WordPress how to start?

Have you heard about the advantages of the WordPress platform and are you thinking how to start a project on this platform? Get to know WordPress and find out how to set up your first WordPress website step by step.
WordPress is a leader among content management systems. Its huge popularity is due to its ease of use, high level of personalization and the effectiveness of SEO options. Currently, about 35% of all websites are built based on WordPress.

The main advantage of creating a website on WordPress is its simplicity and intuitiveness. Even new Internet users will quickly learn the basics of using a WordPress website, which is why we base all our websites on this platform. Thanks to the use of WordPress, you are able to edit and add new content to your website yourself.

Setting up a WordPress website can seem complicated. However, if you have basic computer and internet skills, it shouldn’t be difficult. When you start building a WordPress website and learn, you are bound to make a lot of mistakes. You can of course take advantage of other people’s experiences to avoid repeating the same mistakes when creating your own WordPress. Our quick guide will help you learn how to get started with WordPress and how to quickly and easily learn how to use a WordPress website.

When and for whom is WordPress?

The website facilitates communication with customers and business partners. If you want to run it professionally, get to know the WordPress platform better. WordPress is brilliant, fast, and its main advantage is simplicity and intuitiveness. Even new users who are just starting to use a website will quickly learn the basics of using it. WordPress is a powerful tool, but it can be mastered without any technical knowledge. We will show you how to use WordPress, tailoring it to your needs.

A common misconception about WordPress is that it is merely a blogging platform. Sure, WordPress started out as a blogging tool, but it has evolved over the years and is now a powerful website development platform and a solid content management system (CMS).

WordPress is available in English and Polish. In addition, an extensive knowledge base created by the WordPress community is available on the Internet in both languages: dedicated forums, blogs, free courses, lessons on YouTube, etc.

WordPress gives you full control over your website. As a WordPress user, however, you don’t need to be a web designer or developer. In fact, most people start using WordPress with no prior knowledge of web design.

WordPress what do you need to know?

What is WordPress? WordPress is the most popular content management platform. Once the choice most often by bloggers, it has become a dominant platform on the market for running a company website or online store. WordPress offers great opportunities thanks to a very large number of plugins and themes, thanks to which you can change the look and functionality of the website.

You need a CMS platform to set up and edit a website. It allows you to build a good structure and extensive content of your website. You should choose a CMS that is designed for your unique needs such as ease of use and future development.

When choosing a platform for your website, you should implement the best content management system that is WordPress because it is free and relatively easy to use. Most interactive agencies and website developers are familiar with WordPress, so it’s not difficult to find a person or agency that could work on or develop your website in the future. If you can’t find a plugin with the functionality you need, it’s easy to find a WordPress developer who can create one for you.

When using WordPress, you don’t need to have coding experience to create your own website with this content management system. To start working with WordPress, all you need to do is buy a domain and hosting where you install files downloaded from the official WordPress.org website. After proper installation, all you need to do is log in to the panel and start working on your website using themes and plugins.

The remarkable simplicity and flexibility of WordPress made it an absolute leader in the world as a CMS system. The numbers are the best proof of the size of WordPress.

WordPress.org or WordPress.com?

Novice users often have trouble understanding the difference between the two WordPress forms and their different operating philosophy.

WordPress is available in two options:

WordPress.org – CMS platform developed on the basis of Open Source, i.e. free software that must be downloaded and installed on your own server – more ›wordpress.org/about

WordPress.com – a ready-to-use platform, but for blogging rather than website. With a paid Premium or Business subscription, you can also create a website, but it will be a solution with high limitations – more ›wordpress.com/pricing

Choosing the “right” WordPress theme depends mainly on your needs. If we need a simple blog, without advanced modifications, WordPress.com may be suitable. However, if you intend to create a more advanced website, or plan to develop it in the future, you should use WordPress.org. We describe this solution throughout the text because we appreciate scalable open-source solutions. Only thanks to this version of WordPress, you can create a website with any functionality, appearance and use an unlimited number of plugins and themes.

Why Choose WordPress?

A website on WordPress is, above all, innovation and simplicity. WordPress is a modern website development platform focusing on aesthetics, compliance with online standards and usability. It is an ideal solution for websites for companies, blogs, online stores – an intuitive and user-friendly CMS system (content management system).

The main advantage of WordPress is its universality. WordPress was created as a system for bloggers and has become a platform for building any type of website. Its remarkable simplicity and flexibility made it an absolute leader in the world as a CMS system. Over 30% of the world’s most important websites are made on WordPress.
Constantly accelerating the development of WordPress and community-created add-ons, plugins, themes, and above all, the relatively short implementation time of projects based on this solution makes it an ideal solution for those who are looking for a platform for building a website and trouble-free development in the future.

Themes responsible for the appearance of a website on WordPress are known for their care for the aesthetics of the site, the way the content is presented and the uncomplicated way of further managing the site. Our projects always use non-standard templates and solutions.

What website on WordPress?

You can create almost any type of website on WordPress. This one platform really has many possibilities. You can use WordPress to create websites such as a blog, company website, shop, etc.

What types of websites can be created with the WordPress platform:

• Company website – WordPress is the most frequently chosen website development platform for companies. Using WordPress, you can create a business card website for a small company, as well as a large company website for a corporation
• WordPress blog – on WordPress you can create basically any type of blog: lifestyle, travel, culinary, photoblog
• Portfolio and photo gallery – portfolio website based on WordPress allows you to manage all your projects in one place. It also gives you many different options for displaying your works on the site.
• Online store – thanks to WooCommerce a website based on WordPress can be transformed into a professional online store
• E-learning courses – WordPress can be a tool for creating and selling online courses, e-books, videos. On such an e-learning website you can create educational courses with elements of a quiz, video or sounds
• Online booking system – WordPress can also be a system to handle requests for booking places and services with the possibility of payment. It will work for any profession that requires an online booking system: hotel, guesthouse, restaurant or hairdresser
• Event website – a website that facilitates the promotion and organization of events and conferences. Page with the description of the event and the possibility of registering for the event.
• Dedicated website – a website for demanding customers based on a dedicated WordPress theme. A unique, extensive WordPress website with special solutions and functionalities

WordPress how to start?

Find out how to set up a WordPress website in just a few steps:

Choose a WordPress site name

The first step in setting up a website is finding a suitable name and reserving a domain. If you choose a name, it is worth checking immediately on the website of the hosting company whether you can register and buy a domain with the same name. With the help of the search engine on the hosting company’s website you will find free domain names quickly and easily.

Domain

Once you’ve got a name, you’ll need to select a domain extension. Each website address consists of a name and an extension. You need to check if you can register such a domain. If it turns out that the domain that matches the chosen name of your website is already taken, you can do a few things:

Try a different domain extension. The .pl or .com domain extension is the most preferred, but if the name you care about is already taken, you can use a different extension. If the .eu and .com versions are already registered, you can still use the .net or .org extension etc.

Extra words. The domain name can be the extended name of your website. It can be a word game that will allow you to register a domain.

Add dashes between words. In the case of a multi-element name, all words in the name will be a cluster of the words www.mywebiste.com or separated by dashes www.my-webiste.com. Unfortunately, you cannot use spaces or punctuation other than dashes in your domain name.

What WordPress hosting?

Once you’ve chosen a name and a successfully registered domain, you’ll still need WordPress hosting. Safe hosting with good technical support is the foundation when running a website. Website hosting, or more precisely a hosting provider, is a company that offers the technology and services necessary to browse websites on the Internet. Each website requires space to store files, a database and a connection between the domain and the hosting service on the server. Thanks to hosting, users can view its content stored on the server after entering the name of the website.

There are so-called WordPress hosting, but basically any regular hosting will handle a website built on WordPress. Hosting services are usually sold on an annual subscription. The cost of hosting ranges from PLN 80 for an annual package, depending on the technology and support chosen. For some helpful tips on choosing good hosting for your WordPress website, see our other WordPress hosting guide.

WordPress installation

When using WordPress, you don’t need to have coding experience to create your own website with this content management system. To start working with WordPress, all you need to do is buy a domain and hosting, where you can install files downloaded from the official WordPress.org website.

A 5-minute installation is the hallmark of WordPress. Of course, the time it takes to install WordPress depends on the skill of the user. If you do this for the first time, you can safely assume it will take about an hour. An experienced person who has installed WordPress many times – needs 5 minutes.

How to edit a WordPress website

After proper installation, all you need to do is log in to the panel and start working on your website using themes and plugins.

Logging in to WordPress

How to log in to WordPress? You must enter the following address in the browser window: www.nazwa-strony.pl/wp-login.php to display the login screen. Then you can log in with the username (email) and password you set during registration. If you forgot or lost your password absentmindedly during the installation, you can reset it by clicking on the Forgot password link.

User panel

After successfully logging in, check out the WordPress user panel. This is where the real adventure with the WordPress website begins. The WordPress user panel is very clear and intuitive. On the left side you will find an extensive Menu with all functions. The windows for the selected functions will appear on the right. For example, by clicking on the Entries section, a list of published entries will appear on the screen. The same applies to other menu items.

Navigation cockpit

The two main navigation elements of WordPress are the Toolbar and the Administration Panel (Menu). The toolbar and admin panel may have additional options depending on what theme or plugins you have installed. Below we describe the options available from the basic WordPress installation.

Toolbar

The toolbar is located in the header of the page and is mainly responsible for the navigation on the page. It is especially useful if you are logged in to the website, but you are not in the user panel, but in the website preview. The toolbar will differ depending on where you are – user panel or page preview.

WordPress logo – takes you to the subpage to the information about the version of WordPress you currently have installed.

WordPress Themes

WordPress owes its popularity to its ease of use and modifiability. The ease of building WordPress pages, modifying, changing the appearance is based on WordPress Themes. It is thanks to the features of the theme that you can change the look and functions of the website.

What is a WordPress theme?

A theme is a collection of files that together create the look, layout and functionality of a WordPress website. The theme is responsible for the overall appearance of the website from the menu, colors, typography, page layout and numerous functionalities. Each theme can be different, offering many possibilities to change the look of your WordPress website. Colloquially, themes are also often called templates or skins.

Themes are prepared by professional programmers and graphic designers. We can divide them into two categories: free and premium. Many free themes can be found in the WordPress themes directory called. repository, and premium themes can be purchased from online stores, from individual companies and WordPress developers. To learn more about themes and what it means to have a website built on a WordPress theme, see WordPress Themes.

WordPress is installed with three default WordPress themes: Twenty Seventeen, Twenty Sixteen and Twenty Fourteen. These are the three official themes designed by WordPress.org. They are distinguished by remarkable simplicity, speed, professional and simple code. You can create a blog on such a clean theme, but it is not enough to create a website for a WordPress novice user.

A theme influences the look of your website, so you don’t need to limit yourself to these three themes. If you are not satisfied with any of the already installed themes, you can easily choose from thousands of free themes or premium themes. To change the theme, select Appearance> Themes from the left menu, then click Add New Theme.

From the dashboard, you can browse the available themes in the WordPress repository or upload a previously purchased premium theme to the server. When you find the theme you want, click Install. If you have more skins installed in the Themes tab, you can freely change and activate a new theme for your website. Hover over the theme thumbnail and click Activate. Then go to the Appearance> Customize tab where you will configure the website. In the Customize personalization panel, you can change the look of the page according to the possibilities of a given theme.

However, if you do not have specific requirements for a very specific website design, I suggest that you start using one of the basic themes. You can change your WordPress website theme at any time by simply activating a new theme. Changing the theme is the easiest way to customize a page, but there are other ways to customize your page using plugins or your own code.

Pages

After a long way of creating the concept, installing and configuring a WordPress website, it’s time to add subpages. How to create a subpage and publish it?

Go to the menu on the left and click Pages. You will see that there is already a Sample Page entry there. This is the default subpage on every new WordPress installation. It is not needed, so you can delete it by clicking Trash next to the page name if you are in the Pages list or Move to Trash if you are in the page editing mode. To add your own subpage and start creating a new page, click the Add new button.

You have created the first subpage and are now in edit mode. Each WordPress subpage consists of the following fields: Title, Featured Image, which you must complete. The content of the website, links, photos are added from the level of the visual / text editor or using the Gutenberg Editor. Finally, you click Publish or Update, if new changes have been made to the given subpage.

Posts

In addition to adding and editing pages, you can also blog or add news to the page using posts. How do I create a blog post and publish it?

Go to the menu on the left and click on Entries. You will see that there is already an entry Hello world. This is the default post on any new WordPress blog. You don’t need it, so you can delete it by clicking Trash right below the post if you are in the post list or Move to Trash if you are in post editing mode. To add your own entry and start writing a new entry, click the Add new button.

After adding a post, you are now in post editor mode. Each WordPress post consists of the following fields: Title, Categories, Tags, and Featured Image which you must complete. Just like on the website, the content of the post, links, photos are added from the level of the visual / text editor or using the Gutenberg editor. Finally, remember about the Publish action, or Update if there were any new changes to the entry.

Classic editor

You can edit pages and Entries with the Classic Editor. So step by step: Enter a title for your new post, then start typing below. In the right column, select the Post Category, Tags, and Featured Image to be the main image for the post. If you want to add a photo inside the post, click the Add Medium button and follow the instructions, then click Insert to Post to add the photo. Each post has a so-called a teaser, it is a short introduction to the post visible together with the photo on the main page, you can add it in the Teaser box under the post editor. When you are finished editing your post, click the blue Publish button to publish it. If you do not want the entry to be visible to everyone, you can change its Availability to Private in the Publish box. To see a new entry, click View entry in the upper task bar, if you want to make corrections to the post and go back to editing, click Edit entry in the same place. Remember, each subsequent change after editing the entry must be completed by clicking the Update button.

Gutenberg editor

Gutenberg is the new WordPress content editor. The Gutenber editing process allows you to easily create media-filled entries. At the heart of the Gutenberg editor are flexible blocks for creating code-literacy content.