first steps
-
Hi, I am a graphic designer new to web design. I have a customer who already bought a domain name. I need time to create the web site before publishing. Do I have to buy web hosting while I design? Or does it not charge until I publish? Also, I can’t select her domain name as she has ownership – can I use a wordpress.com name and link to hers later? I really need some advice… it’s a boutique and it will be a one-page site with pictures, an instagram reel and an appointment schedule and I don’t know what route is best to just get started designing.
WP.com: Yes
Correct account: YesThe blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
-
You’ve done the first steps. Work on https://kosmickittyri.wordpress.com/ and upgrade it to a paid plan to connect the domain when you’re ready.
-
Hi there,
I need time to create the web site before publishing. Do I have to buy web hosting while I design? Or does it not charge until I publish?
WordPress.com provides hosting for free. So we are already hosting the site you indicated above.
Right now the site is in Coming Soon mode, so it’s not publicly visible yet. It will only be come visible once you launch it from the Settings screen, but even then, we’ll still be hosting it for free. (Note that this means you can go ahead and publish any content on the site – it won’t be visible until you launch the site itself. Leaving content as drafts change how the site behaves, which will make it harder to configure it the way you want.)
You are only charged if you decide to buy one of our upgrade plans, and you only need to do that if you want to use one of the optional extra features included in those plans.
Also, I can’t select her domain name as she has ownership – can I use a wordpress.com name and link to hers later?
First, are you planning to retain control over the WordPress.com site, or do you plan to transfer ownership of the site to your client once it’s done?
If you will retain control over the site, once you’re ready to add the domain, upgrade to a paid plan and add the domain connection upgrade. The fact that you don’t own the domain itself won’t prevent you from adding that upgrade to the site. Then your client will just need to take steps to point the domain to our servers at the domain registrar where they bought the domain.
If you plan to transfer ownership of the site once it’s done, I’d recommend you add your client to the site as an admin. Then have theme buy the plan and add the domain connection upgrade using their own account. That will just simplify things later on once you’re ready to hand over the completed site.
You can find details on adding the domain connection upgrade here:
https://wordpress.com/support/domains/connect-existing-domain/
I really need some advice… it’s a boutique and it will be a one-page site with pictures, an instagram reel and an appointment schedule and I don’t know what route is best to just get started designing.
The Blank Canvas theme you have is very suited to single-page sites – that’s really what the theme was designed for. But you’ll want to take the content you currently have added to a draft post, and publish that as a page instead, and then set the page as the front page on your site:
https://wordpress.com/support/pages/front-page/
To embed Instagram posts/feed, you can use the Instagram block:
https://wordpress.com/support/instagram/
I see you already have an appointment form on the post you’re working on. You can also embed a Calendy Calendar if you wanted to use that for scheduling appointments:
https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/blocks/calendly-block/
If you prefer a scheduling system integrated directly into the site, that would require a plugin, like WooCommerce Bookings, on our Business Plan.
As you say you’re new to this, you might also find this guide helpful :)
https://wordpress.com/support/getting-started-with-wordpress-com/
Let us know if you have any more questions.
- The topic ‘first steps’ is closed to new replies.
WordPress.com Forums 