As the internet has become an integral part of our lives, it is not just a platform for communication anymore but has turned out to be one of the most potential medium of business. The easiest and practical way to have an online presence is to have a website. And for creating the website, WordPress is one of the best and simplest platforms available. It has made website creation easy and intuitive even for those who don’t have any prior experience of website building. In this article, we will discuss step-by-step how to create a stunning website with WordPress.
Step 1: Determine Your Website Purpose
Before starting to design the website, it’s important to determine the purpose of the website. The website should fulfill its intended purpose, whether it’s creating brand awareness, online selling, or providing information. The website design depends on the reason for creating the website.
Step 2: Choose a Platform
WordPress is a powerful platform for creating a website because it is easy to use, and it has a wide range of plugins and templates available that you can use. Once you’ve decided on WordPress, you can choose to either host it on WordPress.com or host it yourself.
If you want to host it yourself, it is necessary to have a domain name and a hosting provider. A domain name is the name of your website, and the hosting provider is where your website will be stored on the internet.
Step 3: Choose a Domain and Hosting
A domain name is the address of the website, and choosing the right domain name is essential. It should be simple, memorable, and easy to spell. There are many domain registrar companies available, such as Bluehost, GoDaddy, Namecheap, and more.
Hosting is the place where your website is stored online. There are many hosting service providers available that provide website hosting services at various prices. It’s important to choose the right hosting service provider depending on the website’s requirements.
Step 4: Install WordPress
Most hosting providers make WordPress installation easy. You can install it using one-click installations like Softaculous in cPanel, or you can install it manually.
Step 5: Choose a Theme
The theme of the website sets the tone for the entire site. WordPress has a wide range of free and paid themes available. The theme should suit the purpose of the website and should be visually pleasing. Some popular paid theme providers are Elegant Themes, Themeforest, and StudioPress.
Step 6: Install Plugins
Plugins add functionality to the website. There are a lot of free and paid plugins available that can be installed to add different features to the website, such as contact forms, galleries, social media integration, and many more. Some popular free plugin providers are Jetpack, WPForms, and Yoast SEO.
Step 7: Create Pages
The essential pages that should be part of every website are the Homepage, About Us, Contact Us, and Blog. Page creation is straightforward in WordPress. Using the drag-and-drop page builders like Elementor, you can easily create the pages without any coding.
Step 8: Configure Settings
After creating the pages, it’s important to configure the website settings. You can change the website title, tagline, logo, and favicon from the WordPress dashboard. You can also configure the permalinks, comments, user registration, and other site settings.
Step 9: Create Blog Posts
Blog posting is one of the best ways to attract visitors to the website and create organic traffic. WordPress has a built-in blogging platform that makes it easy to create and publish blog posts. You can add images, videos, and other multimedia to the post to make it informative and more visually appealing.
Step 10: Install Security and Maintenance Plugins
Security and maintenance are important aspects of website creation. Install security plugins like Wordfence or Malcare to protect the website from hackers and attacks. Maintenance plugins like WP-Optimize or WP-Sweep can be installed to improve website speed and performance.
Creating a website with WordPress is easy and straightforward. The process involves choosing a domain name, hosting, theme, and plugins to make the website visually appealing and functional. Creating pages, configuring settings, and creating blog posts are essential steps in creating a stunning website. By following these steps, anyone can create a stunning website with WordPress irrespective of technical knowledge or prior experience. Finally, maintain security and regularly update the website to make it more secure and fast.