How to Create a WordPress Website Offline?
In case you’re wondering, WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that enables you to develop a website without requiring any technical expertise. It has an incredible array of free themes and plugins available for download. Furthermore, many WordPress hosts like Bluehost, which we recommend, offer one-click installs and allow you to launch a new blog in minutes. As a result, the steps below will help you create a functional WordPress website even if you don’t have an active internet connection. Keep reading for more information.
Find A Suitable Place To Host Your Website
As the name suggests, WordPress is highly compatible with hosting platforms such as WordPress.com and WordPress.org. In fact, you can install and use the software even if you host your site on a separate host. For the best possible performance, we recommend using a reputable WordPress hosting provider such as Bluehost.
While it’s always an option to run your own WordPress server, especially if you’re feeling adventurous, dedicated hosting is more appropriate if you’re looking to generate some revenue from your site. When selecting a host, make sure that they offer high performance along with a good deal of storage, bandwidth and monthly visitors.
Create A Free WordPress Account
You don’t need a PayPal account to make a purchase on Amazon, but you do need one to create an account on the site and download the WordPress software. To create a free WordPress account, visit this page and enter your email address and a password. After you click the button to create your account, you’ll receive an email from WordPress notifying you of the new account you created.
From here, you can log in and begin setting up your WordPress site. If you haven’t created a new blog before, feel free to use our step-by-step guide to create a WordPress blog or follow the guide below to create a free blog in minutes.
Install WordPress
Once you have a free WordPress account, you can visit this link to install the WordPress software. Again, this is a free option from WordPress.com and WordPress.org, so you’re not charged for the service. When installing the software, you’ll see a red flag in the top-right corner of your screen.
This is an important step as the WordPress installer will walk you through the process of setting up your site. For those new to WordPress, this step can appear a little arcane, but don’t worry, it’s not technical at all. Essentially, when you get to this screen, you’ll have to enter a password for the WordPress account you created and then enter an API key in the appropriate field. Once you do that, click the Install button to continue.
While you’re installing the WordPress software, you’ll see a progress bar at the bottom of your screen. When that’s full, click the Update button to continue the installation process. Finally, you’ll need to click the Finish button to complete the WordPress installation process.
Activate Your WordPress Account
After you install the WordPress software, you’ll need to activate your account. To do this, visit this link and click the blue Activate button in the upper right corner of the screen.
After you click that button, you’ll see a blue bar at the top of your screen indicating that your account has been successfully activated.
Create A Backlink To Your Blog
You cannot create a secure WordPress website without first establishing a link (or connections) to other websites. As the name suggests, a backlink is a link that points back to your site. With these, you can allow other websites to link to your content by creating a reference to it on your own website. For example, let’s say you wrote an incredible post about fashion on your blog. You could share that post on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as link to it from your own website. In this way, others can read your article even if they aren’t on your blog’s platform. This is a key step in creating a successful blog because it allows you to share your content beyond just your readers.
To create a backlink, navigate to Dashboard > Links (or Connections) and click the + icon to add a new connection.
In the example above, we entered the address of our blog (blog.thejackmontgomery.com) followed by the name of our website in quotation marks (“The Jack Montgomery Fashion Blog”).
Then, we clicked the blue Add New Link button. WordPress will now check for existing links to the www.thejackmontgomery.com domain and ask if we want to add another link. We selected Yes and then clicked the Add button to complete the process.
You should now see a new backlink created under the Links heading in the dashboard.
Customize Your WordPress Dashboard
The WordPress dashboard is a hub for handling many of the day-to-day aspects of your site. It provides you with a quick and easy way to update content, set up email marketing campaigns, track blog performance and analyze traffic. To access the dashboard, click the gear icon in the upper right corner of your WordPress screen.
The gear icon will pop out a set of options. From here, you can click on either the WordPress.com or WordPress.org version of the dashboard to access the settings for your site.
On the WordPress.com version, click the Settings icon next to the WordPress logo in the upper left corner of the screen to access your site’s settings.
In the screenshot below, you’ll see a variety of settings including the ability to control blog traffic, set up email marketing campaigns, configure performance and analytics, as well as make changes to the look and feel of your site.
For the WordPress.org version, click the Settings icon next to the WordPress logo in the upper left corner of the screen.
This will pop out a set of options, just like the WordPress.com version. However, you’ll notice a difference in the look and feel of the dashboard as well as a greater degree of control over the content you see on your site (aside from blog posts, of course).
For example, you can enter a new post in the area below the dashboard’s search bar and it will appear at the top of the homepage.
You can also add a new section to the sidebar or remove a section altogether by clicking the three dots next to the section heading.
If you want to change the look of your WordPress site’s homepage, you can do so by clicking the three dots next to the Dashboard logo in the upper left corner of your screen and selecting Settings ˇ Template.
As for the rest of the Dashboard, you can add new widgets (or display widgets) to the area below the search bar or above the sidebar. You can further personalize the dashboard by adding a profile picture or slogan to your blog’s header.
Make Changes To The Address Bar On Your Browser
The address bar is a tool used to enter domain names and access websites on the internet. In the screenshot below, you’ll see the address bar for the www.thejackmontgomery.com website.
As you can see, the address bar is currently set to display the homepage of our website. However, you can change that by simply clicking the three dots next to the Dashboard logo in the upper left corner of your screen and selecting Settings.
From here, you can set the address bar to show your blog’s homepage, enter a URL for a different site or add a new URL to your list.
Disable User Registration
User registration on your blog allows potential new subscribers to sign up for your email list. If someone wants to sign up for your list but doesn’t want to confirm their email address, they can click the Spam button next to the input field.
This will generate a spam report for the email they entered, which will look something like this (you’ll have to sign up for a free WordPress account to see this):
As a result of the spam report, their account will be temporarily disabled and they’ll have to verify their email address before they can use it again.
Set Up Email Marketing
If you’ve got an email list, you can use it to send out automated emails when new subscribers join your list or when there’s an update to an existing list. To set up email marketing, navigate to Dashboard > Activities in your WordPress dashboard.