Select a Website Content Management System& Blog (Free or Self-Hosted)

Learning how to make a website can be an overwhelming task if you don’t have the proper guidance and resources available. There is a lot of misinformation on the Internet, which is why we decided to put together our definitive 10-step guide explaining how to create a website the correct — and simple way.

Many of the so-called “how-to” guides available online contain confusing jargon like HTML and coding, but the truth is that anyone can create a website with zero technical knowledge. We are going to show you how to build a website in 10 easy steps, from start to finish. Get ready, because if you can follow simple instructions you can have your brand new website up and running in less than an afternoon.

Before you make a website you need to first select a niche — what is your website or blog going to be about? It is important that you pick a topic in which you are extremely interested in and passionate about. Some of the most successful blogs and websites were started as a hobby and they became successful businesses because the owner was able to produce amazing content due to their interest and knowledge of the particular topic.

Imagine if you picked a website topic that you had absolutely no interest or experience in? It would be nearly impossible to create engaging content for that website and you would lose interest very quickly. The easiest way to select a topic is to identify your areas of expertise. Is there a topic related to your profession that you would enjoy creating a website around? Do you have any hobbies that you could passionately blog about on a regular basis?

Some very successful websites are started because of a life event, such as a marriage or a pregnancy. The key here is to make sure your website is authentic. There are new websites started every single day, so you need to make sure that your content comes across as authentic — that is the best way to really capture an audience and get them to continue to engage with your website on a regular basis.

A content management system (CMS) is where everything will live and be organized online. It’s your online filing cabinet. The majority of individuals are interested in learning how to make a website for free, so they quickly perform a Google search and they are presented with the common free blogging platforms, such as Weebly or Wix.

Are these the best options for those that want to make a website for free?

While they are very popular blogging options, the term “free” is used in the incorrect context. In order to explain this, let’s use Weebly as an example. If you sign up for an account with Weebly and use their platform to make a website for free, your domain will be a subdomain, which is basically an extension of their website e.g. johnsmith.weebly.com. You won’t own the domain and you won’t have control over the hosting. Simply put, you don’t own the website or the content you produce – you could pour your heart and soul into creating amazing blog posts and content only to wake up one morning and have it deleted. What you want is to purchase your own domain name which would look like this; JohnSmith.com. As you can see it’s much better for branding.

Since you don’t own the blog you are also not able to monetize it with advertisements. Not every website owner wants to put up ads, but it is nice to know that you have that option down the road in the event that your website grows in popularity and traffic volume.

There is a very affordable way to own your website 100% and still utilize a free content management system — WordPress. This is a free CMS that allows you to use your own domain name and self-host your website, giving you 100% control and ownership. We have tried them all and can honestly say that WordPress, hands down, is the best option to help make your own website. WordPress is the most popular blogging platform on the internet and is used by over 60 million websites.

You need to have website hosting in place before you make a website. You might be asking yourself, “What is web hosting?” so here is a very simple explanation: web hosting companies provide you with space on their severs to place your website, making it accessible via the internet.

We discussed free and self-hosted websites in step #2 above, and we know that a self-hosted option is more attractive because it gives you complete control of your website. There are several website hosting companies available and we recommend Web Hosting Hub because of their affordable web hosting and excellent customer service. Simply put, we believe they offer the best web hosting at the best price.

So, to secure web hosting check out our WebHostingHub coupon and you will see a discounted monthly rate for WordPress hosting, along with a free domain for the first year. This is a special offer we were able to obtain exclusively for our blog readers, so make sure you use the link above to take advantage of these savings.

Select the WordPress hosting and then continue to step #4 below.

Firstly, for those that just asked, “What is a domain name?” think of it as a unique name that identifies a website. No two are the same, and you want to select a domain name for your website that identifies what your site is about.

You can register your own domain in just minutes at the same time that you secure your web hosting that we discussed above. After you select the WordPress hosting package you will be directed to this page:

Now it is time to start searching for a domain name for the new website you are going to build. If the domain name you type in is not available it will let you know. It might take a few tries to come up with an available name that you are happy with. We always suggest that you use a .com extension when possible. For demonstration purposes let’s assume that you wanted to register yournewdomainname.com. If it was available, this is what you would see on the next screen:

You will notice that in addition to the available .com you will be shown other extensions of that name currently available. There is no need to register the other extensions, so just continue with the .com registration. WHOIS Privacy is optional. Do you want people to be able to obtain your contact information, or would you like the domain’s owner (You) to remain private? If you are building a website for your business and will be using your company details then the private registration isn’t a necessity. If you are starting a personal blog then we suggest adding the WHOIS Privacy protection to prevent spammers from obtaining your contact details.

Now you are ready to complete your domain purchase.

Make sure that you use valid contact details when creating your account. If you are worried about protecting your contact information make sure you selected WHOIS Privacy mentioned above.

Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of a new domain name and website hosting.

Lack of technical knowledge is one reason that so many people are timid when learning how to start a website. Thankfully, solutions such as Web Hosting Hub’s one-click WordPress installation exist, making it possible to make your own website with virtually no technical knowledge.

After you complete your web hosting and domain registration you will receive a welcome email as soon your account has been verified and set up. Web Hosting Hub features a very easy to use account management portal (AMP) that allows you to install WordPress in one click. Once you receive the welcome email you will be prompted to set up a user name and password for your account management portal.

Now that your account is set up click on “Your Account” and then click on “Install Popular Software.” You will be presented with several options, but as we mentioned above, WordPress is by far the best CMS to use when starting out and learning how to make a website as there is no coding involved.

Click on “WordPress” and then complete the details for the following fields:

Site Name: This will be the title of your blog. Don’t worry; you can easily change this at a later time. To start, just create a name similar to the topic of your website.

You are now “online” so to speak, and can now begin to design and customize your website, along with publishing blog posts.

The next step is to access your websites admin area, and you can use this example of how to structure your login URL:

You simply take your domain name and add “/wp-admin” at the end. Doing so will pull up your admin login screen, which will look like this:

You will use the admin username and password you set up above to access your WordPress dashboard.

The great thing about using WordPress is that there are thousands of pre-made templates and themes that you can use for free. This eliminates having to design your own website. A professional website design can be a very large expense and learning how to design a website from the ground up can be a long and tedious process. So, rather than typing, “how to design a website” into Google you can simply utilize one of the thousands of available themes that WordPress offers.

You will see the default theme that came pre-installed, but rather than use that we are going to help you select a new theme. Click on “Add New” as seen below:

You can now search through all of the available free themes to select from. Now, there are many websites that sell premium themes that range anywhere from $20 – $100+ but starting out with a free theme is fine. You can always upgrade to a custom or premium theme later on. Use the theme search navigation to look through the featured, popular, and latest themes available.

Use the preview feature to see how the themes look and select one that you feel best matches the look and feel you want for your new website. You can change themes just as quickly as you selected one, so don’t stress about picking your first theme.

Another great benefit of using WordPress is the availability of plugins, which can greatly improve the functionality of your website and provide specific features that you require. Plugins are only available to those that self-host their own WordPress site — this is just another reason why using the one-click WordPress installation hosting offered by Web Hosting Hub is the best option.

Many times an individual will wonder how to build a website with specific features, such as sliding images, or a photo gallery — assuming that this requires coding and technical web design knowledge. These functions, along with thousands of others can be accomplished with the use of plugins.

While in your WordPress dashboard click on the “Plugins” section located on the left-hand side:

Your WordPress installation will come with some default plugins, and they will be listed along with a description of their function. To find new plugins click on “Add New” located on the top of the WordPress dashboard:

You can now search through the most popular plugins as well as the featured plugins. If you have a specific need, such as a plugin that allows your website visitors to share your blog posts on social media you would just enter a search term, in this case, “social sharing” in the search box located in the upper-right corner.

There is virtually a free plugin available to handle any need, so stop stressing about trying to learn how to design a website because plugins have all of your needs covered. The best part? You can focus 100% on creating your website content and promoting your website instead of learning computer language and coding.

Some people want to learn how to create a website so they can start a fun blog as a hobby, while others want to know how to make a website for free in an effort to help establish their business online. Regardless of what your intention is, building an email list is a smart idea.

A hobby or fun blog can collect the email addresses of their visitors to alert them of new blog posts or to encourage them to tell their friends and social media contacts about the website. This can help to introduce a website to new people and grow the readership.

A business owner that starts a website to help promote his or her company will want to collect the email addresses of the visitors so he or she can market to them in the future and send them special offers in an attempt to produce revenue for the business.

One of our favorite email management programs is Mailchimp. It is very easy to use and it helps to ensure that you remain CAN-SPAM compliant. It is also 100% free to sign up and use — allowing you to build a list of up to 2,000 subscribers for free.

You can also integrate your Mailchimp account with plugins that help you collect email addresses via sidebar opt-in forms, exit popups, and within your blog content. This is a great way to help build a very valuable website asset for free.

Now that you have a website theme selected and some helpful plugins installed it is time to publish your first blog post. Publishing new content is one of the most important components when learning how to start a website, but don’t worry — WordPress is the easiest and most user friendly blog publishing platform available!

When you are in your WordPress dashboard hover your mouse over “Posts”  and then click on “Add New” as shown below.

This will bring up the WordPress blog post publishing tool. It is very easy to create content and publish it on your website. You will first want to enter in a title for your post, and then start to compose your blog post. Make sure you have the “Visual” tab selected so you can access the formatting tools. This allows you to change the size and color of text, along with performing any formatting task you could imagine. Want to add an image to your blog post? Simply click on the “Add Media” tab and upload an image. Once you are ready to publish your blog post click on “Publish” and it will be ready for the world to see. It is that simple.

It is a good idea to spend some time playing around and learning how the formatting and publishing tools work. Spend some time interacting with all of the functions and learn what they are all capable of. Don’t worry about messing up — you can delete a blog post with one click if you wish to.

Once you learn how to make a website it is time to promote, grow, and in some situations, earn money from your website.

Email Promotion: We explained how to start building an email list in step #8 above. Once your list begins to gain some traction you will want to start interacting with it on a regular basis. Send an email broadcast when you publish a new blog post that features content that you believe your audience is going to love. This gets them to develop a habit of returning to your website on a regular basis.

Social Media Promotion: It’s a good idea to create, at the very least, a Facebook and Twitter account for your website. This gives you the opportunity to share your blog posts on social media and attract more visitors to your website. In addition to posting your blog posts on social media you can post status updates to draw your social audience back to your website. Asking your social fans to share your content with their social media contacts is also a great way to attract new visitors and continue to promote the website.

Monetization: There is an opportunity to earn money from advertisers once your website begins to attract consistently high traffic numbers. Some of the easiest to implement advertising programs include Google AdSense and Infolinks, which compensate you each time your visitors click on the ads displayed through their networks. Never focus on the monetization first because without a great website you aren’t going to attract the traffic numbers required. Put your effort into creating a great website and steadily increasing your traffic numbers.

There you have it, you now know how to make a website from start to finish. If you found this resource helpful and believe it can benefit others as well make sure to share it below. Also, be sure to enter your email address below to sign up for our free newsletter.