How To Create A Website For Free From Scratch

If you are just starting as an affiliate marketer, one thing you will surely need is your own website. In this post I’ll guide you how to create a website for free from scratch. I’m showing you how to build your first website using WordPress, which is the most popular platform for creating blog content on the internet.

It is also the best solution if you’d like to monetize your website in the mid- to long-term; however if you’d like to keep it really simple (and you don’t mind other people’s ads on you website), there are other options to choose from.

Creating a website with WordPress is one of the easiest things to do, so don’t be afraid: you will have your WordPress site up and running within 10 minutes, even if you have never built a website before.

This website will be:

• Completely FREE (minus the Domain name – optional)
• Optimised for Search Engines (so they can find your content easier)
• Beautifully designed
• Fully Set Up
• Indexed by Google & Bing (so people find & go to your website right away)

The process of creating a website from scratch is basically a 5 step process and won’t take more than 30 minutes, all inclusive. (Obviously, the last step – filling it up with content – will take longer than that). The steps of creating a free WordPress site are these:

1. Choose a hosting provider that supports WordPress
2. Create a free domain or buy a domain (optional)
3. Install WordPress
4. Adjust Settings
5. Add content

It sounds easier than it is, for several reasons (but don’t worry, I’ll guide you through the easiest path). Firstly, finding a hosting provider may sound easy, but finding a GOOD one is not always that obvious. Some are free for a while, and then introduce a price later; others limit features on a free account to a point where you hardly can build a half-serious website.

Oftentimes, you’ll have to tolerate ads on you website, that is not always a good thing if you want to promote your own products, or run ads on your site yourself too.

Choosing a Hosting Provider

So the first step is already a critical one. Let’s find a hosting provider that is free, there are no ads, there are no critical limitations (ie bandwidth, backups, site safety etc.) and that is reliable and fast.

There are a lot of good hosting providers out there, lot of them spend a fortune on advertising so you may have heard of the likes of GoDaddy or HostGator.

But the one I recommend is a hidden gem.

They don’t even advertise themselves as a hosting provider, you would not know this until you come across them through their online entrepreneurship training program.

As a matter of fact, even their paid-for hosting is one of the cheapest ones, and the only difference between their paid membership hosting and free account hosting is that you are limited to only two websites on the free account.

Hosting that is not Hosting

This company is called Wealthy Affiliate. You may have heard of them as one of the longest standing affiliate marketing training platforms.

We are not interested in their free training and other great features (like the built-in keyword tool), we need a website right now.

Create a free website with Wealthy Affiliate

This is how you create a free WordPress site from scratch in 30 seconds.

Option A – Start it here:

Option B:

1. Head over to WA, and create a free account. (This is really free, you don’t need to give them your credit card details etc., it is truly a no surprises service)
2. Log in, and go to ‘Website’ on the left hand side panel
3. Go to SiteBuilder
4. Select whichever you’d like: free .siterubix sub-domain, own domain (www.mywebsite.com) or connect your free WordPress site you are about to create to an existing domain
5. Pick a domain name (unless you already have your own domain). It will tell you if a name is available or not.
6. Enter the name of your website ie Fred’s Blog.
7. Select a theme (you can change it later)
8. Click ‘Create my website’

Below is an infographic laying out how to create your first website from scratch in 30 seconds.

We are not finished yet! 🙂

As you can see, this simple 8-step process will have your website live on the internet.

Latest version of WordPress installed, and a lot of other features added on such as a first class image optimizer, built-in SEO plugin or lightning fast and secure servers.

It’s there.

For Free.

For Ever.

So the most important thing is that you can’t really change the name later. You can, but it is not recommended… (Although if you are on a free domain ie. fredsblog.siterubix.com, you can choose a completely different domain later).

 
If you already have a great domain name, you can skip the next section.

If you don’t, here’s a bit of advice on how to choose a good domain name for your website.

How To Select The Perfect Domain Name for an Affiliate Website (or Any Website)

Set Up Your WordPress Site for SEO

The reason I always recommend WA over any other provider is that actual video tutorial on setting up your WordPress site, so that Google and other search engines can find it easier.

(BTW, if you have created your website through WA, it would automatically notify you when Google have indexed your website.)

So now, that you have a website, what do you need to do?

Firstly, let’s have a look at your website.

If you go to Websites (on the left)

Click on Log In (and Login Now again).

The screen in front of you is your website’s admin dashboard.

This may look completely foreign to you if you have never logged into a WordPress website before, but don’t worry, you will get the hang of this and there is a ton of help available online (and inside WA) so no questions would be left unanswered.

WordPress is the most powerful and widely used website platform in the world. It is used by over 30% of ALL websites (millions) and it also has a wide range of “add ons” known as plugins that you can use extend the functionality of your website.

When you install website here at WA they pre-install three of the most useful plugins with your website automatically and your first step is going to be activating these plugins.

Activate Plugins

Hover your mouse over Plugins and click on installed plugins

You will see the All in One SEO plugin. This is a plugin that is going to help you get found and ranked by search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. If you’d like to learn how to set up All in One SEO properly, I recommend you this quick step-by-step tutorial: (If you already registered to Wealthy Affiliate as a free or premium member, you can find this as part of the Online Entrepreneurs Certification Course under Training)

>> Setting Up All in One SEO Plugin step-by-step video tutorial <<

You will also see the Classic Editor plugin, which is already activated. This gives you access to the classic editor when you upgrade and create posts within your back office, which is preferable (in particular when getting started) to the new and more modular editor. It is going to make your life a lot easier and it is already set up for you so you have to do nothing from your end.

Lastly, the Kraken Image Optimization plugin is going to compress and optimize all of the images on your website automatically. This is really sophisticated and advanced platform that is going to lead to better website speeds, a better user experience, and better search engine rankings. This is already set-up optimally for you.

As you can see from the screenshot below, there is not much else you would need for a website. Too many plugins are not good for your ‘site health’, which may affect site speed, user experience, and therefore ranking.

Related post: Must Have Plugins For A New WordPress Blog

Delete Default Posts, Pages and Comments

Every new WordPress website that you install will come with “default” or dummy content that is added with every website install. You want to get rid of this content before you can start creating content that is relevant to your niche.
The first thing you want to do is delete the default post that is added with each website.

Click on the Posts button, within the side menu.

This will take you to the posts page where you will go to see a list of all the posts on your website. A post is simply a content page on your site (we will be explaining them in more detail later).

Simply “mouse over” the post area and it will reveal the post management buttons. You will want to then click the “Trash” button. This will delete the default “Hello World!” post.

Do the same with the “Pages” link as well. There may be a few different Pages, including the Privacy Policy page. You can delete all of these pages.

Now that we have made space for all your content, it’s time to let Google & Bing know that you are here!

Setting Up Google Analytics & Search Console & Bing Webmaster

Here’s my quick guide to set you up on all three.

Firstly, you’ll need a gmail account, so if you haven’t got one, it’s time for it. (www.gmail.com –> Create account)

Then go to analytics.google.com

Log in, and Create a Property. If you are not prompted right away, you can access this feature by clicking on the little cogwheel (admin) in the menu.

You are asked to enter a name and the url of your website, in return, Google gives you a tracking ID.

You then go back to the WordPress admin dashboard of your website, and click on All in One SEO.

Scroll down a bit until you find ‘Google Analytics’ and insert the UA Tracking ID into the box. Scroll down to the bottom and click on Update Settings.

Go back to Google Analytics and refresh the page, you may even click on ‘Test Traffic’ just to be on the safe side…

Ownership Verified

The next thing you need to do is to head over to https://search.google.com/u/1/search-console/welcome

Google Search Console

This is Google’s Search Console. On the welcome screen you need to select ‘URL Prefix’ if you have not purchased a domain yet, or ‘Domain’, if you have.

With my siterubix site I selected ‘URL Prefix’ . Make sure, that you enter the full https:// before the domain, otherwise you won’t be able to continue with the verification. If you are still logged in, then this screen below should come up. You may be prompted to select a verification method first. In that case, you need to scroll down in that window and select ‘Google Analytics’ as your preferred verification method.

That’s it, done.

If you follow this method, your site will be automatically Indexed by Google.

If you don’t do this, and you don’t set up you Search console or Analytics account, Google will index your site anyways, though it may take up to 2-3 weeks.

Lastly, Bing.

The reason you want to do this is because a new website – most of the time – ranks higher on Bing much faster. If you are ahead of the game and let Bing know of your website (and keep submitting the URLs as you publish new articles), you can get decent traffic even with your website in the Google Sandbox. (Check this out, if you don’t have a clue what I am talking about: Is Your Website in the Google Sandbox?)

So let’s go to https://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster  and sign in with your Google username and password.

On the top of the welcome screen, you will see this.

You can add your site using the box on the left by simply entering the URL of your site and then clicking add.

On the next screen just click ‘Add’ again, you don’t need to worry about sitemaps at this point. Bing offers you a few options to verify your site.

The easiest way to verify your ownership of the site is by inserting the <meta> tag into your homepage. You have to select that long line, and then copy it to the clipboard.

Go to the WordPress admin dashboard, hover over ‘Appearance’ and select ‘Theme Editor’.

Select ‘Theme Header’ from the ‘Theme Files’ on the left, and insert the <meta> code you copied onto the clipboard as per the instructions: right below the <head> tag.

Click ‘Update File’ at the bottom to save the changes.

You can now go back to Bing Webmaster, and click ‘Verify’.

Alternatively, you can select the one on the right and link your Bing account to your Google Analytics account. (You can select ‘Import sites from Google Analytics at any point during the standard verification method too)

It will ask you Google username and password again, and then it needs your permission to access data on Search Console.

It is quite straightforward, you just need to click through the panels.

Summary

If setting up your first website takes 30 minutes or so, imagine what you could achieve with a little practice.

Not to mention that people quote hundreds of dollars for making websites for clients (search Gumtree or Craigslist), and here youare doing the same, following my advice or if your want to dig a bit deeper, following a free online course. You could even charge the client for hosting etc and get it for free through WA. Anyways…

If you are making a website to earn money through affiliate marketing, the real deal is not making a website though…

As you can see, it is not a difficult task, and if done right, can be a strong foundation of a serious online business.

The real trick here is content, tailored to an audience (called niche). If you nail your niche, it is almost irrelevant how good or bad  your website looks. Actually, I said it in this article – How to Create a Website for Affiliate Marketing – that creating a website starts with planning.

When you think you are ready to make a change and start your journey, click here for your free WA account. Once you have registered, please spare a few minutes to drop me a line!

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Greg

Aspiring entrepreneur online and offline for the last 14 years who is not afraid to share his trials, errors, failures and successes to help you avoid the same mistakes. Owner of 2 websites and 2 online shops, making websites ever since FrontPage Express was a thing and earning a side-income online since Amazon was a small business.

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