How To Create
A Website
A simple 5-step process for beginners
Follow our simple beginner’s guide and make a website for your business, blog or organization in under 1 hour.
Step 1
Get a Domain Name
Step 2
Get Website Hosting
Step 3
Install Your Content
Management System (WordPress)
Step 4
Connect Your Domain
To Your Hosting
Step 5
Choose A Design Template
& Add Your Content
Learn how to make a website from start to finish
Step 1
Get a Domain Name
The first thing you will need to build a website is a domain name. This is your unique website address (e.g. mycompany.com or yourname.com) that users will type into their website browser on their computer or mobile device in order to find your website.
Choosing the right domain name is important and we would suggest the following:
- If you are building a website for your business then the domain name should match your business name (e.g. yourbusinessname.com)
- If you are creating a website for personal use then perhaps use your name (e.g. yourname.com)
Assuming you business or brand has a global audience then using a generic domain extension such as .com is appropriate.
If however your business or brand has a local audience, then we typically suggest using a country specific domain extension (e.g. .co.uk or .com.au)
There are many domain name providers out there but we recommend Namecheap as their domain registration process and simple and their pricing is very cost effective, typically ranging from $10 to $30.
Some hosting providers will offer a free domain when you purchase hosting, but be mindful that renewals are typically 10 to 15% higher than our suggested domain name provider.
The Domain Registration Process
To register your domain with Namecheap click on the button below
The next step is to search to see whether your desired domain name is available to register. Type your desired domain name into the search box and click on the Search button.
If your desired domain name is available then great! If not, don’t worry as there are plenty of other options available. Keep searching until you find a suitable domain name that is available and then click on the Add To Cart button.
Once you have added your domain name to your shopping cart you will be offered some additional options. For the purpose of this example you won’t require any additional options so simply click on Checkout button in the bottom right corner.
The next step is to confirm you are happy with the items in your cart and click on the Confirm Order button.
You will need to create an account so fill in the requested information and then click the Create Account and Continue button.
Next you will input your Account Contact Information and click the Continue button.
The last part of the account creation process is to confirm your WHOIS contact information and click the Continue button.
The final step is to make payment for your new domain name. Choose your preferred payment method and click the Continue button.
Once your payment has been successfully processed you will have successfully registered your chosen domain name, congratulations!
Keep this page open in a browser tab and open a new browser tab to complete the next step. We will come back to Namecheap for Step 3.
Step 2
Get Website Hosting
One you have secured your domain name you will then need a website hosting server which you will connect your domain name to and is where your website files will be stored and available for download by your website visitors.
Web hosting prices range from $3 to $20 per month for basic website hosting, but you definitely get what you pay for so our advice is to AVOID CHEAP HOSTING as it will only lead to frustration and disappointment.
Cheap hosting tends to be slow and if you hit resource limits your site will often display an error to the user. Ultimately it is a business expense and you want to put your best foot forward and appear professional to your website visitors.
Some of the key features we look for are:
- One-click install of common
- Content Management Systems (e.g. WordPress)
- Free SSL certificates (usually available from Let’s Encrypt)
24/7 customer support
Our preferred hosting provider is Siteground as we believe they have the best balance of price and quality. They offer higher quality hosting, usually $19.99 per month, at a discounted price of $6.99 per month for your first 12 months.
Get Web Hosting With Siteground
Get Siteground hosting by clicking on the button below
Choose the package option you think will best suit your needs. For beginners it is probably best to start with the StartUp plan.
The next step is to specify your domain name. As you have already purchased your domain name click on “I already have a Domain” and click on the PROCEED button.
Next enter the requested personal information and choose a Data Center that is closest to your target audience.
Then add your payment information
Review your order and agree to the terms and conditions, then click the PAY NOW button.
Once you order has been processed you will see the following success message, you now have your own website hosting account!
Click on the PROCEED TO CUSTOMER AREA button and you will be taken to the main Siteground dashboard.
Get Bluehost hosting by clicking here:
Navigate to the Shared Hosting page via the Hosting drop down in the main menu.
Scroll down to the package options section to view the various pricing options and inclusions. For most entry level websites the BASIC hosting option will be adequate.
Click on the SELECT button to purchase your website hosting package.
You will be prompted to set up your domain, as you have already purchased a domain name you will choose the Use a domain you own option, input your domain name and click the Next button.
Fill out the required personal information
Choose your desired hosting period. You can secure the discounted price for up to 3 years if you have the budget to do so upfront. There are some optional extras you can choose from such as automatic site backups etc, so have a read through the information on each and decide if you’d like to add those on.
Finalise your Bluehost website hosting purchase by inputting your payment details, agreeing to the terms and conditions and clicking on the Submit button.
You have now successfully purchased your hosting account with Bluehost. Click on the Create your account button to set your account password.
The provisioning process will take a few minutes so just retry if your password is not immediately accepted. Once you have successfully added a password you can then login.
Input your login details to login to your account
Bluehost has an onboarding process for users navigating the process themselves, but as this tutorial is guiding you through the process you can simply scroll down and click Skip This Step for each question.
After you have skipped the onboarding process you will be taken to the main dashboard.
On the right side you will see a button labelled Log in to WordPress which will auto-magically log you in to your new WordPress website.
The Bluehost WordPress dashboard does look a little different to the Siteground dashboard but don’t worry, it still has all the same important features.
As WordPress has automatically been installed by Bluehost you can skip forward to Step 4.
Step 3
Install Your Content Management System (WordPress)
Once you have connected your domain name to your hosting account you then need to install your CMS software. WordPress is the most popular website building software and is a simple platform to use.
WordPress has thousands of free templates (known as “Themes”) that you can use and a variety of design styles to suit all types of websites. There are also a huge range of premium WordPress themes which you can purchase if you can’t find the specific look you are after with the free themes.
The process of installing WordPress on your hosting is quite simple as long as your hosting provider has a “one-click installation” option, which both Siteground and Bluehost offer. We do have a guide for installing WordPress manually but it is definitely better to avoid this if you can.
As noted if you have purchased hosting with Bluehost then WordPress has been automatically installed, but below is the process for installing WordPress on Siteground.
Installing WordPress on Siteground Hosting
Once you have navigated to the Siteground Customer Area, click on the WEBSITES tab in the top navigation bar.
Next select the Start New Website option and select the WordPress application which is the first application listed.
Next you will need to input your email address and choose a password for your WordPress installation. Make sure you note these details down as you will need them later on.
Click on the FINISH button to finalise installing WordPress.
Your new website is now being created, how exciting!
Once your site has been created you will be given your website’s nameservers which will allow you to connect your domain name to your hosting account.
Step 4
Connect Your Domain To Your Hosting
Once you have purchased your domain name and hosting you will need to connect the two. This is a simple process of updating your domain nameservers to point to your chosen hosting provider.
Copy the details of the first nameserver and return to the other tab where you have your Namecheap dashboard open.
In the Nameservers section choose the Custom DNS option from the drop down and paste your nameserver details into the appropriate fields.
Click on the small green tick to the right of the drop down box to save your settings.
Your domain name is now connected to your hosting server, congratulations!
The last step we need to take is to install an SSL certificate to make your site secure.
From the Siteground customer area dashboard click on the Manage Site link to navigate to the Site Tools dashboard.
Now click on the SECURITY tab in the left sidebar and navigate to the SSL MANAGER
Select your domain name and the Let’s Encrypt option and click on the GET button.
Your SSL certificate is now being installed
Once installed click on the ENFORCE HTTPS link in the sidebar
Toggle the HTTPS Enforce setting to ON and you now have a secure site.
If you have chosen to purchase your hosting through Bluehost the nameserver details are:
ns1.bluehost.com
ns2.bluehost.com
Step 5
Choose A Design Template & Add Your Content
Now that you have WordPress installed and you’ve connected your domain name to your hosting account it is time to get to the fun part – choosing your design template!
Choosing a Theme
Each WordPress theme comes with it’s own design style that changes the look of your website content. It’s quite common to start with a free theme, you can view the options available at https://wordpress.org/themes/
You can choose any theme you want but for the sake of this tutorial we are going to choose a theme called Astra which we recommend is a great starting point as it is simple to install, setup and gives you a great range of design styles.
Installing Your Chosen Theme
To install your preferred theme you simply need to navigate to your WordPress dashboard which you can access via the URL yourwebsite.com/wp-admin (replacing yourwebsite.com with your chosen domain name) and login with the details you chose during Step 3 when you installed WordPress.
Once inside the dashboard you will see the WordPress navigation menu on the left side of your screen. Now locate the APPEARANCE section and when you hover over the menu it will open up a dropdown menu. Click on the THEMES menu item.
Once you have navigated to the THEMES section, you can then click on the ADD NEW button at the top of the section
Locate the search box on the right hand side and type in the theme name “Astra”
Hover over the theme listing and then click the INSTALL button
Now that the theme is installed click on the ACTIVATE button
Assuming you receive the success message that completes the theme installation process and you can now move on to choosing a specific design.
Choosing Your Specific Design (Astra Theme Only)
Assuming you have chosen to use the Astra theme, you now need to choose your preferred design template.
One of the best things about the Astra theme is that it has such a wide range of design looks, suitable for most types of websites.
To view the available themes simply click on the ASTRA OPTIONS link under the APPEARANCE section of the navigation.
Now that you are in the options panel you can choose a starter template which gives you a fully designed website as a starting point.
To install and select a starter template you will need to click on the ACTIVATE IMPORTER PLUGIN link on the right side of the options panel.
You will need to select a page builder and we recommend ELEMENTOR as it is a widely popular drag and drop builder due to being very simple to use.
Once you have chosen your preferred page builder you will then be taken to the starter template repository where you can choose from over 100 template options.
Simply click on one of the template options and you will be given the option to import a complete site or just a single page. Just a note that the templates with the “Agency” badge are premium templates which are available by purchasing a membership.
For this example we have chosen the Mountain template and we are going to import the complete site. If you only wish to import a single page just click on the page name (e.g. About) and you will be given the option to import that page only.
Click on the IMPORT COMPLETE SITE button and you will be prompted to input some additional information. Input the information required as below.
When your chosen template has been imported successfully you will see the message below
Click on VIEW SITE and you will see you now how a fully functioning website! Now all you need to do is replace the demo content with your own content.
Adding Your Logo
The first step is to click on the Edit with Elementor link in the black navigation bar at the top of the page. The page will open with the Elementor editing panel visible on the left side of the page.
To Add Your Logo click on the hamburger icon in the top left
The click on Site Settings
The click on Site Identity
And then click on the Choose Image button
Replace the placeholder logo with your own logo and then click on the UPDATE button at the bottom of the Elementor editor panel.
Please note: this tutorial shows how to edit the logo via the Elementor settings. In some cases the starter site template you have chosen may utilise the Astra theme logo settings, specifically the transparent header settings. If this is the case you will need to update the logo via the theme logo settings as your logo will not appear. We have created a short instructional on how to edit your logo if the logo is not updating using the Elementor settings.
Adding Your Content
The final step in settings up your new website is to replace the template content with your own content. Exit the Site Settings section by clicking the X in the top right corner.
Once you are back in the page editor you can hover over any element and you will see some editing options. For text you can simply click on the text and edit directly in the page. A sidebar editing panel will also be displayed with additional editing options.
The settings for the background are located in the Style tab.
If you don’t have good quality images of your own you can find some great free stock images from sites like pexels.com or unsplash.com.
Once you have made all the changes you want to the page you can click on the Update button at the bottom of the editing panel.
To exit the editor and return to the WordPress dashboard click on the hamburger menu in the top left of the editing panel.
Then click on the Exit To Dashboard button.
Changing Fonts & Colors
Another thing you may want to do is to change the fonts or colors for your website. You can do this via returning to the Astra Options section which is located under the Appearance menu in the main dashboard. You can see a range of options available via the native WordPress customizer.
Adding & Editing Pages
Depending on whether you imported just the home page of your starter template or the entire site you will then want to either add more pages or edit the other pages you imported.
This can be done via the PAGES menu in the main WP dashboard.
Customizing Your Navigation Menu
Once you’ve created all the pages you’d like to have on your site you will then need to update your main navigation menu.
This can be done via clicking on the MENUS section under the APPEARANCE drop down in the main dashboard.
Here you can choose which pages you would like to appear in your main menu. WordPress allows you to create multiple menus and designate where you would like them displayed based on where menus have been included in your chosen theme. Note that the Primary Menu is generally the main menu for your website.
This section is drag and drop so you can reorder the menu items or even drag a menu item slightly right which will then make the item a sub-menu of the item above it.
That’s pretty much it! Once you have added your content you now have your own website! Congratulations and woohoo!
This tutorial has shown you how to make a standard informational website. If you’re interested in finding out how to create an online store by setting up an ecommerce website, check out our guide for Adding An Online Store To Your WordPress Website.
