[Admin's Note: My wife just put up her very first WordPress website, and she wanted to share her experiences. You can check it out at www.ApronFreeCooking.com after you finish reading about how easy it was for her. Thanks in advance! Be well. ~John]
Do you or your business have a website? Do you need one?
The answer to the first question might be: yes, no or sort of. The answer to the second question is: most likely.
Why do you need a website?
Websites are generally a way to communicate with your customers about your products and services. You may use a website to sell those products or services. But there are many other reasons to set up and maintain a website. One reason to have even a simple one-page site is so that you can be found. Many people are not using traditional phone books to search for contact information, they use an internet search. If they put your business name in a search engine, they will find your website which can contain your contact info.
I just launched a website, www.ApronFreeCooking.com, for several reasons. First, I wanted to learn something new. Second, I wanted to begin generating interest in my upcoming cookbook. Third, I wanted to expand the format of my recipes from just a printed book to another media.
How I developed my website
The process I went through was actually quite simple. Please keep in mind that while I have used computers for years, the programs have been geared towards data entry or fall into the Microsoft Office family. I am not a computer programmer. I’m one of those people who leave the VCR/DVD clock on “blinky time”.
- Find a Hosting / Internet Provider.
- Pick a Domain name and register it.
- Create your site. I used WordPress themes and plugins.
- Play with the site, build up content and learn how to make changes.
- Establish affiliate accounts so you can make sales, take payments, etc
- Announce your site and Go Live!
Finding a hosting company can be a simple or complicated matter. You can put as much time and effort into this as you like. Initially we used the same company for our web hosting as we used for our internet access. It was a decision made for simplicity. We had their services, web hosting was just one more add on feature. That company was good at providing access to the World Wide Web and not so good at hosting my website. So we did a little research and changed host providers. DreamHost.com has turned out to be a super choice for us in terms of web hosting. My website only costs us $10 per year. I have unlimited server space, email addresses, and tech support. We have three domains with them, which is part of the reason it’s only $10. But we are very happy with their services. (If you decide to sign up with DreamHost, use coupon code DoinkSave20 to save an extra $20 off their already low prices.)
Picking a domain name took me a couple days. We sat at the kitchen table and had a brainstorming session. I wrote down every possible name we came up with. We used words that fit my product: Cooking, Food, Recipes, Convenient, Simple, Easy, Fast, etc. I think we had nearly 50 options on the paper by time we ran out of steam. Then, I thought about the names for a couple days, went back to the list and eliminated names that I didn’t like. The remaining names, we tested for availability. I was lucky, my top choice in names was available.
Creating my site took me awhile. My husband, who is my local technical support guru, spent some time showing me how to use WordPress. Once we had the basic install setup (using a 1-click install), I was able to test different themes and plug in programs. These programs are very user friendly, some almost intuitive. I could click and drag, cut and paste, and design my site my way. It was easy to change colors and screen layouts. I tried several themes before settling on the one I currently use; Mystique.
After I had decided on a theme, I spent some time maneuvering around the theme. I added pages, deleted pages, inserted pictures, graphics and plug ins. I ended up with a wild looking experiment. That was fine. I learned that almost nothing I did was fatal. It was easy enough to delete things I didn’t want and start over. This was an important part of the process. I needed to know what would happen when I did something that wasn’t exactly a great idea. During this time, I was adding content because some of the items I uploaded were real. I figured if I was going to test the recipe plugin, I might as well use a real recipe! The time I spent learning how to use the theme and plugins ended up being beneficial for my education as well as my site content.
Affiliates are other companies that you form a partnership with. You may place an advertisement on your site, that links to their sales catalog and they pay a commission for each order your referral makes. You may set up a store on your site to sell products that come from the affiliate company. You may set aside a portion of your site for advertising and let the affiliate company insert ads that are appropriate to your content. There are as many ways to be an affiliate as there are companies to affiliate with. Let’s just say that’s a whole heck of a lot!! You’ll need to spend time researching companies and products that you feel fit your site and that you are comfortable recommending. Each affiliate has its own terms of service agreement, so you’ll want to become familiar with that and understand how and when you are going to be paid. Affiliate income may be large or small, but it will certainly help defray the cost of your site.
The last step in the process is the most exciting! Announce your site and Go Live! You want to mark your site so that search engines can find it. You’ll want to send an email, letter, press release, radio broadcast, shout it from the mountain top … however you are best able to communicate with your audience. Let people know about your site. I sent an email to my friends and family, then put a short announcement on my social media page. Then I printed up some business cards to carry with me and pass out to people I talk to who may be interested. The first business card I gave out … to my librarian! She’s always pointing me to new cookbooks and decorating idea books. I thought she might like to see what I was doing with some of that reading. Ok, so in all honesty, my husband strongly hinted to her that I was doing something really cool and she should ask me. <wink wink nudge nudge> Not only is he a great technical support guru, he’s pretty good at the marketing ideas also!
Launching a website can be challenging but it can be very rewarding. I found the process to be educational and overall, quite simple. The best thing about having a website, is that I now have a way to expand my client base and publicize my recipes. All the while, I’m having fun!
So, go check out my site and let me know what you think! Leave some comments or submit a recipe!
~Noel
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