How To Create a WordPress Website For Beginners
Do you need to establish an online presence for yourself or your business, but you have no idea on where you should begin? This primer will teach you how to create a website with WordPress for beginners in no time.
If you have been planning to build your own WordPress website from scratch but just do not have a clue on where to begin, then you have landed in the right place on learning how to create a website and a few WordPress website tutorial tips.
P.S. If you get stuck using this WordPress tutorial guide which we highly doubt, don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll help to sort this out.
Before you start, there are hundreds of different website building platforms and website builders around the market like WordPress, Wix, Joomla, Drupal… Just to name a few.
You can also code your website from scratch, but we wouldn’t recommend it on mainly two reasons:
- It just takes too much time (seriously)
- Your end result will be mediocre at its best
But which one should you choose?
Here’s Why Most People Use WordPress to Create a Website
Unlike many other WordPress website builders, it’s completely free.
WordPress is the easiest platform we’ve ever worked with, but it’s also flexible enough to suit everyone who wants to run small business websites, online shops, bigger organizations and so on.
But more importantly:
- WordPress vs. HTML & CSS: Learning HTML from the beginning can take over 6 months, let alone learning CSS and PHP. Having a basic knowledge of HTML can help you get things started more quickly, but if you want to know how to create a website within a day or two then learning HTML isn’t the best option.
- WordPress vs. Website Builders: Website builders can sometimes be expensive and often very limited. They are good for one-page websites, but not more.
But for beginners, we highly recommend sticking to WordPress.
STEPS ON HOW TO CREATE A WEBSITE WITH WORDPRESS 2020
STEP ONE
Choose A Platform To Create A WordPress Website
One of the first things you need to do is to choose the website platform to create your website on. There are many different CMS (content management systems) you can choose from but choosing the right platform is a top priority. You don’t want to start building your site on a CMS platform that you think should be perfect but only to find out that it’s totally wrong for you and your website. There are free website building platforms that you could use, but these free websites aren’t the best for the long term use. You’re also restricted to using their own hosting and their own sub-domain ( yourwebsite.freewebsitecompany.com ).
Building a fully functioning and nicely designed personal website isn’t rocket science. It’s quite easy, even for a complete novice who hasn’t had a great deal of experience with computers.
Some platforms require you to know a little bit of HTML / CSS or other coding languages, so you really need to decide where you are at in terms of website building ability. If you are a beginner then you would be best to choose WordPress.
For me, I prefer to choose WordPress; to create a WordPress Website all the time. There are plenty of other website building platforms out there to choose from, but WordPress is the best for a number of reasons.
1. Responsive & Mobile Friendly
With the steady increase in people viewing sites on their phones and other mobile devices, it’s very important to have a website that is responsive to these digital demands. With WordPress Website, most themes come mobile friendly as standard.
2. User-Friendly & Newbie Friendly
The WordPress platform is very easy to use. It’s Ideal for new bloggers and people who are starting up a business. It’s also intuitive and as long as you know how to use standard Microsoft programs such as Word or Excel, then chances are you’ll already know how to write and publish your own content on the site you’re about to build.
STEP TWO
Get Web Hosting and Register a Domain Name
In order to set up your WordPress website (or any other type of website), you’re going to need two essential things:
Domain Name (a unique web address like YourSiteName.com)
The domain name refers to the web address which people will use to visit your site. Getting a domain name plays a bit part in defining your brand, so it’s crucial to choose a domain name that represents you or your business well.
Web Hosting (a service that connects your site to the internet)
Web hosting is where your site and its data are been stored. Hosting companies have large data centers that are filled with servers. When you purchase a hosting plan, one of those servers will be dedicated to your site. This is also where you will be putting all your files, images, and anything else pertaining to bringing your web creation to life.
Owning your own domain name makes you look far more professional than having your site hosted on someone else’s domain such as “yourbusiness.free-website.com” . Owning your own domain name is super affordable. Most hosting providers offer a FREE domain name for ONE YEAR (usually ~ $15 / year).
Summary – without a valid web hosting and a domain name, your website will NOT exist.
Disclosure: We may receive a commission for purchases made through the links on our site at no cost to you. This helps us keep the site going.
Where Do I register a FREE Domain Name and Get Web Hosting?
Choose Your Web Hosting
We’ve mostly used Bluehost as a web hosting and domain registrar.
Typically, hosting will cost you approximately $3 – $6 per month. It’s worth it, really it is! If you’re serious about building your own website then you need your own hosting and domain name.
Go to BlueHost.com and click on the “Get started now”. Use this link to get a FREE domain name for the first 12 months.
P.S – we’ve negotiated a small discount for techreviewstrends.com visitors. Use this link to activate it.
You can get the basic hosting package for an incredible $2.95 a month + Free domain name, but I recommend the Plus plan for new bloggers, as you’ll get more unlimited features with this deal and better side is that you can host more than one website on the account.
The Plus Plan currently goes for $4.45 per month, but normally this hosting package would cost you $10.99 per month.
Here’s what you’ll get with BlueHost Plus Plan:
A FREE domain name ( worth $15 )
Fast, high quality & reliable web hosting provider
Free Site Builder
One-click WordPress Install and 24/7 support.
Unmetered website space
Unmetered bandwidth
Unlimited email accounts
Unmetered email storage
Host unlimited numbers of websites on your account
Getting your domain name and hosting service is very easy and only takes a few minutes. Here’s a step by step guide on how to create a website using BlueHost.
1. Head over to BlueHost
On the homepage, you’ll be able to see some basic information about the services this company provides. When you’re ready to get started, click on the “Get Started” button.
2. Select A Web Hosting Plan
This details on this page is for the shared hosting plans. So, if you’re interested in VPS hosting or Dedicated hosting, then you’ll need to visit their respective pages. Links to those pages can be found on the top toolbar up. They are located towards the upper left side of the screen under the “Hosting” submenu.
If you’re just getting started, shared plans are the way to go and not only are they cost-effective, but they also have all the resources you need to get your site up and running. Scroll down the page a bit to see a detailed breakdown of the available plans.
Currently, BlueHost offers four different shared hosting tiers.
Basic
Plus
Choice Plus
Pro
The Basic plan is the most affordable package, which gives you hosting for one site and 50 GB of SSD storage.
The second plan is the Plus plan which offers unlimited sites, storage, and domain.
The Choice Plus plan throws in domain privacy and a site backup feature.
Finally, there’s the Pro plan. It’s one of BlueHost’s newest package and includes a dedicated IP address.
We recommend going with the Choice Plus plan. The choice plan is currently $5.45 per month ( normally $14.99 ). The unlimited storage and extra features make it well worth the upgrade.
The great thing about using BlueHost is that you can easily change your plan as your site grows.
However, if you want to scale or expect more traffic to your website, we recommend choosing their “choice plus” plan. It’s truly unlimited.
3. Choose A Domain Name
At this stage, you’re now on to the fun stuff. On this page, you get the chance to choose your domain name. If you already have one, type it out in the right-hand box. To register a new one, focus on the box to the left.
Think of something creative and relevant for your domain. If you own a business, you could do something as simple as your company name. Alternatively, you can use your own name. Whatever the case may be, type it in and choose a domain extension.
4. Create Your Account
It’s now time to create your hosting account. BlueHost uses the information in here for billing and contact purposes. All you have to do is input your name, address, email address, and all other required information.
5. Check Your Plan Information and Finish the Registration Process
At this point, it’s now time to create your hosting account. This is the information that’s going to be used by BlueHost for billing and contact purposes. All you have to do is input your name, address, email address, and all other required information.
6. Create Your Password and Log Into Bluehost
After you’ve completed the registration and submitted your payment information, you’ll then receive an email confirmation from BlueHost with a unique link that’s used to confirm that you made the account yourself.
Below the congratulatory message, you’ll find a button to create your unique password. Click on it and choose a password that’s easy for you to remember. BlueHost will require you to provide this password anytime you want to access or log in or contact support.
Once that’s completed, you’re all done. At this point, you can now log in to your BlueHost hosting account and get started. You are now a few steps away from successfully knowing how to create a website
STEP THREE
Setting Up Your WordPress Website & Making It Look Professional
Once you’ve bought your domain name and set up your hosting, it’s time to make your website function.
Now it’s time to get your website up and running. The first thing you’ll need to do is install WordPress to your domain. Sounds hard, but it’s not! Easy as pie!
How to Install WordPress On Your Website
There are two possible ways to install WordPress, One-click install much easier than the other. Install with 1-click installation or manual installation
- One-Click Installation To Create A Website With WordPress or Joomla, And Drupal
One-click installation on how to create a website. One-click and you’ve installed WordPress.
Almost every reliable web hosts will have the 1-click-installation integrated as standard within their dashboard.
This service will have you up and running in a blink of an eye and help you to make your own website with ease!
In your Bluehost account, you’ll find the “1-click-installation” in your account control panel.
If you haven’t signed up to Bluehost and you’re using another web host, then the “1-click-installation” should be in the same sort of location on the site.
These are the steps you need to follow with the “1-click-installation” process. This should be the same or very similar to other major web hosting company websites.
- Log in to your hosting (Bluehost) account.
- Go to your control panel within your hosting account.
- Look for the “WordPress” or “Website” icon
- Choose the domain where you want to install your new website.
- Click the “Install Now” button and that’s basically it! You’ll get details of how to access your new WordPress website
2. Manual Installation
Some web designers or developers like to install WordPress manually to get a custom install of the components they want and don’t want. Others will need to manually install WordPress because their web host does not have the “1-click-installation” capability.
P.S – ProTip: If your web host doesn’t have “1-click-installation” then you should really change your web host!
Click here to open up the Manual Installation Instructions.
Follow these quick and easy steps by step guide on how to install WordPress manually onto your server.
Step 1:
Download WordPress and save it to your local drive on your computer.
Step 2:
Create a new folder on your desktop or somewhere on your computer and unzip WordPress in that folder.
Step 3:
Now log into your hosting FTP (download FileZilla for that). The FTP address is usually ftp.yourdomain.com, username and password are the same that you used to register to your host.
Step 4:
Once you have completed the previous steps, go the URL: yourdomain.com/wp-admin/install.php
INTERNAL:
BlueHost Hosting Reviews with pros and cons of using Bluehost
