I Created A Fully Functioning Site In Less Than 48h - Here's How You Can Do It Too
Ever wanted to have your own native feed-based site where you and your friends could share posts, react, and comment on pubs and even chat like it's the Y2K? Buckle up! 😎
Everyone is trying to create a Twitter or TikTok clone these days as if these were the best sole options we have to hang online. It might be hard to explain to a Gen-Z what’s better, but there was a time when chatrooms felt like a schoolyard, or your local community’s plaza or park. I am talking about the MSN/mIRC and later on the MySpace era, where you lit knew everyone online, and if you didn’t you had the chance to meet them IRL.
That was my main inspiration for ΠΛΑΤΕΙΑ.Online, which is essentially an internet plaza.
We all browse the internet on a daily basis, whether it’s for work, education, entertainment, or recreational purposes. In 2023, it is wise to be able to create your own website, or as Greeks would say “μάθε τέχνη και άσε την, και αν πεινάσεις πιάσε την” - which ruffly translates to “learn a craft and leave it aside, and if you’re hungry, leverage it”.
Most of you would think it’s a complex, hard, technical procedure that not everyone can handle, but that is simply far from the truth. It’s the same as writing. You don’t need to write a best seller out of the gate, but you start writing from an early age, eg. an assignment for school.
Same with a website, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel or create the next Instagram on your first try. However, learning how to deploy even the most basic website will be only beneficial to you in the long run, for countless obvious reasons. After all, you’re an internet user. You should be in a position to contribute to it on your own terms.
First Things First
So, before even starting, I was reading countless articles and watched a dozen of relevant videos of how to start a private chat room without breaking the bank or compromising on security, so I can chat with my friends and know that the log will be deleted after the session, or autodeleted in a fixed period of time.
I might sound critical, but from my experience, every single guide that was promoted out there did not do the trick. As a matter of fact, most guides made it sound like a complex endeavor and some even discouraged me while consuming the intel.
So I had to recap and start with what I had in hand: my minimal HTML, CSS skills, and some WP. I couldn’t rely on site builders that don’t provide access to the codebase and that can’t be forked into a private server, and I definitely wasn’t prepared to spend months educating myself (not cuz I’m lazy, but cuz I’m already doing 2 live courses on Project Management, and Brain Synapses respectively), so the only option was to find a dope template, play around, fill in the blanks, design the direction, throw some plugins and gg.
I must say, I had 0 expectations when I first had the idea, and I attempted to start, somewhere, somehow, multiple times, before landing on a blocker beyond my skills and naturally moving to other tabs of my hundred-tab Chrome. 😪
Ingredients & Preparation
I used a specific toolset and funnel to pull this, not because it’s the ideal way, but because my main prerequisite during this attempt was that whatever tools and processes I am going to use, it can’t be anything I can’t do on my own, right now, without reaching out to third parties or endless YT sessions.
Chances are, my stack is scrappy and unstable for the long run, and potentially not scalable in my small server, but you’ll get the general idea in terms of components and ingredients used.
Namecheap
I am using Namecheap for over a decade and I must say, not only I am more than happy with their services, but I preach that they have THE best customer support possible online since day 0 and they have maintained it ever since.
Obviously, you can use an alternative domain broker and/or manager, or even go with the freebie version of WP, although you won’t have the personalized domain and some plug-ins won’t work with the free version, or might need code changes that can only happen from the server side.
CPanel
Which brings us to our next point. I use CPanel to manage my server, WP versions, SSL, DNS Zone, redirects, etc.
Again, I’m confident there must be equally great alternatives if not better solutions that I might be unaware of, but I’m rolling with CPanel for years so it was a no-brainer.
WordPress
I use the EasyWP by Softaculous which is part of the CPanel cluster of tools, which allows for easy Theme deployment, management, admin side operations, backups, server/theme communication, and more. You can try to use just the regular WP edition, yet I can’t guarantee that this stack will work out as smoothly or you might end up in a series of open tickets with their support team.
Spoiler alert: support tickets were unavoidable in my case as well, but that’s the good thing about Namecheap. It never took me more than a minute to resolve any blocker, no matter how complex it is.
Actual Cooking
Buying and selling domains on Namecheap is a truly seamless experience, and it’s lit done in a couple of clicks. Just find a fancy domain name for your site and claim it, usually for around $10, but you can find domains for as cheap as $1, depending on the popularity and the ending. eg. .com, .xyz, etc.
Connecting Your Domain To The Right DNS
Once you have your domain, you will need a server to deploy it and start populating it with data and content. Namecheap can provide you with server partitions and dedicated servers that can cover all needs, or you can use your local machine to test, or a server you’re already renting elsewhere.
I use Stellar Hosting, for all my domains, which makes it easier to manage them all from one dashboard, that is in my case CPanel.
If you got your domain and server from Namecheap, they should be automatically connected already saving you some hustle. Otherwise, find your domain from your Namecheap dashboard and change its DNS to point at your server provider credentials to connect them.
If you’re using a free version of WP, you can skip this entirely, until you want your website to be hosted under your own domain.
Injecting The Core WP Repository into Your Domain
There are a couple of ways to do that. With CPanel, the easiest way is to use the Softaculous tool that does it for you after you fill in a form that decides the WP version, admin credentials, and other details.
The manual way would be to open the File Editor from CPanel to directly access your server partition and/or dedicated server and upload a WP Theme of your choice in case you already have a Theme or use one of the templates. I used Theme Forest to get a cheap generic blog theme and started to pimp it out of the gate.
WP makes it easy to view your Dashboard and organize your pages, posts, and overall content. Take your time to explore the Dashboard, play around with different plug-ins, and generally experiment with possibilities. You can see your changes in real-time, which helps better envision and adjust toward the site you have in mind.
Structure Your Website Elements
An easy way to get rid of mental blockers is to work with a Google sheet or something to define your website’s structure. Eg. note down how many Menu options your site will have, and what are they about, and consider basic pages like About Us, Contact, Privacy Policy, etc.
Once you have a visual framework of what needs to be done, you can start creating pages, categories, widgets, sidebars, menus, footers, etc. via the WP Dashboard.
In my case, since I use a blog format I had to define the main categories which will be flowing through the site. Appoint users (content creators) via the relevant section, and ensure that anything on the landing page and on the menus actually leads somewhere and there are no 404 pages or broken links.
Branding
Pretty—self-explanatory, from the title of the website and your logo to the color palette to be used, decide how visitors and users perceive your website. Again, you don’t have to be a designer. In my case, I use a typographic logo and b&w as the main colors, with hints of pastel purple here and there.
All your branding can be modified and adjusted via the Appearance section in WP or via your Theme’s native builder.
Populate The Site With Template Content
In order to begin with something that looks round and not just an empty landing page, I used the template posts provided by the Theme and create a bunch of fake posts myself, just to ensure there is enough content to leverage all functions, like how scrolling works, how ads might look like, how comments or reaction to posts look like, etc.
WP-Plugins
WP has an infinite amount of cool plug-ins you can easily install with one click and start adjusting to your needs. A plug-in can be a log-in function for new or returning users. It can be a crypto or stock ticker or even a marquee. It can be a bot moderator and anything you can imagine really.
Once you defined what you want your website to feel like, you’ll have an idea of what sorts of plug-ins you might need.
Get Feedback and Support
Share your first iteration with friends, family, and colleagues to get their first impressions. It might sound rushy, but even at an infant stage, you’ll get valuable insights in terms of what people like, dislike, or would naturally expect. For example in my case, people said they couldn’t create an account via the relevant section. I immediately created a Google form and linked it to https://plateia.online/apply so that ppl can apply for an account and I can manually approve and register them with the User section on the Dashboard.
Some testers said the search bar doesn’t work. I quickly realized the search queues for titles, categories, and tags respectively, so I started to add tags to all my posts. You get the idea.
Now, the good part with Namecheap is that their 24/7 LIVE support is by far the best support on the net, and you can leverage that. Are you struggling with injecting an SSL certificate (which makes the website look secure in browsers), or you’re unsure about how to change critical codebases? Do not hesitate to ask your service provider for help, or even someone from your network who’s more proficient with WP than you.
Conclusion
Overall, it took me under 48h to deliver what you’re seeing on Plateia.Online. Obviously, it’s not perfect and there is room for refinement, while new features are being worked on, but you get the idea.
The first time I worked with WP about a decade ago, it took me 3 months to create something half as good as Plateia, and although I am not a professional website builder or designer, I feel confident that if I have a clear plan and structure in mind, everything else is solvable given time and effort.
Do not be afraid to try new things, and again, as mentioned in the beginning, you don’t have to be a guru or a programmer to do this. Start from the basics and take it from there. Plus, not everyone needs a fancy website. Maybe you need a links repository to avoid liktree, etc., or a portfolio page to showcase your work. It’s easier than you might think at the start. Just try it.
Feel free to visit Plateia.Online and use the live chat to ask for help when building your site, or reach me directly at @rosspeili - I will answer any questions and actively help you out with your endeavor for free <3