{"id":247,"date":"2022-03-10T03:28:51","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T03:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/?p=247"},"modified":"2022-03-11T13:12:09","modified_gmt":"2022-03-11T13:12:09","slug":"how-to-build-a-wordpress-web-site-for-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/how-to-build-a-wordpress-web-site-for-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Build a WordPress Web Site for Your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_248\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-248\" style=\"width: 890px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-248\" src=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/create-wordpress-site.jpg\" alt=\"create wordpress site\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/create-wordpress-site.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/create-wordpress-site-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/create-wordpress-site-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/create-wordpress-site-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-248\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><center><a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/wordpress-water-logo-background-588495\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">27707 \/ Pixabay<\/span><\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/deed.en\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">CC0 1.0<\/span><\/a><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-transparent ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/how-to-build-a-wordpress-web-site-for-your-business\/#Five_Steps_to_Improving_Your_Business_Web_Site_Using_WordPress\" >Five Steps to Improving Your Business Web Site Using WordPress<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-6' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-6'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/how-to-build-a-wordpress-web-site-for-your-business\/#Select_Your_Website_Hosting_Platform\" >Select Your Website Hosting Platform<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-6'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/how-to-build-a-wordpress-web-site-for-your-business\/#Plan_Your_Website_Content\" >Plan Your Website Content<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-6'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/how-to-build-a-wordpress-web-site-for-your-business\/#Select_a_WordPress_Theme_or_Develop_a_Customer_WordPress_Theme\" >Select a WordPress Theme or Develop a Customer WordPress Theme<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-6'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/how-to-build-a-wordpress-web-site-for-your-business\/#Build_a_Website_Structure_for_Your_Business_in_WordPress\" >Build a Website Structure for Your Business in WordPress<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-6'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/how-to-build-a-wordpress-web-site-for-your-business\/#Populate_and_Optimize_Your_Business_Website_for_Users_and_Search_Engines\" >Populate and Optimize Your Business Website for Users and Search Engines<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-6'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/how-to-build-a-wordpress-web-site-for-your-business\/#Bottom_Line\" >Bottom Line<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Five_Steps_to_Improving_Your_Business_Web_Site_Using_WordPress\"><\/span>Five Steps to Improving Your Business Web Site Using WordPress<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WordPress is a Stable, Secure, Web Development Solution for Businesses.<\/strong> Two short years ago, most of us thought of WordPress as a <strong>simple blogging tool<\/strong>. No more. Thanks to the excellent open source development community behind WordPress, the latest version of WordPress is a very stable and secure open source content management system for web development.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In fact, because of the enhancements in the latest version of WordPress, it\u2019s never been easier to build a high quality, search engine ready website for your business.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">All of that said, developing a beautiful business website in WordPress requires taking into consideration <strong>proper web development planning and design principles<\/strong>. If you\u2019re planning on building a WordPress website for your business, <strong>here are a few of the things that you should consider.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h6 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Select_Your_Website_Hosting_Platform\"><\/span>Select Your Website Hosting Platform<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h6>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>If you\u2019re hosting a simple blog, you can host it at WordPress<\/strong>. Businesses developing a full-scale website will need to choose a more robust hosting solution. Most ISPs and hosting companies have solutions that work with WordPress.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Here are the minimum requirements for hosting as outlined by WordPress. Your hosting company needs to provide <strong>PHP version 5.2.4<\/strong> or greater and <strong>MySQL version 5.0<\/strong> or higher. Also, WordPress recommends <strong>Apache or Nginx<\/strong> as the best server platforms.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">One other thing to consider when selecting a hosting company, some companies have very easy simple to use WordPress installations others require a manual installation (meaning you have to load the files and install them through your FTP client).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The manual installation isn\u2019t difficult for users with core competencies, for novice users I would recommend selecting a <strong>hosting provider with an installation graphic interface<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h6 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Plan_Your_Website_Content\"><\/span>Plan Your Website Content<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h6>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Planning content is a significant step in the development of any website<\/strong>. The first consideration is what type of site are you building? Is it a commerce site, a marketing site, an informational site, an entertainment site, a news site, a customer support site, or some combination of the previous?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Are there specific industry requirements that need to be considered? For example, if you\u2019re in the real estate sector, will you need to showcase properties? Will that information be hosted on your site, or come from another source? If you\u2019re in the retail industry, will you be featuring inventory from your store?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Does your website need to integrate with your point of sale system? The list here is far too long to include in this article, but it\u2019s <strong>crucial that you work through these details with your marketing team and outside agency if you have one.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Once you\u2019ve determined the type of site that you\u2019re building, you need to <strong>create a primary navigation for the site<\/strong>. There are several tools available for creating web navigation maps. If you\u2019re working on a <strong>Mac my favorite is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omnigroup.com\/omnigraffle\" target=\"_blank\">Omnigraffle<\/a><\/strong>. If you\u2019re working on a <strong>PC, the best tool is <a href=\"https:\/\/products.office.com\/en\/visio\/flowchart-software\" target=\"_blank\">Visio<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Your site map should include the primary menu navigation on the site<\/strong> \u2013 which pages will be part at the parent and child level on the menu. You should also take into consideration whether that content is going to buy dynamic (changed frequently) or stable (changed less often).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">WordPress lets you put both posts and pages in the primary menu. If you\u2019re going to be updating content frequently, it might be easier to work with posts. If you\u2019re going to be leaving your content alone, it might be simpler to use pages. <strong>If you have a mix of content, or you want to include your blog in the main menu (which I recommend) you can include a combination of pages and posts in your menu.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h6 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Select_a_WordPress_Theme_or_Develop_a_Customer_WordPress_Theme\"><\/span>Select a WordPress Theme or Develop a Customer WordPress Theme<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h6>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The content for your business website will dictate whether you can use a <strong>pre-built WordPress theme<\/strong> or you need to <strong>develop a custom theme<\/strong>. Depending on the complexity of your site, it\u2019s usually worth looking through the current themes available to see if they include the structure and functionality that you need for your site.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As with hosting companies, several high-quality developers are providing WordPress themes. Some WordPress themes are free others available for a single-use license fee, or a universal-use license fee.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If you decide that your business website requires a customer WordPress theme, <strong>you\u2019ll want to find an internal resource or find an outside web developer to help you build your theme.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h6 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Build_a_Website_Structure_for_Your_Business_in_WordPress\"><\/span>Build a Website Structure for Your Business in WordPress<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h6>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Once the WordPress theme that you purchased or developed is installed in a hosted environment, you can start building out the <strong>core structure for your business website<\/strong>. Referring to the primary navigation that you developed you should start creating pages (both parent and children pages) and posts and post categories that match your sitemap.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">While you\u2019re building out your website structure, you might also consider <strong>installing WordPress extensions and plugins<\/strong> to create enhanced website functionality. There are multiple extensions and plugins available to help with things like event calendars, pulling in Twitter content, pulling in RSS content, creating a shopping cart, and much more.<\/p>\n<h6 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Populate_and_Optimize_Your_Business_Website_for_Users_and_Search_Engines\"><\/span>Populate and Optimize Your Business Website for Users and Search Engines<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h6>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">With your theme built and your primary website structure in place, <strong>you can start adding content and optimizing the site for users and search engines<\/strong>. WordPress makes very easy to add content to your site both through pages and posts. Also, there are several SEO tools (extensions) available that make it easy to optimize your site for search engines. My favorite SEO tool is <a href=\"https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/\" target=\"_blank\">Yoast SEO<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>As you\u2019re developing your page content, and metadata remember to<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Make sure your page content is relevant.<\/li>\n<li>Focus on the keywords in your content that will attract and appeal to the users you want on the site.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure that your images have alt text tags.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure that your Page Titles, Keywords, and Descriptions are the right length, are unique and match the content on the site.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h6 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Bottom_Line\"><\/span>Bottom Line<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h6>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">WordPress is an excellent website development platform for your business. If you take the time to build your site correctly and use all of the tools available to the open source community, you\u2019ll be able to create a pleasant experience for your customers and a great tool for your business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five Steps to Improving Your Business Web Site Using WordPress WordPress is a Stable, Secure, Web Development Solution for Businesses. Two short years ago, most of us thought of WordPress as a simple blogging tool. No more. Thanks to the excellent open source development community behind WordPress, the latest version of WordPress is a very &#8230; <a title=\"How to Build a WordPress Web Site for Your Business\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/how-to-build-a-wordpress-web-site-for-your-business\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about How to Build a WordPress Web Site for Your Business\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[29,47,44,19,168,166,165,167],"class_list":["post-247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guide","category-web-development","tag-plugins","tag-template","tag-theme","tag-wordpress","tag-wordpress-plugins","tag-wordpress-template","tag-wordpress-theme","tag-yoast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}