WordPress is a powerful and trustworthy platform for millions of users today. It can help you make a professional website very effectively. Whether you want to have an e-commerce site for your brand or need a personal blogging website, WordPress has extensive web development features. All you need is a systematic approach to work on WordPress. As this site builder is very flexible and has a user-friendly interface, the process is straightforward and rewarding as well. Let’s understand in this blog post how one can make a WordPress website from scratch to build a professional online presence.
Start by Choosing a Domain Name
First of all, you need to clear out the domain name you want for your WordPress website. This domain name will be the address of your site on the internet. While choosing a perfect domain name, try to make or find a shorter one that’s easily memorable. You can use keywords related to your business or niche. We would recommend avoiding using numbers or special characters (like hyphens, etc.) as they might be confusing and easily forgettable. And in the end, you need to choose the right extension for your site as well. As .com is the most popular, you can do with it. Or else if you want to try with .net or .org, go as per your site’s purpose. But keep one thing in mind: domain names also come with a cost. To know more about how much does it cost to build a website, you can check our blog.
Hosting Provider
After you choose a domain name for a WordPress site, it’s time to choose a web host for further web development. Web hosting is where you will store the files of your website. While choosing a host, try to find one with a high uptime guarantee (99.9% or higher). Check whether it provides fast loading times or not as they are very essential for user experience and SEO. Also, if you choose a host that provides good customer support, it will be beneficial for you only. Many popular hosting providers are available such as Bluehost, SiteGround, WP Engine, etc. Many of these providers also offer one-click WordPress installations. And here your process becomes simpler.
Installing WordPress
After domain and hosting comes the step of installing WordPress on your system. As discussed above, many web hosting providers offer one-click installations of WordPress. You can either get it from there or download it directly from WordPress’ official website. If you are using a hosting provider for installing WordPress, do it the way described below:
- First of all, log into your hosting account.
- Then, locate the option of WordPress installation.
- After that, select the domain where you want to install WordPress.
- Then, fill in the details it asks. These include your site name, admin username, and password.
- And in the end, click the install button and just wait for the process to complete.
After the proper installation of WordPress, you can access your dashboard by going to ‘yourdomain.com/wp-admin.’ And here, you land the final WordPress development services.
If you want to know about more site builders other than WordPress, check out our blog: the best site builder for small business.
Configure WordPress Settings
Now, there are two types of settings that you will have to configure. Firstly, we have general settings that include site title, tagline, time zone, date, and time format. Go to
- Settings option > General,
and set all these options as per your requirements.
Then comes permalinks. Basically, permalinks are the URLs used for your posts and pages on web design. If you want to set a user-friendly structure on WordPress, go to
- Settings > Permalinks.
- Then, choose the “Post Name” option.
Choose and Install a Theme
Now, you need to choose a theme that aligns with your business or brand’s goals. The themes are to control the design and layout of your site the way you want them to be. While selecting a particular theme, make sure that it fits your brand’s aesthetic, is mobile-friendly, and easily customizable. On WordPress, you can find both free and premium themes in the theme repository or third-party marketplaces like ThemeForest. If you want to try them on with free ones, go for them!
After choosing a theme comes the step to install it for making the website design. To install a theme,
- Go to Appearance > Themes in the WordPress dashboard.
- Click “Add New.”
- Search for your chosen theme and click “Install.”
- Once installed, click “Activate.”
And, now you can move ahead to customize the theme as per your needs for website building.
Customize Your Theme
WordPress provides a built-in customizer. And yes, you can use it to make changes to how you want the site to appear in real-time. Let’s see below how to access the customizer on the WordPress dashboard:
- Go to Appearance > Customize
- Use options available to change colors, fonts, and other design elements
In case you want to make lots of customizations on a specific theme, you can create a ‘child theme.’ With the help of a child theme, you can make changes without affecting the parent theme’s (the installed one) files. It will make sure that during updates, you will not lose your customizations.
Install Essential Plugins
Plugins are the most effective part of WordPress development services. They extend the functionality of your site as a whole. You can consider using the following essential plugins for your website:
Yoast SEO, Classic Editor, WooCommerce, LiteSpeed Cache, Yoast Duplicate Post, WordPress Importer, Duplicate Page, Redirection, Classic Widgets, Advanced Editor Tools, Hostinger Tools, WP Super Cache, Loco Translate, WPS Hide Login, Loginizer, File Manager, W3 Total Cache, Autoptimize, and many more are available to help you make your website professional.
But how to install these? Let’s have a look below:
- Go to Plugins > Add New
- Search for the plugin you want to install
- Click “Install Now” and then “Activate”
Create Content
While making a website design, you will also need to add content. For the same, you can use pages. Generally, pages are for static content such as your homepage, about page, and contact page. To create a page, you can follow the following steps:
- Go to Pages > Add New
- Enter a title and add your content using the block editor
- Click “Publish” when you want the page to go live
Also, there are options for posts if you want to add blog content. To create a post,
- Go to Posts > Add New
- Enter a title and add your content using the block editor
- Assign categories and tags to organize your posts
- Click “Publish” to make the post live
This is all about creating content on the WordPress website.
Customize Your Homepage
By default, WordPress displays the latest posts on the homepage. If you want to create a static front page,
- Go to Settings > Reading
- Under “Your Homepage Displays”, select “A Static Page”
- Choose your desired homepage and posts page
There is one more option for widgets on WordPress. With the help of these, you can add content and features to your site’s sidebar, footer, and other widget-ready areas. Let’s see below how to add and arrange widgets:
- Go to Appearance > Widgets
- Drag and drop widgets into your desired areas
Menus and Navigation
With the help of menus, your visitors can navigate the web design easily. Here are the steps to create a menu on WordPress:
- Go to Appearance > Menus
- Click “Create a new menu”
- Add pages, posts, and custom links to your menu
- Arrange menu items by dragging and dropping
- Assign the menu to a location and click “Save Menu”
If you want to add sub-menus or drop-down menus, WordPress provides this option as well. Sub-menus lets us organize the menu items in a specific hierarchy. Let’s see below how to add a submenu:
- Add a menu item as usual
- Drag it slightly to the right under the parent menu item.
And this is how you create a submenu.
Optimize Your WordPress Website For SEO
You also need to optimize your site for SEO (search engine optimization). To do so, you can use SEO plugins such as Yoast SEO. What do you need to do with these plugins? Customize how your pages appear in search results using meta titles and descriptions. Then, generate a sitemap to help search engines find your site. And, the most important part: ensure that your content is easy to read. Use relevant keywords in the content. You can use tools like Google Keyword Planner to find the perfect keywords and use them naturally in your titles, headings, and content.
Secure Your WordPress Site
After WordPress web design, it’s equally essential to regularly update WordPress core, themes, and plugins to ensure the security of your site. How to do so? You can use strong and unique passwords for all of your WordPress accounts. Also, it’s better if you install security plugins to protect your site from threats. There are many ways to do so such as monitoring for malware regularly, blocking malicious IPs, and providing firewall protection.
Backup Your Site
Backing up data is also very crucial when it comes to making a website through WordPress web design services. It will be helpful for you in case of potential data loss. You can use many available plugins like UpdraftPlus to schedule automatic backups for your website’s data. Also, do not store backups in a single location. Instead, keep them in multiple areas, such as your hosting server and an external cloud storage device, for enhanced security.
Analyze Your Site’s Performance
After making the site, don’t you think that you need to have an eye on how well it is performing? Obviously, yes! If you want to have insights into your site’s traffic and user behavior, use Google Analytics. For monitoring and improving the loading times of your site, use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.
Enhance User Experience
In the end, if your WordPress website isn’t user-friendly, it’s of no use. Hence, ensure that the navigation of your site is intuitive and perfect. Use clear labels and logical structure for your menus. Make your site optimal with different devices. You can also test it on various devices and screen sizes to look after its functionality.
Launch Your WordPress Site
Now comes the final step of launching the website. But before doing it, ensure to give a final review. Check properly if any broker links are there. Test forms and interactive elements. When you feel completely satisfied with your WordPress web design, only then go ahead and launch it.
Going Live
Once you launch it, it’s time to go live. You can share your site with your audience through social media, email newsletters, and other marketing channels that you prefer.
Conclusion
In brief, building a website with the help of WordPress is not a hectic task. All you need is a clear understanding of web design and WordPress development services. Once you become familiar with the dashboard and the features WordPress provides, you can make your dream website very easily.
If you need any assistance or want to talk to experts from a professional web design company, you can be in touch with the Digital Care Agency. We provide an extensive range of web design services with centers in different areas. Our skilled WordPress developers in Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Edmonton, Miami, San Diego, and Orange County will help you bring your site design ideas into reality and make a professional website for your brand.
