Creating a website with WordPress doesn’t have to be as complicated as most people would like to think. It is a fairly simple process provided you follow the steps given in this guide.
Whether you are a business owner, blogger, creative or consultant, having a website is a good way to get yourself noticed in the online world. Your website is your 24/7 online marketing tool, giving you the opportunity to reach out to millions of people with your products and services.
In this guide we’ll walk through how to get started with creating your first WordPress website.
Before we get started, I would like to mention that if you want the best results for your website, I recommend using WordPress.org for your hosting instead of WorPress.com.
While WordPress.com is fully hosted by WordPress, it does come with its limitations. With WordPress.com you cannot upload custom themes or plugins unless you are on a business or VIP plan. WordPress.com places ads on all free websites, which you don’t make any money from. To remove the ads from your website, you will have to upgrade to a paid plan. Their plans start from around £36 per year.
WordPresss.org on the other hand is self-hosted and allows you to have full control of your website. WordPress.org is also free, you only have to pay for your web hosting. You can customize your website as you wish by adding free or paid themes and plugins.
Now that that’s covered let’s get started with setting up your website.
Things you will need to get started
- A domain name, for example, www.vathrive.com is the domain name for my website.
- Your credit card to pay for your hosting
- Set aside at least 30-45 min of your time to set up your website
When using WordPress.Org you will need a place to store your domain name and website online. This is where web hosting comes in place. Personally, I chose to use Bluehost as my hosting provider because I found their hosting service extremely user friendly and reliable. With just a 1-click installation, Bluehost also integrates easily with WordPress. It is also recommended by WordPress.org as one of their best hosting providers.
Other reasons that convinced me to choose Bluehost as my hosting provider
- Great customer support available 24/7: When I first started out with my website and needed assistance when I got stuck with something, the Bluehost team were really great at walking me through it and fixing the issue in a short amount of time.
- Unlimited websites and email accounts with just one account.
- Integrates well with WordPress
- User friendly with instructions readily available
- Reasonably priced – starting from as little as $3.95 (about £3.12) per month
If you already have a preferred web hosting provider that is fine. You’re a step closer to getting your WordPress site set up. If you don’t already have one and would like to get started with Bluehost, you can click on the link below to get started.
Usually, a new domain name will cost you around $10-15 (£8-£12) on average depending on which registrar you use like Bluehost, GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc. When you sign up with Bluehost you also get a free domain.
(Disclosure: As an affiliate, I receive compensation if you choose to purchase through this link of no added cost to you. Please only proceed with this purchase if you feel that it will help you meet your goals.)
Getting started
1. To get started visit Bluehost
2. Click on ‘Get started now’ and you will be taken to the pricing plan page to select you price plan.
The basic plan is good if you are only just starting out and just need one website. If you are planning on having multiple websites in the feature, I would recommend getting either the plus or choice plus plans, which include all the basic features and more.
3. Enter your domain name
Once you’ve selected your price plan, on the next page you will be prompted to enter your domain name. If you don’t have an existing domain, you can get a new one by typing in your domain name in the ‘new domain’ section. You can also choose which TLD (top-level domain) you would like to use such as .com, .net, .org, .biz, etc.
If you already have a domain name from another domain registrar like Namecheap or GoDaddy, you can enter this in the appropriate box. Remember to change the name server of your domain to the one provided by Bluehost. For a guide on how to change nameservers, you can find out more information here.
If you want to choose your domain name at a later point, click ‘choose later’ for this option.
4. On the next page you’ll be prompted to enter your
a) account information
b) price plan details
In this example we went for the Basic 12 Month plan. You can use the drop down to choose how long you want your plan to last.
If you’re planning on using your website long term, a Basic 36 Month plan would work out cheaper at $3.95 per month. Please bear in mind that all price plans are paid annually in advance.
c) package extras
I would ignore all the extra offers listed. You can always choose these at a later time. If you had to select any, I would suggest the Domain Privacy Protection to protect your site from spammers.
d) payment information
5. Once you’ve filled in all the information, click the submit button at the bottom of the page. You’ll then see a Bluehost welcome page congratulating you for your purchase. You’ll also receive an email with details on how to log in to your web hosting control panel (cPanel). Keep this information somewhere safe as you will need it for the next step of installing WordPress.
WordPress installation via Bluehost control panel (cPanel)
6. Once you’ve logged in to your Bluehost cPanel, go to the website section and select Install WordPress.
Follow the instructions through this whole process.
- Click install and choose the domain name to install WordPress to
- Enter your email address, username and password for the new WordPress installation
- Read through the license and service agreements and check the boxes
- Select the Install Now button.
- Once your installation is complete, you will be taken to a WordPress login page. Your login URL will typically look like this www.domainname.com/wp-admin. Here you can now log in with your admin username and password that you entered earlier.
And voila you’re done! You’ve just installed your first WordPress website.
Navigating around your WordPress dashboard
Once you’re in your WordPress admin dashboard, it’s a playground for you to create and design your website as you wish. It also gives you an overview of your website’s activity. Your dashboard will typically look like this.
The options on the left side bar will allow you to create and design your website. In this example, I’ve already installed some plugins which may not show on your side bar when you’ve just started. I also set my site to Staging Environment which you can see highlighted in red. This simply means that your website is in development and is not live to the public yet. This is optional and you don’t need to do this at this stage.
Themes, Menu, Widgets, Customization
To select a theme of your choice, go to Appearance then select themes. WordPress has a huge selection of themes, both free and paid for that you can select from.
Under Appearance you can also customize your menu, widgets and the look and feel of your website.
Pages
To add a new Page like a Home Page, About Me or Contact page go to Pages and select Add New – enter your Page Title, add content and then publish once done.
Plugins
To add plugins – go to Plugins – select Add New – search for a plugin you would like to install.
General Settings
In the settings section, you can edit your general website settings for example updating your admin email address where all your website correspondence will be sent to, etc.
So there you have it, a simple guide on how to install your WordPress website with a preview of your admin dashboard once you’ve successfully installed your website.
If you have any questions with getting set up, feel free to get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.
