Do you want to create a website? Launching a website can be a daunting thought, especially if you’re not tech savvy. Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
After helping over 400,000 people create a website with WordPress, we decided to create the most comprehensive step-by-step guide on how to create a WordPress website created without WordPress learn how to code by step” />
This guide will be useful for users of all ages and experience levels, but if you need help, you can contact our team of experts to help you help set up your website for free.
Reading: How to create a wordpress website for beginners website setup
→ Click here to set up your free WordPress website!←
If you want to do it yourself, then please continue to follow our beginner-friendly guide to creating a website.
Here’s a start-to-finish overview of all the steps we’ll take you through in this guide.
- How to find and register for free a domain name
- How to choose the best web hosti ng
- How to Install WordPress
- Install a Template and Customize Your Website’s Design
- Create Pages in WordPress
- Customize WordPress with addons and extensions
- Resources to learn WordPress and get support
- Advancing, creating websites with more features (ecommerce stores, membership sites, selling online courses and more).
Before we start creating a website, let’s cover some of the most frequently asked questions we receive.
First, no , You do NOT have to be a web developer to create a custom website. Written for the non-technical user, our guide will show you a no-code solution to building a website.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at all the things you need to do to build a Website Need.
What do I need to create a website?
You need the following three things to launch your WordPress website.
- A domain name – this is the name of your website, e.g. B. google.com
- WordPress hosting – this is where your website files are stored.
- 45 minutes of your undivided attention.
How much does a WordPress website cost?
The answer to this question really depends on what type of website you want to build. We’ve written a comprehensive 2,000-word guide that explains how much it really costs to build a website.
A typical personal website can cost as little as $100. The cost of a business website can range from $100 per year to $30,000 per year.
We encourage all our users to start small and then add more features to your website as your business grows. This will save you money and minimize potential losses while avoiding overspending.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to build a website for less than $100.
We also show you how to evolve it by adding more features to it in the future.
What is the best website builder platform?
It There are many website builders available to help you set up a website. We recommend using self-hosted WordPress as your website platform.
WordPress is the most popular website platform in the world. It powers nearly 43% of all websites on the internet.
WordPress is free, open source, and comes with thousands of pre-built website themes and extensions. It’s extremely flexible and works with almost every third-party tool and service available to website owners.
We use WordPress to build all of our websites, including this one, WPBeginner.
How to make the most of this website design tutorial?
This is a step-by-step tutorial on creating a website. We’ve broken it down into different steps and walk you through everything from start to finish. Just follow the instructions and you’ll have a professional looking website by the end.
We’ll also point you in the right direction on how to take your website to the next level based on your needs.
Have fun creating your WordPress website.
Remember, if you need any help you can contact us and we will set up your website for free.
Let’s get started.
How to make a website (video tutorial)
If you prefer written instructions, please read on.
Step 1. Setting up a website
One of the most common mistakes beginners make is choosing the wrong website platform. Luckily you’re here so you don’t make that mistake.
For most users, a self-hosted WordPress.org site is the perfect solution. It comes with thousands of themes and addons to help you create any type of website you can imagine. For more information on this topic, see our guide Why you should use WordPress.
WordPress is free to download and use by anyone to create any type of website without restrictions.
If WordPress is free, where does the cost come from?
WordPress is free because you have to set up your own custom domain name and web hosting provider that costs money. For more information on this topic, see our article Why is WordPress free?.
A domain name is the address of your website on the internet. This is what your users type into their browsers to reach your website (e.g. wpbeginner.com or google.com).
Next you need website hosting. All websites on the internet need a web host to store their website files. This will be your website’s home on the web.
A domain name typically costs $14.99/year and hosting costs start at $7.99/month.
That’s A LOT for most people they are just getting started.
Fortunately, Bluehost has agreed to offer our users a free domain name and over 60% off web hosting.
→ Click here to claim this exclusive Bluehost offer ←
Bluehost is one of the largest hosting companies in the world. They are also an official WordPress Recommended Hosting Partner.
They have been working with WordPress since 2005 and are committed to giving back to the community. That’s why they promised us that if you can’t set up your website with this tutorial, our team of experts will complete the process for you for free. You will compensate us, so you don’t have to. Don’t hesitate to contact us for free help setting up the website.
Note: At WPBeginner we believe in transparency. If you buy hosting through our referral link, we will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. In fact, you get a discount on hosting free SSL for a free domain name. We would earn this commission for recommending any WordPress hosting company, but we only recommend products that we personally use and that we feel will add value to our readers.
Let’s move on and buy domain names and hosting.
First, you need to go to the Bluehost website in a new browser window and click on the green “Start Now” button.
This will take you to a pricing page where you can select a You need to choose a hosting plan for your website. Basic and Plus plans are the most popular among our users.
You must click “Select” to select the plan you want and continue to the next step.
On the next screen , you will be prompted to select a new domain name.
Ideally, you should stick to a .com domain name. Make sure it relates to your business, is easy to pronounce and spell, and easy to remember.
Need help choosing a domain name for your website? Check out these tips and tools on how to choose the best domain name.
After you’ve chosen your domain name, click the Next button to continue.
Well you will be asked to provide your account information such as name, address, email etc.
On this screen you will also see optional extras that you can purchase. We generally do not recommend purchasing these extras. You can always add them later if you decide you need them.
Next, add your payment information to complete the purchase.
After completing your purchase, you will receive an email with Details on how to log into your web hosting control panel (cPanel).
This is the dashboard of your hosting account where you manage everything e.g. B. Getting support, setting up emails, etc. Most importantly, you’ll be here I will install WordPress.
Step 2. Install WordPress
If you log into Bluehost Sign up and WordPress will automatically install for you. They launched this one-click WordPress installer to make it easier for non-technical users to create their website.
This means you simply log into your Bluehost account and then click ” Sign in to WordPress” button to get started. This setup process has really reduced the learning curve required to create a website.
You can use your Bluehost account to create multiple websites. Just go to the “My Websites” section and use the one-click WordPress installer to create additional websites.
See also: How to Make YouTube Stories in Simple Steps?
If you use another WordPress website hosting service like SiteGround, Hostinger, If you use HostGator, WP Engine, etc., then check out our comprehensive guide to installing WordPress for step-by-step instructions for these providers.
Once WordPress is set up, you can customize your website design by choosing a new template and creating new pages.
Wasn’t that easy?
Now let’s move on to the next step and choose a theme for your website.
Step 3. Choose your theme
The visual appearance of your WordPress website is controlled by a WordPress theme.
WordPress themes are professionally designed templates that you can install on your website to change its look.
By default, every WordPress site comes with a basic theme. When you visit your website, it will look something like this:
This is not very appealing to most users.
But don’t worry, there are thousands of free and paid WordPress themes out there that you can use can install on your site.
You can change your theme from the WordPress admin dashboard. Visit the Appearance » Themes page, then click the Add New button.
On the next screen, you can browse from 9,600 free WordPress themes based on the official WordPress .org are available topic directory. You can sort them by popular, newest, featured, and other feature filters (e.g. industry, layout, etc.).
Need help choosing a theme? Check out our list of these awesome free WordPress business themes and our pick of the best premium themes for WordPress.
For this guide, we’ll be using Bento. It’s a popular free multipurpose WordPress theme with flexible design options for all types of websites.
Other good WordPress themes we recommend are Astra or Divi.
If so If you want to create a fully custom WordPress theme, we recommend using the SeedProd builder for WordPress.
We have created a detailed tutorial on how to create a custom WordPress theme without writing any code.
How to install a theme in WordPress
If you know the name of the free theme you want to install, you can search for it by typing its name in the search box.
WordPress will show you the theme in the search results . You need to hover over the theme and then click the Install button.
Once you’ve installed your theme, you can customize it by clicking the Customize link in the Appearance menu.
This will launch the theme customizer where you can change your theme settings with a live preview of your site.
If you use one of the newer complete website edit themes, a different version of the website will appear displayed customizer.
The default WordPress customizer and full page editing offers no real resistanceYou can edit and update them at any time.
Go to the Pages » Add New page in the WordPress admin. This will take you to the page editor screen, which looks similar depending on the theme:
First you need to give your page a title, let’s call this page “Home”. ‘.
After that you can add content in the text editor below. You can add text, links, images, embed videos, audio, etc.
Once you’ve added content to your page, you can click the Publish button to make it live on your site .
You can repeat the process by adding more pages for different areas of your website. For example an about page, contact us and a blog page to display blog posts.
Now we’re adding some blog posts as well.
Go to Posts » Add New in your WordPress admin, where you will see a screen similar to the one before when adding pages.
You can add a post title and then add content in the visual post editor. You’ll also notice some additional options in the sidebar, like post formats, categories, and tags.
You can click the “Save” button to save your post as a draft, or click the “Publish” button to make it visible on your site.
For more detailed instructions on how to use all of these options on the post and page edit screens, see our guide to adding a new post in WordPress.
Step 5. Customize and optimize your website
Now that you’ve created some content for your own website, it’s time to customize everything and make it look nice for your users.
Let’s start by setting up a static home page (aka home page).
Setting up a static home page
You must visit the page Settings » Read in your WordPress admin das hboard. Under the Home Page Displays option, click the static home page, then select Pages that you previously created for your home and blog pages.
Don’t forget to click the “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page to save your changes.
WordPress now uses the page titled “Home” as your website’s homepage and the “Blog” page to display your blog posts.
Change page title and tagline
During installation you can choose the title of your page. WordPress will automatically add a tag line to your site title that says “Just another WordPress site”.
You can change both your site’s title and tagline at any time by adding Settings » General go page.
Your site title is the name of your website like WPBeginner. The tag line is usually a single line that describes your website.
You can also leave the tag line blank if you prefer, as WordPress SEO plugins like AIOSEO, Yoast SEO and others override it for better search engine optimization (more on that later).
Don’t forget to click the “Save Changes” button to save your settings.
Set up comment settings
WordPress has a built-in commenting system that allows your users to leave comments on your posts. This is great for WordPress user engagement, but it’s also targeted by spammers.
To deal with this, you need to enable comment moderation on your site.
Visit Settings » Discussions and scroll down to the “Before a comment is shown” section. Check the box next to the option “Comment requires manual approval”.
Don’t forget to click the “Save changes” button to save your settings.
Create navigation menus
Navigation menus allow your users to browse different pages or sections on your site. WordPress has a powerful navigation menu system and your WordPress theme uses this system to display menus.
Let’s add a navigation menu to your website.
First you need to go to Figure » Menus page. Enter a name for your navigation menu and click the Create Menu button.
See also: How To Start an Online Store in 2023 (Step-by-Step Guide)
WordPress will now create your navigation menu.But it will be empty for now.
Next you need to select the pages you want to show in your menu and then click the “Add to Menu” button.
You will Noticing Your Selected Pages Fill in the blank space of your navigation menu. You can move these menu items up and down to rearrange their position in the menu.
Now you need to choose a display location. These locations are defined by your WordPress theme. Typically, most WordPress themes have a primary menu that appears at the top of your site’s header.
Finally, click the Save Menu button to save your navigation menu.
You can Now visit your site to see the menu in action.
For more detailed instructions, see our beginner’s guide to adding a navigation menu in WordPress.
Step 6. Install plugins in WordPress
WordPress plugins are like apps for your WordPress site. They allow you to add features and customizations to your WordPress site. Think contact forms, photo galleries, etc.
You can install plugins from your WordPress dashboard by clicking on the Plugins page.
There are currently more than 59,000 free plugins for WordPress. There are also paid plugins that are sold by third-party websites and developers.
With so many plugins, how do you know which plugins to install? We’ve got you covered there too, check out our guide to choosing the best WordPress plugin.
Here’s our list of the top plugins you should install on your website right away. All of them are free.
Features
- WPForms Lite – Allows you to add a contact form on your WordPress site. All professional websites display their contact information on the same page as their contact form.
- MonsterInsights – Connect your website to Google Analytics and see how visitors find and use your website to keep them coming back.
- SeedProd – Drag-and-drop page builder to create fully custom themes
- WPBeginner on YouTube – Need more video tutorials? Subscribe to our YouTube channel with over 280,000 subscribers and 40 million views.
- WPBeginner Dictionary – The best place for beginners to start and get familiar with WordPress jargon.
- WPBeginner Blueprint – Check out plugins, tools and services we use on WPBeginner to grow our business online.
- WPBeginner Offers – Exclusive discounts on WordPress products and services for WPBeginner- Users.
- WPBeginner Engage Group – Connect with our WordPress experts and other like-minded bloggers/site owners (90,000+ members).
Here are some of ours Guides you should bookmark immediately. It will save you a lot of time and money in the future.
- 50 Most Common WordPress Errors and How to Fix Them
- Beginner’s Guide to Troubleshooting WordPress Errors
- How to fix common image issues in WordPress
- The Ultimate WordPress Security Guide (Step by Step)
- Ultimate WordPress SEO Guide for Beginners (Step by Step)
Many of our users use Google search to find answers about WPBeginner. Just enter keywords for what you’re looking for and add wpbeginner.com at the end.
Can’t find an answer? Submit your question directly through our contact form and we will do our best to answer it.
Step 7. Moving on
So far we have shown you how to build a WordPress website create , add a new theme, add new websites and install essential plugins.
Want to go further?
WordPress allows you to create powerful niche websites, who are able to do a lot more.
- Add an e-commerce store
- Start your own podcast
- Create a membership site
- Create a web directory
- Create a coupon site
- Create a reviews site
- Create multilingual websites
- Create a job board website
- Create a question and answer website
- Create a wiki knowledge base website
See more examples in our list of 19 types of websites you can build with WordPress
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
We’ve helped thousands of people create a website and answered many questions . Below are the answers to the most frequently asked questions about building a website.
Is WordPress the only way to build a website?
No, there are many other website builders out there like Web.com, Wix, GoDaddy etc. But we believe WordPress is the best and easiest platform to build a website that works on both desktop and mobile devices.
Other industry experts also agree with us, which is why over 43% of all websites on the internet use WordPress.
Can you build a website from scratch with WordPress?
Yes, you can absolutely use WordPress to build a fully custom website from scratch using a drag-and-go code
How can I create a website for free?
Some website builders may offer free options, but we strongly advise against using these build solutions to use from websites. Often they insert their advertisement on your website which doesn’t look professional and gives terrible user experience.
It’s always better to buy your own domain name and hosting so that you have full ownership of your website have. See the difference between domain names and web hosting.
Can I start a website like eBay?
Yes, you can easily start a website like Create eBay eBay with an auction plugin for WordPress. We have a step-by-step guide on how to create an online auction website with WordPress that you can follow.
Can I get a free domain for my website?
Yes, some web hosting companies offer a free domain if you decide to start a website with them. An officially recommended WordPress hosting provider, Bluehost offers WPBeginner users a free domain with 60% off hosting if you choose to build your website with their service.
You can anytime register a domain name separately from a popular domain registrar and then buy web hosting from another hosting company like SiteGround or WP Engine.
Can I build a website like Facebook?
Yes, you can absolutely use WordPress to turn your website into a social network. We have a step-by-step guide on how to make a website like Facebook with WordPress.
Can I start a website with a discussion board/forum?
Again, the answer is yes. You can use one of these forum plugins in WordPress to create a website with discussion forum features.
What is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?
When we mention WordPress in our tutorial, we are talking about the popular self-hosted WordPress.org platform. It’s the powerful open source software you’re always hearing about.
WordPress.com is a restricted blog hosting service. They recently expanded their platform to offer website and ecommerce plans with custom domains, but they are far more expensive compared to other WordPress hosting services like Bluehost or SiteGround.
See more details See our detailed WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org comparison table.
I accidentally started my website with WordPress.com or another website builder, can I switch?
Yes, you can switch your website to WordPress at any time. Beginners often make the mistake of using the wrong website builder, only to find that these platforms don’t have all the features they need.
We’ve written in-depth guides on how to properly build from other websites -Builders migrated to WordPress. The most important part is making sure that your permalinks (URL structure) transfer seamlessly so you don’t lose your SEO rankings.
Here are our detailed tutorials on how to move your website to WordPress:
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- How to properly switch from WordPress.com to WordPress.org
- How to switch from Blogger to WordPress without losing rankings
- How to switch from Wix switching to WordPress, step by step
- How to switch from Weebly to WordPress (Beginner’s Guide)
- How to switch from Medium to WordPress easily
- How to migrate properly from Squarespace to WordPress
How do I grow my online presence?
Now that you’ve created your new website, it’s time to grow your online presence and drive more traffic.
We have the ultimate guide with 27+ actionable tips creates tips to drive traffic to your new WordPress site.
The number one piece of advice we give small business owners is to start building an email list right away.
Email marketing allows you to keep in touch with website visitors and customers after they have left your website. It has a proven 4300% ROI.
Here is our comparison of the best email marketing services for small businesses.
We hope this guide has helped you to learn how to build a website without hiring a web designer or spending too much money. You may also want to check out our tutorial on how to create a professional business email address and our comparison of the best business phone services for small businesses.
If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to our YouTube channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
See also: How to Generate a Gmail App Password from Your Account
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