Absolute beginner Wordpress

[£15]

The last time I dabbled with websites was 20 years ago and I used MS Frontpage. Today I find myself needing to dip my toe in basic website construction for a change of career. I'm going self-employed as a dog walker and need to create a basic website with, initially, contact details and services, maybe a 'contact us' form.

My intention is to use a mobile app for booking, diary and billing. Facebook is probably going to be one of the biggest marketing avenues after word of mouth. But I feel I need a website, even if it just directs people to FB and the app 'My Pet Walker'.

I've got domain names and hosting from IONOS and have installed Wordpress and a 'WP Maintenance Mode & Coming Soon' plugin for my 'under construction' page.

I guess I'm looking for any recommendations for themes, plugins, etc, that you think may be worth installing/buying to make my job easier: I've seen a few like Divi, elementor, etc - are they worth the cost?

 

[montymint]

I'd follow some youtube guides first to get a feel for everything.

By the time you're comfortable you'll probably know yourself what you'd want

 

[RoyMi6]

While I'm not doubting your technical ability I'd highly encourage you to look at something like square space.

Running a website is a constant arms race between hackers finding exploits and patching your website to make it secure. You're unlikely to be able to just make your website and not have to update plugins and resolve conflicts with plugins then redevelop your site based on deprecated plugins on a pretty regular basis.

There's no real flying under the radar with this as well. Your site appearing on search engines makes it a target for automated tools.

But... Saying that... If you keep your reliance /number of plugins low this can be a great way of mitigating attack vectors.

You should really try out the default themes and built in block editor before buying anything as they're extremely flexible.

At the very least as well look up hardening your install and make sure you're doing backups.

 

[£15]

Thanks to both of you!

I've just logged into the website and there are already 3 updates to various plugins!

 

[swillsy]

use WordPress, look at YouTube videos and don't pay for anything. Keep the design simple and you'll be fine

 

[demon8991]

Check out this tutorial, like you I was completely new and I have managed to build a site from this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC6ZfIF-R9k&ab_channel=TylerMoore

 

[Deleted member 77746]

Best thing to do is just throw up a test system somewhere and have a mess about. If it breaks just set it up again and play again till you get the hang of things.

Also read guides.