How to Build your First WordPress Site

WordPress offers one of the most intuitive user interfaces, making it easy to use, no matter your technical expertise level. Nonetheless, it can still be hard to know where to start when building your first WordPress site. The following tutorial will take you through all the necessary steps for setting up a website with WordPress.

Also read: Top 25 Fastest WordPress Themes of 2021 for Fast Page Loading

1. Come up With a Domain Name

A web domain is the name of your website. It also serves as the URL that your visitors will use to find your site. A good domain name is short, easy to remember, simple to type, and corresponds to your brand name.

It’s best to purchase your domain at the same time as you buy a WordPress web hosting plan. Some hosting plans even include a free domain.

2. Purchase a Web Hosting Plan and Domain

Web hosting companies own and manage large web servers inside data centers, and it’s on these servers where your website is hosted. You will need to pay a web hosting company to host your site on their servers to be viewable on the internet. These companies offer a variety of plans, many of which include a free domain and add-ons such as SSL certificates that will boost the security of your site.

3. Install WordPress

There are various ways to install WordPress; however, most web hosts will offer a one-click installation process. Usually, there will be a button inside your web hosting dashboard that says, “Install WordPress.” You simply press this button, follow the instructions, and you will install WordPress.

Once your installation is complete, you’ll need to create your WordPress login credentials. Then it’s time to step inside the WordPress dashboard and begin building your site.

4. Choose a WordPress Theme

The WordPress dashboard offers many settings and pages, but the best place to start is by selecting a theme. A theme is a pre-designed, pre-coded interface template for your site. It saves you the time and money of having to design a site from scratch or pay someone to do it for you.

When you first log in to WordPress, you will automatically be assigned a theme. You can use this theme or choose a new one by navigating to the Theme directory, which you will find under the Appearance tab. This directory will offer you a variety of free and paid themes to choose from. You can preview each one to give you an idea of how it will look for your site. Furthermore, if you start using one theme and decide it’s not working for your vision, you can switch it for another theme.

Any theme you choose will require some configuration. Additionally, not every theme functions in the same way. Some themes use a basic text editor while others use a visual editor or page builder.

5. Set Up Your WordPress Theme

Installing a free WordPress theme is easy. Once you’ve found the theme you like, all you need to do is click the “Install” button. Once you have it installed, you have to activate it, so it’s published on your WordPress site. Click on the “Activate” button and wait to be taken back to the main Dashboard.

If you’ve chosen to go with a paid or “premium” WordPress theme, the process will vary because third-party theme developers and marketplaces don’t sync directly to WordPress. The first thing to do is to purchase the file from your WordPress theme’s page. You’ll then get taken to a screen where you can download the theme file. If you have the option, choose to download the “Installable WordPress Files Only.” This will provide you with a zipped folder that can is simple to upload into WordPress.

Once you’ve downloaded your file, you will need to upload it to WordPress. To do this, navigate to the Appearance Tab, select “Themes,” and click “Add New,” then click “Upload Theme.” Select the file from your computer and click “Install Now.” Once your theme is uploaded, you can activate it and publish it on your site.

6. Customize Your Theme

Now that your theme has been uploaded to your site, you’ll want to customize it, so it functions for your purposes. To do this, click “Customize” under the Appearance tab. It’s up to you how much you want to configure your theme. Go through each of the modules and get familiar with what and how things can be changed.

7. Publish Some Pages

You have two types of pages that you can create for your site, Page and Post. A Page is a traditional web page that exists within the main navigation of your site. For example, to create an About page, you would choose the Page option.

A Post is a page that only exists within the blog page of your website. For instance, if someone wanted to read one of your blog posts, they wouldn’t find it in the main navigation but would instead have to find it through the blog page.

The interface for creating both Pages and Posts is the same, although there are different settings you need to apply to each.

For a traditional website, start by creating some basic pages like Homepage, About Page, Contact Page, etc. For a blog site, write your first post and hit the Publish button so your blog will go live on the blog page.

Conclusion – Building your First WordPress Site

There is a lot you can do with a WordPress site. What we’ve given you here are just the necessary steps to get started. Once you’ve accomplished these steps, keep exploring WordPress to discover the myriad of features for optimizing your site.