How To Build A Website In 2021! The Best Step-By-Step Guide

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In today’s era, it is almost a necessity that you have a website. We are in a completely digital age right now and it seems as if everything is moving online! So it would make sense if you had your own online presence, wouldn’t it?  

Thankfully getting online is extremely easy and anyone can get it done! In fact, everyone is looking to get a piece of the action. There are more than 500 million active websites out there and according to Mill for Business, almost 380+ websites go online every minute! 

Have you ever wanted to build a website but didn’t know where to start? Have you ever wanted to start a blog but you didn’t know the first step to take? Do you sell a particular product and you want the opportunity to sell it via an online platform? 

If you answered YES to any of these questions then this article is definitely for you! In this article, I will be breaking down exactly how you can build a website from scratch. 

So buckle up and let’s dive straight into the goodies. 

How To Build A Website – Step By Step 

Step 1: Decide What Your Niche Is! 

This is the first and most simple step, you have to know exactly what your website is going to be about. Is it going to be on marketing, coffee, cats, food or electronics? Whatever your passion is then I would suggest making your blog or website around that. Maybe you just want to build a website for your business. The possibilities are completely endless! 

After you settle on your niche you must decide on a website builder. In my experience, regardless of the niche, you decide to go in I would suggest using the website building platform WordPress. Now WordPress may not be the most simple hosting platform out there but it is one of the most effective! 

WordPress powers 35% of the entire web! That means just about a third of all websites are made on WordPress. That is for good reason, WordPress is an extremely trusted platform. It isn’t as complicated as you may think and there are tools that will help make it 10 times easier for you! (Don’t worry I will tell you everything you need to know about these tools

Great, now you have a niche and the platform your website is going to be built on!  Let’s move on to the next step. 

 

Step 2: Choose A Website Name! 

The next step in building your website is to choose a website name! You must choose a name that is directly related to your niche. So if your website is on coffee, a cool website name could be thecoffeeboss.com. Alright, I admit that may be a bit cheesy but you get the point! 

Choose a website name that can last a lifetime because once you choose that name, it’s going to be the name that sticks with you for the rest of your life (just kidding). If you come up with a better domain name later down the line it will only cost around $12 per year!

Most of you may have a name in mind already and that’s totally fine. If you want to check to see if that website name is available type it in the box below.

 

Pro Tip: Try and find a name that ends in .com!

Here are some more tips for choosing a good domain name: 

• Don’t use numbers! – This is just good practice, no one likes to see numbers in a website name. 
• Be short and sweet- Ideally, the shorter your domain name the more likely people will remember it. 
• BE RELEVANT – I had to put it in all caps, too many times have I seen domain names that don’t match websites. 

I almost forgot to mention this domain name will be FREE with the included web hosting in Step 3! 

 

Step 3: Choose The Right Hosting Plan ( I Recommend Bluehost) 

Now, this is where all the magic happens. Think of hosting as your land or foundation and your website as your house. Before you can build your house you must have the correct land and foundation, right? Right. Having a good web hosting platform can either make or break your entire website. The web hosting platform determines how fast your website is going to be to how fast it will be set up! I recommend that you choose Bluehost as your web hosting provider. 

Earlier we recommended using WordPress, but why Bluehost? Well, Bluehost is optimized for WordPress, they offer WordPress – centric dashboards and tools as well as a 1 – click installation, a FREE domain name (website name) and much more! Needless to say, you will be backed by legendary 24/7 support. 

Related: Is Bluehost Really As Good As They Say? (Full 2020 Bluehost Review)

How much does web hosting cost?

For a beginner hosting your website on Bluehost is pretty cheap. It starts at just $2.95 per month! (Billed Annually)

If you are new to starting a website all you need is the Shared Hosting Plan. Click HERE to check out the prices and plans. 

What I really like about Bluehost is the fact you have professionals on standby that can walk you through everything from setting up your website to getting your first article published! It’s really that simple! Bluehost was made with the beginner in mind. 

Still, wondering if Bluehost is right for you? Click HERE to check out Bluehost’s website and all their features! 

Related: The Best Web Hosting Platforms of 2020. 

 

Step 4: Build Your Website On WordPress

So we are now cooking with gas! Alright so now you have your plot of land, the next step is to build your house! In other words, you have signed up for a hosting plan with Bluehost and it’s time to set up your website. 

Setting up WordPress through Bluehost is incredibly simple, all it requires is one click! (I’m not joking, that’s all that it takes. Bluehost offers a one-click WordPress Installation. To access this all you have to do is go to My Sites on your Bluehost dashboard. Reference the picture below. 

Note Well: If you bought a domain name when you were signing up the WordPress website will already be THERE! Cool right? 

 

Step 5: Choose A Fantastic Theme 

Your Theme decides on the overall look of your website. WordPress comes equipped with thousands of themes to choose from. For the beginners, there are free themes that can be the perfect start for you. If you want a theme that has a bit more quirks and features then you have the option of going with a paid one! Paid themes can be as cheap as $29 and can get as expensive as $120, it all depends on the features and brand of the theme. 

Once you are inside the WordPress Dashboard in order to add a new theme, go to ‘Appearance’ and then ‘Themes’. You will see an option that says ‘WordPress.org Themes, click that and you will be taken to the Theme Directory where you can search for the theme of your choice. 

Needless to say, you can change the theme of your website whenever you want. There are TONS of options you can choose from. From setting up a blog theme to a restaurant theme to a hotel theme, the possibilities are truly endless. 

You can even use a Page Builder plugin (I talk more about plugins in Step 7) on your website such as Elementor in order to easily edit your pages.

 

Step 6: Getting Your Content Out Into The Big World

The next step is to actually make your website unique by editing it and adding your own images, text, and content. You can either create pages or posts. This all depends on the theme that you choose. Think of pages as your house and your posts as your furniture. 

Pages make up the structure of your website, a good example of a page would be the privacy policy page or the contact us page. Posts are added over time, an example of a post would be each article of your blog. 

Building out either one of these is SUPER simple. It’s as simple as going to Posts and clicking ‘Add New’, the same goes for Pages. From there you are free to edit as you please! In order to add pages to your main menu just go to Appearance and hit Menus. This allows you to choose the order your pages appear! Cool right? 

 

Step 7: Install Critical Plugins

Think of plugins as the plumber who comes and fixes the leaky sink at your house. Plugins are made to improve the overall experience and functionality of your website. There are plugins that help you with everything from SEO to page speed. Anything that you can think of to make your website more efficient I can guarantee that there is a plugin for that. Installing plugins on your website is as simple as 1,2,3. 

To install them just go to the WordPress dashboard and hit ‘Plugins’ and ‘Add new’. Then choose the plugin that you would like to use and hit Install Now. 

Here are some plugins I recommend: 

• Rank Math – This is a plugin that focuses on improving your overall Search Engine Optimization
• Word Fence This is a security plugin that guarantees the safety of your website from hackers! 
• Imagify – This plugin was made to compress images. 

These are just three of the thousands of plugins out there. Test as many as you want until you find the right one that suits your particular needs. 

Pro Tip: Installing too many plugins can reduce the speed of your website. 

 

Step 8: You Are Now Ready To Go! 

Ready. Set. Goooo! You are now 100% ready for the world to meet your website. Now, this is where the work now begins. If your website is on coffee you now have to begin to write blogs on your favorite coffee machine. If your website is for your business you now have to build it out to and begin to add everything regarding your business. 

Maintaining a WordPress website is not the easiest thing to do on planet earth but seeing your idea come to life is one of the most rewarding and satisfying feelings. Your whole website will be built on producing relevant content! So, in a nutshell, you will be constantly working at step 6. 

I know it’s a scary journey, this is something you have never done before! However, success is on the other side of fear, you never know what the future may hold, go out and make it happen! 

Ready to get started? 

Click HERE to check out Bluehost so you can find out the best step in setting out that foundation. 

Related: Is Bluehost Really As Good As They Say? (Full 2020 Bluehost Review)