Before you get started with a website on the web you are going to need a few things.
First thing you will need is a domain name. As always, .com’s are the most popular and desirable. Be creative….and if possible, use keywords in the name to help with your SEO (search engine optimization). Since some domain registrars can get a little tricky when you search for your domain name….I have found godaddy.com to be the best with pricing…they won’t take your domain name if you did a search…and they have fairly decent customer service.
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Second, a reliable, affordable hosting service…. I recommend Hostgator for this. They have great 24/7/365 year support and have monthly to month hosting for around $8 per month to as low at $4 per month. I recommend you get your hosting in at least 1 year blocks so you don’t have to worry about forgetting to pay every month…miss and have your site go down.
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To get 25% off you can use this coupon code: susan25percent
or if $9.94 is more off you can use this discount: susan994off
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That’s it! Now you have to get everything up and running. Oh…. if you plan to sell stuff on your website and you are not going to use Paypal you are
also going to need an SSL certificate as well.
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Now that you have your domain and hosting you are ready to get started…. I recommend using WordPress (WP) for your website. It is fairly easy to use…and with your Hostgator hosting, you can use Fantastico to do a 1 – click install. Once you have WP installed… I suggest finding a nice theme. There are several free ones available, but for a few bucks you can get some really nice themes that will make you look like a pro. One that I found recently is Elegant WordPress Themes. You are probably thinking…why would I refer out stuff instead of doing the design myself. Well…because the themes are that good and super affordable. Plus, it is fast to get up and going. If you hired me….or any other designer, it will probably be at least 6 weeks to get something custom…. and with something like Elegant Themes…you can have something semi-custom up in hours. It is quicker and a lot more affordable to have someone modify an existing theme to your specifications than doing one from scratch.