How to Build a Website with WordPress

Choosing a CMS

A CMS (Content Management System) is software installed on your hosting for creating and publishing website content. Once it is installed, you log in to a dashboard, write pages and posts, install a theme for the design, and add plugins for extra features such as social media buttons.

WordPress is an open-source CMS that is free to use. You do not have to build a website from scratch, themes change how it looks, plugins add features, and the user community is large, so answers to common problems are easy to find.

WordPress.com or WordPress.org?

WordPress.com is a hosted service: your site runs on their servers, free with many limits, and paid plans loosen those limits. It is like renting an apartment: the building and the land belong to someone else.

WordPress.org provides the WordPress software to install on hosting and a domain you own (self-hosted). It is like owning a house: the house and the land are entirely yours. This guide uses WordPress.org.

Installing WordPress on your hosting

There are three ways, easiest first:

Option 1: Choose it when you order hosting

In the Extras step of the order page, choose WordPress and set the username and password for its dashboard. WordPress is installed as soon as the hosting is active.

Option 2: Softaculous in cPanel

1. 1.Log in to cPanel at yourdomain.com/cpanel with the username and password from your hosting activation email.
2. 2.Click the WordPress icon. If you cannot find it, open Softaculous Apps Installer and choose WordPress.
3. 3.Click Install Now.
4. 4.Fill in the domain, site name, and the admin username, password and email, then click Install.
5. 5.Wait for it to finish, which usually takes a few minutes.

Option 3: Manually

1. 1.Download WordPress as a zip file from wordpress.org/download.
2. 2.Log in to cPanel, open File Manager and go to the public_html folder.
3. 3.Upload the WordPress zip to public_html and extract it. This creates a folder called wordpress.
4. 4.Open the wordpress folder, select everything (Select All), then Move it to public_html by removing /wordpress from the destination path.
5. 5.Back in cPanel, open MySQL Databases. Create a new database and a new user with a password mixing letters and numbers.
6. 6.Under Add User to Database, add the user to the database, tick All Privileges, then click Make Changes.
7. 7.Open your domain in a browser. Enter the database name, database username and password; leave Database Host as localhost.
8. 8.Enter the site title and the admin username, password and email, then click Install WordPress.

Seeing “Error establishing a database connection”? The database name, username or password you entered does not match. Check them again in MySQL Databases.

Trying WordPress on your own computer

Before going live, you can learn WordPress on your own computer with XAMPP: free software that runs Apache, PHP and MySQL, the three things WordPress needs. The steps below are for Windows; XAMPP is also available for Linux and macOS.

Install XAMPP

1. 1.Download the latest XAMPP from apachefriends.org and run the installer. The default folder is C:\xampp.
2. 2.Open the XAMPP Control Panel and click Start for Apache and MySQL.
3. 3.Open http://localhost in your browser. If the XAMPP page appears, your local server is running.

Create a database

Open http://localhost/phpmyadmin, click the Databases tab, type a database name (for example wordpress), then click Create.

Install WordPress

1. 1.Download WordPress from wordpress.org, extract it and copy the folder to C:\xampp\htdocs.
2. 2.Open http://localhost/wordpress. The part after localhost/ must match the folder name inside htdocs.
3. 3.Choose a language, then click Let’s go.
4. 4.Set Database Name to the database you created, Username to root, leave Password empty, Database Host to localhost and Table Prefix to wp_. Click Submit, then Run the installation.
5. 5.Enter the site name, username, password and email, then click Install WordPress. Keep the username and password: you need them to log in to the dashboard.

A root user with no password is only acceptable for XAMPP on your own computer. Never use this setup on hosting.

Installing a theme

A theme controls your website’s design and layout, which is what visitors see. WordPress offers thousands of free themes in its theme directory. You can also buy a premium theme or use one you built yourself.

Every dashboard step starts by logging in at yourdomain.com/wp-admin.

From the theme directory

1. 1.Go to Appearance → Themes and click Add New Theme.
2. 2.Find a theme you like, click Install, then Activate.
3. 3.Visit your website to see the new design.

Upload a theme file

1. 1.Have the theme file ready as a .zip.
2. 2.Go to Appearance → Themes → Add New Theme and click Upload Theme.
3. 3.Click Choose File, select the zip, then Install Now and Activate.

Only install themes from trusted sources. Pirated themes and themes from unknown sites often carry malware.

Setting up permalinks

A permalink is the URL of each post and page on your website. WordPress creates it automatically, but you can change the structure for the whole site or for individual pages.

A good permalink is short and descriptive. Short so it is easy to remember and share, descriptive so readers know what the page is about before they click. A URL that contains the page’s keyword also helps in Google search results.

Structure for the whole site

1. 1.Go to Settings → Permalinks.
2. 2.Choose Post name.
3. 3.Click Save Changes, then open a post to see the result.

Per post or page

While editing a post, change the slug or URL in the post settings panel. Permalinks cannot contain spaces, so use hyphens (-) instead.

Creating pages and posts

Pages are for content that rarely changes, such as Home, About Us, Products and Services, or Contact. Posts are for blog articles you publish over time.

Creating a page

1. 1.Go to Pages → Add New Page, or click + New → Page in the top bar.
2. 2.Enter the page title, for example About Us, then write the content.
3. 3.Click Preview to check it, then Publish.

You can find and edit your pages again under Pages.

Writing a post

1. 1.Go to Posts → Add New Post, or click + New → Post.
2. 2.Write the title and body. Add images, videos or headings with the + button in the editor.
3. 3.Choose a category in the post settings panel, then click Publish.

Writing a post works almost the same as a page. The difference is that posts have categories and tags for grouping articles.

Installing plugins

Without plugins, WordPress only has the basics. Plugins add features such as SEO, contact forms or an online store. There are thousands of free and paid plugins.

1. 1.Go to Plugins → Add New Plugin.
2. 2.Search for a plugin, for example Yoast SEO, or browse the Featured, Popular and Recommended tabs.
3. 3.Click Install Now on the plugin you want.
4. 4.Click Activate. A newly installed plugin does nothing until you do.

Install only the plugins you need. Every plugin adds load to your website and needs regular updates.