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Step-By-Step Guide to Creating a WordPress Webpage

By Nick Von Cover

Getting Started with WordPress

To the uninitiated, WordPress can look intimidating. For those without any technical knowledge, it can look very intimidating. This article will break down the steps to creating your own WordPress website.

WordPress comes in two flavors - WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.org provides nearly plug-and-play software that can enable you to build your own website using pre-made plugins and themes that provide functionality and nice design. In other words, you can put together modules that other people have done the tedious design and programming work on to create your own unique site. This is the power of WordPress.

Six Steps to Launching Your WordPress Site

There are six essential steps to creating your WordPress website. They are:

1. Web domain registration
2. Getting Hosted
3. Installing WordPress
4. Install a Theme
5. Change Settings
6. Install Plugins

If you are a beginner and you try to understand everything at once it will seem overwhelming, so take it in bite-sized pieces and focus on one task at a time.

Web Domain Registration

Your domain is simple the name that people type into the top of their web browsers to find you. "WordPress.org" is a domain name. You need to have one for your site. A good domain name is relevant to your site's topic and is not too long to type. To register a domain name, you can go to any website hosting service or name registration site, of which there are many.

Getting Hosted

Once you have purchased a domain name, you need somebody to host your site. There is a huge array of choices out there with a ton of different hosting plans. Many hosts with tout their support of WordPress and these are the ones you should gravitate to. Your install will be easier, and if you run into a problem they may already have an answer for you in a FAQ.

Do not expect them to troubleshoot your website for you however, as that is not part of the services they offer. 24⁄7 up-time and tech support is also a must if your site will have any commercial aspect. If you did not register your domain at the same site where you purchased your hosting, be sure to change your name servers or else even you will have problems doing anything with your site!

Installing WordPress

Installing WordPress is a snap at many hosts. Some hosts have what they call a "one click install" for WordPress, which works just as you would imagine given the name. Others use a control panel interface called cPanel, along with a piece of installation software called Fantastico De Luxe. Both make for simple follow-the-instructions installs. If you are more technically minded, or are with a host that does not offer one of these options, you may end up having to upload files via ftp and installing manually. There is really no reason to go through this, so long as you selected your host wisely.

Installing a Theme

A theme is a software package that governs the look and feel of your site. It sets the sizes, fonts, colors and locations of everything on your site. You can of course create all of this yourself but if you are like me, pretty inept in the graphics design department, then find a theme you like and install it.

I like to install my themes before I adjust any settings or install any plugins. I feel that in doing things in this order I am maximizing the chances of any changes I make down the road to be applied properly. Others tell me that my concerns are overblown but it makes me feel better this way.