In Nigeria, having a WordPress site can go a long way in promoting your business and services. Not only does a website help you establish an online presence, but it also helps your business maintain trust, credibility, and professionalism. Research shows that WordPress is used by 43.2% of all websites on the internet in 2022. The statistics show that a lot of websites in the world are being run on WordPress. Building a WordPress website is not that difficult because you don’t need to have knowledge about coding or programming. WordPress comes with customizable themes and plugins that can be installed to give your website a professional look. So in this article, we are going to show you how to build a WordPress site from scratch to finish.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that allows you to host and build websites. Its easily customizable templates, plugins and themes have made it the number one website hosting platform in the world. You can use WordPress to build blogs, e-commerce websites, construction websites, educational consultancy websites and much more. What’s more, you don’t need to know how to code or learn python or Java to use it. Although it wouldn’t hurt to have a basic knowledge about them.
Why WordPress?
According to W3Techs, WordPress is used by 43.2% of all websites on the internet in 2022 an increase from the 39.5% recorded in 2021. This means that the number of websites using WordPress is increasing daily. Furthermore, WordPress comes with themes and plugins users can install to create professional websites like an e-commerce websites, construction, agency, sports and much more.
Another reason for using WordPress is the fact that you can easily maintain a blog. A blog is very important for search engine optimization and a good way to make money.
A step-to-step guide on Building a WordPress site
One thing you need to know before getting started is the difference between wordpress.org and wordpress.com. A wordpress.org site allows you to host your own website or blog through a third-party hosting provider. This means that you have control over the customization and controlling of your website. You also have to download your WordPress software, buy a domain name on a third-party site, and manage your server. While a wordpress.com site hosts your website for you. You also don’t need to download any software or manage a server.
Before we go into business, here are the things you will need to build your WordPress site.
- A domain name
- Hosting
- Uninterrupted internet connection
- A good laptop or desktop
- About 60 minutes of your attention
Now let’s get down to business.
Step 1: Choose a Domain
To get started, you have to choose a domain name. A domain name is your website name. It is the address where Internet users can access your website. This is what your users will type in their browsers to reach your site. Examples of domain names are Sparkconect.com, Woculus.com, Afrimash.com, and fzmovies.net. Most businesses purchase domain names from websites like Hostgator, Namecheap, Bluehost and blue host. In Nigeria, we have Whogohost. When purchasing a domain name, make sure it is
- Relatively short
- Easy to remember and type out
- Matches your brand name or is directly related to it
Step 2: Buy Website Hosting
After choosing your domain name, you’ll need website hosting. This is where all your website files are stored. All websites on the internet need a web host to store their website files. This servers are usually managed by hosting companies around the world. This way, you don’t have to buy or manage any of the server technology yourself, the company will take care of things like updates, security and other important features. It is always advisable to purchase your domain name and hosting from the same company. This is because some companies like Namecheap, Bluehost and Hostgator offer free domain names along with their hosting plan. When choosing website hosting take note of the following
- Use shared hosting if you want to install multiple websites on your server
- Always buy both domain name and Web hosting from the same company
- if you have bought your domain name elsewhere, you can transfer it to the hosting company
- Go for hosting with Unmetered bandwidth
- Security
- Backups
- PHP version 7.4 or greater
- MySQL version 5.6 or greater OR MariaDB version 10.1 or greater.
- HTTPS support
Step 3: Login To Your Cpanel
This post will assume that you are purchasing your domain name and hosting from Namecheap. After you have purchased your domain name and hosting, some details will be sent to your email. From the email, you will be required to log in to access your dashboard from the name cheap platform. The cPanel allows you to manage your website(s) from a web-based interface which includes an auto installer or package dedicated to content management systems like WordPress.
To go to your cPanel menu, Simply click on hosting and select the go to cPanel at the extreme end of your domain name.
Step 4: Download the latest version of WordPress
The latest version of WordPress can be from their website at wordpress.org. This will come as a zip file which you have to extract.
Step 5: Extracting the WordPress Zip file
Go to file manager on your cPanel
Click on public HTML.
Click upload at the top of the screen then upload your WordPress zip file.
- After uploading, the file might still be empty, just click on reload then navigate to the public Html folder and the zip file should be there.
- Right-click on the WordPress zip folder and extract the file.
- After extracting, you will see that you have both the zip file and the WordPress folder.
- Click on the WordPress folder to select and move all the files inside it.
- Note that you will be asked to select the path to which you want to move the file to.
- At the bottom of the folder, you will have something like this /public-Html/WordPress.
- Erase the WordPress at the back of the /public-Html/ and click move.
- The folder will be automatically moved to the public Html folder.
- Delete the WordPress zip file and the WordPress folder from the files.
Step 6: Create a database
WordPress uses the MySQL database management system and requires MySQL version 5.6 and higher. MySQL is what enables the database to store information and provide you with access to it. To create a database, click on the MySQL icon on your cPanel.
Enter your database name, then your username and password.
Create database user
Please choose something you will remember. Check all the boxes and click create. Note that you won’t be able to access the database until you assign the database to a user. To do that, click on current users and click add. It will display a username and password, make sure you copy them into your notepad because it will be required when you want to login into your WordPress site.
Step 7: Install WordPress
Click on domains on your cPanel menu and click on where you see your domain name and other details. This will take you to the WordPress login page. This is where you will log in with the password, username and database name you stored previously. After that, click install to install WordPress. When you are successfully logged in, you will be asked to enter your site title and change your username and password. That’s it you have successfully created your WordPress site.
Step 7: Get familiar with your dashboard
On your WordPress backend, you will see things like settings, appearance, posts, pages and tools. You can change the date format, tagline, and site icon in the general settings.
Step 8: Install Themes
Choosing a theme is one of the first things you will want to do when setting up your WordPress website. Themes are the overall design for your site and they make your website really beautiful. To select a theme, go to appearance and select theme, then click on add new. You will have a variety of templates to choose from. When you find the one you like, go ahead and click install then activate. After that, you can click on the view site to check it out.
Step 9 Installing plugins
Plugins are used for additional functions that WordPress doesn’t do by default. For example, if you want to create contact forms or turn your site into an e-commerce site. You might want to use plugins to do it. To install plugins, go to appearance and select plugin then click on add new. Search for plugins that meet your needs. Check on the ratings and the last time the plugin was downloaded. If it is well rated and downloaded, you can go ahead and install it.
Step 10: Set up Menus
People need a way to navigate through the content on your website. Menus are the items you have on your website like about page, product, store, etc. Each theme has different menu locations like the main menu, top menu and footer menu. So make sure you find a theme that supports the menu location you need.
To add the menu,
- Go to appearance and
- select sub menu
- Click on create a new menu
- Give the menu a name like product page, about page etc.
- click create menu