Building a site in WordPress is fantastically simple.
Everything is laid out in a nice, easy to understand formula, and once you’ve started playing around with the WordPress dashboard you’ll find it’s really easy to get things done.
Getting started initially can sometimes seem a little daunting, though. For that reason, here are the few basic steps that you’ll need to take when first creating your WordPress site:
Choose A Web Host
I’ve covered selecting a web host in the past – basically, there’s no perfect host, or hosting package, which everyone will love equally.
It’s important to find one that fits your needs, whether you’re a smaller site just starting out, or whether you’re expecting a large, proven audience and you don’t mind paying extra for increased speed, security, and bandwidth.
One thing that you may want to pay attention to when choosing your host is whether or not they offer an automatic, one-step installation process for WordPress. Most hosts will do so, and this feature might change the installation process for you.
That said, it’s not required – installing WordPress yourself is fairly simple anyway, and this guide will walk you through the process.
One-Step Installation
If your host offers an automatic installation, the exact method of performing it will be slightly different depending on your particular host’s control panel layout, but it’s fairly similar with every host and will often be clearly signposted.
In your control panel, you’ll have a screen like this which lists some of the applications you have available. Clicking the WordPress icon brings up the option to install it on your site.
This screen will be different depending on your own host’s layout, but you should have an option like this available. Simply click ‘Install’, and your host will do most of the work for you.
This host uses Mojo for its one-step installation. If yours uses Mojo too, this is what you’ll see. You’ll need to specify what domain you want WordPress to be installed.
Finally, you’ll need to set a username and password for your Admin account. This is important, as you’ll use it to log in later on.
Once you’ve clicked ‘Install Now’ a final time, your host will automatically install WordPress and you’ll have full access to it.
Doing It From Scratch
Installing WordPress fresh yourself takes a little more work than a host’s automatic install, but the process will be the same for each host. This is referred to as the ‘Famous Five Minute Install’, and it really is that quick, although it does involve using FTP and MySQL.
If you’re after following a precise guide, all you need to do is complete the following steps.
First, download WordPress. The latest version can be found directly on the WordPress website.
On your web host’s control panel you’ll likely have a screen that looks something like this:
There are two buttons that you need to pay attention to here – first is ‘FTP’, and the second is ‘MySQL Database’. Your own host’s screen might have different icons and will be arranged differently, but these two functions should still be there somewhere.
In order to get your files onto your website, you’ll need to use a File Transfer Protocol. Use the FTP tool in the control panel to create an account for an FTP.
Next, install an FTP such as FileZilla, connect it to your new FTP account for your site, and transfer across the files that were downloaded from WordPress (having unzipped them first).
Alternatively, if your host allows it, you can just copy your WordPress directly onto your hosting space.
At this point, if you visit the address at which you’re trying to install WordPress, you’ll see this screen:
So, in order to progress further you need to set up a MySQL database for WordPress to configure on your website.
Going back to your host’s control panel, click on MSQL Database and create a new user.
Next, returning to your website, enter the MySQL account details into WordPress and click ‘Submit’.
After that, all you’ll need to do is add in a few details on the admin account that you want to connect to your WordPress.
Once you’ve clicked ‘Install WordPress’, everything is done, your site should work perfectly.
Logging Into WordPress
Once you’ve got WordPress installed, there are several ways of accessing your website’s admin area.
Some themes will have an admin link on the site as standard, meaning you can get to your WordPress admin dashboard directly from your own website.
Alternatively, as standard, you can type your domain into your web browser, plus the extension: /wp-login.php
This is generally the easiest way to access WordPress.
Finally, you can sign in through a WordPress mobile app using the data that you’ve used for your admin account, alongside your website domain.
Using any of these methods, you can access your dashboard and begin customizing your website (although not all options are available through the mobile apps).
Your Dashboard
When you log into you WordPress dashboard, you’ll see something that looks like this:
This screen contains all the basic information you’ll need. It allows you to access your posts and other media, your plugins, and change the appearance of your site.
There’s a huge amount that can be covered here, but let’s stick to the basics for building your WordPress site. The two main steps once you get into WordPress for the first time is installing a theme and installing plugins.
Install Theme
Picking a theme is an important step of setting up your WordPress site. Your theme determines how your site will look, and what your visitors’ experience will be like.
Thankfully, most of the experience of choosing a theme, like much of using WordPress, is very user friendly.
From your dashboard, hover your mouse over the link on the left hand side that reads ‘Appearance’, then click on the link named ‘Themes’.
Click on ‘Add Themes’, and you’ll be given a variety of options for themes to install on your site.
You can search through these to find the perfect pre-prepared theme for your site.
Alternatively, if you’ve sourced a theme from elsewhere (for example, if you’ve bought one from a third party), clicking ‘Upload Theme’ will let you install it.
You don’t even have to unzip it to do so – in fact, WordPress is far happier with it if you have it zipped up in one easy file.
Customize
Depending on your theme, there will be a lot of different options that you can explore to customize your site and truly make it your own.
When you click on the ‘Customize’ tab on the left hand side, you’ll be given a preview mode of your site that will give you the option to play with all the various settings for your theme.
This will often include being able to add in widgets, headers, and other options for your site.
It also gives you space to add in the title of your site, and some of its metadata and tagline details.
Alternatively, if you really know what you’re doing, you can click on ‘Editor’ on the left to access your site in HTML mode.
This can be used to add in additional details and change specific lines of code.
If you’re not that experienced with HTML, though, be careful before trying to change too much. It depends on just how much you feel you need to customize your WordPress site, and what you’re capable of doing with it.
Install Plugins
The final step to getting your site ready is installing whatever plugins you might feel are necessary.
I’ve spoken several times about the different plugins you should be using with your WordPress site, and there are probably others that will also be useful for you.
To install a new plugin, simply hover over Plugins on the left hand side of the dashboard, then click on ‘Add New’.
The number in the red circle indicates that there’s a new update that can be made to some of your plugins. Pay attention to this to keep your site up to date.
Conveniently, plugins work exactly like themes – you can search for free, public plugins to add to your site, or alternatively you can upload your own plugins if you’ve found something from elsewhere that you want on your site.
Once you’ve installed the plugins you want on your site, you’re ready to go!
Conclusion
These few basic steps take you through the process of creating a site in WordPress.
In truth, there’s a lot more that can be done to personalize your site and create the perfect site for your needs, but these key elements of the process are universal whether you’re building a site for the first time or you’re a pro who’s made their own themes and plugins from scratch.
Hope you enjoyed installing and building a new WordPress website from scratch.