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Creating WordPress website in 11 steps (2025)

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Written by Niek van Son MSc on January 22, 2025

Niek van Son

Last updated January 31, 2025

Introduction

A business without a website is out of date, yet it can be challenging for a novice to create a good website. Software like WordPress allows entrepreneurs with little (and also a lot) of programming knowledge to create their own website. In this article, we will explain to you what exactly WordPress is and how you can soon build your own WordPress website.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is a popular, open-source content management system (CMS) that allows users to create, manage and customize websites and blogs with relative ease. It was originally developed as a blogging platform, but you can now use it to support all kinds of websites, including business websites, e-commerce stores, news portals, portfolios and more. WordPress is by far the most widely used CMS in the world and 835 million WordPress websites are currently live. Many major websites such as Disney Books, Sony Music and BBC America are also built with WordPress.

 

WordPress offers a user-friendly interface and an extensive collection of themes and plug-ins. This makes it easy for both beginners and experienced users to create an attractive and functional Web site without extensive knowledge of programming or Web design. The system is based on PHP and MySQL and is regularly updated with new features and security enhancements.

Advantages WordPress

WordPress owes its popularity to the following advantages.

  1. User-friendly. Without much technical knowledge, you can build a website and add content fairly quickly. Many web developers also build websites for their clients in WordPress, because it allows clients to add and change content themselves.
  2. Cost. WordPress.org, about which more later, is free software. You do have fees for domain registration and hosting.
  3. Functionality. WordPress offers a lot of functionality through the CMS itself or through plug-ins. Because this CMS is so popular, there are also a lot of, free and paid, plug-ins available that offer a certain functionality.
  4. Flexibility. WordPress is open source software. This means that you can modify and expand the software as much as you want. It is therefore possible to add customization to WordPress, where this is not possible in Shopify and Wix, for example.

 

Disadvantages WordPress

However, this CMS also has some drawbacks.

  1. Slow (possibly). WordPress requires a relatively large amount of resources. It can also become slow due to slow hosting and the use of many plug-ins and a heavy theme. A WordPress website can be very fast. However, due to its flexibility and freedom of choice, there is a greater risk that your website will be slow compared to a solution such as Shopify and Wix.
  2. Hacks. The popularity of WordPress also leads to the CMS being popular with hackers. WordPress faces about 90,000 attacks per minute. Does this make your WordPress website likely to be hacked? Not immediately. Most hacks succeed because of weak passwords and outdated plug-ins. If you choose to create your website with WordPress, you need to make sure your website stays up to date.

What does WordPress cost?

WordPress is basically free. You can download and install it from WordPress.org (which includes a huge number of free templates and plug-ins). It is also an option to download it from WordPress.com, where the basic version is also free, but you quickly pay more for additional features.

WordPress.org or WordPress.com

WordPress.org and WordPress.com are two different platforms that both use the WordPress software, but they have important differences. To help you choose, we list the main differences between the two:

Hosting:

  • WordPress.org: You are responsible for finding and paying for your own web hosting. You install the WordPress software on your own domain and have complete control over your website.
  • WordPress.com: It's a hosted service, which means you don't need separate web hosting. Your website is hosted on WordPress.com's servers.

Costs:

  • WordPress.org: The WordPress software is free, but you have to pay for your own hosting and domain name, as well as any premium themes or plug-ins you want to use.
  • WordPress.com: Both free and paid subscriptions are available. The free version offers basic functionality and limited storage space, while paid subscriptions include additional features, storage space and the ability to use your own domain name.

Adaptability and control:

  • WordPress.org: You have complete control over your website, including the ability to install, customize and develop custom themes and plug-ins. You also have access to your website's source code.
  • WordPress.com: Customization options are more limited. You can only choose from pre-selected themes and the use of plug-ins is limited to the paid subscriptions. You don't have access to the source code of your website.

Maintenance and updates:

  • WordPress.org: You are responsible for updating your WordPress software, themes and plug-ins, as well as securing and maintaining your website.
  • WordPress.com: Maintenance and updates are done automatically for you, so you don't have to worry about technical aspects.

Also watch the following video explaining the differences between WordPress.org and WordPress.com.

In short, WordPress.org offers more freedom and control, but requires more responsibility in terms of hosting and maintenance. On the other hand, WordPress.com is easier to use and maintain, but offers less customization options and control over your website.

Step-by-step WordPress website creation process

Follow this roadmap to build your own WordPress website.

Step 1: Choose a domain name

Come up with a unique and easy-to-remember domain name for your website. This name should reflect the content and purpose of your site. Do you have a company name and/or brand? Then it makes sense to register this as your domain name.

Step 2: Register your domain name and choose web hosting

Register your chosen domain name with a domain registrar. In addition, choose a web hosting provider that supports WordPress. Many hosting providers offer specific WordPress hosting packages. There are big differences in quality between web hosting providers and cheap can be expensive. In our experience, TransIP and Savvii offer good web hosting for WordPress. At TransIP, a web hosting package starts from €7.99 per month and at Savvii from €49.99 per month. These are shared hosting packages where you share the hosting of your website with other websites. For many small to medium-sized websites, this is usually not a problem. For (very) large websites, dedicated hosting is a better solution, but this is also a lot more expensive.

Step 3: Install WordPress

Most web hosts offer easy installation of WordPress through their control panel. Follow your web host's instructions to install WordPress. After installation, you will receive login credentials for your WordPress dashboard. If one-click installation is not possible with your web host, you can download and upload WordPress.org to your server for free.

Step 4: Choose a theme

Log in to your WordPress dashboard and choose a theme for your website. There are plenty of free and paid themes available in the WordPress theme library. Check out good, free WordPressthemes here. Install and activate the chosen theme. A default theme, free or paid, also comes with some drawbacks.

WordPress themes
WordPress offers many free and paid themes.

Step 5: Install plug-ins

To make your WordPress a good, functioning website, you need to install plug-ins. We recommend at least the following plug-ins.

  • Yoast SEO. This Dutch-made plug-in is necessary to make your website SEO-friendly. Yoast offers a free basic version that is sufficient for many websites.
  • Contact form plug-in. Want to collect leads or give website visitors the ability to contact you? Then you need to add contact forms to your website. Gravity Forms or Contact Form 7 are suitable plug-ins for this purpose.
  • Security. As we wrote, WordPress is also popular with malicious actors. To protect your website, we recommend installing a security plug-in such as WordFence or Solid Security.
  • Anti-spam. Want visitors to comment on your blog posts? Then chances are that you will also attract spammers. To protect against this, we recommend the Askimet plugin.
  • WooCommerce. Want to sell products through your website? Then you need to add webshop functionality. For this, WooCommerce is the free solution.
  • Caching. Caching makes your website faster, which is why we recommend installing a caching plug-in as well. W3 Total Cache has a free version that can already make your website a lot faster.

Step 6: Create a menu

Go to the WordPress dashboard and create a menu to organize the navigation of your website. Add the desired pages and categories to the menu and assign it to the desired location on your website. The following video shows you how to get this done quickly.

Step 7: Customize your website

Use the WordPress Customizer to customize the layout, colors, fonts and other aspects of your website. Many themes have preset layouts for different types of content, such as homepage, contact page, landing page and blog post.

Step 8: Create pages and posts

In WordPress, you can create standard pages and posts. For static web pages such as the homepage, contact page and services pages, choose WordPress pages. Blog posts you create through WordPress posts.

Create the basic pages of your website, such as the homepage, about us page, contact page and other relevant pages. In addition, add blog posts if you want to have a blog section on your website.

Step 9: Optimize your website for search engines

Use an SEO plug-in, such as Yoast SEO, to optimize your website for search engines. Write SEO-friendly text and add metadata to your pages and posts.

SEO Plugin Yoast for WordPress
Through Yoast, you can enter the SEO title and meta description, among other things.

Step 10. Install tracking

Measurement is knowing. Do you want to know how many people visit your website, how many leads you have or how many products you sell? Do you want to measure which channels you draw traffic through, such as Google, social media or newsletters? Then you need to install website tracking. Most websites use the free Google Analytics.

Step 11: Launch your website

After you have gone through all the steps and are satisfied with your website, it is time to launch it. Check your website for any errors or broken links and promote your website on social media and other channels to attract visitors.

 

Important: These are the basic steps for creating a WordPress website. Remember to update and maintain your website regularly for optimal performance and security.

WordPress theme: standard or custom?

As we wrote, WordPress allows you to choose from numerous themes, both free and paid. The advantage of these default themes is that they are inexpensive, and have many sample layouts. This allows you to create an acceptable design for little money.

However, a standard theme also comes with some drawbacks. First, they often make your website relatively slow because they have a lot of options. On the other hand, most of these features you don't need and therefore aren't going to use. Also, you may need functionality on your website that is not standard and therefore not possible in a standard theme. In addition, standard WordPress themes often use page builders. A page builder is a visual editor for setting up the content of a page. Page builders are user-friendly, but often (again) slow and error-prone.

Therefore, many companies choose to have a custom theme developed by the web developer. A custom WordPress theme will contain exactly the functionality and layouts you want. So with this, you get exactly the theme that suits your needs. Also, a custom theme is usually faster because it does not include unnecessary functionality. Having a custom theme created is, of course, much more expensive than a standard theme.

Create WordPress website yourself or outsource?

WordPress owes its success in part to its user-friendliness. As a result, many businesses and bloggers are able to build a website themselves without the help of a professional web developer. But when is it fine to build and maintain a website yourself, and when is it wiser to outsource to a professional?

If your budget is small and the revenue and/or relevance of your website to your business is limited, then as a nonprofessional you can do just fine creating a WordPress website yourself. However, if your website is vital to your business, then we recommend outsourcing the care of your website.

First of all, a professional web developer will provide you with a WordPress theme that completely suits your company's needs and goals. In addition, a website builder also has the knowledge to choose the right plug-ins for your website. Furthermore, a professional can also ensure that you have a fast website and will take care of the maintenance. Also, if something goes wrong with the website, an experienced web developer can fix it much faster than you. If you need new functionality to the website after a while, then the web developer can take care of it for you. Furthermore, a professional WordPress developer will make sure that your website is properly secured. Finally, you can invest the time you don't have to spend on your website in your business.

Want to build an online store, but not sure yet which CMS to use? Then read our blog post with the differences between WooCommerce and Shopify.

Niek van Son
THE AUTHOR

Niek van Son MSc

Marketing Management (MSc, University of Tilburg). 10+ years of experience as an online marketing consultant (SEO - SEA). Occasionally writes articles for Frankwatching, Marketingfacts and B2bmarketeers.nl.

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