A Website in less than a hour

I just created a new website (www.swanplc.com ).It took me around 45 minutes from the time I put in my credit card information for getting new server space to getting the final look of a website.

If you are a SME / Academic who has always wanted to create a Web 2.0 website but were skeptical  about the whole thing a jig, read on.

1) Choosing a hosting provider (www.bluehost.com  I chose Bluehost because for a 24 month plan I get the domain name registration also free . This works out to 6.95 dollars a month.

2) Choosing a domain name (This was simple and part of the sign in process above. Since my organization is Swarajya Analytics Private Limited , I chose the name www.swanplc.com as other alternatives were too long or not available.

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Note I tried to choose a domain name that

• is easy to remember

• (not too long ,
• not too short,
• doesn’t have similar sounding websites),
• is very related to my original task/name,
• and is available)

3) Choosing a web software –The website I am making is just a place for people to come, read and then contact me. The number of webpages would be limited to less than 5, so I choose WordPress. If I had to choose a large website with many web pages , I would probably choose Drupal (see www.decisionstats.com/drupal )

4) Use Simple Scripts – When you log on to the C-panel ( arrived after logging onto www.bluehost.com with your domain name and password emailed to you), search for the Simple Scripts icon. When you click it you can then choose the software ( here WordPress) for a 2 minute installation.

5) Choosing and Configuring a Web site Theme – For WordPress  I just Goggled WordPress themes (Works for even Drupal themes). Then

• I find the theme which I like,
• and download it to my desktop,
• unzip it
• and upload it to my server using FileZilla

• Download and Install Filezilla from
• www.filezilla-project.org/download.php
• Go to Site Manager
• Click New Site
• Enter Username and Password (same as going to C-panel)
• Click Connect
• When you are in the website on the right side, click on www icon (top right)
• Click again to wp-content and then to themes
• Click and Drag and Drop you theme folder from the left top (Desktop) to Right Top (/www/wp-content/themes )

Use www.yorwebsite.com/wp-admin (where yourwebsite is the hypothetical name of your website ) to login with your WordPress Username and Password ( which is different from your Control Panel Username and Password)

• Go to Design in the Dashboard – Activate Theme.
• Go to Plugins- Activate Akismet (Anti Spam Plug-in).It will then ask you for a WordPress API key .
• Create a username and password on www.wordpress.com to get a WordPress API key (Alphanumeric) ,which would be needed to activate Akismet and thus avoid Spam contents.

6) Start Filling with Content – Start Posting posts or Pages ( For Separate Sections)for the content you have planned for in showing

Everything said and done, this whole process should take you less than an hour , after which you can tweak the website content or even the theme or add plugins to your heart’s content.

Use websites to write and express yourself, and also as a 24/7 showcase for attracting work /consulting /research assignments.