Setting up a Professional Website or Corporate Blog in Less than 10 Steps
Over the years, a number of friends who own small businesses have asked me to help set up a corporate blog or corporate website. I am always happy to oblige. However, if you would like to do this on your own, here are my steps. You’ll be surprised by how simple, cheap and easy it is to put up a professional looking site.
First, you will need to get a domain name (www.yourcompanyname.com) and a webhost. I recommend getting Bluehost as your webhost because you can Livechat with a customer support staff if you get confused. I have been using Bluehost for the past few years and it has been smooth sailing. When you sign-up for a Bluehost account (US$6.95/month), you will be given a free domain name which kills two birds with one stone.
Now, you’ve got everything you need to establish a web presence. Login at www.bluehost.com with the username and password provided. This is what you will see and as as you can tell, there are a lot of features provided. If you have the time, you can learn about all these features by watching video tutorials.
To set up your corporate website or blog, scroll down and click on the SimpleScripts icon under Software/Services.
You will come to this page.
Click the Wordpress icon under Blogs
This will take you to a page that introduces you to Wordpress, the world’s most reliable and popular self-install blog platform. If you would like to familiarise yourself with Wordpress, you can read more about it at www.wordpress.org
To set up your professional blog or website, click the shiny Install Now button and follow the instructions in the next pages.
In a few minutes, you will be able to see a very simple website at www.yourcompanyname.com
Tip:
To make your website look more stylish, choose a free theme at http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/
To extend its features, get additional plugins at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
You will also receive an email with a new username and password. Login to access your website’s dashboard at www.yourcompanyname.com/wp-admin
You can choose to Write a New Page or Write a New Post.
For a corporate website, I will usually create a few new pages for
- Company
- Management Team
- Products
- Track Record (Past achievements, awards, accolades, milestones and recognitions)
- Customer Testimonials
- Investor Information
- Contact Information
Since Wordpress is a blog platform, the default setting is that the main page at http://www.yourcompanyname.com will show your blog posts. I will normally change this so that the front page shows the “Company” page. Go to your Reading Settings at http://www.yourcompanyname.com/wp-admin/options-reading.php
Select these options
Front page displays: A static page
Front page: Choose from the drop-down list the “Company” page.
Posts page: If you think you will not have the time to update a blog regularly, leave this blank. If you would like a corporate website with a corporate blog, create a new page entitled “Blog” and select this page.
Click Save and you’re done!
You’ve now got a professional looking corporate website and/or corporate blog! Isn’t that affordable and easy? If you’ve got questions, feel free to email me.
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