21 Jan Mastering WordPress for Gaming Websites

The video game industry is phenomenally huge. Today gaming takes up a larger portion of the entertainment industry than films and music combined. While this huge industry sees us immersed in excellent experiences and engaging in fantastic communities, it also means it can be pretty tough to stand out from the crowd, especially as this humungous industry keeps growing by the day.

A website is the front of any gaming business, community, or forum. And a great website makes users want to hop onto your slice of the gaming pie. WordPress is one of the top places to make such a website. With 43% of the entire web being built on WordPress, you won’t need much convincing to know it’s perhaps the best option for you.

Let’s jump into how you can get the most from WordPress for your gaming site.

Is WordPress Right for Your Use Case

With almost half of the web being built on WordPress, the site can host virtually any type of website, whether a content site to promote a game or a smaller community site. There are certain types of sites that you’ll find easier to create with WordPress.

With sites such as blogs, forums, and informational sites sitting on the easier end of the scale and marketplaces sitting on the tougher. Fortunately, WordPress’s intuitive interface, themes, and a multitude of tutorials make it easy to create whatever you need.

So, ultimately, if you’re looking to make any site, WordPress should be on your radar.

Your Site Is Your Domain (Sort of)

The first step to setting up your site is securing its domain name. While .com has dominated domains for most of internet history, different domain extensions have become popular in other spaces; from .game to .nft and .store. There are too many out there to name, but with domain extensions becoming more diverse, you have the opportunity to be creative with your domain name.

More fundamentally, when choosing a domain name, it’s crucial to pick the shortest and most memorable version possible. So, spend some time securing the best domain for your business.

Hosting

So, you’ve secured the greatest domain name out there. But before we can jump into creating the site, there’s another step. Because WordPress doesn’t host its sites, you’ll need to find a host. From Bluehost to SiteGround to HostGator and many more, there are tonnes of hosts to choose from.

When it comes to hosts, you are looking for three things: reliability, customer service, and price. These three factors will help ensure that your site remains up and accessible while allowing you to fix any problems ASAP without breaking the bank.

While this may seem like a big decision, you can change host down the line if you are not happy with your service while keeping your site. So don’t put too much pressure on this decision.

Build Foundations with a Fitting Theme

Now for the fun part. Making the site. Chances are if you’re building the site yourself, you’re not a web design wizard—at least not yet, which is where themes come in. WordPress is overflowing with themes for you to choose from, some free and some paid. Most of these themes will be found through third-party websites.

Some fantastic WordPress themes for gaming sites are Armadon, Eldritch, and PlayerX. But with hundreds around, we advise you to take a tour of theme storefronts to find the best-suited theme for your site. Be aware that you can demo many themes before purchasing.

While you may initially be taken in by strong imagery from some of the themes, it’s paramount to ensure you choose your theme based on both aesthetics and functionality. To be sure, you can get the most out of your site for your given use case.

Make It Your Own

Now that you’ve chosen your theme, your foundations are set, and it’s time for you to make it your own. Using the essential tools built into WordPress, you will be able to edit and alter your site at will to craft it for your specific brand and use case.

While this can seem daunting at first, thanks to excellent documentation, user tutorials, and easy tools, you’ll have your site resembling that dream sit you had imagined in no time. Now onto the hard part of creating quality content and executing the perfect marketing campaign.

If that all sounds a little too tough for you right now, I think it’s about time you pat yourself on the back by hopping back into your favorite game. Whether that be, It Takes Two, God of War, or FIFA 22, finding cheap game keys can help you save up and enjoy these games simultaneously.