Create a Website

I know.  I know.  You’re thinking that I have clearly fallen off my rocker.  There’s NO WAY that anyone can build a website in less than a day.

I’m here to tell you that you CAN!  Over the last few years, it has become so easy to build self-hosted websites.  They have made it very simple and user friendly by using a website builder called WordPress.  You don’t even need to know any code!

If you can create a document in Word, then you can build a site.  The best part is that once it is built, you will have so many more opportunities to grow your golf course into a marketing machine.

To implement many of my marketing suggestions, you are really going to want to have complete control of your website.  Take my suggestion and spend a weekend or a couple of evenings and get motivated to build a better golf course!  It all starts with your online presence.  That’s what people see first, you need to make a good impression.

First things first…

If you currently have a website, you’re going to want to copy and paste all of the information on each page, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.  You can simply open up a Word document or a Google Sheet.  At the top, write the name of the page you are copying.

For instance, you might write:  Home Page, then you’ll want to highlight all of the words on that page.  You can do that by clicking Edit, then Select All.  Next, you’ll need to copy and paste those words onto the page.

Then, you might write Rates Page, then you’ll copy all of the information on that page.  Continue doing this until every page of your current website is copied.  This will come in very handy in the future.  You won’t need to re-invent the wheel.

Gather Some Resources

1. You’ll also want to gather some items to get started, you’re going to want to block off at least 30 minutes to get your domain registered, hosting set up, and wordpress loaded.
2. You’ll also want to have a credit card handy as you’ll need to register for a few companies.
3. The words that you copied from your current website, so you have a list of all the pages and what they currently say.

In Lesson One, I’m going to cover these tasks:

1. Domain Registration with Go Daddy
   • I like to keep the two companies separate when I buy the domain and the hosting service.  I’ve been building websites for about 20 years, so I think this is just a habit from long ago.  I had a company that wouldn’t switch my nameservers for almost two weeks.  This process should take less than five minutes.  Since then, I have always kept these separate.
   • There are several other companies you can use to purchase your domain.  Feel free to use any of them, I’ve just used Go Daddy for years.  I like their hold music.  🙂
2. Setting up Hosting with Blue Host
   • I like Blue Host for a number of reasons.
     • Reason #1: They have great support.  They always answer my questions and help me in a timely manner.
     • Reason #2:  They are the number one hosting service in the suggestion from WordPress.
     • Reason #3:  The platform is very user friendly.  You can navigate around very easily.
     • Reason #4: Ability to grow.  They don’t have limitations.  As your website traffic grows, they will help you make adjustments.
     • Reason #5:  They’re very affordable.  They have plans that start around $5/ month!
     • Disclaimer: That link is an affiliate link, so I do make a small commission when you use it, but that doesn’t change my opinion on Blue Host.  I’ve been using them for several years without any problems.
     • The nameservers you’ll use for Blue Host are:
       • Enter ns1.Bluehost.com in the field for Nameserver 1.
       • Enter ns2.Bluehost.com in the field for Nameserver 2.
3. Installing WordPress on your Site
   • This is using the functionality of WordPress.org
   • It’s the backend that does all the heavy lifting of creating a easy to operate and design website.

If you already have a domain, then you’ll want to follow the steps for grabbing the nameservers for Blue Host.  If you decide to go with a different hosting company like Host Gator or Go Daddy, then you’ll need to follow the steps for finding those nameservers.  I’d just google:  nameserver and the name of the company you select.  That should help you find an article on how to locate that information.

A nameserver is what tells your domain name where to point.  It directs the domain to the correct hosting provider.

Let’s Get Started with Lesson One!

In Lesson Two, we’ll learn how to:

1. Create a Page
   • This is something that stays the same and is consistent on your website.  It’s a stationery.
2. Upload an Image
   1. In the video, I discuss that it’s a good idea to come up with an easy searchable naming system, so you can find the images later on.
   2. You might put the one hole in front of all of the images of a golf hole on your course.  You may even want to include the hole number in the description.  If it’s an image of a golfer, then you might want the name to starter with the word golfer.  Anything that makes the images easily searchable further down the road.
3. Select a Theme
   • I recommend using a company called Thrive Themes in Lesson Two.  They have many options available for both themes as well as widgets, email listing building help, landing page builder, and much more.  Overall, a great company for building and marketing your business.  They do have a monthly fee, so if you’re on a tight budget, there are other options available.
   • You can also get free and paid themes directly from WordPress in the theme selection area on your WordPress site.
   • I’ve also used these companies: bluchic.com, creativemarket.com, and themeforest.com for additional themes.  Themes are what drives the overall appearance of your website.  These themes are just a one time expense and are usually around $50 for lifetime access.
4. Write a Post
   • A post might look the same as a page, but the biggest difference is that a post can be categorized and tagged.  That will come in handy if you want to set it up, so that your  home page updates automatically.  You can search by categories and tags, so posts have a searchable function that pages do not.
   • The primary reason for using the post function is when you write a blog post.
5. Create a Menu
   • When you’re shopping for themes, you’re going to want to pay attention to the menu placement.  Look at how many words can fit into a menu.  Think about the design and categories of pages you plan to have on your site.
   • Many themes have multiple menus, so you might have the most frequently used pages on the top theme and the less frequently used ones in the bottom menu.
   • Here’s a general menu layout for a golf course:
     • Online Tee Times
     • Golf Course
       • Rates
       • Memberships
       • History
     • Events
       • Marketing Calendar
       • Golf Outings
       • Weddings
       • Special Events
     • Lessons
       • Private Lessons
       • Group Lessons
     • Leagues
       • General Information
       • Men’s League
       • Women’s League
       • Couple’s League
     • Contact
6. Activate Your Site
   • This is as easy and clicking a button.

Lesson Two is where you’re going to spend the most amount of time.  If you’re writing all of your page content from scratch, then this might take longer.  If you already have a website where you were able to copy the content that was already available, then this will take significantly less time.

I would block of a minimum of two hours to get the bones of your website complete. They will be hours well spent when you are in control of your own website.

You’ll be able to tweak and make updates very easily once this is set up.  We’re going to turn your website into a marketing automated machine that helps to fill your tee sheet and your pocketbook.

Let’s dive in to create the bones of your website!

In Lesson Three, you’ll learn:

1. How to make the adjustments to your Theme
   • Learn how to change the colors and overall appearance of your site
2. How to upload your logo
   • I will cover how to add images and how to upload them.
3. Create a logo using Canva.com
   1. If you don’t have a logo or want to create a variation of your logo to match the appearance of your theme, I walk you step by step in how to use a free online service called www.canva.com  For additional information about canva, please download my toolbox.
   2. Canva will turn you into a graphic artist.  Even if you have the design abilities of a cow.
4. How to adjust widgets
   • I cover how to move widget around and where to place them on your site.
   • There are thousands of widgets available.  They are what do all of the heavy lifting for automation on a website.
5. How to create graphics for your website
   • I also create a graphic for the site using, you guessed it, canva!  One of my favorite tools of business.
   • I also use a company called PicMonkey.  It has some different features with adjusting images.  You can put filters on a cool sunset picture or turn yourself into a zombie with blood coming out of your eyes.  You know.  Useful stuff for a golf website!  It’s a great picture editing website.
6. Create  a homepage slider
   • The specific theme that I use in this demo (Samantha from Bluchic Themes) has a homepage slider.
   • If the theme you select doesn’t have a slider and it’s something you want to include on your site, there are plenty of different widgets that will help you to create a slider.
7. How to upload a plugin
   1. There are many different types of plugins available.
      1. Some help you with the design of your page/post, so they show up as shortcodes on those design pages.
      2. Other plugins function more as a program on your website and will show up on your WordPress dashboard on the left tool bar.
      3. Yet other plugins function as upgrades to another plugin.  This is the case when using the plugin I recommend for an online store which is Woo Commerce.
         1. Woo Commerce is free, but it has a bunch of plugins that customize how you want the main Woo Commerce online store to function.  Such as reporting, image displays, filling out forms or agreeing to terms before purchase, etc.
      4. I also talk about some of my favorite plugins.
         Here are links to those:
         1. Gravity Forms – It’s a powerful form builder that offer conditional logic design.  That means you can have the form ask a question and depending on the answer, additional questions might pop up.  For example, I use this for my events (weddings, graduation parties, birthdays, etc.).  Three weeks prior to the event, I send them a link to fill out the information on how they want their event to take place.  They go through a series of questions.  If they select certain foods or room set up options, other questions appear depending on their answer.  By providing such an intuitive form, I was able to cut down my meeting time with Event Coordinators from 45 minute meetings to less than 15 minute meetings.

            When you take under consideration that I was meeting with golf outing coordinators, brides, and other events, I had about 20 meetings a week.  This intuitive form saved me almost 10 hours a week in meetings!

            This is an example of how using the power of automated technology and turning your website into a marketing machine will save you time and make you more efficient about working ON your business, so you have more time to spend creating programs that fill your tee sheet (and your wallet).

         2. Woo Commerce – This is the plugin that use to create my online store.  The initial plugin is completely free.  The free version functions just fine and I used it for about a year before adding additional features.  The features are what cost money, but it can be completely customized depending on