Up…ss and downs
How was ko-lor.com created? In December 2021, I received numerous orders from family, friends, and my local community. This prompted me to establish an online presence in preparation for future developments. To be candid, I didn’t have a concrete plan or business concept in mind. Instead, I took guidance from a tutorial by Darrel Wilson and simply followed along.
Before acquiring the ko-lor.com address, I constructed everything you currently see on this domain. I executed a comprehensive backup of my website, yet regrettably, I omitted to back up the database. The subsequent turn of events involved wiping out my hosting to create two distinct sites, one for the shop and the other for this blog. I successfully installed WordPress on both sites, using the same database, following a tutorial by blogginglove . It was at that moment I realized the grave mistake I had made. So, in January 2022, I had to begin the process of rebuilding Ko-Lor.com from the ground up once more.
The Process
Flatsome costs around £45, but this theme offers you a feature called UX Builder, which basically lets you build your own pages using blocks of customizable elements or even full pre-designed page layouts through a drag-and-drop interface. It is completely intuitive, quick, and fun. Like I said before, you can use the ready-made pages and then customize them however you want or just build the site yourself like I did.
I installed a plugin called WooCommerce, which helps you manage products and set everything up from categories to taking payments, making the technical side effortless!
I employed Mailchimp for managing newsletter lists, implemented the Simple SSL plugin to establish a secure connection for the site. To create a Contact page, I utilised Contact Form 7, and additionally, I installed Google captcha verification to ward off automated bots from sending random messages. There were many more minor adjustments and optimisations to make it all come together.
Summary
I had a blast every step of the way, and I’m really thankful and proud of what I picked up. This skill will definitely come in handy in many situations, including project management, freelancing, UX design, and design in general.
