How to open a successful website

Are you about to open your first website but, having no experience in the sector, are you looking for solutions that can make you realize your project effortlessly? Have you decided to expand your business and start selling online, but you don’t know which tools to use to open your e-commerce? Don’t worry: I have a guide ready for you on how to open a successful website in which I will try to show you all the information and tools you need to take your first steps in this world and grow online.

Whether you want to create a website for your company, a personal blog or an e-commerce, you will surely find interesting ideas from which to start your new Internet adventure. In fact, we will start from the basics, that is, from the choice of the domain (the site address) and the hosting (the online space on which to host the site) and we will try to understand which solution is more suitable for you between a CMS and a site builder, to the actual creation of the site. Do not worry if, at this moment, some of the terms just mentioned seem “obscure” to you: at the end of reading this tutorial you will surely have a clearer picture of the situation and you will know which solutions to turn to.

In this regard, I already tell you that in the course of the guide I will recommend various services offered by Aruba, a very famous Italian company that operates in the sectors of Web hosting, cloud and online practices, as I consider them to be among the most complete and reliable in the sector. Among these, there are plans for the purchase of domains (also complete with personalized email addresses) and hosting and all-in-one solutions for the creation of sites, blogs and e-commerce based on the most popular platforms, all extremely easy to use. Read on for all the details.

Index

• Domain
• CMS or site builder
• CMS
  • WordPress
  • WooCommerce
  • Other CMS
• Sitebuilder
  • Classic site
  • E-commerce
• Hosting
  • Generic hosting
  • WordPress hosting
  • WooCommerce hosting

Domain

Whether you want to open your first website, expand your current site to make it known to more people or open an e-commerce to sell online, one of the first things you need to do is get a domain , that is the address that users they will type in their browsers to reach the site.

The choice of the domain is essential to be easily recognizable and traceable by visitors; I therefore advise you to choose one that is not very long, easy to remember and write. Furthermore, I strongly recommend that you buy more extensions (eg yourname.com, yourname.it and yourname.cloud ), in order to increase your presence on the Net and be found more easily by users.

Aruba allows you to register domains in a very simple way, with the possibility of choosing from over 700 available extensions and also adding 5 personalized 1 GB mailboxes (complete with access via Webmail, antispam and antivirus): ideal for presenting yourself in a professional way in the public eye.

Prices start at € 0.99 + VAT in the first year. The renewal has a price starting from 9.99 euros + VAT/year in the case of the domain only and starting from 15.49 euros + VAT/year in the case of a domain with email. The price includes domain registration, Swite service to create websites automatically updated from social media, DNS management, redirect management and 24-hour assistance. And if you already have a domain, Aruba offers you the possibility to transfer it in just a few clicks.

To obtain a domain, simply click on the purchase button of the service you prefer (eg. Domain with email ), check the availability of the domain of your interest, choose the extensions to purchase (eg .com, it and .eu; how already said, I suggest you register more extensions to get more visibility) and continue with the on-screen instructions. Simply select the services to include in the package, log into your Aruba account (or create one), enter the required data and pay with the method you prefer (eg.PayPal, card or bank transfer). Find more information on the Aruba website.

CMS or site builder

When you are about to create an Internet site, be it a site aimed at promoting your business, a personal blog or an e-commerce, it is important to choose which tools to use to build the site.

One of the first choices to make, in this sense, is the one related to the use of a CMS or a site builder. If you are not particularly familiar with these terms, do not worry: I will immediately tell you what it is and what differences there are between these two approaches.

A CMS  (acronym for  Content Management System, which in Italian we could translate as “content management system”) is a software that, installed on your Web space ( hosting, which I will talk about more later on), allows you to manage in detail the contents of your website, blog or e-commerce. This allows you to have maximum flexibility and to customize every aspect of your site, even by putting your hand to its code (even if it is not necessary, as most of the CMS are very simple to use). Another advantage of CMS is that they can be expanded by installing third-party plugins and themes, in order to expand the functionality of your site.

There are CMS of various types, suitable for various purposes and types of sites to be created: the most famous is definitely WordPress (which I will talk about in more detail shortly ), ideal for sites and blogs, but which, thanks to the WooCommerce plugin, becomes perfect. also for the creation and management of e-commerce.

The site builders, on the other hand, offer a simplified and even more immediate approach to the creation of websites. In fact, they allow you to create websites, blogs and e-commerce without putting your hand to the code, through convenient wizards and ready-to-use themes. use (fully customizable in a very simple way).

The construction of the pages takes place through the visual editors in which just select any element (eg a text, a photo, a video or the widget of a social network) to modify it, move it or delete it. Then there are many ready-to-use elements (widgets) that can be selected and added to pages with a simple drag-and-drop, including: text fields, single photos, galleries, social buttons, payment buttons and lists of e-commerce products, maps and contact forms.

On the other hand, in a site builder, there are less possibilities for customization and expansion than in CMS, but the ease of management is certainly greater.

In conclusion, we can therefore say that CMS are more flexible than site builders as they offer more “room for maneuver”; however, they require a bit more effort for their management: you need to learn how to manage plugins and themes (which must be kept up to date, as well as the CMS itself) and, if you want to go deeper into the customization of your site, you have to also put hand to the code.

The site builder are a bit ‘more limited, but it is by far the solution most suitable for those taking their first steps in the creation of Web sites, by allowing you to do everything visually and in a few clicks, while still providing professional results.

Whatever your choice, I suggest you take a look at the solutions proposed by Aruba, which are focused both on the use of CMS (with domain, web space, pre-installed CMS and, in the case of managed hosting, also automatic updating of CMS, themes and plugins), and on site builders (with, also in this case, domain and hosting included). Let me tell you about it in more detail.

CMS

If you want advanced control over any aspect of your website and, therefore, have decided to use a CMS, you have various platforms that you can turn to. You have to choose one based on your needs and the type of site you want to create: website, blog or e-commerce. Below you will list some of the best and point out some interesting Aruba offers in this regard.

WordPress

WordPress is certainly the most famous and used CMS in the world, ideal both for creating personal websites and for creating corporate websites and blogs. It can also be used for the creation of e-commerce, but in this case the use of plugins is required, such as the excellent WooCommerce (which I will talk about in more detail shortly).

The main strengths of WordPress are in its ease of use and in its being free, open source and extremely widespread: this allows you to fully customize every aspect of your site, having the ability to expand its functions through plugins and easily customize the site. I look with ready-to-use (but customizable) themes.

Using WordPress is super easy. The administration panel allows you to create and manage everything immediately: pages, posts, categories, tags, users (it is possible to configure multiple accesses to the management panel with different permissions) and so on. The more experienced can also put their hand to the code and fully customize every aspect of the site and the theme used. For more information you can take a look at my tutorial on how to create a site with WordPress.

Aruba offers various integrated solutions, complete with domain, hosting and pre-installed CMS, suitable for any need in terms of traffic and resources: you can find them listed here.

WooCommerce

If your intention is to open an e-commerce and you don’t want to give up the potential and flexibility of WordPress, you can only focus on WooCommerce: an open source plugin that transforms WordPress into a complete e-commerce platform equipped with all the necessary to manage products, orders, promotions and more, while maintaining a very high simplicity of setup and use.

To create a shop with WooCommerce, it is enough to follow a simple wizard during which to enter the basic information of your business, the payment and shipping methods to offer to customers and set up integrations such as those with Facebook and MailChimp (for the management of newsletters ). Once the store is open, it can be managed and customized from the appropriate section of the WordPress management panel.

If you are looking for a solution with WooCommerce pre-installed and ready to use, I highly recommend Aruba Managed WooCommerce Hosting, which costs 124.50 euros + VAT/year in the 1st year and then 249 euros + VAT/year and includes, in addition a WordPress with WooCommerce already configured, domain (with also the possibility to transfer an existing one), unlimited space and 2GB database on SSD, SSL DV certificate, staging environment to test site changes, unlimited 1GB mailboxes and more. For all the details of the case, read my guide to Aruba Managed WooCommerce hosting.

Other CMS

WordPress is the most used and widespread CMS, but there are also others that are worth considering.

For example, there is Joomla, a CMS written in PHP and based on MySQL, which allows you to create blogs and websites starting from ready-to-use templates or creating everything in complete autonomy, thus having control over every part of the project. The sites created with Joomla can be expanded and customized with many extensions, including components  (ie complete applications that expand the functionality of the site),  modules  (to expand some components) and plugins  (portions of code “lighter” than components, ideal for implementing new features to the site).

Another interesting solution is certainly Drupal, an open source CMS particularly suitable for large sites and which, therefore, requires a little more technical preparation than WordPress. It too allows the customization of sites with modules and plugins.

For e-commerce, Prestashop and Magento should certainly be evaluated , two CMS focused precisely on the creation and management of online stores: the first is free and open source and is recommended for small-medium sized stores; the second is available in both free and paid versions and is more suitable for large stores. To find out more, I invite you to read my tutorial on the best CMS .

If you are looking for a solution to easily create your site with Joomla, Drupal or another CMS, I strongly invite you to take a look at Aruba’s Linux and Windows hosting solutions, which include Softaculous App Installer: a handy tool through which you can easily install over 200 free applications, including WordPress, Drupal and PrestaShop.

Sitebuilder

If you have decided to create your website with a sitebuilder, you can definitely turn to  SuperSite of Aruba, a service that allows you to create professional-looking websites, blogs and e-commerce in an extremely simple and intuitive way, without having to write code. o install programs on your computer: everything is done from the browser, starting from many customizable ready-to-use templates.

SuperSite by Aruba also offers the online space necessary to host the site and allows you to obtain a domain in a few clicks. Furthermore, the sites created with SuperSite are automatically optimized for mobile and search engines. Below is a list of the available plans.

• SuperSite Trial– allows you to try all SuperSite features for 30 days, including the ability to create blogs, e-commerce and multi-language sites with SEO and Cookie Policy options. It includes a third level domain (e.g. spazioweb.it) with free support. At the end of the trial, the site is no longer accessible and you must purchase a paid plan within 10 days, replacing the third level domain with a second level one (eg.  iltuosito.it). More info here.
• SuperSite Professional– is the most complete version of SuperSite, with creation of sites, blogs, e-commerce and multi-language sites, second level domain (eg.  it), 5 mailboxes, DV SSL certificate and free assistance. It costs 39 euros/year + VAT the first year, for new activations, and then 99 euros + VAT / year. More info here.
• SuperSite Easy– is the cheapest plan from Aruba SuperSite. It allows you to create websites and blogs optimized for mobile and search engines with SEO and Cookie Policy options, but not e-commerce. It includes second level domain (eg.  it), 5 mailboxes and DV SSL certificate with free assistance. It costs 39 euros/year + VAT the first year, for new activations, and then 49 euros + VAT/year. More info here.

To start creating your site with SuperSite, all you have to do is choose one of the plans listed above, log in with your Aruba account or create a new one and accept the terms of service. You will then be able to access the Editor and start building your website.

The first step you need to take to create your website with Aruba SuperSite is to indicate what type of website you are creating: you can choose, for example, Blog to create a blog or Store of [article type] to create an e-commerce.

The next step is to type the name of the website and choose a graphic style from those proposed (later you can also choose others and further customize the site) and a format for the home page. Again, there are tons of ready-to-use themes available.

Mission accomplished! You are already in your website editor, where there are all the customization tools you need to create your site. A practical guided procedure will also start to take the first steps: I suggest you follow it, but if you want you can also skip it. Having said that, let’s take a closer look at how to build a classic website and an e-commerce.

Classic site

Aruba SuperSite makes simplicity one of its main strengths. In fact, it is possible to build a website without writing a single line of code, using the convenient graphic tools on the screen.

By selecting with the mouse any of the elements on the page you can customize it (for example, in the case of the texts it is possible to modify them and format them as you prefer, while in the case of the images it is possible to edit them with a convenient integrated tool full of effects and functions ), drag it to another point, resize it or delete it (using the trash can icon that appears next to the pointer). To customize the areas of the page that provide this possibility (eg the sidebar of the home page), just hover the mouse pointer over them and click on the icon with the adjustment bars that appears on the screen.

To add new elements, instead, just click on the button with the four squares at the bottom right, locate the widget you prefer and drag it to the place on the page you want. There is really everything: single images, photo galleries, text fields, boxes dedicated to social networks, maps, contact forms, lists, payment buttons, blog posts and much more.

Speaking of blogs, if what you have created is a site of this type, you can manage the articles contained in it simply by going to the ☰ menu (top left) and selecting the Blog item from the bar that appears on the side. You will then be able to create new articles (via the (+) button ), manage existing ones (via the respective buttons ⋮) and import them from WordPress. By clicking on the Set item you can also adjust various blog settings, such as visibility, title, summary, number of articles per page and the use of Google AMP.

The management of the pages of the site is just as simple: by clicking on the drop-down menu at the top center of the Editor you can choose the page on which to work, create new ones (using the (+) buttons ), reorder them (by holding down the buttons ⋮ ⋮ and dragging them as you like), clone or delete them (using the relative buttons ⋮).

By clicking, on the other hand, on the palette icon located at the top right, you can customize the graphic theme of the site by choosing a predefined one from those available and customizing it with colors and fonts of your choice, using the appropriate tab at the top.

Finally, by clicking on the ☰ button (top left) and selecting the Site Settings item from the menu that opens, you can adjust all the site settings, such as status (public visibility), domain name, profile, SEO, Google statistics, options of privacy and favicons.

When you are satisfied with the result, you can view a preview in real time by selecting the appropriate item from the menu menu of the Editor (top right). To proceed with the publication of the site, click instead on the cloud icon (always at the top right), choose a domain and press the Save and Publish button. For more details, read my guide on how to build a website with Aruba , in which I have explained to you more closely how to use Aruba SuperSite.

E-commerce

The procedure for creating an e-commerce with Aruba SuperSite is just as simple. After setting up the site following the same steps illustrated above for the creation of standard websites and blogs, click on the ☰ button located at the top left of the SuperSite Editor and select the Shop item from the menu that opens.

On the next page, refer to the Install Shop panel to complete the wizard that will get you up and running in just a few clicks. Using the convenient button on the screen, you will therefore be invited to the payment methods accepted in the store (including PayPal, Stripe, bank transfer and payment on delivery), enter the basic information of the store (e.g. notification email address, address for returns and default currency), add the products to sell and enter the shipping costs.

The addition of the products is extremely intuitive, simply select products from the left sidebar, and then press the button (+). This will open the form where you can enter all the details of the product: name, description, photo, price, status in the inventory and so on.

You can also import products from CSV files by selecting the Import product item from the side menu and following the on-screen instructions. If you want to add discounts on products, go to the homonymous section of the menu instead.

Once the e-commerce setup procedure is completed, you can open the activity to the public by clicking on the appropriate button found in the Configuration menu.

In the side menu you will find the sections to manage orders, analyze the statistical data of your shop (income, orders, etc.) and adjust all the shop settings ( Basic settings, Payment, Shipping, Tax Currencies and formats, CSV Export & Facebook Sync ).

Once everything is set up, by clicking on the button for adding widgets in the Aruba SuperSite Editor (bottom right), scrolling to the Shop section, you will find several elements dedicated to your e-commerce: Buy now with PayPal to allow customers to pay with PayPal and Product List, Recommended Products and Category List to insert, in a part of the page of their choice, the list with all the products for sale, those recommended and the categories of products for sale.

For all the details of the case, I refer you to my guide on how to build a website with Aruba, in which I also showed you how to create an e-commerce with Aruba SuperSite.

Hosting

Do you already have a website but you need to transfer it to a new online space, as the hosting service you currently use is no longer up to the task and your site is often inaccessible or very slow to load? Then know that, even in this case, you can count on Aruba’s solutions, which offers various types of hosting, scalable according to customer needs, and with the possibility of requesting a new domain or transferring an existing one.

The ‘ hosting Aruba is based on its own data center located in Italy and certified at the highest levels of infrastructure quality (Rating 4 ANSI / TIA). The servers that host the sites are protected by a firewall that keeps the access ports and, in managed services, even the installed applications (WAF) safe from potential intrusions. They are also equipped with Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and state-of-the-art anti-DDoS systems, to prevent and promptly intervene in the event of attempted attacks, anti-virus, anti-malware and vulnerability monitoring of WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and main plugins.

To underline, then, the full compliance with the rules relating to the processing of personal data (GDPR) and the commitment to the environment, with the production of energy with hydroelectric power plants and photovoltaic plants owned: to power the Aruba data centers, in fact, only energy produced 100% from renewable sources with a guarantee of origin recognized at European level (GO) is taken from the National Transmission Grid.

Below you will find the main hosting solutions currently offered by Aruba. I don’t think you will struggle to find one that suits you.

Generic hosting

As for generic hosting, Aruba offers Linux hosting and Windows hosting packages including domain registration, unlimited disk space and traffic, email boxes, SSL DV certificate and a wide range of free software and CMS, such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Prestashop and Magento.

Let’s start with the Linux Aruba hosting plans, ideal for those who already have development skills and need to program with languages ​​such as PHP, Perl, Python and Ruby. They also include Softaculous App Installer, through which you can easily install over 200 free applications, such as WordPress, Drupal and PrestaShop.

• Basic– costs 11.99 euros + VAT / year in the 1st year and then 28.99 euros + VAT / year. Includes unlimited disk space and traffic, domain, 5 x 1GB mailboxes, SSL DV certificate, HTTP / 2 for faster loading times and free 24/7 support. It is possible to optionally add one or more 5GB GigaMail mailboxes, PEC mailboxes on domain. More info here.
• Easy– costs 19.99 euros + VAT/year in the 1st year and then 50 euros + VAT/year. Includes all the benefits of the Basic package, plus unlimited 5GB mailboxes, 10 GigaMail mailboxes of 5GB each, Softaculous App Installer to install over 200 free apps and 5 1GB databases in total on SSD (with backup). More info here.
• Advanced– costs 29.99 euros + VAT / year in the 1st year and then 70 euros + VAT / year. It includes all the advantages of the Easy package, but with 20 GigaMail boxes of 5GB each and 5 PEC boxes on a domain of 1GB each. More info here.
• Professional– costs 49.99 euros + VAT/year in the 1st year and then 150 euros + VAT/year. It includes all the advantages of the Advanced package, plus 30 GigaMail boxes of 5GB each and 10 PEC boxes on a domain of 1GB each. More info here.

Now let’s move on to Windows hosting packages, based on Windows Server 2019 and ideal for using applications that require the MSSQL database (Microsoft SQL Server) and the execution of ASP and .NET scripts.

• Basic– costs 11.99 euros + VAT / year in the 1st year and then 28.99 euros + VAT / year. Includes unlimited domain, disk space and traffic, 5 x 1GB mailboxes, DV SSL certificate, HTTP / 2 for faster loading times and free 24/7 support. It is possible to optionally add one or more 5GB GigaMail mailboxes, PEC mailboxes on domain and an MSSQL database (SQL Server 2017). More info here.
• Easy– costs 19.99 euros + VAT/year in the 1st year and then 50 euros + VAT/year. It offers all the advantages of the Basic package, plus unlimited 5GB mailboxes, 10 GigaMail mailboxes of 5GB each, a 1GB MSSQL Server database with backup and statistics service. More info here.
• Advanced– costs 29.99 euros + VAT / year in the 1st year and then 70 euros + VAT / year. It offers all the advantages of the Easy package, plus 20 GigaMail boxes of 5GB and 5 PEC boxes on domain of 1GB each. More info here.
• Professional– costs 49.99 euros + VAT/year in the 1st year and then 150 euros + VAT/year. It offers all the advantages of the Advanced package, plus 30 5GB GigaMail mailboxes and 10 PEC mailboxes on domain of 1GB each. More info here.

I would also like to point out the availability of Aruba Linux + Windows hosting solutions with prices starting from 21.99 euros + VAT/year for the 1st year (and then 38.99 euros + VAT/year). The latter allow you to choose whether to point the www host of the domain on the Windows or Linux platform and allow you to take advantage of the advantages offered by both platforms.

WordPress hosting

If your intention is to create a site based on WordPress, you can turn to the Aruba WordPress Hosting solutions, including pre-installed CMS, second level domain (with the possibility of transferring an existing one), SSL DV certificate, malware detection, free assistance 24/7 and 1GB mailboxes.

Aruba WordPress Hosting solutions are divided between Standard WordPress Hosting and Managed WordPress Hosting: in the former it is up to the user to update CMS, themes and plugins; in Managed WordPress Hosting, on the other hand, the platform update (including themes and plugins) is automatic, plus there are optimized performance, staging environment to test site changes before going online, specialist support and more. Here are all the packages available in detail.

• WordPress hosting– costs 19.99 euros + VAT / year in the 1st year and then 34 euros + VAT / year. Includes WordPress installed, unlimited web space and traffic, domain, 5 x 1GB mailboxes, SSL DV and HTTP / 2 certificate for faster loading times. Read more here.
• Smart Managed WordPress Hosting– Recommended for sites that have up to 50,000 monthly visitors. It costs 29.99 euros + VAT/year in the 1st year and then 79 euros + VAT/year. It includes optimized platform with automatic updates and backups, pre-installed WordPress, unlimited web space and traffic, domain, 5 x 1 GB mailboxes, staging environment, a MySQL database with backup, support on recommended plugins, SSL DV and HTTP / 2 certificate for faster loading times. Read more here.
• Premium Managed WordPress Hosting– Recommended for sites that have up to 500,000 monthly visitors. It costs 39.99 euros + VAT/year in the 1st year and then 129 euros + VAT/year. It includes all the benefits of the Smart Managed WordPress Hosting plan, plus unlimited 1 GB email accounts, 10 5 GB GigaMails to increase mailbox space and 5 PEC mailboxes on domain. Read more here.
• Top Managed WordPress Hosting– Recommended for sites that have up to 1,000,000 monthly visitors. It costs 119.99 euros + VAT/year in the 1st year and then 229 euros + VAT/year. It includes all the advantages of the Premium Managed WordPress Hosting package, plus 20 GigaMails of 5 GB to increase the space on the mailboxes, Business Mail and 10 PEC mailboxes on the domain. Read more here.

To find out more, I invite you to consult my tutorial dedicated specifically to Aruba WordPress Hosting.

WooCommerce hosting

If you are planning to expand your online business and open a WordPress-based store, I highly recommend that you take a look at Aruba’s Managed WooCommerce Hosting solution, thanks to which you can create a WordPress-based e-commerce, the CMS most used and widespread in the world, with already installed WooCommerce, the famous open source plugin that transforms WordPress into an e-commerce platform.

Included in the price, which is 124.50 euros + VAT/year in the 1st year and then 249 euros + VAT/year, there is a domain (with the possibility of transferring an existing one); unlimited space on SSD; 2GB database on SSD, DV SSL certificate; 12 instances  (to reduce loading times and increase performance related to the number of visitors and simultaneous connections to the database); automatic daily backups; staging environment to test changes to the site without affecting the online one; unlimited 1GB mailboxes and  10 PEC mailboxes on domain. It supports traffic up to 500,000 monthly visitors. For all the details, I invite you to read my guide to Aruba Managed WooCommerce hosting.