Webtools

Before you get started

Webtools we all need them and if like me you are always looking for good tools to help you do what you want to do on the web, or even in the build of a website then the items on this page should help you.

Before you begin I feel it only right to inform you that I am no expert I am merely sharing with you some great webtools that I have found very useful.

All you can do is try them if you don't like them no harm done, but please remember when doing any kind of website design it is important that you always keep a back up of what you do.

We all want websites to do different things and wordpress is most likely one of the most popular platforms to use, and because the actual wordpress software is free this can help a lot more so when you are just learning and getting the feel for it.

So most of what I will be informing you about are webtools that can help you to use wordpress in a fun constructive way.

But first things first you'll need a domain name and then some hosting, now hosting is  a nightmare because all hosting websites offer different things no two are the same much like insurance policies lol. See below for more information on domain names and then hosting

Webtools to help your site grow

There are many web hosts out there all looking to take your monthly fee off you, and a lot of them supposedly giving you Unlimited this that and the other. But I have news for you there is NO such thing as unlimited anything when it gets to the web.
Everything has a limit. Now if you do anything on the web you’ll want to know that if something goes wrong you will be able to get your site back again. So with that said I am delighted to let you know about this great company .

Why them, well for starters they offer FREE backups, this is great webtool a lot of other companies will charge you. Their prices are hard to beat, yes you could go for the £2.99 per month package and while that sounds cheap VAT has to be added on so it works out at £3.58 per month. If you multiply that by 12 it comes to £42.96 a year.

Why not just purchase their yearly plan at £34.80 which includes the VAT. Now that’s not a massive saving as it comes to only £8.16 saved. But think bigger and bolder go for the Biannually plan that’s 3 years by the way for only £69.60 which includes the VAT and you will see it works out at only £23.20 per year. Now that’s a great saving.

And as an added bonus you also get a FREE domain name.

It is important to remember certain things about domain names. You have to keep registering them every so often, so if you only registered your domain name for one year (not advisable for search engine reasons) it is important to always keep your email address that you have registered your domain name to up and running.

Domain names costs different prices .com’s can be more expensive than a co.uk domain name and a .ie (which is the default domain name suffix for an Irish domain name) can cost a heck of a lot more. So be prepared to renew these every so often keep your details safe.

When you register a domain name you can either make it public so others can look it up and see who owns the domain name or you can select privacy which normally costs a little bit more. If you intend to do business through your website it is advisable to not use privacy.

So to recap you need good stable reliable fast hosting which is why I have recommended Vidahost (click on the red text to be taken to Vidahost) to you, and you’ll also need a domain name to get things started. Once you have those two items you are on your way.

One thing you need to know about wordpress is that there are two ways to get it. One from your hosting account there is normally a link in your hosting account panel and the other is to allow wordpress itself to host your site although if you go down this route you may find that wordpress does have limitations and there will be a fee.

So when you get wordpress which is a great webtool, you’ll find it’s like a blank canvas. There is no shape to the pages and you’ll wonder how people do all that fancy stuff. Most of this is done using what they call Plugins these are like add-on’s to the wordpress software but they have functions that can help shape your website and make it do lots of cool things.

Page Builder

In order to give your wordpress site some shape to it you’ll find a page builder or visual composer is the ideal thing.

I suggest for you as a newbi to use this one because it’s easy to use and understand, it’s called Site Origin Page Builder (click the red text to go to the site) and it is FREE and has some great documentation as well. This is an ideal webtool

Responsive Sliding Banner

They look great on your website and you can change the images often which is one reason why people use them, perhaps to inform people of different promotions etc etc.

Remember a sliding banner is just an image that slides. I would recommend you use this one, while NOT FREE it is one of the easier one's to use it’s called Soliloquywp (click the red text to go to the site)  and it’s pretty awesome for $19

Forms for Contact

You’ll notice that on most websites there will be a contact us page and this normally will have map and a form.

So you’ll need a plugin for a form in order for people to contact you.

I like this one because it’s easy and once again the basic form which is ideal for most new websites is FREE, plus it also keeps a copy of all emails sent through your form on your website should you ever need to refer to it again.

And it’s called NINJA FORMS (click the red text to go to the site)