Creating websites today represents an extremely useful and practically essential foundation for anyone who wants to present themselves in the digital sphere of life and thus launch, maintain, or improve their business.

The WordPress platform offers the possibility of building websites in a very accessible way, so even this at-first-glance complicated process can be completed independently, even with not-so-advanced IT knowledge.

If you have the desire to launch your own website, you are in the right place, as by reading this text you can get acquainted with the basic steps of how the process of creating a WordPress web presentation works.

What is WordPress?

Before we start getting to know the basic steps of how to work on the WordPress platform, we want to introduce you to some basic terminology.

WordPress is the most famous and most used content management system – many know it as CMS – in the world, with about a third of all existing websites created in this way.

In the past, the process of building websites was much more difficult and involved manually typing HTML files – although a very thorough method, it was quite demanding and took a lot of time.

WordPress and other CMS systems have brought the possibility for the user not to worry about writing code, but instead to focus on the content that will be placed on the site.

Advantages of the WordPress platform compared to other content editing systems include:

• it offers a large number of options;
• it is secure;
• it is easy to install;
• it supports a large number of plugins for additional functionalities.

The difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org

Before you start creating a site via the WordPress CMS, it is necessary to understand the difference between the .com and .org options.

WordPress.com represents a hosted platform, while WordPress.org is the actual self-hosted CMS.

If you are a complete beginner, it is best to opt for WordPress.com, as you do not have to worry about file configuration or databases – but it is also limited when it comes to many plugins.

Building a site via WordPress.org with a self-hosted system will allow you many more options, but will require more knowledge, as you will have your own domain.

Once you have – hopefully – chosen the second option, the complete website creation process begins.

Choosing a domain and registering hosting

Now that we have resolved the basic uncertainties, it is time to move on to building the site. When you want to launch your own site, you need to register a domain and choose hosting.

Domain registration means choosing the site name and checking whether the desired name is already taken. You can opt for one of the international domains such as: .org, .biz, .info, .com or take one of the local ones: .rs, .срб.

If the name you have chosen is taken, this can motivate you to be even more creative. The best option is to choose a domain name that reflects your niche.

The next step is selecting hosting – that is, the hosting company that will provide server space and support for other technical matters.

A quality hosting package should include:

• email addresses – several that contain the site name in their domain;
• access to the FTP protocol, which allows uploading files to the server;
• protection against various abuses – so-called malware protection.

Although at first glance they may look similar, hosting packages differ in details that can be very important. When choosing a package, pay special attention to bandwidth, storage space, and technical support availability.

Depending on the size of your site, select the appropriate company after conducting market research.

Choosing a theme for building your site

After installing the WordPress CMS, you need to choose a theme that will form the basis of your site. You can choose from a large offered archive or turn to one of the well-known theme marketplaces such as ThemeForest.

When choosing a theme, it is important that it be adaptable in terms of functionality.

In addition to aesthetics, the theme should meet the following criteria:

• compatibility in terms of display across the most popular browsers;
• compatibility with plugins;
• compliance with SEO standards.

What are plugins and what are they for?

Plugins are add-ons for the CMS that provide many more options and functionalities in terms of content input, loading speed, and visitor analytics.

There are many such add-ons, but here are four you should not skip:

• Yoast SEO / All in One SEO – help format content according to SEO standards, point out errors, and remind you of missing elements;
• Akismet – an anti-spam add-on created by the WordPress developers, with additional security options;
• Google Analytics – tracking product popularity, conversions, and other statistical parameters;
• Easy Social Sharing – allows content sharing on social media.

What should website navigation look like?

The term website navigation refers to how the content will be structured – specifically, creating categories visible to visitors.

For a start, it is important to begin with basic pages (landing pages) such as the homepage, about us, and contact page, which will give legitimacy to your site and introduce users to your business.

Over time, update the site navigation to include products you sell, accessible to visitors in just a few clicks.

The site should be user-friendly.

Before inserting content and creating navigation, put your ideas on paper or visualize them using programs such as draw.io. This will help you more easily structure the hierarchy and arrangement of categories, subcategories, and sub-subcategories in the navigation.

Create content even before it is time to implement it

Content creation involves writing texts, posting images, adding tables, and internally linking landing pages.

The text should be optimized for SEO so there is a chance for good positioning on Google search after user queries.

Hire a quality copywriter who knows SEO techniques, whose texts will be competitive in the market. Do not allow your site to be invisible to users due to inadequate content.

By following all on-page principles and with the proper distribution of key terms throughout the content, without major investments in paid advertising, you will likely have a sufficient number of visits.

In addition to filling product category pages with text content, create a blog section with relevant articles on your site – this will give you credibility in your niche.

Why is SEO important during website creation?

If you decide to create the site yourself, it would be best to familiarize yourself with the basic SEO rules and apply them before launching the site live so that you can rank better than the competition.

Before launching the site live, be sure to do the following:

• link pages within the site (internal linking);
• create an XML sitemap with a list of all URLs;
• optimize the site for mobile devices – responsiveness for users who access via phone;
• connect with Google Analytics and Google Search Console to monitor visits, advertising results, and other statistical parameters.

Creating a WordPress site is not an overly demanding process, but it does require familiarity with the techniques described. This guide presents the most basic steps in the simplest possible way so that even beginners have a chance to understand and later apply them effectively in practice.

If you need professional assistance, our team is ready to perform this service for you very professionally and in line with all modern principles.