wordpress – Forward Web

How To Build a Website Yourself

Posted on July 10, 2016 by Forward_Web

Are you considering building a website yourself? The process can seem overwhelming, especially when you are in the beginning stages. Many people choose to hire a professional web designer to take on this task instead but unfortunately, not everyone has the budget to hire out from the very beginning. However, there are a lot of tools, information and tutorials available which allow anyone to build a quality website within a reasonable amount of time and Forward Web provides some helpful tips in this article to build your very own website yourself:

The first thing you will need to do is set up your hosting and domain name. Of course there are many sources online where you can do this but with Forward Web, this step is fast, easy and simple! You can purchase your domain name (or transfer an existing one) and set up your hosting within minutes and if you need assistance, just let us know and we are happy to help. Once you have obtained your website and hosting, you now have the basic framework set up and you can begin building your new website.

Next, install a CMS (Content Management System). Forward Web recommends WordPress because it is an open source project that gives people the opportunity to build and manage their own website without having to learn code. However, if you want to learn code, WordPress still allows for you to work with the code for your website (as WordPress is Open Source), so it offers the best of both worlds.

In addition, building your website with WordPress means you are you able to host your website with any web hosting company that supports PHP/MySQL (which includes most web host’s). Being able to move your website to the web host of your choice is a great advantage over other site builders. Once your website is launched, you will want to have the freedom/option to change web hosts (if needed) vs being stuck with the same web hosting company you are building your website with.

WordPress has over 2,000 free and attractive themes (templates) for you to start building your website with. However, if you do not find any themes that you would like to use, you can go into the open market and purchase a WordPress theme of your liking (usually for around $30-$80.00). Either way, you have plenty of options in regards to the design of your website. Feel free to browse the latest free themes by WordPress here.

Creating a website from scratch takes patience and a lot of experimentation and trial and error. At the same time, it can be a truly worthwhile process if you are up to the challenge/learning experience. Luckily, there are a lot of tools and information available (such as this article). If you are just starting your business and you have a very limited budget, learning to develop the website yourself might be the best solution. However, if you do have the budget (or want to save time), you might want to consider leaving the development of your website to the professionals (Forward Web). Another factor to consider is the complexity of your website. Are you planning to sell any items via your website? If so, we highly recommend contacting Forward Web first, so you can explore both options before committing to your approach.

Create Your Blog In Three Easy Steps

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Forward_Web

Blogs have become very popular, they have been for a while now, and they can be really life changing (for the better). Blogs are amazing, regardless of who you are, from entrepreneurs to multi-million dollar business owners; blogs can do wonders for yourself and your brand. In this article, FernGullyGraphics explains how to create your very own blog in 3 easy steps:

1st Step: Get Started

Getting started on your very own blog is very simple. To get started you will need a secure domain name, a great web hosting service and you will need to install WordPress. Forward Web can provide you with all three of these components and is happy to assist you in this process.

Picking a domain name is the most important part of this process (that is going to be your www.yoursitename.com) that you will be using for your site. Keep in mind that the more generic your name, the more likely it will be that it’s already registered and if that is the case, you will need to be a little more creative. Additionally, we recommend that you use a .com, .net or .org.

Finally, make sure to setup your website hosting and install WordPress. This is a fast and simple process with Forward Web!

2nd Step: Use Your Passion to Build Your Blog

Being that it is in fact so easy to set up a blog, there are millions of blogs on the internet everyday. That means that your blog will have to be extraordinary in order to stand out from the crowd. When creating a blog, it would be wise to create it around your personal name, a passion of yours or your existing business name/brand.

Most people usually start a blog for the following reasons:

#1: Business. The purpose of this type of blog is to share information about your company while creating quality content around products and services.

#2: Passion/Hobby. This is your very own little space on the internet to write about whatever you like.

#3: Personal Brand: This becomes a place for you to build an online profile/resume and makes it easy for others to find you online.

A lot of blogs start out as a passion or even a project that usually turns into something much bigger down the road. Of course, the more passionate a person is about something, the more likely they are to put more interest and focus in it. Unfortunately, this is where a lot of bloggers struggle because blogging is a long-term project and when bloggers don’t see the immediate results they are looking for (such as readers, traffic and revenue), they lose interest and give up. Ultimately, your blog will become what you make of it.

3rd Step: Create Meaningful and Extraordinary Content For An Epic Blog

The content you create for your blog will determine it’s success. As we mentioned before, there are millions of other blogs out there in the internet world competing with each other therefore, it is imperative that you create something extraordinary that will make your blog stand out from the crowd.

Blogs tend to be very niche-specific, which requires focus. For example, if you choose to write about fitness, it would be wise to niche down from “fitness” to a specific area of fitness such as weight training. The purpose of doing so is to eventually become the authority in your space and not only target but reach people that are looking for exactly what you are writing about. Also, avoid being too generic because you want to make sure people find exactly what they are looking for when on your site, and you don’t want your site to be difficult to rank in the search results for ‘generic keywords’.

Once you have figured out your niche and come up with a winning topic, you are ready to start creating content. Your goal is always to create amazing content; do some research! What are other top ranking blogs writing about and how can you do it better? If they are writing text articles then you need to write a text article AND include images. If you want to step it a notch, you can even make your own videos.

The most effective way to create an epic blog with outstanding content is to put yourself in the shoes (or eyes and ears) of your visitors. If you find value in what you are about to publish, you have succeeded in creating a fantastic blog. We wish you great success and if you have any questions or need help getting started, do not hesitate to reach out to Forward Web!

5 Reasons Why You Should Use WordPress for Your Website

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Forward_Web

Which content management system (CMS) are you currently using? Did you know that WordPress is the most popular content management system in the world? That’s right, WordPress is responsible for over 50% of the sites that use CMS on the internet! Therefore, if you are not already using this content management system, continue reading because Forward Web provides 5 reasons why you should use WordPress for you website in this featured article:

Reason #1: WordPress is Easy to Use

It never fails; when someone uses WordPress for the first time, they immediately become amazed when they realize how easy it is to use and how straightforward their new administration will be. It is unbelievable how easy it is to publish articles and change content. Due to it’s popularity, many people have become very experienced using it and therefore, it is much simpler and faster to train new employees or editors when they join your company.

Reason #2: WordPress is Open Source

Being open source means that no one owns it, which means that no one is obligated to support it. There was a point when this fact used to be a big disadvantage for WordPress but now, this has become its greatest strength.

What’s the big deal about that? Well, this means there are thousands of WordPress developers all around the world that dedicate themselves to working day and night in order to improve the system. And the best part of this is that none of what they do costs YOU a penny! This includes free security and feature updates every quarter. Does your content management system do that? The community of WordPress developers continue to improve it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and that is hard to beat!

Reason #3: WordPress has Numerous Plugins

The WordPress developers have created many extensions due to it’s popularity (which are referred to as “plugins”). These “plugins” are pieces of code (oftentimes free) that are created with the purpose of extending the core functionality of your website and help your developer save time, and of course, that means more money in your pocket!

Reason #4: WordPress Makes SEO Simple

When WordPress was first created, it began as a blogging platform and it eventually evolved into a powerful content management system which is capable of so much more than just blogging. In fact, one of the reasons that WordPress became so famous and is now loved by bloggers and marketers alike is it’s highly effective search engine optimization (SEO) features, which are integrated into the core of the CMS. Good SEO optimization is priceless!

Reason #5: WordPress Suppliers are Not a Problem!

WordPress allows you to have access to a nearly unlimited group of developers. You will never be locked down to a particular provider again and you will never have to go through those nasty “hostage” situations where your website is developed on a unique, arranged system that will not allow you to move it to a new provider.

There are so many reasons why we love WordPress, and the reasons we discussed in this article are some of our favorites. We hope that you found this information helpful and inspiring and if you don’t already use WordPress as your content management system, perhaps now you will give it a try. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or would like further information about WordPress or our web development services, Forward Web is always happy to be of assistance!

Recommended Security Plugins for Your WordPress Website

Posted on March 20, 2016 by Forward_Web

Most of the time we do not worry about the security of our WordPress website until it is too late but it is important to remember that your website is your piece of valuable property in the Internet and therefore, you want to ensure that it is safe from intruders, thieves or hackers.

Although some believe that the WordPress software is not secure, it is actually quite the opposite. WordPress is built with a solid and secure framework, but that does not mean that it is impossible for hackers to sneak their way into your website. Breaches to WordPress may occur due to weak user passwords, not keeping the software up to date and vulnerabilities in plugins or themes.

Forward Web encourages you to be proactive when it comes to your security and we highly believe that investing a small amount of time planning and preparing ahead can reduce the risk of your website being hacked. With that being said, we recommended the following security plugins for your WordPress website:

All in One WPSecurity & Firewall

All in One WP Security & Firewall is great and one of the features we really like about it is the meter on your dashboard that gives your site a score of how secure it is. You can increase your score by adding additional security options.

BruteProtect

A common way that hackers try to gain access to your site is through something called a Brute Force Attack. It is possible for a hacker to gain access to your site the passwords are weak because in a brute force attack, bots are sent to your site to try different combinations of usernames and passwords (over and over again) and because it is a computer running the attack, it can try countless combinations in a short period of time.

Brute force attacks can cause issues on your site even if you have created a solid password. Due to the numerous attempts the bots try to log in, the server can overload and can cause your website to go offline. To protect your site and prevent this from happening, BruteForce works by identifying these bots and blocks them from your site. If somebody tries to log in to your website and fails too many times, their IP address is restricted from your site.

Additionally, once BruteForce has identified the IP Addresses of the bots, it keeps track of them in a network. This is a great feature because if a bot tries a brute force attack on one website on the BruteProtected network, all websites on the network will block that IP address!

iThemes Security

Overall, iThemes Security is the best security plugin you can find! That’s because it’s powerful but yet super user friendly. This plugin not only hardens the security but it will also fix many issues that leave WordPress sites vulnerable which includes: scanning your site for any vulnerabilities, hide the login and admin pages, make regular backups of your database and remove information hackers use to gain access to your site.

Another great feature of this plugin is the checklist of action items presented on the dashboard. These action items are listed from most important to least and you can click each item which will take you to a page where you can enable that security option. If you are a more experienced WordPress user, there are also a number of advance options available.

Google Authenticator

Even if you create the strongest password possible, hackers have several methods they can use to find your password and gain access to your website. Using the 2-factor authentication to log into your site is a great tool. This can be set up very easily using the Google Authenticator plugin.

With Google Authenticator you still have your username and password to log into your site but your login form will also ask you for your Google Authenticator code. If you have a smartphone, there is a Google Authenticator app available which is very simple to use. It cycles through a sequence of numbers and when you need to log into your site, you open the app and enter the numbers shown.

This additional security measure is terrific and makes it nearly impossible for a hacker to get your Google Authenticator code even if they do happen to gain access to your username and password.

Sucuri Security

Sucuri Inc. is well known as one of the top experts in website security. Not only do they offer premium services but they also offer this free security plugin that comes with some really great security features! One of the features scans your core WordPress files for any abnormalities and if it finds anything, you can quickly restore a copy of the file back to how it is supposed to be.

The Securi plugin also tracks all activity on your site including changes made to your site or when users log in. If there is a breach in security you will be able to review the activity logs and find out what happened. Sucuri even scans blacklist monitoring sites to see if they flag your website for security issues. Security issues is an indication of possible malware on your website.

Another great feature this plugin offers is a section of suggested actions that you can take to harden your site’s security. These actions are simple yet effective and can be completed with just a click of a button.

Well, there you have it, there is no reason why your website should be unprotected. You literally have amazing security options at your fingertips! It really is just a matter of investing a little time to prepare ahead and avoid the risk of your website being hacked. Please feel free to contact Forward Web if you have any questions or for any of your website needs!

Three WordPress Plugins to Improve Performance

Posted on December 30, 2015 by Forward_Web

Sometimes (often) here at Forward Web we come across WordPress websites that are slow/bloated and although there are many things that can be done to improve the performance of a WordPress website (sometimes at the server level). Here are some basic plugins you can install (as a beginner) that will help improve the performance of your WordPress website.

Use Google Libraries

Use Google Libraries is a simple, easy to use plugin that allows your WordPress site to use the content distribution network side of Google’s AJAX Library API, rather than serving the files from your WordPress install directly.

To use the Google Libraries Plugin all you need to do is install the plugin and you are done.

Here are some of the potential performance benefits from installing the Use Google Libraries Plugin:

increases the chance that a user already has these files cached
takes load off your server
uses compressed versions of the libraries (where available)
Google’s servers are set up to negotiate HTTP compression with the requesting browser

Download Google Libraries Here: https://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-reviews/use-google-libraries

WP-Optimize

Keeping your database clean and optimized will naturally help increase the speed of your WordPress website. Simple but effective plugin WP-Optimize allows you to extensively clean your WordPress database and optimize it without doing manual queries (usually done via PHPmyAdmin). In addition, WP-Optimize allows you to easily disable comments and trackbacks for all previously published posts and pages (which usually generate spam and can slow down your website).

Although Database cleanups are usually for the more advanced users, WP-Optimize allows the beginner/novice user to easily clean and maintain your WordPress database (like always, just make sure you back-up your database before performing your first clean-up).

Download WP-Optimize Here: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-optimize/

WP Fastest Cache

WP Fastest Cache creates static html files from your dynamic WordPress website. This process helps save your website from consuming Ram (memory) and CPU which in turn, speeds up your WordPress website. Although WP Fastest Cache has a Free and Paid version, the Free Version will do plenty (in regards to speeding up you WordPress website).

Since establishing Caching systems are for more advanced users, here are some of the most general settings you can enable within the WP Fastest Cache that will speed up your website.

Download WP Fastest Cache Here: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-fastest-cache/

Websites are not easy or free to build

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Forward_Web

As the title reads, websites are not easy or free to build. However this article is not intended to discourage you from attempting to build your own website (but rather to give you a more realistic approach to what it takes to develop a website) with or without the help of a professional.

With that being said, now that we are in the full blown digital age, there are many misconceptions about website development. Many of which are promoted by domain registrars and “free” website builder services (which can be very misleading to the consumer). Often times these misconceptions lead to wasted time and frustrations, leaving the consumer back where they started (without a proper web presence). Surely you have seen the ads, the slogans often times come in the form of “build your own website for free” or “build your website in minutes”. All great ideas that sound enticing to the consumer, however none of which are actually true or realistic.

To further elaborate, regardless of whether or not you decide to build your website on your own (or with the help of a professional). If you want to have a proper and effective web presence, you will need to take many items into consideration, such as:

What is the purpose of the website? Are you going to sell items online, is the website going to be strictly informative?
Who will your primary audience be? Business Professionals, Women, Men, Age Groups..ect
Once complete, wow do you plan on promoting your website? Organic Search Results, Paid Advertisments, all of the above?

The above are just a few items (on a very long list of items) that should be taken into consideration (before) you start building your website. As you can see, if done right, you are already going to spend a few hours on your project (not minutes).

Yet, if you are willing to put the time and effort into properly building your website (or at least to the best of your abilities). Developing your own website can be a very rewarding experience. Or at worst, you will walk away with a higher level of appreciation towards web development. Truth be told, if you are looking to build your own website, think hours/days vs minutes, along with preparing to spend a little money to get your website off the ground (as nothing is truly for free).

With the above mind, here is a short list of services you will need to establish your initial web presence.

Domain Name: There is no way around this, if you want to have a successful website, you will need to have a domain name). Average cost for a domain name on a year to year basis can range between $15-$20.00 per year. Forward Web does not recommend spending more than $20.00 per year on your domain name. You can register your domain name with Forward Web anytime for only $15.00 per year by clicking here.

Web Hosting: Probably the most overlooked service (yet arguably the most important) is web hosting. Without a proper web host, your website will either load slow or will be inaccessible all together. To learn more about web hosting, click here. Pricing for ideal shared web hosting (Forward Web)recommends cPanel Shared web hosting) can range between $50.00-$150.00 per year (however many service providers usually and should include your domain name in the yearly service fee). You can set-up your cPanel web hosting account with Forward Web (domain name included) for only $100.00 per year by clicking here.

Website Builder: At last, now you have your domain name and web hosting account set-up, you will need a website builder to build your website with. This is where you should choose very carefully because not all web site builders are created equal. Also, not all website builders allow you to transfer your website away from your web host (which is very important and unfortunately, where many of the free site builder services will hook you in).

Forward Web recommends using WordPress to build your website, however if not WordPress, please make sure your website builder is open source (where you are able to move your website freely) and not proprietary (where you are restricted to where you can move your website to). With Forward Web (assuming you have already ordered your cPanel web hosting service, you can easily install WordPress within a matter of minutes (using our One Click auto installer). If not, our friendly staff is always available and willing to assist where needed (at no extra cost).

Still have questions? Do not hesitate to contact Forward Web at your convenience, we are always here to assist you with all of your web development needs.

3 Reasons Why You Should use WordPress

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Forward_Web

3 reasons why you should use WordPress

1. WordPress is Free for you to use and not proprietary to any company (who doesn’t like free, literally).

2. You don’t have to know HTML/PHP or any other language to manage/create your website (its just like managing a Microsoft word document).

3. WordPress is open source (meaning developers like FernGullyGraphics can build and customize WordPress where needed). This also means you have thousands of developers contributing to the progress of WordPress on an ongoing basis (great for the longevity of your website).

Start Your Website Today, First Step is Registering your Domain.