What is WordPress, this question comes on most of the people mind, therefore, building a Website can seem overwhelming, and you might even think that this task is impossible for anyone other than a developer or someone with web design experience.
Well, I have good news for you. There is a website-building platform that is easy to use, so anyone can successfully develop a professional looking unique website to showcase their portfolio, business, or blog. That is known as WordPress.
If you have no idea about what is WordPress, let me introduce WordPress software to you first.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is an open-source CMS that allows users to create websites and manage their content dynamically.
WordPress includes a plugin architecture and template system, so you can customize any website to suit your business, blog, portfolio, or online store.
But how?
This ultimate guide will cover the fundamental step-by-step process of building your own WordPress site, as well as a list of tips and tricks to remember when working with WordPress.
Most people have when they start thinking about their new WordPress site: What is the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?
So, let’s discuss both.
WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org
The differentiation between WordPress.org (free) and WordPress.com depends on who hosts your website.
What is WordPress.org Website Building Platform?
WordPress.org is ideal if you want full power over the customization and control of your website. However, managing a WordPress.org site comes with a lot more responsibility. You need to purchase and set up your own domain name, upload and install plugins and themes, edit your website code and manage website security. WordPress.org is free to use, but you have to pay for everything else that goes into creating a website.
What is WordPress.com Website Building Software?
WordPress.com is better if you’re looking for an all-in-one option that does most of the hard work for you. You will never have to manage your server, pay for hosting or rebuy a domain. Several customization options come with the WordPress.com paid plan to make your website the way you want.
This software has free and paid plans, so, If you stay with the free version, you won’t be able to upload any custom themes or plugins, and you’ll have a WordPress subdomain.
However, there’s always the option to pay for premium upgrades and other plans that give you even more, features and control and purchase your domain through a third-party site.
Beginners Guide: How to build a WordPress Website?
There are several ways to create your dream website using WordPress. Users generally find the software easy to use, but getting started can be intimidating if you’re completely new to the process.
Below, we’ll take a closer look at how to get started building your website.
WordPress is clearly the most popular CMS today. Its ease of use and versatility allow most users and business owners to create a website that suits their needs.
1. Select a WordPress plan (WordPress.com only).
Choose a WordPress plan to start building your website. As mentioned earlier, with WordPress.org, you only have one free plan option – but it requires you to buy your domain name and hosting.
With WordPress.com, you will have to choose between the five plans they offer.
The main differences between these plans are the monthly fee, types of website customization, and access to marketing tools.
2. Set up your domain name and hosting provider.
Setting up your domain name and choosing a WordPress hosting provider usually happen around the same time in the website creation process.
Before we talk about how to complete these tasks, let’s discuss the difference between your domain name and your hosting provider.
Think of your domain name as your home address – it’s how your visitors can find your website on the internet. Your domain name will look something like this: www.example.com.
You’ll be redirected to Bluehost’s pricing page, where you can choose from four plans.
Once you choose your plan and click Select, you will be redirected to another page where you can register with your domain name.
Once you have selected a domain name, you’ll be redirected to a page where you can fill out your account and billing information for your purchase.
After confirming your account and purchasing a domain, you’ll get access to your hosting dashboard to install the WordPress CMS.
3. Install WordPress.
If you are using a non-WordPress hosting provider, you will need to install a CMS to connect your new domain to your website.
This time we’ll use GoDaddy as an example. (Don’t worry, no matter which hosting provider you choose, the process looks similar.)
Note: If you choose to use a managed WordPress hosting service like WP Engine or Kinsta, you won’t have to go through this process because these services were built specifically for WordPress and will be installed for you.
- To get started, log in to your GoDaddy account, click Web Hosting, then click Manage. You will be taken to your account details screen.
- Now Scroll down, then under Options and Settings, and you will see an area called Favorite Apps. Click on WordPress to start the installation.
- After installing WordPress, you will need to answer a few questions about the domain you want to use, the directory where you want to install WordPress, and admin information.
After approximately 24 hours, your website will be installed on your hosting account, and GoDaddy will send you a confirmation email.
Now that you have your domain set up and WordPress installed, you will next need to set up your “Primary Domain” in WordPress so that your visitors will see your website when they search for your domain.
In WordPress, go to My Site and click on Domains. Select a custom domain from which you want to make a primary domain.
Then click Set as primary.
Click Update Primary Domain to confirm that you want to make this change.
Verify that the update was successful by looking for the green box with a check mark that says Primary Domain.
Now for step four: making your site look nice.
4. Choose a theme.
You can customize your WordPress website with many WordPress themes and templates, each of which includes a large number of layouts, formatting styles, colors, fonts, and other visual options.
WordPress will automatically use a default theme that looks pretty simple. You can keep it, but your website visitors may not be as impressed. A custom WordPress theme, whether paid or free, will ensure that your website looks attractive and professional to your buyers.
Go to your admin panel to find the theme that works best for you on WordPress.org. Click Appearance and then Themes. You will be taken to the next screen, where you can browse the available topics or search for the specific topic you have in mind.
Once you find the perfect theme, install it and start customizing. Each theme requires different steps during the customization process, so follow them carefully. Check the documentation during the customization process if the theme has a website (often accessible through the WordPress theme and template library).
5. Add posts and pages to your website.
When you add content to your WordPress website, it usually appears in the form of posts and pages.
Posts (or “dynamic pages”) are typically used for blogs and portfolios because they automatically place your latest website content at the top of your featured content. The site is static and therefore appeals more to business owners – the added content remains in the same place.
Posts and pages are the main types of posts in WordPress. In addition, there are other native post types as well as custom post types. For now, we can only stick to pages and posts.
Start by deciding whether you want the post or page to serve as the home page (or any page) of your site. To add a post to your site, go to your admin panel, click on Posts, then click on Add New.
You can add a title to your post, place photos, change the format, and insert page elements using blocks and shortcodes. Click Save Draft to save your changes as a draft, or click Publish to publish the post immediately.
In the admin area, click Pages, then click Add New to add a new page in your website.
First, add your page name. You can also embed photos, embed videos, and add content. When you’re done, click Save Draft or Publish.
6. Customize Your Website
Aside from the theme you choose, there are a number of ways to customize your website further. Let’s look at a few options.
First, let’s edit the site name. From the main admin panel, select Settings > General. Add your site name and tagline here. You can also toggle other basic website information such as URL, email, time zone, and more.
Next, we will customize the reading section. You can change your homepage to static in Settings > Reading.
Consider this if you’re a business owner who prefers to keep content in one place on your website. Consider using a dynamic page if you’re a blogger and prefer your latest content to appear at the top of your pages. It will help your visitors in finding your latest posts.
The navigation bar is also customizable. This allows your visitors to easily find information on your website.
Add a navigation bar by going to your admin dashboard, clicking Appearance, then Menus.
Here you can specify how you want your panel to look, how many pages you want to include, what you want to name those pages, and the order in which you want them to appear.
Of course, this is only a fraction of what you can do in the dashboard – click here for more information on WordPress site settings and customization options.
Also Read – Web Design Inspiration: Top 10 Amazing Source to Find Web Designs
7. Install Plugins.
Plugins are pieces of software that add functionality to your WordPress site and improve the user experience. With over 55,000 plugins available, there are options for most types of websites and users. Some of the most popular plugins available include:
- HubSpot WordPress Plugin: Easily add popups, forms, and live chat to your WordPress site. And as a bonus, pair this plugin or other CRM plugins with your HubSpot CRM.
- All-in-One SEO: The top-rated SEO plugin that businesses use to improve their rankings and uncover new opportunities for SEO growth.
- Events Calendar: A simple event calendar that easily schedules events from your website.
- Yoast SEO: Go-to plugin to help you with on-page SEO. This application ensures that you follow the best practices before you launch your website.
- TablePress: Need a table on your site? Look no further.
- SEO Framework: Another plugin that can help you handle SEO on your website.
- Weglot: Top translation plugin for WordPress and WooCommerce website translation.
To start the installation, go to the Plugins section of your admin panel. You will see all the plugins currently installed on your website. Depending on your host, you may already have several plugins installed. Note that for the plugin to work, you need to activate it after installation.
To add a new plugin, click Add New. Search for the desired plugin and then click Install Now, wait a few seconds, and then click Activate.
Get a WordPress CRM plugin to help you organize, track and nurture your leads.
8. Optimize Your Website to Increase Page Speed.
Website performance is a critical part of the user experience. If the page takes too long to load, your visitors will quickly move to another website. You don’t want to frustrate visitors with slow speeds.
You can improve your site’s performance by enabling your browser’s cache. Browser caching is temporarily storing your website data in your visitors’ browsers. This way, your content does not have to be sent from the web server to be displayed in the browser, increasing the site’s speed.
Install and activate the caching plugin as described above to enable caching for your website.
For example, WP Rocket is a WordPress caching plugin that will speed up your website in just a few clicks. Powerful options like Remove Unused CSS and Delay JS Execution will save you time and effort while improving your Core Web Vitals rating, PageSpeed Insights score, and overall load time.
9. Get Inspired by Award-Winning WordPress Web Design Example Sites
When you start customizing your website, you may feel overwhelmed by all the options available. Instead of starting entirely from scratch, it helps you get inspiration from other example WordPress sites. Here are some of our favorites:
99% Invisible is a popular podcast that focuses on design and architecture. Their sleek, modern website offers visitors easy navigation for quick access to each podcast episode.
For more inspiration, you can search various web design galleries. These platforms can display the latest web design trends from experienced web designers. You can find the list of top web design gallery websites here.
Apart from this, comment below and let us know what places you like to explore to get inspiration for creating unique web design ideas.
WordPress Update
WordPress 6.2 Update
[All the data gathered from WordPress]
WordPress version 6.2(March 28th release) offers a complete theme building experience with a page builder, eliminating the need for third-party page building tools. WordPress now includes block-based themes that are needed to access this feature. Users can create global styles, headers, footers, page templates, blog post templates, and archive templates using the block editor. The new theme building experience is easy to use, and users can customize the styles of their website components using the new style book feature.
- A new version of WordPress, version 6.2, is being released.
- WordPress now offers a complete theme building experience along with the Page Builder, and it is free.
- Block-based themes are required to take advantage of the new theme building experience.
- The new theme building experience allows users to create global styles, headers, footers, page templates, blog post templates, archive templates, etc.
- The new theme building experience is accessed through the editor option in block-based themes.
- The style book is a new feature that allows users to customize the individual styles for the components that make up their website.
