Effective way to launch website?

[M1lkslyvan]

I'm going to start building my own websites, is there a more effective and affordable way of getting a website up?
As of now, I was going to:

• Purchase my domain name from Namecheap
• Hosting with Google Cloud
• WordPress theme builder would be Elementor pro

Do you guys suggest any different approaches to setting up/building the website? Is anything I'm doing dated or not optimal?

 

[SERP Tank]

What is the purpose of the website?

 

[sageshark]

• Purchase my domain name from Namecheap
• Hosting with Google Cloud
• WordPress theme builder would be Elementor pro

As far as these three steps are concerned, you are doing it fine.
I would have suggested to use GeneratePress theme, but Elementor Pro is also good.
What are you going to do next?

 

[420lounge]

I'm going to start building my own websites, is there a more effective and affordable way of getting a website up?
As of now, I was going to:

• Purchase my domain name from Namecheap
• Hosting with Google Cloud
• WordPress theme builder would be Elementor pro

Do you guys suggest any different approaches to setting up/building the website? Is anything I'm doing dated or not optimal?

As far now, It is Good Buddy

 

[roydan]

The most important part is planning. Assuming you are counting on some organic traffic, you should invest time in keyword research, content plan, and setting up the layout.
Have the monetization method planned out.

Just "winging it" rarely work.

 

[IM Dude]

To add to what @roydan said you wanna create if you don't already have at least 3 social media accounts twitter, pinterest and Facebook page are recommended.

 

[Social God]

I’ve built tons of websites using NameCheap - here’s exactly what I do.

1. Purchase Domain
2. Connect Domain to Hosting
3. Install SSL
4. Install WordPress
5. Choose Theme
6. Choose Plugins
7. Add Content

I often use the same theme, so setting everything up takes less than 15 minutes. If you’re choosing theme and plugins and stuff - it can take hours. If you have any questions - feel free to ask me!

 

[megaclick]

Don't forget about content planning and you are ready to go. Best of luck!

 

[arrows]

WAIT!!! M1lkslyvan

Before you jump onto the Wordpress wagon, allow me to share with you what i learned first hand about Worpress themes (and their plugins):
- they come with all the bells and whistles that you may not need at all and are code heavy (most very heavy) and doesn't help with GOOGLE ranking
- depending on the developer of the themes, they may undergo non-ending updates which are security patches
- that's fine, except that some auto-updates may render some unwanted changes to your design or even functions
- in some cases, it may cause your site to crash and many hours to find the issues and restore
- even if you're Wordpress saavy, it'll still cost you time

Sure, you can usually revert back to a previous version. But what does that leave you? Vulnerable to hacks and crashes. You really have no choice.

Or, if the developer goes bust, your unpatched site may still get hacked (even with all your fingers, toes and eyes crossed). I won't go into detail on what a hacked site can do to your business.

You can of course choose to scan through and approve the updates individually but that's provided you have the time to do that and know what you're doing. It may happen every other month or more frquently. It will cost you hundreds of hours in a year.

So, what's the solution?

As long as hackers exists, there's no perfect permanent solution. Can HTML sites be hacked? Certainly, HTML is just a file format, the vulnerability would be in the server software that renders them; which would be apache here. Server vulnerability exists for BOTH Wordpress aites and HTML sites.

BUT, and here's a big BUT, you can save yourself the trouble of regular updates, crashes and what not.

If you do not need all the bells and whistles that WP sites can give you, i'd suggest that you go the HTML route.

But coding HTML takes ages for the newbie, you say. True. But there are so many templates out there! Find one that fits your purpose, good ones (with support) cost perhaps a hundred bucks or two. There're much cheaper ones too. How much does your time cost? Let's say you earn $100/hour, won't paying $100 to $200 be worth it?

Thank about it. I hope this helps because I have tried Worpress myself and the above just summarizes my journey. Why learn it the hard way?

 

[roydan]

WAIT!!! M1lkslyvan

Before you jump onto the Wordpress wagon, allow me to share with you what i learned first hand about Worpress themes (and their plugins):
- they come with all the bells and whistles that you may not need at all and are code heavy (most very heavy) and doesn't help with GOOGLE ranking
- depending on the developer of the themes, they may undergo non-ending updates which are security patches
- that's fine, except that some auto-updates may render some unwanted changes to your design or even functions
- in some cases, it may cause your site to crash and many hours to find the issues and restore
- even if you're Wordpress saavy, it'll still cost you time

Sure, you can usually revert back to a previous version. But what does that leave you? Vulnerable to hacks and crashes. You really have no choice.

Or, if the developer goes bust, your unpatched site may still get hacked (even with all your fingers, toes and eyes crossed). I won't go into detail on what a hacked site can do to your business.

You can of course choose to scan through and approve the updates individually but that's provided you have the time to do that and know what you're doing. It may happen every other month or more frquently. It will cost you hundreds of hours in a year.

So, what's the solution?

As long as hackers exists, there's no perfect permanent solution. Can HTML sites be hacked? Certainly, HTML is just a file format, the vulnerability would be in the server software that renders them; which would be apache here. Server vulnerability exists for BOTH Wordpress aites and HTML sites.

BUT, and here's a big BUT, you can save yourself the trouble of regular updates, crashes and what not.

If you do not need all the bells and whistles that WP sites can give you, i'd suggest that you go the HTML route.

But coding HTML takes ages for the newbie, you say. True. But there are so many templates out there! Find one that fits your purpose, good ones (with support) cost perhaps a hundred bucks or two. There're much cheaper ones too. How much does your time cost? Let's say you earn $100/hour, won't paying $100 to $200 be worth it?

Thank about it. I hope this helps because I have tried Worpress myself and the above just summarizes my journey. Why learn it the hard way?

Is your suggestion is to go with HTML without any form of CMS?

 

[M1lkslyvan]

What is the purpose of the website?

It's an extension of an instagram page I run, It'll include merch, blog, and an image gallery.

 

[M1lkslyvan]

As far as these three steps are concerned, you are doing it fine.
I would have suggested to use GeneratePress theme, but Elementor Pro is also good.
What are you going to do next?

I'm setting up the site this week and just getting the basic site features I had ideas of started.

 

[M1lkslyvan]

The most important part is planning. Assuming you are counting on some organic traffic, you should invest time in keyword research, content plan, and setting up the layout.
Have the monetization method planned out.

Just "winging it" rarely work.

I definitely have an idea of what type of website I'm making. I just want to launch the website and then focus in more detail on my content plan, monetization, and keywords.

 

[M1lkslyvan]

I’ve built tons of websites using NameCheap - here’s exactly what I do.

1. Purchase Domain
2. Connect Domain to Hosting
3. Install SSL
4. Install WordPress
5. Choose Theme
6. Choose Plugins
7. Add Content

I often use the same theme, so setting everything up takes less than 15 minutes. If you’re choosing theme and plugins and stuff - it can take hours. If you have any questions - feel free to ask me!

What theme do you usually go with when building your sites?

 

[tattooedbuddha]

I definitely have an idea of what type of website I'm making. I just want to launch the website and then focus in more detail on my content plan, monetization, and keywords.

Please use the multi-quote functionality when replying to several posts.

 

[M1lkslyvan]

WAIT!!! M1lkslyvan

Before you jump onto the Wordpress wagon, allow me to share with you what i learned first hand about Worpress themes (and their plugins):
- they come with all the bells and whistles that you may not need at all and are code heavy (most very heavy) and doesn't help with GOOGLE ranking
- depending on the developer of the themes, they may undergo non-ending updates which are security patches
- that's fine, except that some auto-updates may render some unwanted changes to your design or even functions
- in some cases, it may cause your site to crash and many hours to find the issues and restore
- even if you're Wordpress saavy, it'll still cost you time

Sure, you can usually revert back to a previous version. But what does that leave you? Vulnerable to hacks and crashes. You really have no choice.

Or, if the developer goes bust, your unpatched site may still get hacked (even with all your fingers, toes and eyes crossed). I won't go into detail on what a hacked site can do to your business.

You can of course choose to scan through and approve the updates individually but that's provided you have the time to do that and know what you're doing. It may happen every other month or more frquently. It will cost you hundreds of hours in a year.

So, what's the solution?

As long as hackers exists, there's no perfect permanent solution. Can HTML sites be hacked? Certainly, HTML is just a file format, the vulnerability would be in the server software that renders them; which would be apache here. Server vulnerability exists for BOTH Wordpress aites and HTML sites.

BUT, and here's a big BUT, you can save yourself the trouble of regular updates, crashes and what not.

If you do not need all the bells and whistles that WP sites can give you, i'd suggest that you go the HTML route.

But coding HTML takes ages for the newbie, you say. True. But there are so many templates out there! Find one that fits your purpose, good ones (with support) cost perhaps a hundred bucks or two. There're much cheaper ones too. How much does your time cost? Let's say you earn $100/hour, won't paying $100 to $200 be worth it?

Thank about it. I hope this helps because I have tried Worpress myself and the above just summarizes my journey. Why learn it the hard way?

I think you make a good point that maybe I shouldn't rely too much on the theme devs of a site that I make and it would save me from some of the negatives if I just made the site myself.

However, my skills as of now are definitely more suited for using a CMS instead of developing the site by hand. In the future, I may consider only creating websites by hand but starting off I think I need a CMS.

Thanks for sharing this info though.

 

[welshman]

Think about using cloudflare as well.

 

[SERP Tank]

I think you make a good point that maybe I shouldn't rely too much on the theme devs of a site that I make and it would save me from some of the negatives if I just made the site myself.

However, my skills as of now are definitely more suited for using a CMS instead of developing the site by hand. In the future, I may consider only creating websites by hand but starting off I think I need a CMS.

Thanks for sharing this info though.

Go with WordPress and Elementor free/pro version has some readymade templates

 

[arrows]

Is your suggestion is to go with HTML without any form of CMS?

Yes. Pure HTML. That's how I do static sites nowadays. I don't even need JS or PHP.