How to Use WordPress: A Guide to Building a Website with WordPress

Creating a website is a pivotal step for businesses, freelancers, and hobbyists aiming to establish an
online presence. With a plethora of website creation tools available, WordPress stands out as a
leading platform, offering unparalleled versatility and ease of use.

This comprehensive guide dives deep into WordPress, distinguishing between WordPress.com and
WordPress.org, and providing a step-by-step roadmap on how to use WordPress for creating,
designing, and launching your website. Whether you’re a complete beginner or looking to refine your
WordPress skills, this article will equip you with the knowledge and tools needed to navigate the
WordPress ecosystem successfully.

FAQ

Is WordPress easy to use for a beginner?

What is WordPress and how do you use it?

How do I start learning WordPress?

What is WordPress

WordPress is a highly popular open-source content management system (CMS) used for creating and
managing websites. Being open source means that WordPress is free to use, modify, and distribute.
This has encouraged a large community of developers and users who contribute to its development,
keep it updated, and ensure it remains secure.

It’s known for its simplicity and flexibility, making it a top choice for everything from personal blogs
to sophisticated business sites. It’s designed to be user-friendly, allowing users with little to no
coding skills to build and manage their websites.

With a vast and active community, WordPress users have access to extensive support through
forums, tutorials, and downloadable resources.
To start using WordPress, you will need to have a domain name, a hosting provider, and a WordPress
install for your domain.

Simplify WordPress with 10Web

Simplify WordPress with 10Web

Skip and automate manual work with 10Web Managed WordPress Hosting. Optimize your
WordPress website effortlessly.

Learn How

Setting up domain name and hosting provider

A domain name acts as your website’s address on the internet, while a hosting provider stores your
site’s files, making them accessible to visitors worldwide. Selecting a memorable domain name and a
reliable hosting provider is foundational to your website’s success.

Hosting options vary from shared hosting, suitable for small to medium sites, to dedicated servers,
ideal for high-traffic websites.

10Web offers both solutions under one roof. You can take advantage of AI powered managed
WordPress hosting and find the right domain name for your website.

How to install WordPress

10Web users automatically get WordPress installed upon signing up. For WordPress.org users,
installation is a straightforward process, often featuring a one-click install option provided by many
hosting services. Alternatively, manual installation involves downloading WordPress from the official
website, uploading it to your hosting account, and following the installation steps.

Simplify WordPress with 10Web

Simplify WordPress with 10Web

Skip and automate manual work with 10Web Managed WordPress Hosting. Optimize your
WordPress website effortlessly.
Learn How

Building your WordPress website

Building a WordPress website involves several key stages: designing your site, adding content,
organizing navigation and structure, and enhancing functionality through plugins.

Using WordPress to build your website requires that a few different parts come together as a whole.
Below are the most fundamental and important blocks by which your website will be built.

Themes

Themes in WordPress serve as the design foundation of your website, dictating the visual
appearance, layout, and styling elements. These powerful components are essentially templates but
offer much more than a mere aesthetic facade. They influence user experience, site functionality,
and even the performance and search engine optimization (SEO) of your website.

The WordPress theme directory, accessible directly from your dashboard, houses thousands of free
and premium themes, each designed with specific purposes and industries in mind — from
minimalist blog layouts to sophisticated ecommerce designs.

How do themes Work?

A WordPress theme includes a set of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an
underlying unifying design for a website. These files include style sheets for aesthetic design, custom
templates for different sections of your site (like home pages, blog feeds, etc.), and functions files
that add or modify features.

When you select and activate a theme, WordPress uses these files as a template for displaying your
site. Themes can be customized further through the WordPress Customizer, where users can change
aspects like colors, fonts, layouts, and widget positions without needing to touch any code. Many
themes also come with their own set of customization options, allowing for more detailed
adjustments such as creating a custom homepage layout or integrating social media.

Simplify WordPress with 10Web

Simplify WordPress with 10Web

Skip and automate manual work with 10Web Managed WordPress Hosting. Optimize your
WordPress website effortlessly.

Learn How

How to add a theme to your website

Installing and activating a theme in WordPress

Log in to your WordPress dashboard.

Navigate to Appearance > Themes.

Click Add New and browse or search for themes.

Install your chosen theme and then click Activate.

How to customize the theme

WordPress customizer settings.

From the dashboard, go to Appearance > Customize.

Use the Customizer to tweak various settings like Site Identity, Colors, Header Image, Menus, and
Widgets.

Click Publish to save your changes.

Adding content through posts and pages

Content is king in the digital world, and WordPress offers two primary ways to create it: posts and
pages. Posts are timely content such as blog entries, while pages are static and better suited for
timeless content like ‘About Us’ or ‘Contact’ information.

What is a post?

In WordPress, a post is a specific type of content that’s inherently dynamic, often used for blogs,
news articles, updates, and any content meant to be consumed in a chronological order. Posts are
displayed on your website in reverse chronological order (the newest content appears first).
WordPress also allows posts to be organized by categories and tags, facilitating content management
and making it easier for visitors to navigate related content.
Posts are the heartbeat of a blog’s activity, inviting interaction through comments and shares. They
can include various types of content, such as text, images, videos, and embedded audio files, making
them versatile tools for content creation.

How to add a post

Adding a Post in WordPress.

Navigate to Posts > Add New.

Enter your post’s title and content.

Utilize categories and tags for organization.

Click Publish or schedule the post.

Writing and publishing a post in WordPress.

Simplify WordPress with 10Web

Simplify WordPress with 10Web

Skip and automate manual work with 10Web Managed WordPress Hosting. Optimize your
WordPress website effortlessly.

Learn How

What is a page?

Pages in WordPress are static content entities used to create the foundational elements of your
website, such as ‘About Us’, ‘Contact’, and ‘Services’ pages. Unlike posts, pages are meant to be
timeless entries. They do not display a published date and are not intended to be sorted
chronologically.

Pages can be organized into a hierarchy, allowing for parent and child pages to structure content
effectively. This feature is particularly useful for creating an organized layout of related content, such
as a main ‘Services’ page that links to individual pages for each specific service offered.

How to add a page

Adding a Page in WordPress.

Go to Pages > Add New.

Input the page title and content.

Customize using blocks to add images, headings, and more.

Publish your page.

Navigation and site structure

The navigation and site structure of a WordPress website are crucial for both user experience and
SEO. Effective navigation guides visitors through your site, leading them from general content to
more specific information they seek. WordPress facilitates this through menus, which can be
customized to include links to your site’s pages, categories, custom links to external sites, and more.

Menus can be placed in various locations depending on your theme, such as the header, footer, or
sidebar. Properly structuring your site with thoughtful navigation not only improves usability but also
helps search engines understand the hierarchy and content of your site, potentially boosting your
SEO performance.

Simplify WordPress with 10Web

Simplify WordPress with 10Web

Skip and automate manual work with 10Web Managed WordPress Hosting. Optimize your
WordPress website effortlessly.

Learn How

How to add navigation to your WordPress site

Creating a new navigation menu in WordPress.

From the dashboard, go to Appearance > Menus.

Create a New Menu, naming it appropriately.

Add Pages, Posts, or custom links to the menu.

Set the menu’s location, such as the primary navigation bar.

Click Save Menu.

Adding pages and posts to the Navigation menu in WordPress

Enhancing website functionality with plugins

Plugins are applications that integrate with your WordPress website to add new features or extend
existing functionality. They are a pivotal aspect of WordPress’s appeal, offering the flexibility to
customize your site to meet your specific needs without having to write custom code.

The plugin ecosystem encompasses a wide range of solutions, from simple contact form builders and
social media integrations to comprehensive SEO tools, e-commerce platforms, and custom content
blocks. With over 58,000 free plugins available in the WordPress Plugin Directory and thousands
more premium options, the possibilities are virtually limitless.

Plugins work by hooking into the WordPress core and adding or modifying functions. This modularity
allows users to tailor their sites precisely, whether enhancing performance, securing their site against
threats, optimizing for search engines, or creating a fully-fledged online store. However, it’s crucial to
manage plugins wisely, as overloading your website with too many plugins or using poorly coded
ones can impact site performance and security.

Simplify WordPress with 10Web

Simplify WordPress with 10Web

Skip and automate manual work with 10Web Managed WordPress Hosting. Optimize your
WordPress website effortlessly.

Learn How

How to add plugins to your WordPress website

Adding a plugin in WordPress.

Go to Plugins > Add New.

Search for the desired plugin.

Click Install Now, then Activate.

Launching your site