cocoguru.com now has a new website and design. This is the third version since the site was launched. What’s special this time is that the entire site has been self-developed. Here, I’d like to share the development process and some of the ideas behind it.

The domain for cocoguru.com was registered with GoDaddy.com, and hosting was also done on their servers. Being a market leader in the web domain and hosting space, GoDaddy offers reliable service and minimal downtime. Dealing with free hosts or local providers can often be frustrating and unreliable.

Static web pages can be developed using HTML via a text editor or visual tools like Dreamweaver. Alternatively, dynamic websites can be built using Content Management Systems (CMS), which offer intuitive user interfaces that allow even non-technical users to create and manage website content. Popular CMS platforms include WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. WordPress.org, developed by Automattic Inc., is the most popular free and open-source CMS for website and blog development. There are countless themes and plugins available, making its ecosystem robust and vibrant. We installed the latest version, WordPress 3.5, directly from GoDaddy’s hosting dashboard and completed all design and development within the WordPress dashboard itself.

We follow a strong belief in minimalism—focusing solely on relevant content while eliminating unnecessary flashy designs. For this reason, we chose the latest default WordPress theme, Twenty Twelve. It’s a free theme with a clean layout. Once a theme is selected and followed systematically, developers can focus on writing content plainly without worrying about formatting. While certain theme limitations may be inconvenient, they can often be modified—or simply lived with.

We also installed several useful free plugins, including:

• Akismet – for spam protection
• MapPress – for displaying maps
• TablePress – for tables
• ShareThis – for social sharing buttons
• FormBuilder – for creating forms

Website pages were developed by adding "Pages" in the dashboard, and the blog section was created using "Posts." WordPress offers both Visual and Text editors for adding content. Each page or post includes a comment form and social sharing buttons for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and email. The header, footer, and navigation menu are consistent across the entire site.

All content posted is genuinely about us. I wrote it myself—it wasn't outsourced to a website development company. None of the text or images are copied from other sites. We’ve kept the content free from jargon and marketing clichés such as "customer satisfaction," "high quality," "modern infrastructure," or "striving for growth." Photos were taken by me personally, with minimal editing limited to cropping. Our goal is to provide transparent information so that viewers can clearly understand who we are.

Key Message

Small businesses don’t necessarily need to hire web designers to build their websites. Most charge between ₹15,000 and ₹35,000 for a flashy site. Instead, you can build it yourself and focus on writing valuable, genuine content that truly connects with your audience.

What’s Next

We are currently using the default Twenty Twelve theme without modifications. The next step is to customize it to better reflect the Cocoguru brand identity. We also plan to enrich the website with more content to provide even greater value to visitors.