How to Create Your Own Awesome WordPress Site With No Coding!

Hey friends,

Can you tell I’m having a blast using my new site? Well, I totally am! I told you about some of what I did to redesign my site in my previous post. I also promised I would share some more details of that process with you, just in case you wanted to DIY your own awesome WordPress site with no coding involved!

Before I get to the “meat of the matter”, if you’re a total newbie to techie talk and have no idea what “coding” even means, my best explanation is coding is computer language. Much like musical notes determines how a musical piece is played, coding is the language that your website communicates in to determine its look, layout and function. Learning code is a great skill to have, so if you’re so inclined, have at it! Here’s more on common coding languages.

Ok now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s the whole shebang on the steps I took to create my own WordPress site, with no coding.

1. Prayer (free and unlimited)
2. Skillshare (free to try)
3. Genesis Framework (60 bucks)
4. Modern Blogger Pro (40 bucks)
5. Some Coding (perfectly optional)
6. Savings (eee-normous)

1. Prayer

Like everything in my life, especially things that seem difficult, prayer is the critical component for success. Not only does the Bible teach us how to pray, but it says to pray about everything. And so I did. I prayed for clarity and understanding.

2. Next…Skillshare

Skillshare is an awesome site for creatives, it offers online classes within an online community. Like I mentioned in my last post, one day my cousin sent me a message with the website, so I checked it out. It was just what I needed! Step by step, detailed instructions  to learn how to create a WordPress site. I did a quick search of their course offerings and then enrolled in these classes (it’s on!):

• Create a WordPress Website With No Coding or Experience by Christine Maisel (17 videos / 2 hrs. and 30 mins.) – I didn’t have to watch all the videos, just the one’s I needed, then I went to the next class below.
• Create a Custom Responsive WordPress Site by Robb Cubbon (43 videos / 4 hrs. 6 mins.) which includes how to install the Genesis Framework) – again, I didn’t have to watch all the videos because some of them I didn’t personally need (or I just got so smart, I started figuring stuff out on my own..lol)

3. Why The Genesis Framework?

Because the Genesis Framework by Studio Press is super awesome! Perfect for pros and novices like me. “Out of the box” it’s mobile responsive (super-important in today’s highly mobile society), it has state of the art security, advanced custom widgets, built in SEO (search engines love that), and then some.  Many popular websites and awesome bloggers use it and they love it, and I do too! Just google “genesis framework” if you don’t know what a “framework” is and you’ll see tons of good news about it.

4. Modern Blogger Pro

The Modern Blogger Pro is a child theme designed for the Genesis Framework. I was so giddy when I found this theme because it’s girly and cute and it had pretty much all the features I was looking to add to my site, even eCommerce. This theme had 6 page layouts, custom slideshow widget, pretty fonts and the list goes on. (Don’t know what a “theme” is, click here).

5. Some Coding (perfectly optional)

Once I completed all the above steps my site looked pretty darn neat and loaded super fast! I was tickled with happiness. I gained so much confidence, I decided to step into a little bit of coding (oh yes, yes I did!). I messed around with my CSS stylesheet (yep, I know fancy tech words now) to apply the personalized color palette for my site, I changed the size and positioning of my header image, certain font colors and so on. I had to search the Modern Blooger Pro theme support forum to learn how to do some of the stuff and I also sent a few emails; they were always super helpful.

6. Finally, the Savings

Now, if I were to get a web designer to do a custom designed site for me, I’m sure it would look a lot fancier, with all the bells and whistles, but it would also cost anywhere from $900 – $1500. But…my saying is, “if you don’t have the money, you must make the time”. In the end, it cost me under $100 and a great number of hours. But…I had a lot of fun designing my own site! It has given me a new set of skills, new confidence and a cute site to create cool blog posts to share with y’all. 🙂

That’s the how I did it! If you have any other questions or may be wondering about some other aspect of building your own site, shoot me an email, I’d be happy to help. 🙂

Have you ever taken on a task that initially seemed like a challenge but turned out well? Or maybe right now you’re just toying with the idea of taking on something difficult. Do tell.

 

Wendy