Checklist for Building Your Own Niche Website

Since we have been rebuilding and selling quite a bit of our website inventory, there have been many questions about how we manage to get things done efficiently, and also make sure nothing is missed in the research and build process of a WordPress powered niche website.

In this article, I am going to start sharing the process we use to build a site, as well as the checklist and build sheet we complete on EVERY niche site we build. This article is likely to carry on for a few days as different sections are added as well.

Progress: [Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4]

Before I do share our build process, I want to say that nothing is carved into stone! We use the checklist as a starting point and although every item MUST be done, we also tend to add to it, or laterally adjust it on a per-site basis. (For instance, a site about roofing estimates, may not have product reviews, but instead, contractor reviews)

Build Your Own Website with WordPress Checklist

Jump right to the Niche Site WorkFlow Checklist and keep it open as you follow along. We try very hard to complete this sheet in the order it appears… it helps make sure nothing is missed! :-)

Domain, Hosting and Basic Site Info

The domain, hosting and basic site information section of the website build sheet contains some of the most important data about the site!

• Domain name, Registration Dates, Project Start Date, DNS, etc (Info from GoDaddy)
• Webhost information (Usually HostGator)
• Website Title, Elevator Pitch Description, Homepage keywords/phrases for launch

This most important parts of this top section are:

1. Website Title: 5-10 words, or -70 characters, that will be the main page title of your site. This is generally one of the areas I spend a lot of time, to get an optimized set of words and phrases that balance the site content, search metrics, and what visitors expect to find.
2. Website Elevator Pitch, aka Description: Generally, 100-300 words that will be used to form almost every aspect of the website! The easiest way to get this written is to visualize yourself in an elevator (thus the name) with 10 or more TARGETED VISITORS to your site.  Write down the different areas your site will have, and the various reasons you would tell them they would LOVE your website!
3. Homepage Keywords or Phrases:  3-5 highest volume, 2-4 word phrases your site is being designed to target! (I use both Google and WordTracker for this task)

Software, CMS, & Plugins

It will come as no surprise that I use WordPress for almost every project I complete now. From local business websites, to affiliated sites, to eCommerce, coding or decoding WordPress to make it do exactly what you want is a no-brainer for me! i know some people like Joomla or Drupal, I just never did… Anyhow. Besides, if you have a HostGator account, WordPress is part of the Fantastico system, making it even easier to install and keep updated!

The exact walk through I use on EVERY WordPress installation!

1. Install WordPress
2. Check Version to be sure it is the Latest Build & Update if Needed!
3. Update User Account Information
   In my opinion, one of the easiest ways to secure your WordPress system, is by setting up with your main account, then setting a new account for ALL content publishing! :-)  Along the way, set passwords that are hard to guess. I use letters, numbers and special characters on ALL passwords!
   1. (1) Super-Admin Account
   2. (1 or more) Publisher Accounts that all your content is published through.
4. Set Your Main Website Settings
   The main settings are found under: Settings > General. I pay very specific attention to:
   1. Blog Title – 2-4 Words that Clearly Define the Site.
   2. Tagline – 3-10 Words that Describe What is ON the Site
   3. WordPress & Blog Addresses – I never checked into the difference in the two, and use the same Canonical address for both.
   4. Email Address: Same as setup in the hosting section. Its the main catch-all for the site. I always use admin@
5. Set the Permalink Structure
   Permalinks, found under: Settings > Permalinks, is really just a big word for “Pretty Links”, and converts the page url of: “domain.com/index.php?id_post=16″ to “domain.com/about” (Or whatever page it is). I just don’t like the date structure, and simply prefer to use the simplest method for my own needs. Learn more at WordPress
   1. For Common, I use: /%postname%/ and sometimes: /%postname%.htm (The only reason for the difference is for my own testing of things, no benefit either way from what I can see)
6. Set a Category and Tag Base
   On the same page, the Category Base and Tag Base is set to allow just a bit finer control.
   1. Category Base: I use c, cat, category, topic, and in some cases, reviews. 99% of the time, simply “c” or “cat”.
   2. Tag Base: I use t, tag, key, keyword, phrase, common, etc. 99% of the time, “t” or “keyword”. Remember, tags are nothing but keywords or phrases used to describe the content.

Next, I move on to the SAME Core WordPress Plugins on every site! (This list changes occasionally)

1. All in One SEO Plugin
2. OZH Horizontal Admin Menu
3. Smart Youtube
4. Contact Form 7
5. Redirection
6. Better Blogroll
7. Google XML Sitemap
8. W3 Total Cache

(Working to Update still)

Pages, Categories, Blogroll

To be completed

Content, Videos and Related Resources

To be completed

Previously Published Articles You May Like to Read:

• I Created a Checklist for Niche Stores
• Building a Website with WordPress
• Day 2 – Building a Website with WordPress

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