Yes – in truth you can. By the end of this article, you will learn how to set up your very own website, on my favourite platform, WordPress, within five minutes. And with hosting, and a fancy design, it will set you back about ?24, give or take a few pennies!
Don?t let this title scare you if you think that having a website:
a) costs more money than you have to spend right now, or
b) you don?t have the knowledge to create your own website. Neither of those are true ? I will show you.
These days, these days anyone can have a website ? no matter what your skill set. And you don?t even have to pay for it ? that?s why there are so many bloggers on the internet.
A word about free websites
You can get a free website from:
www.blogger.com ? a Google website
www.wordpress.com – my personal favourite
www.livejournal.com ? an MSN website
www.typepad.com – one of the longest-standing free blogging platforms
www.blogspot.com – where I hosted my first blog
The list does go on ? all you need to do is do a search on a search engine (?free blogs?) and you?ll see for yourself.
If you want to try out a free website, that?s fine ? you can use it as a temporary solution to see how you can manage it, and get used to adding articles, pictures etc. You can choose a design you like from templates on those websites, and they will host it for you absolutely free.
However, sometimes things that are free have restrictions.
Imagine spending a long time doing your website, getting family, friends, and others to visit your website regularly?and actually start enjoy sharing information on it. Then one day, you try to log in and it?s been closed down.
You get no explanation, and there is nothing you can do about it because you have not paid for it?
Then there?s the other thing to consider ? your professional image. If you use a free website to put your business website on, it tells people who you want to give you money for your products or business:
1. You are not professional
2. You are not successful ? why? Because you can?t squeeze ?50 or less to set up your own website.
3. You are cheap ? and there is no guarantee that your services will be any better!
4. Go to another business for the service or product they need.
5. You?re a newbie, not a serious player.
I think you get the picture?
Why it?s worth spending a little
That?s why I am an advocate for paying for your own website outright. It doesn?t cost more than a new pair of shoes or a handbag, but it?s yours and non-one can take it away from you without a fight!
This is how you do it:
1. Go to a hosting company like www.1and1.co.uk and buy a domain name (the name of your website). It costs about ?2.99 a year ? sometimes less.
2. Add a hosting package to it ? for about ?1.99 a month (let?s say ?24 for the year).
3. Build your website using software like WordPress ? more on that in a minute.
4. Choose the design you want.
5. Tell the world about it!
6. Start making money.
The buying the domain name and hosting is easy to do online, but the reason I like 1and1 is because they have 24-hour support, so if you need someone to talk to, or if you want to order it all on the phone, you can. The same way you add Call Waiting or broadband to your phone account.
Now for the design
I like WordPress because:
1. It?s free ? but with a difference. It has been established for a while, and it works. Every so often they update and make the software that will run your website even better.
2. It?s quick ? they say it takes 5 minutes to install it and get started. This is true once you have done it before, but if it?s your first time, give yourself about 20-30 minutes.
3. There are free designs to choose form that look professional, which you can customise. And, you can pay for designs, or get a web designer to create one for you if you want to go all-out!
4. It?s quick. I know what it?s like to want to change your life and get something done quickly ? you are so excited you want it done like yesterday?using this process will get you as close to that as you can imagine.
How to install WordPress
I could sit here explaining it, but there are videos that show you step-by-step how to do it. For free, again?
Go to www.YouTube.com and type a search for ?how to install wordpress?
Visit this website, which shows you how: http://wordpresstraining.com/videos/install-and-configure/install-wordpress-in-five-minutes/
WordPress itself has free designs, or ?themes? you can choose from, or you can do a search for ?free WordPress themes? in Google, and have a look.
Themes are being updated all the time, so I don?t want to advertise websites etc here ? besides that, by the time you read this ebook, that theme may not be available, or may have changed etc? but the free themes will always be available.
It really is as easy as that ? honest.
Just take a deep breath, and savour the moment?because this time next year, you?ll be wondering why you didn?t do it sooner!