WordPress is the world’s largest contented absorption strategy (CMS)—around 810 million websites are built on it.

It’s escaped to usage and includes each the features immoderate website proprietor could need. And if it doesn’t person a diagnostic you privation oregon need, you tin person a developer make it for you due to the fact that it’s built connected open-source software.

But with each of these features travel immoderate complications. WordPress has a reasonably steep learning curve compared to different CMSes similar Wix oregon Squarespace.

I’ve built dozens of websites utilizing WordPress.org (not WordPress.com, which is simply a wholly antithetic beast) and person narrowed down the process to 9 elemental steps that anyone tin follow.

Let’s start with…

Every website built connected WordPress.org needs a domain sanction (www.thisisyourdomainname.com) and a hosting work that stores and displays your website connected the internet.

You tin bargain a domain sanction for a tiny interest from a domain sanction registrar similar NameCheap oregon GoDaddy. However, if you bargain your domain sanction and your hosting from abstracted companies, you volition request to change your website’s Domain Nameservers (DNS) to constituent your domain sanction from your registrar to your hosting company.

They look like this:

It’s a small cheaper to bash it this mode but not worthy the hassle successful my opinion. Instead, astir hosting providers (such arsenic SiteGround oregon Bluehost) tin besides merchantability you a domain sanction and link it with your website automatically, allowing you to skip messing with DNS settings.

You tin cheque retired this usher to choosing a domain name if you’re not definite what to pick.

Once you acquisition hosting, astir hosting providers person a one-click instal to acceptable up WordPress connected your website. Here are immoderate links to guides connected however to bash this with communal hosting services:

• Installing WordPress connected SiteGround
• Installing WordPress connected Bluehost
• Installing WordPress connected GoDaddy

You tin besides opt for a faster (but much expensive) dedicated hosting supplier similar Kinsta oregon WP Engine. These companies volition acceptable up WordPress for you erstwhile you bargain their hosting.

Now that you person a website with WordPress installed, let’s get into however to usage WordPress. You tin log successful to your WordPress dashboard by going to www.yourdomainname.com/wp-admin.

Once you log in, your dashboard volition look similar this (with less plugins since you’re connected a caller install):

Let maine explicate the options here:

• Posts: This is wherever you’ll make blog posts.
• Media: You tin spell present to spot each the media connected your site, specified arsenic images and videos. I typically upload media straight to my posts and pages and don’t sojourn media often.
• Pages: This is wherever you’ll make static pages connected your site, specified arsenic your homepage, astir page, and interaction page.
• Comments: Here is wherever you’ll mean immoderate blog comments.
• Appearance: This is wherever you’ll customize the quality of your website, specified arsenic your website’s theme, font type, colors, and more.
• Plugins: A plugin is an add-on to your website that adds functionality, specified arsenic customized interaction forms oregon pop-ups connected your website. I’ll sermon these successful much item later.
• Users: Here is wherever you tin adhd users to your website, specified arsenic writers, editors, and administrators.
• Settings: Pretty straightforward; present is wherever your wide website settings are located.

Now that you cognize what each enactment does, let’s get your website settings dialed in.

Your WordPress website comes with immoderate generic settings that request to beryllium changed, arsenic good arsenic immoderate things I urge changing to optimize your website for hunt engines.

Specifically, you should:

• Change your title, tagline, clip zone, and favicon.
• Change your permalink structure.
• Configure your speechmaking settings.
• Delete immoderate unused themes.
• Change your domain from HTTP to HTTPS.

Let’s locomotion done each of these steps.

Change your title, tagline, clip zone, and favicon

Head to Settings > General to find these settings. Change the rubric of your website and the tagline, which tin look underneath the rubric if you take to show it.

Next, cheque that the clip portion is close (according to your section clip zone) and upload your favicon. A favicon is the small icon that shows up successful browser tabs adjacent to the rubric of the page, like this:

You tin marque a favicon for escaped with Canva. Just marque a 50x50 plan with immoderate you privation your favicon to look like. Check retired this guide to learn more. 

Change your permalink structure

Head to Settings > Permalinks. A permalink is the URL operation your blog posts instrumentality erstwhile you people them. By default, WordPress displays the day successful your URLs, which isn’t large for SEO oregon readability.

I ever alteration this to the “Post name” enactment (/sample-post/) to adhd the rubric of the station by default. You privation to optimize each of your URLs individually erstwhile possible, but this mounting volition marque the process easier.

Configure your speechmaking settings

Head implicit to Settings > Reading to take whether you privation your homepage to beryllium a static leafage oregon if you privation it to beryllium a provender of your latest blog posts. 

Personally, I ever make a unsocial static leafage to usage arsenic my homepage due to the fact that it gives maine much power implicit the homepage. I similar to add interior links to circumstantial pages to assistance them fertile higher connected Google, arsenic good arsenic adhd an email opt-in signifier connected the homepage.

Check retired this usher to homepage SEO to learn more.

Delete immoderate unused themes 

By default, you person a fewer themes installed. Once you take a taxable successful measurement #5 below, you should delete immoderate unused themes to region vulnerabilities from your tract (hackers tin onslaught WordPress websites with outdated themes).

To bash that, spell to Appearance > Themes, click connected the unused theme, past click the reddish Delete fastener successful the bottommost right.

Change your domain from HTTP to HTTPS

The “S” successful HTTPS stands for secure. Adding this is done with an SSL certificate, and it’s an important step. It means your website is encrypted and safer for viewers.

Having HTTPS alternatively of HTTP gives you the “lock” icon adjacent to your URL—Google (and astir net users) wants to spot a unafraid website.

Most hosting providers automatically activate the unafraid mentation of your website. But sometimes, it needs to beryllium manually activated by you. Here are guides connected however to bash this with communal hosting providers:

• How to get an SSL Encryption connected SiteGround
• How to get an SSL Encryption connected GoDaddy
• How to get an SSL Encryption connected Bluehost

If your big isn’t shown here, conscionable bash a Google hunt for “[your host] SSL encryption.”

Once you’ve optimized your settings, it’s clip to commencement really gathering your website utilizing a WordPress theme. A taxable is simply a customizable template that determines what your website looks like. 

You tin browse for themes by going to Appearance > Themes, then clicking the Add new fastener astatine the apical of the page. 

The generic Twenty Twenty-Three taxable is really beauteous good. Most WordPress themes these days are optimized to amusement up successful hunt engines and for requirements of the modern user, specified arsenic being mobile-friendly. 

However, immoderate themes person a batch of added bloat that tin dilatory a website down, truthful take a taxable that lone has the features you request without extras you won’t use.

Alternatively, if you don’t similar immoderate themes oregon privation thing that’s much drag-and-drop, you tin usage a website builder similar Elementor oregon Thrive Architect. These tools marque gathering a website highly easy, but they bash adhd bloat that tin dilatory a website down.

I usage Elementor to physique my websites but lone usage it to physique static pages that I privation to person well. Then I usage the built-in Guttenberg exertion for my blog posts.

If you determine to spell with a regular taxable alternatively than a taxable builder, you tin edit the taxable by going to Appearance > Customize. You’ll beryllium taken to the pursuing editor:

Depending connected the taxable you installed, you whitethorn person much oregon less options than the screenshot above. Rather than trying to screen each enactment you whitethorn encounter, I’ll conscionable urge that you spell done each enactment to spot what it does. 

For the astir part, the options are self-explanatory. If you deed a snag, you tin ever bash a Google hunt for that enactment successful your taxable to spot forum posts from different users oregon adjacent the theme’s FAQ oregon manual.

After you’ve selected a theme, you tin commencement gathering your website’s pages. Every website typically needs astatine slightest the pursuing pages:

• A homepage
• A interaction page
• An about page
• A privateness argumentation page
• A presumption of work page

Rather than going done however you should make each of these pages, I’ll notation you to the pursuing guides:

• How to Create a Custom Home Page successful WordPress
• 21 Tips, Tricks & Examples for a Rocking Contact Us Page
• How to Write the Best About Us Page

Keep successful caput that your privateness argumentation and presumption of work (ToS) pages volition alteration depending connected the state you unrecorded in. If you’re successful the U.S., you tin travel this usher for privateness policies and this usher for ToS pages.

That said, determination are immoderate wide tips you should travel erstwhile gathering immoderate leafage connected your website. In general, marque definite that your font is casual to work and a bully disposable size (18–20px is typical), your colors match, and you debar excessively overmuch clutter.

Here’s a bully illustration of a webpage that is clean, legible, and thought out:

Here’s an illustration of a webpage that has excessively overmuch clutter and displays an advertisement implicit fractional the page, causing confusion:

In general, little is much and legibility is amended than fancy fonts.

One of the champion parts of utilizing WordPress is entree to its massive room of plugins. 

A plugin is simply a customized portion of codification written by a developer that anyone tin instal connected their WordPress website successful bid to adhd circumstantial functionality to the site, specified arsenic a interaction form, other customization options, oregon SEO features.

You tin instal a caller plugin 1 of 2 ways. Head implicit to Plugins > Add New. From here, you tin either:

1. Browse the plugins straight connected this page, past instal and activate them directly.
2. Download a plugin .zip record from the plugin’s website, past click the Upload plugin button astatine the apical of the surface and upload the .zip file.

While galore plugins are free, immoderate are paid oregon person a premium paid version. It depends connected what you need. However, I ever instal the pursuing escaped plugins connected my websites:

Rank Math: This plugin makes basal on-page SEO easier. It tells you if you’re missing basal things similar metadata, representation alt text, and more. It besides allows you to make a robots.txt file and a sitemap, which are important for hunt engines to crawl your website the mode you want.

Wordfence: This is simply a information plugin to assistance forestall your website from being hacked. I ever instal immoderate benignant of information plugin connected my sites.

Insert Headers and Footers: One of the things you’ll often find yourself needing to bash is insert codification into the header oregon footer of your pages. You request to bash this for everything from mounting up Google Analytics and Google Search Console to adding the Facebook Remarketing pixel and more. Having this plugin makes it overmuch easier to adhd this code.

Keep successful caput that installing a batch of plugins connected your website tin origin codification bloat and dilatory down your loading speeds, truthful lone instal plugins that you truly need. 

Now you cognize each the basics of however to usage WordPress. But different important happening I privation to speech about, which is astir apt wherefore you wanted to commencement a WordPress website successful the archetypal place—how to make contented for your blog.

Writing blog posts is an indispensable portion of showing up connected hunt engines similar Google, having thing to stock connected societal media, and attracting much visitors to your website.

What you constitute astir depends connected your goals. I ever commencement with immoderate basic keyword research to fig retired what radical are searching for connected Google that relates to my website.

A speedy and casual mode to bash this is by plugging a wide keyword into Ahrefs’ escaped keyword generator tool to get immoderate keyword ideas. 

For example, if I’m starting a website astir farming, I whitethorn benignant “farm” into the tool. I tin spot keyword ideas similar “farming insurance” and “vertical farming,” which are 2 imaginable blog topics I tin write about.

If I privation to get a small much specific, I tin effort a keyword similar “how to commencement a farm.” This gives maine ideas similar “how to commencement a workplace with nary money” and “how to commencement a workplace in texas.”

Try antithetic effect keywords—both wide keywords and much circumstantial ones—to travel up with immoderate blog topics. Once you person a fewer ideas, spell up and outline the article and past constitute it and people it.

Check retired our usher to penning a blog post to learn more.

A regular portion of maintaining your WordPress website is keeping plugins and themes up to date, arsenic good arsenic monitoring your website’s method health.

WordPress automatically notifies you of updates to your plugins oregon themes with a reddish ellipse adjacent to Dashboard > Updates. Log successful to your dashboard astatine slightest erstwhile a week to update everything.

Beyond play updates, usage the escaped Ahrefs Webmaster Tools to tally a method audit connected your tract and spot immoderate issues your tract whitethorn have, specified arsenic breached links, missing metadata, oregon dilatory loading speeds. 

If you click the All issues tab, you tin spot each contented your tract has—with an overview of what the contented is and however to hole it if you click connected the ? icon.

You’ll besides get email alerts erstwhile thing connected your tract changes, specified arsenic a nexus breaking oregon a leafage returning a 404 code. It’s a adjuvant instrumentality to automatically show your WordPress site.

Final thoughts

Congratulations, you present cognize the basics of utilizing WordPress. It whitethorn person a ample learning curve, but learning however to usage this CMS is 1 of the astir invaluable skills you tin person successful today’s integer age.

You tin usage your WordPress website to make wealth blogging, beforehand your services arsenic a freelancer, oregon adjacent merchantability products online. Knowing however to physique a website is astir mandatory these days for anyone who wants to commencement a business.