You Don’t Need Any Experience To Start Your First Blog

Starting your first blog is an exciting idea. From now on you will be able to show the whole world what you are doing.

There are many different platforms to choose from when you start your first blog. I will say that WordPress is the best one. This is because of all benefits you will get using WordPress for your blog. The good thing with WordPress is that they have a free option with enough good templates to choose from. If you want to get more out of your blog you can choose a premium template.

When you start your first blog using WordPress you just need two things, a domain name and web hosting. That’s it!

If you google WordPress you will find both WordPress.com and WordPress.org and these two options are not exactly the same.
WordPress.com is a blog hosting service that gives you very limited options. However, WordPress.org on the other hand is where you can download the WordPress software which you then need to install on your own web hosting. While this may sound intimidating, it is really not. Many commercial web hosts offer a 1-click install for WordPress which means you can get your blog up in just a few minutes!

Should You Use WordPress Page Builders?

The default WordPress text editor works great when you are mainly writing hundreds or thousands of words for your articles or blog posts.
However, when you are building sales pages, landing pages, download pages, your website home page, and more, then the default editor doesn’t really give you a lot of options to make your site look nice.

If you want to edit your page, you need to know how to code. You can use HTML and CSS codes to make your page look nice. That is okay if you know how to code, but if you don’t, then you are out of luck, or?

Fortunately, you are not. WordPress gives you the option to use different page builders. These are drag-and-drop builders that allow you to drag and drop content anywhere on the page. You don’t have to imagine what your page is going to look like because these builders are also WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors. This means you can see how your live web page is going to look so you can design your page as you see fit.

Most page builders also include dozens of layouts and templates which make your web page design job a lot easier. You can easily edit these templates, swap your content and upload your own images, and in a few minutes, you will have a great-looking web page. No coding and no seat required!

There are just like the WordPress themes free and premium page builder plugins to choose from. Yes, it is a plugin, so it makes it very easy to use a page builder. If you just want to see how these plugins work, then try the free version first. Most get rave reviews from users, although premium page builders also have a considerable following.

For free page builders, you can check out Elementor, Beaver Builder Lite, Visual Composer, and Page Builder by SiteOrgin. For premium page builders, Beaver Builder has a premium version, or you can check out Thrive Architect by Divi Builder. The premium versions work best with themes from the same developer so you may want to consider that before buying one.

Don’t hesitate to read user reviews to find the most suitable page builder for your website needs. One thing is for sure though, once you get used to building beautiful web pages using page builders, it is going to be hard to go back to the plain WordPress editor.

5 Easy Steps To Create A Perfect Sales Page

Sales and leads are the lifeblood of all online businesses. If you are starting your first blog on WordPress, then you should be happy to know that creating attractive and high-converting sales pages is really easy on this platform.

Here are 5 steps on how you can create a perfect sales page:

1. Prepare Your Content – When preparing your content, it is essential to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Ask yourself ‘Why would I buy this product?’ Make your customer see just how useful your product is, and the benefits they will get if they purchase it.
   Make sure you use words that your audience uses. If you are targeting an older audience, then you don’t want to use slang terms. Always keep your audience in your mind while you write your sales copy.
2. Upload To Your WordPress Website – Once you have finished writing your content, it is time to upload it to your website. Don’t forget to also upload your product-related images and videos as these will help your customers in making their decision. Try not to use stock photos. Instead, use real photos so that people can actually see your product in action.
3. Design Your Sales Page – If you are not sure what the best design for your sales page is, you can go online to look for inspiration. With the help of a drag-and-drop page builder, building a sales page is even easier. You can easily drag a content model to your desired location. You can change colors and fonts easily, and do all sorts of customizations.
   Best of all, you don’t have to imagine what your sales page looks like. These drag-and-drop page builders are also WYSIWYG editors, so nothing is left to your imagination!
4. Link To Your Payment Processor – The most popular payment processors for online businesses are Stripe and PayPal. You will find plenty of plugins that make integrating a payment processor easy. You just need to choose the best one that suits your needs.
5. Publish Your Sales Page – Now that you have got all the important elements of your sales page in place, it is time to publish it and announce it to the world. Don’t forget to check your sales page on the front end, and try buying your product yourself, you can use the payment processors sandbox. Make sure there are no errors, and that your customers will have a great buying experience!

So, as you can see, it is very easy to make a really good-looking sales page in WordPress using one of all the page builders.

How To Build An Online Store

WordPress may seem like a blogger platform, but nothing can be more than the truth. WordPress is an extremely versatile software.
Themes and plugins help you change the way your site looks and functions with just a few mouse clicks. So, yes, it is entirely possible to build an online store in WordPress. In fact, millions of online stores are built on WordPress!

To begin, you need to have your own domain name and your own web hosting plan. Your domain name is your store name. It can be something like ‘myowesomestore.com’ or ‘bymyproductnow.com’. Domain names cost around $10 – $15 per year. However, you can get it for free with some web hosting companies.

For web hosting, you can choose to start with the basic plan just to see how things work. However, once your store starts gaining popularity and thousands of people visit your site every month, then you will need to upgrade to a more advanced hosting plan. Also, check if your web host offers a free SSL certificate for your plan. You will need this so you can accept payments on your website.

Once you have purchased your domain name and web hosting, you can then install WordPress on your site, and check that WordPress is included. Some commercial web hosts feature a 1-click WordPress install in their control panel or cPanel, so you may want to inquire about this with your web host.

With WordPress installed, you can proceed to download the WooCommerce plugin. The setup wizard will walk you through the basic store setup such as your store location, currency, payment methods, shipping, tax, etc. Once that is done. you can start adding products to your online store.

WooCommerce has a lot of features. For one, you can sell both physical and digital products on your site. You can accept online payments, bank transfers, and even cash-on-delivery payments. You can define all aspects of your online store. So, it is really not surprising that WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce plugin on WordPress.

To change your store’s appearance, there are plenty of WooCommerce-compatible themes to choose from. The free Storefront themes look great on WooCommerce sites, but if you want to make your site stand out, then consider buying a premium WooCommerce theme. With a well-designed and eye-catching storefront, more people will be willing to stay on your site and check out your products.

Top SEO Plugins For Your WordPress Site

The core WordPress software is optimized for SEO. However, you shouldn’t stop there.
With SEO plugins, you can further ensure your website ranks as high as possible on Google and other search engines. There are plenty of factors that affect a website’s SEO. Using a good plugin is just one factor in optimizing your website for search engines.

Top SEO Plugins

If you search for SEO plugins on WordPress you will find a whole plethora. But how do you know which one to use, which one is among the best?

• Yoast SEO – In the WordPress community, Yoast is highly recommended and is often touted as a must-have plugin for any WordPress site. This free plugin has been around for years, and it gets updated very regularly too. The plugin helps you structure your website in a way that makes it easy for search engines to crawl your site. It also helps you write better content that search engines love.
  Yoast gives you detailed and highly actionable suggestions in real time. It helps you create SEO-optimized titles, metadata, URL slugs, and so much more. The plugin is generally easy to understand. However, novice users will probably find themselves reeling from all the technical terms you will encounter on the plugin settings. The good thing is the Yoast community is very robust. You will find people willing to help out and give suggestions to help make your site better SEO-wise.
• All In One SEO Pach – The second most popular SEO plugin is the All In One SEO Pack plugin. It has most of the features that Yoast has but in a slim and boat-free interface. It also has comprehensive documentation, so whether you are a beginner or an advanced WordPress user, you can easily use all that this plugin has to offer.
  Sometimes, you may notice that one of your pages has been downranked or worse – never ranked high. All In One SEO Pack gives you the freedom to choose which features to activate. For instance, you can activate XML sitemaps, social media, robots.txt, file editor, bad bot blocker, etc. Some people also prefer this plugin’s interface over Yoast. But, of course, that all boils down to personal preferences.

Conclusion

Both Yoast and All In One SEO Pack are useful plugins for improving your on-site and on-page SEO. Whichever plugin you choose to install, is just one-half of the equation. You still need to consider the off-site SEO factors if you want to have your site rank for the long term.

Protect Your Site From Hackers

Hackers and bots are two of the biggest threats against WordPress websites.
If you don’t take proactive measures to protect your site, then you can lose everything – your website files, your email list, your income, everything!

Here are some basic measures you can follow to protect your site:

1. Make Sure Your WordPress Version Is Up To Date – WordPress gets updated pretty regularly, and they do this for a good reason. With the sheer number of automated attacks carried out on WordPress websites daily, it is important that the software is frequently updated to stop hackers, bots, and botnets in their tracks. If you don’t update your WordPress, then it is like you are sending an invitation to hackers telling them to exploit the vulnerabilities in your non-updated WordPress.
2. Update Your Themes And Plugins – Just like your core WordPress software, themes, and plugins get updated from time to time as well. This is important so that these themes and plugins remain compatible with the latest version of WordPress. Also, if you don’t update, chances are hackers and bots will find something to exploit so they can access your site.
3. Backup Your Website Regularly – For your peace of mind, it is best to back up your website regularly. There are several plugins you can choose from on WordPress that offer automated daily backups. More importantly, you want o consider using a plugin that offers 1-click restore features. Even if your website gets hackers, you can still restore your site easily.
4. Use A Strong And Hard-To-Guess Password – You don’t want to use the old ‘admin’ username and password combination. That is the first thing bots guess when they attack a site. You are practically giving them free access to your site! For better security, you should use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Keep your login details in a secure location, or you can use a password manager to help keep your details safe.
5. Hire A WordPress Security Expert – Plugins can only do so much. In the end, bots are programmed by human hackers who can make these nasty pieces of computer code as sophisticated as they need to be. A human WordPress security expert is your best bet if you want to keep your site safe. They will come at a cost though so keep this in mind if you truly want to keep your WordPress site safe.

There was just a few things you can do to keep your site safe from hackers or just an error that makes everything disappear. If you don’t have that much money to pay for plugins or a premium plugin you can use the free version if they offer one. One tip to always keep your site updated if you don’t have the money to pay for an expensive plugin is to install an export/import plugin. This way you can export your data, images, and more. If your site then gets hacked or for any other reason gets a major error you can always import your data. This is of course more time-consuming than a backup plugin or backup plan.

Wrapping Up

You may think that setup your own WordPress blog or store is something for the more experienced person, but you could not be more wrong here.

In fact, using WordPress is very easy and you don’t need any special skills to do that. You even have to be experienced to make your WordPress site stand out and rank well. WordPress makes everything so easy. Just remember to use the right plugins or page builders and themes. If you do that you will see how easy it is to set up your own blog or online store.

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