Every online business owner should know how to setup a simple website
I started my first website (a fitness blog…) in 2009. Since then, I’ve set up dozens of blogs and websites for both myself and my clients.
Luckily, the technology has evolved a lot over the years, making it easier than ever before to get a website up and running.
Sadly, I still see entrepreneurs making it harder than it needs to be.
- Spending months researching all the different software out there…
- Agonizing for weeks over the layout and what color to make the buttons, what size to make the headlines and what fonts go together…
- Wasting dozens of hours watching YouTube videos trying to learn how to code some meaningless tweak that no one cares about…
All that researching, tinkering and YouTube watching is procrastination
It makes you think you’re accomplishing something, when in reality you’re just avoiding the real work.
The real work is building an audience, creating great products and services, selling your offers and delivering results for your customers.
The real work is building your business. Not building a website.
So don’t waste time and energy making it more complicated than it needs to be.
Here’s how to get your website setup quickly so you can get back to focusing on building your business.
Start with a great hosting company
Your hosting company is your most important investment when it comes to starting a website.
The biggest mistake you can make is trying to save a couple bucks by going with a cheap hosting service.
When I first started out, I went with a popular cheap hosting service.
It was a nightmare.
My site was painfully slow. It crashed all the time. And customer support took forever to call me back whenever I had a problem. Which was often.
The last straw was when my site got hacked and all my pages were replaced with Russian text.
I learned my lesson – don’t skimp on hosting.
You’re running a business here, so treat it like one.
Do your research and go with the best hosting company you can afford.
The extra couple bucks a month is worth it for infinitely better service, security and customer support.
Next, install WordPress
To make changes to your site without a computer science degree, you’ll need a content management system.
There are a lot of options out there but WordPress is by far the best.
WordPress is an open source platform that already powers over 40% of the internet.
It’s used by millions of bloggers, marketers and entrepreneurs because it’s secure, simple to use, and allows you to customize your website any way you want.
Most hosting companies let you install WordPress with a single click.
You just go into your hosting dashboard, click a button and in a couple minutes your WordPress site is setup and ready to go.
Don’t worry about all the other platforms out there.
WordPress is the right answer.
Finally, Pick A Theme and (Quickly) customize it
There are millions of WordPress themes out there so it’s hard to say what’s best for you and your business.
I will say though, you want a theme that’s simple, lightweight and easy to customize to your needs. For me, that’s GeneratePress Premium.
Once you have your theme, spend a few minutes quickly customizing it.
Quickly is the key word there. It’s easy to waste a ton of time on design.
I’ve seen entrepreneurs spend months tweaking their layout. Agonizing over colors and fonts. And trying to design the perfect logo.
Please don’t do that.
The only person who cares about that stuff is you.
The people who end up on your website only care about how you can help them with your content, products and services.
And the more time you waste worrying about your font and color palette, the less time you’re spending building your business.
So don’t fall into the design trap.
Just go with a lightweight, premium theme.
Make your layout is simple and easy to navigate.
Choose a web-friendly font.
Pick a primary color and an action color.
Then get on with it.
This is what I do to start a new website
For my hosting, I use WPX Hosting. I’ve used dozens of hosting companies over the years and WPX is by far the best.
They’re fast, secure and have world class customer support. And they have one-click install for WordPress.
I just go into my WPX dashboard, click “Install WordPress”, create a username and password, and in a couple minutes my website is live.
Once WordPress is installed, I upload the GeneratePress Premium theme.
The GP Premium theme is super lightweight (fast!) and makes it easy to customize my site any way I want.
Plus it’s not expensive like most premium themes.
Then I just make a couple tweaks to the look and feel of the site and my new project is off and running!
Don’t make it harder than it has to be
Go with the best hosting company you can afford.
Use the best content management platform, WordPress.
And use a simple, lightweight theme that you can quickly and easily customize.
If you don’t complicate it, you can have a site up and running in under an hour.
Which leaves you more time for the important stuff… like creating great content, building new products and services, and growing your business.