How To Make A Webcomic Website: A Step-By-Step Guide

How To Make A Webcomic Website: A Footstep-By-Footstep Guide

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If you lot're starting a webcomic the beginning affair you'll demand is a website. All the best comics have their ain websites for promoting the comic series and the artist.

Anyone new to comics might prefer to commencement on a free site like Tumblr. Simply you'll have a tough time branding your comic and edifice a name for your serial. That'due south why cocky hosted is the best way to go—nonetheless information technology can be tricky if you've never washed it earlier.

In this guide I'll teach you how to create your own webcomic website on WordPress. This offers a lot more control and you tin customize the site however you want.

It may seem intimidating at kickoff only if you're willing to try you can do this on their ain. And by following this guide you'll take all the help you need.

Why WordPress?

There are dozens of gratis comic hosting websites. A couple examples are ComicFury and Tapastic, both of which are gratuitous to use.

So why is WordPress a better selection?

At that place are many reasons:

• Yous tin can brand your ain website
• WordPress offers way more customization
• All your comics are hosted locally on your server
• Your comic looks more professional on a custom domain
• Yous tin can add together donation links or setup a web shop for merch

Recall of your web comic similar a brand. It may not rise to the aforementioned level as Dilbert or Garfield, only your comic should stand up on its own as a recognizable name.

The best fashion to stand out is with a kickass website using a unproblematic design, a make logo, and your ain domain name. WordPress is free and incredibly easy to learn and so it'due south the perfect mode to start your own comic site without any hassle.

Going this route is also the best long-term solution because you can run your website on WordPress indefinitely. Think nearly how long xkcd has been online with the aforementioned design.

Nobody cares if your comic's website is beautiful or bursting with colour. People just care about great comics and where to find them.

And then if you lot pick a dandy domain you can run with WordPress for years and never need to adjust much on your site.

The hardest part is getting started only I'll walk you through the whole process.

Registering Your Site

The very first stride is to recollect up your own domain name. This will be the address people apply to admission your site, nigh usually with the .com suffix.

It's a good idea to plan your ideas ahead of time and make sure y'all're happy with the domain you lot pick. However information technology'southward possible to change this later so don't worry likewise much.

Commonly you'd have to register a domain dissever from hosting but with BlueHost you actually get a free domain along with your hosting business relationship.

This is a great deal for new artists who only desire to dip their toe into the world of web comics. Pricing is very affordable including the free domain+hosting, though you lot do have to pay for the twelvemonth upfront.

But it all breaks down to the price of a java per calendar month then it's a frugal investment for new comic artists.

To get started visit the BlueHost homepage and click the "Become Started" push.

On this page select the basic plan over to the far left-paw side.

This comes with a free domain name, unlimited traffic, and 5 complimentary email addresses. Then you lot can make an email like yourname@yourcomic.com and it's free with your business relationship.

Once yous select the plan you'll have to enter your domain proper name.

Brand sure you enter information technology in the left box labeled "new domain" because this is how you'll go it for complimentary.

If your domain is already taken yous can endeavour switching to a .net or something similar. Only personally I recommend sticking with a .com so endeavor a few unlike ideas until y'all observe a domain that'south available.

This concluding page is where yous add together all the nitty-gritty details like contact & payment info.

But in that location are a couple things you'll desire to practise before placing the club. You should uncheck all the boxes except the one labeled "Domain Privacy Protection". This keeps your personal info detached from the domain so if anyone does a WHOIS lookup they won't run into your proper noun.

Everything else tin be un-checked because none of it is needed.

Yous may also want to update the term length from 36 months to 12 months. It'll be a much cheaper upfront price and you lot won't exist committing for iii years.

Once you lot enter all your details and sign upwardly your account should be ready to coil.

You now have an crawly domain and hosting business relationship. Congrats!

At present you lot just need to install WordPress and go information technology setup to publish your comic. Usually it takes a bit of technical knowledge of install WordPress from scratch. But BlueHost comes with an instant installer which is ane of the reasons I recommend them for new artists.

Installing WordPress

Once you lot enter your payment y'all'll get a confirmation due east-mail from BlueHost with a login link. You can click that link from the email, or just click the "side by side" link on the new page y'all run across afterward paying.

This new page is ordinarily an upsell page just if you skip it you'll become right to the password creation page.

Click the "create your password" push and enter something secure. Note this is the password to your BlueHost business relationship and so you lot'll need this to log in, make changes, adjust billing, etc. Keep this in a secure place in instance you forget information technology.

One time you create your password you lot'll be directed to a theme option folio.

I'll teach you how to setup a theme later in this guide, so for now gyre to the lesser and click "skip this step".

Afterward that you lot're all washed! BlueHost automatically installed your new WordPress site with one click then you can access information technology right away past clicking the blue button.

Alternatively you can visit your BlueHost business relationship dashboard folio, although that's mostly for editing your personal details so it's not necessary correct at present.

By default yous'll exist greeted with a setup magician but you don't demand to follow that since I'll teach you everything hither. Just click "I don'tneed help" nether the blueish setup buttons to continue onto the dashboard.

Your new WP site has two dashboards: the main WP dashboard and the Mojo/BlueHost dashboard. You really don't need the BlueHost 1 but information technology does come with a handy characteristic that keeps your site offline until you decide to launch.

You lot'll see this in the "Launch your site" box nigh the peak. This extra dashboard as well lets yous browse a marketplace of plugins, manage your site'south functioning, and check other relevant stats.

I personally feel similar information technology's extra bloat, but yous may love it! Totally upwards to yous whether you lot wanna proceed it or non.

Even if you wanna keep that BlueHost dashboard it'southward however a adept idea to disable the other default plugins. To do this merely click the "plugins" link in the sidebar menu.

On this page you'll meet a bunch of upsell boxes almost the acme. Scroll down a ways and you'll find a listing of plugins. The ones with a lite blue groundwork are currently active, the others with the white groundwork are installed but deactivated.

I personally recommend deactivating all the blue plugins to de-clutter your dashboard.

All the same if you want to go along the BlueHost dashboard at the top then disable everything but the MOJO Marketplace. That MOJO plugin controls your BlueHost dashboard link and controls the ability to keep your site offline until you're fix to launch.

If yous decide to clean up everything hither's how it'll await subsequently:

Now this should await quite a chip cleaner and easier to use! From here permit's update a few default settings on the site simply and so it looks nicer.

Quick Annotation: Y'all can always admission this admin dashboard by adding /wp-admin/ to the end of your site's URL. So if your site is mywebcomic.com y'all can access the dashboard by typing mywebcomic.com/wp-admin/ into your spider web browser.

Let's starting time by changing a few default settings in the chief admin panel.

These simply need to be changed in one case and they're all pretty unproblematic, but I'll walk you through the process.

Adjusting Settings

There are lots of minor settings yous should alter in a new WordPress install, and quite a few that should really exist updated correct after creating your site. You tin can change these settings by clicking the "settings" link in the left-hand carte du jour in the WordPress admin.

On the General page you lot can change your site's proper noun and tagline. For a webcomic site y'all probably won't need a tagline and then you lot could simply delete it and get out it empty.

Also brand certain the "Membership" checkbox is unchecked. There'due south no reason to allow people sign upwardly to your site since you won't have other bloggers or artists posting work.

Also earlier saving this page scroll to the very bottom where it says "Endurance Cache" and change that to level 0. I'll prove y'all how to install a custom caching plugin so for now you won't need this.

Now save changes and click the "Discussion" link under the settings menu.

Here you lot can change user comment settings. Past default comments are enabled and anyone can post a annotate.

If you want to completely disable comments you lot can uncheck the box in the following screenshot.

The next pace is to change your site's permalink structure.

This defines how your page URLs look. You can alter this from the permalinks carte du jour underneath the "Discussions" link.

I adopt to use the "post name" setting because it's curt and sweet. Merely many web comics use the month or day setting because this makes your site look more like an archive.

All your comic URLs could have the year/month and peradventure the day if you want.

Merely each comic URL has a unique proper name likewise so yous can publish multiple comics in the aforementioned month without any effect.

It doesn't thing what permalink fashion you cull as long every bit information technology's not the "plain" fashion.

Plain uses a numeric ID and it'due south so damn ugly. It doesn't wait nice in Google and users who share links from your site won't understand what the numbers mean.

I recommend either the month or day permalink structure for a webcomic site.

Lastly click the "Media" link to modify how your comics are stored.

Whenever you upload media to WordPress it can exist auto-cropped for smaller sizes. This doesn't serve a purpose for a webcomic and so I'd recommend irresolute all the values to 0 and united nations-checking the "crop thumbnail" box.

The chief reason to keep these sizes would be for a magazine-style blog where you have featured images attached to each post.

If you desire to leave this lonely until you lot choice a theme that's OK too. Simply if you know you don't want whatsoever featured images then merely clear these values.

But make certain the very bottom checkbox is checked. This will upload all your images into folders past month and year so yous'll have a more organized images folder.

These are all the main settings you should alter just feel costless to dive into all the menus and toy around. You tin always change these values later too so nothing is permanent.

Now let'southward move on and outset customizing your site's blueprint.

Theming Your Website

One time yous get WordPress installed you'll have a bare slate to style for your webcomic.

There are two things to do for a fully customized site. First is to go a theme, and second is to install some handy plugins.

Permit's first with the theme.

In that location are three pop web comic themes you lot can go for free. These are ComicPress, Panel, and the unique Sunny and Blue.

They all spotlight comic posts and they're fantastic for a new webcomic site.

If y'all desire something dissimilar try searching all the gratuitous themes on WordPress' website. Yous can search by keywords similar "minimalism" to observe simple designs that'll place focus on your comics.

You lot tin can also install free themes right from the WordPress dashboard without downloading anything.

From your dashboard become to Advent -> Themes.

On this folio click the "Add New" button at the very top.

You'll get a listing of all the featured themes in the WordPress theme directory.

You can preview any of these themes if they catch your eye. But y'all can also search for the theme y'all want past using the search bar in the top-right corner.

Let's say you want ComicPress. In this case you'll enter "comicpress"(without quotes) and the theme should appear.

Now just hover the theme you lot should see a blueish "install" button. Click that and allow it install.

Once it's done you can click "activate" to go far your active theme.

Every new theme requires some editing which you lot can do in the "customize" menu.

Merely this free theme is really perfect for a new comic site because it's bare basic and doesn't demand a whole lot of tinkering.

And remember you lot can endeavor a bunch of different themes to run into what yous similar the near.

One time y'all selection a theme it'south time to move onto some plugins that you should install.

Must-Have WP Plugins

To access your plugins list only click the "plugins" link in the carte du jour underneath appearance.

You lot might notice that BlueHost automatically installs a few extra plugins that you actually don't need.

I'd suggest deleting every default plugin except perhaps Akismet. That's a free comment spam filter plugin created past WordPress and it's useful if you want to permit user comments on your site.

But everything else is basically pointless, and if you disable comments y'all can delete Akismet as well.

The ComicPress theme really comes with a comic director which makes information technology easy for yous to publish new comics. Simply if you go with a unlike theme you'll desire to install a webcomic plugin.

There are iii great options to choose(all free):

• Webcomic
• Comic Easel
• Manga+Press

In this guide I'll show you how to work with the Webcomic plugin because it'south the well-nigh common choice.

The creator made a huge walkthrough guide covering everything you need to know near the plugin. It works for any theme and then you could even use the default WordPress theme to publish comics.

I'll swoop into the config for this plugin a chip after. For now yous can install it past going to the "plugins" page in your admin console and clicking "add new" at the tiptop.

This works exactly the aforementioned equally the themes folio then you can search for webcomic by name and it should come up. Then merely click install and you're proficient to get.

A webcomic site is really simple so in that location'southward non many plugins worth getting.

But in that location are a few staples I always recommend for WordPress sites. All of them are completely free and piece of cake to install.

Outset is W3 Total Cache which caches your site to brand it load faster. Information technology does have a lot of settings but you don't demand to touch any of them.

Just go to the "add new" folio and install w3 full cache. Once it'due south activated it'll automatically starting time caching all your pages which ultimately improves your site's load time.

Next you'll desire an SEO plugin to brand your comic Google-friendly. There's a lot involved with SEO and the best hands-off plugin yous can get is Yoast SEO.

It's completely free and it automatically handles page title tags, meta tags, and creates a sitemap for Google.

SEO is a huge topic so you may non bother with this stuff at starting time.

Just as your webcomic grows you'll naturally learn more about SEO and search rankings. With Yoast you can hands change the title and meta description of any page including archives.

Plus you can submit your Yoast sitemap to Google which helps your site rank quicker.

This is all function of a larger SEO effort so don't worry about doing this stuff right away. Just get Yoast installed and worry almost the details afterward.

And in one case you install Yoast I also recommend SO Hibernate SEO Bloat. Only search that on the "add new plugin" folio and information technology should come up.

This removes a lot of excess bloat that Yoast adds to your dashboard so you'll become all the SEO benefits without having to stare at the annoying actress menus.

Lastly I'd recommend installing a contact course plugin. This isn't mandatory, only I retrieve it'south proficient to brand yourself available past e-mail.

It's like shooting fish in a barrel to create a contact folio and information technology'll only take a few minutes with a plugin like Contact Form 7.

I similar this plugin because it's uncomplicated and doesn't require any customization. Y'all just install the plugin, activate information technology, and copy a bit of code into whatever page yous want the form to appear.

Everything should exist configured properly out of the box so yous shouldn't need to change anything.

Just you will need to create a contact folio and copy the shortcode. You'll find this code on the Contact Course page in your admin panel.

On this page you'll see your default contact grade. Next to it should be a long code inside square brackets [like this].

You'll want to copy/paste this into the torso text of a new page.

Then re-create the code and so hover the "pages" link, then click "add new" from the flyout menu.

On this next page you can paste the lawmaking right into the torso section. And so give the page a simple title similar "Contact".

Now hit the blue "publish" button to the right and it should be live.

Once it's live you lot should have a simple yet elegant contact course that looks something like this.

These are the master plugins I recommend for every site. Merely if you ever need more functionality on your site endeavor searching for a plugin because there are a lot out at that place.

Using The Webcomic Plugin

So you have your new webcomic site installed with some custom settings. You lot likewise take a nice theme and some plugins to aid it all run.

The last piece I want to cover is the Webcomic plugin and how it works.

Every bit I mentioned in that location are others you can use, but I'd prefer to focus on this one for now. All the other plugins should piece of work in a similar mode so yous if y'all tinker effectually you'll take no problem with whatever comic plugin you prefer.

For this plugin make sure it'southward installed by going to Plugins -> Add New. And so practice a search for "webcomic".

One time it's installed click "actuate". It should take you to the plugins listing and you'll see a few new links in the admin carte du jour.

For at present but find the Webcomic plugin and click the "settings" link.

On this page you'll meet a list of all the electric current webcomics. By default there's 1 with the proper name "untitled webcomic".

If y'all click that link you'll get a page full of settings y'all tin modify.

First update the comic proper noun and slug to whatever you lot want. I'll use MyComic for this example.

Then gyre downward until you encounter the "Permalinks" department. These permalinks should be inverse to match the proper noun of your webcomic. Just remember you can't use spaces for these links so only use letters, numbers and hyphens.

Click "salvage changes" at the bottom and you should exist all set.

You'll notice there are a lot of different options you can alter. I absolutely recommend that you go through all the webcomic settings at some point but to see what'south available.

I usually disable the Transcripts feature because it's a little excessive. Simply none of these settings are permanent so yous can always modify them later.

Simply for now let's publish your first comic.

In the left menu find the "add new" link underneath your comic's nav department.

Click this link and you'll become an editor page. Enter a title for your new comic(again this can always be changed afterwards).

Now click the "add media" push in the top-correct corner.

You lot can select from images you already uploaded or you can add a new image from the "upload files" tab in the superlative-left corner.

Whenever you lot upload a file WordPress automatically crops it down to a smaller size. This is great for thumbnails on a web log, only for a webcomic you desire to publish the fullsize image.

You tin alter this from the dropdown box in the bottom-right corner. It only appears when yous select an paradigm and then make sure you upload something first.

Select the fullsize pick and and so click the blue button labeled "insert into post".

Now hit publish and your comic should await great with any WordPress theme. Pretty simple right?

On the editing page you probably noticed tons of actress boxes like the Webcomic Commerce and the Transcription box. These are mostly unnecessary and you can hide them by clicking the "screen options" link at the top of the page.

A small pane slides down with a bunch of checkboxes. To hide a panel simply uncheck the box and it'll automatically be removed.

I normally hide the characters and storyline boxes because they don't serve a purpose unless you have many different comic series on your site.

From hither information technology's just a matter of tinkering and organizing your comics. I practice realize the Webcomic plugin has tons of extra features and these might be off-putting.

So if you want to try either Comic Easel or the Manga+Press plugin they might be a tad simpler. In my experience Webcomic is the easiest plugin for a new user to pick up and learn.

But if yous use a comic-specific theme like ComicPress or Sunny and Blue and so you won't even demand a plugin. Information technology'south all upward to your preferences.

Try a few different plugins/themes to see what you like best.

And with that said I think it's fourth dimension to wrap upward.

I genuinely hope this guide provides enough info to help you create an amazing webcomic website.

I've written this guide with consummate beginners in heed, but I know WordPress can be a challenge when y'all're brand new. If yous call up whatever office of this guide is confusing or if you desire more detail on something become in touch and share your thoughts.

And best of luck with your new comic!

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Source: https://conceptartempire.com/make-a-webcomic-site/

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