While there are numerous methods, WordPress is the most convenient when deciding how to make your own website. When you want to build your website for the first time, we suggest utilizing Squarespace, Weebly, or Wix platforms. These are the most excellent choices for newbies in the web design industry.

Regardless of your choice, you can design your website in a few minutes using the steps below.

Option 1: Use a Website Builder

1. Choose the Right Website Builder for You

To create a website, many people employ website builders. Wix has more than one hundred million users, while Shopify just surpassed 1.2 million.

Anyone, irrespective of their technical ability, can create a website through website builders. At the early stage of the Internet, building a website required a solid knowledge of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). Then emerged CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), which further added to the complexity.

Now, web builders handle the technical aspect, allowing you to concentrate on content and design. Some web builders offer templates, while others provide drag-and-drop tools, making it easier to build a website.

Since different builders cater to various requirements, you need to select the appropriate one.

2. Sign Up for a Plan that Suits Your Needs and Budget

There is a significant advantage of website builders over web developers. A web developer’s fee for template modification alone might range from $300 to $1,000, while a completely customized new website can cost thousands of dollars. Alternatively, utilizing a website builder to create a website enables you to have a completely functional website for just a few bucks.

However, the service you select is determined by your requirements. When creating a website to act as a portfolio for your work, Wix’s combo plan, which costs $13 per month, is an ideal option. On the other hand, when you need a corporate website to attract more traffic and have several user accounts, the VIP Plan, which costs $25 per month, could be a perfect choice.

3. Choose a Unique and Relevant Domain Name

A domain name is a part of the URL that identifies your website. You can register your domain name through platforms like Domain.com. However, website builders are more than ready to handle that once you sign up. Most offer the service for free, while some charge a small fee.

Your domain name is very significant since it is one of the ways your website displays itself online. When it comes to picking a domain name, there are a few general guidelines to follow.

• It should be relevant: Ensure your domain is the same as what people see whenever they visit your website. In other words, don’t register your domain as a completely different name than your company or brand.
• Make it brief and memorable: Choose a domain with more minor characters to enable visitors to remember your website.
• Don’t use numbers: Avoid using numerals while creating domain names because it is unprofessional.
• It must be unique: Countless web pages imply that many domain names are already taken. Before deciding on your domain name, ensure it is unique and has never been used.

After deciding on a domain, register with your preferred website builder after. Most basic plans have an annual subscription of about $12. However, this is frequently covered with premium services.

4. Pick a Design Template You Love

Now that you’ve picked a website builder, made your subscription, and registered your domain, you’re all set to start. Website builders provide templates to help you along the way, so you don’t have to figure it all out on your own

Templates are a foundation for your online platform. They serve as a canvas on which you can portray your creativity. You can have a professionally designed website without employing a designer with a template.

Fortunately, there is a wide range of design templates to pick from. The best website builders offer thousands of templates in diverse categories. With a better plan, you can access more templates.

Regardless of the purpose of your website, you’ll find the perfect template. For instance, if you want to develop a fitness website, you can narrow down your template selection to find the best fitness templates.

Consider templates to be the ‘clothing’ of your webpage. You can easily switch them out when you want to adjust your template. Explore various templates and discover which one works best for you. The main goal of templates is to provide you with multiple options, so dig through and choose one that fits your needs.

5. Customize Your Template Design

As mentioned earlier, a template gives your website its structure. Since many people employ website builders, there’s a good chance your web’s structure is similar to someone else’s.

Thus, you should fill your website template with unique material. Customization is crucial if you want to drive traffic to your website.

Creating a website is similar to preparing a meal; you must follow all instructions and utilize the right tools. And with a template, you have a recipe that you can adopt to give your website a unique style.

Among the options for customization are:

• Increasing the number of pages in your layout.
• Changing the color, font, and size of your buttons.
• Including components such as contact forms and menus.
• Modifying the website homepage gallery.
• Selecting a unique color theme.
• Linking social media platforms.

Don’t be scared to work with website builders; you’ll be amazed at how much they can do. Also, don’t be worried; the top website builders will coach you on everything. Their goal is to enhance digital marketing.

You can experiment with different templates to fully understand how customization works without digging deep into your pocket. However, if the templates do not meet your needs, you can get assistance from WordPress.org. You’ll have greater freedom, but understanding WordPress could take a long time for non-developers.

6. Upload and Format Your Content

After including your preferred colors and style, you need to fill in other content such as photos, videos, and text.

If you are looking for writing guidelines, there are in-depth guides to online writing, well-researched, expert comments, and personal experiences that can help you develop compelling content.

7. Choose and Download Apps

Thanks to advancements in technology, there’s an application for everything you want your website to accomplish. Installing them is a breeze. Once you search for your builder in the App Market, you will see their prices (even though most are free), functions, and the number of people who have downloaded the app.

8. Preview and Test Your Website

After choosing and tweaking your template, you’re undoubtedly anxious about publishing your website. There is a big difference between understanding how to build a website and launching your website without knowing what you’re doing.

Before posting updates on your website, you must review them. Ensure that everything is functioning correctly. The following are some key questions to consider:

• Is everything grammatically correct?
• Are the menu keys functional?
• Is there an objective for your website?
• Is the citation style coherent?
• Is your website compatible with both PC and smartphone displays?
• Does your website load quickly?

Maintain vigilance. It would be a colossal waste of time and money to construct your website and post a half-finished product. You’ll be proud of yourself for making it this far.

9. Publish Your Website on the Internet

Before you press the ‘Publish’ key and release the website into the harsh, merciless universe, take a moment to review previous procedures. Ensure you have:

• Chosen the most appropriate website builder.
• Signed up for a package that meets your requirements and is within your means.
• Selected a domain name that is both distinctive and convenient.
• Chosen a template of your preference.
• Make adjustments to your template.
• Uploaded and formatted your materials.
• Selected and downloaded useful apps.
• Gone through your website and made sure all the requirements were in place.

Click on the ‘Publish‘ button! Inform your relatives and friends, and anyone who minds listening across the streets. Rent a flyover.  Do anything you can to spread the news. Your website is now available to the public for viewing. You may, of course, continue to personalize and improve it, but now you’ve made the jump.

Perhaps you’re still not confident about handling the entire process, especially if you don’t consider yourself creative. There are many guides about “All You Need to Build Your Website.” These guides explain the above procedures, Google analytics, graphic designing, and images in-depth. Learn to create a booking website or how to design an online membership site.

To learn how to create a website, you don’t have to spend any money. You can explore a few builders to see how you’d like your website to look from front to back end.

Option 2: Use WordPress

1. Decide if WordPress is Right For You

WordPress is the platform where almost one-third of all websites are created—a subtly important component of the internet’s functionality. More installation and upkeep are required with this website builder than with most others. The first stage in creating a website with WordPress is to take ownership of your situation and understand whatever you’re getting yourself into.

WordPress is not a one-stop shop for all of your needs. It is a Content Management System (CMS). A content management system (CMS) helps you produce and manage digital information. Hosting and domain registration are two additional components that are best handled individually. It is your responsibility to put these elements in a WordPress website. This isn’t as difficult as you may imagine; however, it is also not the most straightforward method of creating a website. Those who are uneasy with technology should avoid it.

2. Buy the Right Hosting Plan

Web hosting is the first and most crucial logistical consideration when creating a WordPress website. Web hosting is a service that helps clients host their websites. All the data that constitute a website should have a virtual home to function.

3. Choose a Provider

Bluehost is one of the providers suggested explicitly by WordPress, and since it has received the highest rating for WordPress hosting, it’s highly recommended. Pairing Bluehost with basic WordPress hosting is an excellent choice for newbies:

4. Pick a Plan

You’ll need a home for your WordPress website before constructing it. This necessitates the purchase of a hosting package. Things become a little complicated when choosing the correct hosting package. However, it’s simple to sign up for a hosting package.

There are many levels of hosting available, ranging from tiny blogs to online businesses with large numbers of monthly visitors.

5. Choose and Register a Domain Name

A domain name is a website’s actual address. For example, nytimes.com is the domain of the New York Times. While creating a WordPress website, you must develop a domain name. Bluehost provides you with a free domain when signing up.

When you want to purchase a domain name independently, visit a domain registrar site such as Domain.com; search for your proposed domain name, and purchase if available. After that, the registrar will provide you with a username and password. Through this process, you may link the domain with a website.

6. Install Your WordPress Site with One Click

When you register on Bluehost, you will create your account instantly, but you’ll need to set up your WordPress.

Because of WordPress’s widespread diffusion, hosting companies are incentivized to make the setup process straightforward. As a result, most of them provide a quick WordPress installation just by a click.

A WordPress website will be available if you purchase a domain name while signing up. The majority of web hosting companies offer the same service. Choose the ‘Create Site’ option to create a new WordPress website. On Bluehost, go to your dashboard’s ‘My Sites’ section.

7. Choose a Theme for Your Website Design

The theme has an impact on the appearance of your website. WordPress uses themes, but website builders use templates. Fortunately, free and premium themes are available so that you can update them frequently.

The apparent advantage of free themes is their cost-effectiveness, but keep in mind that a perfect free theme is probably utilized on several websites. In that regard, premium themes are limited. Some demand a one-time purchase, and others require a charge in return for service.

After choosing a WordPress website, you’ll be sent to your dashboard, the control center, to adjust themes. Luckily, you can use some preset themes, but you can also decide to introduce new themes in a process that only takes a few minutes.

To explore the WordPress theme directory for a new theme, tap Appearance > Themes > Add New.

The Theme Directory contains hundreds of themes to choose from. Look for the subjects you’re passionate about. Several options will show up in the search results. For example, when you want to start a newspaper, enter ‘newspaper’ into the search box, and when you want to create a café, type ‘cafe.’ When you choose a theme, you’ll be directed to its website, where you can read consumer reviews and preview a sample of the theme.

WordPress modifications need more specialized skills than website builders. You’ll have to go inside the program to create the desired adjustments. This will never be a problem if you’re familiar with CSS, Javascript, and HTML. WordPress gives you greater power than website builders. But be cautious. This can be frustrating if you don’t have the requisite skills.

8. Create and Customize Your Content and Pages

Uploading material to WordPress is far more organized than you would expect. Content is divided into two categories on WordPress sites: pages and posts. They will appear depending on the type of theme you choose.

Pages are one-time permanent sections that serve as the foundation of your website, for instance, the contact page and homepage. On the other hand, posts are often updated. When a website contains a blog, each item within the blog is referred to as a post.

It is simple to create pages and posts. They need just a few mouse clicks on your WordPress dashboard. Go to ‘Pages’ and then ‘Add New’ to create new pages. Similarly, go to ‘Posts,’ then ‘Add New.’ You can add materials, evaluate them, and get them published.

Many websites and themes require a single navigation menu. Creating a navigation menu is simple. Go to ‘Appearance’ and ‘Menus’ add pages to your menu. Choose the pages to display on your menu.

9. Install Useful Plugins

Plugins are software applications that you can install to WordPress to improve the convenience of use. The basic functionalities are sufficient to create a working website; however, plugins are constantly updated.

Explore WordPress plugins, and you’ll quickly realize what a creative and dynamic entity they are. WordPress contains large numbers of plugins for anything from search engine optimization (SEO) to picture compression. Every plugin has a website featuring descriptions, images, customer reviews, and other information.

You can easily install plugins from your WordPress dashboard. Go to ‘Plugins’ and then ‘Add New.’ You’ll be able to browse across featured, standard, and suggested plugins or even explore individually. Click the ‘Install Now’ button to begin the installation process.

Not sure where to begin? Check out the following plugins:

• Jetpack: Created by Automattic, the people leading WordPress, Jetpack is a plugin suite that contains hundreds of plugins. In-depth website statistics, automatic social media updates, and lazy loading—a technique for quicker loading are just a few services accessible.
• Google Analytics Dashboard: This is an excellent free online tool for monitoring website visitors. It displays all that is on your WordPress dashboard.
• Options for Sharing on Online Platforms: Would you like your materials to be shared by visitors? This extension lets you include customizable social media share icons in your articles to maximize visibility.

The ‘Installed Plugins’ area of the ‘Plugins’ tab is where you control your plugins. You can adjust the settings and turn the plugins on and off from there.

As always, don’t be scared to experiment. The benefits of plugins far outweigh the drawbacks. So, in the worst situation, you can always disable a plugin that you don’t find helpful.

Bottom Line

Everything is all set. But the task is not done. The online platform is continuously developing; you will never complete an excellent website. A WordPress platform’s service life is a continual loop of phases, with a dash of theme modification tossed in for extra effect.

Creating and managing a WordPress website is a gratifying process. The organized structure that WordPress provides will make things easy to manage. You’ll study designing, content creation, search engine optimizations, programming, etc.