5 Simple Steps to Launching a Website
Creating a website is so hard, and the absolute hardest part is finding a way to create something that is easy, beginner friendly, looks professional, and is designed to convert customers into clients.
I get it. I’ve totally been there. I have spent many evenings with throbbing headaches from trying to DIY my own website and failing until I finally decided to pursue it as a career and really get educated. I have spent countless hours studying web design and development, marketing, and SEO. This is what inspired me to create this blog so I can eliminate the fluff and make it simple, easy, and affordable for you to create and manage your own website.
In this blog post, I’m sharing the 5 simple steps that will have your website launched in as little as one day! I’ll be covering:
- How to set up your domain name and hosting.
- How to install your theme.
- My favorite plugins I use on every website I create.
- How to customize your WordPress settings.
- Edit and publish your content.
If you’re sick of struggling to DIY your website, failing at creating something that looks good, tired of researching tutorials that get you nowhere, and you blog or business website is still not up and running (much less actually converting viewers into paid clients), then you finally found the place where you belong.
Let me tell you how I became a web designer that can successfully build and launch custom websites for my clients in as little as one day.
I’d been working in pharmacy retail management for more than 10 years. Over the years, as with any large corporation, we received budget cuts, staff reductions, and bonuses were all but eliminated. I was approaching a phase in my life in which my career was no longer sparking joy. Naturally, I decided to change things up and take on extra projects where I fell into doing some graphic design. It was gratifying for a while until March of 2020… (I think we all know what happened here.)
During the pandemic lockdown, things became very stressful being an essential employee, especially working in the medical field. Not only were things ten times more stressful, but my husband also lost his job, we couldn’t afford my son’s daycare anymore, and I had nowhere to go after work to take release some of that stress.
I decided to take some of that lockdown time to pursue other income avenues, so I turned to Etsy to sell my art. If you’ve ever created any form of art or design, then you know creativity breeds more creativity. I was inspired to use my lockdown time to learn how to code, design, and share my work with others.
From there, I finally created a process that worked for me. Before I knew it, I was generating an income doing something I loved and was able to leave my day job to pursue my passions and stay home to homeschool my son. My life today is completely different. I am less stressed, spend more time with my family, and I get to do things like go on vacation whenever I want.
Here’s a quick snippet of what I learned and how you can use it for yourself. This is the simplest and fastest way I’ve found to set up and launch your own website in as little as a day.
Step #1: How to set up your domain name and hosting
Setting up your domain name and choosing a hosting provider happen around the same time in the WordPress website creation process.
So, what are the differences between a domain name and hosting provider?
Your domain name is the site address — this is how visitors will find and visit your website. Your domain name is the URL that displays in the address bar. You’ll want to pick something easy for visitors to remember so they can easily find their way back like: www.easy.com.
Your hosting provider is what holds and stores all your website files. If you don’t have a hosting provider, your site wouldn’t have a space online to live.
I personally like using SiteGround for domain hosting so that’s what I will be showing you today. There are tons of other popular options, but SiteGround has always been good to me. It’s the fastest, most reliable web hosting service I’ve used, and the customer service has always been amazing any time I’ve had any issues.
A bonus is that it’s extremely affordable, with hosting plans starting at less than $4 a month.
First, you’ll need to select your hosting plan.
Click the websites tab in the top menu, then create new website.
Click new domain, existing domain, or temporary domain. For this example, we’re starting from scratch and setting up a new domain.
Type in the domain you want to use. If it’s not available, SiteGround will let you know and make some suggestions for you.
Select start a new website or migrate and existing website. (If you’re migrating a website, I suggest using SiteGround’s website migration services to skip the headache. It’s a small fee, but they’ll walk you through the entire process.
Then select to install WordPress and create your admin log on.
Siteground will ask you if you want to install any additions, but I always skip this and click finish.
Click on login WordPress Admin.
You’ll see a guided walkthrough to set up your WordPress site. I don’t use any of their starter suggestions, so I just click exit.
Step #2: How to install your theme
From your WordPress dashboard, click Appearance in the left side bar, then click themes.
Click add new then search “Hello Elementor.” Hello Elementor is a very light theme that meshes well with hundreds of Elementor widgets.
(Elementor is a website builder that makes building and customizing your website incredibly easy, with no coding knowledge needed. Elementor offers both FREE and PRO versions so there doesn’t need to be any added cost if you don’t want there to be.)
Once you’ve found your theme, click on install then activate.
Step #3: The plugins I use on every website I create:
To install these plugins, click Plugins from the left sidebar, then click add new. You can search each of these individually or use the links I’ve provided to read more about them before install.
Step #4: How to customize your WordPress settings
CLICK THIS LINK IF YOU HATE TO READ>>>>> https://youtu.be/IaY4to4RyPI
From the left sidebar in your WordPress dashboard, click on appearance then customize.
First tab is site identity. You won’t be displaying your site title and tagline on your web pages, but you should enter one to help with your SEO. You should also go ahead and upload your site logo and select a site icon. Your site icon is the tiny icon that displays on the website’s tab.
The second tab is menus. You’ll create a new menu and name it, but make sure neither of the boxes are checked for header and footer. Since we will be making our header and footer in the Elementor Header & Footer Builder, just click next. Click on add items, then in the empty box that says “add new page” type in each page you’ll need for your website one by one. (Ex. Home > Add, About > Add, Services > Add etc.) It’s okay if you miss something. You can always go back and edit this later.
The third tab is homepage settings. You’ll want to change your homepage display from your latest posts to a static page, then select your landing page from the drop-down menu.
Your posts page can either be left empty if you’re creating a custom blog page or if you’d prefer to use the theme’s default, select one you blog page to display your posts from the drop-down menu.
The fourth tab is header and footer. Once you’ll come to a new screen that says create cross-site header and footer using Elementor and Hello theme. Click start here. Set your global colors and global fonts to your brand colors and fonts.
Skip over typography and edit buttons to match your brand colors. You have to put colors in these spots otherwise, Elementor will default to the theme’s red color.
For both header and footer, you’ll turn off your site logo, tagline, menu, and copyright. Lastly, you’ll edit your background to match your brand. If you brand background is white, you can leave this alone as the default background color for the theme is already white.
Step #5: Edit and Publish Your Content
This last step utilizes plug and play templates to build out your website. There are tons of free templates from both Elementor and Envato (the template import plugin listed in Step #3.) BUT… if you want something that really stands out, check out Creative Market, Etsy, or visit my shop page. There are TONS of affordable templates out there built by designers to help you achieve your website dreams.
CLICK THIS LINK IF YOU HATE TO READ>>>>> https://youtu.be/IaY4to4RyPI
I already have a couple resources here to guide you along. First, the YouTube link above is a video walkthrough I created that details this entire process step by step. The second resource I have is directly from the manufacturer of the plugin I use to create, import, and export website templates. I like to use this resource because I know it is always up to date. Any time, there is an update to the plugin, there is an update to the tutorial which is pretty darn perfect.
You’ve finished building your own website and can now successfully manage your own content. I’m so proud of you!
If this still proved to be a bit much for you, (and don’t worry, WordPress is a BEAST and it’s totally common.) you can reach out to me on my website. Visit my services page or other resources on my blog for more details on how I can help you.
This last step utilizes plug and play templates to build out your website. There are tons of free templates from both Elementor and Envato (the template import plugin listed in Step #3.) BUT… if you want something that really stands out, check out Creative Market, Etsy, or visit my shop page. There are TONS of affordable templates out there built by designers to help you achieve your website dreams.
CLICK THIS LINK IF YOU HATE TO READ>>>>> https://youtu.be/IaY4to4RyPI
I already have a couple resources here to guide you along. First, the YouTube link above is a video walkthrough I created that details this entire process step by step. The second resource I have is directly from the manufacturer of the plugin I use to create, import, and export website templates. I like to use this resource because I know it is always up to date. Any time, there is an update to the plugin, there is an update to the tutorial which is pretty darn perfect.
You’ve finished building your own website and can now successfully manage your own content. I’m so proud of you!
If this still proved to be a bit much for you, (and don’t worry, WordPress is a BEAST and it’s totally common.) you can reach out to me on my website. Visit my services page or other resources on my blog for more details on how I can help you.
Check out my website templates
I focus on creating designs that are simple for users to navigate and easy for my clients to maintain. My goal is to make your website creation or redesign a smooth and positive experience and ensuring that you will be able to manage your own website after launch. I’ve been creating templates designed for online business owners. They are perfect for new businesses or for those that aren’t ready for the price tag that comes with custom web design and branding.
I’ll be adding more designs and platforms as I finish passion projects between clients so if you can’t find something you love now, just subscribe to the blog to get notified when I release something new.
Ready to upgrade to something more customized to your unique small business needs? Check out my services for affordable custom website design for your small business.
Get my free website workbook
Before we dive into building and optimizing your business website, let’s take a moment to identify your goals. Recognizing how you want your website to function and what you’d like to get out of your website will help you make important decisions later on. Additionally, it’s a great place to refer back to as you continue to progress.
2 Responses
Thanks for this!
Good post. I learn something new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon on a daily basis. Its always useful to read content from other writers and use a little something from their sites.