Whether you want to create a personal or professional website, it is good to know that the process is quite simple and therefore affordable. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through this process to make your life much easier. We will also take this opportunity to give you the advice to improve your website following its creation and publication.
Is it necessary to have computer skills to create a website? Absolutely not. In 2021, there are very simple ways that will allow you to create a website. And this even if you do not have the slightest knowledge in computer science, development, or even web design.
However, if you like the difficulty, you can still build your website by coding it yourself.
So that you can see more clearly about this process, we invite you to discover without further delay the 4 best ways to create a website … more or less easily and quickly.
The 4 ways to create your website
In writing this guide on how to build a website in 2021, we wanted to do things in the best possible way. This is why we did not want to limit ourselves to the presentation of 1, 2, or 3 different means that will allow you to create a website.
Next, we will present 4 different processes that all meet various needs. It is therefore certain that you will find a suitable method for what you are looking to do.
1) Create a website with WordPress
According to our teams, this is the go-anywhere solution to create a website. What does this mean exactly? Quite simply that the fact of going through a web hosting and installing WordPress on it is at the same time a simple, fast, economical, and complete solution.
We mention WordPress but know that it is quite possible to use another CMS (Drupal, Joomla, etc.). However, it is good to note that WordPress is the benchmark in 2021: no less than 60% of websites are powered by its technology. This places it far ahead of its direct competitors Joomla (5.2%) or Drupal (3.4%).
To return to the simplicity of installing and creating a site via WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal, know that a host like Hostinger will offer you an automatic assistant.
Therefore, you will only have to fill in some information so that your site is installed and ready to use.
You can then get down to the visual of your site, as well as content writing. On the customization side, we find that creating a website with WordPress is very practical.
Thanks to many plugins, as well as the possibility to modify the CSS / HTML code, it will be very easy to modify and improve your platform. Provided of course that you also have some knowledge (if you want to touch the code).
2) Create a site with a website builder
The simplest solution to create a professional or personal website is clearly the one that consists in going through a website creator. But what exactly is a website builder?
It is in fact a platform that will allow you to create, personalize and manage your site in just a few clicks. Everything will generally be done with click/drag, which turns out to be very interesting for those who really don’t want to bother, or who don’t feel comfortable with a more technically complex solution.
If this is what you want to turn to create a website, we can recommend three names: Wix, Jimdo, and Site123. These solutions turn out to be rather complete, easy to use and offered at affordable prices overall.
However, we must warn you if you want to make a website via this type of platform. This is not always the least economical solution (unlike taking a host and installing a CMS there), and you may be a little limited in the features offered.
In addition, these all-in-one solutions do not meet the needs of all projects. Using a website builder to create a personal blog or a showcase site is quite possible. On the other hand, if you are looking to create a more complex professional site requiring, for example, the use of databases, it will become very complicated.
So remember to assess your needs before you start. This is important if you don’t want to have any regrets afterward. In any case, if you want to launch a site quickly and effortlessly, we recommend Wix which offers a very intuitive web editor suitable for all profiles. To learn more about the features offered by this provider, we invite you to read our review on Wix.
3) Create an e-commerce site with a site creation tool
Do you rather want to create an E-Commerce type website? All in your honor. In this case, it will be necessary to favor solutions such as those offered by Wix, Shopify, or WiziShop. Speaking of which, we highly recommend that you read our guide on how to set up an online store. In it, we detail the creation process from A to Z for people who want to create an online store.
Opting for such a solution will allow you to quickly create an online sales site. Whether it is the management of appearance, orders, products, payment methods, everything will be done very easily. On the other hand, you should know that the transaction fee will be deducted from each sale. A point to take into account when calculating your profit.
The disadvantage of this type of solution is that it is more complicated to create a blog at the same time or a website and then start the e-commerce process later. Indeed, these creators are only specialized in the field of online sales which can affect the variety of your content which will be e-commerce oriented.
4) Create a website by developing it yourself
The last way that will allow you to create a personal, as well as a professional site, is to code/develop it.
In this context, two choices will be offered to you. The first is that you feel able to program a website yourself. The second will consist of using a company specializing in the creation and development of Internet sites.
Depending on your choice, the costs will be quite different. You must know it! And even if the first solution turns out to be less expensive in terms of budget, it will prove to be costly in terms of time spent developing your site.
If you start from 0, we can in any case recommend sites and tutorials like those offered on OpenClassrooms. This will allow you to get both feet straight very quickly.
To summarize, the advantages linked to this means of creating a website are the flexibility as well as the unlimited possibilities offered in terms of functionality on your site and its design.
What about the disadvantages? The biggest is of course that it will be necessary to have (or acquire) skills in web development. But that’s not all. The time to devote to your project will necessarily be more substantial than if you go through WordPress or a website builder.
And then in any case, even if you create your own website, you will still have to find a host with whom to make it accessible. Therefore, the costs will necessarily be more substantial than those estimated by going through a host to install a CMS like WordPress. Among the big names in the market, we cannot miss Hostinger.
Tutorial to create a website (WordPress)
Now that you know the means that we promote in the context of the creation of a website, we are going to deliver our tutorial allowing you to create a website in 2021.
As the title above suggests, we’ll be basing this tutorial on using a web host and WordPress. Because it is for us the best compromise of the 4 solutions listed above. In a maximum of 2 hours, your personal or professional website will be ready to use. If you are interested, read the following carefully!
1) Choosing a domain name
The first step before thinking about creating a website is that of choosing a domain name. The domain name is the name of your website as well as its address.
For example, the domain name of Presse-Citron is presse-citron.net. It’s up to you to find the one you like the most and which will above all speak to future visitors to your online platform.
In general, a domain name costs between 5 and 15 € per year. This will depend greatly on the domain extension you choose (.fr, .com, .net, .info, .co, etc.).
Haven’t registered a domain name yet? If this is the case, we will allow ourselves two tips:
- If you want to create a professional website, your domain name should match your business name as closely as possible.
- Regarding the choice of extension, it will depend on the market and the audience you are targeting. For a local site, it is more interesting to use .fr. While if you want to attract foreign visitors, choosing a .com or .net will be better.
To make sure that the domain name you want to register as part of the creation of a website is available, use the domain checker tools offered by some web hosts. All you have to do is enter the domain name you want, and click on “Search”. If the domain name has already been used, the tool will offer you other alternatives:
2) Purchase of the domain name
In step number 1 we didn’t tell you about buying a domain name. Why? Well because it is better to wait to choose a hosting plan. Indeed, many hosts offer a free domain name with their hosting offers. This will save you a few euros per month.
You will necessarily have to subscribe to a web host to create a website on WordPress. Without this, your site will never be accessible to the public …
To create a personal or professional website, we highly recommend the Hostinger web host. It offers excellent value for money and is according to our teams the best web host currently.
For less than three euros per month (with the Starter offer), you will be able to benefit from quality hosting, all with a domain name and an SSL certificate offered! In addition, by applying our promotional code “Presse citron”, you will be able to benefit from an additional 10% discount.
Once you have chosen your accommodation, all you have to do is enter the domain name you want to register.
Proceed to payment and voila! Your hosting is now available and ready to use. You will now be able to create a website.
It is good to note that by opting for Hostinger, in addition to being entitled to a free domain name, you will be able to choose from a large number of different extensions. It is for example possible to obtain an extension en .fr, .com, .net, .me, .tech… Do not hesitate to take a tour of the host’s site to better understand the choice offered.
3) Installing and deploying WordPress
To bring your website to life, you will need to install and deploy WordPress. In our case, we chose this CMS but know that Hostinger (as well as other hosts like PlanetHoster offers the possibility of installing other CMS as well.
To create your site and install WordPress on it, simply go to your web host’s dashboard (Hostinger in our case). Next, look for the “Auto Installer” menu and search for “WordPress”:
Click on the WordPress logo then fill in the listed fields (language, administrator username, and password, email, site title, etc.). Once it’s done, all you have to do is click on “Install” to create your website!
4) Personalization of the design and identity of the site
Site creation is progressing quite well. Now that WordPress is installed on your hosting, you will be able to access the WordPress administration panel for the first time.
It is through this interface that you will be able to manage your entire site (whether it is a showcase site, e-commerce, or blog).
Then go to the “Appearance” menu then “Themes” to consult all the themes made available.
You will be able to preview and easily install any theme until you find the one that suits you.
After having been able to create your website and choose a theme, it will be possible to personalize the whole. This goes for the overall identity of the site, the widgets, the addition of additional CSS, as well as the menus (we will come back to this aspect a little later).
5) Installation of plugins
Once your personal or professional website has been created, it will be important to install a certain number of plugins from your WordPress administration panel.
Indeed, plugins will make your life easier in many aspects. This also applies to the SEO of your site, its design, security, cache management …
So that you don’t feel too lost in the ocean of plugins made available on WordPress, we want to provide you with a recap. You will find a list of the plugins that we consider to be the most useful in their respective fields:
- SEO: Yoast SEO or Rank Math
- Cache management: W3 Total Cache or WP-Optimize and/or LiteSpeed Cache
- E-Commerce: WooCommerce
- Security: iThemes Security
- Page builder: Elementor
- Contact form generator: Contact Form 7
- Image optimization: Smush
- Improved WordPress editor: Classic Editor
- Affiliate link management: Pretty Links
- Creation of stylized buttons: MaxButtons (do not hesitate to consult our tutorial explaining how to create a button for your site )
- Spam management (comments): Akismet Anti-Spam
- Creation of responsive tables: TablePress
Do not hesitate to research each of them to get more information on what they offer. We have also made a ranking of the best plugins that will allow you to find more information about each of them.
Can’t find where to look for and install these WordPress plugins? Don’t panic, here is a screenshot of the procedure to follow:
In the left menu, simply click on “Extensions” then “Add”. Subsequently, you will see the catalog of extensions specific to WordPress appear. You can either search or sort them (by popularity, recommendations, etc.).
Once you have found the extension you are looking for, all you have to do is click on the “Install” button then “Activate”. And there you have it, you now know how to create a site and above all, how to install a WordPress plugin. All you have to do is select the ones that seem to be the most interesting to you.
6) Adding and writing important pages and articles
We will soon see the end of this tutorial explaining how to quickly and easily create a website from WordPress. If you have followed everything so far, now you will have to consider the creation as well as the writing of pages and articles.
The first thing you need to focus on is creating the pages that are essential for any website. What are they?
- Home page
- About – to present your site or yourself
- Contact page – to allow your visitors to contact you
- Legal Notice
- Blog page – so that everyone can easily access the articles on your site
To create a page on a WordPress website, you will find in the menu on the left “Pages” then “Add”. You will thus find yourself in front of this interface:
Fill in a title for your page, add content, an image, then click Publish. You just created your first page on a website, it’s that easy!
For the creation of articles, the procedure is the same with the only difference being that you will have to go to the “Articles” tab of the WordPress menu.
7) Setting up a navigation menu
Creating a website is good, but organizing it with meaningful menus is even better!
As a reminder, the menu is what your visitors will use to go from page to page on your website. To personalize it, go once again to “Appearances” then “Menus”. Once here, click on “Create New Menu”.
You will only have to add pages but also articles to your menu. It’s up to you to decide. Just do not forget to validate the whole by clicking on the “Save menu” then checking the “Primary Navigation” box at the bottom. Otherwise, your menu will not appear on the website you just created.
And there you have it, our tutorial on how to create a website in 2021 ends. We hope you have followed our advice in the letter and that your site is now fully functional.
Is creating a “free” site a good idea?
It might seem like a good idea to create a website for free. But in reality, the shortcomings of such a solution are so important that it is quite the opposite.
If you want our advice: avoid creating a free website at all costs.
The only positive point of such a choice is the fact that if you have no experience in the field, it will allow you to acquire it. And after? Not much … It is impossible to perpetuate a website designed completely free of charge. The limitations are far too great:
- Domain name not suitable (no .com, .fr, .net, etc.)
- Limited configuration and administration (whether in terms of design, content)
- Exceptional performance, which will put off visitors from staying on your site
- SEO optimization impossible (this joins the many limitations at the administration level)
- Ads are very often placed in different places on your site which will not look professional
- Non-ownership of your site (this will be the property of the platform used to create a free site)
The goal is not to list all the disadvantages of creating a website via a free tool or host, we have only retained the most critical points. And as you can see, there are really many …
What solution to adopt in this case?
Well, you can go to a cheap web host that will allow you to install WordPress, for example. It will cost you in most cases no more than 5-6 € / month. At Hostinger, 1st price of hosting is available from € 2.15 / month.
And in addition, you will be entitled to a 30-day money-back guarantee. The latter is without any conditions. Suffice to say that you will really have no trouble getting a refund in the event of a problem. We very much doubt it but we still prefer to warn you. The option is there … just in case.
That being said, also remember to apply our promotional code when placing your order at Hostinger. This will give you a 10% discount.
How much does it cost to create a website?
It is a very good question which we will try to answer in a precise way.
It is first of all good to note that the calculation of the cost linked to the creation of a website will vary depending on the method chosen.
If you have the courage to go through a web host and install the CMS of your choice yourself, then your costs will be lower compared to using a website builder.
To offer you the most complete overview possible of the costs associated with creating a website, here are all the annual expense items that will (potentially) have to be considered. Since the prices can vary enormously, we have decided to offer you more or less important ranges.
- No domain of your site: Free at 50 € (the hosts Hostinger and PlanetHoster offer a free domain name with their hosting)
- SSL certificate: Free at + 500 €
- Web hosting: 12 € to + 1000 €
- Template for your site: Free at 200 €
- E-Commerce features: Free at + € 3,600 ( the entry-level annual subscription at Wix costs, for example, € 10.50 / month )
- Writing and content management: 0 € to several thousand euros
SEO and marketing management: 0 € to several thousand euros - Plugins / Applications: Free at 100-200 € (there are a lot of free and quality plugins on WordPress for example)
Some positions may be ignored if you think you have the ability to manage, for example, content writing, design, or SEO / Marketing.
In the end, if you want not to spend too much while creating a quality website, you will therefore have to count on an annual budget of around 30 to 50 € (or even less depending on the hosting for which you are going. opt). Which remains more than reasonable in our opinion.
Read more: How to create a website? AZ Guide
What to do when the website is created?
It’s good, you were able to make your first website thanks to our tutorial? Perfect!
Now you should know that having a site available on the Internet is not enough. Once you have published your first articles and pages, you will need to make your site visible to everyone.
This is why we are going to explain to you below some of the steps that will absolutely have to be carried out following the creation of a website.
Configure Google Analytics and Search Console
Do you want to know how many people use and visit your site daily? In this case, you MUST install and configure Google Analytics as well as Google Search Console.
Thanks to Google Analytics, you will be able to accurately track:
- The number of visitors browsing your website
- How long do they stay
- Which pages and articles are most visited
- Where do your users come from (geographically speaking)
- From which channel users find your site (Social Networks, organic searches, …)
Google Analytics will also give you the possibility of generating reports to follow the evolution of the traffic generated by your newly created website. And Google Search Console, what will you use it for?
To make sure that your pages are well indexed and visible on Google, to see the slightest problem that could arise, or to suggest possible avenues for improvement, as well as to see the performance of your website (number of clicks generated, number of times a page appeared in the results, or the average position of your pages based on searches entered by Google users).
Once your professional or personal website has been created, installing Google Analytics will be very easy. You can either rely on a WordPress plugin like MonsterInsights, or by entering the code provided by Google Analytics in the “Header” of your website.
In order not to complicate your task, we highly recommend the first option.
Regarding the installation of Search Console, we advise you to go through the SEO tool mentioned above in our guide explaining how to create a website: Rank Math. In this way, the configuration will be done very easily. For more information on the procedure to follow, go directly to the Rank Math website.
Seek to improve the site’s SEO
As we suggested above, creating a website is good, but what good is it if no one can find it? Not much, unfortunately.
This is why your number one priority should be to improve the SEO of the latter. This practice has a name: SEO (Search Engine Optimization). If you don’t feel like or can’t afford to pay an expert to improve your website’s SEO, then try to pay attention to these points:
- Use a powerful web host (we recommend Hostinger in this case)
- Be sure to regularly use the keywords you are targeting in your articles. For example, if you want to write an article explaining how to walk your dog, you will have to make sure that expressions like “Walking your dog”, “How to walk your dog”, “How to walk your dog”, etc., come up regularly throughout. of the article. While obviously keeping the whole as natural and pleasant as possible to read.
- Be careful of the article title you are going to choose (use the main query you want to target)
- Also incorporate the main keywords in the URLs of your posts/pages, add alt text to your images, and make meta descriptions that make you want to click on your site from search engines.
To make your life easier, especially if it’s your first time creating a website, consider using the WordPress Yoast SEO plugin, or Rank Math. Both are equal and will assist you in implementing all of the SEO best practices listed above.
Promote your site on social networks
Do we need to expand on this point? It seems more than logical to us that once you have succeeded in creating a professional or personal website, you will have to use social networks to make it known.
Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, are all free! We must therefore capitalize on this.
Select the platform that seems to be the most popular with your target audience and create a page there. Then all you have to do is share the content that you post regularly on your website.
To get reactions as well as shares, try as much as possible to create engaging, responsive content.
Create a mailing list for emails
Building a mailing list can be a good idea to maintain a community and regular visitors.
How do I create a mailing list? After creating your website, make a small form available on your home page offering visitors to subscribe to a newsletter for free. It is a way of doing things.
Each week/month, then send the latest news from your platform to encourage people to come back and read your articles. It takes a lot of work to be sure, but you won’t regret it.
Update your content regularly
Search engines like Google especially reward active sites with higher placement in search results.
By regularly updating the content of your site, search engines will consider your site to be active. It is for this reason that many companies, next to their showcase/store site, create a blog page.
The fact of having a WordPress blog with lots of articles helps tremendously to talk about his site and thus get links pointing to it. By the way, giving you even more legitimacy in the eyes of Google.
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