When I started my first websites, it was always a challenge to get the site up and running. My first pages were so ugly it was amazing. I hadn’t got a clue about HTML or anything like that. There was no such thing as a blog, nor PHP. At least, if there were, I didn’t know about them!
The web has grown much more sophisticated since 1997 when I was playing with Geocities, and considerably less expensive, too.

So when a site like SiteProPlus which offers to do Wesite Design for free as well as provide hosting, it is hard to stop staring at the website and wonder what madness now possesses the engineers at SiteProPlus!

Their rationale, however, is quite sane, if a little zany. The design is a kind of store loss leader for their hosting services. People are attracted by the special offer, then find themselves signing up for the hosting services at the same time.

This solution would be ideal for people who are very busy running their own business or consultancies but don’t have a big budget or time or skill to oversee the nitty gritty details of website maintenance.

I have three suggestions for this company that they should take note of:

1. Please check your spelling on the front page: how can you claim to do design when the first thing a visitor sees is “…Finally it’s easy to get a professional loonkng website design online fast”

2. Do not hide your pricing or the features that your hosting includes. Your audience may not know that much about website hosting or design, but you still need to provide basic information on the pricing and features, including space and bandwidth, and anything else that might affect a site’s operation or cost.

3. It’s quite difficult to contact anyone. I tried to let you know about the huge spelling gaffe, but there was no contact form. And when I clicked on the link that offered live help, nothing worked.

Actually, these are issues that many companies on the internet face. I wouldn’t single them out particularly except that it is easy to lose customers with these three problems.

For those of you who are using a CMS/Blog for the first time, there are three significant differences from web 1.0 style websites (with static content) that you will notice:
1. a blog/CMS is a kind of evolving website, not static.

Content is added, commented on, edited and categorized. There are endless ways that a blog can be easily customized through themes, plugins, features, categories, and tweaks.
2. a blog/CMS has a hugely social dimension.

The commenting, pings, trackbacks, etc. are features that are central to the social sphere. The discussion is ongoing and can take place onsite, and offsite in Digg.com, Technorati or another of dozens of social websites.

3. separation of content and design.
The last and critical aspect that makes a blog/CMS owner happy is that the content and the design are largely separated, so you can work on one without worrying too much about the other: they take care of themselves.

These features and ease of use separate a blog/CMS from a traditional static website in a number of ways, but with the tools available, you’ll find it easy to create a much more unique environment for your readers, and you can drive a lot more traffic to your site. In other words, you get visitors!

For those of you who have installed Wordpress 2.0.x or 2.1.1 or indeed Wordpress.com, there is the tremendous temptation to ‘play’ with the software to see what you can do. This article is for helping you to get started on customizing your blog.
How much ‘playing’ are you intending to do? A lot of the features can be changed but it depends on the theme you choose what functions you can alter. So if I may, I’d like to suggest a three step program for customizing your website.

1. When you installed the software, you would find in Presentation >>> Themes about 50 different themes (depending on your host) you can choose from initially. Look through the themes first then try to pick one or the elements of one that you like more than the others. Then use this to guide you in choosing which of the themes seems most pleasing to you.

2. If you really can’t find one, or if you would prefer another theme, you can visit http://themes.wordpress.net/ and have fun there. You will download a zip file. Expand that then upload the files to your domain.com/wp-content/theme folder as instructed by the them. Once uploaded, go to Presentation Themes again, and find it and click on the theme to activate it.

3. You can customize your layout using widgets. If your theme is widget enabled, then you can go to Presentation >>> Theme >>> Widgets sidebar (which are quite flexible). In the text widgets you can add html/java/javascript and such like. If you choose the better themes, you’ll find that the Theme has its own ‘settings’, too.

I will be adapting the above comments. I hope it helps you get your first blog up and running. Please note: a blog/CMS is, in my experience, a kind of evolving website with a hugely social dimension. Both of these separate it from a traditional static website in a number of ways, but with the tools available, you can drive a lot more traffic to your site. In other words, you get visitors! The last and critical aspect that makes a blog/CMS owner happy is that the content and the design are largely separated, so you can work on one without worrying too much about the other: they take care of themselves.

That’s it. Three easy steps to customising your first Wordpress blog. Once you’re familiar with these three steps, I will provide more tips on how to tweak your theme, customise your website and where to find more help. I hope it helps you get your first blog up and running.