Starting a Website Is Easier Than You Think. Here’s How to Build a WordPress Website From Scratch

Whether you’re creating a professional portfolio, a blog or an e-commerce store, WordPress is an excellent tool for building your online presence. You won’t need to learn a line of code or become a tech expert to use it, either. But there is something of a learning curve, which is why I’ve created this guide on how to build a WordPress website, rooted in my experience of working with WordPress for 16 years.

I’ll show you how to do everything necessary to start your website, from choosing your domain to setting up core pages. I’ll also leave you with some tips for launching your website after it’s built.

How to build a WordPress website

This guide focuses on WordPress.org, a free content management system you can install on virtually any web hosting server and its associated technology, rather than the paid web host WordPress.com. I’ve chosen this focus because WordPress.org gives you more flexibility in both functionality and price, making it a better option for most users than WordPress.com. 

Choose a domain that makes your site easy to find

There’s a good chance you’ve already got an idea for a domain -- the address people will use to access your website -- but it’s not always wise to go with the first domain that comes to mind. If you want people to easily be able to find, access and share your website, it needs to fit certain criteria:

• It should be relevant to your site’s topic or industry so people will readily associate it with your brand. You can enhance your site's relevance by incorporating keywords to boost its SEO. For example, you might want to include the word “photos” or “photography” in your domain if you’re building a photography portfolio.
• It should be easy to say and spell so that people can easily find it again and share it with others. You don’t want people to have to Google it, as this may lead them to competitors’ websites that appear in search results.
• It should be unique, as you don’t want people to confuse your site with someone else’s.

Moreover, I recommend choosing a domain you can get the .com extension for. People are more likely to trust a site with a .com extension. They’re also more likely to remember a site with a .com extension. If the .com extension for your intended domain isn’t available, you can use a domain name generator like DomainWheel to create similar domain names that are still available.

I also recommend buying your domain from a dedicated domain registrar. You will need to pay an additional fee upfront (as opposed to using the free domain for the first-year benefit that many web hosts provide) but the long-term costs are often lower when you use a domain registrar. Using a domain registrar can also make it easier to manage your domain and transfer your domain to a new host if you decide to switch web hosting companies down the line.

Choose a web hosting plan with a good balance of features and affordability

Next, you’ll need to buy web server space -- purchased through a website hosting plan -- to store your site on. To choose the right web hosting plan, pay close attention to:

• The type of web hosting: I recommend shared hosting or WordPress hosting to start, as these options are the simplest to operate. They’re also the least expensive options, often starting at $2 to $5 per month, making them ideal for building a site on a budget.
• Bandwidth/data transfer: Used interchangeably on many web hosting sites, bandwidth and data transfer dictate the number of visitors your site can handle each month. Look for a plan that can handle at least 10,000 visitors per month, giving your site room to grow.
• Storage space: This is the amount of data, like images and text content, that the server space you’re renting from your host can store. You can typically host 10 large pages (like product pages with lots of high-res images) or 100 small pages (like blog posts with only one or two images) per 1GB of storage.
• Server performance: Your host should provide at least 99.9% uptime and servers capable of delivering a site speed of less than three seconds.
• Security: Your host should provide SSL certification to ensure data sent to and from your site is encrypted, and firewall protection to block viruses and other malware trying to infiltrate your site. The company may also use additional systems to enhance website security.
• WordPress features: Some hosts offer specialized features like guided WordPress installation to simplify website creation and automated WordPress updates to streamline site maintenance.
• Price: Many web hosting plans start as low as $3 per month, but they often have significantly higher renewal costs. Pay close attention to both what you’ll pay now and what you’ll pay when your contract renews.

I recommend SiteGround, Hostinger or Liquid Web (formerly Nexcess) for most users. SiteGround offers guided WordPress installation, solid server performance and best-in-class customer service. SiteGround’s plans start at $3 per month, offering sufficient storage to host at least 100 pages and enough bandwidth for 10,000 monthly visitors, but the renewal rate is a whopping $18 per month. This makes SiteGround great for business websites, but less than ideal for a site you don’t intend to monetize.

Hostinger provides a similar guided process for installing WordPress and excellent server performance. Hostinger’s lowest-tier plan starts at $3 per month, offering sufficient storage for at least 250 pages and unlimited bandwidth. This plan also has a lower renewal cost than SiteGround, at just $11 per month. This makes it ideal for hobbyists or bloggers concerned about long-term costs. However, you should only choose Hostinger if you’re confident in your ability to learn how to perform most web hosting tasks, as its customer service is mediocre.

Liquid Web plans feature a WordPress management center and other plug-ins for improving site functionality, such as Object Cache Pro, which can boost site speed. Liquid Web uses an unusual pricing model, with the best plan for most users -- featuring enough storage for at least 150 pages and enough bandwidth for 2 million monthly visitors -- starting at $8 per month and staying at $8 per month on renewal. This means a bigger investment upfront, but can save you money over time, making Liquid Web great for business owners concerned about budget.

Install WordPress on your web server

With your plan selected, it’s time to install WordPress! Most web hosts offer one-click installation directly from the account dashboard, while some require you to go to the cPanel (a server and website management platform) or an installation tool called Softaculous. The latter process is a little more complicated, but once you’ve found the WordPress install button, you can complete the setup in a few clicks.

Some hosts, like SiteGround, also provide guided WordPress installation wizards. These tools help you select and preinstall a theme and plug-ins based on your site’s purpose and desired functionality. 

These tools may limit you to themes and plug-ins recommended by the host. This isn’t an issue with plug-ins, as there’s a standard set of excellent plug-ins (like WooCommerce and Yoast SEO) suggested by most web hosts, but it can be problematic when you’re searching for a theme. Still, these suggestions can make building your WordPress site less overwhelming, and you can change your theme right away if you don’t like what you find.

Choose a theme that meets your needs

WordPress themes are site templates that act as starting points for designing your site. You can access the theme library, which has tens of thousands of free options, by going to Appearance > Theme and clicking Add New.

You’ll see popular themes here by default, with options to switch to the latest themes or block themes (themes that enable a higher level of customization by using WordPress blocks for all site areas). You can also use the search filters to list themes based on industry (like fashion), functionality (like a blog) or layout (like a grid layout for displaying photos).

There are a few things to consider when choosing a theme:

• Functionality: Your theme should provide attractive and functional layout options for every type of page you’ll need, such as your contact page and about page. Pay special attention to how the blog and e-commerce pages are laid out, as these vary significantly. Some themes also have specialized functionality, such as review systems or built-in image sliders.
• Flexibility: You’ll want a theme that lets you customize most aspects of your site design, especially font and color schemes for various areas of your site. Some themes also offer custom blocks or other advanced tools to enable further site customization.
• Free vs. premium: Free themes are perfect for most blogs and hobby sites. They can even be great for business websites. However, premium themes -- or paid versions of free themes -- can provide more design customization options and may offer additional functionality through custom blocks or other tools.
• Weight: The “weight” of a theme is the amount of code used to create its design and functionality. Heavy themes can decrease site speed, while using a lightweight theme -- one with minimized and optimized code -- can increase site speed, providing a more pleasant experience for your visitors.

Personally, I recommend Neve or Total. Both are fast, lightweight themes with impressive flexibility that has allowed me to use them across a variety of sites. They offer free versions with everything you need for most sites, plus premium versions with increased customization options and functionality, including unique blocks for various content types.

Configure your theme

Next, you’ll want to configure your theme to match your brand and goals. To do this, head to Appearance > Customize, which opens the WordPress Customizer.

The options visible here vary based on the theme you choose (the site pictured above uses Neve), but there are a few things most themes let you customize:

• Color scheme: Colors of the site background, menu, text and links (found in the Global section of Neve’s customizer menu).
• Sidebar layout: Whether a sidebar exists and where it’s placed (found in the Global section of Neve’s customizer menu).
• Homepage settings: Whether your site’s homepage link (yourdomain.com) displays your blog or another page of your site.
• Blog: How blog posts are laid out, what order they’re displayed in and how many appear per page in the blog section of your site.
• Header and footer: The images, links and other content that appear in your header and footer.
• Menus: What menus appear on your site and where they go.

I recommend taking some time to read about the 10 core principles of web design before you start this customization. These principles -- such as leaving white space and using bold colors or text to draw the eye to the most important elements -- will help you build a website that’s both effective and attractive. 

Install plug-ins to build the functionality you need

Your next step in building a WordPress site is to enhance its functionality with plug-ins, third-party extensions used to do everything from SEO optimization to building an e-commerce store. You can find -- and easily install -- thousands of free plug-ins by going to Plug-ins > Add New within the WordPress dashboard.

The plug-ins you’ll need depend on your site’s purpose. For example, you’ll only need WooCommerce if you plan to sell products. However, there are a few plug-ins I recommend for every WordPress site:

• Yoast SEO: A suite of tools for optimizing both your overall website and individual posts or pages to make your content more likely to rank on search engines. Yoast also lets you control the words and images associated with links posted to social media.
• Independent Analytics: A plug-in for tracking visitors to your site, including where they come from, the pages they view and time spent on your site. All of this is displayed in an easy-to-understand dashboard so you can understand how various content types are performing.
• Limit Login Attempts Reloaded: A security plug-in that makes it harder for malicious users to break into your account by limiting the number of times they can attempt to log in. This plug-in also lets you block or whitelist IPs for further security.
• CleanTalk: A filtration plug-in that scans form submissions, comments and forum posts submitted to your site for signs of scam, blocking those it deems suspicious.
• Easy Social Media Share Buttons: A plug-in that makes it easy to set up buttons allowing visitors to share your pages and posts on various social media platforms.
• WP Forms: A plug-in for creating contact forms, lead generation forms and more.

The free versions of these plug-ins provide enough features for most users, with premium versions available for folks who want more advanced functionality.

You may also want to consider some premium-only plug-ins, especially if you’re planning to monetize your site. For example, if you want to run a paid membership program, you can choose a free plug-in, but you’ll get much more versatility out of a premium plug-in like MemberPress.

Create essential pages to fulfill your site’s purpose

The time has come to populate your site with pages. The pages you’ll need depend on the type of website you’re building, but there are a few core pages almost every site needs:

• Home page: An introduction to your website’s topic or purpose and why folks should trust your site. You’ll also want to feature at least one call to action, or CTA, encouraging people to check out a specific piece of content, product or service. Many homepages feature multiple CTAs, which can be an effective strategy -- just make sure you space them out so folks see one CTA at a time.
• About page: A more detailed explanation of who you are, what your brand is and the story behind it.
• Contact page: A space where folks can find an email address or a contact form to submit questions and comments through, or both.
• Newsletter page: A landing page dedicated to getting folks to sign up for your newsletter, with a strong pitch and a signup form.

You can create pages by going to Pages > Add New and using the Gutenberg editor (the default WordPress block editor) to add various types of content. The core editor features blocks for images, texts, buttons and other key elements.

You can extend the Gutenberg editor’s functionality with a plug-in like Stackable, which gives you access to a variety of blocks not included in the default editor. You can also use a page builder like Elementor for more complete control of block placement and other aspects of your page layout. Some page builders even provide templates for certain page types, like contact pages, to help you get started.

Optional: Write your first blog post to draw your audience in

If you’re planning to run a blog -- or even have a blog-style news section on your site -- you’ll want to publish something on it before you launch your site. There are two schools of thought on what this post should actually be, with some folks suggesting an introduction post while others recommend diving right into your topic with an informational article.

Personally, I think the best approach depends on the purpose of your blog:

• If your blog will be a core component of your site, I recommend starting with an informational article. This can be a post about one of your products or services if you’re running a business site, but its focus should be on demonstrating your expertise and answering a specific question for your audience.
• If your blog is primarily a receptacle for brand news, I recommend starting with an announcement. This can be an announcement about the launch of your website or a new product or service you’re launching alongside your site.

Regardless of the topic, there are a few blogging best practices you should follow:

• Choose a core keyword or key phrase: Select one word or phrase you want your article to rank highly for on search engines. You can then build your content around this keyword, looking for opportunities to naturally include it in the article. Just remember that you need to keep its inclusion organic, as keyword stuffing can actually reduce your odds of ranking.
• Keep your paragraphs short: Shorter paragraphs are easier to read on mobile devices, which is important because over 64% of all internet traffic comes from these devices.
• Focus on value: Your content -- yes, even in an announcement -- should focus on solving a problem to maximize value for your readers.
• Include a call to action: The end of every post should ask your readers to do something, whether that’s leaving a comment, subscribing to your newsletter or checking out a product or service.

And of course, make sure you thoroughly edit your article. You want to make a good first impression! If you’re a small business, solopreneur or standalone blogger, you can always use Grammarly to assist with your own proofreading.

Pro tip: If you’re building a blog with evergreen informational articles, you can set your links to appear without dates. This is done in Settings > Permalinks and can prevent your content from seeming out of date within a few months of it coming out. However, you may want to keep the dates in your links if your blog exists to share site or brand news, as this helps folks know when they need to look for newer information.

Final thoughts on how to build a WordPress site and how to launch it

From choosing a domain to creating your first content, building a WordPress site is a highly involved process -- but it doesn’t have to be difficult. Many web hosts provide tools to assist with WordPress installation, and resources like this one can help you find good themes and plug-ins to build your site with.

But there is another, bigger step after you build your site: launching it. I recommend setting a launch date at least 30 days out from your WordPress install so you have time to perfect the design and content. This also gives you time to build up excitement on social media and ask friends or colleagues to help you promote it on launch day.

Most of all, remember that even launching your site is just the beginning of the journey. Success rarely finds us on launch day, but if you stick with creating great content -- and great products or services -- your site will eventually find the loyal audience you need to accomplish your goals.