14 Nov WP 101: How to Use WordPress to Build Your Business Online

WordPress is one of the best and cheapest alternatives to make your website easy and quickly. This software has become a very popular solution among users who want to get their business online. WP is widely used, and has tons of plugins and themes, which will allow you to customize your website as you want it to be.

The fist thing you need to do is to pick and purchase a domain, and choose and set up hosting for the webpage.

You can find many domain registrars available. For example there is Godaddy.com or Name.com. You will have to register first, and then choose your favorite domain and make the purchase.

Once you have your domain, you need to find a host for your site. A host is a company to which you will pay to store your website on a server. There are thousands of hosting providers, such as Bluehost or Hostgator. Once you choose a host, you should choose a hosting plan that will suit your needs. Usually, there is a price break for purchasing multiple years of hosting up front, so if you plan to keep the site for a longer period, this will be the best option for you.

Once you enter your contact information, a valid email address and the hosting package information, continue trough to checkout.

In the following couple of days, you should get a few emails from the hosting company, containing all the information you need to set up your site, including the name servers. Once you get these emails, open the domain register you purchased the domain from, click on the domain you registered and enter the name server information.

The same email from the hosting company has the URL to your Control Panel and the username and password. When you log into the Control Panel, find the Site Builder heading, and click on the WordPress icon. Under the question “Where would you like WordPress installed” select your previously purchased domain name.

When selected, just click the complete button at the bottom of the page. It will take about a minute or two and you will have your WordPress website installed. There will be a link to your website, a link to your Control Panel where you will be able to make all the changes you want to your site, and the most important, the Control Panel username and the password. Be sure to keep the username and password somewhere safe, as you will need it every time you log in to your website.

The next step is selecting a theme (design) for your site. A theme is basically the skin or the design that will lay over top of your website. Choosing the right theme is one of the most important steps of setting up a perfect website. There are many free and premium themes that you can choose from in variety of styles. Depending on your business, you should choose the theme that you think will present your business in the best light to your customers.

On the left side of your WP Control Panel you can find a navigation menu where you may configure your site. To select a theme, look under Appearance > Themes. At the top of the page you will see Current Theme (as the theme you are using at the moment), and Available Themes (installed themes, but not used at the moment). If you want to install new themes, just click the tab called Install Themes. After installing the wanted theme, you should click the Activate button, and the theme will be activated.

After you activate the chosen theme, the next step for a perfect website is installing plugins and widgets, which will help you present your business to clients in the best possible way. You may choose from many plugins available on the market, depending on what type of business you are building the website for.

Plugins are basically programs which you can install to increase the functionality of your website. To install the wanted plugins, you should go to the left navigation bar of your WP Dashboard, and click on Plugins > Add New. You can install many functional plugins, such as WordPress SEO, Jet Pack, Display Widgets, and many more which will make your site even more functional.

You can manage your website’s content easily and quickly trough the WP Dashboard, which will appear on your site on the top left site when you access your website. In case your site doesn’t have a login link, simply add /wp-admin at the end of your website’s URL to pull up the login screen.

There are various themes and plugins which can help you set up an awesome website for your business. You can choose themes and plugins depending on the type of business your website is about, and present it to clients in the best light.

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Thank you for reading this article. If you have any additional questions about how to use WP to build your business online, do not hesitate to ask below in comments, and we will do our best to help you in any way we can.