{"id":1731,"date":"2021-03-05T15:52:32","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T20:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/?page_id=1731"},"modified":"2026-02-12T15:21:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T20:21:35","slug":"getting-started","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/build-your-site\/getting-started\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Started"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n<p>Web design and development are crucial aspects to have a well-functioning website, but they are some of the least necessary skillsets to hold when creating and maintaining a website at NC State. This is because of the work that the university has done to create easy-to-use and flexible web systems for campus members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Understanding how to structure the pages on your site and write easy to navigate content are some of the most important skills required to create a useful site. These skills are independent of the specific look-and-feel of your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having a solid content foundation will also help you integrate your website into your broader communications and marketing efforts that may involve email, social media, and advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The First Steps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Before you get started with your site, you need to have a high-level understanding of what will happen during each phase of the process. The <a href=\"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/topics\/website-lifecycle\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"1786\">website lifecycle<\/a> is broken into multiple, discrete phases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After you understand the overall lifecycle, you can begin <a href=\"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/topics\/hosting-and-domains\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"1743\">procuring your web hosting<\/a> and identifying your site&#8217;s domain name. University Communications and Marketing has created and maintains the <a href=\"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/products-and-tools\/nc-state-web-platform\/getting-started\/\" type=\"page\" id=\"35\">NC State Web Platform<\/a>. There is a Free Tier and a Premium Tier of this flexible WordPress theme. This is the platform that almost all NC State websites use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hosting and other support for the platform is provided by the Office of Information Technology.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"layout-one-column is-text wp-block-ncst-link-list\">\n        <ul class=\"link-list__container\">\n      \n<li class=\"ncst-component__bold-link-container wp-block-ncst-bold-link\">\n      <a \n      href=\"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/topics\/website-lifecycle\/\"\n      class=\"ncst-component__bold-link text-link\"\n                >\n    <span class=\"text\">Website Lifecycle<\/span><span class=\"arrow-indicator\"><svg class=\"wolficon wolficon-arrow-right-bold\" role=\"img\"  aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<use xlink:href=\"#wolficon-arrow-right-bold\">\n\t\t<\/svg><\/span>\n    <\/a>\n      <\/li>\n  \n\n<li class=\"ncst-component__bold-link-container wp-block-ncst-bold-link\">\n      <a \n      href=\"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/topics\/hosting-and-domains\/\"\n      class=\"ncst-component__bold-link text-link\"\n                >\n    <span class=\"text\">Hosting and Domains<\/span><span class=\"arrow-indicator\"><svg class=\"wolficon wolficon-arrow-right-bold\" role=\"img\"  aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<use xlink:href=\"#wolficon-arrow-right-bold\">\n\t\t<\/svg><\/span>\n    <\/a>\n      <\/li>\n  \n\n    <\/ul>\n  <\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Creating Content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Before you actually begin writing the content that will go on your webpages, you need to figure out how you are going to arrange content on your site. This <a href=\"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/topics\/content-strategy\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"1739\">content strategy<\/a> phase lays the blue prints for how people will use your site and find answers to their questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you know what your site&#8217;s page structure will be, you can begin writing and <a href=\"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/topics\/page-layout\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"1741\">laying out pages<\/a>. Effectively laying out a page combines both writing and design skills. Since many website users only skim a page rather than reading it word-for-word, it is important to pair your written content with visual cues to help your users narrow into the section of the page that has an answer to their question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After your site launches and users begin consuming content on it, you&#8217;re going to want to make sure it&#8217;s meeting their needs. By using <a href=\"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/topics\/analytics-and-metrics\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"1735\">analytics tools<\/a> you can see which pages your users are visiting the most. Comparing their behavior to your expectations will allow you to make necessary adjustments to your content and site structure.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"layout-one-column is-text wp-block-ncst-link-list\">\n        <ul class=\"link-list__container\">\n      \n<li class=\"ncst-component__bold-link-container wp-block-ncst-bold-link\">\n      <a \n      href=\"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/topics\/content-strategy\/\"\n      class=\"ncst-component__bold-link text-link\"\n                >\n    <span class=\"text\">Content Strategy<\/span><span class=\"arrow-indicator\"><svg class=\"wolficon wolficon-arrow-right-bold\" role=\"img\"  aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<use xlink:href=\"#wolficon-arrow-right-bold\">\n\t\t<\/svg><\/span>\n    <\/a>\n      <\/li>\n  \n\n<li class=\"ncst-component__bold-link-container wp-block-ncst-bold-link\">\n      <a \n      href=\"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/topics\/page-layout\/\"\n      class=\"ncst-component__bold-link text-link\"\n                >\n    <span class=\"text\">Page Layout<\/span><span class=\"arrow-indicator\"><svg class=\"wolficon wolficon-arrow-right-bold\" role=\"img\"  aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<use xlink:href=\"#wolficon-arrow-right-bold\">\n\t\t<\/svg><\/span>\n    <\/a>\n      <\/li>\n  \n\n<li class=\"ncst-component__bold-link-container wp-block-ncst-bold-link\">\n      <a \n      href=\"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/topics\/analytics-and-metrics\/\"\n      class=\"ncst-component__bold-link text-link\"\n                >\n    <span class=\"text\">Analytics and Metrics<\/span><span class=\"arrow-indicator\"><svg class=\"wolficon wolficon-arrow-right-bold\" role=\"img\"  aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<use xlink:href=\"#wolficon-arrow-right-bold\">\n\t\t<\/svg><\/span>\n    <\/a>\n      <\/li>\n  \n\n    <\/ul>\n  <\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Need help?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Have questions? Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/go.ncsu.edu\/ucomm-dev-request\">go.ncsu.edu\/ucomm-dev-request<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Web design and development are crucial aspects to have a well-functioning website, but they are some of the least necessary skillsets to hold when creating and maintaining a website at NC State. This is because of the work that the university has done to create easy-to-use and flexible web systems for campus members. Understanding how&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":3366,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"pageIntro\":\"Creating and maintaining a website requires familiarity with many different skillsets. This page introduces you to some of the most important topics to consider when creating a website.\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-1731","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1731"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39177,"href":"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1731\/revisions\/39177"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/university-communications.ncsu.edu\/documentation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}