Creating a simple website is an essential life skill. Even if you plan to outsource your web design needs, creating your own site is still a good idea. You’ll learn about the basics of how modern websites work and you’ll be much better prepared to ask your web developer the right questions.

In this series of videos and articles I’m taking you through creating a simple business website from scratch. Not just any website but THIS actual website and the associated YouTube channel!

WordPress Installation & Essentials

The fundamentals of a WordPress website (part 1)

Let's get started! An introduction to how websites work, web hosting and what exactly is WordPress? How techie do you need to be and is this really free? ...
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How to register a Domain Name (part 2)

One of the first things you need to do when you make a website is to buy a domain name. Let's have a look at how to do that. From domain name types to registration periods ...
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Making my YouTube channel (part 3)

A bit of a break from the website series so you can skip this one if you don't want to follow the journey of this channel. In this article I'm making the actual YouTube channel for this website ...
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Setting up your web hosting (part 4)

Welcome to part 4 in this series about creating your very own business website! In this article I'll show you what's involved in setting up web hosting for your business prior to installing WordPress ...
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How to manually install WordPress (part 5)

Once your web hosting is up and running it's time to install WordPress. Some hosts will do this automatically for you but I prefer to do it manually. You'll learn more about how everything works and if something breaks in the future you'll stand a better chance of fixing it ...
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Designing my Logo (part 6)

Another optional step! If you don't already have one you'll need a logo for your business website. This is just a very chilled timelapse of me making the logo for this site. I'm no graphic designer but I'm happy with the final result ...
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An overview of WordPress and how it works (part 7)

You should now have WordPress installed so let me give you a guided tour so you know where everything is. I'm using the free Twenty Seventeen theme and I'll explain everything from widgets to blog sidebars ...
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Installing WordPress plugins (part 8)

You don't have to install Plugins for WordPress but there are a few that I like to use by default. In this article we'll chat about what plugins are, how to install them and I'll give you a list of some of my favourite plugins for WordPress ...
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Basic WordPress security (part 9)

Now that you've built your shiny new website it's important that you keep everything secure. Any website can be hacked and there are a few simple steps you can take to minimise the chances of anything going wrong ...
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Backing up your WordPress website (part 10)

Although most web hosts will backup your website for you, it's important to perform your own website backups. This is your 'get out of jail free' card if something goes horribly wrong. Don't take backups for granted ...
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WordPress Plugins

How to configure Koko Analytics

You can normally obtain basic analytics data directly from your web host. However it’s useful to gather your own statistics ...
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Configuring Really Simple SSL

Before you configure this plugin please make sure you've read the important accompanying information on this page. If you spot ...
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How to configure the Redirection plugin

Before you configure this plugin please make sure you've read the important accompanying information on this page. If you spot ...
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Configuring Wordfence for WordPress

Before you configure this plugin please make sure you've read the important accompanying information on this page. If you spot ...
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How to configure WP Mail SMTP for WordPress

Before you configure this plugin please make sure you've read the important accompanying information on this page. If you spot ...
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Setting up WP YouTube Lyte for WordPress

Before you configure this plugin please make sure you've read the important accompanying information on this page. If you spot ...
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Configuring WPForms Lite for WordPress

Before you configure this plugin please make sure you've read the important accompanying information on this page. If you spot ...
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How to set up WPS Hide Login

Before you configure this plugin please make sure you've read the important accompanying information on this page. If you spot ...
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Configuration of Yoast SEO for WordPress

Before you configure this plugin please make sure you've read the important accompanying information on this page. If you spot ...
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