If this is your first rodeo, we recommend using a website builder such as Wix, Squarespace, or GoDaddy to create your site. It's the best choice for tech newbies. Some of the easiest ways to create a website are with website builders that offer beginner-oriented interfaces. One of the most popular options are those with drag and drop tools.
But depending on where you create your website, you can also include it in your website creation package. Wix, Weebly, and Jimdo, for example, have the domain name included for free for the first year. The following years charge a little more than Namecheap, for example, but the added convenience of having to deal with just one company is usually worth it. With WordPress, you have the freedom to choose your own hosting provider, along with an almost unlimited capacity to create your site however you see fit.
These have been around for years, but modern builders are so powerful that one might have trouble distinguishing between a site built with a website builder and the services of an expensive professional. There are several approaches you can take to creating your own website or blog, even as a beginner. Brand awareness, lead generation, customer retention, loyalty, sales, and a digital home to call your own all start with creating a website. If for some reason you don't want to create your site with WordPress, also check out my Drupal, Joomla, HTML5 and website creation guides.
But, with the revolution of website builders and beginner-friendly CMS, it's now easier than ever to learn how to build a website, in record time. If a website builder is too complicated, they can delay making changes, which hurts the overall performance of your website. If you're really a beginner, you might want to look at sites that will serve as your competition and discover not only what they do well, but more importantly, what they do wrong. There are numerous alternatives such as Wix, Squarespace, Drupal and Joomla, to name a few, but none of them so far is as versatile and scalable as WordPress, which is why it is the most preferred way to create a website.
For the tutorial below, we'll walk you through the first two approaches highlighted above, using a website builder and installing a CMS such as WordPress on your site. For example, if you use a website builder, you can probably buy web hosting and a domain name at the same time. Of course, there are variations of all of these methods highlighted below, but beginners will want to follow one of three approaches. Try to create any page that builds trust among customers, such as blog posts or buyer's guides, and showcase your offer in the best light.
Website builders offer themes created by industry experts who know how to optimize websites to perform at their best.