Website design and creation are very important for digital marketing students. Those taking a digital marketing course must learn and practice website creation.
There are various ways and platforms to create a website. Having a professional portfolio or personal website is essential for students. Through a website, digital marketing students can showcase various activities they do in class or outside class.
Here are the top three ways to create any type of website:
- Website creation with the use of website builders such as Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress.com.
- Website creation with the use of CMS software such as WordPress.org (self-hosted).
- Custom development with the use of programming languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, and SQL Server.
Each of these methods of website creation depends on various conditions. Please read the following posts for more information: Different Ways to build any type of website
Digital marketing students can use WordPress.com or self-hosted WordPress.org for website creation. Those who are unable to pay for domain and hosting can also use free hosting websites with free domains.
For those who want a free domain and hosting with a single platform, WordPress.com is a suitable solution. For basic practice, students can create personal or portfolio websites using the WordPress.com free plan, where they do not have to pay for a domain and hosting.
In the free plan, you will get limited features and customization options. However, with this practice, you will be able to learn or practice the following:
- Domain/Subdomains – Roles of good domain in SEO/Marketing.
- The differences between various paid website builder plans
- How to create/add a logo, favicon, and site title
- Themes and Plugins
- Basic Traffic Stats/Analytics
- Website Pages – Home Page, About Us, Contact etc.
- Basics of on-page SEO, keywords, title creation, image alt tags, categories, etc.
- Content Writing, Social Media Sharing.
Here you can read about: Nine Fun Facts About WordPress.com
The key point is that even if you can’t run a self-hosted website or buy a paid plan on WordPress.com, you can still practice and gain hands-on experience using the free version of WordPress.com.
Later, when you able understand the overall parts and functions of WordPress.com and understand what options you need and why you need them, you can use paid plans and create high quality/SEO friendly professional website.
And, those find it hard to customize/mange or need advance customization then they can also move to a self-hosted WordPress website. The familiarity with wordpress.com options will help them when they created website in self-hosted WordPress.
This is also important because many students do not understand the website creation process. They often wonder what type of website they need to create, what to mention on the website, and how it helps. Understanding the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org is crucial.
Using WordPress. Com’s free plan allows digital marketing students to practice and learn basic things related to website creation. That is why the WordPress.com website builder with a free plan is best for students to practice website creation.
With WordPress.com, you can practice designing websites for blogs, portfolios, businesses, stores, art & design, about pages, real estate, health & wellness, authors & writers, newsletters, and education. While many features are best in paid plans, you can still test and practice using free themes.
While free plan is not enough for website in WordPress.com for students but at least initially you can start learning and practicing. Once you are familiar you can upgrade or start creating self-hosted website.
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