How to Start a WordPress Site from Scratch in 2024

Do you want to know how to start a WordPress site from scratch and make money via blogging?

Coding has been the most vital thing to start a blog in the recent past. But, the good news is today you can start a WordPress blog from scratch even if you don’t have any know-how in coding.

Here you will learn how to setup a WordPress site from scratch in less than an hour without hiring any agency or freelancers to start a blog to make money.

Why should I start a WordPress Site?

Besides pursuing graduation, I embraced an ample number of hobbies namely video games, meditation, reading motivational books, etc. But when I started blogging it brought fresh air to my life. After making $1500 from a blog within a year, it has changed my life forever. Whatever the purpose may be behind starting a blog, here are the 3 reasons why you should start a blog.

1. Help the readers

When you start a blog the right way and leverage link-building strategies, blogging will help you to reach the millions of people who are looking for the best resources that will ease their life anyway.

You will get surprised that 61% Americans read a blog post before buying any stuff. A detailed blog post on any topic can help your target audience to take a more informed decision.

2. Acquire New Skills

By starting a blog you will learn how to deliver an SEO-Optimized blog post to boost affiliate sales and engagement, how to promote affiliate products or services, and much more. Take the example of Timothy Sykes. He is a famous trader on Wall Street. He offers trading courses by setting up a blog. You will get surprised that he earns 3x by running a blog on stock market trading in comparison to income from stock trading.

3. Make Money Blogging

You need to attract search engines. You will monetize your blog quite well by offering courses, services, and products or promoting affiliate products or services.

But why WordPress?

To start a WordPress site from scratch you will need Content Management System that will give access to easy-to-use tools that will help you to customize your blog as per your requirements.

As a newbie, you are familiar with WordPress. This is the most popular open-source software across the globe that empowers around 38% of websites exist.

Now it’s high time to buy a domain name to kick start your online journey in the blogging galaxy.

What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is the address of your blog/website where people will be redirected when they type your address in the URL bar.

Simply put, if your blog is your house, then your domain name depicts the address of your house.

What is a Domain Registrar?

Domain registrar allows a user to find and register an available domain name. Create a domain name. Then check if the domain name is available or not and if available make the payment and register your desired domain name for a specific period.

How to choose the best domain name?

No matter, who your target audience is. Before registering your first ever domain name, do consider the following 10 points.

Point #1. Stick with a ‘.com’ domain extension

Do you know how many domain names still exist with a domain extension? It’s a whopping 366+ million. Do register your domain name with a ‘.com’ domain extension that will not only boost credibility but also get a preference from search engines.

Point #2. Pick a country level domain extension

If your target audience belongs to the United States, then it’s a good decision to register a domain name with a ‘.us’ domain extension. Register a domain name with ‘.uk’, ‘.de’, or ‘.in’ when your target audience is from the United Kingdom, Germany, or India respectively.

Point #3. Register a Brandable Domain name

Try to include non-generic keywords like Google, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube that don’t have any specific meaning. It becomes easier for your target audience to remember that kind of name and they find the brandable name trustworthy.

Point #4. Register a domain name that is not only easy to type but also short

It’s your task to register a domain name that is between 6 and 14 characters and contains no numbers, hyphens, or underscores. A domain name exceeding the 15 character makes it difficult to remember your blog’s URL.

Point #5. Don’t include any trademarked term in your domain name

When you register a trademarked domain name [www.face-book.com] then you will be in trouble. If you use any trademarked term without permission then you are liable to compensate the company for the loss of profits of a company.

Point #6. Check if the domain name is available on social media

Before registering a domain name do check if the identical name of your domain name is available on social media platforms or not. It’s a good idea to create a page according to your domain name to pull the traffic from social media.

Point #7. Lock your domain name

Do you know the flipping price of ‘www.reviewpursuit.com’?

It’s a whopping $1441.

If anyone is successful to hijack your domain name then he will probably sell your domain name to anyone else at $1441. So, it’s very necessary to lock your domain name to escape domain hijacking by an unauthorized third party.

Which Domain Registrar is the best?

When it’s time to register a domain name to ICANN Accredited domain name registrar, you should check the following 3 points.

What are the first time introductory prices and renewal charges? It’s worth watching at what price the domain registrar lets you register a domain name. GoDaddy allows a user to register a domain name at $2.99 a year, but that’s an introductory offer. From the second year, it will charge a whopping $17.99 a year. On the contrary, Namecheap lets you register a ‘.com’ domain name with as low as $8.88 a year and charges $12.98 a year on renewal.

Is it allowed to a Domain Transfer with ease? Pick a domain registrar that allows a user to transfer a domain register without charging a fee.

What add-on services are offered? Watch out whether the domain registrar offers add-on services namely email hosting, WordPress hosting, or shared hosting, etc.

What is WebHost?

After registering your desired domain name, now it is to pick a WebHost. Simply put, a WebHost allows a webmaster to store website files, media, infographics, or visuals in a secured location called a server. When a user wants to view a blog’s contents his browser connects the server where all of a blog’s contents, visuals are stored and the user will find your blog as per his queries.

How to pick the best WebHost?

To pick the best WebHost you need to find the answer to the following 7 questions.

1. What type of hosting are you looking for?

WebHosts offer various hosting solutions namely Shared hosting, WordPress hosting, Virtual Private Server hosting, Dedicated Server Hosting, Cloud hosting. As you are a beginner you should buy a shared/WordPress hosting to get started. It will cost as low as $2.59 a month.

2. Does the WebHost allow a blog to load within 2 seconds?

A loading period of more than 2 seconds can distract your audience and they will possibly never come back. If you want to start a profitable venture right from your home, pick a WebHost that will load your blog within 2 seconds easily.

3. Does the WebHost offer 99.99% guaranteed uptime?

Don’t pick a web host that has delivered a poor uptime of below 99.9%. You have picked a web host that offers a 99.9% uptime during the past 12 months. It means your blog is down for 9.8 hours a year. Its’ the best idea to pick a web host that offers a 99.99% uptime.

4. What security features does the ‘WordPress’ recommended WebHost offer?

You should investigate whether the WebHost offers an automated firewall security system to secure your blog.

You must secure the blog by installing an SSL Certificate especially when your blog captures sensitive personal information and credit/debit card information. It’s worth watching whether a WebHost offers a free SSL Certificate without charging extra unlike GoDaddy that charges between $63 and $263 for SSL Certificate for single and multiple site licenses.

Additionally, do check whether the WebHost offers a backup of your database or not. When a WebHost backups your database, it is easier to restore a blog within 15 minutes after it has just experienced a malicious cyber attack and all of your databases are deleted.

5. Does the WebHost offer robust customer assistance?

It’s worth considering whether the company will assist you the right way if your blog faces an outage or technical issues. It’s a crucial matter when you are running an e-commerce site. An hour of downtime will cost you a few hundred dollars. Pick a web host that is available 24 hours a day via email, live chat, or telephone to fix any technical errors with ease.

6. What up-gradation options does the WebHost offer?

It’s a good idea to start a blog by picking a shared/WordPress hosting plan. But when your blog achieves 5 digit unique visitors it’s time to upgrade the Webhosting plan.

That’s why before opting for a ‘WordPress’ recommended WebHost, investigate whether the WebHost offers VPS or Dedicated Server hosting.

7. Does the WebHost offer any money-back guarantee?

A lion’s share of web hosts allows a 30-day money-back guarantee. Dreamhost, a ‘WordPress’ recommended web host offers a generous 97-day money-back guarantee.

Which is the best WebHost?

Without giving you a bucket list that contains 3 WebHost, here I will recommend what I find as the best one.

When you are about to start a blog to make money, buy Webhosting from Dreamhost since,

  • Dreamhost is an official ‘WordPress’ recommended web host along with Bluehost and Siteground.
  • Dreamhost allows you to start a blog with as low as $2.59 a month unlike Bluehost’s $3.95 a month and SiteGround’s whopping $6.99 a month.
  • Unlike Bluehost and SiteGround that charge 3x times on renewal, Dreamhost doesn’t hike the Webhosting charges on renewal.
  • Dreamhost will load your blog within 2 seconds with ease.
  • This WebHost offers a robust 99.99% uptime during the past 2 years, unlike Bluehost that offers a 99.96% server uptime.
  • Making the difference with SiteGround that charge $15.95 a year to register a domain name, Dreamhost offers a free domain name for the first year.
  • It offers a generous 97-day money-back guarantee on monthly and annual plans.

How to create a beautiful WordPress website from Scratch

Now when you have found the best WebHost, it’s time to create a beautiful WordPress blog. Let’s walk through the exact 7-step process to set up a beautiful blog within an hour.

Step #1. Sign up for a suitable Dreamhost hosting plan

When you click this link you will be redirected to the hosting plans page that will look like this,

Pick a suitable shared hosting plan

After you have opted for the right plan now it’s time to move to the next step.

Step #2. Enter the domain name

In the next step you are left with 3 options namely ‘Choose a domain later’, ‘Register a new domain’ and ‘I already have a domain’. Now when you have bought a domain from Namecheap, enter the domain name and click on ‘Assign’.

Choose a existing domain or register a domain

On successful registration of a domain from Namecheap, you must change the nameserver that Dreamhost offers after you have made a payment.

Step #3. Enter the details and make payment

Now you need to sign up by using your Gmail and pay the hosting changes either via your credit card or via Paypal.

Buy hosting

When you have successfully made the payment, Dreamhost will send you a mail along with your username and password.

Step #4. Login to your cPanel

By entering the email and password you will be redirected to the control panel. When you have landed in the Dreamhost dashboard, now click on the ‘Websites’ and add a website and install ‘WordPress’.

Login to Dreamhost

After you have installed it successfully, now click on the SSL/TLS Certificate and install it in your blog.

Manage the domains
SSL Certificate
Install SSL Certificate

It’s time to change the nameserver especially when you have registered your domain name with Namecheap. After you have changed the nameserver, let’s visit a WordPress blog by typing, YourBlogURL/wp-admin

Login to WordPress Dashboard

Step #5. Select a Theme

Now you have landed in your WordPress blog. It’s time to select a stunning theme. Choose a theme in accordance with your blog’s niche and activate a theme.

Step #6. Customize the blog

When you are looking for a clean yet attractive fast reliable theme then Hestia is the best option you have got. This is one of the best ThemeIsle’s themes that are suited for small business websites of food, weeding, investment, and freelancers.

Go to the Theme section by clicking the ‘add a new theme’, and enter ‘Hestia’ in the search box.

Now install the theme and activate it.

Hestia Theme Installation

Once activated now let’s start customizing it for a professional look of your newly created WordPress blog.

Section 1 – Site Identity

In the site identity column, you need to upload a logo and site icon for the newly created blog and enter a site title and tagline. Basically, a site title signifies the main title of your blog. Take an example of this blog. When you type Blogging Outlook in the search engine, you will find ‘Blogging Outlook – Learn Actionable Blogging Strategies’. After opting for a suitable title for your blog now shift your focus on the Tagline of your blog that conveys what the site is all about.

Site Identity

Section 2 – Appearance Settings

Here you need to customize the Page Sidebar Layout, Blog Sidebar Layout, Social Sharing Buttons, Typography, Background Colour, Accent Color, etc.

Appearance Settings

When you take a look at the ‘Typography’ section you will find ‘Font Family’ and ‘Font Type’. Now click on ‘Font Family’ and pick a font type for Heading and Body among various options namely ‘Arial’, ‘Bookman Old Family’, ‘Georgia’, ‘Times New Roman’ etc. After choosing the font family, now it’s time to fix the font size for Title, Headings, Content, etc.

Typography Settings

Section 3 – Frontpage Sections

Here you can opt for what sections you will include on your front page among, Big Title Section, About, Subscribe, Blog, and Contact.

Frontpage Sections

After installing and activating Orbit Fox Companion, you will be able to add, modify the Team, Features, Ribbon, Testimonials, and Clients Bar.

When you are trying to add a ‘subscribe’ that enables the site visitors to subscribe to your newsletter, you can add the ‘Subscribe’ button once you have installed and activated the SendinBlue plugin.

Subscribe button

You can add the ‘Scroll to Top’ button at each blog post that allows a user to easily move back to the top of the page ease by clicking on the button.

Section 4 – Header Options

By customizing this option you can control the Menu, Posts/Pages Layout, add a widget on the Very Top Bar Menu, etc. You can add a search button in the header of the blog by ticking the ‘Enable Search in Menu’ option.

Navigation Section

Section 5 – Footer Options

This option gives you access to enter Footer Credits that are displayed in the footer bar of your blog.

Section 6 – Blog Settings

By editing the Blog settings you can include the blog posts that are displayed on the front page. You can set the category, how many blog posts are to be displayed, if the blog post to be displayed excerpt and if opted how many words to consist of, etc.

Blog Settings

Section 7 – Menus

Now after you have customized a ‘WordPress’ blog, you should create a menu.  A Menu expresses important sections of your blog by simply clicking on the links that you have included in Menu.

Here is the step by step tutorial on how to create a menu,

After you have done the above-mentioned tasks, you need to set colours, customize fonts, change the blog layout accordingly, and hit the ‘Publish’ button.

Still confused?

Here is the step by step tutorial on how to customize a WordPress blog,

Step #7. Change the ‘Setting’ accordingly

General Settings – In the ‘General’ Settings you need to enter Site Title, Tagline, Date, and Time format, and click on ‘Save’.

General Settings

Reading Settings – To create a static home page instead of displaying your latest blog posts, click on the ‘Reading’ tab and choose ‘a static page’.

Reading Settings

Additionally, Since a ‘WordPress’ blog displays 10 blog posts on a page by default, you can change the number as per your requirements.

Discussion Settings – The ‘Discussion’ settings allow a webmaster whether it will allow a user to comment or not. Apart from that, for how many days a user can comment on any published blog post.

Discussion Settings

Permalink Settings – In the ‘Permalink’ section you can fix how the URL will look like. Probably you have found that I have opted for ‘post name’ settings on blogging outlook.

Permalink Settings

Final Thoughts

Congratulations you have successfully customized a newly created WordPress blog. Now you need to install and activate the useful plugin for better customization and boost functionality for your blog.

Here are the few plugins that you should install and activate in your blog.

  1. Accelerated Mobile Pages – To create an AMP version of your blog.
  2. Akismet Anti-Spam – To filter spam comments.
  3. UpDraftplus – To back up your blog’s database to a secure location.
  4. Rank Math – To deliver a Search Engine Optimized blog post.
  5. Social Snap – To enable social share buttons that will let users share the content on social media.
  6. WP-Forms – To build beautiful opt-in forms, or collect payments.
  7. PushEngage – For sending targeted push notifications to blog visitors.

Congratulations!

You have successfully completed all the basic settings of your ‘WordPress’ blog.

Now you can create sample pages namely About, Contact, Disclaimer, and Privacy Policy.

After you have created all the above-mentioned pages, now start delivering well researched SEO-optimized engaging blog posts and leverage link building strategies to pull traffic from search engine and make money blogging.

Read also: How to Start a Blog and Earn Money

Hope, by reading this post you have learned how to build a WordPress site from scratch. When you have found this post helpful feel free to share it with your friends and loved ones. It will help them to build a WordPress website from scratch.

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