In this WordPress guide, I will show you step by step how to create your own website with WordPress. This tutorial is written for beginners. This means that you will learn how to build a website without a programmer and web designer that you will be really proud of. WordPress is the most popular content management system for creating websites. Everything you need for a professional website can be implemented with it. But the many options often overwhelm beginners so they give up on their dream of starting their own website altogether. With this guide, that doesn’t have to happen!
I’ll explain everything to you step by step and I’ll also tell you the shortcuts for building a beautiful and professional website, which I had to painstakingly learn over the last 20 years by working nights on the computer.
Why is WordPress the ideal platform for a website or blog?
WordPress is a great platform that offers you a lot of freedom. Since WordPress is an open-source platform, you don’t have to pay any monthly fees with WordPress like with other platforms such as Wix, Squarespace, or Weebly.
WordPress offers you all the options to design your website according to your taste and needs. You are not limited to pre-made designs and you can change the design of your website at any time without having to hire a programmer or web designer.
You can also expand your website with plugins at any time without limits. This allows you to add new features and functions to your website as you need them. For example, you can easily add a contact form, an online shop, or a booking system to your website with just a few clicks.
All this makes WordPress the most flexible platform for creating websites. And that’s why I recommend WordPress to all my students and clients who want to create their own website.
Let’s get started right away…
Step 1 – Order domain & hosting
Choose a web host to host your website on
To install WordPress you need 2 things:
- a domain (website address such as: mynewwebsite.com)
- Web hosting (the server on which your website is stored)
The WordPress platform itself is free.
But a domain and web hosting cost 5-8 dollars a month.
With your own domain, your website has an individual internet address. It just looks more professional – and doesn’t cost the world.
And with a good web host, your website will load quickly and won’t be unavailable for hours at a time.
Both of these have a positive effect on your Google rankings.
After all, people who are interested in your content should also be able to find your website – am I right?!
How to get a domain & web hosting?
There are about as many web hosting providers as there is sand in the desert.
When I created my first website, I must have spent a whole day looking for the best and cheapest web hosting.
Today, I value my time far more than the few dollars I could save by doing endless research.
I also know that a web hosting offer that is too cheap always has a catch.
Either the service doesn’t fit or there are hidden costs somewhere that you only notice later.
I know your time is precious.
That’s why I’ll spare you a long comparison now and simply recommend the provider that most WordPress experts recommend and that I also use myself: Bluehost
My web hosting recommendation
Bluehost is cheap, has professional support, and everything you need to build a website that loads fast is hack-proof and complies with the latest data protection regulations.
You can use it to create an unlimited number of WordPress websites, get a domain for free, email addresses with your domain name – and all for less than 5 dollars a month.
With Bluehost, you can automatically install WordPress and get started right away. Click Here To Start With Bluehost!
A support team you can rely on
If problems do arise – simply write to the 24h support or speak to a technical expert from Bluehost by phone
Compared to the support of other web-hosting providers, they know what they are talking about and will then show you the right solution quickly and competently.
Step 1: Visit Bluehost
Register with Bluehost with your name and then you will be automatically guided through the registration process. After you have filled out everything, you now have to choose your web hosting package.
Step 2: Choose your web hosting package
If you click on the image above you will be taken to the selection of the web hosting package.
I recommend the Basic or Plus package because with it you can also install free SSL certificates and you get a domain for free.
SSL is a security certificate and if you don’t have one, modern browsers will tell you that your website is not secure because the data is not transmitted in encrypted form.
In addition, with the Plus package, you share the server with only half as many other customers.
As a result, your website loads faster and this has a positive effect on your Google rankings.
Click on “Select” for the Plus package to continue.
Step 3: Choose your domain name
A few ideas for choosing your new internet address:
- If you want to create a website for your company: yourcompany.com
- If you want to create a website for yourself: firstnamelastname.com
- Or the domain describes what your new WordPress blog is about: e.g.: MyFirstBlog.com
You can also check live whether your favorite domain name is still available. Try to be creative, but don’t make your new domain name too long. Check out: InstantDomainSearch.com
Is there anything to consider regarding search engine optimization?
Previously, Google automatically ranked domains containing certain keywords higher for searches for those keywords.
But this was exploited by many. That’s why it doesn’t do much today.
Under no circumstances should your domain correspond exactly to the search term with which you want to be found on Google.
Because Google can even rate it negatively.
Should I use one of the new domain extensions?
There are also many new domain extensions, such as .blog, .training, .shop, .design, etc. Opinions are divided into these new domains.
Some do not recommend using these domains under any circumstances because they are still too unknown.
Others swear by it because they think it allows you to choose domains that better describe what the site is about.
I myself believe that these domains can become very valuable later on when they are better known. That’s why I bought the domain from my hometown kensington.city, for example.
But at the moment the new domain extensions are still rather unknown. Therefore I would try to register a domain with the well-known extensions .com, .net, .org, or .page.
Order your own domain
If you enter the domain you can see which domains are still available.
Select your desired domain and click NEXT.
You can still order new domains for your website and change them later.
So make up your mind so you can move on as soon as possible.
Step 4: Enter data
To order web hosting you have to enter your personal data. After all, Bluehost wants to know who they are dealing with.
If you specify a company, you can also pay for web hosting by invoice.
I recommend you check these points. So your web hosting package is perfectly equipped.
After that, all you have to do is enter your credit or debit card information and your web hosting is ready!
Step 5: Complete the order
In the next step, you enter your cell phone number.
You will later receive a code to this number, which you will need to complete the order.
Then you have to enter your account details.
Bluehost will conveniently debit the fee for your web hosting from this account.
You are not bound by a contract with Bluehost.
That means you can unsubscribe at any time and switch to another hoster. But if you sign a longer contract, you get up to a 20% discount.
At the end, you will be shown an overview of your order.
You will then receive an e-mail with the login data for setting up your new website.
Todo list before the next step:
- Decide on a domain that best represents your internet project or company.
- Book a web hosting package on which you can install WordPress and save the content of your website.
Step 2 – Install WordPress
How to install the content management system WordPress
Ok, at this point you are already the proud owner of your own domain and you have a web hosting for storing your website content.
Now we can really get started. 🙂
The first thing we need to do is install WordPress so you can start building your website.
Install WordPress
In the e-mail that you received from your web host, you will find the access data for the administration system with which you can install WordPress.
With the web host Bluehost, you will find the access data in the confirmation email.
As soon as you are logged in, click on “Hosting” and “Home”. Now you can see a few buttons and options to choose from.
Then you come to a list of different software tools that you can install with a few clicks.
Here you select One-Click-Install and click on the button.
Then you select the domain on which you want to create your new website.
In the next step, a database is created. Here you can leave everything as it is and just click NEXT
Finally, enter a username, an email address, and a password for the WordPress login.
With a click on “Install WordPress”, WordPress will be installed automatically by the system.
You’ve already made it!
Now we can really start building your website…
Step 3 – Adjust content and website
Learn how to create pages and add content with WordPress
You now have WordPress installed. Now the real fun starts!
In the following, I will explain the basic functions of WordPress that you should know for the structure of the homepage.
WordPress login to the admin area
You’ll already see a temporary website under your domain.
This is also called the frontend – this is the interface that your visitors see.
The great thing about WordPress now is that there is also a backend.
The backend is the WordPress administration interface that only you have access to.
In this admin area, you can add text and images and design your website – even if you have no programming knowledge.
WordPress then generates the code and all the functionality of the website for you.
How do I log into WordPress?
Just append /wp-admin to the domain you installed on and you will be taken directly to the following login area.
So visit www.yourDomain.com/wp-admin
In this login area, you then enter the username and password that you selected when installing WordPress.
What if I forgot the WordPress password?
You will find the WordPress access data in the e-mail from Bluehost with the subject: “Access data for your WordPress installation”.
Or click on the “Lost your password?” link below the login. You will then be sent an email with which you can reset your password.
The WordPress dashboard
In the following screenshot, you can see the WordPress Dashboard, the home page of the WP admin area.
The dashboard gives you a brief overview of your WordPress website.
The navigation bar is displayed on the left edge of the screen in the entire admin area of WordPress.
Here you can insert the content of your website, change the design and navigation of your website, install WordPress plugins and set all settings.
I’ll explain to you now how it all works.
But before that, I’ll explain the absolute basics of planning a successful website.
Because I know from some experience that planning is a step that you should definitely not skip.
Basics about planning a website
Please believe me: If you take a little time for website planning in the beginning to plan your website, then you will save yourself a lot of time in the end.
Grab a pen and paper and answer the following questions:
- Website goals: What do I want to achieve with the website?
- Target group: Who do I want to address with the website?
- Navigation: Which points are included in the navigation?
- Content: What content do I want to publish?
Select a design template (theme).
WordPress themes are design templates for your website that you can easily integrate and customize with just one click.
With themes, you can create really professional and beautiful websites without any design or programming knowledge.
In my opinion, they are the most important thing and the key to a high-quality website if you are a beginner and have not often created a website!
In the following, I explain how you can install free themes from the WordPress dashboard.
Install WordPress theme
In the left column of the WordPress dashboard, click on DESIGN -> THEMES.
By clicking on the ADD button you will be redirected to the page where you can search for new free themes.
In the following bar, you can either search for themes with keywords or you can click on the filter by functions and thus limit the display to themes that have certain functions that you need for your website.
I recommend the free ASTRA theme to start with. Or if you want to go with a really good premium WordPress theme, you can use the Divi Theme. >>Click Here To Visit The Divi Page<<
To install this theme, enter “Browse Themes” – “Astra”.
With a click on the INSTALL button, your new WordPress theme will be installed.
Hover with your mouse over the Astra Theme and click on install. After the astra theme is installed, you can click on activate. After the activation, you will see a message from astra where you can click on start. Now Astra will show you a few pre made themes from which you can choose your favorite design. Astra also imports all demo content, which you can later change or delete.
Then click on ACTIVATE.
And your homepage will appear in the new layout without your texts and settings being changed.
Pretty awesome – right?!
You can choose from many different free and ready-made astra designs. When installing Astra, you should click on the Elementor editor and select the Elementor editor because Elementor is the simplest WordPress frontend editor.
If you want to see what free Astra templates are available, you can click HERE!
Customize the theme with the customizer
With the Theme Customizer, you can customize the colors, fonts, and layout of your theme.
To do this, simply click on DESIGN > CUSTOMIZER
Then the following page will open. In the left column, you can select the various setting options.
The settings options depend on the theme you are using.
And when you’re done, just click the PUBLISH button.
The best free WordPress themes
I recommend the free WordPress themes Astra, GeneratePress, and OceanWP to start with.
These are really good templates that are programmed cleanly, load really quickly, and are very easy to use.
These themes are free. But the providers also offer a paid version with additional functions. (But you don’t need the pro versions of the individual themes, to begin with. In the beginning, the free versions of the themes will suffice!)
If you want to save yourself a lot of time and nerves when building your website, then there is something else that makes building beautiful websites incredibly easy.
I will tell you more about this at the end of this article.
But before we get to that, I want to explain some basics about how to use WP.
The best premium WordPress theme
If you want to have more functions on your website and want to be more flexible with your new WordPress website, you can of course use a premium WordPress theme like Divi. Divi is the most popular paid premium WordPress themes out there.
With the Divi theme, you also get the Divi website builder tool which is very easy to handle.
So if you’re on the look for a premium WordPress theme, make sure to Check Out The Divi Theme.
Create pages and insert texts
Clicking on Pages in the left bar will show you all the pages that are currently on your website.
Click CREATE to add new pages.
Give your page a title, such as “About Me.” (If you’re using Astra, these pages are already generated for you, you only have to edit these pages)
In the large field, you enter the text of the page.
When you edit your pages with Elementor it’s pretty easy, you can select elements and place them where you want. When you insert an element, you can edit it however you want.
How do I insert images into a page?
To insert images into a page, simply click on the place where you want the image to appear in the text.
And then on the ADD MEDIA button.
Then you select the image you want from your computer and it will be automatically uploaded to WordPress.
Now you can also choose the size of the image and the alignment – i.e. whether it should be positioned on the right, left, or centered on the page.
Click on INSERT INTO THE PAGE to insert the image.
When you have created the content of a page, click the PUBLISH or UPDATE button and your changes will be saved.
Add pages to the navigation
You can change the links in the navigation menu under DESIGN -> MENUS.
Enter a name for the menu and click CREATE MENU.
Then you can add pages to the menu and choose where in the theme you want the navigation menu to appear.
What are posts?
Posts are articles from your blog.
On your blog page, the individual posts are displayed one after the other and marked with the date.
A blog is something like a diary. Of course, you can use this blog function in many different ways.
For example, this post here is also a blog article.
In contrast, WordPress PAGES are static pages. For example, a page can be your home page, you’re about me page, or your contact page.
Create and edit posts
If you want to embed a blog on your website, the next thing you will want to do is create a new blog post.
To do this, click on POSTS > Add New in the left menu.
You can edit the content in the same way as under PAGES. But there are a few other features for posts as well.
Among other things, you can also assign posts to categories by ticking the desired category.
Step 4 – Settings & Optimizations
Now you will get to know some of the settings and optimization options
Set the homepage of the website
By default, the main page of your homepage shows your blog posts.
However, you can also set a page that you have created as your homepage.
To do this, click on SETTINGS -> READING.
Then select a static page and below it the homepage.
Change page title and subtitle
Under SETTINGS -> GENERAL you change the title and subtitle of your website.
The title is the name of the website and the subtitle is basically your tagline. This subtitle briefly explains what your website is about.
Disable comments on pages and posts
Some website operators prefer not to allow visitors to leave comments below posts and pages.
To disable this feature site-wide, click SETTINGS > DISCUSSION.
There you can then choose whether you allow visitors to comment on new posts.
You can also change this setting for each post individually.
Set the right link structure
In order to set the best link structure for your website, go to “Settings” and then to “Permalinks”.
Now select the “Post name” setting and click on save! Thats really important for your search engine optimization. So Google knows exactly what is your individual page is all about.
Customize blog sidebar (widgets)
Some themes have a sidebar on the left or right.
Under Appearance ->Widgets, you choose which information appears in the sidebar.
Some widgets are already included in the standard installation of WordPress.
To remove them, simply right-click a widget under BLOG SIDEBAR and then click DELETE.
You can add new widgets by clicking the available widgets on the left and then dragging and dropping them over to the blog sidebar.
Extend WordPress with plugins
What are plugins?
WordPress plugins are, so to speak, additional building blocks for WordPress.
You can use them to add a contact form to your website, for example.
But there are also plugins for image galleries, newsletter submission forms, search engine optimization, and all other possible functions.
It is very important that you only install plugins from certified developers. Poorly programmed plugins can contain security gaps.
And it’s also important that you don’t add too many plugins to WordPress. Because too many plugins have a negative effect on the performance of your website.
I’ll show you the plugins that I use myself and also recommend them to you.
How do I install a new plugin?
Installing plugins is just as easy as installing themes.
Just click on PLUGINS -> INSTALL.
Then enter the name of the plugin under “Search plugins”.
Then click on the INSTALL button. Then the plugin will be downloaded and installed.
Now all you have to do is click on ACTIVATE and you can start using the plugin.
The Best Free WordPress Plugins
To save you time on research, I have compiled a list of free plugins that I use myself and can also recommend to you:
#1 – Contact Form 7: This allows you to add contact forms to your website in just a few clicks. This is useful for your contact page, for example. When someone fills out the form on your website, you will automatically receive an email with the message. More Infos about this plugin
#2 Yoast SEO: This plugin helps you with tips and many setting options for the search engine optimization of your website. For example, you can use it to change the title and description of a page that will later appear in Google Search for your site. More Infos about this plugin
#3 Google Analytics: How many visitors does your website have? How did they find you and what sites do they visit? You can answer these and other questions with this plugin. Because it installs the tracking code from Google Analytics. And with that, you get very detailed statistics about your website visitors. All you have to do is install this plugin and connect it to your Google account. More Infos about this plugin
#4 Caching: It can happen that the more plugins you have installed on your WordPress website, the slower the website becomes. This has something to do with the fact that many elements and codes have to be loaded and transmitted to your website visitor. For this reason there are caching plugins that make the website faster. There are many free caching plugins out there, but there are also a few premium caching plugins. Here is my favorite caching plugin. > Click Here <
The ingenious shortcut to a beautiful and effective website
When I started creating websites 20 years ago, I still had to learn to program.
Then WordPress came along and made building a website faster and easier than ever!
But creating beautiful layouts is still very difficult with WordPress if you can’t program CSS…
At least it was until themes with visual page builders revolutionized web design! Now there are a few handy page builders for WordPress available. The best WordPress page builder in my opinion is Elementor. Elementor for WordPress is available as a free and also as a pro version.
With the free version of Elementor, you can already create very good designs for your website.
If you want to use all features, then I recommend that you upgrade to the pro version of Elementor.
Because with it you can create any kind of website – whether online shop, portfolio or company website.
Elementor is constantly being further developed. So more and more new features are added.
You can even use Elementor to create a landing page for your product or service in just a few minutes…
Creating a WordPress website with Elementor is really very easy:
After installing and activating the plugin, you will find the “Edit with Elementor” button on every page of your website in the backend.
Clicking on it will take you to the Elementor editor, where you can edit and design your pages visually.
You don’t need any programming knowledge for this. You just click on an element and drag it to the desired position on the page.
You can also add new sections and columns to your pages with a few clicks.
In the Elementor editor, you will find many different elements that you can use to design your website.
For example, there are buttons, headlines, images, videos, forms, and much more.
You can also change the order of the elements on your page at any time by dragging and dropping.
If you want to learn more about all the features of Elementor, then I recommend that you take a look at the documentation on their website.
It is very detailed and also offers many video tutorials.
Do you want to learn more about WordPress?
Of course, there are many more settings and features you should know about WordPress, such as creating menus, installing plugins, or using widgets.
If you want to learn more about WordPress, then I recommend my WordPress tutorial for beginners. This is a handy detailed eBook that shows you everything you need to know about WordPress and the different page builders. In the ebook, there are also different lessons you can recreate with step-by-step instructions.
