Detailed step-by-step guide on how to develop a website yourself, from offline design to uploading it on the internet

 

 Now, a lot of entrepreneurs have been wondering "how do I promote my business without having to break the bank?" or "I don't have this amount to pay a website developer", "how can I attract sales or new customers?"

The answer lies in digital marketing.

To be effective or more productive in digital marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you need a requisite tool to excel in this field. Note that digital marketing comprises of email, social media, SEO, website optimization, etc. You may have the know-how on all of the above, however, SEO goes hand-hand with web development.

You have to ensure your website is mobile friendly and responsive to any screen size and resolution. Do not develop a website that has some parts cut off, the images take forever to load, the website consumes 5-10MB of data hence making it unfriendly to mobile phone users. Especially those who are working hard to save data no thanks to the expensive data plans by most telecom companies.

Do you know there is an easier and cheaper way to develop your own website yourself?

It does not require a lot of time. However if you cannot afford to do it yourself? You can use any Do-it-yourself website builders. However, those websites come with hefty charges. Don’t believe me? Google cost of using website builders.

Now that ASUU are on strike, many young bloods need to acquire a skill. This is where I come in. The steps below are categorized in two parts.

a.       Part A

b.       Part B

c.       Part C

Part A is about setting up the environment while part B is the development phase. Part C is the deployment and uploading phase.

The steps for Part A are as follows

1. Download Local by flywheel. This is the most straightforward app you will ever see on the internet
2. After download, click on the set-up file to commence installation;
3. After installation is complete, open the Local by Flywheel App via the desktop or start menu.
4. After the App is open, on the bottom left of the App screen, you will see a “+” symbol which means you should add site. Click on that sign.
   
   
   
   
5. On the next screen, you’ll have the option to pick a name and domain for your site. You can choose any domain name and suffix you like, and the application will modify your hosts file to make it work. In my case, I went with mylocaltestingenvironment Do not click on “Advanced Options” dropdown. Unless you know what, you are doing.
   
   
   
6. Local by Flywheel will automatically create a directory to store your site’s files, but you can also set it to any folder you like. When you’re done with these settings, click on the Environment tab underneath.
7. In this tab, you’ll be able to choose which versions of PHP and MySQL to use on your site, as well as the type of server. We recommend using the latest versions of the tools in question, along with whichever web server you prefer. It is best you leave on “preferred” setting. Custom is for advanced users.
   
   
   
8. Finally, click on the WordPress tab below Environment. Here you can enable Multisite for your installation (for advanced users only). You can also choose your admin username, password, and email just ensure the details are stored somewhere you can easily retrieve them. (Screenshot 595)
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9.       These last settings are entirely up to you. Once you’ve customized them, go ahead and click on the Add Site button in the lower right corner.

For now, you can sit back while Local by Flywheel gets your site up and running (which shouldn’t take long). When it’s done, your new site will appear in the application’s left-most column, and you can click on its name to review the details.

Afterward, you can go ahead and access your site from any browser.

10.   To begin editing with your site, you’ll need to log into the WordPress dashboard as you usually would. Remember the login details you created in step 8. If you chose the same domain name, we did in step 5, you will see something like this on the search bar “localhost://100388/wp-admin. Note that the numbers after the localhost name are just random port numbers assigned to your offline WordPress site.

What you’re working with here is a fully-featured WordPress site, set up in record time! This means that you can install any plugins you want, add custom themes, break it, fix it, break it again, etc. It’s a coding playground, and there’s no risk to a live site! You don’t need Internet to edit the themes except you want to download new themes, plugins and make the necessary updates.

 

Part B will be based on selecting and downloading themes and plugins.

You don’t need to purchase anything here. Just download Blocksy, Astra themes and kick start from here.

These are the plugins I highly recommend to download for a start.

1.       Blocksy companion and theme.

2.       Jetpack (mostly comes with the hosting server). A hosting server is where you get to upload your website to.

3.       Lite Cache, to speed up your website

4.       WP Forms. For receiving online subscriptions to your web.

5.       All-in-one WP Migration.

All of the above are downloaded when you access the plugin menu from the left side of your screen on the WordPress Dashboard. There are loads of templates to download and use for your website. Play around with it. You may discover something new. Till then, keep playing around with and I will send some links where you can get free template layout from free. If you are lost in anything I suggest you watch YouTube videos.

Part C: Uploading the website

Now this one here is tricky.

1.       First download ALL IN ONE WP MIGRATION. The purpose of this plugin is to easily migrate from an offline environment or local server to an online server.

2.       Install the plugin.

3.       Click on export option while accessing the plugin from the WordPress dashboard.

4.       Select “WordPress file” from the dropdown menu.

5.       The website will be downloaded to an external source in your download folder. It is saved with “localhost…” it is in in Zip file format.

Depending on the size of your website, it should not exceed 300MB if not you may have to purchase the pro version for a large size. But I had to tweak the code to get 5GB max upload. That will be another article.

6.       Then go to this link and purchase a hosting plan from Bluehost or WPEngine (I may get small commissions if you make a purchase at no extra cost to you)

7.       For those on a budget, you need to select the least affordable plan. Select the first one on your left. You will see the features you are paying for. Study them carefully.

8.       After purchase your preferred plan, you will be asked to create an account for any of the servers you have patronised.

9.       Follow the instructions and verify your account then go back to your account dashboard.

10.   If you selected Bluehost, you will see manage WordPress hosting, select that one. Create a WordPress account again but similar to the one in Part A so that it stays consistent. However, you have to choose a different username to avoid conflicts.

11.   You will be taken to your WordPress site. Don’t worry it is not the one you developed using Local by Flywheel. You will only have to download the All-In-One Wp Migration on this Bluehost server.

12.   Once you have downloaded the plugin, locate the downloaded file from step 5 and 6 above.

13.   Go to your Bluehost live WordPress server and search for the All-in-one Wp migration

14.   Select “import”

15.   Select “file”

16.   Locate the downloaded file of your localhost website

17.   Ensure it does not exceed the max of 300mb else you may have to delete themes and plugins you don’t use.

18.   After upload your new website should be live.

19.   It will demand for your login details after the import has been done. So please refer to Part A, steps 5-8, to locate where your original login details.

 

 

Terms of Service vs Privacy Policy: the difference

You've probably come across some websites and applications that feature both a Privacy Policy and a Terms of Service. Most people used to believe they were the same or somewhat comparable until I conducted considerable study for an IT firm and was paid to develop a privacy policy and terms of service (trust me, it was never easy trying to differentiate the two).

Privacy Policies are concerned with preserving your users' privacy rights and data security, whereas Terms of Service are concerned with protecting you, the user. The Terms of Service define the guidelines for users and should specify what activities will result in users losing the ability to access a website or an App.

There is frequently misinformation about what Terms of Service are and how they differ from Privacy Policies. Clients also question what the distinctions are between Terms of Service, User Agreements, and Terms and Conditions. While these agreements are often synonymous, we will refer to this type of agreement as Terms of Service or TOS for the sake of simplicity. The TOS and Privacy Policies, on the other hand, could not be more dissimilar. The way you secure the data that people share with you is governed by your privacy policies. Privacy rules, such as the National Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), demand that you comply.

“Great, I don't have to worry about it because I don't gather user data,” you could think. You'd be mistaken. From cookies to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, it's practically hard to run a website without collecting data. Even if you're not collecting personal information, you're almost definitely gathering some amount of data automatically. As a result, having a solid privacy policy is critical. While Privacy Policies are concerned with safeguarding your users' privacy and data security, the TOS is concerned with safeguarding you. The TOS lays out the ground rules for users, and they should specify what activities are acceptable (i.e., Intellectual Property infringement, uploading viruses, harassment of other users, etc) will result in users losing the right to use your site or App.

When business owners are developing their websites and realise they need a privacy policy and a Terms of Service, they frequently decide to simply copy one off the internet. Perhaps they go so far as to search up the terms of service and privacy policies of a competitor or other comparable firm and copy and paste such policies onto their own website. This is a tremendous blunder. Take, for example, the e-Naira privacy policy, which was lifted verbatim from a US-based firm. CBN, you did a great job. Not only is this potentially copyright infringement (unless you purchased the same template as another firm), but every TOS and Privacy Policy, no matter how similar one business is to another, must be followed. Furthermore, the TOS and Privacy Policy you copy may be badly drafted, rendering them ineffective for safeguarding you and your company.

It is strongly advised that you consult a lawyer while developing a TOS and Privacy Policy. You may despise the notion of paying a lawyer to develop a customised TOS and Privacy Policy for your company, but you'll despise it even more if you neglect this crucial step and wind yourself in court later because you didn't have a robust TOS and Privacy Policy in place. While you may require a personalised TOS and Privacy Policy, you should be familiar with certain common words included in both TOS and Privacy Policies.

Privacy Policies

The NDPR 2019 is the most well-known privacy law (governing how to treat data obtained from users based in Nigeria). Nearly every state and country has its own privacy regulations, so don't believe you're exempt if you operate a site that caters to customers who aren't from Nigeria.

If your website collects medical information or information from users under the age of 18, you'll need a more complicated privacy policy to ensure compliance with other laws and regulations, such as the National Health Act (NHA 2022), the Data Protection Bill, the National Health Insurance Scheme Act, the Cybercrimes (Prohibition and Prevention Act), or the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, among others. There are numerous laws governing privacy rights, and this is a rapidly evolving area of law that can change dramatically in short span of time, so if your company regularly collects user data other than IP addresses and cookies, such as name, email, age, address, phone number, credit card information, profession, and so on, it is especially important to consult a lawyer adept in Technology Law.

It's also worth noting that there's been a considerable trend away from "legalese" and toward utilising extremely understandable English. Your Privacy Policy should be simple to comprehend so that people who want to know their rights and what data you're utilising that belongs to them aren't overburdened.

Every Privacy Policy should cover at least the following:

Data Collected: The Privacy Policy should clearly explain what type of data is the site collecting from the user. Is it collecting their name, age, sex, mailing address? IP address? Email address? Cookies? Anything else? Any data that the site collects should be clearly identified.

Why it is Collected: Any data you obtain should be accompanied by an explanation of why you are collecting it. Are you collecting email addresses so that you can keep users up to date on special offers or changes to the website? Are you gathering various identifying information about them so that you may display them advertisements that are likely to be relevant to them? You should include it for any purpose. A simple chart, displaying the data obtained on one side and the rationale for collecting it on the other, is becoming a more frequent approach of communicating what data you're gathering and why.

How Users can Erase or Correct their Data on the site: Not only should you make it apparent how to contact the person in control of data on your site, but you should also make it clear that users own their data and have the right to remove, amend, or otherwise modify it at any time.

Consent: Users must have the ability to grant (and withdraw) consent to websites and software that collects their data. In addition, the Privacy Policy must offer information on the remedies accessible to the user if the company does not follow its own Privacy Policy.

Updates: Because privacy laws change so frequently, it's critical to include a language in your Privacy Policy that states that users should check the policy for updates on a regular basis. Any updates you need to make will be uploaded to the page that contains your Privacy Policy and should take effect immediately.

Terms of Service

When developing your TOS, it's best to start with a blank document. Ideally, you should maintain your Privacy Policy separate from your TOS to better illustrate the difference between your rights as the site/App owner and your users' rights as data owners.

You'll almost probably require a customised TOS, but regardless of your specific TOS, you should be familiar with the following phrases, which are essentially common to all Terms of Service:

Prohibited Use: The TOS should be clear on what user actions are prohibited. At the very least, this list should include Intellectual Property infringement, harassment of other users, or uploading any viruses/malware to the site.

Intellectual Property Ownership: It should be explicit that the company that owns the website maintains all of its ownership rights in its intellectual property, and using the site does not transfer any of these ownership rights to the users.

Payment Terms: If you collect payment from your users, your TOS should specify how users should pay and what happens if they don’t pay / if their card doesn’t go through. Are they on a subscription plan? Is it a flat fee? Whatever the details are, they should be laid out clearly here.

Updates: Similar to your Privacy Policy, it is important to include language in your TOS that clarifies the user should frequently check the TOS for updates, as any updates you may need to make will be uploaded to the page that contains your TOS and should be considered effective immediately.

There are several other provisions you should have in your TOS, but these above are the most basic and will help get you started on thinking about what terms you will need.