I am currently in the process of trying to revamp my website. I realized after I created the first one that the theme I chose was not conducive to the type of website I wanted to have. Now in my second attempt of creating a website, I have learned quite a bit. I am very thankful for the various types of free tutorials that are out there that explain how to create a website using WordPress for us non-technical people. As part of this post, I will share with you some of these tutorials. I will also share a blog that lists a large number of free WordPress themes that I found to be extremely helpful in this process.

So what should you consider? Here is a list of four things to consider when creating your website:

1. What is the purpose of your site?

Are you a brick and mortar business and you just want an online presence to direct people to you store, are you blogger and your site needs to be conducive to a lot of content. Perhaps you want to offer a store on your website or maybe you want a hybrid of different functionalities. First, decide on what you want. This will help you narrow down your options of themes.

2. How do you want your site to look?

This includes deciding what you like regarding menu bars, side bars, full width pictures, lots of photos displayed in a grid format, etc. It may be best to visit existing websites in a similar field as your field. This will help give you an idea. Navigate their site and decide if this is how you want your site to be. What do you like and not like about the site? Identify a few sites that you like.

3. Will you need someone to teach you how to create a website?

If you plan to create the website yourself and you are not familiar with coding, try finding an online tutorial. Tutorials are great for familiarizing you with the options and terminology that accompanies creating a website. I did not know anything about plugins (I am still learning honestly). Be mindful that the tutorials typically use a specific theme to design the website.  The theme may not be conducive for your website’s purpose, but you will learn a lot in the process. Here are two tutorials that I took: I used the 2016 version of the WordPress tutorial presented by tyler.com: 2016 Tesseract Theme Tyler.com. I later learned that the theme used here was not for my needs, but I learned so much in the process. The other tutorial I used was through Udemy: How to Start a Successful Blog through Udemy. This theme also did not work for me, but again I learned so much in the process especially regarding SEO boosting and Google AdSense.

4. What theme works best for you?

Here is a blog that lists more than 65 free WordPress themes: 67 Best Free WordPress Themes 2017. Hopefully, as you peruse through them, you will find one that fits your needs. Many of them come with a tutorial as well. So you could skip step 3 all together. Note that your website will need to be responsive meaning it needs be easy to view and navigate from a desktop, mobile phone, and tablet. I highly recommend looking at the themes on both a desktop and some type of mobile device before selecting a theme.

For more tips on creating a website, visit my blog on website tips.

Good luck!