WordPress for Beginners: 7 Tips to Get You Started

An organized, eye-catching website can help you market your business and boost brand awareness. Without a website, however, you could fall behind. In fact, about 90% of consumers use the internet to find businesses.

Are you building a new WordPress website this year? With the right tips, you can start creating a WordPress website capable of wowing your customers.

They’ll recognize the value you have to offer and choose your business above the rest.

Here are the seven WordPress for beginners tips you need to succeed. With these WordPress tips, you can draw in new business! Set yourself up for success with these tips today.

1. Get Set Up

First, visit WordPress.org and select your domain name. Choose a “.com” domain name that’s unique to your business and brand. Make sure it’s easy to remember, too. 

Otherwise, consumers might struggle to remember your web address!

Prioritize choosing a “.com” domain name. Your customers are more likely to trust a URL with “.com” or another recognizable top-level domain.

Next, you’ll need a hosting partner. You can visit a website like GoDaddy, Pressable, or Bluehost to get started. See why so many Freelancers choose Pressable for WordPress hosting.

Before choosing your hosting partner, think about the type of plan you want. What plan will accomplish your long-term goals? If you plan on uploading large files, you’ll need more bandwidth and space.

If you’re not sure how much you need, start low. You can increase your space and bandwidth as your needs grow. 

Take the time to look into other features, such as regular backups and SiteLock Security. These features can prepare you for potential hacks.

Once your website is ready to go, install WordPress as your building platform. You’ll need WordPress to design your website and keep it up-to-date. Don’t fall behind with updates.

Otherwise, you could leave your website vulnerable to an attack.

The Benefits

What are the benefits of building a WordPress website? Here are a few to keep in mind:

  • The blog is already built-in and ready to go
  • You can make fast updates from anywhere on the blog
  • Free access to templates and plugins
  • The ability to add SEO to your website
  • Easy to scale as your business expands
  • Easy integration for third-party apps and tools
  • Responsive for different devices

WordPress is also a cost-effective option. Instead of wasting money, you can set yourself up for long-term success. 

2. Choose the Right Theme

Once your website is set up, you’ll need an eye-catching, clean theme. Don’t waste money choosing an expensive theme with a ton of bells and whistles. Instead, choose a theme that you can use easily.

Then, you can make adjustments to your theme to make sure it suits your needs.

WordPress provides you with access to thousands of free website themes. There are even a few built with specific industries in mind.

Before finalizing your choice, make sure your theme is mobile-optimized. Choosing a mobile-ready theme can save you valuable time. You can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to make sure your site is optimized for mobile devices.

You’ll need a mobile-optimized website if you plan on adding search engine optimization (SEO) or using pay-per-click (PPC).

3. Add Pages and Post

Once your theme is set, you can start adding your content.

Focus on creating content that will help you accomplish your long-term goals. For example, are you creating a website to show off your products and services? You’ll need a page for each one.

Are you creating an e-commerce website? Set your site up with plenty of high-quality images. Crisp images will help you attract more people to your products.

Try to avoid low-quality images or stock photography. Stock photography won’t help you look authentic.

Keep your content fresh by maintaining a blog. You can use your blog posts to attract traffic to your website. As you upload blog posts, keep everything organized with categories and tags.

Keeping your content organized will help visitors find what they’re looking for.

4. Consider Customizations

As you use this WordPress for beginners guide, keep your end-user in mind. 

Almost 70% of consumers want to read beautifully designed posts. If your website is cluttered and messy, they might leave. Instead, leverage user experience (UX) design trends.

UX design will ensure your website is clean and easy to use.

First, make adjustments to your color palette and fonts based on your brand guidelines. Maintain brand consistency across every page. Consistency will help you build brand recognition.

Make sure your pages load quickly. A slow website will frustrate users.

Use short sentences and paragraphs. Organize large blocks of content under headers and subheaders. Make sure your fonts are easy to read, too. 

Is your website secure? And an SSL certificate. 

Improving your website’s UX will keep people on your site longer. The longer they dwell and the more they click around, the better your search ranking. A higher ranking will help you reach more visitors!

5. Play With Plugins

When creating a WordPress website, consider the plugins you want to use. Plugins can make your website function in different ways.

You can add a plugin to compress your images, which can help your pages load faster.

You can also add a search engine optimization plugin.

6. Get Optimized

SEO can help consumers find your website on search engines like Google.

First, research the keywords your customers use to find your business. Then, given each page and post on your website a focus keyword. The focus keyword should appear in the URL, title, body text, and image alt text.

Avoid stuffing your content with keywords. Instead, use a plugin like Yoast to make sure your content is optimized. 

7. Test Everything

When building a WordPress website, it’s important to test everything. Click on every link and explore every page.

Make sure the links in your navigation bar work. Test your forms and call links, too. 

Have someone beta test your website before you go live. 

WordPress for Beginners: 7 Tips for Online Success

Set your business up for long-term success online. With this WordPress for beginners guide, you can reach new customers and generate more traffic. Give your business the boost it needs with these seven easy tips today. 

Searching for more helpful tips and tricks? Set yourself up for success this year.

Explore our latest posts today for more useful guides.

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.