This morning’s topic will address the SUCCESS part of Health Wellness & Success.  As you know I’m a professional coach and I work primarily with wellness professionals and help them take their simple step to their success.  Many times my coaching sessions are about clarifying goals and formulating actions steps and then theirs the other side.  The side I also enjoy… the side that allows me to bring out my inner geek!  The website, web design, social media and marketing!

Let me start by saying, I LOVE WORDPRESS.  I really do.  Old school web designers poo-poo WordPress, you know why… because it’s user friendly.  Because anyone with an idea and $50.00 can start and own a website.  So, if you think wordpress is just for blogging, please suspend your beliefs for a few minutes and hear me out.

The basics:  Since you’re reading this blog post, I’m sure your familiar with what we will call the NON-HOSTED wordpress site.  To own your site, (and not borrow it like you are now) you need to have a “hosted” wordpress site.

First.  The ultra fabulous basics… Just in case you don’t know, and honestly, unless you have someone you can ask, really… how would you?

There are 3 components to every website, whether you are using a FREE wordpress site (non hosted) or you are paying for your bells and whistles… and they are:

ONE: The domain

Your domain is your address on the internet, it’s your http://www.yourdomain.com.

Many people think that once they get their domain, they are set.  But think about it.  If you had an address, and it didn’t go anywhere, what would the post office do with your mail, they would send it back.  So, that’s the same thing that happens with someone that just owns a domain.  There is no where for anyone to GO…

TWO: The Hosting Package

The hosting package is like your property.  It’s where your letters will go when people mail them to your address, or the place where people will visit when they go to your domain.  Does that make sense?

With the FREE wordpress, you are being given a domain to borrow (www.yourname.wordpress.com) and you are being loaned some property or hosting space.  It’s sort of like renting an apartment.  You have the same address as hundreds of other people, the only thing different is the apartment number.

With your own Hosted solution, you purchase a domain (www.yourdomain.com) and you purchase your property.  Ahhhhh  feels good to be a land owner…. smell the fresh cut grass!  🙂

Three: Your Website

Your website is like the home that you build on your property.  You want it to express how you feel, what you like, you want it to be inviting and you want people to join you and enter and be comfortable and have conversations and basically come back and visit often.

WordPress is a free website platform.  So, the best part of building your own site, especially if you’ve used the free wordpress website before, is that once you purchase your domain and hosting package, you can load the wordpress platform for free… and start building your site.

Where to start

So, now that you understand the three basics, you may catch a glimpse of your creative power and understand that you can have more control!

You can use that fantastic DIY attitude that has brought you this far and think … maybe I can make a subscription website, or a membership website, or a product website!

I love GoDaddy so much, that I became a reseller.  If you want to go through my reseller account http://hosting.easybuildawebsite.com you will see that I’ve reduced the renewal fees to make each subsequent year affordable.  Otherwise, you can go through GoDaddy, just watch for the renewals. 

You can purchase your domain and your hosting package for under $60.00 for the year.

Purchase your domain, purchase your hosting package.

Then associate your domain to your hosting package

Then click the button that says, install wordpress. (there are a few fields I should go over with you so that your website comes up like you want it)

then viola’

You have a privately hosted wordpress website.

Here’s the difference:

www.healthwellnessandsuccess.wordpress.com

www.healthwellnessandsuccess.com

The big difference

The biggest difference between the hosted and non-hosted wordpress website are the plug-ins and the embeds.

I know, I know… sounds so techie… but in both cases, if you can copy and paste, you can do it.

Have you ever tried to “embed” a youtube video and for some reason it won’t work, but other video’s do? That’s a limitation of the non-hosted wordpress website, it’s something that the landowner (WordPress.com) has limited.  It’s like your apartment complex not allowing pets.  They just simply don’t allow certain things.  You can’t put in ad’s from affiliates, you can’t embed some connections.

AND you don’t have the plugin options.

If you go to http://www.healthwellnessandsuccess.com, you will be greeted by my smiling face saying, “Let’s Talk”.  That invitation to a conversation is produced by a plug-in (and yes, it’s a free plugin)

Click on my “blog” page and you’ll see my facebook fan pages… also a plugin, (smile… yes it’s free)

I’m in the process of helping one of my clients put together a membership website and one of the fantastic things about wordpress is the shear number of available plugin’s.  There are literally thousands of plugins to add functionality to your site.

I actually have a plugin that automatically updates my hosted website with posts that I blog on my wordpress site.  I do this so that I don’t have to manually recreate the content on the two sites.

OH, I see, you’re going to ask me why I have two sites… well, it’s because of you.

The one thing that wordpress does, and it does really well, is it creates a community.  It invites people over to see what you’re doing.  It seems like many of the tools that are used in the free version eventually make it to the hosted version, but I just can’t give up… this wonderful community.

This fantastic group of people that want to read and comment and share their stories and expert advice.

Let me know if you have any questions…

Have an amazing day!

P.S.  The typo’s are my present to you, I have to rush off to get my daughter camp… I’ll proof this later!

 

 

 

 

 

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