You Can Start Your Own Website

You’ve always wanted your own website but you think websites are only for tech junkies or super-geeks. Well, I’m here to tell you anyone can do it.

This website, for instance, is completely free. The downside? WordPress owns it and I suppose they could poof it at any time. The options are somewhat limited (only certain themes are available; external plugins cannot be installed). But I’m not complaining.

You may be thinking you don’t want a blog. You want a normal website with static pages. That’s fine. You can set up static pages in WordPress just like in any other website. Check out the front page of this site. Static. Like a regular website.

WordPress.com and WordPress.org are two different animals, however. If you want a free website wtihout the hassles of backing up your database, keeping up with upgrades, owning your own domain or shelling out any money, WordPress.com is the way to go. And like I said, anyone can do it in just a matter of minutes. I set up this site during a PowerPoint conference (don’t tell anyone) in about 15 minutes. Sure, it took time to upload all my pictures, etc., but setting up the homepage and my contact page only took a few minutes (about as long as it took me to write the content).

I’ll give you some simple directions.

1. Navigate to WordPress.com.
2. Click the “Sign Up Now” button.
3. Pick a username and password then click “next.”
4. Click “sign up” then check your email, click the link in the email and guess what? You have a blog. Or, a free website. However you want to look at it.

Take a few minutes to try to figure things out. If you can’t, submit a comment here and I’ll help you out.

If you’re interested in owning your own domain name and all your content (you want complete control) you’ll want to look at WordPress.org. You’ll also gain a world of configurability. In other words, you’ll be able to take advantage of a monstrous repository of plugins that add functionality to your blog, and you’ll be able to install any one of thousands of free themes. The learning curve is a bit steeper, but still, anyone can do it.

Again, comment here and I’ll be glad to help you get started.