Setting up your Viral Website with WordPress
Installing WordPress
Well, installing WordPress is simple. Hosting Services have made the process as easy as possible, if Hostgator is your Hosting Service of choice, go to the Software area, and click on QuickInstall.
Then click on WordPress. Pick the Domain where you would like to install your domain. You can also decide if you would like to install it on a folder inside of that domain. If you want to install it on the root domain, just leave this empty, and click on next.
After that, fill out all necessary information. Check the terms of service, and click on Install Now.
Well, that took less than a minute. Extremely simple, right?
You will now see your login details, which you should keep in a saved place.
Leveraging the best Themes for viral websites
When you create a viral website, you cannot just settle for any type of commonplace theme or use a theme just because you like how it looks, if what you want is to drive viral content through your website. That is why there is a good variety of website themes available that have been designed with user engagement in mind.
Themes designed for viral websites increase user interaction, and increase the chances of a given piece of content of going viral thanks to the way they are designed. Thankfully, we have compiled some of the best themes available for WordPress that you can use on your own website.
These viral themes are used by some of the best viral websites around like buzzfeed.com and viralnova.com, and you’ll only need to do some clicks on your mouse to get them installed from the WordPress marketplace. Some of these are premium paid themes and some are Free themes, so choose based on your needs and budget.
If you are new to WordPress and are not sure about how to start installing a theme for your WordPress site, just go to your dashboard, place your mouse pointer on the “appearance” tab, click on “themes” and then click on “add new”.
Adding must have plugins for viral power
In our previous chapter, we guided you through the process of creating a cool viral website from scratch using the WordPress platform, which as you could see allows you to create fully functional and responsive websites with a few clicks on your mouse.
The very best thing about WordPress is how easy it makes it for people from all walks of life to create a website in a matter of minutes!
You also had a glimpse at some of the things that you could access through your WordPress dashboard, mainly the theme store. The “appearance” tab will enable you to get your hands on a lot of other features that will give you greater power over your viral website without having to know any programming tricks or other complex tasks!
One such feature is the use of plugins that will allow your website to perform beyond what you actually thought was possible.
In this chapter, we’ll teach you which plugins will give you a real advantage in this viral marketing race!
First off, what is a plugin?
A plugin is, in simple terms, a piece of software containing a set of functions that can be added to a given program or platform. In the case of WordPress, plugins can expand functionalities or add new features to your website. In fact, the WordPress community tends to brag about how the platform has a plugin for making basically anything work on a WordPress website.
How do you Install plugins on a WordPress website?
Installing a plugin on a WordPress site is very easy. Just go to your WordPress dashboard and look for the “plugins” tab, then click on “add new”. You can search a plugin with keywords using the search box, choose the one that best fits your needs, and click on “install now”. Additional configurations will depend on the plugin installed!
Enabling Viral Power Tools in your website
Congratulations on your newly created viral website! You got through all the initial steps: installing and setting up your website with WordPress, installing a cool, fully functional viral theme, learned about plugins and which are the best ones available to be used on a viral website created with WordPress.
In this chapter, we have decided to give you a helping hand and guide you through the process of setting up viral power tools that your website needs to keep the eyeballs of visitors engaged and the quality traffic coming!
We are going to use tools that focus on two key attributes of a viral website: Website optimization for search engines and social engagement.
These tools are easy to implement and use, and you won’t need to write code or do complex technical stuff.
Just use the following steps to enable these viral power tools in your website.
Website optimization for search engines
You’ll need to optimize both your website and your content to rank appropriately in search engine results. We are going to show you a tool that you can use on your WordPress website to rank higher and get indexed by search engines such as Google and Bing.
Yoast SEO
The first tool in our arsenal is the “Yoast SEO” plugin. It’s a fully fledged search engine optimization tool for your viral website. This plugin will allow you to optimize your content on the go, giving you insights on how to write the best titles, meta descriptions and content to be properly ranked on search engine results.
Just head to the “plugins” tab in your dashboard, click on “add new”, search for the plugin using the “Yoast SEO” keyword, click on “install now”, and then on “activate”. Once you install this plugin, you can go to the “SEO” tab on your left to leverage its power. Click on “dashboard” to enter the plugin’s configuration panel.
