WordPress is the best program on the web for making websites. There are literally thousands of Themes to choose from, or one can be built to meet your needs. There are also little programs called “plugins” that add to the core WordPress code and can add functionality to your website.
Whether you are a Realtor wanting to have your own listing service, a Musician who wants to stream music and post videos, a Photographer that wants to show off your latest masterpieces, someone who wants to have a virtual cookbook, or even an online presence for a church ministry. The possibilities are endless.
Here is the best part!
The WordPress program itself is FREE. Yes you heard that correct. It is a program that you can use for personal or commercial purposes, and you can change the code without violating anyone’s proprietary rights.
Where can I get WordPress?
When you go purchase your domain name, you will need a web host (a place to park your domain, and store files for your website). To be sure a web host is compatible with WordPress, it must have the most up to date PHP & MySql installed on the server where your websites files will be stored.
You can download the latest edition of WordPress from Wordpress.org but wait! There are a few web hosts that have a platform built in to the hosting called C-Panel. This is important because unless you want to spend hours trying to setup WordPress, you will want to have C-Panel. There are options in C-Panel where all you have to do is answer a few short, easy questions and WordPress will be installed with the click of a button.
So where can I get a domain name and hosting?
I’m glad you thought of that question. I get most of my domain names through NameCheap.com or Godaddy.com. I never buy a domain name through my web host (I just like keeping them separate).
As for hosting, I have been using Siteground.com and Knownhost.com for web hosting for a long time and have been very pleased with their reliability and service. I have literally had no issues at all with them. My websites are always up so I have no complaints. Plus, they have C-Panel, which drastically reduces setup time for WordPress (will only take about 5 minutes tops). There are many other webhosts around, so research which ones would be best for you and ask around on Facebook groups. I’m sure you’ll get plenty of responses.
WordPress is not just a blogging program. There are millions of websites that use WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS). You don’t even have to have a blog, and you can go in and edit pages just like you were working in Microsoft Office. It just doesn’t get any better than this!
So there you have it. Now you know why WordPress is the best (in my opinion – and 100’s of thousands of other web designers).
What do you think? Have you tried WordPress yet?