Getting Started with WordPress

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What is a CMS? And how can you get started with one?

A Tour of WordPress CMS

I'd say that there is no better time to start a website; in the digital age that we're in, promoting your business has never been easier. A website? the thought might be overwhelming, but with the right information and expert guidance, you should have a smooth and even enjoyable experience.

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need any prior experience or web design knowledge to begin developing your website. Why? With WordPress Web Development, practically anyone can successfully design a professional website to accommodate their businesses, blogs, and so much more. WordPress is renowned for its user-friendliness. Although, you may still need the help of a well-trained professional to enable you to get the optimal functionality from your site. This is where our top-notch experts come in. This article explores the fundamentals of starting a WordPress site.

Understanding the Difference between WordPress.Org and WordPress.com

WordPress as a CMS solution

WordPress is a free, open-source CMS (Content Management System). A CMS allows you to host and create websites, which constitutes an end-user who uses the website's information to edit data on the website and a content creator who keeps the website up to date and functional. WordPress CMS contains a template system that provides its users with a wide range of customization to fit any business or blog, making your website come off as professional. It is a useful tool either in the hands of an amateur or an experienced web developer and, did I mention it's free.

WordPress.org Or WordPress.com WordPress.org and WordPress.com are nothing but servers you can use to host your website, but just as they are referred to differently, they do not offer the same privileges, which is the difference.

Cost of Use. WordPress.org is a free, self-hosted platform where all aspects of your website, security, domain name, and add-ons are purchased and managed by you through a third-party site. WordPress.com, on the other hand, hosts your website for you at a specified cost. It offers various payment plans that give a degree of control over your website, i.e., domain name and access to certain features pending on the project chosen.

Website URL Feature. On WordPress.com, your default website's URL will be www.mywebsite.wordpress.com,' although you have the option of purchasing a custom URL from a third-party provider similar to WordPress.org. Then your URL will come off as 'www.mywebsite.com.' Now you know the fundamental difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com, you may still be speculating more suitable for you. To help you decide, let's review the pros and cons of both servers.

WordPress.org is the ideal option If you want to be in total control of your website. However, this control comes with a lot of responsibility, which includes; purchasing your domain name, custom themes that make your website yours have to be uploaded manually and installed, and a significant part; manage the security of your website. It would help if you got a pretty clear idea of WordPress.org from this; It is free to use, but you'd pay for everything else that goes into owning a website.

WordPress.com is the preferable option if you're trying to go for a fun and effortless experience. WordPress.com will also provide a certain number of customization options to you depending on the plan you buy. So you get to do the best part of the job; designing your website's appearance and outlook while the hard work gets done automatically.

Pricing Plan: Personal

Trying for an informal tone or a minimalist site for a formal business, it's a suitable plan for personal blogs or websites. Costing $4 per month, you get a free domain for a year and 6GB of storage space.

Pricing Plan: Premium

This package is popular with medium to large enterprises as it is more suited to contain heavier data and information. It comes with unlimited access to WordPress theme customizations and storage space of 13GB, costing $8 per month.

Pricing Plan: Business

With a storage space of 200GB and full access to theme customizations, this plan supports all kinds of marketing business and customer and payment support, all at the cost of $24 per month.

Pricing Plan: eCommerce

The eCommerce plan provides full support for any trading business. With a customer service system, support for international shipments and payments, it is ideal for a large online store—all at the cost of $45 per month.

Six Step Guide to Creating Your First Website

WordPress Beginners Guide - Starting Your Website

  • Choosing A WordPress Plan We know this first step is only valid for WordPress.com with prior knowledge of the different pricing plans. You will have to choose from 5 plans made available, the fifth being a free plan, which in other words; a WordPress.org plan.
  • Setting Up Domain Name And 3rd Party Hosting Provider Your domain name is the most personal thing on your website, and it plays a critical role in your website's future and identity. A hosting provider is the second most critical factor concerning your website's future. This is only necessary for WordPress.org users. To put it simply, your hosting provider is the site, and your domain name is the site's address. Your hosting provider is responsible for the website's speed and security. Here is a list of 10 quality hosting providers; WP Engine, InMotion Hosting, HostGator, SiteGround, A2 Hosting, Plesk, FlyWheel, Kinsta, EuroDNS, and Pressable.
  • Install WordPress If you end up choosing a third-party hosting provider, then you will need to download and install the CMS to create a connection between your domain and your website.
  • Selecting The Theme WordPress templates and themes are made available on WordPress.com. They contain a variety of styles, colors, layouts, and more. I don't have to tell you how much the theme and appearance of your website matter. This aesthetic is the beginning and the end of your first impression on your customers. It determines whether they scroll or exit.
  • Content When you add content, it is either a post or a page. Post are what they sound like. They automatically move pending on how often you add new content. They place the latest content on the top of your website. Pages, on the other hand, are static. The content on a page does not rotate with the newest addition. So as an informed web developer you now are, you will have to decide which should be used on your home page and so on.
  • Install Plugins What are plugins? They are software that can be added to increase the functionality and improve your website's user experience.

Essential Tip: Optimization

You can adequately optimize your website to increase the usability of the website. By enabling browser caching, you immediately reduce your website's data usage and access time, increasing speed and functionality.

Essential Tip: SEO

Whether or not you have a good setup and service to offer means nothing if your customers and target audience cannot see it. Incorporating current SEO standards and ensuring appropriate keyword density is essential to your website's visibility. Having straightforward content with good readability will have a positive impact on your site's traffic.

Essential Tip: Stay Up to Date

What you read here might change, trends will evolve, and the norms will improve. Keep an eye out for what isn't working anymore, and try to set up customer service to know your customers' demands.

Essential Tip: Keep It Simple

As simple as this sounds, many people still get carried away with the number of design possibilities on WordPress. Keeping a minimalist website will improve the functionality of your site and avoid frivolities.

Essential Tip: Backups

Technical difficulties can happen to anyone, and losing access to data is not below you. Try to backup your content as often as possible. There are plugins made for this exact purpose, 'Snapshot Pro' being one.

How the Experts can Help

Best practices for you as a Beginner

Starting a website is only the beginning of a journey to your business goals. Whether or not you achieve all you have set out to do lies in your site's functionality and efficacy. Best way to ensure success is to reach out to experienced experts in this field to give you the right information to avoid pitfalls. Here at clarity, we are devoted to guiding you every step of the way through this endeavor. It doesn't matter if you are a beginner or have prior experience with running a website. We got you covered.

  • You should have a rough sketch of what you’re expecting and what your requirements are for your website. This will help you land on a suitable plan/pricing.
  • WordPress has tons of themes to choose from, and a huge collection of plugins to support your website. You should be wise enough to get the best in range without compromising the performance of the website.
  • To gain better traffic to your website, you should practice SEO standards and maintain keyword density.
  • The first step towards anything is to begin! I encourage you to start, and things will follow up! For more information on CMS, check our blog section.

We, at clarity Ventures, offer several integration options. Speaking of which, we have our own connect platform, which is an agnostic middleware layer capable of expressing the many different languages and protocols required to seamlessly and securely connect your business systems. One such integration relevant here is along with WordPress CMS for eCommerce. For more information on it, please visit the site here.

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