Creating websites with WordPress is booming. Today, more than a third of all websites are developed with this powerful tool. Praised for its ease of use, it offers a wide range of possibilities. From showcase sites and e-commerce platforms to institutional websites and blogs, WordPress allows you to create any type of custom website. It's possible to develop a fully personalized graphic theme, as well as features specific to your needs (called plugins).
Creating a website can be a complex task depending on the desired features and design, so don't hesitate to consult our developers. WordPress agency if you wish to be accompanied.
In this article, we will detail together the different steps involved in creating a WordPress site.
How to get started creating a WordPress site?
La first step to creating a WordPress site The key is to prepare the ground properly! To do this, before moving on to the actual WordPress creation, you need to choose a domain name and hosting.
Choose a domain name
The domain name is the address that internet users will use to find you (for example, our domain name is maintenance-wp.fr).
The first part of the domain name can be based on your company name, your brand name, or express your business through one or more relevant keywords (for example, shoe sale).
For the second part, you can choose from a wide range of extensions, the most common being .fr and .com. You can also opt for something more specific such as .paris, .io, .shop…
Tips:
It is best to choose a short domain name that is easily memorable for internet users.
To register a domain name, go to a domain name registrar such as gandi.net.
Choose accommodation
Web hosting is storage space on a server that is constantly connected to the internet, allowing a website to be accessible at all times. It is therefore the place where all the files that make up your website (programs, text, images, videos, etc.) are stored.
Shared hosting means that the server space is shared by several websites. Dedicated hosting means that the server is entirely devoted to a single website.
Based on experience, we advise you Kinsta as a hosting provider. Their WordPress hosting service Managed services are at the cutting edge of technology and the level of support is high.
Tips:
For your WordPress site creation, simply start with a shared hosting plan, then upgrade it as your traffic increases if the hosting plan becomes too limited.
Dedicate the necessary time to this first step in creating a WordPress site; it's important.
How do I install WordPress?
La second step to creating a WordPress site This includes software installation, which can be done from the hosting dashboard. It's common for hosting providers to offer simplified, automatic, or "one-click" installation. Otherwise, installation is done manually.
Automatic installation
Installing WordPress with one click is completely automated. Simply follow the on-screen instructions to quickly create a WordPress site.
In particular, you are asked to create an administrator username and password, allowing you to log in to manage the site.
Manual WordPress installation
Manual installation takes a little longer, but it's not insurmountable. You will need:
- download WordPress in archive form, and decompress it;
- upload all the files obtained to your web hosting;
- create a database on the server;
- start the installation script simply by going via your internet browser to the URL where you just installed the copy of WordPress;
- Follow the installer's instructions, as in the automatic procedure.
In case there are any unusual circumstances, ask your hosting provider for the exact procedure.
Once the software is installed, you can log in with your credentials and access the administration interface, called the WordPress dashboard.
The WordPress graphic theme
To complete your WordPress website creationYou need to choose a theme (free or paid) to define the design of your site. In the WordPress dashboard, go to "Appearance" then "Themes" and "Add New".
Next, you can modify your theme's colors and fonts, and upload your logo and images. For a truly customized theme, you can create a child theme, which is an override of the parent theme, to define CSS rules securely.
How do you create the structure and pages of your website?
Once the installation is complete, web pages need to be created and structured.
The structure
A WordPress site, viewed from the outside and like any website, is an assembly of pages that need to be structured.
A simple structure when creating a WordPress site could be:
- home page,
- contact page,
- The company's services:
- service 1,
- service 2,
- service 3…
- shop :
- catalogue:
- Category A:
- product A1
- product A2…
- Category B:
- product B1
- product B2…
- Category A:
- shopping cart page,
- order page.
- catalogue:
The pages must be linked together, particularly through the menu, which allows the visitor to easily navigate from one page to another.
Create a page for your WordPress site
To create a page, simply go to the dashboard menu and click on "Pages" then "Add". The page creation interface is very intuitive and allows you to enter:
- a title;
- a slug (that is, the URL which will be the address of this page, or the permalink);
- content.
Articles are another type of WordPress content and have their own dedicated tab. This allows you to group all the pages that will make up the site's blog, if needed.
Which WordPress extensions (plugins) are essential?
Another step in creating a user-friendly and easy-to-manage WordPress site is choosing powerful plugins. Here are some of our favorite extensions to get you started.
Easily duplicate your pages and articles
Installing an extension that allows you to quickly duplicate a page or article improves your productivity and significantly simplifies the content creation process. Plugins Duplicate Page ou Yoast Duplicate Post They do that very well.
Safety
SecuPress is an extension that allows you to manage many security settings on a daily basis, which is a An important step in creating a WordPress site reliable. Here are some of the features it offers:
- firewall;
- protection against login fraud attempts;
- IP address blocking;
- malware scan;
- security scans;
- setup assistant;
- Connection blocking by country based on geolocation.
Loading speed
WPRocket is a French plugin that improves website speed, which is valuable for avoiding a high bounce rate. It optimizes caching and WordPress site performance.
You can also regularly and automatically monitor your site's speed with WP Umbrella.
SEO assistance
SEOPress et Yoast SEO These are popular extensions to help comply with best practices and improve the SEO of pages, articles, products…
In particular, they provide the ability to implement meta titles and meta descriptions visible on Google and to manage social networks linked to the site.
Shop online
To add an online store when creating your WordPress site, you can opt for the most popular plugin, namely WooCommerceThere are many others, such as wp-ecommerce, or Easy Digital Downloads.
They allow you to create a detailed product catalog that can be categorized, configure various payment methods, and automatically add shopping cart and checkout pages. Order, payment, and delivery management is handled entirely through the administration panel.
To learn more about creating an online store, feel free to contact us. WooCommerce agency.
Newsletter and email marketing
A feature often sought after when creating a WordPress site is email campaign management. WordPress integrates very well with many email marketing platforms, such as Mailchimp, SendinBlue ou JackMailThis allows you to create powerful forms to collect information from your visitors. Perfect for your communication campaigns!
How to properly optimize the pages of a WordPress site for search engines?
Having a web presence is essential, but being seen is crucial for WordPress website creation efforts to be rewarded with traffic. Therefore, it's important to consider the... WordPress page SEO created.
Keywords
Internet users enter keywords, or key phrases, into a search engine such as Google, to obtain a list of links presenting content related to their search.
It is essential to think about the keywords you want your target audience to be found for. For example, a sports shoe company will likely want to appear for the following phrases:
- sale of sports shoes;
- tennis shoes;
- buying football boots;
- etc.
Good to know:
Not all your pages need to focus on the same keyword. When creating your WordPress site, aim to define one primary keyword and 2-3 secondary keywords for each page.
The contents
Among the main steps to create your WordPress siteContent creation, especially text, is not something to be taken lightly. The goal is to be seen, so you need to be findable. To be found, your website's pages must appear prominently in search engine results like Google and Bing. Without going into too much detail, for a page to rank well, its content must be deemed relevant and high-quality by the search engine during the indexing process (that is, when it establishes its ranking of pages on a specific topic).
That's why it's essential to present texts :
- unique (no copy/paste or duplication of content);
- long enough;
- well structured;
- free from spelling and grammar mistakes;
- containing the appropriate keywords;
- written in accordance with SEO best practices or natural referencing;
- and providing interesting information to internet users.
Define a unique title and meta description for each page
To differentiate each of your pages and facilitate search engine indexing, it is necessary to characterize them by:
- a beacon title unique containing the main keyword;
- a beacon meta-description unique, precisely describing what the user will find on the page.
These two pieces of information are used by Google when displaying the link in its search results. This is therefore your target audience's first contact with your page. title and total Description Perfectly written content is therefore a powerful weapon to convince internet users to click on your link rather than another!
Now that we have seen in detail the different Steps to create a WordPress siteNow you're all set to start your project. If you don't have time to do it yourself or if you'd like to benefit from informed adviceIf so, call on a professional in the field of... WordPress website creation !
