How to Create a State of the Art Website
Final Updated on May 1, 2022
This commodity recommends the all-time website builder for artists, photographers, writers, and creative entrepreneurs wanting to create a website that is visited past lots of people. Information technology compares several blogging and website platforms, such as Wix, Blogger, Squarespace, Weebly, and WordPress, and is written by an experienced high schoolhouse teacher with a beginner audience in heed. It concludes with a step-by-step tutorial, showing the exact process used to set a successful, high-traffic website.
Should I build my own website?
In 2011, I created a website to showcase my artwork and assistance high school fine art students gain skillful grades. One year afterwards, this site was receiving over g visits every twenty-four hour period (this became the website that you are reading, the Student Art Guide). If I have learned one thing from this experience, information technology is that the net holds enormous value for creative individuals. Making a website is the near constructive style to market place your work, build a brand, and sell artwork, products, or services. What's more, creating a website is something that fifty-fifty a high school student (someone with little funds and no prior spider web design feel) can do.
Websites for artists and other creative people: why they are important
It used to exist that great art was discovered by galleries, written manuscripts chosen by publishers. These days, groovy content is discovered start-manus by ordinary individuals. There is no longer a barrier between the artist and the masses. If y'all accept an online presence – and your work can be found, shared, 'pinned' or 'liked' – y'all tin accomplish a level of recognition that could in one case only be dreamed of. A single epitome or blog postal service can receive thousands of views in a very curt time-frame; exist seen by vast numbers of prospective clients, admirers, and fans. If you are an creative person, photographer, author (or any other creative entrepreneur), you demand to harvest the ability of the internet and create your ain website as before long as possible.
Why platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Flickr, DeviantArt, Behance, Saatchi Online, Fine Fine art America, Imagekind, RedBubble, Etsy, and Tumblr are not enough
In that location are many social media platforms where sharing content is encouraged. These tin exist helpful for promoting your ain work, meeting others with like interests, gaining feedback, and reaching others via extended social networks. Existence an agile member of some these sites can exist a skilful idea – and may indeed grade a central part of your online strategy – but these sites should complement, not supersede, your own website. They should be used as a marketing outpost to bulldoze traffic to your own website, not equally a substitute for it.
* A alarm about free website builders / free portfolio websites
Many people search Google looking for the 'best gratuitous website builder for artists' or a 'free creative person website.' Others look for more specific information, comparison various website builders, such as Wix vs Weebly vs Blogger vs Squarespace vs Google Sites vs Adobe Spark Page and and then on. These platforms, along with many others, offer customizable websites, and target those who are looking for an easy mode to display their work online (these platforms allow you to fix basic photography portfolio websites or graphic blueprint portfolio websites, for example, unremarkably with higher-priced premium plans marketed aslope). These website builders are typically slick and aesthetically pleasing, with drag-and-drop templates that are appealing for beginners. Indeed, these tin can be a suitable option for those who wish to create a website to share with family or friends, or a temporary online portfolio, merely they should never exist used by someone who is serious about getting their website ranked highly in Google and seen past thousands of people every day.
For the best chance of success, you need to create your own original website.
Hither'southward why:
one. You need total control over the appearance and design.
Aesthetics is important. Websites should showcase your artistic work professionally and communicate manner and individuality, helping you to stand out from the oversupply. This cannot exist accomplished with a standard folio on a free site, using a template that looks like a 1000000 others. With your own website, you can select a bully design theme and customize this still you like.
2. You need to accept an crawly website name, NOT yourname.freeservice.com.
A website proper noun is the starting point for your brand. For as piffling equally 13 dollars per year you lot tin create the illusion that you are a professional worth investing in. Take your work seriously. With domain names costing so lilliputian, in that location is no alibi for not having your ain.
3. You need to optimize your website and so that it ranks highly in Google.
If you cannot optimize your content for search engines, your website is left floating alone in net, relying on endless social media promotion and kind visits from friends. Humans must love your content, but simply as important: Google must love information technology. Google has a secret (and constantly updating) algorithm that they employ to determine where websites should appear in the search results. When someone searches for something in Google the search engine carries out a complex calculation (information technology takes a fraction of a second) to estimate which – of all of the websites in the earth – you want to see. According to Search Engine Sentry, 33% of people click on the kickoff event shown in Google, 18% on the 2d consequence, and even fewer on the tertiary. If your website doesn't make information technology onto the get-go folio of results, only a tiny percentage of people volition always observe it.
One of the reasons that the Pupil Art Guide ranks highly in Google is that our articles are comprehensive, highly detailed, and have weeks to write. Another reason is that our content is well-optimized for search engines. This means that Google understands what each page is about, and is thus more probable to rank it highly, so thatpeople can observe us. In fact, in that location is a very practiced chance that you lot arrived at this commodity subsequently Googling "how to brand an artist website" or something similar. Well, this folio is optimized for that phrase, and many other similar terms!
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is impossible on most free websites and social media platforms. To brand matters worse, Google knows whether your website is created using a gratuitous platform, and may perceive your website accordingly: as less professional person, less serious, and less important.
Unfortunately, sometimes these lower barriers (meant to encourage less techy audiences) can attract some dodgy characters like spammers who look for cheap and piece of cake ways to prepare dozens or hundreds of sites that add niggling or no value to the spider web. When it comes to automatically generated sites, our stance remains the same: if the sites do not add sufficient value, we generally consider them every bit spam and take appropriate steps to protect our users from exposure to such sites in our natural search results. – Google Webmaster
In other words, with a free platform, you must piece of work that much harder to convince Google that your content is worth ranking, and, even then, you don't have the tools to make this easy: you outset with a disadvantage. This is one of the well-nigh of import factors to consider when deciding whether to create your ain website.
4. Schools and universities must be able to view your content.
A growing number of schools and universities are blocking all access to social media and free blogging platforms, because, as noted above, these are often used by spammers and those who share dodgy content. Some teachers spend months creating a website using a costless platform, only for this platform to exist later blocked by their school, as high schoolhouse photography teacher Wendy Brown McElfish discovered starting time-manus:
Furthermore, fifty-fifty if you accept no direct connection to the instruction industry, there is a huge advantage to having your work discoverable past educational institutions. For example, students in the Uk often notice my artist website and study my artwork. Schools and so link to my website. Accurate links from relevant websites provide a signal to Google that my website is high-quality (links from educational institutions are considered extra-valuable). This, in turn, makes Google trust my website more and rank it even higher. Every bit noted to a higher place, sites that are ranked highly gain more than visitors.
5. You need your work to be celebrated, not lost in the crowd.
When someone contemplates buying your artwork (or other products) on a social media platform, or a communal website with multiple sellers, buyers are oft distracted past the countless other items showing upwardly in their feed. You lot want people to be channeled towards your fantastic creations, without others competing for attention. On social or community websites, buyers are easily enticed away.
6. You lot need to command how you make money from your website.
If y'all have your own website, earning opportunities are controlled entirely by yous. You can sell artwork, products, or services directly from the site. You lot can add advertizement, seek sponsors, recommend affiliate products, embed print-on-demand items, or simply concentrate on edifice your brand, popularity, and fame. Social media platforms and free website builders often identify inappropriate advertizing alongside your work or take strict policies governing the way you lot operate business concern upon their platform. It is very common for free website builders to plaster their ain branding all over your website, attempting to direct your visitors back to them. Generating income from your own website is much easier. If you want to sell artwork online, for case, this can be achieved in a matter of minutes, past adding a 'purchase now' button beside the piece of work. Alternatively, you lot can add professional shopping carts or any other commercial feature.
seven. You need to mensurate the number of visitors to your website and other important statistics.
'Google Analytics' and 'Search Panel' are gratuitous tools congenital by Google that are easily integrated with your own website. Most free website builders or social media platforms do non allow y'all to use these, and offering junior statistics, if whatsoever at all. Google Analytics and Search Console provide in-depth information virtually those who visit your site. For example, y'all can see which countries visitors are from, how many minutes they spend on certain pages, which pages they get out immediately, and what they typed into Google prior to arriving at your site. This information is invaluable. It helps to shape and direct your creative work and improve your content for the future.
8. Y'all demand the ability to build an email list.
A few years ago, Facebook changed their newsfeed algorithm so that each 'status update' fabricated from a Facebook business organisation folio was shown only to a small percentage of followers. To have posts shown to more than fans, you must now pay money to promote these – even to those people who have chosen to follow your page. As such, the value of having a large Facebook following diminished overnight, crippling many small businesses who relied on Facebook to achieve their audience. Similarly, YouTube recently made significant changes to their algorithm, affecting which videos are shown to viewers, making it more difficult for creators to get their videos seen. YouTube also 'shadowbans' certain content and demonetizes videos if they deem them to autumn exterior of their e'er-changing guidelines.
Originally, the YouTube subscription feed was a chronological list of videos from all the channels that a person had chosen to "subscribe" to. …[]…However, many video-makers accept previously complained that some of their videos have not appeared in the subscription feed, and take questioned whether YouTube manipulates the list to boost viewer retention and advertising revenue. – BBC News (2018)
Social media platforms are businesses that prioritize their own interests. If you have your ain website, y'all have the option for your audience to safely share their email address with you. This means y'all don't need to exist at the mercy of third parties: you lot can contact your followers whenever you like. An email listing is an asset that yous can backup, giving y'all straight contact with your audience, no affair what happens. Most all online entrepreneurs regret not starting an email list sooner. An e-mail sign-up box can exist added in a couple of minutes to your own website.
nine. Yous demand to exist able to easily motility your website files from one location to some other.
If y'all showtime with a costless blogging platform and so later come to the realization that you lot should create your ain website (every bit most who are serious about marketing their piece of work online eventually do) moving your content from the free platform to your own website is often difficult and frustrating (information technology may require manually cutting and pasting every item – recreating the entire website again). Whatever method y'all cull to create an online presence, it needs to be portable. Moving, downloading, or backing up material from your own website is simple – you have access to every unmarried ane of your files and can export these with a few clicks.
In addition, if you decide to switch from a gratis website name (i.due east. yourname.freeservice.com) to an original website name (i.east. yourname.com), any search engine authorization that you have previously built upwards with Google will be lost, requiring the new website to piece of work its way up the rankings once again from scratch.
10. 100% of the website must belong to you.
When you lot create a website on a gratis platform, your website is actually a subsection of someone else'due south site. Website providers can shut downward unexpectedly, taking your content and followers with them. Those who offer free services are particularly vulnerable to collapse. For example, Wikispaces has the following bulletin on their website:
As stated in our advice in Jan 2018 and subsequent site banners; as of July 31st, 2018 all Complimentary and Classroom Wikis were disabled and are no longer accessible.
In add-on, platforms tin can ban you or delete your files and at that place is nothing you can do about it. They can suddenly be overtaken by a more successful platform, as happened when Facebook increased in popularity and MySpace dwindled. They can be sold to another company, who may run things totally differently, such as when Flickr was bought out by SmugMug. If you have the potential to create a beautiful, stunning website, it is too risky for this to be at the mercy of another visitor. It is too valuable of a resource. You need to create your own website.
Why you demand to make a website before long
If you are serious about growing an audition online, you need to brand your ain website as soon as possible. Here's why:
1. Older websites rank higher in Google.
There are many factors that influence where a website appears in search engines (the higher you lot rank, the more visitors your website receives). The age of the website is one of these factors – a signal that your website is more likely to be a genuine, authority site. The sooner you get-go, the sooner you can brainstorm to build your website's say-so with Google.
2. Website names are limited.
As time goes by, fewer quality website names (known as 'domain names') are available:yourname.com may already be gone. Many not bad domain names have already been purchased and are being resold for thousands of dollars (the tutorial below shows you lot how to check which domain names are still bachelor).
iii. Unpredictable lockdowns mean that more than and more than people are shopping online
If ever there was a time to establish an online presence, it is now. Many artists and creative entrepreneurs who previously contemplated building a website take urgently prioritized this action, given the events of the by few years. Many teachers are too deciding to create websites to help guide their students via distance learning. This adds a farther rush of people snapping upward domain names and building websites.
4. Your historic period and current circumstances are not a bulwark to success.
You do not need to wait until you lot are older, have more time or are more 'successful.' Creating a websitesounds daunting, but it takes only about an hour to get up and running. Many not bad websites are congenital by immature people, with little funds or resources. Teenagers as immature every bit 14 have seen huge online success. With parental permission, y'all tin get started while in high school. Setting up a website tin can be an fantabulous projection for a high school Art, Design, or Engineering student. With difficult work, a website set up during high school can be earning money by the time y'all are in university or college. Furthermore, the skills you learn while creating a website can assist your employment prospects immensely at graduation. The best thing is that the whole procedure is fun. It is exciting and rewarding – almost addictive – watching people from all over the earth land on your website and view your content, day after day.
What is the best way to build an artist website (or whatsoever website, for that affair)?
In that location are two bones ways to create an original website. The commencement is to utilize an existing 'content management system.' A content direction system can be thought of as something like Microsoft Word. It is a program or tool that makes the process of creating a digital document MUCH easier. Content direction systems are designed for the ordinary user, and so that coding is not necessary. They salve time and coin while allowing for creative one-of-a-kind outputs to be achieved.
The second way to create an original website is to hire developers (or acquire to code yourself) and build the unabridged thing from scratch. Even if you have sufficient funds to rent a developer, or know how to lawmaking, in almost all cases, it is wise to use an existing content management system. Not only does this salve you time and money, but a site that is built from scratch is much harder to maintain, as only the person who understands how information technology works is the one who built information technology. When y'all apply a popular content management system on the other manus, at that place are many tutorials and forums online sharing advice. If at any point you get stuck, there are answers online to simply about every question you could imagine. Additionally, there are thousands of developers who specialize in each pop content management system. This ways you are not reliant on a single expert who knows your website well nor vulnerable if this expert leaves.
The issue: Unless you take a team of specialist developers and are trying to create something like the adjacent Facebook, using an existing content direction system is far-and-to a higher place your best option.
Which content management system should I choose?
Many of the gratuitous website builders (such every bit Weebly, Wix, and Squarespace) are in fact a kind of content direction organization. However, these are simplified and tied to a unmarried company, leaving them vulnerable to many of the weaknesses described above.
The leading content management systems are 'open source': this means they are maintained by a huge drove of practiced developers around the world (rather than connected to a single visitor). Every bit such, they follow best coding practices and are kept upward-to-date.
According to 2019 data,the leading content direction system in the world is WordPress (used past 61% of the market), followed by Joomla (5%), and and then Drupal (iii%). Not only is WordPress the about popular content direction system, simply an estimated 34% of all websites in the globe run on it. I have used WordPress since 2011 and recommend it above all else. Information technology is hands-down the best website builder for artists – or for anyone else who wishes to create their own website. For entrepreneurs, bloggers, writers, or artists who wish to market their services, promote products, or create any other kind of content-based website or blog that is viewed by a lot of people…WordPress is the best solution.
WordPress tin be customized to look like annihilation – from an breezy blog (a casual, annotate-driven website) to a professional business website. Information technology can exist used to create a stunning online art portfolio or to present work in any fashion that you lot desire (written text, illustrated articles, scrolling images, image galleries, embedded video clips, and and then on). Just every bit you tin can add together an 'app' to your phone to add together extra functionality, you tin add 'plugins' to a WordPress website, enabling yous to practice near anything (there are over 52,000 WordPress plugins available). As an case, there are gratis plugins to add email forms, social share buttons, buy now buttons, shopping carts, email signup boxes, search engine optimization, and and then on.
To alter the advent of a WordPress website, you click a button to activate a new 'theme.' Some WordPress themes are uncomplicated and minimalist; others are complex. All can be customized, depending upon your needs. The image below shows how my personal artist website www.amiriagale.com has morphed and changed over the years, get-go with a very simple WordPress theme.
How hard is WordPress to apply?
Once you are familiar with WordPress, it has a like difficulty level to Microsoft Word. Nonetheless, as with anything new, the first few days can be frustrating. A beginner hasn't learned where all the buttons are, then every task requires consciously thinking through the steps. To complicate matters, the signup process uses terminology that is foreign to nigh people, making the whole thing seem unnecessarily daunting. To help ease beginners through this process, I have created the tutorial below.
Using WordPressis harder than sharing something on Facebook or slapping together a gratis drag-and-drop website.Merely it'south not well-nigh as hard as y'all think. The best fashion to learn is to dive in the deep stop and brainstorm. Once you get through the first few weeks, information technology is very straight-forward. In a mode, it is almost good that itappears daunting, as this cuts out many of your potential competitors, and gives you an advantage.
How much does WordPress cost?
WordPress itself is free. Nevertheless, you need to purchase the website name (the domain name) and a place to store your website files online (this is called 'hosting' and is explained in more detail below). WordPress is the software or tool that is used to create the website (simply equally Microsoft Word is used to write a document). However, in social club for people tocome acrossand visit that website, information technology needs to be safely stored online somewhere. For example, if you lot congenital your website on your own computer, every fourth dimension y'all turned your computer off, your website would be offline. To have your websiteonline 24/7 – and bachelor for others to visit, yet protected against hackers and viruses (this is not an easy chore, every bit hackers constantly utilize automated software to crawl the net looking for loopholes) – y'all need to find a company who specializes in web hosting.
Every website needs hosting. Places that offer free websites pay for the hosting themselves, in exchange for making coin in other means. Facebook, for example, offers yous free infinite to upload photos and chat with friends, while they make coin from advertisement. Wix and Weebly offer bones free websites, knowing that many users volition grow frustrated with the limitations of a gratuitous program (equally per all of the issues described above) and and then purchase their premium plans. In other words, yous may non pay for the hosting initially, but you pay for information technology in other ways.
The best way to create your ain website is what is known as a cocky-hosted WordPress site. This means a website that is built using WordPress and is stored safely online at a professional person spider web hosting provider of your choosing. This gives you far more flexibility than any of the premium packages offered by the likes of Squarespace, Wix, or Weebly, for a much lower toll. It as well gives you lot the most security and peace of mind, considering yous can hands move your website from ane hosting provider to another, if demand be: you are not reliant on a unmarried company. The website is owned entirely by you.
* A annotation about wordpress.com and wordpress.org
Confusingly, at that place are two official WordPress sites. WordPress.com allows you to set up a bones costless WordPress website: this is not appropriate, for the reasons listed above. In society to customize a WordPress website fully, and acquire all the benefits of owning your own website, you need to employ thecomplete, open-sourceversion of WordPress, described at WordPress.org (you don't actually demand to visit WordPress.org, because everything is taken care of by your chosen hosting provider – equally shown in the step-by-step tutorial below). Signing upward for hosting and installing WordPress is very straight-frontwards and takes only a few clicks.
In summary, to create your own website yous demand 3 things:
- A domain name: this is the website proper name, such equallystudentartguide.com.
- Website hosting: this is rented space on a large server where you store the website files so that your site tin connect to the net 24/7 (see my recommendations below).
- A content direction system to build the site, such as WordPress, which is free.
Permit'southward now go through these steps in detail.
What you need to build your own artist website: a complete WordPress guide
What follows is the tutorial I wish I had when I started. It is a complete beginner's guide for those with no prior web pattern experience. It contains footstep-by-step screenshots, accompanied past clear instructions, showing how to set up a new WordPress website.
Step ane. Brainstorm a catchy, memorable website proper name (your 'domain' name)
The first step is to come upward with a website domain name, such as world wide web.studentartguide.com. Common formats for a visual art website include: www.yourname.com,www.yournameartist.com,www.yournamephotographer.com and and then on. Sometimes website names include keywords related to the particular genre of artwork (such aswww.yournameportraits.com) notwithstanding you should be conscientious to select a name that doesn't limit you unnecessarily.
Tips for choosing a good domain name are equally follows:
- Communicate the intention of your website, without being spammy
- Aim for a brusque and memorable name
- Ensure that it is easy to spell, with no unintentional meanings when words are merged
- Avert numbers and dashes, so that it is easy to say aloud
- Choose a .com extension or a state-specific extension (such as .co.uk or .co.nz) if targeting a local audience only
- Avoid similarities with existing sites or infringing upon trademarks
These tips are communicated in the infographic below.
DISCLOSURE: The Student Fine art Guide provides content costless-of-charge so that all students and teachers tin can access our resources. We make money through advertising and affiliate links. In this article, we link to hosting providers that we recommend completely: our reputation and success depends upon this. Purchasing hosting via these links allows us to continue to evangelize quality resources to you lot, for free.
Stride 2. Buy the domain proper name and hosting package from a reputable hosting provider, such every bit Bluehost
www.bluehost.com is one of only three hosting providers officially recommended by WordPress:
As noted in a higher place, the office of a spider web hosting company is to provide you with space on their server to store your website so that your site is safe and accessible on the earth wide spider web 24/7. Most hosting companies sell domain names also, assuasive yous the convenience of purchasing both from the same identify.
The web hosting manufacture is extremely competitive, and thus prices and services ofttimes change with time. I previously recommended SiteGround hosting, however, SiteGround's prices increased dramatically in 2020 (their cheapest programme now renews at $19.99 USD per month), and their access to live chat support declined.
In contrast, Bluehost's introductory rate for their Basic plan is currently discounted to $2.95 per month. Bluehost also have alive-conversation support bachelor at any time of the twenty-four hours. Bluehost also offer the domain free for the starting time twelvemonth, making them a far more toll-efficient option overall – with prices that are inside the reach of even many loftier schoolhouse students.
Note: If you love creating beautiful, artistic things, building a website is likely to be your most fun projection all the same. If you become stuck at any betoken during this tutorial, experience gratuitous to email me. My name is Amiria Gale, and I am a high schoolhouse teacher from New Zealand. Alternatively, Bluehost take trained support staff available on-hand via alive chat. Questions help me to improve this tutorial and provide valuable feedback, letting me know when something has become outdated (engineering changes very fast)!
Let's get started!
a) Begin past visiting: www.bluehost.com
b) Click the 'Get Started' push button to encounter Bluehosts different hosting plans.
c) Select a hosting plan. The 'Basic' and 'Plus' plan are both suitable for beginners. The master divergence betwixt these is that the Plus program allows you to host an unlimited number of websites, whereas the Basic plan simply allows you to host one. The Plus plan also has more storage space, which can be beneficial for artists. Afterward you lot have decided which programme you would similar, click 'Select.'
d) On the adjacent screen, type in your chosen website name nether 'create a new domain' (I have used 'portfolioexample.com' to illustrate this procedure). Choose whether you would like .com or some other extension. Then click 'Next' to run across if the domain proper name is available. Remember that domain names get snapped up very quickly, and then your beginning choice may not be available.
e) In one case you have called a good domain proper noun, enter your personal details, and then you can sign upward with Bluehost.
f) Of import: Select the hosting period (how long you want the hosting for). This is important because the discounted pricing only applies for the selected menses and the amount is paid upfront. By adjusting the drib-downwardly card beside 'Account Plan,' you tin can encounter that the discount varies depending on the length of fourth dimension you select. For example, the monthly rate is cheapest when you purchase hosting for three years in accelerate. This is common practice across the hosting manufacture and is their way of rewarding customers who stay with them for a greater length of time. Selecting three years also allows you lot to lock in the discounted rates for the longest period. (Bluehost has a 30-day money-dorsum policy for hosting, and then regardless of which menses you select, you can get a refund if yous alter your mind). Once you have decided which time period yous would similar, scroll downwardly to the adjacent section.
g) Here is where Bluehost upsell a variety of dissimilar options. Some of these are recommended; others are not necessary.
- 'Domain Privacy + Protection' – highly recommended. All website owners are required to have their contact details in a public database chosen WHOIS. This archaic dominion was created when there were very few websites in the globe and information technology was an endeavor to make a kind of telephone volume with contact details listed. To get around this, hosting providers offer 'Domain Privacy,' which replaces your contact details with the host's generic contact information and keeps your private data safety. If you have signed upwards using a business address and contact phone number, Domain Privacy may not be necessary, still, for most people, it is highly recommended.
- Codeguard basic – this is a service that backs up your website, so that you don't demand to worry about carrying out manual backups of your website. I didn't select this when I was merely staring out, however this is up to you.
- Bluehost SEO tools – non necessary. WordPress comes with all the Search Engine Optimization tools that you lot demand, free of charge, so I don't recommend choosing this.
- Microsoft Mailbox – not necessary (only up to you).
- SiteLock Security – This scans your website for malicious lawmaking and helps protect against hacking. Although hacking is rare, all websites are vulnerable to this. When creating a new website, I keep things as cost-efficient equally possible, yet, whether y'all choose to include this is upward to yous.
h) Lastly, enter your contact information and payment details. If y'all are nether xviii, please seek parental permission before inbound credit card details. Click submit!
i) You are then prompted to create a password, and and then login. Now you are the proud new possessor of a domain and hosting!
Stride 3: Install WordPress at Bluehost
Now y'all need to install WordPress at Bluehost. This merely takes a few minutes. Every bit a reminder: Bluehost is the identify you lot store your website files; WordPress is costless software that y'all use to build the website.
When you lot login to Bluehost for the outset time, you meet the following screen:
a) Enter the website name and tagline. These words appear at the superlative of your website and are commonly similar (or identical) to your domain name. The tagline is a short statement (like a slogan) that sums up the website. You tin easily edit and change these later, so just choose anything for now and and then click 'Continue.'
b) Select the advisable options on this screen (information technology doesn't actually matter what you choose) and click 'Continue to Theme Selection.'
c) Cull a WordPress theme. By default, WordPress comes with a theme pre-installed. Here you are just selecting the one you wish to begin with (you can easily change themes subsequently, so don't worry about making the 'perfect' choice). In that location are many more WordPress themes than are shown hither, and I run through how to modify and customize a WordPress theme below, and so information technology doesn't really matter which theme you select here!
d) On the next screen, there are two important links (height correct corner). The first, 'View My Site,' is a link to your brand new website! Yous tin see that you at present have your very own WordPress website, live on the internet. Of course, at this point, information technology appears very bland and empty, considering you lot haven't customized it or added whatever content.
The other link, 'WordPress,' is to the WordPress admin panel (y'all should 'bookmark' this, as information technology is common for people to forget how to find this again) – also known as your WordPress dashboard. This is where you edit your WordPress site and add content to information technology.
At present yous are ready for the fun to begin!
Stride 4: Build your artist website!
At this point, many people wish to jump in and begin playing around with WordPress. This is an excellent thought and a wonderful way to larn. Nevertheless, for those who would similar more detailed guidance, key pointers regarding the best way to begin building your artist website are detailed below:
Alter the advent of your artist website by calculation and customizing a theme
- In the WordPress dashboard, go 'Advent' > 'Themes'.
- Click 'Add New'. This takes yous to the WordPress theme directory – thousands of free themes, approved for employ with WordPress (be very careful sourcing WordPress themes elsewhere).
- Search through the themes. Information technology is easy to get overwhelmed and spend forever doing this. You can switch themes at whatsoever fourth dimension, so don't worry besides much virtually finding a perfect theme right abroad. Aim for a uncomplicated theme to showtime with.
- When you find a theme you similar, click 'Install' and and then 'Activate'.
- Once activated, click the customize button (The customize push tin can be accessed in 3 places: under the theme when you lot first install it, as described above; in the dashboard menu, under 'Advent'; and in the top black bar, when viewing your website). Each WordPress theme has different customization options bachelor – some are very flexible; others are simple.
- Once yous accept made some changes, click save, so visit and refresh your website. You will run across it now looks totally different!
- Tips and advice specific to customizing the appearance of an artist website will be added in separate tutorial coming soon.
Add together a page to your website (i.e. an 'Well-nigh Me' page)
- In the WordPress dashboard, go 'Pages' and and so 'Add New.'
- Add a title – allow'south call this 'About Me' or something similar.
- Type in the central box to add content to the page. For now, just add some sample content (a short blurb about the website, yourself, or your artwork), and so yous become an idea of how WordPress works. Don't worry about making this perfect – you lot can easily edit this later. To add together headings and subheadings, click the '+' symbol pinnacle left, and choose 'heading,' selecting H1, H2, H3, H4 or H5, depending on the size of the heading required. You can also add bullet points
, quotes 
, or link to other websites, using the link symbol
. - To add an epitome, click the '+' symbol peak left, and scroll down to select 'prototype' or 'gallery' (nether the media department). You lot can and so upload an image from your computer.
- When your page is washed, click publish.
- Click the View Page link, and you tin can meet y'all now have a new page, alive on your website.
Add together a 'mail' to your website
Posts are very similar to pages (they expect the same). However, at that place are two main differences:
- Posts can be categorized. For example, if you create an artist website, y'all might have a drove of posts about paintings; some other collection about drawings and so on. Y'all tin can and then link to each category on your carte, so that clicking this takes you to all of the artwork in this category (menus are explained in more than particular covered below).
- Posts announced in lists. For case, by default, your latest posts appear in a list on your home page.
Posts are useful for most content on your website, as they permit y'all to easily organize content. Pages, on the other paw, cannot be categorized and practice not appear in lists. Pages are all-time for standalone content, such as an About page, or a Contact page. Don't worry as well much if this all sounds disruptive; it will get clearer as you use WordPress.
For now, do creating a new post as follows:
- Firstly, go 'Posts' > 'All Posts' (in the WordPress dashboard).
- By default, WordPress comes with a sample post already created. Click 'Trash' to delete the sample post. You lot need to move your mouse near the championship for the delete option to appear.
- At present, to create a new mail, click 'Add New.'
- Add a title and some sample content to this post. As before, add an image if desired, and click insert into mail service.
- Select a category for the post (right of the screen, partway down). Click 'Add New Category.' Create a proper noun for the category. I have used 'Paintings' equally an example. Parent Categories are useful if you wish to take categories that are sub-categories of others. For instance, yous might have a main category of 'Paintings,' and so sub-categories called 'Acrylic Paintings,' 'Oil Paintings,' and and then on. And so click 'Add New Category' (the lower button). Categories make it possible for yous to group and organize content, helping your visitors to navigate around your artist website and find related fabric.
- The tag office (optional) allows you to add keywords, kind of like a hashtag on Instagram or Facebook.
- Ready a featured image (recommended) from the bottom right corner of the screen. The featured image usually displays as a large prototype at the top of the mail or every bit a thumbnail prototype when shown in a list.
- When you're done, click 'publish.'
- Click 'View post' to see the new blog post post, with the featured epitome at the tiptop of the screen.
- Finally, if y'all visit the homepage, you tin can run across that the new post now appears there.
Add together a carte to your artist website
Menus allow people to navigate from ane page to another on your website. Let'southward brainstorm past creating a menu at the top of the page.
- Go 'Appearance' > 'Menus' (in the WordPress dashboard).
- Click 'Create Menu.'
- Add items to the menu. Tick items on the left and click the 'Add to Carte du jour' button. For example, you lot can add together pages, posts, and categories that you have created.
- Reorder the menu items as appropriate. I have indented the 'Seascape Paintings' mail under the 'Paintings' Category. This means it will announced as a driblet-down item on the menu, under Paintings.
- Rename the card items as appropriate. Clicking on the menu item allows you to rename it to a shorter, abbreviated title.
- Select the brandish location. Some themes allow y'all to display the menu in more than ane identify (for example, in the footer or sidebar). Select 'Top Chief Carte du jour.'
- Click 'Save Menu.' If you visit and refresh your website, you lot will meet you now have a carte across the top of the screen.
Add plugins to your artist website
Plugins are like 'apps' for phones: they add actress functionality to your website. There are more than 50,000 costless plugins available, which add contact forms, social media buttons, purchase at present buttons, and then on. The more plugins you add, the more complicated your website becomes, making information technology slower to run. I recommend having no more than than twenty plugins per site.
- Go 'Plugins' > 'Installed Plugins' (in the WordPress dashboard).
- Delete the existing plugins (these are installed by default).
- Click 'Add New.' This takes you lot to the costless WordPress plugin directory.
- Note the plugin rating. Earlier installing a plugin, you should check its rating. A good plugin is unremarkably installed many times, is recently updated, and is compatible with the current version of WordPress.
- When you lot find a plugin you like, click 'Install Now' and then 'Activate.'
- Yous are then taken back to your listing of installed plugins. Underneath the name of the plugin you have installed it says 'Settings.' Clicking this allows yous to edit the settings of that plugin.
Add together or remove sidebar 'widgets.'
A widget is a small item that appears in the sidebar or footer of your WordPress website. Everything that is currently in the sidebar of your website is a widget.
- Get 'Appearance' > 'Widgets' (in the WordPress dashboard). On the left-mitt side of the screen is a list of all the widgets that are available. On the right-hand side of the screen is are the areas where widgets can be placed.
- By default, the sidebar comes with several widgets placed in it: a search box, a listing of recent posts, and so on. Delete whatsoever widgets that you don't want to appear. To delete them, drag any widgets out of the sidebar area. Alternatively, click the downwards arrow beside them (as shown above) and click 'delete.'
Final words
For those who would like more assist, I am in the process of creating additional in-depth tutorials to guide people through the process of building an artist-specific WordPress website, likewise as how to mensurate and grow traffic to your website, with artists and creative entrepreneurs in mind.
If you have found setting upward WordPress disruptive, delight don't fret! Equally with anything new, it takes fourth dimension to become familiar with where the shortcuts and buttons are in the WordPress dashboard. The key is to get started: WordPress is learned fastest by using information technology. And once WordPress becomes 2d nature to you, the rewards are enormous! Right now I make my living running websites (and am taking a intermission from instruction), which is particularly awesome in this electric current climate!
If there is annihilation in this video that yous need assist with, please don't hesitate to ship me an electronic mail. I update this tutorial regularly, and feedback is highly valuable and appreciated.
Cheers! Go started, and visit Bluehost to brainstorm!
Amiria has been an Art & Pattern teacher and a Curriculum Co-ordinator for seven years, responsible for the course design and assessment of student piece of work in two high-achieving Auckland schools. She has a Bachelor of Architectural Studies, Bachelor of Compages (First Class Honours) and a Graduate Diploma of Pedagogy. Amiria is a CIE Accredited Art & Design Coursework Assessor.
Source: https://www.studentartguide.com/articles/how-to-make-an-artist-website