web design

The reason you should consider building a wordpress-powered website for your new/small business is that it is completely free, and you can add limitless functionality to the website using one of the thousands of different FREE wordpress plugins without any knowledge of programming. These plugins give your website the power to basically do anything, whether it be sell products online, sell music online, add google mapping technology to your site, add fancy image galleries, enable search engine optimized pages, or integrate with twitter. To me, it is a complete no brainer for the start up/small business. Some of my favorite plugins include All-in-One-SEO, WP-Store, NextGEN Gallery, Smooth Slider, Store Locator, and Google Analyticator.

To get the look/feel that you want, you must find a wordpress theme that you like. There are free themes and premium themes. I am becoming more and more a fan of premium themes because they offer customer support, are just as quick to set up, and they usually come with much more functionality and include more sophisticated designs right out-of-the-box than your basic free wordpress theme.

In a nutshell, this is how you would set up your new wordpress website:

1. Purchase a domain name

2. Purchase a web hosting plan

3. Get wordpress installed on your web host (most web hosting companies offer a one-click wordpress install option – if you are not sure how to access this, call your web hosting company for assistance). Make sure you make note of your login and password information.

4. Search for a wordpress theme. Download, install and activate it to your wordpress site.

6. Login to the backend of your wordpress site at http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin/ if you are not already logged in.

5. If your wordpress theme has special features (such as rotating images, twitter links, etc.), visit “Appearance” and click on the name of your theme to set up those specific features. Some themes also come with manuals to assist with set up.

6. In the administration panel on the left, click on “pages” and then click “Add New” to set up each static page that you would like to create other than your home page (About, Contact, etc.)

7. Think about any other functionality that your site may require (such as contact forms, mp3 players, SEO, etc.), and search for free wordpress plugins offering those capabilities.

8. Download and install the plugins.

9. Configure the plugins accordingly (visit the plugin website for help). In my experience, most plugins are pretty self-explanatory).

10. Enjoy your new site!

If you are short on cash and can’t afford to hire a web designer to make a website for you or your business, consider making your own with some of the free or low-cost resources available online. There are a couple of very simple website builders like wix and homestead that offer beautiful editable templates for free, or a small monthly fee (usually to pay for hosting or to use their templates take off their ads). I have recently been using wix to build flash-based websites, and have been impressed with their very easy-to-use flash builder. With wix, you can either make your own design, or you can use one of their many templates, which they are constantly updating. With a paid monthly subscription of $14.95, you can also set up an online store.

Another option is to build a wordpress-based website. This is an excellent choice if you are concerned about search engine compatibility and are trying to stay away from flash. Wordpress can usually be installed with a one-click install on any web host. If you are unsure how to do this, call your web hosting company and they should be able to assist you. While Wordpress is best known as a blogging platform, it can actually be used to set up a regular website that is easy to maintain (and it doesn’t have to have a blog). This is done by creating static “pages”. The best part about wordpress is that you can choose from thousands of free plugins to enhance the functionality of your website, whether it be adding a simple online store, video gallery, or adding basic SEO. There is more often than not a free plugin to give you the functionality that you need on your wordpress site. Also, wordpress has thousands upon thousands of themes that can easily be uploaded to change the look or even sometimes the functionality of your website. There are free themes available at http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/ or you can also purchase premium themes (check out http://www.premiumwp.com/ for a good listing) from a various designers for anywhere between $50-$200.

I’m proud to present one of our first wix-powered websites, laurie-rubin.com, homepage of mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin! Wix is an incredible tool that allows us to build fancy flash websites for our clients quickly and at very affordable prices. Please check it out!