, by the time you've finished this guide you should have a site that's extra speedy.
Install Wordpress
Siteground offers a one-click installation option for Wordpress. It literally has a step by step process to click through. You do not want to use WooCommerce and make sure you enable the Siteground Optimizer.
We would highly recommend using one of the Wordpress native themes:
Don't pick the above for a colour, pick it for a very rough layout, all of the colours etc can be changed later
Customize your website
Once you've done this, you can really start working on the bells and whistles. What I would recommend is using fairly neutral colours and use them sparingly. As a rule of thumb it should be approximately 5-10% of the screen taken up with your accent color. You don't want your website looking like Ling's Cars.
Download Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is essentially a "SEO for Dummies" for your first content. Sure, there are far more complexities to SEO than just keywords and content, but for the sake of this tutorial we'll keep simple.
- Click on plugins inside of the Wordpress Dashboard
- Click install new plugins
- Type in Yoast SEO
- Install Yoast SEO
- Bada-bing bada-boom
Creating content for your website
Because you're using Siteground the website is going to be pretty fast from the get-go, however you're still missing the one thing that will get you found out... Content.
The easiest way of doing this is by making "Posts"
Because nobody has the budget, nor the time to manage multiple copywriters, we're going to bypass all this with ChatGPT. Let me get a disclaimer out the way first.
IF YOU JUST USE CHATGPT AND DO NOT ADJUST ANY OF THE CONTENT, YOU WILL GET SHAFTED BY GOOGLE.
*ahem*
So now that's out the way, what you want to do is this:
- Go to ChatGPT
- Register for an account
- Ask ChatGPT for an outline for an article in your sector
- e.g For a Mortgagebroker, ask for "Write an outline of the best way for a sole trader to prepare their business for a mortgage application"
- Once you have done that, you can ask for the chatbot to expand on each section. See below
- Once you have done this for each section of the outline, now is the tricky part. You may want to run it through Quillbot, so that it's paraphrased and less likely to be flagged as AI.
- After this, you want to expand out with your own words and start creating links to content on your own website and externally to ensure each article is well thought out.
Keep your website up-to-date
Make sure you keep your Wordpress website updated. The longer you leave it without updating, the bigger pain it becomes and the more vulnerable to security issues. Don't say we didn't warn you.
What now?
If you keep hammering out posts in the method above, you will start to notice more and more traffic coming to your site.
If you've made it this far, we are more than happy to point you in a direction and give helpful tips. Although we are a Sanity agency, we've had years of experience with Wordpress and used the above method to onboard local businesses to their first experience of the web.
