In this article, you will learn how to create a WordPress site. With the help of a step-by-step guide, you will make a high-quality and functional resource suitable for attracting and converting traffic.
Why WordPress – 5 reasons to use it for a website or blog
Step number 1: how to choose a hosting and register a domain
Step # 2: do-it-yourself WordPress installation
Step # 3: Choose The Right WordPress Theme
Step number 4: how to set up a site on WordPress CMS and theme (template)
Customize WordPress CMS
How to customize your WordPress theme
How to Russify a WordPress Theme
Step number 5: solve practical problems using plugins for WordPress
How to use plugins to secure your WordPress site
How to deal with spam on WordPress
How to provide SEO site on WordPress
How to increase the functionality and usability of a resource
Step number 6: how to set analytics service codes and connect the site to the webmaster accounts
Step number 7: how to create pages and posts on a site running WordPress
How to create a static page
How to create a publication
Proceed to the most important thing.
TexTerra technical experts will teach you how to create websites yourself in our course
Why WordPress – 5 reasons to use it for a website or blog
Almost unlimited possibilities
Using WordPress, you can create an online store, a personal blog, a corporate website, an information portal, an industry resource, and a multimedia gallery.
Flexible customization of appearance and functionality
WordPress website owners have access to paid and free templates that can be used to customize their appearance. And with the help of plugins you can solve technical problems, provide the necessary functionality of the site.
Ease of administration
To work with WordPress, you do not need special knowledge. The principles of working with the engine are intuitive.
The ability to create a site and publish the first content in 5 minutes
Of course, you need to spend much more time to turn a template product into something new and interesting. But the installation really takes no more than 5 minutes.
WordPress uses Sony Music, The New Yorker, Reuters, TechCrunch, the Republican Party of the United States, Fortune and many other major media, corporations and organizations. Damn, even the Rolling Stones and Snoop Dogg appreciated this engine.
Well, decided to make a site on WordPress? Then move on to the walkthrough.
Step number 1: how to choose a hosting and register a domain
For a non-profit project, paying for a hosting is not necessary, especially at first. You can share photos of cats or keep a diary of a bodybuilder, for example, on the free wordpress platform . com . But if you have a commercial project, for example, a thematic blog or a corporate website, and you plan to make money with it, choose a paid hosting.
What is hosting? How to choose a hosting?
Hosting will also help you register a domain. It is enough to come up with a domain name, make sure that it is free, and pay for registration.
Checking domain availability
The following recommendations will help you choose a good domain name:
- Choose a domain name that partially or fully matches the site name. For example, for the Odnoklassniki website, good domain names are odnoklassniki.ru or ok.ru. It is clear that the name vk.com does not fit this resource.
- Use the shortest possible domain name. It is difficult for smartphone owners to enter a long address in the browser bar. Therefore, it is better to use the name vk.com than vkontakte.ru.
- Make sure that the selected site address is easy to remember and makes sense. As you understand, the owners of Odnoklassniki did not accidentally choose the short name ok.ru rather than ass.ru, sorry for a rude example.
The choice of a domain zone does not affect the technical characteristics of the resource or position in the search results. However, theoretically, this parameter can affect the trust of the audience. Other things being equal, users are more likely to trust sites with the address vasya-pupkin.ru or vasya-pupkin.com than resources like vasya-pupkin.wordpress.com or vasya-pupkin.blogspot.com. Therefore, for commercial projects, try to choose top-level domains, for example, .com, .info, .org, .net, .ru, .ua, .by, etc. Pay attention to recently appeared first level domains, for example, .club, .guru, .ninja, .expert and others.
Step # 2: do-it-yourself WordPress installation
After purchasing a hosting and registering a domain name, install WordPress. Please note that some hosting providers offer tariff plans with a pre-installed CMS. If you have chosen one of them, proceed directly to the third step of the manual. If you purchased hosting without an installed engine, follow the instructions:
Go to the WordPress site and download the distribution.
Download the distribution
Unzip the archive.
Unpacked Archive
Use FileZilla or another FTP client to upload WordPress files to the root folder or subdirectory. The root folder contains the index.html file. To create a subdirectory, you need to put the folder with the site files in the root directory. In the first case, the site will be available at www.vash-site.ru. In the second case, you install WordPress on an existing site. It will be available at www.vash-site.ru/wordpress/.
Upload the unzipped WordPress distribution to the server
Install WordPress. To do this, open the link to the site in a browser. Provide information for connecting to the database. They must be provided by the hosting provider.
Specify how to connect to the database
Fill in the necessary information: indicate the name of the site, username, password, email. Indicate whether search engines can index a resource.
If everything is done correctly, you will see the following message (see illustration).
WordPress installed
The main URL should open the site.
You have just created a WordPress site with your own hands. Now you can enter the administration panel and proceed with the configuration.
Step # 3: Choose The Right WordPress Theme
The design template or WordPress theme is responsible for the appearance and functionality of the resource. In other words, with the help of the theme, you can customize the site on a standard engine. The following questions and answers will help you choose the right topic:
– Is it better to choose a free or paid theme?
If you are just starting out with WordPress, select a free template from the official catalog . All topics in the catalog are tested for safety and compliance with technical standards. If you want to buy a theme, use the services of community-approved WordPress developers .
– Which topic is better: Russian-speaking or English-speaking?
This does not matter, since after studying this guide you can Russify any topic. It will take a little time and basic knowledge of English.
– How to find a suitable template in the catalog?
Use the filter in the theme catalog. Mark the necessary options and apply the filter. Another option: use the design template from the Teterra collection .
Filter topics in the official catalog
– How to install a WordPress theme?
There are two ways. First: in the admin panel, select the “Appearance – Themes” section. Click the Add New button.
Install the WordPress theme from the directory
Find the desired topic by name or using the characteristics filter.
We are looking for the right topic
Hover over the selected topic and click the View button. The engine will enable preview mode. If the appearance of the site suits you, install and activate the theme.
View, install and activate the theme
The second way: download the distribution of the selected theme to your computer. It must be an archive in .zip format. In the admin section “Appearance – Themes – Add New”, download and install the template. After downloading, activate it.
Download the archive with the theme
You have installed and activated the template you like. Now you are ready to set up.
How to order a site: a step-by-step guide for dummies
Step number 4: how to set up a site on WordPress CMS and theme (template)
At this stage, you need to pay attention to the basic settings of the content management system, which are available without installing additional plug-ins. You should also customize the theme. Please note that the template settings are different. Remember, if you have chosen an English-language theme, it must be Russified (more on this below).
Customize WordPress CMS
Log in to your WordPress admin panel and select the Settings menu. Indicate the necessary data in each section of the settings.
In the “General” section, indicate the name and brief description of the site. This information will be displayed to users. In the “WordPress Address” and “Site Address” fields, specify the URL of the resource. Select time zone, date format, site language. Leave the âMembershipâ field blank, because at the first stage of the siteâs development, only bots and attackers will want to register on it.
Specify general settings
In the “Writing” section, select the necessary options. At the beginning of the work, the default settings for formatting, the main heading and the format of the entries are suitable. If you want to publish notes via e-mail, enter the necessary data: server address, port, username and password. However, newcomers are better off posting in the WordPress admin dashboard.
Be sure to specify at least one reliable update tracking service in the Update Services section. In this case, the engine will automatically notify search engines of the publication of new materials. For example, select the service http://rpc.pingomatic.com/. Save the changes.
Choose spelling settings
Each time you click on the Update button, the selected services are also notified. To prevent the domain from getting into the ping-spammers lists, there is a WordPress Ping Optimizer plugin . Install it and configure how often changes are exchanged.
In the “Reading” section, specify what should be displayed on the main page of the site. If you are creating a blog, the main should have the latest posts. For a site with static pages, select one of them as the main one and create a separate âBlogâ page on which posts will be displayed. You can see how it looks on the TeachLine project website .
Indicate how many posts to display on one page and in RSS feeds. Select to display article announcements in the feed. If for some reason you do not want the search engines to start indexing the site immediately, check the corresponding box. Later it can be removed.
Specify reading settings
In the Discussion Settings section, select the appropriate options. In most cases, default settings will do. Pay attention to the âModeration of commentsâ and âBlack listâ fields. You can indicate the signs by which comments will be queued for moderation before publication or appear in the Spam list. These settings will work if you use default WordPress comments.
Choose commenting settings
In the “Media” section, leave the default settings.
In the “Permalinks” section, select the structure of links to your materials. For example, a link may include the name of the post and the date of publication or only the name of the post. You can also add prefixes for category links.
Select link structures
How to customize your WordPress theme
Each template has its own settings. Description of default theme settings Twenty Nineteen will help to understand patterns and customize the selected template.
In the WordPress console, select the Appearance – Customize menu. The theme settings page or customizer opens. Available settings items can be seen in the menu on the left side of the screen.
Open customizer
In the “Site Properties” section, upload the logo, indicate the name and brief description of the site, add a favicon .
Specify site properties
In the “Colors” section, select the color scheme of the template, as well as the filter color of the pinned photo.
If necessary, change the color settings
In the “Menu” section, configure the site menu. Click the Create Menu button.
Create a new menu
Indicate the name and area of ââthe menu.
Select a menu area
Add the necessary pages to the menu and click the “Publish” button.
Add to the page menu
In the Widgets section, add widgets to the site. Please note that in 2019, the sidebar reappeared in the default WordPress theme . If you do not need it , just remove the side widgets.