How to Make a Free Business Website using WordPress

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.

WordPress Installation & Essentials

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

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 Web Hosting for Business in the UK

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 too. This is your 'get out of jail free' card if something goes horribly wrong. Don't take backups for granted! ...
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My Favourite WordPress Plugins

Plugins are used to add extra functionality to WordPress. There are over 58,000 to choose from but here are my current favourite nine plugins that I like to install on just about every WordPress website I look after.

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 about how many people are visiting your website. Koko is a great privacy-focused alternative to the market leader, Google Analytics ...
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Configuring the Really Simple SSL plugin

Modern websites need to be SSL-enabled. In other words the URL of your website needs to start with https:// instead of http://. The Really Simple SSL plugin makes this whole process easier ...
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How to configure the Redirection plugin

If you ever change the URL of a page on your website it's important to redirect the old URL to the new address. This avoids search engine confusion. The Redirection plugin is a useful tool for this ...
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Configuring Wordfence for WordPress

All websites can be hacked. Simple as that. Get used to it. Although WordPress is pretty secure by default it makes sense to add a few extra layers of security if possible. Wordfence is probably the most popular security plugin available ...
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How to configure WP Mail SMTP for WordPress

From time-to-time you'll need your website to automatically send e-mails on your behalf. You can make this whole process more efficient by using a SMTP plugin ...
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Setting up WP YouTube Lyte for WordPress

Need to embed YouTube videos on your website? Did you know this has potential implications for GDPR? Did you know they can slow your website down? This little plugin fixes all that! ...
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Configuring WPForms Lite for WordPress

Need a contact form for your WordPress website? WPForms is one of the most popular free contact forms available. In this article I'll show you how I normally configure it ...
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How to set up WPS Hide Login

Every WordPress website in the world can be accessed via the wp-login admin page. If you want to add an extra layer of security you can rename that page. How do you do that? Using a plugin! ...
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How to use Yoast SEO for WordPress

Want people to actually visit your website? You'll need to make your website search engine friendly. This whole process is known as Search Engine Optimisation or SEO. In this article I'll show you how to use Yoast SEO ...
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About
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Andy Mac

Andy MacLellan has been self employed for over 20 years. In that time he's established award winning businesses and consulted for some of the biggest corporate blue-chips on the planet. His life now revolves around providing independent help to smaller businesses.