Best Practices to Build a WordPress Website
Be it small business ideas, a digital business, a traditional brick-n-mortar store, or a small business in Singapore, – everyone is thinking about how to start an online business.
The good news is it does not take too much to build a website – all one needs is a cheap domain and hosting service.
With WordPress, creating your own website will be easy and effective. Even if you’re a total novice, don’t worry!
Next set of questions in most minds – what is wp online, what is a wp online login, what is a WordPress website, what is WordPress?!
The answer is simple – every business needs a domain name on the internet to reach audiences on the internet.
Be it cheap domain and hosting services or premium high end dedicated servers, a website name requires a Content Management System (CMS).
This WordPress website building guide is written specifically for you! We’ll guide you through each website creation step in detail.
Before we begin, let’s find out what WordPress is.
What is WordPress?
WordPress, a free and open-source platform, allows its users to build all types of websites.
Technically, the WordPress platform is a content management system (CMS) that runs on PHP and makes use of a MySQL database.
In layman’s terms, WordPress is an easy yet powerful blogging and website builder available today.
Since WordPress is a versatile platform, you can use it to build different types of websites, including blogs, professional business websites, e-commerce websites, portfolio websites and more.
It’s perfect for both large and small businesses, or even individuals.
To run a WordPress website, you’ll need a reliable web hosting solution to keep it up and running. Most people usually opt for a managed WordPress hosting provider.
Build your WordPress website with Exabytes
Get up to 80% off on all web hosting plans plus free lifetime domain, daily backup & more.
Why a WordPress Website?
There are some interesting statistics on WordPress which helps understand its popularity.
- Every fourth website in the world uses WordPress or wp online. Approximately 43.2% of all website names are powered by WordPress
- The wp online presence is increasing at the rate of 12% per year for the last 10 years!
- Six out of ten websites using a CMS are a WordPress website with a wp online login
- Every 3rd website in the world’s top 1 Million websites (by visitor traffic) is on WordPress
- WordPress is the world’s fastest growing CMS for 12 years in a row
So, when someone asks what can I use WordPress for, point them to these abo stats.
Whoever you are, whatever business you do, adopting wp online to get a website running is the best thing to do.
A small business in Singapore, an entrepreneur with small business ideas, an ecommerce store, people thinking how to start an online business, a digital business entity – everyone can and probably should build a WordPress website with WordPress premium features.
One of the reasons for wp online being wildly popular is its Do It Yourself (DIY) features and abilities.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Managed WordPress Hosting
While managed WordPress hosting is suitable for most websites, it does have its own set of benefits and drawbacks.
Advantages of Managed WordPress Hosting
- Technical expertise is not necessary: Technical knowledge is not required to host a website. Every technical and back-end action will be performed by the experts on your behalf.
- Focus on Site Data: When you develop your website, all you have to do is design it and publish content that matches the demands of your clients.
- Improved Security: Managed WordPress hosting is kept up to date with the latest security updates and system improvements. This aids in the protection of your website and data from prospective hackers, viruses, and other risks.
- Specialists Handling Your Site: You have a team of specialists managing the back end of your site, so you can be confident that everything is in order.
- Backup & Restoration Service: Having your site properly backed up is critical for ensuring that you can recover from a problem if one develops. The majority of managed hosting companies will handle all backup settings for you.
Disadvantages of Managed WordPress Hosting
- More Expensive: Managed hosting costs more than unmanaged or semi-managed hosting. If you’re seeking the lowest cost web hosting solution, a managed service is probably not for you.
- Forced Updates: Most managed WordPress providers will upgrade your site to the most recent version as soon as it is available. Some users prefer to wait a time before updating to ensure all plugins are compatible and stable.
- Limits on Plugins: Some managed hosting providers will place restrictions on which WordPress plugins you can use.
- Different Scope of Services: Not all web hosting companies provide the same services with their managed WordPress packages.
However, you can get started with your WordPress today with a consultation from our team. We will guide you from zero to one on how to build and manage WordPress like an expert.
What are WordPress.com and WordPress.org?
WordPress.com is a hosted blog publishing platform that allows you to rapidly create and publish blog content.
The scope is limited, but it is simple to use because everything is taken care of for you.
WordPress.org is a self-hosted, free and open-source content management system (CMS) that requires a domain, web hosting, and setup.
It takes a bit more effort but provides a lot more freedom. When users say “WordPress”, they usually mean WordPress.org.
WordPress.com Vs. WordPress.org
The difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com lies in who’s hosting your website.
Through a third-party hosting provider, you can host your own website or blog on WordPress.org.
You must also download WordPress software, purchase a domain name from a third-party website, and administer your server.
WordPress.com will host your website for free. You don’t even have to download any software or manage a server.
If you setup your website on WordPress.com, the URL for your website will look like this: www.yourbrandname.wordpress.com.
You can, however, upgrade your WordPress.com account and purchase a custom domain from a third-party hosting provider (meaning your URL will look like this: www.yourbrandname.com).
The Wp Online User Interface for WordPress Website
The wp online login is easy to remember. After installing WordPress CMS, open a browser and type in www.nameofyourwesite/wp-admin
After logging in, the world of WordPress website opens up completely! One can see all the options WordPress CMS offers in detail. It looks something like below.
Once the wp online login is used more, it becomes easy to recollect how to access wp online and how to use WordPress website options.
- Welcome to WordPress! – This section has all the quick links and shortcuts one would need to navigate within the wp online control panel.
- At a glance – This provides a summary of the WordPress website status
- Posts – Its the place to navigate and then click on to create new blog posts within your WordPress website.
- Media – A wp online user would have to come to this section to upload images, videos and sound bytes to be used in their website.
- Pages – This option enables wp online admins to build different sub-pages for their website using WordPress CMS.
- Comments – All the comments received on the various posts and blogs and pages on the WordPress website can be read here. It also allows the wo online administrator to moderate comments and respond to them.
- Appearance – change your site’s design here and/or customize how certain things are displayed on the current design.
- Plugins –The best part of wp online login is the plugins section. This is the goldmine where all WordPress premium features and plugins can be explored and installed from.
- Users – Sometimes, there is a need to create two or more wp online admins or users to manage a WordPress website. The “Users” section enables user management functions.
- Settings – Every WordPress website would have multiple configurations and custom settings to be taken care of. All of that is performed from the “Settings” menu.
The welcome page above can be removed with a single click on the “Dismiss” button at the top right-hand corner.
It instantly creates space for loading other WordPress premium features, widgets and options to build a WordPress website.
Changing the Look of Your WordPress Website
One of the most important aspects of any website is having an attractive web design, look-n-feel on the website to make it appealing for visitors.
A WordPress website comes with wp online panel which has a section called “Appearance”.
It is where a wp online admin can change the site layout and play around with different themes before deciding what works best for the WordPress website.
Here are some great WP themes that we recommend for your websites:
- Kalium (Premium Theme)
- X-Theme (Premium Theme)
- Shapely (Free theme)
- Hestia (Free theme)
- Portum Material (Free theme)
You also can go for these WordPress themes for beginners:
7 Essential Tips to Build a WordPress Website
Creating your first blog site with WordPress will be super easy if you follow our steps here.
Whenever there’s a question how to build a WordPress website, how to get a wp online login, it is an easy answer – look up the best website hosting services for WordPress and sign up with them.
First things first, you must know that in WordPress there is a “shortcut” for you to create your blog site.
If the ask is how to start an online business, here are 7 easy steps to follow which helps build a WordPress website.
- Look up a cheap domain registrar to get a WordPress website name
- Compare cPanel hosting price and sign up for cheap web hosting with cPanel
- Access WordPress cPanel login and install the WordPress CMS
- Login to wp online to access your WordPress website and choose a WordPress theme
- With your wp online login, explore the WordPress premium features and install a theme on your WordPress website
- Select the WordPress plugins necessary for your digital business
- Maximize usage of WordPress website SEO features to market the website
How to Build a WordPress Website Step By Step
Creating your first blog site with WordPress will be super easy if you follow our steps here.
First things first, you must know that in WordPress there is a “shortcut” for you to create your blog site.
We recommend that you use themes to build your site before making your first post. Themes, what are they?
Step 1: Know Your Themes
Choosing the best WordPress theme for your website can be a hassle, especially if you’re a beginner. Without any guidance, you might waste a lot of time changing from theme to theme.
- Go to Appearance – Click Themes
By default, WordPress comes with Twenty-Twenty One and Twenty- Twenty Two themes.
However, in this guidelines, we will introduce you to another theme that we believe is more user-friendly and suitable for beginners.
- Click Add New, then you will see tons of free WordPress themes to use.
- Go to Search Themes – Enter theme name “Blocksy”
- Enter theme name “Blocksy” – Click Enter
- Click Install & Activate Blocksy theme
Now you already successfully installed and activated Blocksy theme!
Don’t forget to install Plugins Blocksy Companion too. This plugin offering for more stunning features.
- Go to Plugins – Add New – Search for “Blocksy Companion”
Step 2: Use Blocksy Customizer to Create Blog Content
That’s why creating a blog site using WordPress is so easy peas. Now we will guide you on how to use Blocksy Customizer to create blog site content.
- Go to Appearance – Click Customize
Once you click on Customize, then you will see Blocksy Admin Panel as shown in the image below.
Here you can see at Left-Hand Navigation Menu of Blocksy, they offered to you many options just to create your blog site.
We understand this might be your first time using WordPress. Don’t worry because we are here to help you!
We hope that by looking at this image, you can understand the general layout of a website.
Basically, you need to know where the header is, where the footer is, where the sidebar is, and where your website content is.
Let’s shift our focus back on this. We’re going to create header to our site first, before creating the content (posts and pages).
- Go back to Blocksy Customizer – Choose Header – Elements
Now let’s test your understanding of websites. Can you think of any important elements that should be included in your website’s header?
In general, we place the company’s logo, menu buttons, and other elements in the website’s header.
- Go back to Blocksy Customizer – Choose Header – Elements – Drag & Drop “Logo” and “Menu 1” to Main Row
When you press the Publish button, you will notice that no changes have been made to the website’s header.
Why? Because we have yet to create website content. To do so, we’ll walk you through the next step, which is creating website content.
Step 3: Creating Website Content
Before you begin creating posts in the Blocksy theme, you must first create a couple of categories.
- Go to Posts – Click Categories
The following is the interface you will see. To make things easier for you, we plan to create a Lifestyle Blog Site in this guidelines. Continue reading!
As previously stated, since we are creating a Lifestyle Blog Site, we will be creating a couple of categories here (Fitness & Sports, Healthy Food, Nutrition Class). How to do that?
- Indicate categories name – Click Add New Category
Done creating a couple of categories. Now let’s focus on creating posts on your blog site.
- Posts – Click Add New
When you click the Add New button, you will be taken to this interface.
In this section, we’ll walk you through the process of creating a blog post with the Blocksy customizer.
Since we’ve already created a couple of categories, we’d like to create posts for each of the categories we’ve just created.
- Enter your title here Start Your Day with Exercise – Click “Add Block” – Choose Paragraph.
You can now simply add any content to your blog post.
You may also add any images or videos to your blog site.
- Click “Add Block” – Choose Images – Upload media/ pick an image from the gallery.
- Go to Setting – Choose Categories – Tick for Fitness & Sports (since this blog post fall into this category)
Don’t forget to put website’s tags. Tags are an important part of gaining organic search traffic or SEO strategies.
It’s one of the first things search engines analyze when determining how to rank your posts. WordPress tags are a great way to manage your content.
It can help your readers to find their preferred topics in a quick and fuss-free way.
What’s more, you can always impress your readers by adding “Featured Image” to your blog post. Best recommendation pixels for good images to upload at WordPress?
Banner: 1920×700 pixels Featured image: 1200×628 pixels
Once you are done with your blog post, don’t forget to click “Publish”.
As you can see, we have also created another blog post for a couple of categories we created in the beginning. You can continue to add blog posts by following the steps listed above.
In this section, you can see that each post includes the author’s name, categories, tags, and the date it was published.
We’ve already shown you how to create your blog posts step by step. Isn’t it super simple?
Indeed! Creating a blog site with Blocksy themes makes your job easier.
This is the first version of our website. Well, we think this is fantastic work, especially for beginners who have just begun to use WordPress to create their posts!
You’ve probably noticed that there are no menu buttons in the header section of our website right now. Why is this happening? This is because we have yet to create a menus button.
Step 4: Creating Website Menus
- Click Customize
When you click on customize, you will be taken to this customizer dashboard.
To create menus, go to Customizer Section – Choose “Menus”.
- Click ” Create New Menu”
Simply type “Main Menu” to this section. Choose/Tick Header Menu 1, then click NEXT
- Click + Add Items, Choose to add Home & add Categories to Menus column.
All categories and home are now within the Menus column.
Eh! Don’t forget to click the Publish button to see the changes you’ve made to your blog site.
Step 5: Customize the Website Header and Footer
We are almost done. Now we only need to add a few more elements to make sure that our blog site is complete.
- Go back to Customizer – Choose Header
- Click Logo – Select Logo – Upload Company’s Logo – Click Publish
What about the footer?
- Go back to Customizer – Choose Footer
Drag “Copyright” & Drop to Main Row – Click Copyright -Insert Copyright text
- Click Publish. Then you will Copyright a center of your blog site.
Then you’ll see Copyright in the center of your blog site.
Step 6: Adding a Contact Form
Wondering why you need a contact form on your website? Why not just publish an email address instead?
Making a contact form sounds like hard work, but it’s easy with the right form builder plugin. And a contact form is actually vital if you want to grow your blog site and most importantly this is one of the ways you can engage with your readers!
- Go back to WordPress Dashboard – Click Plugins – Choose “Add New”
- Search Keyword “WP Form” – Click Install Now – Activate
You’re going to see WPForm’s Welcome Post. From here click “Create Your First Form”.
- Simply choose “Simple Contact Form” – Click “Use Template”
You will see the Contact Form Dashboard here, and you are now ready to customize your form.
If you want a different name for your form, you can easily change it by following these steps: Go to Settings – Click General
Then, you have the option to change the notification settings.
Additionally, you can also personalize your confirmation message. Once everything is in order, press the SAVE button.
We already understand how to create a Contact Form using WPForm Plugin. Now let’s continue to the final part — adding a contact form to our menus list.
- Go back to WordPress Dashboard – Click Pages – Choose Add New
You will see below dashboard. Write “Contact Us” – Click Publish
- Click “Toggle Block Inserter”. Then you will see a list of block inserter as image below.
Continue to search for “WPForm” – Press Enter. You will see WPForm icon down there. Select the form you just created.
- Adding Contact Us to the menus list in the header section. Go to Blocksy Customizer – Choose Menus
- Simply click Main Menu that we already created just now
- Click “Add Items” – Choose from Page list: “Contact Us” – Press Publish
If you refresh your blog, you should see Contact Us in the menus list.
So here you go, the six steps to creating your first WordPress website!
As and when small business ideas grow to become a full-fledged digital business or an ecommerce business, there could be a need to have more than one WordPress website to cater to business growth.
Once wp online is used, it is difficult not to like it and use it repeatedly.
For this very purpose, WordPress CMS has a feature which allows website administrators to install more than one instance of WordPress.
Also, this is where it becomes technical. There are three ways in which multiple WordPress website installs can be put in.
- One WordPress instance with one database
- Two or more WordPress instances with one database
- Multiple WordPress installs with a different database for each install
In a Nutshell
Websites are important. It’s how a person or business interacts with visitors and leads, makes a good first impression and increases conversions.
The good news is that building a website doesn’t have to be a difficult task, at least not with WordPress.
The simple-to-use WordPress provides entirely customizable programs to meet all demands.
You can start making your own website for your business, blog, portfolio or online store without any previous experience.
To know more about such and other WordPress hosting, WordPress website features and technical support requirements, Exabytes has a 24x7x365 tech support team.
Exabytes is Singapore’s leading web hosting services provider offering cheap domain for WordPress website with assistance on how to build a WordPress website with a wp online account using WordPress premium features.
Related articles:
