For those who want to build a WordPress site without a developer holding your hand, you need to know where the best resources can be found.
The right tools have to be carefully chosen to meet your needs and budget. Cheaper is not always better, so it helps to get the right advice before you plunge in.
This Guide is geared toward New Zealand.
Domain Name providers: www.1stdomains.co.nz is a great NZ domain name registrar. Or www.crazydomains.co.nz. Approx $35 nz pa. Or for a dot com name, I recommend www.namecheap.com. $15 USD.
Hosting Account providers: Purchase a “WordPress Managed Hosting” type of account. It is fine to use Shared Hosting. (Do not attempt to purchase a cheap “Unmanaged type”) And do not choose a www.wordpress.com account.
In my opinion, NZ hosters are quite expensive. I found the cheaper off-shore FastComet.com is just as good as any local hoster, with all the required site tools such as automated backups, and a 24/7 helpdesk. You don’t need to know anything technical, they will help fix anything that crops up. Even though their nearest servers are in Australia, your website will still have excellent performance locally.
Free resources: Go to the website of WordPress.org. (not WordPress.com). This is where you can research, view and download free themes, plugins, and documentation to construct your site. You can also access, install, and test out these tools from within your WordPress dashboard.
Recommended Themes and plugins:
Design Themes at wordpress.org. The best free theme is Neve or Astra Theme – I found them to be the most adaptable and generous with functions in their free version, and have lots of free template starter packs within the theme. They have more customisations available in their Pro Version, but those have to be re-purchased yearly. Alternatively, you could purchase a Premium theme like Avada, from themeforest.net as it requires only a one-off single purchase.
Content Builder Tools: When you choose a theme, you must add a Content Builder (Page Editor) Plugin and activate it to work with the theme. Neve bundles with Customiser. Astra bundles with Elementor. Both tools are regularly updated and maintained by their authors, therefore reliable. They also both have Pro Versions, which would give you the benefit of a lot more customisation features and functionality.