In this article, I’m going to show you a step-by-step guide on how to create a WordPress website and also choose a fantastic WordPress theme for your website. And the best thing is, everything can be done in less than 20 minutes. We got no time to spare, let’s get started.
How To Make A WordPress Website
If you follow all the easy steps that am going to share with you in this article, within just 20 minutes, you’re going to have your own website up and running.
Step 1: Hosting
In other to get your website up and running, you need to get hosting. Hosting is basically putting the website publicly on a public server so it can be accessed. There are many web hosting companies out there, and by far the most popular one is Bluehost. Bluehost is incredibly secure and they have an incredibly fast service, which means that your website is going to run really quick. This is great because your users don’t want a slow website.
Bluehost has been around for a long time and they have a good reputation in the web design community, they have a one-click WordPress install. This means that you can get WordPress installed with a click even if you don’t know what you’re doing. Bluehost normally charges $8/month, but if you use my link in this article, you can get it for $2.95/month.
You also get a free domain name for one year, that’s sounds great because a domain name can cost about $50/year. So you’re going to be getting super cheap hosting and a free domain name for a year. You also get a free SSL Certificate and a 30-day money-back guarantee. You pretty much have nothing to lose. These are the reasons why I recommend them, you can get started by visiting bluehost.com.
Step 2: Getting Started With Bluehost
1. After clicking the link (bluehost.com), click on the get started button on the homepage and it’ll take you to the plans page.
2. Select the plan that you wish to start with by clicking the select button, and it’ll take you to the domain setup page.
3. Create a new domain if don’t have any before, or you can use a domain you own. A domain is basically your website’s name. Type in the new domain you want to create into the create a new domain section’s input field and click on next. You can type in your domain name if you already have one, in the use a domain you own section and click on next.
4. After that you’ll be asked to fill in some details and select how long you want to have the hosting. You can pick 12, 24, or 36 months, but you get a discount if you choose 36 months. After that, you’ll need to fill out your payment information and click proceed.
5. You will come to a page where you’ll be shown that your purchase was successful. All we need to do is just click on the create account button.
6. You’ll get to a place where you’ll create a password for your Bluehost account, accept the terms and conditions, and click on the create account button.
7. You’ll come to a page where you’ll be shown “ your account is ready. Now you can log in”. Click on the go to login button.
8. You’ll get to the login page where you’ll put in your login details and click on login.
Step 3: Setting Up The Website
The great thing about Bluehost is that they make it super easy for you to create a website. All you need to do is;
1. Put in your website’s name, website tagline, and click on the kind of website you want to build. Click on the blog icon if you want to add a blog to your site, you can also click on the online store icon to add an online store to your website (optional). Click continue when done.
2. After that, you’ll be asked for a little bit of information about your website. After selecting the relevant boxes, click on continue.
3. Theme selection. Like I said before, Bluehost makes things easier for you to create a website. On the current page you are, there are tons of themes available for you to use according to your needs. I recommend using Astra, it’s a really easy theme with a great builder, which means no coding is required from you. Just click on any theme to use them.
After that, Bluehost will install WordPress for you on your site. And after a few seconds or minutes, you’ll be in your Bluehost WordPress dashboard.
4. All you have to do now is navigate to the left and click on my sites. After clicking, our site will appear and all we have to do is take our cursor to the site displayed and click on log into WordPress.
5. After that you’ll be taken to your WordPress dashboard. Before doing anything, it’s highly recommended to change your WordPress login password.
Changing Password
1. On your WordPress dashboard, navigate to the left and click on users.
2. The users will display on the open space. Click on the edit link that appears on the user.
3. A new page will come up, where you can change your password by scrolling down to the account management section and clicking on the generate new password button, and putting in your new password after cleaning the suggested one. You can use the suggested if you want to. After changing the password, click on update profile.
First Plugin
Next, you’re going to install a plugin that will make it really easy for you to make your website look great even if you don’t know any coding. To do this,
1. Navigate to the left and click on the plugin, and click on add new from the options.
2. A page will appear where we can search for plugins. On the search field, input the keyword “Astra”, and click on the Astra Starter Sites. Click on install to install it and click on activate when installing is complete. This plugin got a different bunch of things that you can use to make your website awesome.
3. After activating, you’ll be taken to a page where all active plugins are, click on see library link under the Astra Starter Sites.
4. After that, you’ll be taken to a page where you’ll need to select a page builder to make it really easy to edit. I recommend using Elementor. Click on it and then click on the Next button.
5. After that you’ll be taken to a place where you can choose from. All are professionally designed and you don’t need to know any code on how to use them. You might want to use a free template by clicking on the free link at the top of the templates, to see all free templates.
If you want a quick preview of what each template will look like, just hover over it and click on the preview button that appears, to see what the website will look like if you choose that template. And if you want to use that template you’re previewing, just click on the import site. This action will import all of the necessary information, contents, and plugins.
6. Once done, all you need to do is click on the view site button to view your website. It’s amazing what you can get done without knowing any coding with WordPress.
Step 4: Editing The Site
Once you view the site, you’ll find a lot of demo content that we can change. If you ever want to edit your website, all you have to do is click on Elementor at the top of your webpage. The great thing about Elementor is that it is super easy to use. For example, if you want to change a little bit of text, all you have to do is just hover over it and click on the text to edit it to whatever text you want.
If you want to change any button text, you can click on the button and edit it. To change the color of the button, navigate to the left and click on the style, you can change the button’s background color to whatever color that suits you. You can change the hover color too.
You can change the look of your website to your desired style with Elementor. Just click on whatever it is that you want to change, use the menu on the left to edit them. After editing your site, all you need to do is click on the update button. When you’re done with everything, you can press back to go back to your WordPress dashboard.
Appearance
If for any reason you don’t like your site appearance (the template or theme), you can change the theme by;
1. Clicking on the appearance on the left side of the WordPress dashboard, and click on a theme.
2. You can select from any of the themes that appear on your window, install them, and activate them. Or you can simply import a theme you purchased and downloaded from somewhere, by simply;
i. Clicking on the upload theme button at the top of the page.
ii. After that, click on choose file button to select the theme from the folder you saved it. The theme is always in a zip file.
iii. After that, select the theme and click on the install now button to install.
iv. After installation is complete, you can activate it by clicking on the activate button.
v. Copy and paste the purchase code and click on the activate button. If it’s a theme you purchased, you’ll be asked to input your purchase code. You can find it on the site you download the theme from, just go back to the site, go to your downloads section, and click on download from the theme in order to get the purchase code
vi. After activating it, a setup wizard will appear on your screen to set up your website. Click on start and install the necessary plugins and import data, all with just clicks. Might take up to a minute or two.
vii. You can go back to your dashboard after everything is successfully imported. You can open your website in another tab to see how it looks.
Customizing Your Website
After installing and activating your theme, you need to change a few things like the logo, site icon, and anything you’d like to. You can do this by;
1. Go back to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Click on the appearance, click on customize. This will take you to a new page.
3. Click on-site identity. There you’ll find the options to change your logo and site icon. When you’re done, click on update.
Note. On this customization page, you can do pretty much anything like setting your homepage style, selecting fonts, and lots more. Just explore and configure your site to your taste or brand.
Setting Up Menus
Menus help visitors to navigate through your site with ease. Menus should be set based on your website structure, you can set menus to different contents on your websites. For example, if you have a blog like mine your posts need to be arranged in an orderly manner using categories like, manage money, earn online, short courses, etc. Arranging your content this way helps your visitors to easily navigate your website.
How To Do This
1. On your WordPress dashboard, click on Appearance and click on customize.
2. Click on the menu. You can create a new one or continue using the default.
3. Click on additional items to add your categories and pages.
4. Scroll down to find the category option and click on it to select the available categories you’ve created.
5. When you’re done adding, click on update.
Now whenever you write a post, you can edit the post and display it in any category you choose.
Creating Categories
Categories help to arrange your contents in an orderly manner, according to your preferences. To do that, just;
1. Go to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Click on the post.
3. Click on categories.
4. Add a category and save
Adding A Post
To add a post, all you need to do is;
1. Go to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Click on the post icon, and click on add a new post from the sub-menu.
That’s all. It’ll take you to a page where you can start writing your post. After writing the post, to make sure it also appears in the right category, on the right end side of the screen, on the post section, click on categories and select the appropriate one(s).
4. When you’re done writing your posts, click on publish.
You can add headings to your post just by clicking on the plus icon, and selecting heading. You can also highlight any text and click on the plus icon to make it a heading.
Adding Pictures To Posts
To add pictures to your posts, simply click on the plus icon on an empty line and select image. You can upload an image and start using it or, you can copy the image URL and paste it on the site, and press enter.
Setting Featured Images
After writing a post and adding relevant images to it, your post will appear without an image on your homepage. That does not mean it doesn’t have an image, but it lacks a featured image. The featured image is the image your visitors see alongside your post excerpts. To do that, all you need to do is,
1. On the right end side of the screen, on the post section, scroll down to the featured image.
2. Click on it to add a featured image. You can use one of the pictures you use in your post, or you can use another.
Creating A Page
You can create any page of your choice, for example, a privacy policy page, an about us page, or a terms and conditions page. To do this, just;
1. Go to your WordPress dashboard.
2. click on the page icon, and click on add new page from the sub-menu.
3. Start filling out the page details and contents.
4. After that, click on publish.
Settings
To edit the site title, tag, and to add an email. Go to;
1. Your WordPress dashboard.
2. Click on the settings icon.
3. Click on general settings.
From there, you can edit the settings of your website.
You’re all set
So far, we’ve covered a lot in this crash course. From getting a hosting and a domain to WordPress installation to theme installation, creating a post and a page, and lots more. To help you further, I recommend these two articles on how to get traffic to your website and make money with your website. Check them out and enjoy your online experience. Happy Hustling
Related: How to get free traffic
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