Quick Guide to Building a Website in 10 easy steps
Want to build a website? It is easier than you think!
We will teach you how to build a website in 10 easy steps.
In 2020, there are so many tools that you can use to easily build a website.
Anyone can build a website!
No need to know how to code.
No need to be a designer.
I love building websites. I have built hundreds of website over the course of my career.
I come from a digital production background with 15 years of experience, working with companies like Disney, Nike, Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Bosch, etc.
More and more people are building websites by themselves.
Including myself.
Instead of working with a team of developers and designers, I leverage ready-to-use solutions.
Convenient, fast and hassle-free!
You just need to find the right tools to build the website.
And guess what, we made this step-by-step guide to help you.
We will tell you exactly how we have built dozens of websites ourselves.
So I am the right person to teach you how to build a website quick and easy!
No need to spend a lot of money.
No need to lose time looking for the right tools.
No need to pay a web developer or an agency.
Time needed to build a website: 1-2 hours
Steps to Build a Website:
- Buy Domain Name and Web Hosting
- Setup WordPress
- Build the website and customize the design
- Create your first page and your first post
- Setup up email and email marketing
- Add Google Analytics for tracking visitors
I guarantee, it is a lot of fun.
When you have built your first website, you will want to build more!
Cost: Free vs Paid Solutions
A lot of the tools we use are free.
But some specific tools require investment, all of the tools are very affordable.
No need to spend a lot of money.
Our advice: Avoid the “free” solutions online.
The only free cheese is in the mousetrap.
If a product is free, you are the product!
We tell you exactly how to build a platform that YOU OWN.
Build your platform, and own it.
When you use the so-called “free stuff” online, the cool features are usually paid anyway.
You can allocate about 75$ to 150$ per year.
That’s about 6,25$ to 12,50$ per month or 20 cents to 40 cents a day.
Can’t beat that.
What do I need to build a website?
You need 3 essential things to build a website:
- Domain name: the address of your website, what people type in the browser to access your website
- Website hosting: where your website is hosted (imagine a big machine, like a computer, in a big data center)
- WordPress: a free platform to control your website and create pages. WordPress is the most commonly used platform on the internet. WordPress is easy-to-use, stable and reliable.
Very simple!
Step 1: Choose a Domain Name for your website
What is a domain name?
The domain name is the address and the identity of your website.
It is what people type in to access your website.
For example, artfogrowthmarketing.com is the domain name of our website.
Google.com is also a domain name.
The domain of a website is extremely important as it constitutes its identity.
How to pick the Best domain name for a website
You should find a domain name that meet the below 3 criteria:
- Short and easy-to-remember
- Ends with the domain name extension “.com” If you only do business in one country, you can consider a domain that ends in “.ca” for Canada, “.de” for Germany, etc.
- Avoid awkward names (e.g., “Strategies Experts” becomes strategieSEXperts) and hyphens “-” (e.g., this-is-my-website dot com)
Domain names do not have spaces.
Domain names only contain numbers and letters (no symbols.)
How much does a domain name cost
The cost of a standard domain name is between 12$ and 20$ per year.
Some hot keywords will make the price of the domain name go up (e.g. consulting.com)
The domain name is valid for 1 year.
You will get an automated reminder email a few weeks before expiry of the domain name.
You can also set automatic renewal of the domain name.
Where to buy the best domain name for your website
We recommend that you buy your domain name on Siteground like we do for our clients.
You can do a rock-two-birds and get both the web hosting and the domain name on Siteground.
Easy!
Let’s move forward and get both the domain name and the hosting.
Step 2: Get Web Hosting for the Website
Prepare yourself because this is the step where we jump into execution!
What is web hosting
Web hosting is where you website lives.
In other words, a “web host” has many machines in a data center, and your website will be inside one of those machine.
For example, when you type in artofgrowthmarketing.com in you browser, you access the machine where our website is hosted.
The machine then sends the data about our website to you computer.
Nothing complicated.
How to pick the best web hosting for a website
When we select a web hosting, we look for the following 6 criteria:
- One-click WordPress install: to install WordPress with one single click
- Great customer support: when you need help!
- High Traffic: so that your website can handle the number of visitors you will get
- Email addresses: to create free email addresses
- Backups: just in case something happens, you have a backup of everything
- SSL: for security and protect your website
How much does web hosting cost
For the first year, web hosting that covers your needs costs about 5$ to 12$ per month.
When your website get more popular, you may have to upgrade. Note that if you spend a lot of money on advertising, you may need to boost your web hosting sooner. This is to handle the extra traffic.
There are a few things that influence the cost of web hosting for a website:
- amount of traffic
- hard disk space
- features like the number of email addresses, etc.
Some websites become increasingly popular within a year.
If you pay for 24 or 36 months, the cost is cheaper.
But you can start with 12 months, it is fine.
We go a special price for you.
Siteground offers you a deal on web hosting.
You can benefit from their offer and get cheap web hosting for 3.95$ !
Where to buy the best web hosting for websites
There are plenty of good (and bad) web hosting solutions on the market.
The best web hosting for a website needs to be:
- reliable
- fast
- support to solve issues quickly
Our favorite company is Siteground for the following reasons:
- good pricing
- simple and easy-to-use
- quality technical support
- fast speed
- amazing features
- 30 day money back guarantee !!!
Let’s buy the domain name and setup the web server step-by-step
Step 1: Go to Siteground.com or click on the button below (it is the same link)
Step 2: Select your plan. If you are just starting, the StartUp plan at 3.95$ is just fine.
Step 3: Type in your domain name to check the availability.
If it is available, you can register the domain name.
If not, try different combinations of keywords.
If you already have a domain name, simply select “I already have a domain”
Step 4: Fill in your personal information.
Select the closest data center to you under “Data Center.”
If you are in the US, select one in the US.
If you are in Europe, select one in Europe… you get the logic.
In my case, I like “Domain Privacy” so I always select this option.
If you are like me, you also appreciate privacy.
Step 5: Click on “Pay Now.”
Payment will take a few seconds to be processed.
Step 6: Go check your emails!
You will receive the login information.
Keep the information in handy.
If you experience any issues during the process, you can request assistance via the Contact Us page.
Good!
You have your domain name and your web hosting!
Now we need to install WordPress.
We are ready to go!
Step 3: Install WordPress and Setup Website
Hang on, we are almost there!
WordPress is so powerful!
This step does not require technical knowledge and can be done effortlessly!
What is WordPress
WordPress is a Content Management System (also called a “CMS.”)
WordPress helps you manage your content (webpages, posts, colors, fonts, contact forms, etc.)
WordPress is the world’s most popular system to manage websites.
You have visited hundreds of WordPress websites without even realizing it!
“WordPress powers 35% of the internet in 2020.
Over 400 million people visit WordPress sites each month In 2016, nearly 118 billion words were published on WordPress.” hostingtribunal WordPress statistics
WordPress is a little bit like Facebook, you have a username and a password.
After logging in you access a Dashboard (also called the “backend” by techies.)
You can create webpages and posts, write content, add images, videos, etc.
Why is WordPress so popular
WordPress is popular because it is easy-to-use.
WordPress can be installed in one-click.
WordPress is perfect for all types of websites.
It is also flexible and you can add plenty of add-ons by yourself.
Those add-ons are called “Plugins” (for example, a contact form.)
WordPress is developed by a dedicated community of web developers.
How much does WordPress cost
WordPress is FREE.
Free like in 0$.
WordPress installation step-by-step
Step 1: Login your Siteground account.
Step 2: In the "Customer Area" in the pop-up select "Start a new website,” then “Wordpress.”
Step 3: Fill in your NEW WORDPRESS email, username and password. (Note: not the Siteground information.) Click on “Confirm.”
Step 4: Follow the instructions, and click on “Complete Setup.” Wait a few minutes.
Step 5: You can then go to your website and login in WordPress like this: type in your domain name in the browser and add /wp-admin
For example: yourwebsitedomain.com/wp-admin
Step 6: Build the Website and Customize the Appearance
Amazing! One step closer to having your website.
You do not need any design skills to move forward.
We will tell you step-by-step how to design the website.
WordPress works with “Themes.”
Themes make your website look beautiful.
Themes also help you attracting more visitors to your website.
We curated themes that fit your needs just for you!
But before we show you the curated themes, let’s learn a little bit more about themes.
What is a Theme
Themes are pre-designed templates.
In other words, themes are the layout and the “look and feel” of your website.
They are very easy to install.
We recommend that you get a proper theme for your website.
The theme should fit what your website is about.
Fortunately, there are plenty of pre-designed themes that fit different business categories.
The basic theme of WordPress is not super nice.
To save time and money, the best thing to do is to purchase a pre-made theme.
Themes ar every affordable.
Why use a theme for a website
Themes are so useful.
Every website I build is based on a Theme.
It makes me save time, effort and money.
I can focus on other parts of the business rather than taking weeks to build everything from scratch.
The reason to use a Theme is that you can shop and find themes that fit your business category.
It allows you to save a huge amount of time!
Are themes complicated to install
No! It takes a few clicks to install a theme.
No need to have technical background.
How to choose the Best theme for my website
The best Themes are the ones that are designed for the type of website you want to build!
There are great Themes for all categories of businesses: real estate, dentists, portfolio, courses, agencies, etc.
If you are a beginner, just like I was a 15 years ago, it may be challenging to find the right Theme.
You may feel overwhelmed by the information.
Unsure about what is the Best theme for your website.
We will help you select the best theme!
There are plenty of nice looking themes out there.
At the Art of Growth Marketing, we definitively have an eye for design.
We curated a list of themes just for you (see below.)
Of course, you can also select another theme by yourself.
How much do themes cost
Themes are usually priced between 20$ and 75$.
It is a one-time fee (no yearly or monthly fees.)
Generally speaking Themes are quite affordable.
WordPress itself comes with a free theme.
The free theme is OK if you do not care about design and appearance.
I personally always get a Theme as I do not enjoy the look and feel of the basic theme.
As time is money, we feel that it is better to spend a small amount of money than spend a few months building a Theme from scratch.
Even senior WordPress users like myself buy Themes!
Curated Best WordPress Themes for Websites
We spent time finding the best Themes for websites.
The Themes we curated are:
- attractive to your targeted audience
- visually appealing
- well-structured
- easy-to-use
- inexpensive
The platform we use to buy Themes is called “Theme Forest.”
There are plenty of other themes that you can use on Theme Forest.
ThemeForest is super nice as you can PREVIEW all the themes!
So before buying the Theme, you can see how it will look like!
How to Preview a theme on ThemeForest
You can check how the website Theme feels by using the Live Preview.
Click on the “Preview” button.
As simple as that!
Installing a Theme on WordPress step-by-step
The beauty of WordPress is that you can change the appearance of your website by installing a Theme.
When you want to change the look and feel, you simply get a new Theme and switch. It only takes a few clicks.
Let’s install the Theme!
Step 1: Select the Theme you like. To buy the theme, simply click on the “Add to Cart” button OR the “BUY” button. Process payment.
Step 2: Click on “Downloads” in the dropdown menu
Click on the green button “Download”
Click on “Installable WordPress file only” in the dropdown menu
Save the Theme’s “.zip file” on your computer.
Now we need to upload the Theme to WordPress.
Very easy!
Step 3: Go back to WordPress
Access by using your own domain name yourwebsite.com/wp-admin
In the left menu, go to Appearance > Themes > Add new > Upload Theme > Choose File > Find the .zip file on your computer and upload it > click “Install Now.”
Step 4: Activate the Theme
You should see a message “Installing Theme from uploaded file.”
Wait until the upload is complete.
When the upload is complete, click on “Activate.”
You should now see your Theme when you visit your website, for example by typing in your domain name in the browser.
Good job!
The Theme is now installed and ready-to-use.
Let’s boost the website with add-ons.
Step 6: Install Plugins
Building the website is easy.
Adding Plugins is also super easy.
Plugins are a great way to add more functions to your website.
WordPress comes with basic functions out-of-the-box.
Most people add extra Plugins to extend the capabilities of their website.
Plugins are a great way to customize your website.
What are WordPress plugins
WordPress plugins are add-ons.
Plugins add extra functionalities and features to your website.
You can think of Plugins as extensions helping you achieve more things with your website.
You do NOT need to have a technical background to use and install Plugins!
Installing plugins is done with a few clicks.
This is probably why WordPress is so popular!
How to find and install plugins
There are 2 ways to find plugins:
- via the “Plugins” section in the WordPress left-menu
- via the WordPress Plugins repository
Let’s see how to find and install plugins via WordPress.
There is an area in WordPress’ left menu called “Plugins.”
You can search the plugins in that section.
You can also search in the WordPress Plugins repository
When you find a great plugin, you simply click on “Download.”
After the download, you need to click on “Activate” to activate the button.
Important note: avoid installing too many Plugins as they slow down your website.
How much do plugins cost
There are a lot of plugins on the market.
Furthermore, many paid plugins have basic features that you can use for free.
I personally use a mix of free and paid plugins.
Why pay for plugins?
Because they are powerful tools.
Because they have unique features and functions.
Because they will help you boost your business and convert more visitors into leads.
What are the best plugins
There are thousands of plugins on the market!
You could spend days looking at all the cool plugins.
To help you jumpstart your website and save time; we curated the best plugins for you.
Full disclosure: those are the plugins we use on pretty much all the websites we develop.
Essential Plugins; The Best WordPress Plugins
- All in One SEO: Great SEO plugin, free version is also good. Get All in One SEO here I use All in One SEO on all my WordPress websites. I use All in One SEO to optimize my website for SEO and get more traffic!
- Optimole: Image Optimization, free if you have less than 5,000 monthly visits, get Optimole here Optimole is great. It optimizes all your images for your website. Images are heavy and slow down your website, well, with Optimole, you can solve this problem with a single click.
- W3 Total Cache: to optimize the performance of your website. Also used to “empty the cache.” After you do updates on your website, you can empty all caches. You can get W3 Total Cache here.
- MonsterInsights: to install Google Analytics to get insights about traffic to your website. Get MonsterInsights here.
Thrive All-in-One Online Business Toolbox
The Art of Growth Marketing uses a All-in-ones toolbox called Thrive.
Thrive is a suite of very powerful tools.
We built the website with Thrive.
Full disclosure, I have been using Thrive on most of the websites I build. I subscribed to the whole Thrive suite. It costs about 19$ per month and let me tell you this: it is worth every penny!
You can get all their tools in a monthly/yearly plan OR select the tools you want to use and only purchase those specific tools.
No need to lose time looking for and downloading plenty of different Plugins that slow down your website. Thrive is a suite that bundles all the powerful tool under one umbrella.
Thrive Themes includes:
- Thrive Architect for the visual editor (drag and drop to add and update content like images, text, testimonials, videos… easy peasy)
- 200+ pre-made templates for webpages, blog posts, landing pages, as well as Opt-in forms, Sales pages, Thank you pages, eBook and PDF download, etc.
- Thrive Leads to generate leads, as well as for opt-in forms for newsletter subscriptions, eBook and PDF downloads, course registration, etc.
- Thrive Comments to engage your audience, boost feedback and gamify the commeting experience
- Thrive Optimize to A/B test your webpages, opt-in forms… to select the most performing design and boost conversions
- Thrive Quiz Builder to build customized quizzes
- Thrive Ultimatum to create scarcity with countdowns
- Thrive Ovation to gather and display testimonials effortlessly
- Thrive Apprentice to create courses
The 3 most important tools are:
The company is actually called Thrive Themes, they should remove the “Theme” wording from their name as their company is not related to Themes per se… but anyway, it is a great company.
You do not have to buy it at this stage, but you should absolutely consider getting it if you intend to create new webpages and update your content.
Thrive Architect and Thrive Leads
Thrive Leads: Thrive Leads is an amazing tool. Why? Because it helps you capture email addresses from your visitors. If you want to build a relationship with your audience, one of the best ways to do this is through email newsletters.
Thrive Leads is a powerful tool with plenty of pre-made opt-in designs. It also allows you to customize the type of opt-in designs depending on the content of the webpage.
Thrive Architect: We LOVE Thrive Architect. When we build webpages on our websites we always use Thrive Architect. The Art of Growth Marketing has been built with Thrive architect.
Thrive Architect is what we call a “Website Builder.” It is a tool that allows you to create webpages and update webpages by using a “Visual Editor.”
The “Visual Editor” is a drag-and-drop tool, so you can update the content of your website without knowing how to code.
Thrive Architect is slick, easy-to-use and full of features. It is one of the strongest webpage builders on the market.
We use Thrive Architect to build landing pages, sales pages, blog posts, courses and webinars, testimonials, comparison tables, about us pages, etc.
Thrive Architect has plenty of pre-made webpages that you can use with a single click. All webpages are mobile friendly, fully optimized and you can even do A/B testing to see which page performs best.
Thrive Architect helps you build customized pages manually with an amazing Visual Editor.
You can also easily build landing pages, sales pages, blog posts, about us webpages with Thrive Architect.
Thrive Architect helps you build beautiful webpages.
There are other free solutions out there, but the limitations are just really annoying… and most of them say that they are “free” but you need to pay to access the coolest features.
So why not pay 19$ per month for a super All-in-One Online Business Toolbox?
Save 24% of yearly plans.
Join me and 19,091 other members!
You can even use the Thrive Themes tools on 25 websites of yours!
Amazing support.
Let’s install the Plugins
Installing Plugins is super easy and fast.
Every time I create a new WordPress website, I deactivate the pre-installed plugins.
All of them!
Step 1: Go to your WordPress dashboard, this is your website followed by /wp-admin (e.g., yourwebsite.com/wp-admin)
Step 2: Let’s install All in One SEO.
In the left menu, click on “Plugins,” then on “Add New.”
Then in the search box on the right side, you can search for “All in one SEO.”
Click on the button “Install Now.”
Click on the button “Activate.”
You have installed and activated your first plugin!
Step 3: Let’s install Optimole.
In the left menu, click on “Plugins,” then on “Add New.”
Then in the search box on the right side, you can search for “Optimole.”
Click on the button “Install Now.”
Click on the button “Activate.”
Good!
Step 4: Let’s install W3 Total Cache.
In the left menu, click on “Plugins,” then on “Add New.”
Then in the search box on the right side, you can search for “W3 Total Cache.”
Click on the button “Install Now.”
Click on the button “Activate.”
Super duper.
Step 5: Let’s install MonsterInsights.
In the left menu, click on “Plugins,” then on “Add New.”
Then in the search box on the right side, you can search for “MonsterInsights.”
Click on the button “Install Now.”
Click on the button “Activate.”
Installing the Thrive plugins is easy if you have not done so yet.
Step 1: If you purchased Thrive Architect and Thrive Leads (or the whole suite) you can install the plugin by following the How to install Thrive instructions here.
Step 2: Come back here to see how to add Pages and create Posts.
How to access Web hosting (the web server)
Go to Siteground.com and click on Login (top-right)
Type in your username and your password
Click on “Login”
How to access my website on WordPress
In your browser, type in the name of your website with the extension, and add this after: /wp-admin
For example, yourwebsitename.com/wp-admin
Type in your username and your password
Click on “Login”
How to access my Thrive Themes account
Go to “ThriveThemes.com”
Click on “Members Login” (top-right)
Type in your username and your password
Click on “Login”
Step 7: Create Pages and Posts
Now that you are set to create your first post and webpage!
But first let’s have a look at WordPress.
Building a website means that you need to create pages and posts!
What is a page
A page (also called “webpage”) is a page where you display information about your company and your services/products.
- homepage
- blog
- about us
- our services
- our team
- contact us
- terms & conditions
- privacy policy
What is a post
A post (also called “blog post”) is a piece of news that you release on a daily, weekly, monthly basis… or pretty much whenever you feel like posting.
Think of blog posts as news articles.
Most people publish blog posts on specific topics just like they do on Social Media.
WordPress was originally built as a blogging platform, which is why a lot of people use WordPress!
Differences between a page and a post in WordPress
Page:
The following information appears on pages:
- static content like information about your services and products
- content is updated a few times a year, if not only every few years
- no publishing date
- no author listed
- no comments
- no sidebar
- focus on the webpage’s content
- links only to relevant pages and posts
Post:
The following information appears on posts:
- dynamic content like news
- content is updated regularly, daily/weekly/monthly
- publish date
- author
- comments
- in some cases, a sidebar
- links to other posts and suggested readings
WordPress Backend (the Dashboard)
Let’s explore the Dashboard (also called the “Backend” in tech lingo.)
On the let you will see the following.
- Installed Plugins: for example, All in One SEO. They appear here and there in the left menu.
- Posts: “All posts” and “Add New” to create a new post
- Media: All the images and videos and logo that appear on your website
- Pages: “All the Pages” or “Add New” page
- Comments: comments left by visitors (always approve comments to avoid SPAM)
- Appearance: to Customize the look and feel of the website, the font-family, the size of the text. Furthermore, where you can switch Theme. On top of that, it is the areas where you can set the Menus.
- Plugins: to “Add New” Plugins or Activate/Deactivate/Update existing plugins.
- Users: where you can create accounts to access the WordPress Dashboard (e.g. Admin has all rights, Editor can only create and edit content, etc.)
- Settings: general settings about the website.
If you purchased the Thrive Themes toolbox you will also see:
- Thrive Product Manager: where you activate your Thrive Themes Plugins.
- Thrive Dashboard: where you manage the powerful business toolbox Thrive Themes tools.
- Thrive Lightboxes: This is a little bit confusing, but Lightboxes is a type of opt-in. Thrice Lightboxes is where you control the information about the opt-in forms you display on the website. If you want to know more about Thrive Leads, you can read more here. Opt-in forms to gather email addresses. (You can integrate this with MailChimp, MailerLite, ActiveCampaign, MarketHero, etc.)
Create a WordPress post
Let’s create a post.
Step 1: Go to the WordPress Dashboard (if you are not already in it). Remember, you need to input your domain name followed by /wp-admin
Step 2: In the Left Menu, click on “Post,” then click on “Add New.”
Step 3: Type in a Title. The Title will appear in the URL as well.
Step 4: In the right menu, you can scroll down and add an image in the box “Feature Image.” The Feature image appears as a thumbnail in the Blog page (as a preview) and at the top of the post itself when people open the post.
Step 5: If you purchased Thrive Architect, you can click on the green button “Launch Thrive Architect.” From there you can build the post by adding elements that are in the right menu of Thrive Themes, like a Background, Text, Images, etc.
If you did not purchase Thrive Architect, you can simply add text under “Start writing or type / to choose a block” under the Title.
Step 6: You can click on “Preview” to see the Post.
Step 7: Click “Publish” to save and create the Post.
Bravo! You have published your first post!
Step 8: To see the list of pages, click on “Posts,” then click on “All Posts.”
If you wish to update a Post, mouseover the title of the post.
If you purchased Thrive Themes, click on “Edit with Thrive Architect.”
If you did not purchase Thrive Themes, click on “Edit.”
You can also hide a post under the right menu: Status & visibility>Visibility>Public/Private.
You can also see the URL of the post in the right menu.
The “Slug” is similar to the Title of the post, you can edit the slug without impacting the Title!
Create a page
The principle to publish a webpage are the same as publishing a post.
Step 1: Go to the WordPress Dashboard (if you are not already in it). Remember, you need to input your domain name followed by /wp-admin
Step 2: In the Left Menu, click on “Pages,” then click on “Add New.”
Step 3: Type in a Title. The Title will appear in the URL as well.
Step 4: If you purchased Thrive Architect, you can click on the green button “Launch Thrive Architect.” From there you can build the post by adding elements that are in the right menu of Thrive Themes, like a Background, Text, Images, etc.
If you did not purchase Thrive Architect, you can add text under “Start writing or type / to choose a block” under the Title.
Step 5: You can click on “Preview” to see the Page.
Step 6: Click “Publish” to save and create the Page.
Bravo! You have published your first page!
Step 7: To see the list of pages, click on “Posts,” then click on “All Posts.”
If you wish to update a Post, mousover the title of the post.
If you purchased Thrive Themes, click on “Edit with Thrive Architect.”
If you did not purchase Thrive Themes, click on “Edit.”
You can also hide a page under the right menu: Status & visibility>Visibility>Public/Private.
You can also see the URL of the page in the right menu.
The “Slug” is similar to the Title of the page, you can edit the slug without impacting the Title!
Step 8: Create an Email Address
It is always a good idea to have an email address “branded” with you website’s domain name. For example yourname@yourwebsite.com
I sometimes see companies that have Gmail addresses listed on their website and it looks unprofessional.
If you purchased the domain name on Siteground, you can follow the steps below.
Step 1: Login your Siteground account. Access the "cPanel." Click on "Email Accounts."
Step 2: Add Email, Password and Mailbox Size.
Note: Always clean your inbox to avoid the inbox being full.
Step 3: Add your email to your desktop computer and mobile.
For specific instructions, refer to Siteground’s help center.
- Mac users: How to setup Siteground Email on Mac Mail
- iPhone Mac Mail users: How to setup Siteground Email on iPhone Mac Mail
- Microsoft users: How to setup Siteground Email on Outlook Mail
- Mozilla Thunderbird users: How to setup Siteground Email on Mozilla Thunderbird
- Webmail users: How to access Siteground Email via Webmail
- Siteground Email Protocols: POP3, SMTP and IMAP Tutorial
If you have not bought your domain name on Siteground, you can follow the instructions to setup your email here.
Step 9: Build an audience
Building an audience means that you gather Email Addresses.
On top of that, you leverage Email Marketing and Email Automation.
- Email Marketing: Gathering email addresses is the best way to build an audience and nurture a relationship.
- Email Automation: Send automated emails sequences!
What is Email Marketing
Email marketing is when a website owner gathers email addresses from the visitors.
You place an opt-in form with a Name field and an Email address field.
The opt-in form can have a call-to-action like “Get all our news delivered to your inbox,” or “Subscribe to our newsletter.”
A clever way to gather email addresses is to exchange the email address for a freebie. This is called a “Lead Magnet.”
A good example of a Lead Magnet is exchanging a checklist, a PDF, an eBook, a video… for the email address.
The way to achieve this is to use Email Automation.
Build a list of subscribers for your Email Newsletter
You should build a list of subscribers.
Why?
Because you can build an audience, send them news, exchange with them, build a relationship… and you can also sell them your products or services.
Believe me, even in the 2020 decade, email is still a great channel to sell!
What is Email Automation (or autoresponders)
Email Automation is when a visitor does something and receives one or multiple automated emails.
The best way to demonstrate this is to give you an example:
You have a Lead Magnet and you invite people to download it “Get the free PDF”
The visitor inputs name and email address and clicks on download (the email address and name are sent to your Email Marketing Software)
After the visitor clicked on “Download,” the visitor gets an automated email with the PDF
Why use email automation
Not all Email Marketing tools have automation.
And some Email Automation tools have limited features.
The purpose of Email Automation (and Email Marketing) is to do minimal work by leveraging automation.
Once visitors gave you their email address, you can send them a SEQUENCE of emails.
For example: first email 1 second after subscribing, then another email after 3 days, then another email after 7 days, etc. If you have a weekly newsletter, you can send those emails on top of the automated emails, flawlessly!
Emails can be a mixture of news, promotion, questions and so on.
You can also send pre-written automated emails AND weekly newsletter.
How to gather email addresses on my website
You can gather email addresses to build a an email list and send your fanbase a weekly newsletter.
You can exchange their information (name and email address) for something that you created like a PDF, a video, an eBook, etc. This is called a “Lead Magnet.”
Email address: setup an email address under your website’s domain name (we avoid using generic emails like Gmail, Hotmail, etc.)
Email marketing: a tool to send newsletters and automated emails like “Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter and my blog”).
I suggest that you use MailerLite because it allows you to do both Email Marketing AND Emailt Automation. The cool thing with MailerLite is that for the first 1,000 subscribers, it is free! You can send up to 12,000 emails per month. More than enough. I used it on many websites.
Opt-in forms: a form where visitors input their name and email address. I use Thrive Leads for this. It is a powerful tool with ready-to-use pre-designed opt-ins and great features.
Hassle-free!
How to setup email automation
As setting up email automation takes a little bit extra time, for now we suggest that you have a look at the following step-by-step WordPress & MailerLite Integration video.
Step 10: Add Google Analytics Tracking
It is very likely that as a website owner, you want to gain insights about your website. Here comes Google Analytics.
What is Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a service provided by Google.
It is a tracking snippet (a small piece of code) that you install on your website via the WordPress backend.
It is the most popular way to gain insights into your traffic and how visitors interact with your content.
Why use Google Analytics
Google Analytics is useful to:
- submit your website to Google (so that they know your website exists)
- see how many visitors visit your website
- where the visitors come from
- the behavior of the visitors
- the most popular webpages on your website
- and much more information.
How to install Google Analytics
If you already have installed MonsterInsights earlier, installing Google Analytics is fast and easy.
You will need a Gmail account to install Google Analytics.
Let’s start with opening the Google Analytics account. It takes 1 minute.
Step 1: Go to https://www.google.com/analytics/
Step 2: Click on the button “Start for Free” (top-right.)
Step 3: Fill in your information.
Step 4: Click on the button “Sign Up.”
Step 5: Select “Web” then scroll down and click on “Continue.”
Step 6: Fill in the information. Scroll down and click on the button “Get Tracking ID.”
Step 7: Go back to the WordPress Dashboard, yourwebsite.com/wp-admin
Step 8: In the left menu, click on MonsterInsights and follow the simple instructions.
Step 9: Wait a few hours and go back to to https://www.google.com/analytics/
In the left menu of Google Analytics, click on Audience > Overview.
You should see data about your website!
You can follow also follow the steps on How to Install Google Analytics with MonsterInsights here.
Conclusion
We hope that you loved building the website.
Let us know how it went and if there is anything we could improve to make the process easier.
We are glad to see you succeed!
Note: This guide is general guidance and comes with no guarantee in terms of results and security.