Looking to learn the basics of building a website using Wordpress? Here are some tips and tricks that I've put together from my past experience, and scavenging the various resources available online.

1. How to Develop a Website
Amarpreet Kaur
Digital Marketing Manager, RIC Centre
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

2. Who am I?
• Molecular Biology
• Biomedical Communications
• Biotechnology
• Real Estate Broker
• Digital Marketing Manager
• Creative Professional
• Photographer
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

3. Should my
business have
a website?

4. Yes please!

5. Why?
• Using the internet like a phonebook
• Instant credibility
• Sales and marketing channel
• Data collection and lead generation
• If you don’t have a website, you don’t want more business…
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

6. Today’s presentation
1. Choose the right platform for your website
2. Choose the right website name (domain) and hosting
3. Configure your newly created website
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

7. Choose the right platform
• When I first got started…
Dreamweaver, Flash, etc
• Content Management System
• WordPress…because it’s free,
beginner-friendly, great for small-
large sites, responsive, support
community, etc.
OpenSourceCMS.com
1
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

8. Beginner?
• Stick with WordPress. Keep your life easy. As a business owner, that’s
something you shouldn’t worry about.
1
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

9. Choose a domain name
• WordPress is free, but you need to purchase a domain name and hosting
in order to run your website
• bluehost.com, GoDaddy.com, one.com, etc
• Short, memorable, brandable, catchy, easy to type
• Try to Google it before you purchase it (does auto-correct on Google
provide some odd search result?)
2
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

10. Domain name vs. hosting
2
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

11. Choose a hosting package
• Shared Hosting
• Good for tight budget
• Managed WordPress Hosting
• Website maintained for you
2
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

12. Configure your website
• Domain and hosting from same service provider?
• Use one-click installation
• Manual Install Guide
• yourwebsitename.com/wp-admin
• Now we get to the fun part…
3
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

14. Configure your website
• The hardest part of this entire
process…
• Picking a theme
• ThemeForest, ColorLib Flat
Themes, ColorLib Creative
Themes, How to Pick a
Wordpress Theme
3
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

15. Configure your website
• 37 essential plugins you
should download
• JetPack, Contact Form 7,
Google Analytics, Sucuri,
Yoast SEO, Page Builder
• WooCommerce
3
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

16. Configure your website
• Adding new pages and posts
• Customizations
• Setting up your front page
• Updating your menu
3
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

17. Configure your website
• Setting permalink structure
• Search engine visibility
• Site backups
• Google Analytics
3
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

18. Configure your website
• Here are some important pages
that you should consider adding:
• About
• Contact
• Portfolio
• Services and Products
• Team
• Testimonials
• Support
• Careers
• FAQ
3
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

19. Ok, so now what?
• Add content! Customize it to your business. Make it stand out. And now
I’ll show you how to take it to the next level.
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

20. Questions?

21. The magic of SEO
• Crucial part of
website
customization -
without it, your
customers probably
won’t find you via
Google or any other
search engine
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

22. SEO-friendly URL structures
http://www.example.com/how-to-build-a-website
OR http://example.com/archives/123
• Settings —> Permalinks —> “Post Name”
• *Warning: don’t change permalink structure on an established site (you
may lose the SEO you’ve already built!)
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

23. Download a plugin
@akamarpreet | @riccentre
Comparison: Yoast SEO vs All in One SEO Pack

24. Yoast SEO
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

25. Add an XML sitemap
• List every page on your website - make it easy for search engines to find
your content
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

26. Use Google Search Console
• Provides reports and data to help you understand how your pages appear
in search results - use Yoast SEO to set this up!
• What search terms are people using?
• Add your sitemap to Google Search Console
• Check Search Console 1x/month
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

27. Optimize blog posts
• Adding an SEO plugin doesn’t
actually do anything until you
actively try to keep up with
updating your site
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

28. Make sure you do this too…
• Use categories, tags, and
sort your content within
WordPress!
• Sorting your content on
your website means
Google will understand
your website structure and
content
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

29. Internal linking
• Google assigns each page on
your website with a “score” -
that’s your page authority
• Obviously they kept the
recipe a secret… but,
authority increases with links
(AKA credibility)
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

30. Social media integration
@akamarpreet | @riccentre
• Share and like buttons
• Posting your content to social media platforms - use Hootsuite, Buffer, etc
• Make your shares look good! How? Make sure you are using Yoast SEO to
the best of it’s ability! - There’s also the JetPack and WPSSO plugin.
• Ask me for a link to my 10 Social Media Tips for Small Biz slide-deck!

31. Speed and security
• Here’s what happened at RIC
Centre…
• Use Sucuri and optimize your
site’s speed
• Here’s how you can
optimize images for the
web
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

32. Google Analytics
@akamarpreet | @riccentre
• Who visits your website?
• What do people do on your
website?
• When do people visit your
website?
• How do people find your
website?
• How do people interact with your
content?
• Signup for Google Analytics here
• Install Google Analytics on
Wordpress using MonsterInsights
• Track, measure, change, and
repeat!

33. But I don’t have time…
• There’s lots of different platforms available out there if you are looking for
a drag-and-drop builder type of site, but it depends on your budget.
These can sometimes get expensive.
• Wix | SquareSpace | Weebly
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

34. What else?
• Just remember to really put thought into the goals of your website!
• What do you want to promote? How do you want to promote it?
• Wireframe your website! Sketch out your concept before you go
looking for themes, building your navigation, adding content.
• How much time will you have to manage it?
@akamarpreet | @riccentre

35. Questions?