How To Set Up and Use WordPress to Build a Website

Content Management System (CMS)

How to Make a Website from Scratch

Installing WordPress

Updated: August 7, 2023
By: RSH Web Editorial Staff

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WordPress

Is building websites with WordPress easy?

WordPress is not necessarily easy for beginners. But learning how to use WordPress can be.

Anyone can learn to use this website builder for any type of website.
This is why is is the most popular CMS used today.
Claimed to be used by more than 35% of all sites on the Internet.

You do not need to be a WordPress guru to use WordPress effectively. You do not need to know any coding.

There are plenty of successful WordPress designers who do not know how to code what so ever.

Have never interacted with the WordPress template hierarchy, and never used the WordPress glossary.

With WordPress being so popular, it’s easy to get help with the specific things you do need to know.

Not sure how to make your website look a certain way?

Not sure how to install a new plugin?

Not sure what a theme is?

A quick Google search will turn up thousands of pages.

If you approach WordPress the right way, you can avoid much of the complexity so that you only need to learn the actual concepts that will make your website a success.

Installing WordPress

Softaculous is an auto installer with in cPanel. It installs WordPress with a few clicks. Login to your cPanel and, look for WordPress under the Softaculous App Installer section. You will see the WordPress icon there, Click on the Install Now button.

WordPress Installation

After choosing a Domain Name
Select the Domain you want to install to your WordPress Website on from the drop-down menu.

In Directory
The default directory for WordPress is usually /wp. Leave this as is, to install there. If you are installing in a different sub-folder of your site, you can type the folder name here. This will make the website address look like the following:
https://domain-name.com/foldername

Admin Username
Enter a username for your WordPress Dashboard Login.

Admin Password
Enter a good password you want for your WordPress Login.

Admin email
Enter a valid email here. Make sure to use your current email address, this is not the place to make a new email address.

Once you finish the installation process, you can access your new WordPress Dashboard by going to https://YourDomain.com/wp-admin.

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WordPress Themes

As soon as you create a WordPress blog, you already have a theme active. This is either the default WordPress theme or a theme that you have chosen during the Setup Wizard.

To find free themes, the best place to search is the official WordPress.org theme directory
Another good option is Just Free Themes for a more curated approach
Or you can do a search on Google or Bing for free WordPress themes.

Install a WordPress theme

After you have found a theme, WordPress makes it easy to add that theme to your website.

Hover over Appearance. Then select Themes. Click the Add New button.

If you want to use a free theme at WordPress.org, search for the theme by name and click Install
If you purchased a premium theme, click the Upload Theme button and upload the ZIP file you should have received when you purchased the theme. After installing your theme, make sure to click the Activate button to make it active on your site.

Customize your WordPress theme

To further customize your theme, you can use something called the WordPress Customizer. This interface lets you make certain tweaks to your theme without needing to know code.

You can access it by going to Appearance > Customize.

Depending on the theme that you chose, you may have a different set of options in the left sidebar. But in general, you can make changes by using the options on the left, see a real-time preview on the website preview on the right. Make your changes live by clicking Save > Publish.

Plugins

While themes are mostly about the layout and appearances. Plugins are more focused on helping you add functionality to your blog.

When you first create a WordPress blog, you pretty much only have the ability to write blog posts and create pages.

Plugins are what allow you to add more advanced functionality.

There are over 50,000 free and paid plugins available on the Internet today. Select your plugins on the basis of how important they are. Paid plugins are not necessarily the best.

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Must have WordPress plugins

While there are plenty of niche plugins that are only good for specific uses, there are some that all sites, including blogs, can benefit from. Here are some of our suggestions:.

How to install WordPress plugins

After you log into your WordPress site go to Plugin > Add New.

If you decide to use a free plugin, search for the plugin by name. Click on Install Now. If you purchased a premium plugin, click the Upload Plugin button and upload the ZIP file you should have received when you purchased the plugin.

Make sure to Activate the plugin after installing it
You can always manage your existing plugins by going to the Plugins: tab.

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Adding a New Page

To add a new Page, hover your cursor over the Pages menu option in the left-hand navigation menu and in the fly-out menu, click the Add New link. Alternatively, click the Pages menu option and then click the Add New link underneath, or the Add New button at the top of the page.

Below are the details of the fields on the editor page of the Add New Page.

Title: This is used to write the title of the article, which is later displayed on the browser bar
Permalink: This shows the potential URL for the page below the title. The URL generates as per the given title
WYSIWYG: It is a WYSIWYG Editor, which is similar to a word processor interface where you can edit the contents of the article
Bold Button: Used to bold your font
Italic: Used to italicize the font
Word Strike: Strikes through the content
Bullet List: Adds bullets to content
Number List: Adds numbers to the list of the content
Blockquote: Quotes the text
Horizontal Line: Creates a horizontal line between sentences
Left Align: Sets the content on the left side of the page
Right Align: Sets the content to the right side of the page
Justify: Justifies the content of the page
Add Link: Adds a link to your content. When you click on this button, the following page gets displayed.

The following are the fields present in the Insert/edit link.

URL: Enter URL you want to link
Link text: Insert text you want to enter into the link
Open link in a new window/tab: Open your link page into the new tab or window. Check the box as required
Link to existing account: Links to an existing content page by selecting the page from the given list. When you click on existing page then you get a link created in the URL section
Remove Link: Deletes the particular link added for text or content
Read more tag: Adds Read More tag to your page
Toolbar toggle: Clicking on this you get another list of toolbar as shown in the following image
Paragraph: Selects the headings as required for the text from the dropdown
Underline: Underlines the sentences
Justify: Justifies your content
Text Color: Sets color for words or sentences
Paste as Text: Pastes your text
Clear Formatting: Deletes selected content
Special character: Inserts special characters needed in your content
Increase Indent: Increases the indent of the page
Decrease Indent: Decreases the indent of the page
Undo: Reverses the most recent editing command
Redo: Opposite of undo, restores the most recent editing command.

To write a blog post

Hover over Posts. Click Add New.

This will launch the WordPress Editor, which lets you write your blog posts using a really intuitive block system.

To add text, you just click and type. For other content like an image or an embedded YouTube video, you can add new blocks.

For a very popular online tutorial, see WP Beginner.

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We welcome your comments, questions, corrections and additional information relating to this article. Please be aware that off-topic comments will be deleted.
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COMMENTS

Lilia Trauger
Thank you so much for sharing such an awesome blog.

Robin Holt
Great article.


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