How many websites do you visit on a normal day?
A lot, right?
This is an amazing era for content. We have a limitless amount of content on any given minute right in our pockets. Lots of it.
And one of the pitfalls of that availability is that we get immediately into consumer mode. We consume content. But tend to never create it ourselves.
So it got us to think…
We are on a mission to show everyone the best way to create a WordPress site, but there are lots of people that have never created a website at all.
If that’s you, then you’re gonna enjoy this post. We put together a list of 15 fun ideas to create your first website. They are small. Concise. And most of all, easy to achieve.
These are small sites you could put together over a weekend, and start the next week with your own place on the web.
Why Create a Website?
Whatever the case is you probably have something to share that many people will want to read.
Interesting stuff your friends can learn from, memories you want to keep or news you want to spread. Having a website is like having your own Media Company to broadcast it.
But Wait, What About Social Media? Isn’t it the same?
Well, it COULD be similar. You could put all of this in your favorite social media. Theoretically.
The thing is doing that would be like writing a book on a piece of paper someone lends you and you have to return tomorrow.
When you create on a space you don’t control the rules for you can find yourself loosing everything you put out there. Not to mention your audience.
This is not to say you shouldn’t be creating content on social media. No one’s trying to leave Zuck without that photo of you as a kid that you’re not even sure should be public (yeah, we all have that one).
But this is your opportunity to build a project on your own land. On your terms, with your own rules.
What Do You Need To Begin
There hasn’t been a better time to start your own website. It can’t be easier than nowadays.
WordPress lets you create and manage your own website without even having to understand what “coding” means. It makes it accessible to anyone, no matter what your background is.
So what will you need for this?
1. A Hosting Account Provider
We recommend Siteground for this. It’s super affordable and you won’t feel the price in your monthly budget.
It comes with these 4 extra benefits:
- Your plan includes a domain, so you won’t need to purchase it anywhere else, or spend extra money for that
- They have amazing customer support
- Your site will be FAST
- It comes with automatic SSL certificates (your site will be secure and show a “Secure” green sign in most browsers)
And what’s even better, they have a one-click install for WordPress. You literally click a button and complete your website details and it is already live. Don’t believe me? Try it yourself.
2. A WordPress Theme
A WordPress theme is what powers your site. Is what gives it that gorgeous looks people like to brag about when they’re at the grocery store line. Alright, not all people. But you know you’ll do that too.
You install your WordPress theme from within WordPress itself (by going to Appearance » Themes) and you’ll find there many free themes available.
Luckily for you, we have a free WordPress theme you can download like right now. It’s called Pepper, and we love it. It’s like working with a professional WordPress theme, but for free. Get it here.
With those two things you are now ready to create your website. So get your notepad out and jot down the ones you like the most from this list.
1. An Invitation to a Special Occasion Or Event
This one works for any kind of forthcoming event you want to invite people to.
If you have a round-number birthday coming on putting up a website for it can make it even more special. A high school reunion? Why not?
And of course, if you’re getting married this can be part of your wedding invitations plan.
What should you add in this website?
- A welcome message to let people know what the event will be.
- Some photos to start setting the mood
- Information on what can someone expect from attending
- A registration form so that your guests can register for the event and perhaps get directions via email
2. Your Resume’s Website
Having your resume on a website has a threefold purpose.
First, it shows future employers and companies you want to work with that you care for your work. What a better way of showing that you can overdeliver than creating a live resume, right?
Secondly, it tremendously expands the kind of things you can include. Instead of just listing your previous jobs with text you can also add images, video embeds and different sections for your skills, work experience and education, making it much more enjoyable.
And lastly, it lets you keep your resume updated for whomever reaches it. Got a new job? Add it in there and let the world know.
3. A Garage Sale
If you’re planning a garage sale you can help spread the voice by putting it up online.
This website can sum up the type of things someone can expect to find for sale, but also can work magically to tease potential buyers.
Instead of just letting people know you’ll be having a garage sale you could pick your top ten items and create a post for each of them.
Investing a little more time to take some nice photos of them (we all have a camera in our pockets so there’re no excuses) can help you sell those faster too.
Think how nice could it be to make the experience a little more personal by having a blog with posts about each of the big things on sale.
This website’s sections? A nice welcome message to greet online visitors and let them know about the sale, details of the type of items they can expect to find, and perhaps a leadbox so that they can give you their email addresses (a great way to remind them later when the date comes and pack your sale even faster!).
Bonus points: Add a blog page and tell a personal story for the things you’re selling.
4. A Group Newsletter
Get all old fashioned and instead of sending a plain email to your group of friends to tell them about your latest trip to Thailand, write it in a post.
Each member of the group can have its own user and write her own news too. Think of it as your own private social network.
Everyone can add new stuff daily and comment on the other news. And you could leave it as a public site to be read, or limit it so that only logged in members can see the content on it.
Ideas for different things this could work for: Family news, your work team stuff, even an apartments building could use it as a way to keep everyone informed on which floor is sharing that home made bread everyone’s smelling.
5. Your Special Hobby
Have a hobby you’re proud of? Why not make a deal of it and share it with everyone.
We tend to think the things that matter to us doesn’t matter that much to the rest of people out there. And we tend to be wrong about it.
There’s probably more people interested on that same hobby than you think, and you will find that people will be more likely thankful to you for taking the time to write about it.
For this one, mostly a blog where you can post often will do. Although a nice About page can help build you some credit too. After all, if you’re making these efforts why not receive the kudos by having your name out there?
6. Your List of Top Books To Read
We all love getting recommendations from people we respect. And if you’re an avid reader you know that having a full queue of books to read can get challenging after some time.
This site can work as a simple blog where you add short excerpts of the best books you’ve read lately.
And of course, people will want to know the genius mind behind these top notch recommendations so make sure to add an About Me page with a nice picture of you too.
If you want to get fancier with it, you could use a Portfolio feature like the one on our themes to automatically add media for each of the books you recommend (like photos of the physical book, snippets or quotes and even a video of yourself telling about what part of each one you find more impactful).
7. A Collection of Summer Activities For Your Kids
This one can work as a personal file of ideas you come up with during the year, so that when the summer comes you never get out of things to do with your kids.
This could be set to private so that only you and your closest family can access it but could also be open so that other parents can get advantage of those ideas too.
A blog with a good navigation on top will do here. Be sure to classify the ideas in categories so you can get to them faster when you have to pick one next.
8. A Family Story Record
In my family we don’t have a record for having great memory. So I, personally, start typing every time someone starts telling an old story I think I’ll want to remember in the future.
Starting a family stories diary is a great way of investing in the future of the ones that will come behind us, and doesn’t need much more than a blog.
Having a user for each family member that wants to write is super helpful to make sure everyone participates.
You can use blog categories to filter your stories by characters (people, yes, but if we’re in story telling mode, why not?), events, places, etc.
9. An Outfit Ideas Catalog Shared Between Friends
Getting dressed is hard.
Alright, for some people, getting dressed is hard. But even if you find coming up with a great outfit an easy task, you can help your fellow humans by helping with your own ideas.
This one is as easy as getting a photo of every perfect outfit you find.
Bonus points: You can include recommendations with your own affiliate links to different shops.
Bonus points 2: If you really find this easy you can teach other people how to get dressed properly.
10. A Top Recommendations Website For The Neighborhood
Are you one of those people that know everyone and everything ‘round the hood?
Get that precious knowledge to work by recommending the best places to eat out, where to do laundry faster on Wednesdays and which park has the best benches for people watching.
Your neighbors will enjoy knowing the best spots around their place and the business owners will thank you for recommending them.
You can also add a subscribe leadbox to slowly start building your email list and email everyone once a week with the top activities to do in the weekend.
(by the way, a leadbox module is available in all our themes that connects automatically with both Mailchimp and ConvertKit, so you don’t even have to use a plugin for that!)
11. A Blog For Your Kids
There are many benefits to blogging and having your kids write every day on their own website is an amazing incentive to journaling.
WordPress lets everyone write on a website with so much ease that makes any technical barrier inexistent. Not that any modern kid will likely face a technical difficulty, I know. But it help us see it as a much easier to achieve task too.
This also comes with the bonus points of being you the one that puts the website up for them. So you can be sure they’re blogging in a safe and supportive space all along.
An example of the beautiful Blog Artisan website created with Modules Theme
12. A List of Places You’d Like to Visit
We all use wishlists, right?
We write simple lists even for the supermarket, let alone bigger stuff.
So next time you find yourself longing to visit a new exotic place or city why not write it all in your own website?
If you can get into know-it-all mode about it, do a thorough research about every place. You can write a compelling guide including for example:
- Eat out recommendations
- Average prices for stuff like food, transportation, gifts
- Location picks (hotels, Airbnbs, best neighborhoods to stay in)
- Best times of the year to visit
And you don’t need much more than a simple blog to add every place when you have a new favorite.
13. Your Favorite Recipes
Alright, so this can sound like a thrilled one, but don’t underestimate it.
We ALL have to cook. Every day. Multiple times.
We even have a list at home we complete every week with all the meals we’re going to prepare. And boy, it takes a lo-ot of creativity to come up with new ideas.
If you have recipes that are worth a share, go ahead and put them down so every one of your friends can also get advantage of them.
No need to be a Michelin star chef for this. Simple recipes work fantastically for mid-week days and you can be sure someone reading them will thank you for it.
14. A Photo Album of Your Wedding
This one works AMAZINGLY well if you also had a Wedding Invitation website. But will work great on itself too.
Of course you can upload your photo albums to Facebook. You will. On the same night. Before leaving the event, even.
But having them on your own site will make browsing through them so much special, and a gift you can share with all your friends and family too.
Pick a nice theme, add both your names on the top with a nice title, and use that space to tell the story of your most special day.
You can even separate your photos by different moments of the day, and pick the ones that are the funniest and put them on a dedicated section (or go nuts with it and create multiple sections so everyone will want to watch all of them).
15. Your For-Rent Apartment
If you have a place you are putting up for rent this is a super easy website that will do wonders for that.
Instead of just putting your apartment in places like Craigslist and hoping it stands out from the rest on its own, create a simple website for it where you can add all the media you want.
Nice looking photos with expressive descriptions, videos showing the place, a contact form where people can get in touch with you.
All super easy to implement stuff. If you’re using any of our themes you’ll find many ready-made websites you can import and modify to have this live in less than half a day.
Think how quickly you will have the apartment taken from your hands when it has it’s own domain on the web.
So…? Did you find any new idea you can implement today? Do you know of any other idea that would make a great website? Let us know in the comments!
