How to create your website with WordPress step by step

Let’s get started!

Any time is a good time to create a website, and even more so now that there are so many free tools and low-cost services like those of Netcare IT offers, with which to have your own website, blog or online store with minimal effort and a really low price . Surely, if you already had the idea of creating your website, you will have in mind the first content that you will publish, but how to create the website? What tool to use for my website? If you have reached this blog then at least you have already made a first decision, and that is to use WordPress to create your website . And it is a wise decision for several reasons:

It is the leading system for creating websites and online stores.
You can install it in a couple of clicks.
It is very easy to configure and expand.
You have thousands of free themes (templates) to change the look of your website.
You have thousands of free plugins (applications) with which to expand the functionalities of your website.
You have Netcare IT to start publishing FROM NOW! 😉

So let’s DO IT! Let’s start at the beginning, step by step, of the first thing you have to do to take your first steps with WordPress.

Set up WordPress right from the start

Although the default WordPress configuration is not bad, there are some things that I always recommend to configure right from the beginning.

Netcare, cared for by our clients, performs the basic configuration of your WordPress so that you do not have to suffer with the initial configuration; However, if you require our support, count on him so that we can give you more tips in this regard.

We have found some publications on the internet that can be of great help, so, if necessary, we invite you to visit them.

Things I always do after installing WordPress, what about you?

12 essential tasks after installing WordPress

The most important actions to take after installing WordPress

Customize the design of your website

Now that you have WordPress installed and configured, although I would tell you to start creating content, I know you are not going to listen to me, and the next thing you want to do is customize it to your liking, change its appearance .

This is done by changing the theme , which is what design templates are called in WordPress, and customizing it.

So, let’s go for it!

WordPress themes

Access the WordPress administration and go to the menu called Appearance> Customize.

The link will take you to the front page of your website with the WordPress Customizer active.

In addition to a series of drop-down menus with customizable options for the active theme, at the top you have a button to change the theme.

You will see that you can change the theme between those already installed (by default) and the thousands of free ones available; be careful since most of the themes shown in this section can show you their payment option even if they have a free version, although in most cases they are functional.

In each theme thumbnail you will see a button to install and preview it, so choose one that you like its appearance and distribution of the contents and do it. In case you don’t like any of them, you can go back to the topic by deafult that was installed, and I recommend removing the one you just installed so that you don’t have unnecessary files on your website.

The theme will be downloaded and installed automatically in a matter of seconds and you will be able to customize it to your liking by browsing its menus, which will replace the ones that the previous active theme had.

Here I leave you to your liking and choose the settings you make.

When you’re done and it’s as you see fit, simply hit the “Activate and Publish” button, or if you’re not entirely convinced, change the subject again and continue testing settings and configurations.

As long as you do not activate the new theme, the changes will only be seen by you, meanwhile the visitors to your website will continue to see the aspect of the previously active theme.

I encourage you to know all the possible configurations and get involved in their settings before deciding on one topic or another.

And don’t worry, your content won’t change, just the way it is shown to visitors. In addition, you can change the subject as many times as you want, without this affecting your publications, only the appearance of the web.

In case you want more information about installing themes in WordPress, here is more information.

How to install themes in WordPress (updated)

Custom menus

Next, it is advisable to create a personalized menu, to which you will add the pages that you create.

Without leaving the Customizer, simply go to the menu settings and..

Create a new menu.
Add existing elements (pages, categories, custom links, etc.)
Assign the menu to a location in the active theme (to display it).
Publish the changes.

In this animated image you see this simple process:

Widgets

The other basic customization elements are known as widgets.

You also have them in the Customizer. You must access its settings, select a widget area, also known as sidebars or footer, add the ones you want from the available widgets and check where and how they will look.

In this animated image you will see it more clearly…

Add plugins to have more functionalities

Much of the success of WordPress is thanks to plugins, those great little applications that allow you to add, from a simple functionality to your website, to turn it into an online store, a social network, a CRM or almost anything you can imagine.

There are over 50,000 free plugins to choose from, and it all starts with the plugin admin screen.

You will see that WordPress installs a few by default, but you can do without them perfectly, because they are not really useful, nor are they worth trying.

Below the name of each plugin you will see two links: “Activate” and “Delete”, of obvious utility.

At this point you should know that you can install as many plugins as you want, but you should only have active those that are really useful, this since you can start to have visibility conflicts on your page .

But it is also that installing new plugins is perhaps even easier than installing new themes. Simply press the “Add New” button on this same screen, or go to the Plugins> Add New menu , whichever you prefer.

You will arrive at the famous and beloved WordPress plugin installer .

You can browse the list of featured, popular, recommended and favorites, or use the search engine, and you will always find one for every need . You can also Google keywords on what you want to do followed by the words WordPress and Plugin and voalá! you can find an infinity of them.

Another thing is to find the perfect plugin for you, since there are so many for every need that sometimes it is difficult to decide , but when in doubt always start with the list of popular plugins.

In any case, here is a list of what I consider to be a list of 5 essential features that you should add by installing plugins :

Contact form : Surprisingly, WordPress does not include it by default. Recommended: Contact Form 7 .
SEO : Although WordPress has a fairly optimized configuration for search engine positioning, it is essential to accompany it with a good SEO plugin. Recommended: Yoast SEO .
Optimization : Currently you always have to optimize the web to consume the minimum of resources while offering a fast web. Recommended: WPO Tweaks , Autoptimize and SG Optimizer .
Security : No website is secure, so we must install a system that protects us as much as possible from attacks and malware. Recommended: iThemes Security .
Accessibility : Your website must be accessible to all types of users, even those with some kind of disability. Recommended: One Click Accessibility .

From here, of course, the list is almost endless, and it will depend on what type of website you have and what functionalities you want to offer .

For example, if you are going to offer an online store, you will need to install WooCommerce and some more plugins that add interesting features to your Ecommerce.

Create the fundamental pages

First things first, and before starting to create blog entries I advise you, if your website requires it, to publish a series of pages among which you can have:

Main, Home or Home page: By default any WordPress theme will show you blog entries, but you can put a static page, perfect in cases of personal or professional brand and services and products.
Contact: It is a basic to offer a contact page.
About: The typical “who are we” page or similar, where you tell who you are or your company, something that should always be on every web.

That would be the basics.

Creating a page is very easy, to start you just have to go to the menu Pages> Add new.

From here you will find the famous WordPress editor , which is the same for blog posts and pages, so learned to use one learned everything.

Using it is very easy, you just have to put the title and start writing or adding blocks.

Now, as I said before, WordPress does not have a block that adds a contact form, so on the contact page you must have installed the forms plugin first, and then you can insert it through a shortcut.

The rest of the pages are the same, simply add your content and then press the “Publish” button.

Then go to the Customizer and remember to add the new page to your menu, as we have seen before.

The case of the home page is something special, because although it is true that all WordPress themes by default show blog entries, you can configure your website so that at the beginning, on the front page of your domain, a page is shown previously created .

To achieve this, go back to the Customizer and, in the section called “Home page settings” change from “Your latest posts” to “A static page”, choose the one you want to appear on the cover and publish the changes, it’s that easy.

Let’s do it!

If you are reading this section, congratulations! you are ready to create your own website based on WordPress.

If you consider we can assist you setup your WordPress platform, or create your entire professional website, please use our contact section by click here, our team will be anxious to assist you at any time.