Udemy: Create Your First Business Website for Free with WordPress

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems around. And for good reason; it’s incredibly powerful, flexible, and user-friendly. But it doesn’t come with any pre-built site templates. You have to spend a little time figuring out what kind of website you want before you can start building it. That’s not ideal for those who are just getting started. So here’s a better idea: Let’s build a business website using WordPress, and not worry about laying down the hard-coded templates that come with the platform. We’ll use the WordPress dashboard to build out the site, then head over to HackerNews to grab our completed product and give it a test run.

Setting Up Our Workspace

We’re going to use GitHub to keep track of our code and ensure that our product is up to date and the latest version. Let’s get GitHub set up first so that we can begin our WordPress development journey.

If you’ve never used Git, the version control system that GitHub is built on, then now’s the perfect opportunity to learn more. Simply type GitHub into your web browser’s address bar, and you’ll be taken to their landing page. Click the Join button to create an account, if you don’t have one already. You’ll need to provide an email address and a password to verify your account. After you’ve verified your account, you can click the Install button at the top right to download and install the Git software onto your computer. Once you’ve downloaded and installed Git, you can head back to the main GitHub landing page and click the Try it button to begin your WordPress development journey.

Creating Our Blog

When we log into our newly created GitHub account, we’re presented with a few options for where to focus our attention. Let’s choose the WordPress option and click the Install button to continue. After the installation process finishes, you’ll be brought to a confirmation screen. Click the Finish button to continue to the dashboard.

If you already have a WordPress installation on your computer, then this step is a little different. You’ll need to go back into the dashboard and click the Activate button next to the WordPress option in the left-hand side menu. You’ll see a message informing you that WordPress has been activated and give you the credentials needed to log in.

Setting Up Our Database

One of the first things you’ll want to do once you’ve activated your WordPress installation is to set up a database. The WordPress dashboard comes with a few options for you to choose from when it comes to building out your site’s backbone. Let’s go with the MySQL option, as it’s one of the most popular and most widely used database options. If you don’t have MySQL installed on your computer, then you can download it from MySQL’s website.

Once you’ve downloaded and installed MySQL, you can head back to the main dashboard and click the MySQL tab in the left-hand side menu to access your database’s settings. Here you can choose the kind of user role you want to use; you can choose from administrator, editor, or author. If you’re new to MySQL then the administrator option is what you want to go with. An administrator can have full control over the database and its contents. An editor can only view the contents of the database and make edits as needed. An author can only view contents and make edits as needed. Once you’ve chosen a user role, click the Set Up button to save your choice.

Creating Our First Blog Post

Our first blog post will be on the subject of cryptocurrencies and the impact they’re having on the investment world. As the name suggests, a cryptocurrency is a type of digital currency that uses cryptographic techniques to control the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds. One of the earliest and most popular cryptocurrencies is Bitcoin. It was launched in 2009 by an individual or team known as Satoshi Nakamoto. The name Satoshi Nakamoto originates from a blog post by the creator of Bitcoin in which he announced the launch of Bitcoin and cited a cryptography mailing list that he was a part of as the source of the idea.

The rise of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that they’re built on has led to a massive shift in the way we’ll perceive the world of investing. Thanks to cryptocurrencies, you can now store your wealth in a form that can be traded and transacted globally in real-time with complete anonymity. This has huge implications for all of us who choose to invest, whether actively or passively, and we should all start thinking about the ramifications of this profound shift.

The unit of account for cryptocurrencies is the coin. One coin equals one unit of accounting. All cryptocurrencies are stored digitally and are interchangeable with one another. When someone pays you in cryptocurrency, you will receive your payment in the same form as the one you were paid in. This makes cryptocurrencies ideal for use as a medium of exchange and unit of account. You’ll notice that whenever someone mentions Bitcoin, they almost always use the symbol BCH to represent the equivalent amount of bitcoin cash. This is because while Bitcoin has risen in value significantly over the years, Bitcoin Cash hasn’t. It’s basically the same as Bitcoin, but with one key difference: the way it handles transactions. While Bitcoin verifies transactions through a process known as mining, Bitcoin Cash skips this stage and moves straight to the point-of-sale. This makes it much faster than Bitcoin and more suitable for high-volume transactions. Overall, though, the two are very similar.

Adding More Content To Our Blog

Let’s head back over to the WordPress dashboard and click the Add Content button. You’ll see this button next to the About and Contact pages. When clicked, this button will take you to a screen where you can choose from a number of pre-made blog topics. Alternatively, you can create your own blog posts on any topic you like. Once you’ve picked the topic you want to write about, you can click the Write Post button to begin the process.

If you want to create a new blog post, then you first need to click the Add Post button. You’ll then see a screen that has a large red-colored text area in the middle. This is the place where you’ll type your post. It’s extremely important to note here that WordPress posts are not search-engine optimized. You’ll need to perform that task yourself after you’ve published your post.

The finished product is a blog post that looks like this:

• Title

  Blog article

  Article summary

  • Paragraphs

  Citations

As you can see, each individual blog post has a title, an article (body of the post), and a summary. The title, in this case, is titled "What is a Cryptocurrency? A Beginner’s Guide to the Growing Trend" and it serves as a hook to grab the reader’s attention. The article goes on to provide a basic introduction to cryptocurrencies and the impact they’re having on the investment world. It briefly covers what cryptocurrencies are, the difference between cryptocurrency and fiat currency, the three different types of cryptocurrencies (native, hybrid, and decentralized), and gives an overview of the technology behind Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Finally, it wraps things up with a reminder about keeping cryptocurrency transactions private and anonymous if you choose to keep investing in this manner.

Creating A Business Website

Now that you have a basic understanding of how to create a blog post in WordPress, let’s dive into the nitty-gritty of actually creating a WordPress-based business website. In case you’re wondering, a WordPress business website is not the same as a personal blog. A personal blog can be anything you like; it can be about anything and everything. A business website is more specifically tailored to the business’ target audience and often incorporates a lot of information that can be useful to the person reading it. It can be a mix of everything from sales material to product descriptions to customer testimonials.