WordPress Tutorial for Thought Leaders Create Your Own Website by Houssam talhouk

The Ultimate WordPress Tutorial for Thought Leaders: Create Your Own Website

It is crucial for thought leaders to have a strong online presence in order to share their ideas and expertise with a wider audience. While not everyone was able to do that back in the 1990s through televised interviews and seminars, nowadays, anyone can have a great reach using online and digital channels. One of the most effective ways to do this is by creating your own website. While building a website can seem intimidating, WordPress, which is a content management system, makes it easy and accessible for anyone to create a professional online presence. That is why HubClarity will be providing you with a thought leader customized WordPress tutorial.

In this tutorial, we’ll be discussing how to create a website using WordPress. From choosing a hosting provider and purchasing a domain name, to installing WordPress and adding content, we’ll cover all the necessary steps to get your website up and running. We’ll also discuss how to optimize your website for search engine optimization (SEO) and install plugins (plugins for a website are like apps to a smartphone) to add additional functionality.

So, whether you’re a professor looking to share your research with the world or a corporate executive looking to establish your brand and reach a wider audience, this tutorial will give you the tools you need to create a website showcasing your expertise and ideas. So let’s get started!

Choose a hosting provider

The first step in creating a website is to choose a hosting provider, which is a company that provides the servers and technology needed to store and serve your website’s files and data. There are many hosting providers to choose from, offering a range of pricing options and features. Some popular options include Hostinger, Bluehost, HostGator, and GoDaddy.

When choosing a hosting provider, consider factors such as price, features, support, and reputation. Our favorite hosting provider at HubClarity is Hostinger and we trust them so much that we became their clients. We advise any thought leader to start with Hostinger and purchase the “WordPress Starter” hosting plan which is more than enough in this case.

Purchase a domain name

Once you’ve chosen a hosting provider, you’ll need to purchase a domain name for your website. This is the URL that people will use to access your site. For example, if your domain name is “mywebsite.com,” then people can access your website by typing “www.mywebsite.com” into their browser. You have the option to buy a domain name either through your hosting provider or a separate domain registrar. As a thought leader, the most recommended extensions will be “.com” or “.blog”.

Given that your website will most probably be your own name, it will be easier to buy it as a .com. Your website will probably be named after yourself, but in case you want to choose a different name for your website, then you can utilize domain generator tools like name boy, domain wheel, and domain name generator by NameCheap.

Install WordPress

Once you have a hosting account and a domain name, you can install WordPress, which is a content management system (CMS) that makes it easy to create and manage a website. Most hosting providers offer a one-click install option for WordPress, which makes the process easy.

Alternatively, you can install WordPress manually by uploading the files to your server via FTP (File Transfer Protocol), but we at Hub Clarity recommend the first option. We advise following the steps provided by the hosting provider’s website.

Choose a theme

WordPress comes with a wide variety of themes that you can use to customize the look and feel of your website. These themes control the layout, color scheme, font, and other visual elements of your website. You can choose a pre-designed theme or create your own custom theme using WordPress theme development tools. For a thought leader’s website, we recommend Astra as it is user-friendly theme and contains a wide selection of purpose-built templates.

Add content

Once you have your theme set up, you can start adding content to your website. This could include pages, which are static pieces of content that don’t change often, and posts, which are more dynamic and can be organized by date and category. You can also add media files such as images, videos, and audio to your website. WordPress makes it easy to add and manage this content through its user-friendly dashboard.

Install plugins

WordPress plugins are small pieces of software that add additional functionality to your website. There are thousands of plugins available, ranging from contact form plugins to SEO plugins. You can install these through the WordPress dashboard by searching for the plugin you want and clicking “install.” Plugins can be activated and deactivated as needed, so you can customize your website’s functionality to fit your needs. Our recommended plugins for thought leaders will be:

Wordfence:

extra website security on top of SSL certificate

Site kit by google:

adds analytics, search console, AdSense, page speed insight, optimize, tag manager

WP forms:

A WordPress contact form plugin.

Elementor:

seamless and easy website customization

Yoast SEO:

improve your WordPress SEO

Smush:

optimizes images to boost speed

Optimize for SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is improving your website’s ranking in search results to attract more visitors. Adding keyword-rich titles and descriptions, using header tags, and creating XML sitemaps are all ways to optimize your website for SEO.

SEO also entails developing your website to become a trusted source so that other reputable websites in the domain link back to you, signaling to search engines that we are a trusted source, which will boost your rankings. You can aid this process by using WordPress plugins such as Yoast SEO, or you can hire an SEO specialist to assist with more advanced optimization techniques.

Takeaways

Having a professional website as a thought leader is critical to share your ideas and expertise with a larger audience. You can easily create a WordPress website that showcases your unique perspective and skills by following the guidelines outlined in this tutorial.

The user-friendly interface and wide variety of themes and plugins available make the process of building a website simple, from selecting a hosting provider and purchasing a domain name to installing WordPress and adding content. And, by optimizing your website for SEO and installing useful plugins, you can create a website that not only looks good but also performs well in search results and meets the needs of your target audience.

In conclusion, WordPress is a powerful tool for thought leaders looking to establish a strong online presence. So if you’re ready to take your online presence to the next level, give WordPress a try and see how easy it is to create a professional website that showcases your ideas and expertise.