Creating a website sounds like a daunting task for a beginner. It makes you think that you need to have extensive coding knowledge, hire a web developer, and spend hours studying web development before you can create a single website.
The good news is that WordPress makes learning and practicing web development a lot more accessible. With just a domain, hosting, theme, and some plugins, a beginner can easily create a professional-looking website without in-depth coding knowledge.
You Will Learn:
How to create a website from scratch with WordPress
Including:
• Choose a domain name
• Hosting for a WordPress website
• WordPress Themes
• WordPress Plugins
• Website optimization
• Launching
• Website maintenance
WordPress
WordPress is a widely-used content management system (CMS) that allows people to build and manage their websites without coding directly in HTML or other programming languages.
You can build different types of websites with WordPress, including:
• Business
• Blogs
• Portfolios
• Service
• E-commerce
• Membership
• News/Magazine
• Courses/Education
• Affiliate
• And more!
One of the best things about WordPress is that it grows with you, meaning you can start with a simple website and turn it into a complex one as your needs evolve.
Let’s get started with creating your website.
1. What do you want your website to be about?
The first thing to do when building a website from scratch is to decide on its purpose. You need to understand your niche, know your target audience, and determine the value your website will bring to its visitors.
Answer the following questions:
✓ What do you want your website to be about?
✓ Who is your target audience?
✓ What products or services will you sell or promote?
✓ What action do you want visitors to take when they are on your website?
✓ What information do you want to provide to your customers or website visitors?
For example, if you are building a local business website, your homepage should have information about the kind of services you offer, and your about page can have more details about who you are and how long you have been in the business. You may also need a contact page and a blog.
Once you have an idea of what your website will be about, you can move to the next step, which is getting a domain name.
2. Get a domain name
A domain name is your website’s address on the internet. For example, yourbusiness.com. A good domain name should be:
✓ Simple and elegant
✓ Easy to spell
✓ Represents your brand
✓ Easy to pronounce
✓ Short and memorable
✓ Without random numbers or hyphens
If you are building a business website, it makes sense to use your brand name as the domain name, assuming it is available.
Before finalizing the domain name, ensure that it is not trademarked and does not infringe on the existing brands.
Having decided on your domain name, it’s time to get a hosting plan for your website.
3. Get a web hosting plan for your WordPress website
A web hosting provider is where your WordPress website will be hosted. Whenever your domain name is entered in a browser, the hosting server delivers your website to the browser.
A beginner should look for a good web hosting plan with:
✓ WordPress support
✓ SSL certificate
✓ Backups
✓ Good performance
✓ Security
✓ Easy WordPress installation
✓ Good customer support
✓ And more!
You do not need to get the most expensive hosting plan when you are starting. Choose a reliable hosting plan that suits your website’s needs and budget.
Domain vs. Hosting
Domain = your website’s address on the internet
Hosting = where your WordPress files are stored and managed.
You will need the two to make your website accessible online.
Now that we have a domain name and a hosting plan, it’s time to install WordPress.
4. Install WordPress
Most hosting providers offer an automated WordPress installation, which is usually available in your hosting dashboard. All you need to do is provide the following information:
• Website name
• Admin username
• Strong password
• Admin email
After installing WordPress, you should be able to access your dashboard at yourdomain.com/wp-admin
Your WordPress dashboard is where you will customize your website, add plugins, edit content, and more.
Pro tip for WordPress beginners:
When learning WordPress, most beginners get overwhelmed by the vast array of resources available online. Instead of randomly going through dozens of articles, use this ultimate beginner’s resource list as your ultimate resource for learning WordPress.
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5. Choose a WordPress theme
A WordPress theme determines how your website looks. There are free and premium WordPress themes that are optimized for different types of websites. When choosing a WordPress theme, ensure that it is:
• Responsive
• Fast
• Easy to use and customize
• Well-documented
• Regularly updated
• Compatible with important plugins
• Not bloatware
While it may be tempting to choose a theme that has an amazing demo, a beautiful demo does not always guarantee that the theme is easy to customize.
Once you have selected a WordPress theme, it’s time to customize your website.
6. Customize your website design
Customizing your website typically involves:
✓ Changing your logo
✓ Adding your brand colors
✓ Customizing your fonts
✓ Customizing your header and footer
✓ Customizing your menu
✓ Customizing your homepage
✓ Customizing your buttons
✓ And more!
Depending on the theme, you might be able to customize most of the website’s design elements using the WordPress customizer.
Keep the design of your website simple and intuitive.
Your audience should be able to understand what you do and the value you provide at first glance. Avoid the temptation to fill your website with flashy design elements, animations, and pop-ups. The primary purpose of a website is to provide value to the visitors, and good design makes it easy for them to navigate your website and find the information they are looking for.
Time to create your website pages? Learn How to Create WordPress Website
7. Create the essential pages for your business website
Every website, including blogs and online stores, requires some essential pages, including:
Homepage
The homepage is the most important page of your website. It should briefly introduce your website and state its purpose. A good homepage should also have a strong call to action and make it easy for the visitor to take the next step, for example, by contacting you or making a purchase.
About page
An about page gives your website visitors an insight into who you are and what you do. It is a good idea to add your biography and pictures of you to the about page.
Services or products page
This page describes the products or services you offer, benefits, and any other relevant information, such as pricing. Always use subheadings to make it easy for your audience to scan through the page.
Contact page
The contact page should have all the contact information a website visitor would need to get in touch with you. You can also add a contact form so that the visitors can send you an email directly from your website. Add your business address and phone number if applicable. You may also add your business’s social media links.
Blog page
The blog is an extremely important page, especially for a business blog. The blog allows you to post useful articles or videos that can drive traffic to your website.
You may also need the following pages, depending on the type of business you own:
✓ Privacy Policy
✓ Disclaimer
✓ Cookie Policy
✓ And more!
Now that we have the theme and the essential pages, let’s add some plugins.
8. Add the best WordPress plugins
A WordPress plugin is used to add extra features and functionality to your website. There are different types of WordPress plugins, including:
• SEO plugins
• Contact form plugins
• Security plugins
• Backup plugins
• Caching plugins
• Analytics plugins
• Spam plugins
• E-commerce plugins
• Social media plugins
• And more!
Every website is different, and some of the plugins listed above may not be suitable for your website. However, a good starting point is to choose the most essential plugins and add them to your website.
Always ensure that you only install the plugins that you need. A WordPress plugin can also slow down your website, depending on how it is coded and how heavy it is.
Plugins should only be used to enhance a website, not as a way of bloatware. For every plugin that you consider adding to your website, ask yourself this question:
Does this plugin add value to my website?
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9. Optimize your website for SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a process of optimizing your web pages so that they can rank higher in the search engines.
Here are some essential SEO tips:
Optimize your page titles
✓ Make sure your page titles are descriptive and say what the page is about.
✓ Create high-quality content.
✓ Create content that answers the most popular questions your target audience is searching for.
✓ Use the right keywords.
✓ Do keyword research and use the right keywords throughout your content.
✓ Optimize your images.
✓ Optimize your images by compressing them and adding the right file names and alt text.
✓ Add internal links.
✓ Add internal links to connect your web pages and let Google know how your website is structured.
✓ Make your website mobile-friendly.
✓ Make sure your website looks good and is easy to navigate on mobile devices since most of your website traffic will probably come from mobile devices.
✓ Time to optimize your website speed.
10. Optimize your website speed
Many website owners make the mistake of overlooking this critical step. If your website is slow, it will frustrate your website visitors, and your search engine rankings will also drop.
Some effective ways to speed up your WordPress website are:
• Use a good hosting provider
• Compress your images
• Avoid using too many plugins
• Use caching
• Keep WordPress, themes, and plugins updated
• Remove unnecessary themes, plugins, and files
• Avoid large image sizes
• Monitor your website performance regularly
While it is important to make your website look good, it is also important to make sure it is not slow and is easy to navigate.
11. WordPress security
Website security should never be overlooked, especially if you are running a WordPress website. Here are some essential WordPress security tips:
✓ Use a strong password
✓ Avoid using weak passwords or the default administrator account
✓ Keep WordPress updated
✓ Keep themes and plugins updated
✓ Use an SSL certificate (HTTPS)
✓ Always back up your website
✓ Limit the number of administrator accounts
✓ Use trusted themes and plugins only
✓ Monitor your WordPress security regularly
Always make sure to take WordPress backups regularly, since this is one of the best ways to protect your website. A backup will allow you to restore your website in case of an emergency.
The last step before launching your WordPress website is to test your website.
12. Test your website
Before officially launching your website, it is a good idea to test your website. Here is a WordPress website testing checklist:
✓ All essential pages
✓ Menus
✓ Contact forms
✓ Buttons
✓ Website on mobile devices
✓ Website on desktop
✓ Spelling and grammar
✓ Images
✓ HTTPS
✓ Website speed
✓ Checkout process (if you have an online store)
✓ Social media links
SEO page titles and descriptions
It is also a good idea to get a friend to test your website and see if everything looks good and works well.
Some of the most common mistakes that WordPress beginners make are:
✓ Choosing the wrong domain name
✓ Installing too many plugins
✓ Not optimizing the website for mobile devices
✓ Using the wrong or low-quality images
✓ Not setting up website backups
✓ Testing your website before launching
✓ Publishing your website before testing it
✓ Getting stuck trying to make your website look perfect
Remember, your first website does not have to be perfect. You should aim to build a minimum viable product (MVP), and then you can keep improving it over time.
Here is a simple WordPress website launch checklist to help you get started.
• WordPress website launch checklist
• Purchased a domain name
• Purchased a good web hosting plan
• Installed WordPress
• Installed a good WordPress theme
• Added your logo and branding
• Created the essential WordPress pages
• Set up your website menus
• Installed essential WordPress plugins
• Optimized your WordPress website for SEO
• Optimized your WordPress images
• Enabled HTTPS for your website
• Set up website backups
• Tested your contact forms
• Tested your website’s mobile friendliness
• Checked all links and buttons
• Reviewed your website content
• Tested your website speed
• Did a final review of your website
Are you ready to create your first WordPress website?
You do not need to know everything about WordPress before you can build a website. All you need is a good learning resource and the right tools. If you want to learn WordPress, but you are overwhelmed by the learning curve, here is a complete beginner’s resource to help you get started. Want to learn WordPress step-by-step? Let’s Check this Step by Step WordPress Website Creation eBook
Conclusion
Building a WordPress website from scratch can be a challenging task, but with the right learning resources, anyone can do it. To create a website, you need to:
• Decide on a niche
• Get a domain name
• Get a web hosting plan
• Install WordPress
• Choose the best theme
• Create your website’s essential pages
• Add the best WordPress plugins
• Optimize your website for SEO and performance
• Secure your WordPress website
• Test your website
• Launch and maintain your website
Remember, you should not get intimidated by the technical aspects of website creation. You can always start small and grow your WordPress skills over time.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can a beginner create a WordPress website from scratch?
Yes, a beginner can create a WordPress website from scratch.
2. How much does it cost to create a WordPress website?
It depends on your niche, domain name, hosting plan, theme, and plugins. You can create a website on a shoestring budget or you can spend a lot of money on it, depending on your needs.
3. Do I need coding knowledge to create a WordPress website?
No, you do not need coding knowledge to create a WordPress website. However, it is always a good idea to learn some web development fundamentals.
4. How long does it take to build a WordPress website?
It depends on the complexity of your website and how much time you can dedicate to it. A simple website can be built within a few days, while a complex website can take longer to build.
5. What is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?
WordPress is open-source software, and you can download it for free at WordPress.org . However, you need to get web hosting to install WordPress on a domain name. On the other hand, WordPress.com lets you create a website without web hosting, but you cannot have full control over your website.
6. What themes are best for WordPress beginners?
Beginners should avoid bloatware themes and choose responsive themes that are regularly updated and compatible with the plugins they intend to use.
7. How many plugins should I install on my WordPress website?
There is no hard and fast rule about the number of WordPress plugins you should install. However, it is a good idea to avoid installing too many plugins on your WordPress website.
8. Is WordPress good for business websites?
Yes, WordPress is a good platform for building business websites.
9. How can I get my website to show up in Google?
Create high-quality content, optimize your web pages, submit your sitemap to Google Search Console, build backlinks to your website, and keep publishing new content.
10. What should I do after launching my WordPress website?
Maintain and update your website regularly.
11. What should I do if my WordPress website gets hacked?
If your WordPress site gets hacked, the first thing you need to do is to change your WordPress admin password, rename your WordPress admin account, change the file permissions, and then contact a professional web developer to get your website secured.
12. What are common WordPress security issues?
Common WordPress security issues include weak passwords, insecure themes and plugins, SQL injection, and brute-force attacks.
13. How can I prevent brute-force attacks on my WordPress site?
You can prevent brute-force attacks on your WordPress site by using strong, unique passwords and limiting the number of login attempts.
