Read about the basics of web development, the process of creating a website, and additional resources for those who want to learn more. Chapter 1. Creating Your First Page Every website is a collection of web pages, so it should come as no surprise that your journey to build a complete site. Anyone can build a website with the right tools – and the right guide! We’ll show you how to make yours in just 9 steps.
 
 

1. Creating Your First Page – Creating a Website: The Missing Manual, 4th Edition [Book]

 
Alternatively, you can create a website without any blog section at all.

How to Build a Personal Website: An Easy Step-by-Step Guide ()

Luckily, though, picking the best one is simple. WordPress is used on more than We describe the differences between the two here. This will all become clear in the next steps.

When learning how to make a website, picking a name is probably the most fun aspect of the whole process. After all, you have complete freedom here. You can pick literally any name you wish for your website. There are still some things you need to understand to set yourself up for success later down the road. First off, there are nearly 2 billion! Meaning, staying original can be quite challenging.

If you have no idea which domain you want to get, then go straight to our no. Domain Wheel will come back with some suggestions. You can narrow it down from there to find your perfect domain name.

The next step, once you know which domain name you want, is to register it and also buy a hosting package in one go. To put it simply, web hosting aka. There are tens if not hundreds of different companies that can register a new domain name for you.

Then, there are also tons of companies that can sell you a hosting package…. First, click here to go to Bluehost. This can be found in the section labeled package information :. While you can technically install WordPress manually, why would you if you could get other people to do it for you, and for free! As soon as you completed the sign-up process with Bluehost, you should have received an email from the Bluehost crew with some details on how to log into your customer profile and begin working on your site.

Alternatively, you can also install WordPress by going to the My Sites section and clicking on the Create Site button:. You can log in to your WordPress user panel if you go to www. Permalinks define how the individual web page addresses — aka URLs — are structured within your site. Setting the permalinks correctly will allow you to achieve that. I guess you want Google to be able to find and index your website.

While not required to build a website, using a CMS makes things easier. It provides the building blocks like plugins and add-ons and lets you create the structure with your code. There are always malicious actors looking to find vulnerabilities in websites to expose private information, steal data, and crash servers. Cybersecurity is the practice of securing data, networks, and computers from these threats.

The methods used by hackers are constantly evolving, as are the security measures taken to defend against them. Failing to understand how your site could be targeted could result in disaster.

As a result, a basic understanding of cybersecurity best practices is critical for effective web development. You should also carry out security audits on a consistent basis. These different types of web development primarily refer to the different sectors of the profession in which web developers can work.

Some of these distinctions overlap, and web developers will often master multiple types of web development.

Front-end developers work on the client- or user-facing side of websites, programs, and software — in other words, what users see. They design and develop the visual aspects, including the layout, navigation, graphics, and other aesthetics. The main job of these developers is to build interfaces that help users reach their goals, which is why they also often have a hand in the user experience aspect of their projects. Back-end web developers work on the servers of websites, programs, and software to make sure everything works properly behind-the-scenes.

These developers work with systems like servers, operating systems, APIs , and databases and manage the code for security, content, and site architecture. They collaborate with front-end developers to bring their products to users. Full stack developers work in both the front-end and back-end sides of a website.

They can create a website, application, or software program from start to finish. Because full-stack developers require years in the field to build the necessary experience, this role is often sought after.

Their all-around knowledge helps them optimize performance, catch issues before they occur, and help team members to understand different parts of a web service. Website developers can be front-end, back-end, or full-stack developers. However, these professionals specialize in building websites, as opposed to mobile applications, desktop software, or video games.

Desktop developers specialize in building software applications that run locally on your device, rather than over the Internet in the web browser. Sometimes the skillset of these developers overlaps with that of web developers if an application can run both online and off.

Mobile developers build applications for mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. Mobile apps operate much differently than other websites and software programs, thus requiring a separate set of development skills and knowledge of specialized programming languages. Game developers specialize in writing code for video games, including console games Xbox, PlayStation, etc. This includes electronic interfaces, consumer devices, IoT devices, real-time systems, and more.

No matter what type of website you create, it must live on a server. All the images and videos on your site, along with its files, plug-ins, and extensions, all live on a server owned by a hosting service. Check out Bluehost , as it is recommended by WordPress itself. Head to wordpress. Or you can pay for premium themes, which will often have great aesthetics, a wider range of page templates, and sometimes a custom user interface.

If you have trouble choosing, most templates in the library let you play with interactive demos to see exactly how they work. The actual website design colors, fonts, backgrounds, etc.

The most important thing here is getting a theme your target visitor will understand and enjoy. Remember to serve their needs above your own aesthetic preferences. Later down the line, you can always work with a WordPress designer to customize your site or tweak pages and templates. Click this, then Add New. Take your time making them readable, to the point, and relevant to your brand.

The editor gives you plenty of options to arrange the page layout, adding links, images, and videos to make things engaging for your users. In WordPress, the alternative to Pages is Posts. Which WordPress plug-ins should you use? It all depends on what you want. You can also find SEO tools and other popular plug-ins like:.

The more plug-ins you have, the more complicated things can get, especially if anything goes wrong. Shopify also has an integration with WordPress. This means making sure there are no:. Even better, ask for feedback—friends and family can help, or you could ask for feedback online through message boards and business communities.

That’s it! Your WordPress site is ready to go live. It’s time to tell everyone you know and get it out there into the world. It works similarly to the mechanisms offered by the popular website builders like Wix, Squarespace, or Weebly.

There are also a handful of more sections available. In there, you will be able to pick a font and see it on your site immediately.

Out the box, your new theme is going to use a couple of primary colors that define its default color scheme. You can change that setting in the WordPress Customizer. Just click on Colors in the main sidebar. You will have made all the necessary tune-ups and customizations to make it fit with your brand.

There are many more settings in the WordPress Customizer to experiment with. Most of them are designed to increase the user experience of your site. For instance, you can:. In other words, they extend the standard functionality of your site by adding some much-needed features. Installing plugins is simple. Running a blog is a straightforward concept. What you do is publish articles related to the topic of your website and do it regularly.

From a technical point of view, WordPress has blogging tools built right into it from the get-go. In fact, WordPress started as a blogging platform. The process itself of creating a blog post works nearly the same as creating a new page. The editing panel looks nearly the same the screenshot below , and the options are mostly the same as well.

To make your posts easily accessible, you should designate one of your pages to serve as the main blog listing for the posts.

At this stage, you can navigate to that new page and see all your recent blog posts there. Of course, the tough part about starting a blog is writing blog posts regularly and making them attractive for people to read.

Depending on your theme, you will have a couple of options to choose from regarding menu settings. To the left, there are all the pages you can choose to add to a menu. To the right, you can see the menu structure itself and all its settings. A good idea is to pick About, Contact, plus whatever other one or two pages you consider to be important, and add them to the menu.

However, we recommend using an ecommerce-specific platform like Shopify or BigCommerce because they have better sales features. Website builders have everything you need to create a website in one place. You can add imagery, videos, new pages, contact forms and everything else, without having to code.

With open source platforms like WordPress,you have to code everything yourself, and organize web hosting and security certificates. It depends on what you want your website to do. Website builders have set price plans, but you have to pay for most apps and integrations. They all have different strengths and weaknesses, but the best website builders are:.

The easiest and most affordable way to make a website is with a website builder. Or you can hire a web designer, but this can be expensive. Every website builder lets you create professional looking websites thanks to their sleek templates and intuitive design tools. Squarespace is the best platform for design, letting you create truly stunning websites worthy of any web designer, and it offers a day free trial. There are a number of paid portals where you can choose a web designer from a global pool of freelancers.

The best ones include:. For more information, read our article on where to find a web designer or developer. Almost a third of all websites are built on WordPress. But it also requires more setup work and maintenance than most website builders do.

WordPress is not an all-in-one package. A CMS allows you to create and organize digital content. Other elements like hosting and domain registration are best done separately. Most new websites will be fine to start off on a shared hosting plan, then upgrade later as needed. The first major logistic of setting up a WordPress site is web hosting. The files that make up your website need a virtual location to live in. It performs particularly well for shared WordPress hosting , which is ideal for beginners:.

See how it compares to the other providers on our list. Bluehost Review — A deep dive into the pros and cons of this WordPress-recommended host. Bluehost Pricing Review — Is Bluehost expensive, and is it good value for money?

Are there any hidden costs? Is Bluehost Right For You? Bluehost is the best WordPress provider, having been recommended by WordPress since Take a closer look to see if Bluehost is right for you! Let’s See – Show Me Bluehost! Pick a plan Before you can get down to the business of building your WordPress website you need a place for it to live. This requires a hosting plan. Signing up for a hosting plan is easy.

Signing up for the right hosting plan is where things get a bit trickier. There are various types and tiers of hosting designed for everything from tiny blogs to online stores with millions of visitors per month. For an idea of the range of plans available, just look at Bluehost :. If, further down the line, a shared plan proves inadequate you can simply upgrade. For your first WordPress site a basic shared plan will see you right. Looking to get started with shared hosting?

Make sure you pick one of the Best Shared Hosting Providers — our review will help! Every site needs a domain name. A domain name is the virtual address of your website.

Ours is websitebuilderexpert. And so on. Bluehost lets you choose a domain for free as part of the signup process. More on this later. Their value tends to be set by the market. Facebook bought fb. Far more manageable.

You only lose it if you choose not to renew, at which point it will be put back on the market. With most hosting providers, WordPress can be installed with just a single click. Once you sign up to a hosting plan with Bluehost , an account will be made for you automatically, though setting up a WordPress requires something from you: a click. Accordingly, most offer one-click WordPress installation. If you bought a domain name as part of signing up, a WordPress site will already be there a no-click setup!

Most web hosting providers offer a similar experience. For a complete walkthrough, check out our guide on how to install WordPress with Bluehost. This will provide the basic design springboard, from which you can build your own personal website. There are plenty of free themes available through the WordPress theme directory, while you may have to pay a small amount for a premium theme.

While website builders have templates, WordPress has themes. Your theme affects how your site looks. The upside with free themes is the cost, obviously, though bear in mind a nice free theme is likely being used on a lot of sites already.

Some only require a one-off payment, while others offer a subscription in exchange for support, updates, and maintenance. Once you select your WordPress site you will find yourself in the WordPress dashboard. A handful of default themes are waiting for you when you arrive, and adding new ones only takes a few minutes. Clicking on a theme takes you to its own page where you can see user reviews and preview the theme in action. Customization on WordPress requires much more technical skill than it does with website builders.

Just be wary. WordPress offers more control than website builders, but only to those equipped to use it. Adding content to WordPress is much more structured than you might think. Content on WordPress sites essentially breaks down into two types: pages and posts. What they look like will depend on the theme you use.