Wonderful blog! Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?
I’m planning to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost
on everything. Would you suggest starting with a free
platform like WordPress or go for a paid option?
There are so many options out there that I’m
totally overwhelmed .. Any suggestions? Thank you!
Thanks so much for the kind words, Lourdes, and I’m sorry it has taken me so long to reply! (Month-long battle with the dreaded Allergy Eye Monster.) Onward and upward…
Yes, setting up a free WordPress site is definitely one of the easiest ways to start. There is a lot to learn. (I started out feeling like a bull in a china shop! *LOL*) But WordPress Support is a great place to start, and it’s fun learning as you go along.
There are lots of free themes which can provide your overall site design, serving as a template for it. (That way, you don’t have to select number/size of columns and so on for each page; it’s all set up, and you can just type your own text into the chosen areas, and add photos, videos, etc. as desired.)
One of the nicest things about this platform is the huge selection of plugins that are available. They can add all kinds of functionality to your site: determining how and which items are displayed in your sidebar (e.g. the red strip that’s on the right side of my blog pages); posting photo albums; automatically checking to make sure none of links that you’ve included in articles have become outdated/broken; creating automatic backups of your site’s content; a bazillion other things. Oh, and most of those are free! (-:
One commercial plugin that I highly recommend is BackupBuddy because it periodically creates a backup of your whole site, and even enables you to migrate the entire thing in one chunk onto a different domain if you ever decide to move on to a paid web hosting service.
Even after moving to a different domain, you’d be able to continue using the same WordPress themes, plugins, and content interface for your site, if you like. WordPress lists some hosting sites that they know work well. My daughter, who does web design and SEO work, says SiteGround also works well.
Hope the info helps! Best of luck with your site design,
Wonderful blog! Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?
I’m planning to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost
on everything. Would you suggest starting with a free
platform like WordPress or go for a paid option?
There are so many options out there that I’m
totally overwhelmed .. Any suggestions? Thank you!
Thanks so much for the kind words, Lourdes, and I’m sorry it has taken me so long to reply! (Month-long battle with the dreaded Allergy Eye Monster.) Onward and upward…
Yes, setting up a free WordPress site is definitely one of the easiest ways to start. There is a lot to learn. (I started out feeling like a bull in a china shop! *LOL*) But WordPress Support is a great place to start, and it’s fun learning as you go along.
There are lots of free themes which can provide your overall site design, serving as a template for it. (That way, you don’t have to select number/size of columns and so on for each page; it’s all set up, and you can just type your own text into the chosen areas, and add photos, videos, etc. as desired.)
One of the nicest things about this platform is the huge selection of plugins that are available. They can add all kinds of functionality to your site: determining how and which items are displayed in your sidebar (e.g. the red strip that’s on the right side of my blog pages); posting photo albums; automatically checking to make sure none of links that you’ve included in articles have become outdated/broken; creating automatic backups of your site’s content; a bazillion other things. Oh, and most of those are free! (-:
One commercial plugin that I highly recommend is BackupBuddy because it periodically creates a backup of your whole site, and even enables you to migrate the entire thing in one chunk onto a different domain if you ever decide to move on to a paid web hosting service.
Even after moving to a different domain, you’d be able to continue using the same WordPress themes, plugins, and content interface for your site, if you like. WordPress lists some hosting sites that they know work well. My daughter, who does web design and SEO work, says SiteGround also works well.
Hope the info helps! Best of luck with your site design,
Thel
Thanks for the heads-up! (-: