Connect your domain name
After that, you’ll be asked to connect your domain name once you’ve selected your Bluehost plan. You’ll be directed to a page like this one, where you may input your domain name:

Set up your billing information
You’ll need to establish an account and put in your billing information once you’ve connected your domain name:

You’ll also need to choose how long you want to join up for at this stage. Signing up for a year or more, as you would imagine, is less expensive than paying month to month. Bluehost also has a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you may try it out and switch if necessary.
Now that you have a domain name and a hosting package, it’s time to set up WordPress! It’s worth mentioning at this point that if all of this is seeming a bit too complicated or costly, website builders may be a better fit. For additional information, check out our list of the top website builders!
You should be aware of the following:
- What is web hosting and why do you need it.
- Which hosting service do you want to use.
- What will it cost to host your website.
3. Install WordPress
Now that you’ve completed the administrative tasks, it’s time to get down to business, it’s time to install WordPress!
This is something you can accomplish right from your hosting control panel. Installation will be one-click or manual, depending on the provider:
One-click WordPress installation
In this case, the clue is in the name! Downloading WordPress has never been easier, thanks to hosting companies that provide one-click WordPress installation.
Bluehost allows you to install WordPress with a single click. For a complete explanation, see our post on how to install WordPress with Bluehost. Even if you aren’t with Bluehost, the procedure should be very comparable since most hosting companies utilize the industry standard cPanel interface.

Manual WordPress installation
Manual installation, as you would imagine, is not a simple (or, dare we say, enjoyable) procedure. It essentially entails first downloading WordPress on your PC, then reuploading it to your hosting provider.
Needless to say, for a hassle-free installation, we suggest choosing a hosting company that provides one-click installations. If that fails, follow this step-by-step approach to manually installing WordPress.
You should be aware of the following:
- How to use your hosting provider to install WordPress.
- If your hosting company doesn’t provide ‘one-click’ installation, here’s how you do it manually.
4. Select a Theme
If you’re comfortable with coding or willing to learn, one of the benefits of WordPress is that you may customize your site almost to your heart’s content. Every website, though, begins with a theme.
And, we hear you wonder, what is a theme? It’s like a website ‘template’, a ready-made sample site that you can fill with your own material and customize to your taste.
WordPress comes with a selection of pre-installed themes. You may ‘demo’ each one to see which one best suits your site’s purpose and mood. Follow these easy steps to install a free WordPress theme:
- Go to your WordPress dashboard and log in.
- Click ‘Themes’ after hovering over ‘Appearance.’ This will take you to the theme’s control panel.
- Click the ‘Add New’ button above the themes, then explore themes under ‘Featured,’ ‘Popular,’ and so on, or use the search box to look for particular industries.
- Demo a few themes until you find one you like, then click ‘Install’ to download it.
- After a few moments, a button labeled ‘Activate’ will appear beneath the theme. When you click this, the theme is yours to keep!

You may purchase a theme from a reputable third-party source like Themeforest if you want something a bit more complex and distinctive. Just keep in mind that having too many fancy additional features on your site may cause it to slow down, so just get what you need, less is more!
The following steps will show you how to install a premium theme on your website:
- Download your new theme’s.zip file.
- Go to your WordPress Dashboard and log in.
- Click ‘Themes’ after hovering over ‘Appearance’. This will take you to the theme’s control panel.
- To add a new theme, click the ‘Add New’ button above the themes. This will take you to the dashboard for your WordPress theme.
- At the top of the page, click the blue ‘Upload Theme’ icon.
- After that, you’ll be asked to choose a.zip file from your computer. Select a new theme file.
- A success message will appear, along with a link to activate your theme. That’s all there is to it; you’re ready to go!
The pricing of premium themes varies, but they usually range from $10 to $200. The typical cost is about $50 – $70, and this is a one-time expense.
Remember how we mentioned that choosing a theme was only the beginning of your website’s story? That’s because you have almost limitless options for customizing your site, whether you change the code directly or utilize plugins, which we’ll go over in more depth later.
And don’t worry, whether you choose with a free theme or spend for a premium one, you can always switch it up later. Even better, you don’t have to do it alone: we’ve put together a list of 17 of the finest WordPress blog themes for you to go over for some aesthetic inspiration.
WordPress is always evolving, and themes must keep up with it. Any WordPress-made themes, or those created by a responsible developer, will generate a theme update prior to the release of a WordPress update. You’ll then have to manually apply the update to ensure that your site is compatible with the latest WordPress version.
You should be aware of the following:
- When it comes to selecting a theme, you have a variety of choices.
- Installing both free and paid themes is simple.
- The significance of keeping up with theme changes.
5. Add Content
Now that you’ve installed your ideal WordPress theme, it’s time to fill it with content!
The major kinds of written material on the site may be divided into two categories:
Pages
Pages are static in the sense that they will not change until you update them. The “About Us” page is an example that almost every website will feature. Many themes will display the various pages in a top-level navigation bar, or you may use the ‘Pages’ widget to list them down the side.
Go to Pages > Add New to create a new page.
Posts
These are entries that are displayed in chronological order on the homepage or in a separate “blog” section. You may make postings “sticky” so they stay at the top.
Go to Posts > Add New to start a new post.
After you’ve ‘added’ a page or post, you’ll need to fill it with your own material before pressing the ‘publish’ button to make it visible on the site. Adding any written material parts in separate “Text Blocks” is the ideal method. You may include pictures, videos, and image galleries in between (videos can be be uploaded from YouTube or similar sites) (either as a carousel of images or a selection of thumbnails).
Before clicking publish, be sure to examine any draft articles or pages.
You should be aware of the following:
- The difference between a page and a post, and how to publish both on your site.
- How to add pictures and movies to your website.
6. Personalize Your Website
Your site will start to look like yours after you’ve added several pages and articles. Now it’s time to take things a step further and start tailoring your site to your content’s requirements.
Of course, you may personalize your site in a variety of ways, but we’ll concentrate on four important ones here:
Change the title and tagline of your website
WordPress sets your site’s title to “Just another WordPress site” when you first put it up.
But, since you aren’t “just another WordPress site,” make sure you get things straightened up right away!
- Go to your WordPress dashboard and log in.
- Navigate to ‘Settings’ and then ‘General.’
- Next to ‘Site Title,’ enter the title of your website.
- Add a few lines next to ‘Tagline’ to describe what your site is about.
- Press the ‘Save Changes’ button.
Include a navigation menu
This is a critical stage in the creation of any website. It doesn’t matter if you have the greatest material in the world if no one can discover it!
Most themes have at least one menu choice, while more sophisticated themes may include several options. It’s quite easy to add one:
- You guessed correctly! Go to your WordPress dashboard and log in.
- Hover your mouse above ‘Appearance,’ then choose ‘Menus.’
- Next to ‘Menu Name,’ give your menu a name, and then choose which pages to include from the list on the left side.
- You may notice numerous tick box choices under ‘Menu Settings’ for themes with multiple menu options, such as ‘primary,’ ‘secondary,’ and so on, if the theme has several menu options. For the time being, check primary; you can always alter it later if you don’t like the live version.
- To make your new menu live on the site, click ‘Save Menu.’
Set a homepage
You have two primary choices for your homepage: a dynamic page that changes with all of your most recent articles, or a static page that stays the same.
In either case:
- Go to your WordPress dashboard and log in.
- Go to ‘Settings’ and then ‘Reading.’
- The first of them is ‘Your homepage displays’.
- Choose between ‘Your latest posts’ and ‘A static page.’
- To make your homepage changes permanent, click ‘Save Changes.’
If you pick ‘Your latest posts’, you may also choose the number of recent blog entries to display on the page at once, as well as whether you want to display the entire text or just a summary.
If you choose ‘A static page,’ be sure to create a page named ‘Blog’ (or something similar) to house all of your most recent articles.
Modify the Comment Settings
WordPress comes with a built-in comment function that is turned on by default. Comments are an excellent method to demonstrate participation and create a sense of community on your website.
However, not every site’s tone is appropriate for comments. Even if you want to leave them on yours, we highly advise you to implement a filtering step to avoid being inundated with spam:
- Go to your WordPress dashboard and log in.
- Go to ‘Settings’ and then ‘Discussion.’
- Selecting ‘Comment must be manually approved’ is a good option. You’ll be able to choose whether or not to post a remark this way (new ones will appear in your dashboard).
- Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button!
If you want more information about comments and all the many options you may use, we suggest visiting the WordPress.org help page.
You should be aware of the following:
- How to alter the title and tagline of your website.
- How to add a navigational menu to your website.
- What are your homepage choices, and how do you customize yours.
- How to make your site’s comments work for you.
7. Install Plugins
We’ve previously discussed them a few times, but let’s define them once and for all: what is a plugin?
Plugins allow you to add functionality to WordPress that aren’t currently available. Consider them to be similar to applications. And, much like applications, some are paid and some are free. All plugins in the WordPress plugin directory are free, much like themes; you’ll have to pay for third-party plugins, which may cost anywhere from $20 to $200. (as a one-off, or recurring cost).
WordPress users have access to over 56,000 plugins, which should cover any function you may possibly need, plus some. However, not all plugins are made equal!
Furthermore, using too many plugins can slow down your site. This will irritate your viewers and negatively impact your Google rating.
The following are some of the most popular WordPress plugins:
- WP Forms Contact Form is a simple yet powerful ‘drag and drop’ form builder plugin for creating customized forms to your website.
- Yoast SEO is a plugin that helps you improve your content for search engines.
- Add ecommerce capability (the ability to sell goods online) to your site with WooCommerce.
Because anybody may add a plugin to the WordPress library, it’s a mixed bag. Choose a bad plugin, and you can guarantee it won’t get that crucial update before new WordPress versions are published.
All plugins, thankfully, come with a user-generated star rating and reviews. We suggest only installing plugins that have a few hundred downloads and good ratings. As they say, there’s safety in numbers!

This is how you install a plugin on your website:
- Go to your WordPress dashboard and log in.
- Navigate to ‘Plugins’ and then ‘Add New.’
- To find particular plugins or the general functionality you’re searching for, use the search box on the top right hand side.
- Once you’ve discovered one you like, check out the reviews and ratings to determine whether it’s a reliable option.
- Once you’ve made your decision, click the ‘Install Now’ option.
- You’ll get a completion message and be asked to click “Activate Plugin” after WordPress has completed downloading the plugin.
- After that, go to settings to customize your plugin (each one will have a different process for this).
The procedure for installing third-party plugins is similar to that of installing third-party themes. For additional information, we suggest checking out WordPress.org’s plugin support guide.
Remember to keep a look out for updates and install them as soon as possible!
You should be aware of the following:
- What a plugin is!
- How to tell the difference between the excellent ones and the shady ones.
- Some of the most well-known plugins.
- Installing plugins on your website.
8. Update !
And with that, we’ve arrived to the end of our segment!
You might have the most beautiful WordPress site in the world, but if you don’t keep up with theme and plugin changes, it’ll be for nothing!
When a big WordPress update comes along, not only will your site most likely cease functioning correctly, but you’ll also expose yourself to hackers and malware. It’s a no-brainer to update.
To see whether anything has changed, go to:
- Access your WordPress dashboard by logging in.
- Select ‘Update Options’ from the drop-down menu.
- Updates may be found under the different tabs (plugins, themes, etc.) or in the ‘General’ section.
It’s simple to accept each update one at a time or schedule them to update automatically from here (either all, or individually).
Also, keep in mind that your domain and hosting contracts will need to be renewed at some point.
You should be aware of the following:
- It’s critical to keep your plugins and theme up to date!
- How to manually install updates or set up an automated updating system.
9. Conclusion on Using WordPress
That’s all there is to it! Thank you for staying with us this far.
Here’s a short rundown of our 8 WordPress success steps: