How To Build A Simple Website (And Make Money From It)

Top 10 highest earning blogs  2019

Here is an updated list of the top 10 highest earning blogs in the world.

• The Huffington post (Monthly earnings: ~$2,330,0000)
• Mashable (Monthly earnings: ~$560,000)
• Perez Hilton (Monthly earnings: ~$450,000)
• TechCrunch (Monthly earnings: ~$400,000)
• Smashing magazine (Monthly earnings: ~$190,000)
• Timothy Sykes (Monthly earnings: ~$150,000)
• Gothamist (Monthly earnings: ~$110,000)
• Tuts Plus (Monthly earnings: ~$110,000)
• Car advice (Monthly earnings: ~$70,000)
• Venture beat (Monthly earnings: ~$60,000)

If you are reading this guide, then here’s why you will find this BLOG setup guide useful.

There’s a lot of information on my site about affiliate marketing specifically, but I wanted to make a general page about how to build a simple website so I could reference back to it.

There are many ways to build a website, and many reasons to make one. I am how to show you one specific way to build a simple website that can be use for many different reasons. However, our end goal is going to be making money with this site.

If you want to learn how to build a simple website & make money from it, this is the page to be on.

Of course, I can not show you the entire money-making process here because that takes a long time to learn & I do not want to confuse this page with a bunch of unnecessary information.

I’ll link to resources at the bottom for you how can turn your website into a real business. For now, I suggest you skim the page for basic information, because you have a few options to decide before you take your first step.

Let’s get started.

HOW TO MAKE A WEBSITE

An easy, step-by-step guide from a web developer

STEP 1: Choose a website building platform
STEP 2: Choose your website address (www.)
STEP 3: Set up and customize your website

Step 1: Choose the Correct Platform

It is essential to choose a good platform for making or constructing a good website. This process is also termed as content management system and the major aim of this process is to create is website that is easy to operate and that is user friendly having good speed.

What is content management system?

HTML and CSS were used at the start for the website development. The HTML coding was considered as the most significant thing for creating a good website when I started developing a new website. Even Flash was used at that time for the creating of websites. However, these tools were not effective and quick, as they need a lot of time to create a website and in the same fashion, these tools or languages were not easy to master due to their high level of complexity.

It is the major reason that most of the experts and web developer believe that creating a website from scratch or from the raw data is a hard nut to crack and it requires enormous coding and advanced level designing skills. However, the trend has been changed and this stance is no longer supportive in terms of website development. In the contemporary world, content management system (CMS) such as Word Press have revolutionized the field of web design and website creation and it has not remained a hard nut to crack any more. Every person can use these tools easily and they can easily access websites.

The content management system is also termed as website building or website creating platform and it is user-friendly and easily accessible platform that helps to create and manage your personal online content. It has eliminated the need using huge number of useless HTML pages.

Most famous content management systems of 2018

WordPress has topped the list of the most famous and the most accessible content management system according to a recent survey made by W3Techs. It occupies more than fifty-five percent share of the market. Joomla is the second mostly used content management system in this list having market share of more than twenty percent. Likewise, Drupal is the third in this list and it constitutes market share up to eleven percent.

Why I recommend WordPress for website building?

WordPress Vs HTML& CSS: HTML is not easy to learn and it can take more than six months for mastering it if the person is a beginner. On the other hand, CSS and PHP are the other additional elements that are to be skilled to create website perfectly. It is seen that persons having basic knowledge about HTML can understand and organize things rapidly. However, it becomes very difficult to create a website in a short of one or two days. I would recommend that learning HTML is not suitable options therefore avoid it.

WordPress vs. Website Builders: WordPress is far better than the website builders as these are not easily accessible due to their scarcity along with the price of the website builders is very high that makes them expensive and out of range. Moreover, website builders are good for building one page websites but they are not suitable for creating long and heavy websites.

WordPress vs. Joomla/Drupal: Drupal is a wonderful and the most effective and the most powerful tool for website development and it is very famous platform among experienced coders and web developers. However, it is not suitable for the beginners as it has very tough learning modules that makes is a poor choice of new candidates and entrants in the field. On the other hand, WordPress is much easier and easily comprehendible as compared to Drupal. Likewise, Joomla is also a good web-developing platform, it is also easier than Drupal, and it works perfectly in case of online stores. However, there is always a need of strong knowledge about technical coding to make it work perfect. Nevertheless, there is no need of learning and mastering technical coding in case of WordPress.

I would recommend checking the guidelines and requirements of Drupal, Joomla, and HTML 5 as well if someone is not willing to use WordPress for website creation. The most interesting thing about all these web-building platforms is that they all are free of cost. However, I would strongly recommend the new entrants and the beginners to start with WordPress, as they will lose their interest in the subject due to complexity of other web creation platforms. It is the easiest and the most easily accessible platform I have ever used in my life. Moreover, it is elastic in nature and it is the best recommendation for freelancers, entrepreneurs, bloggers, and enthusiastic and creative artists.

Things to consider before moving to next round

The first thing is the selection of a suitable platform for the website development. I would suggest you WordPress in this context as it is the most simple and easy to use and it is free of cost web-development platform. I would also teach you in this guide how to create a website using WordPress quickly. However, there is no need to download or to install anything at this stage, as I will tell you when to do this in the next couple of steps.

Step 2: Getting a Domain and Web Hosting

There are two major requirements for setting up your WordPress or any other sort of website. These requirements are listed as:

1. The first requirement is having a proper web address such as yoursitename.com. it is also termed as the domain name
2. The second thing is to have a hosting. It is a service that connects the website to the internet.

It must be kept in mind that the WordPress platform is totally free itself but the domain name and hosting would cost you around $3-$5 and it is less than cost of a coffee mug therefore it would not run you out of money. One of the major advantage of having personal domain name is that it would impart professional and decent look to you and it is not hard to afford as told earlier.

How to get a domain name and website hosting?

Planning and making a website has never been so easy. You can make your website and make money by simply registering your domain at Hawkhost.

• The registration fee for one year is $10.95.

Hawkhost is an authentic platform to register your domains and maintain website hosting. Hawkhost offers flat-rates. Another advantage of Hawkhost is free privacy for one year. Hawkhost also offers great speed and excellent security. Before using Hawkhost, I have had a bad experience with another platform on which I faced severe security issues. However, after using Hawkhost, I am pretty sure that I am using a secure and private platform.

I recommend everyone to use Hawkhost and avoid using Godaddy. I had a very bad experience with Godaddy where I faced problems for almost six years.

I also recommend using Wealthy Affiliates which can help you to make websites and also to make money online.

• Wealthy Affiliates offer domains at $15 per year.
• Wealthy Affiliates also offer website hostings at $ 49 per month.

The monthly website hosting is offered for 25 websites. The question is that why we should pay more when Hawkhost offers the same services at low prices.

The simple answer to this question is that with Wealthy Affiliate, you can have more resources and planning tools to make websites and earn more money.

On the other hand, Hawkhost has a complex system, which does not provide the ease of understanding and making a website through a simple process. The Wealthy Affiliate offers such processes and tools which are convenient to use and understand for making the websites.

Wealthy Affiliates also offers step by step training on website making process. Furthermore, it also provides training in making money from websites. Therefore, the $49 per month plan offered by Wealthy Affiliates also include the training programs which guide you through the website ranking process. This process includes the setting of your website, making graphics, making videos and inserting links.

We will go through more details of using this tool later. For now, you have to take decision-related to your own business and empowerment of community through your commitments for earning money.

How, You can do it?

1. Buy a domain name
2. Link DNS with your nameservers
3. Create a Log into cPanel
4. Create a domain through Addon domain (you do not need to take this step if this is your first domain)
5. Access the Site software
6. Choose WordPress Blogs
7. Create your Username and Password and fill in the additional info
8. Install the root domain
9. Do not alter ‘table prefix.’
10. Create New Database
11. WordPress Login and go through further steps

Making a website and earning money with Wealthy Affiliate

Note: The original training lessons are different and clear than my version of training lessons. The lessons also offer videos to make things clearer. Therefore, I have just explained the difference between making a website on your own and with the help of this smart tool.

1. Purchase your domain name from SiteDomains
2. Select your domain at SiteBuilder
3. Make website and WordPress Login

Buying a domain name at SiteDOmains

Make your website at SiteBuilder

Login to SiteManager

Note the difference between these methods. Previously we did it in 1 steps which are now limited to just three steps.

Step 3: WEBSITE SETUP AND CUSTOMIZATION

Choose a theme or template for your website

After installing WordPress to your domain, a very basic overview of a website will be available to you:

You need to look different from others!

That is the reason you need a template which will provide a new look to your website.

Here is a sample:

The interesting point: You will have to choose from a long list of professionally designed themes for customizing your website.

Here are some simple steps to find a theme which best suits your website:

1. Open the WordPress dashboard

If you do not know how to open it, you can type https://yoursite.com/wp-admin. In this address, replace yours with your domain name.

This is how the WordPress dashboard looks like:

You can see that everything is labeled in the dashboard.

2. Free themes

In the ‘Appearance’ tab, you will find hundreds of free themes. For more ease, I offer a list of the 15 most popular free WordPress themes. You can also check for more theme at ThemeForest.net. Beside this, I also recommend searching for free themes which are elegant and professional.

You can see that how simple is the installation of a theme.

The specific themes that suit your website can also be searched through keywords. You should select themes which are best suited for your website.

3. Install themes

Installing a theme is very simple, and it is just followed by some clicks and ‘Activate’ button.

Note: Changing a theme will not affect your website data.

How to add content and create new pages on your website?

After installing the theme, you can add content to your website.

Adding the pages

If you want to make a ‘Services’ or ‘About Us’ page, you can follow these steps:

1. In the sidebar menu of WordPress, add a new page from ‘Add New’ option
2. Once opened, you will find a page to add content. You can add images, texts, and graphics on your page.

Linking the pages

Link your pages to navigation bar through:

1. Save changes by clicking ‘Update.’
2. Click on ‘Appearance’ option in the sidebar
3. Add your pages to the list by checking the boxes and then clicking ‘Add to Menu.’

How to add and edit your posts?

Editing a blog can be done by clicking ‘Next.’

You can also add different categories and posts in your blog. Add any category to your menu, and you are ready to make posts. You can create a new category by clicking ‘Posts’ -> ‘Add New.’

Customize your website

Now I will explain some simple steps to customize your website.

Title and Taglines

Website pages have page titles which explain the basic idea of your website. Page titles are also vital for search engine optimization and ranking of a website. You need to add some keywords to your page title to make it searchable. You also need to set a title for website pages.

Taglines are put at the end of the titles on every page. You can change taglines by clicking ‘Settings’ -> ‘General.’ After this you will need to fill a form which is mentioned below:

How can you disable comments for Posts and Pages?

Some business websites do not need comments on their pages. You need to follow these steps to disable the comments:

1. On a new page, click ‘Screen Options’
2. Click on ‘Discussion Box.’
3. The ‘Allow Comments’ option will appear, and you need to uncheck ‘Allow Comments’

Do you want to disable comment by default?
Click ‘Settings’ -> ‘General’ and uncheck ‘Allow people to post comments on new articles.’

How to set up a static front page?

People are often frustrated about their home page. They complain that their home pages look like blog posts. They can fix this problem by making a ‘Static’ Homepage.

A static homepage remains unchanged. The static home page will show the same content every time someone visits the website. On the other hand, the blog pages shoe articles and other content at the top.

Follow these steps to set up a static homepage:

1. Click on ‘Settings’ -> ‘Reading’
2. Choose a static page for a new page which denotes your homepage such as a front page. Generally, the ‘Posts page’ is the front page of a website.

Note: WordPress will automatically take your latest content to show it on your homepage if you do not have a static page.

How to edit the sidebar?

The sidebar in most WordPress theme is at the right side. However, some themes also offer a left sidebar.
Follow these simple steps to edit and remove the sidebar:

1. Click ‘Appearance’ widget in the WordPress dashboard.
2. You can add and remove ‘boxes’ to your sidebar from this option.

You can also add an HTML code to an HTML text box. However, the beginners can drag items to the sidebar.

How to install Plugins in WordPress?

Plugins are used to enhance the features of WordPress. The additional features are added with the help of Plugins and WordPress offers more capacities to add, edit and customize the websites. These Plugins are also offered time-saving features which are otherwise difficult to build separately. You can use these Plugins to customize your website and enhancing the working of different features.

How to install a Plugin?

You can install Plugins by going to Plugins -> Add New. Here you can search thousands of Plugins which are best for your website customization. There are thousands of free Plugins, and you only need to find a perfect Plugin of your choice and then click the Install button to install that Plugin. For a better understanding of how to customize your website with the help of Plugins, you need to know about using WPPlugins.

I have also compiled a list of the most popular WordPress Plugins which can help you to customize your websites:

1. Contact form 7: the contact form is an excellent feature for WordPress websites. You can fill in the form and send me emails without logging in to your email accounts. This feature is available on my website. If you also want the same feature on your website, you need to install a plugin for it.
2. Yoast SEO for WordPress: Your website needs to be SEO friendly for better ranking and search engine optimization. With the help of this plugin, you can edit and customize your titles, tags, Meta descriptions and other things which are essential for SEO.
3. Google Analytics: You need to track your website traffic to know about your SEO efforts. For this purpose, Google Analytics provides great support which tracks down the visitors and website traffic for analysis.

Doing it with help

The Wealthy Affiliate explains the online money making through training programs and lessons. The Wealthy affiliate explains the process of creating website, finding a topic for your website, finding a topic for writing articles, and finding companies which are best for your website.

The first time registration of Wealthy Affiliate is free. The free registration offers first ten lessons and an opportunity to make a website for free. The premium membership of Wealthy Affiliate needs a dot com website from where you will manage all of your work. Wealthy Affiliate offers a premium membership for $49 per month. The website hosting is also included in this price.

So, there is a lot of difference in doing it on your own and with the help of experts because doing it by yourself will cost $300 a year and doing it with the help of experts will cost $60 per year.

However, you can make a choice which depends on your business approach. The Wealthy Affiliate offers great resources and helps which is assured when you enter into the Wealthy Affiliate Community. Waiting for someone who would email you after a long time will cost more to you. On the other hand, you can easily talk on live chat to take help from experts.

Join Wealthy Affiliate for free here

Some services of Wealthy Affiliate membership are:

• Protection from Spamming
• Protection from Hacking
• Emails (unlimited)
• Weekly Webinars
• Community Ad-Free zone
• Tool for keyword research

If you are interested in an explanation of any of the above-discussed topics, you are welcome to let me know in comments. For now, you need to understand that these features are excellent which can bring great customization for your website. The main features include the hosting, training, and help. These features are essential for earning money online. The training programs are offered for maintaining a strong portfolio of online websites which help the users to create an impact for website rankings.