Role-playing games, or RPGs, are one of the most popular genres today. Many games put you in the shoes of a morally ambiguous character where your decisions shape the story while exploring the world. And due to their sheer dominance, creating a website that focuses on roleplay games makes complete sense.
However, figuring out how to start such a website can seem overwhelming at first. The good news is that it is much easier to create a website than ever.
Today, I will outline the steps you need to take to create a roleplay website for games.
What Is A Roleplay Website For Games?
At its core, a roleplay games website focuses on either discussing roleplay games or creating a roleplay setting for users to carry out in their own games (like creating D&D scenarios).
As you can imagine, an RPG website can differ greatly from one another even if they focus on the same games.
The most important element of building your own website is to have a unique twist or niche that can separate it from the competition. If you don’t have this, you won’t find any success with this type of website.
How to Build A Roleplay Website For Games
Step 1: Decide On a Direction
Odds are if you’ve taken the time to look up how to build a website, you already have an idea and direction in mind. But you should take moment to analyze it again or come up with one before continuing.
You need to be able to answer the following questions before you can continue:
- What Is the Focus of Your Website?
- How Will Your Website Standout From Others With the Same Focus?
For example, you could say you are focusing on roleplaying in Final Fantasy XIV with the unique feature being the creation of interesting scenarios with a dark twist for roleplayers to follow in the game.
There is an infinite number of possibilities for website ideas you can use. But before you ever build a website, you need to have a clear understanding of what the website will initially offer users and be able to identify your target audience.
Step 2: Choose A Platform to Build On (WordPress)
The first real decision you need to make is to pick a platform on which to build. Now, there are hundreds of options to look at, but I will save you a lot of time and just present the easiest option, WordPress.
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that can build any kind of website. The platform does not require developers to rely on coding or any advanced technical knowledge. Instead, the heavy lifting is done by plugins.
These are small software packages that add specific features to your website (very similar to apps for your smartphone). All you need to do is choose the settings that work best for the site you are building.
The design aspect is handled from themes.
Themes are a collection of stylesheets and templates that dictate the appearance of your website. This means you won’t need to know any HTML, CSS, or JS to create a website that looks good.
If this all sounds good to you, you are not alone. WordPress is currently the most popular CMS on the market with a market share exceeding 40%. As a result, there are thousands of resources you can use to manage your website.
Of, and did I mention it is free to use? No? Well, it is.
Feel free to browse other options, but WordPress is the best option for starting a website in 2023 by a mile.
Step 3: Choose A Web Host
Once you have a platform in mind, you are going to need servers to host your website. You see, every time someone loads a website, they are really connecting to a web server.
That web server is responsible for holding all of the information related to your website and allowing users to access it.
As you can imagine, it plays a critical role in your website’s performance.
Since every website needs a web host, there is no shortage of companies available. So the real question becomes how to identify a good web host from a bad one?
Well, it needs to offer lightning-fast speeds, excellent customer service, and one that doesn’t have a huge impact on the environment. And that’s exactly what GreenGeeks offers its customers.
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Step 4: Choose A Theme & Install Plugins
At this point, you should have picked a web host and have WordPress installed on your new web server. The first thing you need to do is pick a theme for your new website.
When it comes to themes in WordPress, you have thousands of choices.
While you may think that you just need to pick one that looks nice, the truth is it’s a bit more complicated than that. Many themes come bundled with plugins or features that are ideal for certain types of websites.
You need to find the ones that match the website you are going to create. Be on the lookout for the following attributes:
- Responsive Design (Appears Great on Mobile Devices)
- Lightweight (Ensures Fast Speeds)
- Highly Customizable
You also need to decide between premium and free options.
Free themes are great and can easily be more than enough for many websites. Premium options may include pre-made sites you can use as a basis and have other features built in.
You also need to consider what plugins you will install. In the case of an RPG website, you might want something like the Events Calendar. This is perfect for hosting in-game events because you can publically display the date and time an event begins.
You may also want a gallery plugin to show off images from events or cosplay images. If you can think of a feature, there are probably several plugins that can add it to WordPress.
Another great idea is to add a Wiki for the games you’re promoting. This can drive all kinds of new visitors while helping the ones who are already following your roleplay blog.
Step 5: Create Content
Alright, with a theme installed and plugins in place, all that’s left is to actually build content for your website.
Obviously, I can’t tell you how to do this because the content you build is unique to your website. But what I can tell you is to make sure the content is of high quality because first impressions matter.
If you are writing guides, make sure they work. Test them yourself and have several others do the same. Most importantly, make sure you have enough content planned when launching the website.
One of the biggest mistakes is expecting instant success with a single post. That’s not enough. You should have several posts and a few extra on the back end to release on a regular basis to keep users engaged.
Step 6: Market Your Website
At this point, your website should be ready for the world to see. However, getting the word out about it is not easy.
Companies spend millions on advertising because it attracts users to their brand. Now, the truth is smaller websites don’t have that budget. Instead, they need to get more creative with their marketing.
For example, if you are advertising in an MMORPG like Final Fantasy XIV or World of Warcraft, you should focus on advertising in-game or using other sites like Reddit or official forums to spread the word.
You need to reach the target audience, and there is no better place to do that than the game itself.
Of course, if your goal is to run a tabletop RPG website, then you need to focus on more online marketing. Create social media groups, and post on Reddit and other dedicated forums for that game.
This is actually the hardest part of starting a website. If you fail to attract visitors, your website won’t last very long.
The First Step Is the Hardest Step
Most people have great ideas for websites, but fail to act on them. Don’t let your roleplay website be another missed opportunity. If there’s demand for such a site and you have ideas on how to capitalize on it, get started today.
The longer you wait, the harder it becomes to start one. And even worse, someone else may have the exact same idea and act on it. That makes it that much harder to compete.
Don’t waste time, get started today and help others enjoy roleplaying games as much as you.
