Purchasing a Domain name is the first step to start a website. You have bought a domain name that means you have purchased a name for your website. You have not created a website yet. Well, Congratulations you have completed the first step successfully and get closer to create a blog or website. So, what do you need to do next?
Now it is time to build your website and get your site live over the Internet. Let’s talk about the things what to do after buying a domain name to get started successfully.
Steps which you have to do after buying a domain name
- Create a Goal For your website
- Buy a Web Hosting Plan
- Install CMS ( Content Management System)
- Install Themes and Essential Plugins
- Get Custom Email
- Start Adding Content to your site
- Submit your site to the Search Engine
Now let’s start with the very first step:
Create a Goal for your website
Before starting a website it is very important to create a goal for your website which you have to accomplish. There are many directions you can point your website to. For example
- Building a personal blog
- Creating a site for an online business
- Starting an E-commerce website
It is very important to know what you are going to do with your website. Having a clear goal in mind gives you a certain direction to work toward. After you decide the goal of your website you can move to further steps.
You realize your big dreams with hundreds of small steps. Same holds true when you start your website. Planning a goal is the first step. Based on what type of website you have decided(personal/commercial/blog) you can decide what type of web hosting services you need.
Buy a Web Hosting Plan
Web hosting is a very important step to get access to your website over the web. If your website is hosted then you can easily access your website on any browser at any time. As I have mentioned above that it is very important to be clear that for what purpose you are starting a website. Because once you know the website niche then you can easily choose the right web host.
There are different types of web hosting services available. You can select the one which suits your website purpose the most. If you want to get an idea on how to choose the right web hosting for your website then Read: How do I choose Web Hosting?
You can buy a web hosting from the same company from where you have bought your domain name because it will be an easier task to set up your website. But if you know how to point your domain name with other web hosting providers then you can also get web hosting from other reputed web hosting company like Hostgator, Namecheap, etc.
Install CMS ( Content Management System)
Install CMS ( Content Management System) software on your host to run and maintain your website efficiently. This software allows you to edit and modify your content easily. It is used to manage the digital content of your site. There are numbers of CMS software. For example- Joomla, PHP, DNN, WordPress, etc. WordPress is one of the most popular CMS that approx. 33% of people prefer to use to create a website all over the world. Because It is very easy to use and If you do not have the proper knowledge of coding then WordPress is the solid solution.
Also, most of the hosting plans offer you pre-installed CMS(for example WordPress hosting comes pre-installed with WordPress), So that’s a bit less headache.
Read- How to Install WordPress with Hostgator?
Install Themes and Essential Plugins
There are many free themes are available which is enough to start-up. If you have installed the WordPress CMS then there is a number of WordPress themes out there. WordPress comes up with many themes which you can change easily. You will get available themes as per the requirements of your website. There are two ways by which you can get the WordPress theme for your website
- WordPress Theme Directory
- WordPress premium theme
Here I have mentioned about the WordPress Theme but you can go with any CMS which you think that you are suitable for. After the Installation of theme, the next step is to add plugins to your website. Here are some of the essential plugin which you must have on your website:
- Ultimate Blocks
- SEO by Yoast
- Social Pug
- Google Analytics by Monster insights
- Contact form 7
- Social Warfare
- Jetpack
- Rank Math
Get Custom Email
Having the professional email address will increase the visibility and credibility of a brand name. This email address shall be used for all official purposes, your marketing campaigns, To get customer feedback, etc. This email address includes your domain name like info@yourdomainname. You can use this email for everything you need to keep organized. You can set an email address from your hosting control panel. There are numbers of hosting provider which offers Professional Emails at free of cost with their hosting plans. If you will get an email with your hosting then it will cost you nothing. If you want then you can create the email from many different third party companies available.
Create Your Website Structure
Website structure refers to how the website is set up. A well-planned structure is very important to run a successful website. You need to create some pages which provide information regarding your website. Here are some of the pages which you can add and start your site:
- About page
- Contact us
- Services
- Products
- Blog
- Privacy Policy
- FAQ
Start Adding Content to your site
Content is the most important part of any website. If you are running a website then you should add some content to your site. Without content your website is nothing. Content is a thing which gives a base to your website. Adding content to your site is the way to get huge traffic to your website. It is the best and the latest way to connect with a number of people and getting huge traffic from search engines to your website all over the world. You can add contents in your Blog page, where you can mention specific information related to your website. If you are running an online store then you can also add content related to your products which contains the details of the products. This will bring a huge amount of traffic to your website.
Create a webmaster for Your Domain
A webmaster is a tool by which you can manage your website’s performance. It is free and easy to use. It will show which page of your site is ranking and how your web pages are getting clicks by any query. By creating webmaster you can easily manage your website performance.
Final Words
I have covered the most important aspects of creating a blog/ website, If there is something which I have missed out in this article, Do share your views or suggestions in comments.