Laying the foundations for a successful WordPress website
Hi my name is Mitz from WordPress Website Builder. I build websites for a living and love sharing what I know about websites. When building your first, second, or one hundredth website, laying the right foundations down in the first place should be your number one task. Certain things just have to be done and I have found that a “website foundation checklist” is a great help. As I only use WordPress for my websites, the list only applies to this content management system and the steps I use to build a WordPress Website. Many of the steps will be familiar to you, however we often forget to complete them all before launching into a website or blog.
- Research a niche.
- Make a list of keywords that apply to your niche.
- Buy a domain name that includes your top keywords.
- Install the website. Upload WordPress.
- Install a basic theme. You will probably change it later so don’t waste time now.
- Add Categories that use your keywords. Do not make them up as you go.
- Change permalinks structure and settings for WordPress.
- Install all your plugins that you use. (I have another list for that)
- Create a Twitter account, a Facebook Page, and a Feedburner account. Hook these accounts into Twitterfeed.
- Add links to these accounts on your sidebar.
- Add your Mailchimp or Aweber optin code to the side bar in the top position.
- Setup 7 auto responder emails to to go out to your new optins.
- Add 5-10 great posts. Schedule 20 more.
- Change your privacy settings to let the world in.
#1 Research a niche
There are many ways to research a niche, however the easiest one is to do a search in Google for something you are interested in. Then do the same search in the Google keyword tool and Google insights. What you are looking for is a niche that gets people searching for it but doesn’t have too much competition. Some people also go to Clickbank to find a product to sell and then create a website around that. If you are new to all of this then I have already prepared a basic step by step article and video tutorial showing how to research a niche for your new website.
#2 Make a list of keywords that apply to your niche
When you are researching your niche in Google search and Google keyword tool you will see a list of related searches and keywords that you can add to your keyword list. These words are great to use as WordPress categories, subjects for posts, and link building anchor text.
#3 Buy a domain name that includes your top keywords
Buying a domain name with your keywords in it can take you to the top of Google organic search. If you build the right foundations to your website you will most likely stay there too. For example the first website I made was a great domain name, Tips4pc.com, however I wanted to rank for “computer tips” and the guy that included this in his domain name is always number one in Google search. I have to struggle while he has the keywords in his domain name. After a few years I finally woke up to this mistake and created all my websites with keywords in the domain name. I am number one for all of these.
#4 Install the website. Upload WordPress
Again I have learnt by my mistakes and now use WordPress for every website I build. Why not use it when it does everything for you?
#5 Install a basic theme. You will probably change it later so don’t waste time now
This is where most people waste time, installing a theme, tweaking it, and then changing their minds and starting all over again. I now install a simple theme, very basic with minimal features, and add to it. By the time you add the plugins and banners, the whole website comes alive.
#6 Add Categories that use your keywords. Do not make them up as you go
People usually just slap any old category into a WordPress website, however I have found that if you plan your categories and create them beforehand thoroughly, you will benefit from more natural search traffic. If your categories are clearly defined it also helps the visitor find what they want.
#7 Change Permalinks structure and settings for WordPress
Of course everone knows you have to change the permalinks in WordPress. It takes about one minute to do and changes your urls into search engine friendly URLS.
#8 Install all your plugins that you use. (I have another list for that)
Yes I have a list of plugins that I use and choose from that the ones I need for a particular niche or style of website. Installing plugins is very important and must be done before launching your website. That way every post from the start will be pinged, added to the sitemap, and optimized, all to your advantage. Comment plugins encourage input from website visitors which is a must when building a website.
#9 Create a Twitter account, a Facebook Page, and a Feedburner account. Hook these accounts into Twitterfeed
For every website I create it’s own branded Twitter account, Facebook page and a Feedburner account. Then I go to Twitterfeed.com and enter all these details in. Twitterfeed will publish my posts automatically to my Twitter and Facebook accounts via my RSS feed. So all I have to do is post on my website and information is shot out everywhere. Of course there are other software and websites that do the same thing. It doesn’t matter which one you use as long as you are doing it.
#10 Add links to these accounts on your sidebar
Once you have created these accounts you should make them accessible on your website. This way you will get people following you. It will not happen if you do not display the icons.
#11 Add your Mailchimp or Aweber optin code to the side bar in the top position
If you do not have a Mailchimp account or an Aweber account then you are not serious about your website marketing and your foundations. Both these companies offer a free signup for new accounts so you have no excuse. I have a Mailchimp account and it is used to collect email addresses for me. I just create a new list for every website I build, then create a form for that list, and get the code and paste it into a text widget on my sidebar. Its that easy. Mailchimp does the rest.
#12 Setup 7 auto responder emails to to go out to your new optins
If you set up emails in your account to send out to your optins and certain times, automatically, it will save you time and stress in the end. I usually setup 7 emails to send out over a few months. The more emails you have lined up, the better. In the emails you can link back to your website, add affiliate links, and more. Always give valuable information to keep them wanting more. Setting up this foundation is very valuable. You do not want people signing up to your list and then receiving no correspondence from you. You need to keep your website fresh in their minds and give them a reason to visit.
#13 Add 5-10 great posts. Schedule 20 more
When starting a website you need to make it look like it has some content. Visitors who land there want to see something interesting. You also need to make sure your content is relavent to your niche and valubale information at the same time. If you are not very good at writing content yourself you can outsource the job. This is all the rage at the moment. Scheduling your posts in advance will give you time to concentrate on other things like getting traffic and SEO.
To schedule a post simply ==>click on the Edit link next to Publish immediately==>then move the publish date forward==>click ok==>the publish button will then change to a schedule button==>press it to schedule.
#14 Change your privacy settings to let the world in
I know this might sound like a lot of work, but who said it was easy to start a website? You can just slap up a website and hope for the best, but why not do the hard yards first and then sit back and relax, knowing that the background work is done. Once you have done all these steps you can concentrate on creating great content for your website, knowing that the wheels are already turning.
I have more details about each step on my newest website WordPress Website Builder. If you examine this website you will see that I have followed the steps above to the T. The website is ranked #1 for my main keywords ” WordPress Website Builder” and is climbing the ladder on other harder to get keywords also.
Nice info.
it’s great tips to make a big success.
thanks.
Outstanding, I’ll be referring people to this page who grab my free WordPress Themes.
Thanks a lot
Thank You for this great information. I have been struggling for a while now and without a doubt the information you have provided here will be a great help to me.
Bob Jones
Excellent list. I’ve always done most of these things when building a site but good to hasve the list to follow so nothing gets missed. Bill
Thanks, thanks, thanks, esp. for the tip about free mailchimp accounts. I never new that. I have a full cart/mailer program for my main site, but I wanted to be able to include autoresponders for my customers’ websites, too. Thanks to you, now I can.
These are great hints. You obviously put a lot of thought into them.
Brian (a.k.a. Professor Homunculus at MathMojo.com )
Great info i will try to follow the step
Thx man
Awesome comprehensive list Mitz…great job! It’s obvious you have the process down pack and do a very good job in sharing it with others.
Once you’ve done it a couple of times, it really is such an easy process and I agree with tip # 5. I knew a couple of people who couldn’t move forward b/c they couldn’t make up their minds on the template…just pick one and go, you can always change it later.
The only tidbit of info I would add is that when researching for your niche also check out sites such as Amazon and Ebay. They have a wealth of information if you take the time to look, especially like the most popular topics and products people look into.
Thanks for sharing!
hello Mitz,
I want just to thank you for this tips you give us to buld a sucess blog website.
It is a great information here.
Luc
Thank you so much! This inspires me to buy a new domain. hehehe. More posts, please!!!!
Great checklist to refer to when in doubt,i think i have already gone through most of those that you mentioned -which makes me feel a lot more confident that everything is in place for my blog so far.
Thanks!
That’s good list
Thanks for the 14 steps. I especially like the 9th step, which syndicate facebook and twitter.
I wonder would that cause any problem if you have too many twitter and facebook accounts? As eventually you still require to use your real name (unless you use different name for each business?)
Cheers,
Ming Jong
Excellent tips to refer back to when needed. When your not building blogs daily, you tend to forget some of the little things that are necessary in setting up a blog. Thanks for the informative post.
well this list is just beginning….you need another focus and lot of concentration to build great blog…
keep blogwalking is one of the solution to get that new knowledge on blogsphere
Thanks for very useful info.
Very useful. Thanks for great list!
Really nice tips. Thanks
Hi, good tips.
May I spread these tips into my list? They will love these info.
Excellent article. I have had much better success after using the Maxblogpress products and tips I have found on this site.
I will probably re-blog this info for my readers.
Thanks
Craig
Great post, short sweet and to the point. You could actually make a real checklist out of this.
Hello from Montana:
Don’t you love feeling good about what you have done right? Yea! We had done everything on the list (I think I need to go back and check on a couple).
It is also great to enter a blog challenge. That forces you to write 30 blog posts in 30 days. hard, but gets you in the habit. I am in Ultimate blog challenge now and so you will see #blogboost on many Twitter accounts.
Thanks again,
Judy H Wright, family relationship author
With a plethora of ‘blogging info products’ out there, this is by far one of the best outlines I have seen thus far.
Thank you very much for sharing and I will be sure to send my subscribers to this post.
Great set of tips especially for those that are new to WP and internet marketing. Gonna print this out for my clients to help them with their efforts! Thanx!
On a side note, visited your site but found it to be very slow loading? May want to check it out… Subscribed also…
I want to thank you for putting out this list! I think all new bloggers should see this before they get their site online. I wish I would have seen this myself!
What a great article, I have one of the plugins off maxblogpress and this article come up today, it was so helpful with a client today to prove why you need a blog so thankyou very much
Hi,
Great post!!
I’d like to ask you to maybe add some more of the plug-ins issue.
There are so many in the wordpress, some are overlap.. Yet not the best functionality of use.
‘Laying the foundationstone….’ will be very helpful to everybody even if he/she has been in line for some time.
I shall eagerly look for every new tips from you.
Best wishes
A nice post and the clear explanation. A must read for the newbie to blogging field.
This a a very good post for not folks starting out, but also people who have been in the Internet Marketing field for some time.
I get you newsletter, and your doing a great job!!
Love this list.
Josh
Hi there
Thanks for all the great comments and sorry about the website being slow.. It was all the visits I got from this post!!!
I will be posting more lists…I love these lists because it clears your mind and sets you on a path. This will help you walk down the path, step by step.
We all know that these steps are just the beginning, but they are a great start.
Please feel free to share this around.
I am a web designer too. Almost all of my websites were built with WordPress. And your list is fantastic. Although I knew most of them, still somethings are new to me. Thanks for sharing!
This is a very comprehensive list of steps to make a successful blog. Great to see such a logical list of ideas.
Many thanks for the advice which I hope I will have time to use.
Hi Mitz,
Your post on laying foundation for success was superb. I am new to blogging and i found this very interseting. keep it up
John
Thanks John. My head is full of knowledge, probably like most people here, but it’s the actions that count! When I read an article now I ask myself “Are you going to use any of these tips? Can you go out and do one right now?” If the answer is yes then the post has been useful.