WPEditor-Admin October 23, 2020How to Make a Website
Starting a website can be a frightening thought especially when you’re not the best on computers. However, everyone has to start somewhere, and if you take your time and follow the right steps WP Editor is here to guide you through how to start a WordPress website without any technical knowledge.
So what do you need to start a website via WordPress?
There are three things you need to create a WordPress website:
- Your website idea
- A domain name idea (this will be the name of your website i.e. wpeditor.co.uk)
- A web hosting account (this is where your website live on the internet)
But there is no need to worry below WP Editor will guide you through these easy steps. Yet the first question you need to ask is how much does a website cost? This depends on what kind of website you are trying to build.
You can start a typical business website for as low as £100 per year for a basic site yet depending on the business the price can be as high as £25,000 per year.
WP Editor suggests setting a budget and that all our users to start small and then add more features to your website as your business develops. This way you will save money and minimise potential losses and avoiding overspending on the budget.
However WP Editor will guide you through how to set up a website for as low as £100.
So let’s get started.
Step 1: Choosing a Domain and Hosting provider
The first thing is choosing the right platform for your website. It makes more sense to use WordPress.org also known as self-hosted WordPress rather than WordPress.com.
This is because WordPress.org is free to use, With WordPress.org you host your own website (WP Editor recommends this) and you can install plugins, tailor your blog design, and most importantly make money from your blog, shop, subscriptions without any restrictions.
So why is WordPress.org free? Its free because you have to do the setup and host it yourself. Meaning you need a domain name and web hosting.
If you didn’t already know a domain name is your website’s address. It’s what people type to get to your website. Just like wpeditor.co.uk. A domain normally goes for about £10 per year, however there are deals where you can pick them up for next to nothing if you subscribe to the same hosting. However finding the right domain can be crucial for your success. If you choose the wrong domain name, then it can be a hassle to switch later on without hurting your brand and search rankings. This may mean you may have to pay more for the domain you require.
If you didn’t already know, every website needs web hosting to live on the internet. Web hosting is where your website files live and your control panel that houses your WordPress site.
A product that WP provider would suggest is 1&1 IONOS.
They are a web hosting and cloud services provider that specialises in providing flexible and affordable web hosting and domain solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. Globally 1&1 IONOS host more than 8 million people within 15 facilities in 9 countries around the globe.
With 30 years of experience since 1&1 IONOS’s foundation, they have grown to become the largest hosting company in Europe. With reliability and security engineered into the core of their products.
If you’re looking for affordable feature-rich web hosting, 1&1 offer a wide range of services. Ranging from shared web hosting to VPS and dedicated servers. Something that you would expect to see from one of the world’s oldest web-hosting providers. More more information on 1&1 IONOS’s web hosting please click here.
Note:
At WP Editor, we believe in transparency. So If you purchase hosting using our referral link, then we will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. We would get this commission for recommending any WordPress hosting company, but we only recommend products that we believe will add value to our readers. For more information on Hosting providers please read Choosing WordPress Hosting in 2020 and 9 Amazing Providers.
Once you have found a suitable domain and a web host, you will be able to log into your hosting control panel. This is where you manage everything from support, emails, among other things. But most importantly, this is where you install WordPress.
Step 2: Reaching your WordPress site
Once WordPress is installed you can reach it through the hosting control panel or
you can also login by simply by going to yoursite.com/wp-admin/ directly from your internet browser and enter the username and password you set up in your hosting.
Once WordPress is setup, you’re ready to tailor your website’s appearance to make it your own and create your own brand.
And Congrats! You have created your first website.
Step 3: Selecting your Theme
When you first visit your site website, it will look something like the image below. This is because the visual appearance of your WordPress site is controlled by a WordPress theme. WordPress themes are professionally designed templates that you can :install on your website to change its appearance. There are thousands of pre-made WordPress themes that you can install on your site. Whilst there is a good range of free themes you can find more specialist themes that are tailored to specific industries that can be purchased via third-party websites.
In the official WordPress.org themes directory there are over several thousand themes to choose from so for starters, it’s probably worth at looking to see what is available for free first before looking further afield. However if your website is going to be more than a landing page then WP Editor suggests looking at specialist paid themes. These can cost normally between £10 and £100 pounds. However you can normally test the demo versions prior to purchase and always read the reviews too.
Change Themes:
You can change your theme by going to your WordPress dashboard and clicking on Appearance » Themes.
So to get started click on the Add New button to browse the Free themes.
You can sort by the themes by popularity, the latest ones, featured, as well as filters such as industry and layouts. However If you know the name of the free theme you want to install, then you can look for it by entering its name in the search field.
You can preview the themes via the Preview button. Clicking on it will open the theme preview where you can see how the design would look on your website. WP Editor recommends this before installing any new theme.
When you have found the theme that fits your vision for your website, simply click the Install button and wait for the theme to be installed. After that, the install button will be replaced with an Activate button. You need to click on it to Activate the theme and there you have it, your website theme.
Once you have installed your new theme, you can modify it by clicking on the Customise link under the Appearance menu. WP Editor suggests working your way through the Customise menu ensuring you get a good idea where to find the areas you with to customise.
Now you will be ready to add some content to your website.
Step 4: Adding Content to your Website
WordPress comes with two default content areas. These are called Posts and Pages. Posts are part of a blog and appear with the newest items first. By default, WordPress will show your blog posts on the front page of your website however you can change this so this and either move it to a different page (by creating a separate blog page) or remove the blog section completely.
To write your first content, you will need to click on the Pages » Add New in your WordPress dashboard. Below you will see an editor area where you can write your first content. You will also have to give the page a title, let’s say, Home Page.
After you have added your content in the text editor above. You can add text, images, links, embed videos and much more. When you are happy
After you have completed adding content to your page, you can go ahead and click on the preview button on the top-right corner of the screen to view what the post will look like. If you are happy with the page then you can click on publish to make the page post publicly available. If you are not completely happy you can always save it to draft for later.
You can repeat this process by adding more pages for different sections of your website. For example, contact page, about us page, and a blog page to display your blog posts.
Step 5: Customising your Website
Now that you have added content on your website, you will be able to tailor it and modify the presentation on your website.
So let’s start by setting up a static front Page.
Setting up a Static Front Page:
You need to visit the Settings » Reading page in your WordPress admin area. Under the ‘Front page displays’ option click on the static front page and then select ‘Pages’ you created earlier for your home and blog pages.
Remember to Save your configuration at the bottom of the page.
WordPress will now use the page titled ‘Home’ as your site’s front page and ‘Blog’ page to display your blog posts.
Change Site Title and Tagline:
During the installation you get to choose your site’s title. WordPress automatically adds a tag line to your site title that states, ‘Just another WordPress site’. The tag line is a description of your website.
You can change both your site’s title and tagline by clicking on Settings » General page below.
Creating a Menu:
By creating a menu will allow your users to browse different pages or sections on your website.
So let’s add a menu to your website.
First, you need to visit Appearance » Menus page. Enter a name for your menu and click on the create menu button.
Once you have done this, you will need to select the pages you want to display in your menu and then click on add to menu button. It normally has a list of options including Home, Blog, Contact, Account and any other pages you have created. Once adding these pages they will move over to the right side of the page where you are creating your menu. Once you are happy with the menu. It will then ask you where you want to display the menu. The option Primary will display at the top of the page where the Footerwill display at the bottom of the page.
Remember to save your menu and then preview it on the site. You can always modify the menu if you need to add, delete, move it.
Step 6: Plugin installation
Once you have set up the basics on your website, you perhaps want to get started with adding other essentials to your website such as contact forms, galleries, newsletter subscription form, and so on.
So, to add all these additional features, you need to use plugins. If you don’t know what a plugin is, there like apps that allow you to add new features to your website (without writing any code).
There are over thousands of WordPress plugins available in the free WordPress plugin directory alone. This means whatever you want to accomplish, there is most probably a plugin for it.
To add a plugin go to Plugins » Add New in the menu and search for what you want to add.
With thousands of plugins to choose from, it can be overwhelming to search and find the plugins you need.
WP editor pick of the best WordPress plugins that you should be essentials to your Website.
Backup – UpdraftPlus is the best WordPress backup plugin. You need to create regular backups of your website in case something ever goes wrong.
Performance – We recommend using either WP – Optimize (free) to speed up WordPress.
Design & Customisation – We recommend using either Divi page builder for customizing your homepage design, creating custom landing pages, or even creating custom themes (without writing any code).
Contact forms – Every website needs a contact form. It allows your users to email you directly. WPForms Lite plugin is a free version of the popular WPForms plugin.
Google Analytics – helps you see how many people are visiting your blog, where they are coming from, and what are they doing on your website? Google recommends G Site Kit that will also link in Search Console and Adsense.
SEO – Most beginners don’t optimize for SEO when creating a blog. SEO or search engine optimization helps users find your blog in search engines. If you want more traffic, then it’s crucial that you optimize your blog for SEO from the beginning. Two of the best are Rank Math or Yeost.
Security – Wordfence is a free security scanner for WordPress.
Step 7: WordPress Website Support
So far we have shown you how to make a website, add a theme, and install essential plugins. We hope that you found this tutorial on how to start a WordPress website helpful. If you liked this article, then please subscribe to WP Editor for more of the latest WordPress information and offers.
Remember WP Editor is here to support you with your website. For more information on what WP Editor offers please view our services page too. You may also like how to start an online store
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