Starting a Wordpress website today...tips?

[wade1mil]

I would say to myself, "Don't waste time creating a website until I have an idea that I have already validated through making sales to my target market."

 

[Xeon]

Ok, I blew US$2500++ on setting up a Wordpress website and plugins and webhosting previously, it was a huge mistake considering I didn't even have a product ready. But I learnt lots of things from the process.....could have spent all that $ on inventory and ads instead............so here's my thoughts:

I'm worried about choosing a theme and putting in all the work to it then finding out the theme has issues and I'll need to restart with a different one........feeling lost but I stay at it.......

All themes have their own issues, regardless of how good they are or how many positive reviews they got. I've tried a total of 6 paid themes including Themeforest ones, and even those that had thousands of positive reviews had some drawbacks in one way or another. There's no such thing as a perfect theme.

With pre-made themes, you've to FORCE your content to fit the layout of theme (e.g: you need to place 4 images on the top section but the pre-made theme has no layout for that, so you need to find a way around that or pay someone to customize it).

With a custom-developed theme from scratch, you can have full control over the look and content.
That's the biggest difference.

What you should do now, is to get a piece of paper and pen, list down the important pages you need to have in your website (Home, Contact, Services, About, etc....)

Then, in each of these main pages, list and sketch out what content you want on it.

THEN you go find the theme that can best fit your content.

If you've no time or just want to be lazy, then find a theme first and force your content around it, which is a bad choice.

Im struggling........been at this nonstop almost and don't feel I'm moving much.....navigating is super slow and I think because I'm on iPad......I'm not sure what to do but figuring as go....want to do it right and NOT WASTE TIME mainly......onetone is the Wordpress theme I chose for free.......
I use daily to think you just slap the theme on and good....now I'm seeing or I think I'm seeing....if the creator doesn't update it....my site will not function correctly?? I don't know....back to it I go

Don't worry, this is normal. With setting up Wordpress sites, it's often a process of : download this theme/plugin, have questions, contact support, wait for days/figure out yourself, proceed, have questions, contact support......It's normal.

Find those theme companies that have a good track record.
On ThemeForest, for example, search for the ones with the highest reviews and downloads, and see how long they've been in business, and how frequent they respond to customers' questions. On ThemeForest, you can see all these on the theme page itself and the Comments section. Some companies reply in 1 day, some in 3 days, some in 7.....

With theme companies, if one day they go out of business, there's nothing you can do. But the good ones have been in business for many years.

A lot of times, FREE is not always good. Personally, I believe PAID is better than FREE in most cases when it comes to web design.

I know people have recommended theme Forest and I'm wondering if I would have bought one off there does that mean it's already to go and I don't have to customize or do anything just fill in the blanks? I know this is probably not as hard it is seems to me right now but all I hear is the clock ticking.....would be different if I was making progress but getting an image up in a little bit of this and that is not progress in my mind

Without having any idea of what type of website you're creating, we can't give specific advice.

Do you sell products? If you're selling products, look for eCommerce Wordpress themes that have WooCommerce integrated into it. The WooCommerce part, especially if you want to customize that area, you would probably have to end up paying for custom development on it since it can get quite messy.

If you just need a website that gives a summary of the services you provide, like those law firm websites, then it's simpler. Just get a good theme and go from there.
You can also list the themes that you're considering here, and we can provide some advice.

Yep...I used namecheap and siteground
I'm using a free theme from Wordpress called onetone but having problems with customizing it.....been at it since yesterday.

Note that the OneTone theme you're using is a one-page theme so all content will be on the home page only. If you're selling multiple products, this is not a good one to use.

Also, with regards to customization, there's a low limit to how customizable most themes (even paid ones) are. The most you can do is just drag a few blocks around here and there, remove or add blocks etc, but for the most part, everything is fixed. You can change the text color and very basic stuff like this but that's all.

Even with Divi Theme + Visual Composer, there's still a limit on the customization.

So far, the best combo for really customizable Wordpress sites would be GeneratePress + Elementor (YES, ELEMENTOR IS A KILLER and IT'S INSANELY POWERFUL!!!!). But you need some knowledge of web design to use that.

Should I be afraid to install plug ins because could mess up the site??? Just basic ones free I think would make this so much easier but don't trust them.

Plugins are same as themes. CodeCanyon has good plugins and most are very actively developed, but check the reviews and company background first. Try to reduce the no. of plugins you use cos i) they can slow down the site and ii) they will DRAG you to PLUG-IN MAINTENANCE HELL.

PLUG-IN MAINTENANCE HELL is basically, you update a plugin, and your website breaks and ceases to function.
You dunno what's wrong, so you go in and de-activate all your 23 other plugins and re-activate them and test them all one by one.

Finally you found the bug. So you remove that plugin, now you've to find someone to reproduce that functionality, either with another plugin or just forget about it.
And each time a plugin gets installed.....it may break some parts of the site again....and......

This happens even with very high quality plugins, mind you. When you've too many separate components operating in the same system, things tend to go wrong often.....

I will look into that I did see divi but avoiding paying if can....pretty sure it wasn't free.I'm inching along....anybody know if the jet pack is worth keeping on here as a plug in?

What are you using Jetpack for? Backup? If Backup only, I would suggest WPManage. It's cheaper and you can pick and choose what services you want. The backup service is only ~US$2 per month which is lovely.

Or......have you consider just setting up shop on Shopify instead?

I move my website there after I got fed-up with Wordpress sites (plugin hell + slow sites even on Siteground's Geek package + optimization). Shopify seems to load a lot faster than any of the Wordpress sites I had. I had to give up a bit of customization but it's more than worth it.

With Wordpress, I find myself spending too much time keeping track and maintaining plugins and all the nitty-gritty webby stuff, and while some folks might say hosting on your own web host is cheaper, I don't agree though. With Wordpress and WooCommerce, you basically need a plugin for every single function.

For your case, I would say:

1) go with the theme that best suits your content
2) make a list of the areas which you need to customize or change
3) find a good developer like WpKraken (they offer 100% money back guarantee) to customize those parts. Small changes like CSS and changing the look don't cost much. It's the backend eCommerce functionality that costs more.

That's what I did, and it's the most efficient way by far.

Feel free to post any more questions here, will be happy to help since I'm very free now doing action-faking while saving up $$$ for my hustle LOL

 

[Laurex]

So, WordPress tips, huh?
Ok, you install it, easy task, next step on any guide:
... Go to www.yoursite.com/wp-admin and login...
Tip 1: right after installing Wp, get this plug-in
Rename wp-login.php
It's a good security measure that every developer should implement. Changing the keys for your door is safe, hiding the door is safer.

 

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[ApparentHorizon]

My site is live after paying someone on fiver to set up...but he did the minimum and I'm ow trying to do the seo part myself.....
I do have the jet pack that comes with it but I'm very hesitant to activate it. Everybody is so mixed on their opinion of using it or not and I just don't trust anybody so I leave it deactivated.
I was going to use Google analytics and I only got to the part where I copied the code and then went to paste it in my word press but where to paste it was not there and I think I need a plug-in. For whatever reason I am deathly afraid of putting any plug-ins to my website.... I just feel like it sets me up for problems that I currently don't have without them.
So.... does anybody have a recommendation for where I can learn to do all of the SCO stuff that is 100% correct in the way it should be done? I have no problem putting in the work and the hours but I just don't want to do this wrong

Jetpack is fine. Just go into debug mode and only enable what you need. Photon is excellent for image delivery, and their lazy loading is decent too.

Plugins are what makes wp so powerful. Just check reviews and number of installs before you add it to your site. 99% of the time you can activate/deactivate it without worry.

Just don't use a separate plugin for every little thing you need.

Check out Moz and start from their 2014 blogs and up. It's a long read, which some course could do in a 1-2 hours, but it gives you great info on the evolution of search and allows you to more easily predict future changes.

As long as you don't try to keyword stuff, or get spam links you'll be fine with trial and error. Google isn't severe as most people think.

1. Get a good hoster with good support (for example: one.com)

Learn about CDNs (check cloudfare).

Most hosts have this, but check for http/2 for SSL.

6. Write for the user not for the enginge

Write for both. Use keywords and synonyms of keywords naturally throughout your pieces. (IE don't force it)

Also, the On-Site SEO you're learning here is only 20% of the battle. The other is off-site distribution. (Backlinks)

Like any marketing, a below average on-site optimization, with great distribution, is better than the reverse.

 

[P Stiller]

I would say to myself, "Don't waste time creating a website until I have an idea that I have already validated through making sales to my target market."

I've been doing this service for a long time....wasting time basically treating it as a hobby by waiting for people to come to me.....only have a Facebook business page. I need customers and sales.....I have a service proven to sell....I'm good at what I do just not at selling it.
Thanks for response and trying to save me time

Im here now buying domain name with stupid questions like....should it be same name as company name.....little things that always held me up.....I just want to get this up instead of being hung up on every detail and go to bed knowing tomorrow I have much better chances of sales

 

[TonyStark]

Use a template.

Cheap one's on themeforest.com.

 

[Anuj Raman]

I have made 2 websites in the past for my businesses. Both of them failed in their own ways, so I guess I am qualified to answer this.

Look, first determine why you want to create a website. What is the outcome you want?
How do you plan on monetizing it. Keep a monetizing strategy in mind before you even begin to build your website.

Because I can tell you, the number 1 reason why both of my websites failed was because I didn't have a good monetization strategy and the websites I built were not able to reach break even point.

Secondly, if you are building a website for blogging purposes, don't. Unless you have a huge fanbase that craves for the content you post. It is very very very hard to build a blog from scratch when you have no existing readers for it. Trust me I know.

Instead of jumping into building a website, start contributing to Facebook Groups & forums. Go where your market already is. Don't create demand, supply where the demand is.

So yeah, these were the things I wish I knew when I spent my money buying domains and hosting (with no ROI) because it felt cool to me at that time.

 

[P Stiller]

I am behind on doing my introduction but I have been on here now for about a week. I will keep this short ...... i'm on my way to the library to build a website from scratch using WordPress.org.....I just thought anybody who has one or two sentences that they wish they knew when did this.... that might help me.....please post so I can use the advice as I go.
Thank you for your time

 

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[Salama2017]

I am behind on doing my introduction but I have been on here now for about a week. I will keep this short ...... i'm on my way to the library to build a website from scratch using WordPress.org.....I just thought anybody who has one or two sentences that they wish they knew when did this.... that might help me.....please post so I can use the advice as I go.
Thank you for your time

It will be time consuming but a great experience. I've created a few wordpress sites but took them down because I didn't have good use for them.
I would buy domain names and other packages only to be stuck with a useless website.
You need to have a purpose for the website especially if you'll be buying a domain name.
Otherwise you could just start with the free service before you pay for anything.
Best of luck!

 

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[racyred09]

I like namecheap for domain purchase AND hosting. They've got one-click Wordpress installation within cPanel. And there are tons of free themes you can search inside it. I think it's pretty intuitive once you've got it set up. Just click through everything and fill it in.

 

[P Stiller]

I like namecheap for domain purchase AND hosting. They've got one-click Wordpress installation within cPanel. And there are tons of free themes you can search inside it. I think it's pretty intuitive once you've got it set up. Just click through everything and fill it in.

Thanks for reply....I used namecheap and went with siteground.

It was between siteground and hostgator....I had both customer service chats going and hostgator was like talking to a kid and siteground talking to a complete experienced professional....so I paid the extra few bucks.

 

[Scot]

It's best to stay away from any companies who are a part of the EIG Network, HostGator being one of them. Namecheap's customer service was always good to me...until the last time it wasn't when I had a dispute over an affiliate referral that didn't get credited to my account. I've been hearing that Namecheap is good for their domains with the free privacy protection (which I still use), but not so great for their hosting. I am making the switch to Siteground's hosting since they include the SSL Certification for free, whereas Namecheap doesn't.

So far, Siteground has been really good with speed and ease of use. I've had no complaints with Siteground.

Curious, what’s wrong with EIG? I use hostgator and have never had a problem.

 

[jazz]

Thanks! I'll make a note of that.....currently I'm stuck on the theme I chose. I downloaded it from Wordpress but having trouble customizing it of course because this is all new to me. I'm worried about choosing a theme and putting in all the work to it then finding out the theme has issues and I'll need to restart with a different one........feeling lost but I stay at it.......

Just a quick note on security here. Moving your login URL is definitely a way to prevent people from finding your login page. This sort of security measure is what's often known as "security by obscurity." The problem is that hackers generally have the tools to still find the front door to your site.

Most attacks on Wordpress sites are automated and don't use your login page as the access point. Some WP plugins also rely on the default login URL, which can break features or cause you headaches later down the road.

You can still go ahead with moving your login page. It definitely can't hurt your security. I would also highly recommend implementing 2-Factor Authorization the first chance you get. It's simple and it can sometimes feel like a hassle for logging in, but it's one of the simplest ways to really increase the security of your site. Be sure to also change or remove any default logins and usernames like "admin".

 

[P Stiller]

This post will be used one day by someone so just leaving a trail of something I thought was nice to check that I just found.....
This tests the template you're considering to see if mobile friendly....good idea to do
https://search.google.com/test/mobi...utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=mft-redirect

Also a quote near it that was good timing to read and apply.....

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
~ Leonardo da Vinci

 

[andrewhook]

Don't go for free themes, choose builders instead:
Page Builder by SiteOrigin

These are premium builders:
Divi — The Ultimate WordPress Theme & Visual Page Builder <-- the easiest one

Drag & Drop Page Builder For WordPress <-- the most complete one

If you already have an idea of how your website should look like, have a look at this theme ($59):
Meta Splash – TheGem

 

[JamesDB]

Don't try to make it perfect the first time, you need to understand that you are in the game for the long run and therefore don't stress yourself out and keep on learning.

 

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[ApparentHorizon]

I appreciate you taking the time to type all that out. I have spent 10 hours basically trying to figure out where to paste a simple code and it is driving me nuts. I have read so much and watch so many videos and I swear to you what I see on my accounts and screen does not match what they show. For example in my Google analytics account if I go to admin the page is blank and it is supposed to have a menu .....
I would be happy to spend hours reading all the tutorials like the one you mentioned but so far I have done that and it leads me to a dead-end....I will keep trying but after hours and hours you start to look around getting really frustrated saying that you have gone absolutely nowhere within two days..again though thanks for all this information.

Google's UI for webmasters and admins is horrendous, and their documentation updates also lag. It used to be a lot worse believe it or not...

To check if you installed it correctly, press ctrl+U, if you're on chrome to view the source code. Then ctrl+f and search for your code to see if you installed it correctly. IE it should show up exactly how you pasted it, and it should be before the closing head tag </head>

It then takes 24 hours for your Analytics to populate. You have to click into the property to view the stats.

For other options, use the search in the left bar. That used to be the menu you're probably looking for.

I use Head & Footer Code

To edit the header/footer code. It has some extra features you most likely won't need, but it's lightweight and doesn't post-format anything.

If you need help installing the code, feel free to PM me if you don't want to post your site publicly.

 

[WJK]

I've spent the last 3 months building my website on WordPress. I finally hired a service that screen shares with me and walked me through it. I have a learned a lot and I can do my blog posts now without help. The videos about the program on YouTube didn't make any sense to me when I started. Now they do. This week I added an "essential grid" to post my art and photos. Keep going.

 

[TonyStark]

Bought the domain name and now deciding between hosts host gator or siteground.....imwant to just hurry and choose one but I'm trying to not go to fast and miss things like comparing the pricing that changes after intro price expires.......keep peeking on here to see tips as I go......thanks for responses

I'd say GoDaddy, they have the best support.

 

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[InspireHD]

It's best to stay away from any companies who are a part of the EIG Network, HostGator being one of them. Namecheap's customer service was always good to me...until the last time it wasn't when I had a dispute over an affiliate referral that didn't get credited to my account. I've been hearing that Namecheap is good for their domains with the free privacy protection (which I still use), but not so great for their hosting. I am making the switch to Siteground's hosting since they include the SSL Certification for free, whereas Namecheap doesn't.

So far, Siteground has been really good with speed and ease of use. I've had no complaints with Siteground.

 

[InspireHD]

Curious, what’s wrong with EIG? I use hostgator and have never had a problem.

There might be different experiences, but generally, the EIG is a large conglomerate of hosting companies. You'll often be grouped in with many others on the same servers fighting for the bandwidth and customer support has to handle a lot more (slower response times from support).

Many years ago, I used BlueHost and found my website to be super slow. I thought it was just the way it was. Then, I moved to Namecheap and it was really fast. Siteground seems or feels like it's a little bit faster.

 

[MattR82]

If sales are your problem, check out @Fox thread. I'm out and about and on my phone so can't link to it atm but it's awesome.

 

[DVU]

Get a theme builder like Divi, you are not limited to 1 layout and can create anything you want. Sure it will take you 5-10 hours to figure it out but once you do, with a small amount of knowledge in Divi you can replicate 70% of themeforest themes.

Plus, its buy once unlimited use.

 

[KeepGoin]

I went through this process a couple weeks ago. Namecheap is great for their privacy protection.

However, for hosting you should look at either cloudways or siteground. I used cloudways because of their ssl certificate along with a vultr server.

Website speed and having your site be https are ranking factors as said by google. These things are small factors, but they still matter. Especially if it's ecommerce.

Lastly, make sure you're avoiding bloated themes. There are plenty where the devs will include tons of options to make it look appealing for the sale. Those same themes make lots of server requests and this slows down their loading time.

Good luck and you don't need to be worried or afraid. You're new to it, things will happen and you'll make mistakes. If you roll with the punches you'll be so thankful for a new valuable skill.

 

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[P Stiller]

Ok, I blew US$2500++ on setting up a Wordpress website and plugins and webhosting previously, it was a huge mistake considering I didn't even have a product ready. But I learnt lots of things from the process.....could have spent all that $ on inventory and ads instead............so here's my thoughts:



All themes have their own issues, regardless of how good they are or how many positive reviews they got. I've tried a total of 6 paid themes including Themeforest ones, and even those that had thousands of positive reviews had some drawbacks in one way or another. There's no such thing as a perfect theme.

With pre-made themes, you've to FORCE your content to fit the layout of theme (e.g: you need to place 4 images on the top section but the pre-made theme has no layout for that, so you need to find a way around that or pay someone to customize it).

With a custom-developed theme from scratch, you can have full control over the look and content.
That's the biggest difference.
I found one or 2 on themeforest but didn't seem to be any different than the one for free.....unless those are easier to customize and I'm just not understanding that.......
What you should do now, is to get a piece of paper and pen, list down the important pages you need to have in your website (Home, Contact, Services, About, etc....)

Then, in each of these main pages, list and sketch out what content you want on it.
Just the basics I need which this has
THEN you go find the theme that can best fit your content.

If you've no time or just want to be lazy, then find a theme first and force your content around it, which is a bad choice.




Don't worry, this is normal. With setting up Wordpress sites, it's often a process of : download this theme/plugin, have questions, contact support, wait for days/figure out yourself, proceed, have questions, contact support......It's normal.

Find those theme companies that have a good track record.
On ThemeForest, for example, search for the ones with the highest reviews and downloads, and see how long they've been in business, and how frequent they respond to customers' questions. On ThemeForest, you can see all these on the theme page itself and the Comments section. Some companies reply in 1 day, some in 3 days, some in 7.....

With theme companies, if one day they go out of business, there's nothing you can do. But the good ones have been in business for many years.
What I'm worried about....haven't found ones with a lot of reviews at all.....figured onetone is from Wordpress and ranked as a top free one so.....try it
A lot of times, FREE is not always good. Personally, I believe PAID is better than FREE in most cases when it comes to web design.
Makes sense but so many people say theirs worked fine free so hoping.....


Without having any idea of what type of website you're creating, we can't give specific advice.
I'm a trainer that offers different service for self maintenance of the body.....all of which the whole world needs because nobody cares until it's to late
Do you sell products? If you're selling products, look for eCommerce Wordpress themes that have WooCommerce integrated into it. The WooCommerce part, especially if you want to customize that area, you would probably have to end up paying for custom development on it since it can get quite messy.
No selling products
If you just need a website that gives a summary of the services you provide, like those law firm websites, then it's simpler. Just get a good theme and go from there.
You can also list the themes that you're considering here, and we can provide some advice.

Trying to make onetone work since spent 2 days on it
Also noticed screenr in a video I'm keeping in mind as a backup that's free from Wordpress.....imlike the one page simple layoout

Themeforest has a basic one for $17
YourFitness — Sport Blog, Fitness Club, Gym Theme

Below is most expensive.....just seems like if I can get around a few glitches on onetone I can make it similar to it
http://sktthemesdemo.net/skt-fitness/


Note that the OneTone theme you're using is a one-page theme so all content will be on the home page only. If you're selling multiple products, this is not a good one to use.
No selling
Also, with regards to customization, there's a low limit to how customizable most themes (even paid ones) are. The most you can do is just drag a few blocks around here and there, remove or add blocks etc, but for the most part, everything is fixed. You can change the text color and very basic stuff like this but that's all.

Even with Divi Theme + Visual Composer, there's still a limit on the customization.

So far, the best combo for really customizable Wordpress sites would be GeneratePress + Elementor (YES, ELEMENTOR IS A KILLER and IT'S INSANELY POWERFUL!!!!). But you need some knowledge of web design to use that.



Plugins are same as themes. CodeCanyon has good plugins and most are very actively developed, but check the reviews and company background first. Try to reduce the no. of plugins you use cos i) they can slow down the site and ii) they will DRAG you to PLUG-IN MAINTENANCE HELL.

PLUG-IN MAINTENANCE HELL is basically, you update a plugin, and your website breaks and ceases to function.
You dunno what's wrong, so you go in and de-activate all your 23 other plugins and re-activate them and test them all one by one.

Finally you found the bug. So you remove that plugin, now you've to find someone to reproduce that functionality, either with another plugin or just forget about it.
And each time a plugin gets installed.....it may break some parts of the site again....and......

This happens even with very high quality plugins, mind you. When you've too many separate components operating in the same system, things tend to go wrong often.....



What are you using Jetpack for? Backup? If Backup only, I would suggest WPManage. It's cheaper and you can pick and choose what services you want. The backup service is only ~US$2 per month which is lovely.
I don't know it came with it....don't know if should deactivate it or what the hell I need.....skipped it for now
Or......have you consider just setting up shop on Shopify instead?
No idea
I move my website there after I got fed-up with Wordpress sites (plugin hell + slow sites even on Siteground's Geek package + optimization). Shopify seems to load a lot faster than any of the Wordpress sites I had. I had to give up a bit of customization but it's more than worth it.

With Wordpress, I find myself spending too much time keeping track and maintaining plugins and all the nitty-gritty webby stuff, and while some folks might say hosting on your own web host is cheaper, I don't agree though. With Wordpress and WooCommerce, you basically need a plugin for every single function.
Now I'm worried more
For your case, I would say:

1) go with the theme that best suits your content
2) make a list of the areas which you need to customize or change
3) find a good developer like WpKraken (they offer 100% money back guarantee) to customize those parts. Small changes like CSS and changing the look don't cost much. It's the backend eCommerce functionality that costs more.

That's what I did, and it's the most efficient way by far.

Feel free to post any more questions here, will be happy to help since I'm very free now doing action-faking while saving up $$$ for my hustle LOL

Going back to clicking.....more I click the more I been moving slightly...after reading some of your stuff I'm a little more nervous that once this is all set up is going to become a huge headache.

Thank you for the time put into this response.....very helpful!

 

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[P Stiller]

Ok, I blew US$2500++ on setting up a Wordpress website and plugins and webhosting previously, it was a huge mistake considering I didn't even have a product ready. But I learnt lots of things from the process.....could have spent all that $ on inventory and ads instead............so here's my thoughts:



All themes have their own issues, regardless of how good they are or how many positive reviews they got. I've tried a total of 6 paid themes including Themeforest ones, and even those that had thousands of positive reviews had some drawbacks in one way or another. There's no such thing as a perfect theme.

With pre-made themes, you've to FORCE your content to fit the layout of theme (e.g: you need to place 4 images on the top section but the pre-made theme has no layout for that, so you need to find a way around that or pay someone to customize it).

With a custom-developed theme from scratch, you can have full control over the look and content.
That's the biggest difference.

What you should do now, is to get a piece of paper and pen, list down the important pages you need to have in your website (Home, Contact, Services, About, etc....)

Then, in each of these main pages, list and sketch out what content you want on it.

THEN you go find the theme that can best fit your content.

If you've no time or just want to be lazy, then find a theme first and force your content around it, which is a bad choice.




Don't worry, this is normal. With setting up Wordpress sites, it's often a process of : download this theme/plugin, have questions, contact support, wait for days/figure out yourself, proceed, have questions, contact support......It's normal.

Find those theme companies that have a good track record.
On ThemeForest, for example, search for the ones with the highest reviews and downloads, and see how long they've been in business, and how frequent they respond to customers' questions. On ThemeForest, you can see all these on the theme page itself and the Comments section. Some companies reply in 1 day, some in 3 days, some in 7.....

With theme companies, if one day they go out of business, there's nothing you can do. But the good ones have been in business for many years.

A lot of times, FREE is not always good. Personally, I believe PAID is better than FREE in most cases when it comes to web design.



Without having any idea of what type of website you're creating, we can't give specific advice.

Do you sell products? If you're selling products, look for eCommerce Wordpress themes that have WooCommerce integrated into it. The WooCommerce part, especially if you want to customize that area, you would probably have to end up paying for custom development on it since it can get quite messy.

If you just need a website that gives a summary of the services you provide, like those law firm websites, then it's simpler. Just get a good theme and go from there.
You can also list the themes that you're considering here, and we can provide some advice.



Note that the OneTone theme you're using is a one-page theme so all content will be on the home page only. If you're selling multiple products, this is not a good one to use.

Also, with regards to customization, there's a low limit to how customizable most themes (even paid ones) are. The most you can do is just drag a few blocks around here and there, remove or add blocks etc, but for the most part, everything is fixed. You can change the text color and very basic stuff like this but that's all.

Even with Divi Theme + Visual Composer, there's still a limit on the customization.

So far, the best combo for really customizable Wordpress sites would be GeneratePress + Elementor (YES, ELEMENTOR IS A KILLER and IT'S INSANELY POWERFUL!!!!). But you need some knowledge of web design to use that.



Plugins are same as themes. CodeCanyon has good plugins and most are very actively developed, but check the reviews and company background first. Try to reduce the no. of plugins you use cos i) they can slow down the site and ii) they will DRAG you to PLUG-IN MAINTENANCE HELL.

PLUG-IN MAINTENANCE HELL is basically, you update a plugin, and your website breaks and ceases to function.
You dunno what's wrong, so you go in and de-activate all your 23 other plugins and re-activate them and test them all one by one.

Finally you found the bug. So you remove that plugin, now you've to find someone to reproduce that functionality, either with another plugin or just forget about it.
And each time a plugin gets installed.....it may break some parts of the site again....and......

This happens even with very high quality plugins, mind you. When you've too many separate components operating in the same system, things tend to go wrong often.....



What are you using Jetpack for? Backup? If Backup only, I would suggest WPManage. It's cheaper and you can pick and choose what services you want. The backup service is only ~US$2 per month which is lovely.

Or......have you consider just setting up shop on Shopify instead?

I move my website there after I got fed-up with Wordpress sites (plugin hell + slow sites even on Siteground's Geek package + optimization). Shopify seems to load a lot faster than any of the Wordpress sites I had. I had to give up a bit of customization but it's more than worth it.

With Wordpress, I find myself spending too much time keeping track and maintaining plugins and all the nitty-gritty webby stuff, and while some folks might say hosting on your own web host is cheaper, I don't agree though. With Wordpress and WooCommerce, you basically need a plugin for every single function.

For your case, I would say:

1) go with the theme that best suits your content
2) make a list of the areas which you need to customize or change
3) find a good developer like WpKraken (they offer 100% money back guarantee) to customize those parts. Small changes like CSS and changing the look don't cost much. It's the backend eCommerce functionality that costs more.

That's what I did, and it's the most efficient way by far.

Feel free to post any more questions here, will be happy to help since I'm very free now doing action-faking while saving up $$$ for my hustle LOL

I messed up that last reply.....I responded under each paragraph and it blended into yours except on the bottom.......sorry.....it's late and I'm not all there

 

[Scuur]

Use Namecheap & either SSD A2 hosting or my favorite DigitalOcean its 5 dollars a month. I have lots of experience with Wordpress. I use to make custom themes for fun. Also, use a CDN I like CloudFlare its free. Make sure your website is secure with HTTPS, lightweight and loads fast.

 

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[StompingAcorns]

What you should do now, is to get a piece of paper and pen, list down the important pages you need to have in your website (Home, Contact, Services, About, etc....)

Then, in each of these main pages, list and sketch out what content you want on it.

THEN you go find the theme that can best fit your content.

Based on my personal experience with WordPress, @Xeon is giving you awesome advice. This excerpt above is exactly how I start when I build a website.

 

[Greks]

Is wordpress best tool to use for youre website? I started with wordpress to and i quickly saw that for my website magneto was the best solution. And when more time went by I realised that I could pay someone 5$/h to do all that work for me. Wordpress is known as user friendly and simple. If you want to suprise your client and do a little bit more than they expect, I recommend you to spend a little bit of your money and get professional help. It will pay off in the future and you are gonna have more clients and happily satisfied clients.

 

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[23NotANumber]

Hey,

did not read all the answers so far but what I learned so far is:

1. Get a good hoster with good support (for example: one.com)
2. Don´t use too much plugins (and forget about Jetpacks, it slows the side down and causes some more problems). Only important ones like Yoast, Contactform 7 etc.
3. Go with a popular theme (for example x-theme), where you have a lot of videos, css codes and tutorials online
4. Be really clear about your keyword(s) you are going to focus on, as it is hard to rank for other ones, once you send the xml sitemap and idex your site
5. Use google search console and google analytics
6. Write for the user not for the enginge
7. Take care of the size of youre page and especially of the pictures

That is all so far.
If you have any more questions, or want a site link to my page just ask.

Cheers and have a good day!

 

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