How to Make a Website From Scratch: Easy Steps to Start a Blog

There have been several times recently that I’ve been asked what and how do you setup a website or a blog (for those that know the difference)?  The topic could take volumes, and there have been volumes written on it.  But really there are some basic points that will get anyone started, and that’s what we can discuss here.

Since our site is a blog, we’ll look at “starting a website” from that perspective.  There are some basic steps that you need to jump in:

1. 1. You need to decide what platform you will use to develop your website. Since we’re talking about a blog here, the absolute winner for that would be a WordPress site.  It’s free (the basic theme), easy to use no matter what your experience and the search engines love it.  In addition, most hosting accounts will have WordPress available to install with just the click of a button!  Also, there are literally thousands of free themes available as well as some very, very affordable themes to purchase if you decide to go that route.
   2. You need a hosting account. A hosting account is simply an account setup with a company that allows you to have your website, or blog, placed, stored or “hosted” there.  There are several types of hosting accounts or plans that you can get, but for just starting out – A shared hosting account will work perfectly!

$1*/ mo hosting! Get going with GoDaddy!

I definitely recommend using a company that allows you to have your own domain and your site is yours, not created on a platform that the company has developed.   Just choose a company that has customer support teams available if and when (and you will) have questions.  One of our sites was hosted at a company that only allowed emails and when our site went down for some unknown reason, it took us far longer than it needed to get it live again because we had to do emails.

3. You need a domain. As we mentioned above, having your own site requires that you have an address, or what’s called a domain, for people to find you.  Your domain is just that, an address on the World Wide Web.  There’s a ton of detail on what and how domains work but the bottom line, you need one!

Choose something that is short, clear and, if possible, relevant to what your site will be about.  The last point is simply to make it easier for people to know what they will find once they arrive at your site. When you buy your domain, make sure that you get it from a company that also has good support and are accessible.  There’s simply enough ways to get a headache in life, managing your website doesn’t need to be one of them!

Also, you might even find a domain provider that also offers hosting so you only need to deal with one company starting out!  One company that we use for our sites and domains is GoDaddy.com.  These guys are great at having online and phone support and when you need help, you want to be able to reach someone. Plus, I really, really like the deals that they offer and the savings we’ve gotten over the years with them.  You can see their latest deals by clicking here!

4. The final point to this post is that you need time and patience. Time to create and develop your website and the content within it and patience to take the steps to continue to work on and grow your website.  And this is where many people fail.  Don’t you be one of them!

It can seem overwhelming starting off on a new venture and creating a website of your own.  Just take baby steps and do one task at a time and keep on going!  As one company is known for saying, “Just DO IT!”  And don’t stop until you reach success.  Happy blogging!