Building WordPress Website in 6 Simple Steps – A Guide for Non-Tech-Savvies
In this post titled Building WordPress Website in 6 Simple Steps – A Guide for Non-Tech Savvies, you are about to discover a guaranteed guide for building WordPress websites in 6 simple steps, without necessarily learning to write codes or be tech-savvy. I know how difficult it can be to know what to do to build websites using WordPress, but you are sure to get some help at the end of this article, in building WordPress Websites.
The world is constantly evolving with a quick and easy way to get things done, solve problems, and make life easy, thanks to the internet. For businesses, building a website used to be a matter of serious budgeting, planning and outsourcing, especially for small scale enterprises, personal businesses and infant businesses. Thanks to WordPress, all you need in building a website has been simplified to its barest minimum.
Let’s Talk A Bit About WordPress
Did you know over one-third of the entire web runs on WordPress? More than 40% of all the websites on the internet are powered by WordPress. This proves that more and more people are building WordPress websites using any available WordPress best website builder they can find.
This very post you are reading and the whole of this website was created using WordPress without the help of a tech guru or outsourcing the job. Cool right? At the end of this post, you are guaranteed to know how to build websites using WordPress and create a WordPress blog.
Building WordPress Websites
Building WordPress websites sure comes with a lot of benefits available through any WordPress website builder at your fingertips.
It’s Easier: With WordPress, building a website is easier. You don’t need months and years of learning to master HTML, learn how to write codes and other sophisticated tech skills. With the help of an internet-enabled computer, you can get started and on the go
It’s Faster: Also, Time is money. You can build a WordPress website in less than 24 hours. Building WordPress websites is not just easy, but fast and saves you a lot of time.
It’s Cheaper: This is the best part. WordPress is perfect for low budget websites if you are considering saving lots of money and building a world-class website, landing pages, or create a WordPress blog.
Table of contents
- Let’s Talk A Bit About WordPress
- Choosing A Domain Name
- Choosing A Web Hosting Provider
- Installing WordPress On A Web Hosting Server
- Selecting And Installing A Theme To Design your Website
- Installing Necessary Plugins
- Setting Up Important web pages For Building WordPress Website
- Conclusion
Let’s get down to business, shall we? Now, let’s take this one after the order
Choosing A Domain Name
What is a website without a domain name? It doesn’t exist. A domain name is how internet users identify your website. It is a part of a URL that directs people to your website or different parts of your website. For example, the domain name for High Blog Traffic is highblogtraffic.com but the URL that directs you to this article which is part of this website is https://highblogtraffic.com/building-wordpress-websites/
Have You Chosen a Domain Name Yet?
Choosing a domain name can be such stress, considering many factors to take note of when doing so. You must make sure you are not infringing on any rights when choosing a domain name in building WordPress websites. Once that is settled, you are halfway into choosing a domain name.
I’m guessing you have a business name or brand already which you would want the website to represent. You can derive your domain name from the name of your local business, you just have to be sure it is not yet taken. You can check your brand name for a domain name with different domain providers or web hosting providers to see if it is available. Don’t worry, we’ll get to that soon.
One big rule to remember when choosing a domain name is to keep it simple, short, and easy to remember. This always works, but a brand strategy will come in handy too. Your domain name can directly represent the objective of your website, just like highblogtraffic.com.
Once you’ve decided on a domain name for your website, you must then make move to buy the domain name, making it your digital property. We’ll circle back to buying a domain name in a bit. First, let’s help you choose a web hosting provider.
Choosing A Web Hosting Provider
When I talk about building a website, I like to describe it as building a house, that is, a digital address on the internet that you and your business can be located. To build a house, you’ll need a piece of land to build on. In building WordPress websites, you need web hosting.
What is Web Hosting?
Well, Web hosting is a service that allows you to store the data and files that make up your websites on a server. It’s like a garage service that allows you to park in your car for a specific period, for a fee, only this time, It’s your website. It’s like renting a space. More like a digital warehouse to safely store up the files and data of your website.
3 Hosting packages you might want to consider for starters.
There are different web hosting packages that you can choose from to host your website. These packages come with different offers that are tailored to meet your needs and budget. So, you get to choose a hosting package based on the website you want to build and your budget.
Choosing a web hosting package can sometimes be a headache even for the big boys, but here are 3 options for you to choose from to build websites using WordPress:
Shared Hosting
Virtual Private Server (VPS)
Managed WordPress Hosting
Shared Hosting
Many Web hosting providers offer the option of shared hosting that allows hundreds of websites to be hosted on a single server, thus making it very affordable. Because this option allows hundreds of websites to be housed on a single server, the cost of hosting is therefore shared by the users. For this reason, you can get a shared hosting package for a low as $5.
It’s like having a next next-door neighbour with who you get to share the general cost of building maintenance. It is the perfect option if you are on a very tight budget, but it sure comes with its disadvantages.
Because there are over hundreds of websites hosted on a single server, there is usually the problem of security and poor uptime when you build websites using WordPress on Shared Hosting. An attack on one website can easily affect every other user on the server without any warning. Your website can technically go down at any time due to the limited available memory and unpredictable events.
A single user can take up to 70% of the memory space, leaving hundreds of other users to scramble for what’s left. I mean, you can imagine your website going down just while a customer or a potential client is checking you out. You definitely wouldn’t want that to happen, would you?
Virtual Private Servers (VPS)
This is just like the shared hosting package, but a bit better. The VPS hosting package option allows multiple users on a single server, but this time, the hardware is evenly partitioned among a fewer number of users on the same server.
It’s a better version of the shared hosting package with most, if not all, of its downsides taken away. It gives you the chance to do more with your own space on the server, reduces the risk of attacks from other users, and gives better server administration options.
Unfortunately, you get to pay up to 3 times the amount you would for a shared hosting option. This is worth it, considering the better security, reduced uncertainty, and super flexibility.
Managed WordPress Hosting
Here comes the easy deal, the managed WordPress hosting. This option works perfectly for building WordPress websites. It’s like getting the whole server from WordPress, thus every bit of the website is structured to work with WordPress. This option offers better security and makes your websites a lot faster than when hosted using the other options. With managed WordPress hosting, building websites using WordPress becomes even easier.
Since all skeletal structure of your website is configured to best work with WordPress, you might have a tiny bit of trouble installing other systems and plugins not approved by the host. Simply put, it reduces your flexibility, but ensure your website functions at its best based on what the host, considers to be efficient.
I usually would recommend this option for users who do not have the knowledge, skill and time for sophisticated server settings and installations.
Web Hosting Providers You Can Choose From
There a quite a lot of web hosting providers you could choose from. Again, this will be based on what you need for your website, and your budget too. Whatever project you are considering, we have carefully selected a list of reputable hosting companies that will fit your project.
A2 Hosting
Bluehost
SiteGround
WPEngine
The web hosting provider you choose is very important to the success of your project, so you need to choose the right one. Relax, we will guide you on which might help your project.
Kindly note that when you click any of the links above, you’ll be buying through our affiliate link and we would be paid a little commission for our recommendation.
Buying A Web Hosting Package
We know it is quite difficult to choose which hosting you should go for, while you are looking for the best hosting that will fit your website, you are also concerned about a budget that will suit your purse.
After using several web-hosting for about a decade now for our businesses and our clients, we have experience with good hostings that fit any project whatsoever.
If you have a very small budget and you’re looking to maximize every penny you can get, you want to build a project that you are giving time to grow, then Bluehost is highly recommended
If you are interested in quality and you are ready to sacrifice a little more then A2 Hosting and Siteground is the go-to. However, I must let you know that Siteground to me is unreasonably too pricey. They have an amazing fast server quite frankly, but you will pay through your nose for it. A2 hosting on the other hand will give you the same at a relatively cheap price.
Finally, If you are looking at a big project, perhaps you have a website already that is getting tons of views or you have a brand that is big and you want something that can match your brand with quality and excellence and you are ready to pay for it, then no one does it better than WP Engine.
A2 Hosting is our recommended hosting right now, it just became the perfect fit for anything serious online.
One of our blogs got hit terribly by a Google Algorithm update sometime last year and the only thing we did to fix the issue was migrating to a better server which was A2 Hosting.
Google loves sites that are user friendly, and speed is almost everything.
A2 Hosting is our recommended hosting company today for anyone serious about how to build WordPress website. They have an amazing pricing plan that won’t break the bank.
Our Awesome Bonus Offer
If you buy through our affiliate link, you will get 65% off.
That is not the only offer we are giving out today.
If you are generous enough to buy any hosting above through our affiliate link we would also be generous enough to give you a free coupon for our WordPress Training Course for free. This is our flagship course, where we train non-techies how to design professional websites without writing a piece of code.
Yes, you heard that right.
The only part we have not mentioned is that we have a limited amount of slots we are giving away, we are concerned about our server resources, we currently have over 60 videos already uploaded in the members’ area, and we are uploading more.
Once you buy through our link, send an email to [email protected] with evidence of purchase and within 24 hours you’ll get a coupon code to access the course.
You do not need to worry about anything, we can work you through the process
Select the package you want to purchase and continue to the payment page. We always recommend the Turbo Package because of the Turbo speed. This blog is currently hosted on the A2hosting Turbo Package.
The next step after choosing your desired package would be that you choose a domain name.
How To Buying A Domain Name
Without a domain name that serves as an address on the web, no one would be able to locate our website.
To register your domain, there are four options:
- Register a new domain
The first option is for people who do have a domain name for their new project, this option allows you to search for an intended domain name.
Please note that a domain name is subject to availability.
- Transfer your domain name
There are possibilities that you already have a domain you would love to use for the project already and you just would not want to renew the domain with your current registrar.
A lot of folks love the idea of managing both website and domain in one place, it makes things easier when you are trying to build WordPress website. If you are that kind of person then this option is for you.
This option will have you migrate your domain to A2 hosting.
- Use existing domain and update nameservers
This option is pretty similar to the previous option, it is for folks who already have a domain for the project.
The only difference is that you do not intend to change your domain registrar.
All you have to do is to point your domain nameservers to a2 hosting.
- Use a subdomain from A2 hosting
A2 Hosting offer free subdomains to users who do have a domain and are not interested in buying a domain.
With the subdomain
You will be brought to a cart page where you can choose your preferred payment currency and billing cycle, whether you want to go the monthly or yearly route.
You should know that the longer your commitment, the cheaper the price gets. From above, I selected the 36-month price.
If you buy through our link when you get to the page above, you will get a “Coupon shared” notification and you will notice a promotional price of a whopping $360
Once done, you should hit the continue button which takes you to a review page, all you are required to do is to verify and confirm your purchase.
Once you have, proceed to checkout. Fill in your details and then checkout with debit/credit cards, PayPal, Skrill, checks and also wire transfers.
Hurray! our domain name has been registered and your hosting account is ready and good to go. You just got your first domain name. Now, let’s help you install WordPress on your hosting server and help you build websites using WordPress.
Installing WordPress On A Web Hosting Server
Remember I said building WordPress websites don’t require being tech-savvy or knowing how to write codes as the pros do. This is because WordPress has a drag and drop feature that makes it easy to build websites using WordPress. On some web hosting servers, installing WordPress can be as easy as just a few clicks.
A2 hosting took this to another level, you would not even need to lift a finger after checkout, with their auto-install application feature, you select what application you love to install, they’ve got quite a number.
The A2 optimized application will not only auto-install WordPress but will auto-optimize it for speed, and you get to have your WordPress admin details even before you checkout.
How cool can that be?
Do not forget to save your WordPress admin details. I love to copy it into my sticky note on my desktop.
Another awesome feature you get with A2 Hosting is that you get to choose your server location, as you see highlighted in the image above.
Here is what many get wrong, do not choose a server closest to you, rather closest to your website visitors.
It doesn’t matter where I am, if my websites visitors are in Europe or the majority of them are in Europe, that is where my server should be, even if I am in The US.
You can create multiple websites on your A2 Hosting account by going to the addon section of your Cpanel, add new domains as an addon.
Selecting And Installing A Theme To Design your Website
You are almost there now. Let’s talk about designing your website using a theme that supports the kind of website you want to create. There are thousands of different themes to select from in building WordPress websites, all tailored to meet specific niche and user needs.
A theme is quite necessary for Building WordPress Websites
WordPress themes are templates designed by professionals to give your website its visual appearance and can be used to change your website appearance for the best user experience depending on your niche or the kind of website you are building.
Every WordPress website comes with a default theme that looks just like the image below but you don’t have to worry. You can change that at any point.
To change your WordPress theme, you will need to select and install a theme that works best for your website.
First, visit the admin dashboard of WordPress, then click on the Appearance button. This should bring you to the themes page by default, then click on add new.
You will see thousands of both free and paid WordPress themes to select from. You can use the preview button to test each theme to see how it suits your website and if you like it. If you are satisfied with what you see, just click on the Install button and wait for a few seconds for your theme to be installed.
Great! You just installed a theme. That was very easy, wasn’t it? You can always do one or two changes to your theme by using the customize option at any time on our website. You see, to build websites using WordPress can be a piece of cake if you know what to do.
Installing Necessary Plugins
Plugins are special apps that brings special features and functionality when installed on your WordPress website. Just as mobile apps are to your smartphones, so are plugins to your WordPress website. They vary based on features and functionality. When learning how to build WordPress websites, plugins are essential.
Some plugins are free and can be installed without paying or purchasing premium access, while others are not. Also, some are installed on every WordPress website by default and some would have to be installed by the site admin.
Plugins are quite versatile in function and their functions can vary from comment management to security, to social media, to search engine optimization, to forms, to galleries, etc. Some of the important plugins you might want to install when you build websites using WordPress are as follows:
Yoast SEO – takes care of your search engine optimization functions, preparing your sites for search engines in general.
Wordfence Security – You would need this to secure your WordPress site.
WPForms – with WPForm, your readers can reach you directly, leaving you with their contact details, and message in particular.
UpdraftPlus – This is perfect for automatic backups of your website.
Google Analytics for WordPress – bridges your websites with the best of Google’s analytic apps and services including the Adsense for displaying ads on your WordPress website.
To build websites using WordPress, you should know how to install WordPress plugins
Installing A Plugin On While Building WordPress Website
With WordPress, installing a plugin is a piece of cake. With just a few clicks, you can get the best plugins needed for a great user experience on your website. Allow me to help you install your first plugin with these few steps:
Click on your WordPress admin dashboard and then click on Plugins to view the plugins already installed on your website.
Click on add new to view the WordPress database of plugins.
Type in the name of your plugins or the functionality you are looking for, and then hit the search button.
Click on install to install the plugin and once done, click on activate to get it running on your website.
That’s it! You just installed a plugin on your WordPress website. You can also at any moment deactivate or uninstall a plugin if you feel it’s affecting the speed of your website or you find it less satisfactory and want to change to another plugin.
All you need to do is return to your plugin page from your WordPress admin dashboard, locate the plugin you which to remove, then click on deactivate or uninstall
Setting Up Important web pages For Building WordPress Website
Another necessity in building WordPress websites are web pages. Every website, irrespective of what kind of website they are, must have certain web pages that present basic information and details for readers and visitors. Now that you have installed your themes and plugins, you should have the following web pages running on your WordPress website.
Home Page – The home page is where your readers will land when they type in your domain name on a browser or just click on your link. It’s the central location of your websites. It’s like the sitting room where you welcome readers and visitors to your website, so it must carry a bit of everything necessary to give a great first impression to your reader.
About page – This page is where your readers go to find out all they need to know about you, your business, or your website. It contains details of your product and services, goals and objectives, team and members, services partners, and departments.
Contact Page – Just as the name implies, this is where your visitors go to get your contact details or leave a message for you. If you have WPForms installed on your WordPress website, your contact page should show a form that allows visitors to leave their contact details with you through an interactive form. This is very necessary when you build websites using WordPress.
How To Setup web-pages On WordPress
Go to your WordPress admin dashboard and click on Pages, and the Add new to display the image below and edit and your contents accordingly.
(1) Title – Here, you should type in the title for the page. E.g About
(2) The body section – You should type in the main content of the page here. You can copy and paste your text from another document or just feel free to type your text.
(3) Add Image – You can add images by clicking this button.
(4) Text or Visual – Switch between the Text and Visual editors. Since you are not quite conversant with HTML codes, you should leave this on visual while you add your text to the body of the page.
(5) Publish Section – The Publish section is where you make your page go live when you are done.
(6) Discussion – You can make settings for comments here. Make sure you have it ticked if you wish to receive comments on your web pages. I will advise you don’t allow comments if you don’t have time to manage spam, a lot of them. The “trackbacks and ping-backs” setting you can leave unchecked too.
(7) Featured image – For this, you might not need to worry. Most WordPress themes have default featured images and display for certain pages, but you can change them to your taste from here
Conclusion
If you followed every step of this guide, building WordPress websites should be a walk in the part for you. And if this has helped you create WordPress blogs or build websites using WordPress, I’m glad it helped. You should give yourself a treat for a job well done.
Don’t forget, practice is important. You can replicate these steps in building another website at any moment. I’ve got an article too to help in building an effective blog. You might want to check it out.
If you have created a website using these few steps provide, please don’t forget to drop a link or your domain name in the comment section below. I would love to see what you’ve done with the above steps for building WordPress Website You can check out interesting ideas for blog niches on my blog to help you make a decision.