Create a WordPress Website: 8 Steps to Your Own WordPress Page

The great thing about WordPress is that you can create any kind of website with it. Programming and design skills are certainly a plus, but not required. Still, getting started with WordPress can be tricky for beginners. But don't worry, we're here to help.

In this guide, we'll walk you through the process of creating your first WordPress website in eight, easy steps. Along the way, we'll let you know what you need and the kind of costs that you can expect.

There are many ways to create a fully functional WordPress website. The content management system's flexibility is one of its biggest strengths, but, it also makes the tool challenging for beginners and newcomers. Unlike more straightforward solutions that automate site creation, like website builders, WordPress requires significantly more initiative.

With that said, beginners shouldn't be afraid of WordPress. All that's needed is a bit of patience. Before we start with our detailed guide, here are a few things to keep in mind:

We'll start our guide exactly where you should begin your WordPress journey: Selecting the right hosting service.

Solid and reliable web hosting is the foundation of a good website. This isn't just about renting storage (or web space) on a server for your website's data and content. Instead, think of web hosting as the virtual plot of land that your website is built on.

There are several different kinds of hosting:

WordPress websites can take advantage of specialized managed WordPress hosts that focus entirely on the needs of sites created with the CMS. Since you won't have to worry about your site's technical setup and management, they're a great choice for beginners.

We tested 9 managed WordPress hosts to help you find the best option for your needs. Here's our favorite:

SiteGround is a hosting provider from Bulgaria that provides web space to 2.8 million domains. The company offers a wide range of services, including classic web hosting, cloud and reseller hosting, as well as managed WordPress hosting.

SiteGround scored high in all of the areas we examined while offering excellent value for money, guaranteeing it a top spot in our ranking. Thanks to its fast loading times, the provider also did extremely well in our performance test.

Web hosting is important, but only one of the requirements for getting a website online. For visitors to be able to find your website, you'll also need a domain, or unique name and Internet address.

Depending on which provider you select, you'll have two options at this stage: Either the domain is included in your hosting subscription or you'll need to purchase one separately. Whatever the case, neither of the two options is complicated.

Many hosts, like SiteGround and Hostinger, give subscribers a free domain for the first year of their contracts. You'll typically register your domain when setting up your account.

With others, you'll "purchase" the domain. First, confirm that your preferred domain is available by using the integrated search tool. After that, add it to your shopping cart, and "check out" to secure the domain and begin your hosting subscription.

Perhaps the host you've selected doesn't give subscribers a domain for the first year of their contracts. That's fine: Domains are very affordable and registration only takes a few minutes. The average cost of a .com domain is around $15 per year.

To register your domain, head over to your host's user area and look for a domain option in the menu.

In case the domain that you want is already taken, you still have some options. Similarly, if you'd like to sell or migrate an existing domain that you own, be sure to check out our comprehensive guide to find out how:

After you've secured hosting and a domain, you can start to build your WordPress website. The first thing you'll need for this is WordPress software, which as we mentioned above, is free and open-source. Once you've downloaded it, you'll need to install it on your host's server.

With managed WordPress hosts, the process is even simpler. Although it's often referred to as a "one-click" installation, you'll need a few more mouse movements than that. Whatever the case, you should have WordPress installed in a matter of minutes.

How exactly you install WordPress varies slightly from host to host. Most walk new users through the process to ensure that everything goes smoothly.

With Kinsta for example, you'll start the installation process by clicking on the "Add site" button and then selecting "Install WordPress". After that, just follow the instructions. After specifying your site name, WordPress site title, admin username, password, and data center location, Kinsta handles the rest for you.

As soon as you've installed WordPress, you can start designing your website. However, before jumping in, we recommend heading to the admin dashboard's back end and checking a few basic settings and configuration options.

Some of the most important of these include:

With most good hosting services, everything should be pre-configured for optimum usage right out of the box. In addition, if something is problematic, such as an outdated or missing SSL certificate, you'll likely be notified. Whatever the case, as a beginner, it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with your host's back-end settings and options.

Once you've adjusted the most important settings on the server side, you can finally start designing your WordPress website. A WordPress theme provides the blank canvas for this.

Think of a WordPress theme as a toolbox for designing your website. It includes ready-made layouts, elements, and design tools for customizing your WordPress website's look and appearance. Based on the theme you choose, you'll also specify your website's design, such as its color scheme, typography, and more.

The choice is huge: There are thousands of WordPress themes, many of which are free. However, there are plenty of premium options as well. Some themes are specifically designed for certain branches or types of business (such as online stores, restaurant websites, etc.), whereas others are more all-purpose.

You can access thousands of themes without leaving the WordPress admin dashboard. Here's how to get started:

Step 1: Open your WordPress admin dashboard. Most hosts offer a direct link to your WordPress backend. Here's what it looks like in SiteGround:

Step 2: Go to Appearance > Themes to view themes that are already installed.

Step 3: Click on "Add New" to open the theme marketplace.

Step 4: Now you can browse through the WordPress theme gallery and sort available options by their features, intended branches, and layouts. If you like a theme, click on it, and a live preview will be generated along with a brief description.

Step 5: Once you've found a theme that catches your fancy, click on "Install".

Step 6: After the theme has been installed, it will appear on your list of themes in the Appearance > Themes area. Now, you have two options: You can click on the "Activate" button, or open a live preview to see how your website will look after applying the theme. If you like what you've seen, click on "Activate and Publish" to add it to your website.

Would you like more information about how to install external themes, like those that aren't available in the WordPress theme gallery? Be sure to check out our guide for lots of additional information:

Once you've installed your theme, you'll probably want to make a few adjustments. The easiest way to do this is with WordPress's Customizer, which allows you to edit settings for any theme. To open the theme customizer, head to Appearance > Customize.

A menu appears to the left with a range of different options. Click on "Global" to adjust colors, typography, or buttons across your entire website. In the "Site Identity" area, you can modify your website's title and logo.

There are nearly endless settings and options here. Try different things out and check what effect they have on your website's look and feel in the live preview. When you're finished, click on "Publish".

The huge selection of plugins offered by WordPress is one of the platform's biggest advantages. If you're unable to find a feature or tool among the CMS's default options, there's a very good chance that it's available as a plugin.

For WordPress beginners, the following plugins might be interesting:

The above is just a small selection of the kinds of plugins that are available for WordPress. There are tens of thousands of plugins and most can be installed in a minute or less. Like themes, some are free, while others are premium.

Most of the time, it's possible to directly install plugins in your WordPress dashboard.

Step 1: Click on "Plugins" in your WordPress dashboard's menu, followed by "Add New".

Step 2: Welcome to WordPress's plugin index. Here, you can browse all of the available plugins and sort them by category. Once you've found something that looks appealing, click on the "Install Now" button.

Step 3: Once installation is complete, a new "Activate" button will appear where the "Install Now" button was. Click on this to activate the plugin.

Step 4: The plugin has been activated and is ready to use. Head back to your dashboard's plugin area or click on the plugin menu option to see it. There, you'll be able to configure the plugin and adjust its settings.

Make sure that you regularly update your plugins. Most of the time, you'll see when a new version of an installed plugin is available in the plugin area.

You've purchased a plot of land (hosting), set up your address (domain), built and designed your home (theme), and connected to the utilities (plugins), but your virtual house is still empty. Let's change that by creating a digital floor plan and furnishing your rooms. There are two options for adding content, pages and posts.

Both pages and posts can be created and edited in WordPress's Gutenberg editor. This includes WordPress's content blocks as well as tools that allow users without programming know-how to visually design the appearance of their pages or posts.

Let's start with pages since a WordPress website is really nothing more than a collection of pages grouped under a single domain.

Step 1: To create a new page, go to "Pages" in your WordPress dashboard's menu and click on "Add New“.

Step 2: Now you'll taken to the Gutenberg editor. At first glance, this looks complicated, so take some time to familiarize yourself with its features and capabilities. If you have prior experience with a website builder, it won't take long to get your bearings.

Step 3: Click on "Add title" to name your page.

Step 4: You'll add content to pages in the form of different blocks. Click on the plus symbol to add a new block from a small selection of the most important blocks. Alternatively, you can click on the symbol in the main menu bar in the upper left to browse through all available blocks.

Step 5: Once you've selected a block, drag it into the editor to customize it further. Depending on the type of block that it is, you'll have different options. These include the ability to add filters, captions, or links to images and crop them. You can also divide blocks into different columns to combine different types of content - for example, a photo on one side and a paragraph of text on the other.

Step 6: Page settings can be found in the main menu in the upper right. There, you can adjust a page's URL, its background picture, comment features, and more.

Step 7: When you're satisfied with your page, click on the "Publish" button. If you'd like to work on it later, you can save a draft, or preview it before going live.

Posts can also be created with Gutenberg. You'll have the same tools and formatting options as for pages. To create a new post, click on Posts > Add New in the WordPress dashboard.

If your website doesn't have a blog and none of your content is time sensitive, you probably won't need to create posts.

After you've created your WordPress website's pages, you'll need menus to help visitors access them. Making these only takes a few clicks:

Step 1: Go to Appearance > Menus.

Step 2: Give your menu a name and specify its position in your theme. If it's a main menu that your visitors will use to access the most important areas of your site, check the box next to "Primary Menu".

Step 3: Let's start organizing your menu. This is easiest if you've already created your WordPress website's most important pages. Click on "Add Menu Items" and under "Pages" select the pages you want to assign to the menu. Once completed, click on the "Add to Menu" button.

Step 4: Your pages are now in the menu structure. You can adjust their placement by dragging and dropping them, or modifying their hierarchy. By moving a menu to the right, it will become subordinated to the menu above it. In this way, it's possible to create submenus of submenus - just make sure not to overdo it for the sake of clarity.

Step 5: When you're satisfied with your menu structure, click on the "Save Menu" button in the bottom right.

At this point, your WordPress website has everything it needs: Solid hosting, a good domain, a theme, plugins for extra features, content, and a clear main menu.

Of course, this doesn't mean that your WordPress website is "finished". Over the next few days and weeks, you'll probably notice small things that you'd like to change or adjust. After that, you'll want to start thinking about optimizing your content and designs, especially after getting feedback from friends, colleagues, clients, and visitors. We'll leave the exact details of this up to you, but here are a few tips:

With WordPress, even beginners without any design or programming know-how can create their very own website. Doing so takes some effort and patience since there's a lot of work that goes into a good WordPress website: You'll need to organize technical aspects like hosting and come to terms with WordPress's tools and features.

For those just starting out, managed WordPress hosting is the most straightforward option. Once you've organized this, you can start using all of WordPress's tools, including its themes, plugins, and Gutenberg, to customize your website to your exact preferences.

You can find detailed guides, tips & tricks, and best practices in the WordPress area of our website.