‘How to make a WordPress website’ and ‘how to WordPress website design’ are a few of the evergreen queries that Google gets from an increasing number of people. 

Building a website with WordPress is a very popular choice as many consider it to be a smart and easy option. Doing a website setup using a website builder is another option in which you can build a website with some simple drag-and-drop interface. But thanks to the flexibility offered by WordPress plugins and the intuitive nature of the content management system (CMS) it has an edge over website builders.

This blog is tailored as a detailed yet easy-to-follow guide on how to build a website with WordPress. This guide comes in handy even if you are a non-technical person. And in case if you prefer to get it done by a leading provider of CMS solutions with seasoned WordPress experts, we are happy to help.

Why Do You Want to Create Website with WordPress?

Now, before jumping into the steps involved in building a WordPress website, I feel you need to assure yourself of why you should choose WordPress over and above other CMS platforms and website builders. Here are the reasons:

1.   WordPress is FREE

WordPress is free to download, install and use. It does not involve recurring subscriptions. It is open-source and comes with a multitude of pre-built designs and extensions. This exceptionally flexible CMS works with practically all third-party tools and services open to website owners.

Now being said that WordPress is free, you might be wondering how much does a WordPress website costs and from where this cost comes from. Though the platform is free to use, you will have to incur costs for purchasing your own domain name and web hosting service.

2.   Highly customizable and intelligible

“Is WordPress easy to use” is a popular inquiry that potential website builders ask before building and designing a WordPress website. And the answer is ‘YES’.

Among the more than 100 CMSs out there, WordPress is touted as the simplest and widely held way to create your own website or blog. Its plug-ins are versatile tools that help you make any websites or ecommerce sites you envisage.

Adding contact and subscription forms, image galleries, stores, etc. on your website is pretty simple thanks to the free add-ons.

3.   Instantly responsive website

When you create website from WordPress, you are building it to be naturally responsive. Your site will look great on smartphones & tablets or any other screen size instantly. There is no need to get an expert web developer to make your site responsive.

4.   Help available from the community

Being the most popular platform to build websites, WordPress has strong community-based Support Forums. It is a great place for WordPress beginners to learn, share, and troubleshoot.

There are plenty of webmasters, small-business owners, bloggers with hands-on experience in building a website with WordPress whom you can approach for help.

Are you looking for more reasons? Here they are:

• It’s the ultimate DIY solution to build a website
• It’s fast, optimized, and secure
• It’s SEO-ready and hence enables smart promotions

And moreover, here are some awesome WordPress statistics based on data:

•  WordPress enjoys a 60.8% market share in the CMS market
• WordPress powers 14.7% of the world’s top websites
• More than 500 sites are built using WordPress on a daily basis

Now, I hope that’s impressive enough for you to zero in on building a website with WordPress. 

It’s time now to move onto the core theme of this blog: How to make a WordPress website?

Building a Website with WordPress. 9 Easy Steps.

After reading this guide, you will have a precise idea about how to create WordPress website. 

Step 1: Choose the right website platform/CMS (and here, you’ve chosen WordPress)

For beginners who are new to web development, WordPress is an easy and highly accessible CMS platform. It’s very user-friendly and for experienced web developers it offers innumerable opportunities to use their talents and capabilities.

The platform is totally customizable with flexible plugins and theme systems.

It’s a great tool for non-tech savvy folks as well. A bizarre number of free website templates make it easy for you to build any kind of website. WordPress website design and development is a cakewalk to beginners if you are ready to give unbroken attention to this guide.

Step 2: Pick a domain name for your website and buy a host

You need to grasp this fact well: WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS). You cannot treat it as a wholesome package wherein you will get everything you need to launch a website. Though it’s a great mechanism to create and organize digital content, you need to get hosting and domain registration done separately.

So, you need:

• A domain name – this is the name of your website or web address. Our virtual address is getmysites.com, this is where you find us.

If you are intending to build a WordPress site that looks professional in every inch it’s better to give it your own domain name. And let me remind you picking a name is the most amusing element in the whole process of building a website with WordPress. 

You can put in your creativity to choose any name that you want. Keep in mind that the name should do justice to the service that your website provides and with over 1.86 billion websites online currently, staying novel can be a hectic trial.

Take efforts to create a brandable, memorable, and catchy name for your WordPress site.

Read to know 5 key things that you should consider while choosing a website name for your business.

• Website hosting – a service to store your files and to connect your site to the Internet.

It is essential to choose a reliable hosting service provider and a viable hosting plan. A hosting service provider gives your WordPress website an ideal place to live and function.

There are hundreds of WordPress web hosting providers like Bluehost, SiteGround, DreamHost, WPEngine, HostGator, GreenGeeks, etc. A quality hosting service will offer industry-leading servers and infrastructure to ensure that your website loads quickly and won’t go down.

You can choose shared or dedicated servers as per the plans you choose. Take care to sign up for the right hosting plan.

A word of caution: there are chances for people who are uncomfortable with technology to feel the whole process a little garbled. A word of advice: Choosing a host that comes with WordPress pre-installed is a prudent decision.

Step 3: Install WordPress website and start setting up designing

Many popular hosting providers like Bluehost makes this process easy by offering you a one-click WordPress installation process. To sum it up (if you are choosing Bluehost):

1.       Go to Bluehost.com
2.       Pick your hosting plan
3.       Type your domain if you already have one
4.       Fill in your information

Check your package info and finish registration by completing the payment process (Bluehost makes an account automatically for you when you sign up for their hosting plan. After your hosting account has been created, Bluehost will send you an email comprising your login details. 

5.       open the Bluehost website and login, use “one-click WordPress install” to Install WordPress

You can install WordPress by going to the My Sites section and clicking on the Create Site button.

Step 4: Select a theme/design for your WordPress website

This is the stage in which you decide the look and feel of your newly built WordPress website. There are innumerable WordPress themes to choose from (8,863 free themes!). These design templates help you achieve the desired appeal. You just need to go to Appearance > Themes, and click the huge + sign saying Add New Theme.

After that, to make the process of choosing easier and smart use the search bar to pick a theme that suits the genre of your website (you can type bistro, café, ecommerce, boutique, or whatever you prefer and you’re sure to get tons of suggestions!). You will get a list of themes with the Details & Preview screen.

You can click the Install button on this screen when you come across your style of the mind-blowing theme. There is a Customize link under the Appearance menu if you want to customize your theme settings.

You can customize the tone, color, typography, etc. Click the Activate button after the installation process. (You need not confirm these theme settings right away. You’re in a better position to design WordPress website after placing content on the website). 

Step 5: Create pages and posts (or Add content)

Your site customization will be more sound and sensible only after you put some content to it. As per the topic of your site and its goals, craft content and put them in the right places. There are two types of content in WordPress: Pages and Posts.

You can start by adding some basic pages such as the Homepage, About page, and Contact page.

Go to Pages → Add New from your WordPress dashboard. This will take you to the editor where you will find spaces to enter Title, Body, Images, etc. There is an option to switch between the Text and Visual editors but stick to the former if you’re an alien to HTML code.

There is Publish button in the Publish section. Clicking it will make your content live in the world. The Discussion section decides if you want to allow comments or not.

Posts can be blogs that you update at regular intervals. For this, you go to Posts→ Add New, which will lead you to the editor page and can follow the same process that you did for creating a new page.

Step 6: Adjust site navigation

Choosing the layout and navigation of the site is an integral step when you create website with WordPress. This makes sure that your website is well-organized and neat. By going to Appearance and Menus, you can select pages that you want to appear in Menu.

You can drag and drop these Manu items and can rearrange them whenever you like. You also need to arrange widgets on your WordPress site. A widget is a small block of content that you can add in various places around the website, i.e. in the sidebars, footers, and other areas.

Go to go Appearance → Widgets to drag t to your desired widget area. These are very useful and attractive blocks as they add some features or functionality to your website. 

Step 7: Install Plugins

If you need a more personalized tonality for your website beyond these above-discussed customizations, you can choose suitable plugins (both free and premium) and install them.  Plugins are morsels of software to enhance the functionalities of your site. 

You can get it from WordPress plugin directory  or from third-party marketplaces. They are great at adding new features and functionality to your WordPress site. To install plugins go to Plugins > Add New.

The page will exhibit the most popular and useful plugins. You can choose the most suitable and click the Install Now button. Click Activate once it is downloaded.

Some download-worthy plugins to suggest you are: Jetpack, Google Analytics Dashboard, Smush, WooCommerce, Social Media Share Buttons, etc.

Step 8: Configure SSL

You need to enable SSL (secure sockets layer) in your WordPress site to enable HTTPS. This is an unavoidable stage while building a website with WordPress. Activating an SSL certificate not only boosts your Google ranking but also adds vital security benefits to your website.

It ensures a positive user experience by securing the privacy and security of users.

Most of the Word Press hosting service providers offer free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates or other options thru your web hosting control panel. In the case of Bluehost go to My Sites  →Manage Site →Security tab →Security Certificate.

Keep the toggle on for the SSL Certificate: Let’s Encrypt status. To ensure that the lock icon appears next to your domain name, visit your site and check.

Step 9: Make final checks and launch your WordPress website

All done? We’re almost there.

It’s crucial to double-check your settings and edit your posts before launching your WordPress website. Making and maintaining a WordPress site is a continuously evolving process with ample and subtle doses of customization every now and then.

When you are confident that your site is ready for the world to see click the Coming Soon Active link at the top of the dashboard, and then scroll down and click the Launch your site button.

Browse through each page and make certain that all links work, your text reads awesome, and images are well-formatted properly. 

Cheers! You’ve become a proud owner of a WordPress website. 

We hope that this guide on how to make a WordPress website has been a rewarding experience for you. In case you need any expert support to customize or tweak the design or any aspects of your website, feel free to reach us.