Build a Website for FREE in Minutes

The online presence of a business, no matter the industry, can significantly impact how successful it becomes. In this day and age, there are still businesses that don’t realize that most customers visit their website prior to making a purchase. That said, having a solid online presence, particularly a website, can be a make or break for generating more revenue.

We understand why you may resist building a website: “they’re too expensive,” “I don’t have the time,” “I am not tech-savvy,” or the infamous “I have enough business, so I don’t need a website.” In the real sense, you don’t need to be tech-savvy to build a website. In this post, we’ll walk you through the steps of building a website for free in minutes.

Steps for Building a Website for Free Within Minutes

1. Define Your Site

Whether you’re creating a portfolio, business, or blog website, defining your goals will help maximize the benefits of your online presence. A clear understanding of what your objectives are will help shape your brand identity and determine what assets to include on your website. Some of the elements you may want to consider include:

• Chat feature
• Social media links
• Photo gallery
• Members area

Once you have narrowed down the purpose of your site, you’ll want to create your brand identity. This is one of the vital aspects that will impact your website design, from the logo to the tone of your microcopy to the color of your buttons.

An excellent way to get started is by creating a simple idea map to guide you. Note down the kind of website you’re planning to build. Remember to think of the phrases and words, the outlook and brand voice you wish to portray. Once you’ve broken down your brand into individual elements, it will be much easier to proceed to the next step.

2. Choose the Ideal Domain Name

Picking a domain is one of the most crucial decisions you can make for your website. Your domain name is the address of your website, and it is what visitors will use to remember your website. Whereas most of the best domains are taken, that doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to find a perfect domain name for your brand.

Here are some of the elements you should consider when brainstorming:

• Easy to spell and say: Potential visitors should be able to pronounce your domain name easily without them having to ask twice how it’s pronounced.
• Short and sweet: Your domain shouldn’t have more than 14 characters. Your domain shouldn’t be overly long, given that such domains are difficult to remember and pronounce.
• Use your name: Your name is a particularly great choice to use on your website’s domain name. It will make it easier for your visitors to relate to what your website is all about.
• Go with .org, .com. or .net: Whereas there are numerous domain name systems out there, it’s prudent to stick with a proven system. You want people to be able to recall it after all.
• Avoid hyphens and numbers: The use of numbers and hyphens makes your URL look weird. To add to that, it makes it difficult for people to say what your URL is to other people.

3. Get Web Hosting

A website needs two things to live: a domain name and a web host. You just came up with a domain name; now it’s time to put it to use with a good web host. NameSilo offers one of the best web hosting services.

Affordable web hosting doesn’t have to mean subpar quality. At NameSilo, we use blazing fast enterprise-level servers with world-class support. Free SSL, website builder, email, and easy WordPress installation are included in all of our hosting plans.

4. Install WordPress

Next, you’ll pick your CMS (content management system). WordPress is highly recommended. NameSilo will give you other CMS options. However, unless you have a compelling reason to do otherwise, WordPress is the easiest, cheapest, and safest play you can make.

Just to make things clear: WordPress.com is the third-party site where you can build free blogs, but WordPress.org is where you can download the WordPress software to install on a website. WordPress features an extremely intuitive admin back end that makes changing the most basic website template options, as well as creating new pages and posts, easy.

WordPress has over 57,000 plugins in its library. This is a good thing, since the plugins enable you to make WordPress perform nearly any action that you desire, including the use of social media to drive more traffic to your business website.

That said, you should create a strong password and choose from the numerous layout options for your site. Once you’ve double-checked that all the information is correct, click finish set up.

5. Choose Your WordPress Theme

There are numerous WordPress themes out there. They are so many that it would take days on end to search through them all. Most WordPress themes have numerous customization options. As such, if they aren’t coded properly, the wide range of options could make it challenging to change themes or use other WordPress plugins.

Your theme is the face of your website and plays a vital role in how users, as well as search engines, will perceive your site. You’ve probably heard the saying, “all that glitters is not gold.” With that in mind, here are some of the things you should consider when choosing your WordPress theme:

• Go for simplicity: Look for a theme with a design layout that helps support your goals. It needs to look good but without compromising on simplicity and usability. Ensure that your theme’s presentation style isn’t overly complex. A good theme enables users to easily find their way on your website.
• Responsiveness isn’t optional anymore: A responsive theme enables visitors to adjust their layout across various screen sizes and devices. Google places mobile-friendly websites on top of their search results. As such, no matter your site’s topic and demographics, all websites need to be responsive and mobile-friendly.
• Browser compatibility: Your visitors will use different browsers. Your theme might look perfect on your preferred browser, but there may be something broken on other browsers. You should rigorously test your preferred theme on different browsers before settling on it.
• Supported plugins: The ultimate strength of WordPress comes with its plugins. The plugins make it possible for you to do anything with your WordPress website. Ensure that your theme supports all popular plugins.
• Translation and multilingual ready: Numerous WordPress sites aren’t in the English language. Ensure that your theme is translation-ready and supports multilingual WordPress plugins.
• Page builders: Using a WordPress theme that comes with page builders can enable you to create landing pages with great codes.
• SEO friendliness: The WordPress theme you choose will determine how SEO-friendly your website becomes. A good-looking theme can still generate a poorly coded HTML. And this could affect the performance of your website.
• Ratings and reviews: Another good indicator of the quality of a WordPress theme is ratings and reviews. Suppose the theme is available for purchase in a third-party marketplace, then you’ll see customer reviews. Almost all WordPress themes can get a few bad reviews. If the number of bad reviews is unusually high, then you shouldn’t buy them.

6. Install WordPress Plugins

WordPress plugins act as applications for your WordPress websites. They enable website owners to add new features such as a slideshow, a contact form, a shopping cart, and more. There are thousands of paid and free plugins available for WordPress. So how do you install the plugins? Here is an outline of the three ways you can install them:

• Plugin installation via WordPress plugin search: This is the simplest way to install a WordPress plugin. The only limitation of using plugin search is that the plugin has to be in WordPress’ plugin directory. This feature is limited to free plugins only.
• Plugin installation using WordPress’ admin plugin upload: WordPress plugins that are paid for aren’t listed in WordPress’ plugin directory. Such plugins can’t be installed using a plugin search. This is why WordPress came up with a plugin installation using the admin plugin upload.
• Plugin installation using FTP: There are instances when your WordPress hosting provider may have file restrictions that could limit your ability to install plugins from the administration area. In this situation, your best option is to install the plugin manually using FTP.

7. Complete Your Administrative Pages

Before you begin editing your website’s content, it’s a good idea to create the pages you’re going to need and link to them from your main menu. Many website builders make this very easy to accomplish and may even have templates for things like service and contact pages.

Once you have created the pages you need, it’s time to jump into the content creation and page design process. Some website builders use drag-and-drop interfaces that let them position various design elements exactly where they want them.

Others use section-based editors with predefined layouts. Whatever the case, it is an excellent idea to play around with your layout until you are satisfied with it. You can then start adding custom content to your pages. While most editors are different, most of them enable you to click on different elements before personalizing them.

8. Publish Your WordPress Site 

     

Publishing a website means putting it on the internet so that people can view it, read your content or purchase something from you. While it may sound intimidating, especially if it’s your first time creating a website, you can navigate this process easily by heeding the steps above.

WordPress is the most popular CMS on the internet: it powers more than 39% of all the websites on the internet. Anyone can build a WordPress site: from celebrity websites to personal blogs to business websites. Upon completing the above steps, you can publish your website by scrolling down to the privacy section and choosing public. By doing this, your website will be visible to everyone.

Getting Started on NameSilo

NameSilo offers the lowest prices on domain names, hosting, and email services on the market. We also offer our free API, bulk discount promos, and reseller program, so you have all the tools you need to start developing your website. Here is a quick checklist to get you started on your website building journey:

1. Purchase Your Domain Name

There are less than 15 registrars globally that have more than 3 million active domains. And NameSilo is proud to be one of them. We offer different domains, including second-level domains (SLDs) and top-level domains (TLD).

While it’s true that there are millions of domain names out there, most of the popular domain names that can be remembered easily are taken. Fortunately, you can still find what you need. You can search for a domain name, choose your name, and then choose your extension(s).

2. Purchase Your Web Hosting Plan

After you have reserved a domain name and are ready to begin building your website, you need to purchase a web hosting plan. A hosting provider will provide you with a place on a web server to store your files. They are responsible for delivering the files on your website as soon as a browser makes a request by typing in your domain name. NameSilo’s web hosting services include a wide range of features, such as free email and free website builder.

3. Begin Building Your WordPress Website

Upon purchasing a domain name and securing web hosting services, you can use the steps outlined above to build your website.

Closing Thoughts