If you’re just getting started with WordPress, this article will cover the basics: how to install a theme, customize the look and feel, and create a blog post or page.
After that, it’s time to start writing content!
This article will walk you through the process step by step.
You’ll end up with a fully functional WordPress website that looks and feels great.
After all, who doesn’t want to share their thoughts and experiences?
Customize the look and feel of a WordPress website!
If you want to customize the look and feel of your WordPress website, you should know that the process starts with editing your theme’s stylesheet.
This file applies fonts and colors to various elements on the website.
Each element inherits styling from the elements above it.
This means that the code for an element may not always be in the spot you think it is coming from.
Luckily, there are several ways to customize the look and feel of your website.
Once you’ve decided on the look and feel of your WordPress site, you’ll want to decide how you want the menu to look like.
Most websites have a top-level menu containing links to important pages.
This makes navigation a lot easier.
In addition, you’ll want to have some widgets on the sidebar.
You can use these to display links to specific sections.
Using widgets to customize the look and feel of your website is also possible.
Using the widget system, you can place pre-built content in various areas of your site.
Widgets typically include options, so you’ll want to review their visibility settings and add more if you’re not satisfied with the way they look.
To display widgets on a page or post, install the Widgets on Pages plugin.
Creating widget areas can be difficult if you don’t have much experience with coding.
Install a theme
You have already selected a WordPress theme to build your website, and it’s great if you’re happy with what it looks like!
If you want to know what else, you can explore tens of thousands of themes on WordPress.
Many of them are free. Some things you have to pay for.
Don’t worry too much about this section.
It’s easy to get caught up in perfectionism and think that you need to understand the subject correctly from the beginning.
That is not true. The most important thing you can do is select a basic topic and continue with it.
You can always change the design later.
Another tip is to use a page builder.
A plugin to install on your WordPress that will allow you to create exceptional web pages using drag & drop technology.
The best page builder is without a doubt Elementor Pro.
Congratulations !! You have now created your website.
Create a page
Creating a page in WordPress is quite similar to creating a post on a website.
Once you have created a post, you can use the WordPress Page Editor to add additional content or you can use the Elementor Pro plugin.
You can choose whether to publish the page immediately or to schedule it for future use.
The Page Editor is located in the sidebar of your WordPress Dashboard.
The most important part of creating a page on WordPress is setting up the structure of the individual web pages.
This will be your featured image.
You can also create a page for your site’s about or contact information.
A page to tell the story of your website is a must for newcomers, and the About page is a great place to begin.
You can also add a contact form to your website using the WPForms or Elementor Pro plugin.
When building a WordPress site from scratch, you should choose how you want your menu to appear.
You can either create a static page for your homepage or designate a page to automatically display your posts.
The main purpose of a navigation menu is to help your visitors navigate through your website and find important pages.
The navigation menu can be added by navigating to Appearance > Menus and clicking on Create Menu.
Create a blog post
The first step to building a successful WordPress website is to create a blog.
To do this, log into your dashboard and click on the posts tab.
Hover over the post button to reveal the add new option.
Click this and you’ll see an editing panel similar to the one used to create new pages.
Choose a page to serve as your main blog listing and name it “BLOG.”
In WordPress, you can choose how your front page will appear.
You can display recent blog posts, full text, or a summary.
If you want to build a static page, you must also create a page called ‘Blog’.
If you have high-resolution images, you should install Optimole, which optimizes images automatically for faster page load times.
After installing Optimole, you’ll be ready to begin building your blog.
After you’ve installed Optimole, you’ll be ready to create your first post.
After creating your blog post, you’ll be ready to add images to your site.
After setting up your blog, you can add a gallery page and a contact form.
Those are the basic features of WordPress.
Besides the homepage, you’ll also need a page for your blog’s about page, which tells the story of your website.
You can also create a contact page on your website to provide your address and other information.
If you don’t have a contact page yet, you can install the WPForms plugin to add a contact form.
Optimize all your content to load faster
You can easily optimize all your content to load faster when building, or even improving, a WordPress website.
It is also a good idea to optimize videos, which are known to consume a lot of server resources.
Instead of relying on your server’s built-in video player, upload your videos to video hosting services and embed them into your website using an embed code.
This will significantly reduce the load on your server.
One of the best ways to optimize your website is by reducing the file size of your pages.
While you may not think about the number of images on your website, these images take up about half of the file size.
Reducing their size will increase the speed of your site and reduce your website’s overall size.
Resize images to fit in the area that they are used in.
A typical content area should be no wider than 800 pixels.
Another easy way to optimize your website is by removing unnecessary widgets from your WordPress site.
Widgets are not the only source of resource-intensive content, so it is best to remove them from your website altogether.
Additionally, make sure that you do not display full posts on your homepage.
Instead, show the first paragraph or an excerpt from a particular post.
Having too many posts on your homepage will slow downloading times.
A faster homepage is a good sign.
Set up a contact form
If you are using WordPress for your website, then you can set up a contact form using the WPForms or Elementor Pro plugin.
Download the WPForms plugin from the WPForms website, then upload the zipped folder to the WordPress dashboard.
Next, activate the plugin to begin adding the form to your website.
In the next step, name the form and enter the title.
To create a simple form, click the orange button titled “Create Your First Form”.
You will then need to fill in the name of your form and select a template for it.
You can either use the Blank Form template or use a pre-existing template.
Either way, you can customize the template.
To edit your form, hover over it and click “Start Creating”.
Once you’ve selected a form, choose the functionality you’d like.
Most plugins have basic functionality, while others offer more advanced features.
Once you’ve chosen the correct plugin, open the form and paste the shortcode into your desired page or post.
Make sure to save your changes after each step.
You can always return and edit the form later, if necessary.
Then, when you’re ready to publish your website, you can add a contact form to your site!
Using a contact form on your website has many benefits.
For starters, it protects you from spam.
Every website experiences some type of email spam from time to time.
By displaying a form, visitors don’t need to publicly publish their email address, making it more difficult for spammers to harvest it and add it to their mailing lists.
Additionally, this form is a great way to filter inquiries and help businesses prevent spam.
USEFUL LINKS
My Medium Articles → CLICK HERE
My Newsletter → CLICK HERE
GetResponse’s Free Trial → CLICK HERE
Elementor Discount → CLICK HERE
SiteGround’s 69% Discount → CLICK HERE
