What is a WordPress Website?
WordPress is the most popular blogging platform around currently, and it’s easy to understand why. The WordPress team has done an amazing job of creating a blogging platform that is both easy to use and accessible for beginners. If you’re interested in creating a blog, then I highly recommend you try out WordPress.
What exactly is a WordPress website?
A WordPress website is any website that is built using the WordPress platform. This platform allows users to create completely custom websites with ease. WordPress is incredibly flexible, and it has an extremely active community of users who love to help each other out. If you’re looking for a free platform that allows for massive growth potential, then I recommend you check out WordPress.
Why Should I Create a WordPress Website?
WordPress is a fantastic choice for online writers and bloggers because it is:
- Open Source: Anyone can download and use the WordPress software to build a website. This means you don’t need to pay for proprietary software to do this.
- User-friendly: Even beginners can use WordPress to build a functional website without any trouble. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll find it very easy to use.
- Secure: WordPress protects your content with various security plugins, so you don’t have to worry about any unauthorized users accessing your personal information.
- Reliable: The WordPress community verifies that this platform is extremely reliable and can be trusted. If you’re looking for a blogging platform that you can depend on, then I recommend you try out WordPress.
- Scalable: WordPress can grow with your site as you gain more experience and expertise. With the right strategies and guidance, you can have a professional-looking blog or website even if you’re a beginner.
- Extensive documentation: The WordPress community strives to make the platform as easy to use as possible, which is why there’s a very comprehensive documentation portal where you can find the answers to almost all of your questions. If you’re ever stuck and you can’t figure out how to do something on your own website, then you can always search for the answer in the documentation.
- Active: The WordPress community is always expanding and improving the platform, which ensures you’ll always be able to find the latest tools and tips to help you build the perfect blog.
As you can see, there are a lot of reasons why you might decide to create a WordPress website. Now, let’s turn our attention to the process of setting one up.
How Do I Start Building My WordPress Website?
As I mentioned earlier, WordPress is an open-source platform that allows for complete customizability. This means you can build any type of website you want using the WordPress platform. If you’re curious as to how to get started, here are some simple steps to follow:
1. Choose a theme: The first step to building a WordPress website is to select a theme from the vast array of free themes that the platform provides. You might want to start out with a clean slate and choose one of the minimalist themes for the initial setup process. Alternatively, you can choose a theme that already has the design you want, and all you need to do is start inserting content into the various areas of the site using the WordPress dashboard.
2. Install WordPress: After you’ve chosen a theme, you need to install WordPress onto your website host. This is simply a matter of downloading the WordPress software from the official website and then following the on-screen instructions to install it on your web host. For beginners, I recommend using cPanel, which is a hosting Control Panel that comes with many features commonly used by website owners and bloggers. Once you’ve installed WordPress, you’ll need to create a username and password for the site. Don’t worry — all this information will be stored on a secure and hidden part of your website where no one else will ever find it.
3. Configure the theme: After you’ve installed WordPress and created a login, you need to configure the theme. To do this, you’ll need to visit your website in a web browser and log in to the WordPress dashboard. From here, you can configure various settings for your website such as the site’s name, description, and keywords. To learn more, check out the Theme Options Reference Page in the WordPress documentation. You can also choose to disable any plugins from the dashboard as well.
4. Create content: Once you’ve configured the theme, it’s time to start creating content. You can do this by simply going to your website in a web browser and using the WordPress dashboard to enter new posts. The interface is extremely simple and easy to use. You can either write your own posts or use one of the many SEO-friendly stock templates the platform provides. If you choose the former, you’ll need to remember to research how to write an engaging blog post and use relevant keywords in your content wherever possible.
5. Customize the theme: After you’ve entered a few posts using the WordPress dashboard, it’s time to start customizing the theme. To do this, click on the “Appearance” icon in the dashboard and then select the “Customize” option. You can change the header, footer, and even the template used for the posts. You might also want to take this opportunity to choose a new theme for your site.
6. Test the site: After you’ve made all the necessary theme changes and added a few content items to your site, it’s time to test it. To do this, simply log out of the WordPress dashboard and go to your website in a web browser. If all goes well, then you can either keep the dashboard login information you created or choose to create a new login and password for your site.
7. Publish the site: Once you’ve tested the site and everything works as expected, it’s time to publish the site and share it with the world. To do this, simply log back into the WordPress dashboard and click on the “Publish” button next to the site’s name. All web browsers will then try to load the newly published site, which in turn will cause all the content to be displayed. If everything goes well, then congratulations — you’ve just created your first WordPress website.
Where Can I Go From Here?
Well, you made it all the way until the end. Congrats — you’ve just created your first WordPress website!
If you’ve been paying attention, then you’ll notice I didn’t go over how to set up a WordPress website for a business. That’s because there’s a more complicated process that you need to go through if you want to do this. However, if you’re looking for a simpler process, then you can use my simple step-by-step tutorial above to get started.