To start with, in 2020, running a classy website is your #1 must-have. In case you are interested in the development of your company or a startup, here is what you should do before everything else! As Bill Gates once said: ‘If your business is not on the internet, then your business will be out of business.’ Needless to say, these are not just mere words and you do need a worthy website to showcase your works, items, or services. There are a lot of reasons for managing a customer-friendly site these days.
However, the main question is: how can you set up the very website? In this post, I’m about to guide you through this process. Fortunately, we live in times of digital progress. Thus, you won’t need to waste a lot of time or big money. So, follow my step-by-step guide for beginners and soon you will be able to create a website in WordPress without a hitch.
#1 Choosing Your Domain Name
To start with, when you are working on the creation of a business website, every detail matters. And it comes for your domain name as well! Actually, the name of your domain is the first thing a person will see or hear about your project. For these simple reasons, you should pay special attention to this point. I know it may look simple but, in fact, the wrong domain name is one of the common mistakes many website owners still make.
To make a long story short, your domain name will identify your website to users and customers all over the globe. Still, don’t confuse the domain name with your site’s URL. It will be only a part of the full link. To make it simple, here is what you should know to choose the right domain name.
5 Things To Remember When Choosing Domain Name
- Firstly, your domain name does influence how users will refer to your website.
- Secondly, look for short domain names. According to the statistics, shorter names are easier to remember. And they are also very easy to type!
- Thirdly, keep in mind that you need a domain name in order to present your brand whatever it is about. That is why the name of your website should also be brandable. Make sure that it is memorable for the needed reasons only.
- Fourthly, the domain name you use should be catchy. Make it attractive enough to get the attention of new users. Just make this name to roll off the tongue.
- Another important thing to remember when choosing your domain name is that it should contain keywords. To do it, you will need to analyze your company or startup and find the brightest keywords. Keep in mind that the closer your domain name is to your business niche, the better it will be for SEO.
To sum everything up, a perfect domain name should be short, brandable, memorable, easy to type, niche-specific, and unique. And it also should be catchy enough to attract new prospects. Finally, your domain name should showcase your business and have the needed keywords.
I understand that for beginners choosing a domain name might be difficult. And it becomes even more difficult when it comes to following all these tips and trying to be inimitable at the same time. And, needless to say, it looks like all the cool domain names are already taken. In this case, you should focus on the advantages of your business and on your brand strategy. According to the statistics, a lot of sites with long domain names lose much traffic due to this reason but your first task is to make it brandy. To finish with, make sure not to infringe on any copyrights with your domain name.
#2 Buying Your Domain Name
As the name of the post promises, today I’ll tell you how to build a WordPress-based website. Being a WP user, you may already know that domain name usually comes with hosting in one pack. Without a doubt, it sounds comfortable but there’s an old proven rule you should remember. Keep the domain name and your hosting separated! Why do you need it? Well, let’s imagine that someone will get into your hosting account. As a result, this person soon will be able to steal files and data but, what’s even more important, they will also be able to transfer your domain away. So, you will simply lose everything together.
Should you always keep it separated? Ideally, you should. On the other hand, I recommend you to buy a domain name with the hosting provider, in case you are working on your first website. Why? Simply because it can make the website building process easier. All in all, you will still be able to transfer the domain whenever you want and wherever you want.
For buying your daomain, we recommend: Namecheap and Goddady.
The Most Popular Website Builders
Here is the latest statistics from WebsiteSetUp.
As you can see, it shows that today the most popular website builders (or content management systems) are:
- WordPress (free) 52%
- Wix (paid) 7%
- Joomla (free) 4%
- Progress Sitefinity (free) 4%
- Squarespace (paid) 4%
- Weebly (paid) 2%
Obviously, these numerals do not mean that you should work with the named CMSs only. With it, your resources should not be limited! Whatever you choose, it should depend on your needs. So, in case you are sure that there’s another CMS to provide you with quality services and all these things that you exactly need, well, you know what to do! And, as it was stated above, let’s see how you can create a website with WP!
Now you know a lot of things! Looks like it is time to start getting your domain name. What should you think about? First things first, these days, many hosts have extra easy interfaces for buying domain names. Thanks to this option, you won’t have issues at all! To get your domain name you should simply search for the needed item. You will see the on-screen instructions, so simply follow them.
Also, keep in mind that:
- in case you are serious about your branding and you are going to continue developing it, you may also need to buy a couple of TLD’s to book your new name;
- in case you decided to register something like hereisyourdomain.com, you may want to buy the .net, .org, .info and the local version too;
- and you will get the opportunity to choose the length of your registration after you use the default one for 1 year.
What Is The Difference Between Domain Registration And Hosting?
Here is another common question many beginners have when creating their websites. So, let me explain to you what the difference between domain registration and hosting is. In a word, these things are completely separate. The only reason you may think there’s no difference between hosting and domain registration is the fact that a lot of companies simply offer both services in one pack. To sum everything up, keep in mind that:
- hosting is the place you will put your the website’s files to;
- domain registration is gaining legal ownership of a piece of the digital place.
As an example, take a closer look at WordPress.com and WordPress.org. On the first hand, WordPress is a well-known open-source software. It provides a lot of free themes, plugins, add-ons, and lots of tutorials. And what’s the difference between its .com and .org versions? Let’s see!
To put it briefly, WordPress.org is the general location for the WordPress software project at all. Visiting this place, you will see such options as viewing additional documentation, reading forums, asking for help, etc. On the other hand, WordPress.com is not a place but a service. And this service offers ready-made websites, various trendy options for online projects, and other digital items. Needless to say, all these websites and add-ons are WP-oriented.
At the same time, you can even create a free account to build your website. There are lots of free templates that do not require coding skills. Using one of them for your WordPress website, you get WordPress.com but only as a subdomain. As a result, your site will be hereisyourdomain.wordpress.com and the restrictions will be minimal.
And, although this is free and it has a lot of basic functions, I recommend you to look for a premium theme. One of the reasons for it is that all the top-notch best WP themes come with a license. In this case, which hosting plan should you choose?
#3 Choosing Your Hosting Plan
As always, this step might look difficult. However, for proper decision-making, you should know all your needs. How much money do you have? Which tasks you should pay for before everything else? Without a doubt, you have a lot of things to be done. That’s why you need to count your money and understand how to spend them. On average, there are 3 main variants to choose from when choosing your hosting plan. They are:
- Shared hosting,
- VPS hosting,
- managed WordPress hosting.
And, as soon as you know all your needs, you will understand which options to choose. Now let’s take a closer look at all these points.
Shared Hosting
What is it? Actually, today, shared hosting is quite a popular option. Just view out the websites of such big players as Starbucks or McDonald’s. In 2018, eCommerce became the most popular business model and it increases every season. For these simple reasons, many companies prefer shared hosting. When you choose this option, you get the next picture: 1 server is able to house hundreds of different online projects.
Since this is a single server, its costs will be split between all domain owners. As a result, your shared hosting plan will cost you nearly $5 a month which means around $60 a year. There’s no secret, the economy is a vital aspect for any start especially when it comes to online business. Thus, here is how you can save some money when running an ace website for your needs.
Are there any disadvantages? Well, yep. Choosing this option, you should understand that there will be multiple websites running from the same hardware. In case there will be a coding bug, it can use the bigger part of all available memory. So, there will be many sites that won’t simply function. These sites will be unavailable for some time and it will close the working process of your business too.
To say more, shared hosting increases your security risks. It will be easier for an intruder to hack the main website and get control over all the online projects it shares hosting with. Needless to say, this will bring you not the decreased security only but a poorer uptime as well.
In case you are sure you wanna use shared hosting, here are the top-rated companies to choose from. When looking for the very hosting provider, don’t forget to check the way their customer support works. It may be the most important feature for a beginner.
VPS Hosting
Secondly, there is a VPS hosting. VPS comes for a virtual private server. Basically, VPS hosting looks like a shared hosting but it won’t cause so many problems. To make a long story short, using VPS option, you will still need to share hosting but only with a few users. Also, the hardware will be partitioned equally. Here is a nice thing to remember. When it comes to shared hosting, a single account can use up to 80% of the whole resources when needed. Talking about VPS, a single account will be able to use only 25% of the resources to avoid bugs. As a result, you lower the chances to meet unpredictability issues.
And when it comes to hackers, they get even fewer chances to get control over your website. It’s almost impossible. To get VPS hosting, you will need to pay nearly $15-$20 a month. Here are the most popular VPS hosting providers:
What’s cool about this option, VPS provides you with impressing flexibility. Choosing such a pack, you can use different management systems you want to work with. It will be possible to transport your business website from Joomla to Drupal, etc.
Needless to say, it will be impossible to do if you choose managed WordPress hosting.
Managed WordPress Hosting
So, logically, managed WordPress hosting supports only WordPress. It uses server technology in its own way, so there’s a visible difference. In case you already know what does it mean to run a site from WordPress.com, you will like managed WP hosting.
Honestly speaking, managed WordPress hosting supports only the WordPress-based websites not without a reason. When you choose this option, you get the pack which was created exactly for your online project. To sum everything up, you get everything and anything geared to a single software pack. As a result, your long-awaited website will work pretty faster. What else will you get?
- The security levels will be higher.
- The updates will be free and automatic.
- Caching will be server-level.
- Support will also be free, friendly, and available 24/7.
Buying managed WP hosting, you won’t be able to install any other CMS. Why? Simply because of the security reasons. However, a lot of WordPress travel themes and many other hip products are compatible with third-party plugins.
#4 Searching For Your WordPress Theme
As you can see, in 2019, ready-made designs are very popular. There are numerous products that will help you to create a stylish website without touching a single line of the. They are the sets of ready-to-use pages that have such pre-designed sections as:
- contacts,
- blog,
- maps,
- gallery,
- our projects,
- shop,
- contact us,
- our team,
- feedbacks, etc.
Being 100% code free, these WordPress themes are also customer-friendly. They are easy in use or installation. You can customize the chosen theme without trouble. Each of the elements if flexible, so you will be able to style them up to your taste.
Needless to say, the number of such handy products increases every day. There are more and more website templates appearing. How to choose the very one? Well, the answer is simple. To do it, you should know about all the must-haves you will need as a website owner. In this point, I’ll name you the most important ones.
Which Options To Look For When Building A Business Website?
To make a long story short, when it comes to your business site, everything should be comfortable. Your main task is to show customers that you take care of them and make your services as customer-friendly as possible. Needless to say, it will result in better sales, so let’s see what you can do.
I want you to start with the navigation of your website. All in all, it is the first thing a prospect sees or uses when they visit your page. That’s why you should pay special attention to the menu of your website. Basically, it does not matter which web design you choose. Your menu should:
- be minimalist, so people won’t be confused,
- contain the logo of your company or any other image that will make your brand easy to remember,
- contain the categories and subcategories with your products or services,
- be 100% eye-friendly and come with a readable web font(s),
- contain CTA buttons,
- harmonize with the rest of your website,
- be SEO-friendly,
- be responsive, (which means that your menu should adapt to any screen size)
- be translation-ready,
- and be stick-to-top, so customers will not need to lose time on scrolling when they want to go to another page.
Without a doubt, you can add different illustrations, vectors, high-quality pics, and even media files to the look of your menu. There are a lot of eye-catching visual effects you can use to enrich the menu. However, keep in mind that, before all else, your menu should be fast. As expected, there are many WordPress-oriented plugins. As well as the are many plugins you may want to avoid but this one is definitely worthy of your attention.
MegaMenu is a premium and quite a popular plugin for WordPress sites. And this asset already became a real web design trend! Why? To make a long story short, MegaMenu allows the website owner to create different menus without a hitch. It means that using the feature, you can easily and quickly create the menu of any complicity. With it, you can add as many categories and subcategories as you want. There is a possibility to add various images, buttons, icons, animations, media, and another visual content right to the menu design. Although you can put in it tones of information, MegaMenu will still look minimalist. You won’t overload the site with it. Finally, MegaMenu can improve your SEO results, so search for this feature!
To sum everything up, this smart plugin allows users creating attractive menus of any complicity that will organize the content of the site and boost SEO at the same time. Among the main features, there are:
- simple and intuitive interface that requires no special skills,
- many unique modules for your menu,
- fully responsive design that looks awesome no matter which device you choose,
- diverse colors, exquisite badges, customizable backgrounds, etc.
I already mentioned the sticky menu but you may also want to look for a Back-to-Top button. This small web design element will save your customers’ time and make your online project even more visitor-friendly. Keep in mind, building a business site you should help people to find the needed page or product in seconds!
Another important feature to look for is a mobile-friendly design. To start with, your website requires these 3 features:
- 100% responsive design that will look amazing on any device, no matter which screen size it has,
- cross-browser compatible design that will work in any browser,
and SEO-friendly code to make Google and other search engines notice your website.
Other Must-Haves
Needless to say, the functions mentioned above are just to name a few. Among the other must-haves you certainly need for a trendy business site, there is drag and drop page builder. Talking about WordPress websites, today, the most popular drag and drop builder is Elementor. It provides you with such things as:
- multiple free UI elements that are pre-packed,
- trendy designs,
- 100% creator-friendly interface,
- live real-time preview,
- powerful admin panel,
- no coding requirements,
- possibility to create custom blocks,
- and save them to the library.
Actually, these days, Elementor is extremely popular. Users all over the globe prefer using it to launch their websites. It’s absolutely code-free and does not require coding or any other special skills. Working with the builder, you can set up a brilliant site even if you have never owned a website before.
When you are sure that you found the perfect theme, let’s move to the next point. It’s time to install your flagship!
#5 Installing WordPress and Your WordPress Theme
Gently speaking, the installation process is the same for all the WP themes. Shortly, to get your desired website done, you will need to:
- download the theme,
- install it,
- choose 1 or several templates from the pack,
- combine the needed details,
- pick a color scheme.
- customize all the details, (icons, buttons, sections, etc.)
- find unique pics,
- upload new content,
- check the way it looks,
- and… that’s all!
There’s no secret, almost all today’s WordPress products require the latest version of WP. You can skip this step in case you already downloaded and installed WP. Actually, you can take a look at the requirements list on the preview page. It will tell you which WP version your theme can work with. However, even if it’s compatible with an old version and you even have one installed, I still recommend you to get the new one. Working with the old version can slow down your website. Plus, the updates are free for all WP users!
Downloading WordPress
I hope you decided to do it. So, how to download WP? In case you want the latest WP version or haven’t downloaded WordPress at all, just go to the official site. Follow the link and Download WordPress. Using the same page, you can also find WordPress versions archive. Already done? Your next step will be unpacking the files. Here you can use any file archiver that was made to unpack ZIP format.
For good, in 2019, the internet is full of interactive tutorials and other supporting content. Although the unpacking process is super simple, you still can find a helpful video on YouTube. When you are done with the files and their formats, it’s time to upload WP to the hosting server. To do it, you only need to upload the platform files into:
- the PUBLIC_HTML
- or WWW directory.
And that’s it! Now, you need to create a database.
Creating a Database
Keep in mind that all these steps are not 100% necessary for you. You may already have a database in case you have a domain. However, I promised to show you how to create a WP website from scratch. That’s why I prepared the detailed instructions for every step.
And your next step will be creating a database for the WP platform. The good thing is that it’s not a long process, so it won’t take you much time. In my honest opinion, the best (and the most proven) way to do it is to use the database management tool. You will find it in the hosting control panel, called PhpMyAdmin. Thanks to the tool, you will create a new database in a matter of minutes!
Just follow these steps.
- To start with, click on the ‘database’ button. It is located at the top of the navigation menu. The button will show you the list of databases if you have any.
- Then, you will need to paste the name of the new database in the ‘create new database field’.
- Now, just click on ‘create’ button and you’ll see the new db appeared on the list. To access it, click on the name.
Once you are through this, don’t forget to enter the WP directory path into your browser address bar. And click ‘enter’. Now, the installation of WordPress begins, so you need to create the configuration file.
Creating Config File
As a beginner, you may be surprised seeing that the configuration file is missing during the WordPress installation. How to fix it? To do it, click on ‘create configuration file’. After that, you will need to enter the main connection details for the WordPress database.
Here is what you will need to enter:
- site name,
- admin login,
- admin pass,
- the email for the website.
Already entered? In this case, select ‘Install WordPress’. When the details are correct, the successful installation message appears and you will see the WP dashboard access button.
Cherry Theme Wizard Plugin Installation
Cherry Wizard is another popular plugin and a real must-have for any beginner. Needless to say, it’s also free for WP users. Once again, you don’t need to follow this step if your project already has this plugin installed. To make a long story short, Cherry Wizard is a helper. This plugin was made to help you with theme installation. It will easier your working process.
The installation of Cherry Wizard is quick and simple. Here is what you will need to do:
- open your admin panel,
- go to ‘tools’.
- find there Cherry Theme Wizard,
- you’ll see a new window appearing to offer the new theme installation,
- provide your template ID and order ID,
- begin the installation of the plugin.
On average, the installation process takes a couple of minutes. You have to wait for it to be completely installed to the WordPress engine. As soon as the asset is installed, you will see a new window. Choose one of these options:
- generate the child theme automatically
- or use your parent theme.
In case you decided to select the child theme option, it won’t ruin or damage the old content. All these changes will be saved in the child theme. Thus, installing the child theme, you can feel safe. Then you will see the info window saying that the child theme is generated and installed successfully.
CW Plugins Installation
Here is another thing to be done to create your business site. You have to install the plugins you are going to work with. Without a doubt, this point requires your special attention. All in all, the work of your website depends on it! There’s no secret, any handy WordPress theme contains premium plugins in its pack. You will find there both such must-haves as Elementor and such new assets as Testimonials. What is more, some themes have unique plugins for their owners. For example, Monstroid 2 comes with 10 fresh plugins to enrich website functionality.
Another marvelous thing about the ready-made WordPress themes is that they not only provide you with numerous plugins. It means that you don’t have to waste time and download the plugins. You won’t need to activate them by hand or something like that.
When the installation of the theme you choose is completed, you’ll see the next window. It wants you to select needed skins to begin the installation. Here is what you should do:
- select the skin or skins you like,
- check the list of the recommended plugins for them,
- and simply proceed further.
Next, you will need to select the needed way your demo content will be installed. There are 2 ways:
- full version, which contains the full sample data that will be used for the template; I recommend you this way in case you selected a premium hosting plan only;
- lite version, which comes with the optimized amount of the sample data, so there’s a smaller number of pics and posts; I do recommend this option for those users, who have ab entry-level hosting plan.
Configure Plugins
If the previous step is completed, the system will transfer you to the menu. Here you can see the full list of the plugins you are going to install. You can see the next categories:
- required plugins that contain all must-have service tools,
- recommended plugins that contain the basic plugins you’ll need to build a website,
- extra plugins that contain the available trendy plugins you can use to add more functionality to the theme.
When you selected all the plugins you need, the system will automatically navigate the installation. Whatever you choose above, your next steps will be demo content installation and importing sample data.
Demo Content Installation
Needless to say, any theme comes with its unique content elements. Still, all of them will both have the must-haves and voguish options. There will be different icons, images, buttons, animations, posts, fonts, and other sample data. As an example, I choose Monstroid 2 which is a leading WP theme today.
When installing the product, you will see the window that offers such options:
- append demo content to the existing content, which means that your new sample data will be mixed with the old one,
- replace the existing content with demo content, which deletes the old content,
- and you can also skip demo content installation.
In case you choose 1 or 2 variant, you automatically move to import sample data.
Importing Sample Data
This step is as simple as ABC. You will see this window which you should pass to start importing. Use the one you choose for the admin panel. It’s time to monitor the sample data importing process. There will be these bars showing the progress.
When your demo content installed, you can check the site before the final customization.
Customization
Customization is also one of the most important steps to work on when creating your website. This is what makes your online project unique and unusual. The good thing is that the customization process does not require special skills and something like that. Here is everything you will need to do in order to install your theme and customize the website.
- First off, extract the theme’s package.
- Secondly, go to ‘appearance’,
- and move to ‘themes section’ that is located at the admin panel.
- Open ‘theme’ folder.
- Find the archive, which has the same name to the .zip file you previously installed.
- Press ‘install now’ button.
- Finally, click the ‘activate’ link.
And here is how you can customize a feature using Elementor page builder I mentioned above.
Manual Installation
When some like it hot, others prefer manual installation. If you are a young beginner, this is not the best way to start working with your newborn website. However, in case you still want to use this method, follow my guide.
To begin with, navigate to your WP website files on FTP though the File Manager. It is located under the hosting control panel. You can also use such FTP clients as:
- Total Commander,
- Filezilla,
- and Cute FTP.
Found it? Now, let’s see what you should do next.
- Begin with unzipping the .zip file mentioned above. Place it to any folder on the hard drive.
- Then, upload the new folder to this directory on the FTP server: /wp-content/themes/.
- After this, login to the WP admin panel by adding /wp-admin after the domain name in the browser address bar.
- Navigate to the menu ‘appearance’.
- Find ‘themes’.
- Find the file I was talking about. It should be under the section ‘available themes’.
- Click the button called ‘activate’.
Manual Plugin Installation
And, obviously, there are some users who also prefer to install their plugins manually. Here is what you should do in case you are one of them.
- Navigate to theme/the name of the theme you use/assets/includes/plugins and install what you want to install.
- Navigate to the official WP website and download the plugins if needed. I’m sure you already have them inside Monstroid 2.
- Navigate to admin panel, find there the tab ‘plugins’ and click ‘add new’ button.
Once you are through this, you will see the search field. Use it to find the needed plugins with the keywords. By the way, it allows installing the plugins from your admin panel at once. To end with, don’t forget that it’s also possible to upload a plugin or plugins right from your computer. Simply select the ‘upload plugin’ button, choose your files and voila!
And we are finally done with this point. Fortunately, you can avoid a lot by choosing a ready-made product. In fact, all creator-friendly WordPress themes come with pre-packed plugins, assets, and many ready-to-use pages. Therefore, you get all of these in one pack and you won’t need to install each of the items separately.
Finally, I’m moving to the creative part!
#6 Designing Your Website
For starters, don’t forget that even the most colorful web design won’t make sense if it is uncomfortable. For these simple reasons, make sure you did your best to work on the user-friendly interface. Are you sure? In this case, let’s transform your online project into real candy.
Before everything else, you should choose which style you prefer. These days, the most popular web designs are:
- minimalist design,
- flat design,
- material design,
- neutral design,
- urban design, (street design)
- and, obviously, corporate.
Besides, such styles as geometric and retro are also in use! As you can see, all the named web designs have one common feature – they are minimalist. According to the statistics, it’s always easier for people to recognize, read, and collect information showed with a minimalist design. That’s why I recommend you to start with this style. However, you should not think that minimalism means something colorless or boring. There are a lot of attractive web designs that are minimalist as well! You can use different effects and numerous visuals to enrich your online project. Just notice that all of these should not overload the design. In case the design is not overloaded, your visitor will not be interrupted.
Which Web Design Trends To Look For?
Needless to say, the number of recent web design trends increases all the time. Some of them remain in vogue for a pretty long time (such as Parallax scrolling, MegaMenu, counters, etc.) when others disappear in weeks. So, what are the new web design trends to use? To assist you, I listed only the proven web design trends that will be popular in 2019. Here they are:
- 3-dimensional illustration,
- outlined type,
- rise of brutalism,
- more diverse, iconoclastic illustration styles,
- vintage type,
- inclusive design,
- bold typography,
- broken grid and asymmetrical layouts,
- fluid/organic design and elements,
- nostalgic design aesthetic,
- more enhanced/ elevated image treatments,
- monochromatic and absence of color,
- overlapping design elements,
- reimagined hero/ header areas,
- large and experimental navigations,
- pushing the boundaries of typography,
- Serifs on screen,
- chatbots evolve,
- diversity,
- thumb-friendly navigation,
- black-and-white palettes,
- glitch art,
- natural, organic shapes,
- micro-interactions, etc.
Don’t forget that you don’t need all of them! Just google the way these trends look and choose one or a few of them.
Harmony
Actually, it doesn’t matter which web design style you are going to use. Harmony is what does matter! To make a long story short, all the parts of the website you create should harmonize with each other.
For example, you already know that to run a gorgeous business website, you will need these features:
- responsive web design, which adapts to the gadget a visitor uses to enter your site,
- mobile-friendly design, which increases your website traffic in a great way,
- mobile-first design, which is even better,
- visitor-friendly interface to make your project a go-to place,
- flexible settings, (both for you and for visitors)
- search engine optimized design to make the site fit any requirements,
- easy-in-use navigation, etc.
Plus, there will be a lot of must-have elements like:
- newsletter popup for news and special offers,
- maps to show the shortest way to your office,
- blog to become closer to the audience,
- and social media integration with at least Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook.
All of them should have the same style, same color schemes, and the same web fonts. Needless to say, it can be several color schemes or several typography examples too. Here are 10 top web fonts combinations that were popular in 2018.
- Merriweather and Montserrat
- Josefin Sans and Amatic SC
- PT Sans and PT Sans Narrow
- Fjalla One and Noto Sans
- Alegreya and Lato
- Playfair Display and Source Sans Pro
- Roboto and Roboto Condensed
- Raleway and Roboto Slab
- Open Sans and Open Sans Condensed
- Oswald and EB Garamond
Just keep in mind that they should look awesome together. Opening a page, people should see the same web design, so they will understand that they are still on your website and not transferred somewhere else.
Here is a basic color wheel. It will help you to find the very shades to make the right contrast.
CTA
Another important part of any web design is CTA and the most useful part of it is a button. These days, CTA buttons are definitely one of the simplest and the most successful web design trends at the same time. To make a long story short, CTA button is the button that was meant to make a prospect perform some actions. CTA buttons are so popular just because having them a site owner can get more traffic and increase sales easily. And it happens without cheating! However, when used improperly, CTA buttons can ruin the look of your website.
Here is what you should know about CTA buttons:
- the design of the button should be the same to the design of the website,
- the color of your CTA should harmonize with all the other colors you used to design the web page,
- at the same time, there should be a contrast to highlight your CTA button,
- the text you are going to use should be laconic,
- plus, it should be readable and clearly explain what the button makes,
- also, there should be whitespace and soon we’ll tell you why.
#7 Launching Your Website
In case you already found and installed your WP theme, this will be an easy step for you. Everything you have to do now is to upload your content. When it comes to today’s themes, you can upload new posts, pic, animations, etc. without trouble. Elementor is creator-friendly enough to assist you. There are a lot of interactive tutorials you will find. For example, here is how you can create a stunning portfolio just in several clicks.
Finally, you can start adding fresh content and wait for the first sales of feedbacks.
#8 Updating Your Website
To start with, keep in mind that your website should be secure in order to attract people. This is the only way you can get a happy and regular audience. And what is the best way to secure your WordPress site? You should simply update it! I know that it might sound too good to be true but updating your online project really matters. Another vital thing is the loading speed. Here is how you can boost WordPress speed and performance.
Let’s imagine that you already use the latest version of WP. So, how to attract first customers?
#9 Attracting First Clients
Needless to say, finding the first customer may be the hardest thing ever. And this point looks extra scaring for beginners. Everything is still simple and that’s why I’m going to name you all the features and options you will need for it. As always, you won’t need to have any special skills or experience. Which features to look?
Must-Haves
On the first hand, I already named you some must-haves to keep your website up-to-date. You’ll need a strikingly-colored blog with such sections as ‘Recent Posts’ and ‘Most Popular Posts’ or something like this. These sections will be shown right on the main page of your WordPress website. It will be updated as soon as you add another post. At the same time, you should integrate your site will all the well-known social media accounts. With it, your Facebook or Instagram gallery will be shown on the home page.
In fact, updating your website, you attract the attention of search engines. They notice that your online project receive regular updates and continue working with it. In case your website is SEO-friendly, you will get better search results. Thanks to this step, there will be more people to see your website in Google.
Another must-have that will help you to attract more clients is translation-ready or multilingual content. Actually, by making your site at least translation-ready, you double your chances to get more prospects. How does it work?
Everything is quite simple. The thing is that, in 2020, online shoppers say they mostly prefer to buy things in the internet. And the online shops they use usually have their native language. According to the shoppers, they would prefer the native-speaking website even if they know the language you use. Why is that? Well, customers use shopping as a way to relax. It means that people do not want to lose time and think about the translation.
Needless to say, by making your website multilingual or translation-ready, you will enter the global market. Soon your startup’s site will be available in different countries. And here is one more thing to think of! Even today, not all the search engines work like Google. There are a lot of systems that scan only native-speaking websites. For example, the ones they use in France and Korea. To finish with, I also want you to make the website multi-currency. With it, you can show the prices in the needed currency, so people won’t have to count how much a product costs.
There are a lot of must-haves you should use to attract people to the site you create. You will find them pre-packed and ready-made, so all you need to do is to choose the right WP theme.
Additional Options
To end with, I want to name you a few additional features. These trendy elements will help you to attract customers.
- Start with CTA buttons and other CTAs. You already know the main rules of a successful call-to-action button. Thus, just create a couple of right buttons and add them to the website design.
- Secondly, start working with timers. Actually, timer is your #1 feature to catch client’s attention. As soon as you have an interesting offer, a best-selling item, or an upcoming sale, turn your counter on. I recommend you to use a countdown timer. This trendy feature shows how much time a shopper has until the end of an event.
- Thirdly, add some infographics. For today, it’s the most comfortable way to showcase information. There’s no secret, it is always easier for human brain to notice, recognize, and remember visual content. That’s why you should forget about long reads. Just start using infographics! With their help, you can introduce all the projects you completed, show how many happy clients or closed cases you have and much more! In case you are promoting a startup, infographic is also a nice way to showcase the financial part of your project.
- Fourthly, when it comes to eCommerce, there are lots of options to choose from. Opening the pack of your WordPress theme, you will find the functions that allow to highlight different products. It can be top-rated items, best sellers, new arrivals, most viewed products, and much more.
Just make sure you checked the details of your theme before buying it!