Imagine that you have decided to start a blog, online store, portfolio, or a corporate page about your company. How to do it if you don’t understand programming languages and don’t have enough money to hire a developer? In this step-by-step guide, we’ll show you how to create a WordPress website from scratch. The guide will be useful to those who are going to launch their first platform. So, let’s start!
8 Steps to Build Your WordPress Site
Building a website on WP is a free and relatively fast process. This is because the platform’s program code is public and programmers from all over the world are constantly improving it. Therefore, WordPress has thousands of ready-made themes and plugins. However, professional WordPress website development is still the best solution, because you don’t waste your time on configuration and get a predictable result.
However, if you decided to do everything on your own or make sure that the development team performed their job accurately, here are the eight stages of building the site on WordPress:
1) Choice of a Niche (Topic)
The first stage in website creation is the selection of a topic. You should immediately define what your project will be about and try to follow it. Remember, the more specific it is, the fewer competitors you will have. Forget about further stages until you shape a clear idea of your site.
2) Hosting Acquisition
After choosing a theme, it is time to buy hosting. Remember that moving to another hosting is time-consuming and sometimes it can be even dangerous for the site or its promotion. Therefore, you need to immediately choose a good hosting to avoid another migration. Good hosting should:
- Provide smooth operation of the site;
- Have quick and qualified support;
- Work on modern hardware and software;
- Have a lot of good reviews.
3) Domain Acquisition
Most hosting providers let you register domains directly in your personal account. You need to check the history of the domain and make sure that it does not have a bad reputation. The domain must meet the following criteria:
- It should match the theme of your site;
- It should be easy to remember;
- It must be either in your geographic area (.eu/.us/.uk) or international (.com/.org).
4) WP installation
After purchasing a hosting and domain, you need to install WordPress on the site. Most hostings allow you to install the CMS automatically, and there is a special tab in the control panel for this purpose. You can also install WordPress manually, but it requires some experience.
5) Theme Selection/Creation
The design of the website depends on the theme chosen. There are thousands of themes created for WordPress with different designs and functionality. A WordPress theme should meet the following criteria:
- Be adaptive — work well on PCs and mobile devices;
- Be customizable — choose those templates that provide this opportunity;
- Load fast — the site with a chosen theme should not make users wait for loading.
Finally, you can also order to create a unique theme that will be developed according to your individual requirements.
6) Plugins
WordPress plugins are small software modules that extend the functionality of the site. It is necessary to install plugins and get the necessary functions. However, the site should not have too many plugins, because their redundancy prevents quick page load. If you can not find a plugin meeting your expectations, it is possible to order the development of plugins with the required functionality.
7) Content Creation
Content creation is the first step in website promotion. It may include articles, pictures, videos, animations, etc. Content should meet the following requirements: be unique, relevant, diverse, helpful, and truthful. It is crucial to regularly post new content so that your platform is ranked well by search engines.
8) Further Tasks
Now all the development stages are finished. Do not forget to connect social networks to the site. Today, this promotion mechanism will generate most of the traffic to the project, especially at the initial stage. To improve the website promotion, you should get backlinks to it from other sites. It will speed up the indexing because links will become a source of additional traffic, and the site’s SEO will be improved accordingly.
Do you have any questions left? Leave them in the comments below.