How to Hide Your Website on WordPress
WordPress was originally called Weblogging which stood for weblogging platform. It was first released in 2005 by Automattic, the original creators of WordPress. They saw a need for a blogging platform that was both free and open source, allowing anyone to use it to create a blog or website.
Since then, WordPress has become one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) used for blogging and websites. According to Google Analytics, WordPress is the second most used CMS on the web with 133.4 million sites using it as of December 31, 2018.
WordPress offers a lot of flexibility when it comes to using it for a commercial or non-commercial site with no restrictions on the amount of content you can have. It also supports many features that are useful for online stores and e-commerce sites, like SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) features and shopping carts.
Setting Up Shop On WordPress
The very first thing you’ll need to do to set up shop on WordPress is register a new domain name for your website. You can use Google Domains to effortlessly point your domain name to your WordPress site. Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to install WordPress to your chosen hosting account.
Installing WordPress to a shared hosting account will give you access to a large community of bloggers and website owners who can help you find your feet and grow your business. Shared hosting is affordable and easy to set up and administer. You’ll just need to choose a free forum to help you get started (Click here if you need help choosing a free forum).
If you’d like to install WordPress to your own hosting account, you can use a reputable service like WordPress.com. With this option, you don’t necessarily need to have your own domain name to use WordPress. You can use any domain you like (with the exception of.biz and.cc domains which are for commercial use) and it will be automatically managed for you.
Customising Your Shopfront
When you first log in to your WordPress dashboard, you’ll see a screen with your site’s most recent posts on it. Above this area, you’ll see four links:
- Blog
- Forum
- Tools
- Dashboard
Each of these links will lead you to a different area of WordPress which you can use to customise your site and make it more user-friendly.
The Blog link will bring you to the area of WordPress that houses your blog. You can use this area to write articles for your website and to include on your blog. You can also add a splash of colour to your blog’s design with a customisable header and footer which you can find in the Dashboard area.
The Forum link will take you to a space where you can engage with other users of the platform who are also interested in entrepreneurship. This area is called WordPress.com Forums and it’s where you can have conversations with people who are on the same page as you are when it comes to building their own businesses.
The Tools link will bring you to a section of WordPress which offers you a variety of free and premium tools that can be used to customise and promote your site. You can use these tools to automate certain tasks on your site, like taking care of affiliate commissions, or use them to create unique content that’s tailored to whoever you’re targeting with your website.
The Dashboard link will take you to a section of WordPress which houses all of the different parts of your site. Here, you can use tools like Chrome’s Web Developer to inspect your site and make changes to it if necessary. You can also use the Dashboard area to set up automated tasks like sending out regular emails or setting up a monthly newsletter to subscribers.
Adding New Posts
From your Dashboard, you can click on the Post button which is located above your site’s most recent posts area. When you click on the Post button, you’ll see a series of options that determine what sort of content you want to publish.
If you want to add a new blog post to your website, you can use the Post option which is the third option down. When you click on this option, you’ll see a screen with several fields where you can enter information about your new post. You can use the Categories drop-down to choose a category for your post (above the “Enter a title” field) or the Tags drop-down to add multiple tags to it (above the “Enter a short description” field).
You can also add an image to your post by clicking on the Add Media button which will appear above your post’s “Enter a short description” field. When you click on this button, you’ll see a variety of options like your camera, phone or laptop’s screen. You can then choose an image from these options and click on the Insert button to have your image displayed on your blog post.
Editing Existing Posts
If you’ve already published a blog post and you want to edit it, you can use the “Edit” button which is the second option down on the Post screen. When you click on this button, you’ll see your post with all of its content displayed above a series of toolbars. You can use these toolbars to make changes to your post like adding more content, deleting content or changing the structure of your post.
When you make changes to a post, these will be displayed below a notice which states “This is a draft – please save before altering”. When you click on this notice, you’ll be transported back to your post with a series of toolbars which you can use to make further changes.
Coding Your Website
WordPress is a content management system which users can install to a hosting account to make a website. However, not all content management systems are built the same and WordPress offers you a variety of tools to customise your site and add more functions. You can use these tools to create unique content, build a community, and add more functionality to your site.
The best part about WordPress is that it’s flexible enough to be used for any website project you might have in mind. It also offers a large community of users who can help you along the way. If you’re looking for a free blogging platform, WordPress is a great choice and it’s constantly evolving to stay ahead of the competition.