How to Start a Brochure Site with Genesis: The Essentials

This series will cover everything that we do when preparing and publishing a brochure website.  The first article in this series, covered What is a Brochure Website?  And Do I need one? Today we’ll talk about the essentials in setting up any first website.

You will need 3 things in setting up your first website.  You will need a website host, a domain name, and software.  This video explains those 3 in a little more detail along with some warnings in your selections.

Hosting, Domains, WordPress

1.  DSWP – our boutique hosting service is every bit as legally valid, except with the service you can expect from a personal relationship.  Once you get to the size that you need your own dedicated server (several years into your first website usually), we recommend WebSynthesis.  (they are picky with their clients, but you’ll be accepted and in good hands if you follow our recommendations when setting up your site)

2.  Domain Names – from us too of course!  We offer competitive rates at $15 per year for the most popular top level domains (.com, .net, and .org)

3.  Software – This is where we get a bit crazy.  We love WordPress.  Give me 60 seconds to tell you why I’m a WordPress groupie.  Because its an Open-Source project.  Frankly I didn’t get all the fuss about open-source until a WordCamp a couple years ago where I got an earful by these guys.  But thats an earful for another day.

More about WordPress & Open Source

In a nutshell open-source means that the source code is not hidden.  It is open for anyone to have a looksee.  This is the single most important thing about WordPress.  10 year old kids all the way to brilliant full-time coders are submitting cool pieces to make it better every day.  And with all those people testing and developing it, it becomes the safest, bestest, coolest software.  And it isn’t owned, hidden, or offered to the highest bidder.  The development cycle is short and the user base HUGE.

Have I mentioned that its FREE?

And as I mentioned in the Intro to Brochure sites, it is infinitely extensible (think blogs, shops, FAQs, Forms, Emails, Events, Classrooms, etc).

Set up WordPress

To get WordPress onto your web host, you’ll need to follow these instructions.

Plugins

There are 12 plugins that we recommend for every installation of WordPress.  They will cover the basics like anti-spam, backups, security, ease of use.  After the basics, you’ll need to select the plugins that enhance the function of you site.

Themes

And lastly, you’ll need a professional theme to ‘dress’ your site.  The answers to your goal and marketing questions (from last week’s article) will determine what theme will work the best for your website.  In the fourth article in this series we will cover selecting and installing a theme in more depth.

In the next article, we’ll discuss what plugins are, how to use them and how to keep your site secure at the same time.

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