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.

1.  Step One: Log into Flickr

2.  Step Two: Click on Share

When you click on Share – > More share options, get the BBcode – and it will look something like this:

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/27186552@N08/3991626682/][img]http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2592/3991626682_d372402407.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/27186552@N08/3991626682/]blue rose[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/27186552@N08/]o2cathy[/url], on Flickr 

3.  Step Three: Paste into Post

You have two options.  If you want to place the image (as is), you can use the regular flickr link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27186552@N08/3991626682/ 

 Paste this link into the visual editor where you want the image to show up.

If you’d like to use the image with the built-in WordPress capabilities – to align it in the text, add borders, titles, and captions, then you need the actual image – not the flickr link.  The image link is the one that ends in …..jpg.

Like this: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2592/3991626682_d372402407.jpg  

Because this is an actual IMAGE link, you can use the “add an image” button in your post editor, found here:

And click on the “From URL” tab here:

Add your URL, a title (for good SEO), alternate text – for voice browsers, a caption (optional), alignment, and a link.  Then click Insert into Post.

Questions?

What is a Brochure Site?

A ‘brochure site’ is usually characterized by a few static webpages (usually up to 6) that represent a company’s online presence.  They are often informational in purpose, with very little interactivity built in.  The content is usually readily available from the company’s other printed and marketing materials.   They are fast to build, easy to design (using the company’s existing branding) and can fit into any budget.

Examples:

MaryMcCoy.com, a consultant, executive coach and speaker.

Best Family Travel Experts, a group of travel writers combining forces.

The downside is that they are not taking advantage of the social networking, drawing in visitors & customers with fresh content, thus becoming an authority in their niche.  They lack the pizazz of the newer interactive sites that are driving the purchasing decisions of consumers.

So why do we still offer a standard brochure site?  Because we believe WordPress is an excellent starting point and can become the foundation for any great website! WordPress is infinitely extensible.  In our four years of existence we’ve integrated forums, live chat functions, shops (of course!), ticketing systems, online classrooms, email auto-responders, polls, FAQs, newsletters, feed aggregators (like a magazine), portfolios, galleries, submissions, google maps and more.   Naturally we think WordPress makes the best sense for a company’s first foray into the web,  because it will prevent the timely and costly transition when its time to grow and add some fancy interactivity into your website.

Do you need a brochure site?

Brochure sites are great for two types of companies: those with start-up budgets, and those whose websites will compose less than 25% of the marketing plan.

In planning a web development project we always go over these questions with clients to help determine the best solutions.  The visionary for your company will be able to talk about the answers to these questions for hours!  If taking this to a developer, be sure to pare it down to a manageable few sentences per answer.

1. What place in your overall marketing does the website play?  In other words – is it your sole marketing tool?  Or the least important one?
2. What do you want a reader to DO when they get to your site? Possibilities: read something, sign up to something, contact you, purchase something, learn something.
3. Who do you want to visit the site? What does this person(s) look like?  What is their age, marital status, location, beliefs, interests, hobbies, past purchases, budget, online habits.  Are they new to your brand? The more you know about your target audience, the more effective your website will be at reaching them.
4. Are search engines’ ability to read the site paramount?  This answer effects whether you’ll want to budget more time to scrutinize and re-work your copy.
5. Are legal issues, copyright, and/or privacy of particular concern to your industry?
6. Various logistical issues with a brochure site – who is the main point of contact; who is creating/editing the content; is content creation or architecture review needed; how much time is going to be spent on the site for updates and security, access issues, translations.

Summary

We all want to see the highest return on our small business dollars.  So starting your first website correctly can be the wisest marketing decision you make.  If you do need something more from your website, talk to a developer about your needs and budget accordingly.  If budget is a concern, learn from available resources (such as this one)  or start small with a brochure website on WordPress. From here, you can extend and grow as needed.

This question deserves an answer right away.  As do all your questions, and I’ll be answering your emails and questions as quickly as I can.

Answer: No.  This is not your fault.   As I tried to explain via the newsletter regarding the outage – this was caused by a variety of factors.  Most of which are “higher load” than usual.  This is NOT the same as:

• extra traffic
• extra plugins
• bigger or graphically heavy themes
• videos,
• viruses
• or anything else that you’ve done