Every small business these days needs a website. That is non-negotiable. As we are on the same page, I would suggest that WordPress is the best in the market to create your first ever website. If you feel that website development services are expensive, you are in for good news.
You can get your WordPress website done all by yourself. This WordPress guide for small businesses will provide you enough help to get things started. Even if you don’t know how technical things work here, this guide will cover that for you. You will go through step by step procedure to get every aspect of your website carved to your taste.
I don’t want to drag this too long so here is how you can make a WordPress website.
- Stats of WordPress Worldwide – how many websites run on WP
- How WordPress Actually Works?
- Step 1: Define your Business and set up Domain and Hosting
- Step 2: Choose a Theme
- Step 3: Create your homepage
- Step 4: Configuring SEO – Yoast SEO
- Step 5: Installing Plugins
WordPress Statistics – The Popularity of WordPress around the World
As of 2024, WordPress powers approximately 43% of all websites on the internet (Source: ColorLib).
But, it is just a small part of the entire story! When you look for “how to make a WordPress website” on Google, there are a ton of options out there. The market is filled with WordPress web design companies, some you can trust and some you could avoid for the better.
But what if you wanted to test your WordPress skills on your own?WordPress being an open source software makes it possible for anyone to test and run their website. That too, without wasting a single penny. Why wouldn’t you do that? WordPress, within just 16 years of its inception, has become the most popular CMS around the globe.
And this is what the statistics have to say.
- WordPress websites receive around 400 million internet users every month!
- It powers 14.7% of the top 100 websites in the world.
- In India, WordPress is almost 12 times stronger than its counterpart Drupal with a share of 47%.
- Since 2003, WordPress has released 36 major versions, out of which 58.3% use 5.x and 39.2% use 4.x.
How does WordPress Work?
From a user’s point of view, it is just typing the URL and viewing the website.
As you are going to create a WordPress website, you need to know what goes on at the back to know how things work on screen.
As WordPress is open-source software you can experiment by coding and designing your website from scratch. It helps you understand what you can do with those processes, improve the performance writing better and more efficient codes.
You know what they say “something is better than nothing”.
These are the building blocks of WordPress. You cover these and you get a clear picture of what this CMS does.
Domain name
It is necessary to have a strong domain name and a host that can handle the WordPress site with a high level of expertise.
A strong domain is easy to remember, make your website easy to find, help improve the search engine rankings of your website and establish a virtual business identity.
Selecting the Right WordPress Theme
The theme is your template or a framework you will be working within.
A theme handles various elements of your website such as the number of columns, the blog tab, graphic header and colours of your website
You can find a lot of free and premium themes online and choose the one best suited to the type of your website and also your profession.
Securing the Website
WordPress being so popular is often hacked as well. If you want to proceed running a business online, keep an eye on WordPress security.
A vulnerable website will be prone to hacker attacks thus letting all your hard work down the drain.
Of course, there could be room for errors to happen. But you can increase its security by employing security measures that will protect it from spammers and hackers.
Adding Plugins
Plugins are tiny snippets of code working with WordPress and the theme of your website to achieve a particular objective.
The online space has got thousands of plugins available. But the following list will be the basics that you would not want to miss out.
- All in One WP Security safeguards the website from hackers and spammers.
- Yoast is the best when it comes to SEO.
- Google XML Sitemaps offer search engines the data to navigate the website and foster search engine listings.
- Google Analytics for WordPress facilitates information about visitors to your website.
- WP-DB Manager helps create site backup, and maintain the database regularly.
Widgets
While plugins add to the website functionalities, widgets place them in the correct spot.
For instance, the social icons at the right-hand sidebar let your users connect with you on Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Twitter to name a few.
Content Building
Content isn’t just the textual content but also includes images, videos, and audio. It is your website content that attracts visitors to your site.
Hope, you’ve now got a glimpse of how WordPress operates things at the backend. With this single WordPress website guide you can build a perfectly tailored website for your website.
Define your Business and set up Domain and Hosting
Give your Business a Catchy Name.
First things first, get your business a good name. A proper name for a website would have the perfect balance of professionalism and creativity.
The name could be a combination of two words, perhaps from the same language or different languages or could be something entirely out of the box.
Regardless, ensure that the name indicates what business you are in. An irrelevant name may take time to connect.
For instance, if you are into e-commerce, you can take a look at some of the names that have grown big.
Amazon is one of them. Amazon being the largest forest in the world has a diverse group of wildlife and plantlife. Amazon.com represents the same with their product diversity and makes a perfect name for the company.
Getting and Registering a Domain Name.The next step is buying a domain name.
Buying a domain name is extremely simple. Visit GoDaddy or NameCheap and then search for the address you want.
Often, the domain name of your website will be similar to your business name. If the right domain isn’t available, that’s not a problem. Choose a shorter alternative. Ensure that the domain name isn’t too long. Shorter domain names are easier to remember.
Let us assume that you run a real estate company named The Broker’s Hub. If you want a website with the same name, you have to go to GoDaddy and search for the availability of your domain name.
Credits:GoDaddy
In the above image, you can see the different domain names available at different prices. You can select and purchase the one you want.
But, if that isn’t available or affordable, you may go for .net, .org, .in, or .co.in and so on. With your domain name ready, let us move on to your website name.
Signing up to a Hosting Provider and Installing WordPress
So your website has got a name now. It is now time to find a host for your website. Your WordPress hosting provider should meet the following.
- A PHP version 7.2 or greater
- A HTTPS support
- A MySQL version 5.6 or higher, OR MariaDB version 10.0 or greater
The best hosting options out there are GoDaddy, Bluehost and HostGator.
Bluehost is the most recommended out of the above three. It offers WordPress hosting plans starting from as low as USD 2.95 per month. Visit this link to see the options available.
Credits: GoDaddy
Now you decide the hosting package of your choice based on your needs and the services they offer.
The next step is to install WordPress on your hosting account. By following simple steps in GoDaddy you can do this right after you get your domain name.
Assuming that you’ve recently purchased the domain, clicking on the Complete Purchase tab will take you to the Managed WordPress page where you can click on the Add Site tab to result in the following screen.
Keeping the first tab as is, choose your data center and then create a WordPress login by providing a username and password.
Now click on the Add tab – clicking on the Add tab will start installing WordPress for you.
Proceed to click on WP Admin as shown on the image. This action will log you in securely in WordPress.
The system will direct you to the below page where you click No Thanks.
By this time, you must have received an email from GoDaddy to verify your email account. Proceed with the verification.
Refresh the below screen which is the WordPress dashboard and click on Change Domain as shown in the box.
Further, click on Add Domain to change the temporary domain.
Choose a domain and ensure that the green box is pre-clicked. If not already clicked, ensure that you click on it. Next, click on Add.
To login to your WordPress website, type your domain/wp-admin. Enter your WordPress login details.
Choose a WordPressTheme
Now you are in the plane’s cockpit. Everything is set and ready and now the important thing is to start creating.
Themes are like cakes, ready to be designed with a variety of creams and toppings of the user’s choice. Your theme reflects the type of business that you run and is a reflection of your personality as well.
WordPress has got its themes. You may test each of the themes to check which one suits your website and your business.
The website that we are going to build is The Broker’s Hub, a real estate company. So the customization must circle around your business needs.
The following steps will help you select a theme for your WordPress website.
- Sign in to your WordPress dashboard.
- Hover over Appearance and then click on Themes as shown in the image below.
- Click on Add New and then browse through the themes that perfectly reflect your business. In this tutorial, I am going to make a website for a photography service company.
Since photography is our theme, you can search for photography themes in the search bar on the right side.
- You can choose paid themes if you want that can provide extra features if it suits your requirements.
Once you decide the theme, click install and the theme is downloaded in your themes dashboard. For this tutorial, I have chosen Astra because of its minimalist design.
- Once installed, an option called Activate will be displayed. Click on it to confirm the theme.
Some themes will ask supporting plugins to work efficiently. You can check out those plugins for reviews and features in the plugins section and choose what suits you.
Remember, finalizing a particular theme doesn’t mean you will have to live with it forever. You can change your theme whenever you want.
Creating your Website homepage
Your homepage is what people see first. You have a few seconds to impress them with your work and if you mess up, they will barely remember that you exist.
To create the best homepage, I will be using the Elementor page builder. This is an easy, drag and drop editor which suits everybody’s interests. If you want to access all their features, you can choose their pro version.
Since we are talking about our homepage, you can go to pages and edit the homepage with Elementor. Another way is to create a new page and make it as your default homepage.
Either way, let us see how to create it from scratch.
Before going into the process, you need to do two things.
- Disable the following sections to allow Elementor to gain control over them.
- Select Edit with Elementor at the top to start editing.
Elementor contains two sections:
- The left side has the menu with all the drag and drop tools for you to use.
- The preview section where you can simultaneously check how things look when you drag and drop a block.
In the preview section, you will find two icons to insert a layout. The layout may be single or contain multiple grids and that is totally up to your preferences.
The folder icon provides you with pre-made pages and grids so that you can just finish an entire section of your page in a simple drag and drop.
If you want complete control, my advice would be to include all the blocks by yourself as you might find editing the pre-made pages to be a clumsy job.
Inserting a cover image
When you look into websites these days, they have one thing in common that is important: the cover image.
With WordPress, the cover image is a piece of cake for you to design. Here is how you do it.
- Choose a single grid option and go to the style section.
- Choose slideshow from the background type.
- You can insert one or many images from the media library.
- To adjust the height of the image, go to the layout section.
- You will find the height option where you must choose minimum height. Choose a height that is suitable for a cover (480 px).
Here is how the cover image looks.
The Headline
The headline is a simple phrase which can be a catch phrase or a motto. Some websites use them as the title of the page but now you can customize them as well.
When you write contents you should be familiar with HTML tags. A general rule of thumb: Use only one H1 tag.
This is because it happens to be the title of the page. Google will crawl through your webpage and a single H1 tag will be easy to index.
But the style section has options for customization. You can change the font family, size and weight to your preferences.
Layout grid
Cover and headline are your staples of a website but the grid arrangement is something that people use quite often these days.
Following the cover should elaborate what your business offers to its customers.
To show you how things look, let us create a simple three grid arrangement with image and text.
Here are the steps.
- Choose multiple grids of your choice from the blo. I have chosen three.
- With an image and text to support, you can mention what they are good at. To drag and drop the image, here is how you can do it.
When you upload an image, the media library appears where you can either upload or select an existing image.
- Click on the choose image icon and you will see the media library. Select or upload an image.
Once you have selected the image you want to add, click Insert media and it is as simple as that.
The same applies for inserting a text box. In my opinion, text provides better context and meaning when it paired with a proper image.
If you want to add a text block following an image, it is pretty easy. Just drag and drop at the bottom of the image and it is done.
The elementor text editor has a ton of options to choose. To make things unique and vibrant, you can check out their advanced section.
For instance, if you run a salon brand, tell them what you are good at, what features you offer for men and women and how your business is budget friendly.
Adding testimonials and showcasing recommendations are a big boost particularly if you are a growing brand. That way, your new visitors can get an insight of what your previous customers experienced.
Call to Action
Okay, so your visitor has seen what you do and what you are good at.
Your cover image with the title is on point and you have added sufficient information that your visitor needs.
For a visitor to turn into a customer, you need to guide them what they can do next. Here is where buttons come into play.
Buttons are a drag and drop section with tons of customization options. You can structure it anyway you want.
Buttons can redirect to a contact form or to your product page or even to your social media page, it could be anything.
Here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Colors are key. You shouldn’t use red for something encouraging and peaceful. Colors reflect emotions and in my opinion, variations of blue and green work very well.
- Round buttons look well for minimalist and modern designs. You should increase the border radius to give a pill shaped look.
- Positioning is important. You don’t want it hanging where your visitor may not notice. When you place text explaining something, follow it up with a button placed at the center of the paragraph.
Here is how a cover, title and a typical call to action would look.
Your homepage design is where your creativity and clarity of information stand out. This was a sample that covers the important aspects that a homepage must contain.
You now need to optimize the content that your website has and for that the next chapter on SEO will guide you.
Configuring SEO – Yoast SEO
When it comes to SEO, Yoast SEO trumps everyone in the market. They provide insane functionalities that put them in a separate class of their own.
Yoast SEO helps simplify onsite SEO. It keeps updating the website to keep it aligned with the SEO dynamics.
There have been over 5 million Yoast SEO installations to-date, and the number continues to grow.
Installing Yoast SEO is similar to the installation of other WordPress plugins.
How to Install Yoast SEO on your dashboard?
Follow these steps.
1. Sign in into your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins, and click on the Add New button.
2. Search for Yoast SEO in the keyword tab. The page will show you the search results with Yoast SEO.
3. Click on Install Now.
4. Once you install Yoast SEO, click on Activate.
With this, you are all set to optimize your content so that you generate high traffic and more potential customers.
With the last part, you will find how to install plugins to your WordPress site.
Your WordPress Website Is Live Now!
Now that you are done with the themes, content, plugins, SEO part, you are now all set to introduce your site to the world. However, ensure you check your local website thoroughly before publishing it live.
Check all your webpages and click on Publish to publish every webpage.
Now, enter your website URL in the browser and you can see the website in real time.
With that, your website is 100% complete and good to set foot into the web. Managing your website becomes crucial as days roll and it is important to get in touch with a website development company in pune If not now, WordPress web design services will help you down the road when your business expands.
With real technical assistance, you can tackle important issues that entrepreneurs face. Get in touch with our technical experts and discuss your dream business now.
Installing Plugins (Pro Tip)
WordPress offers over 56,000 plugins that are free or where some cost anywhere between $40 to $200.
Too many plugins will slow your site down and a slow-loading site is as frustrating as watching a video buffer a hundred times. Handpick the plugins that will enhance your website’s performance.
For instance if you need to sell online, you need Woocommerce to support that in WordPress. If you run a podcast, you need a podcast centric theme with supporting plugins to record and host live. Do the research by keeping your necessities in mind.
Nevertheless, let us take a look at some of the most popular WordPress plugins.
- Yoast SEO – This helps you optimize your content to help it rank well on SERPs.
- Contact Form by WP Forms – a minimalistic ‘drag and drop’ form builder plugin. It helps you add customizable forms to your site.
- WooCommerce – helps you add ecommerce functionality to your site, which, in turn, helps you sell products online.
With this, you would have covered all the basic yet essential elements of creating a website using WordPress. You can all set and ready to roll.
