Create a Website For Free in Five Easy Steps

These days, developing a website for any purpose has become a cup of tea. And the reason is the content management system (CMS) like WordPress.

WordPress is easy (free) to install, expand, and update. Plenty of plugins & in-built templates help to get a flexible and simple interface. As a result, it minimizes development costs & implementation time.

So, all you just need to do is, prepare a strategic plan, and execute it in the right way.

However, if you’ve made up your mind & looking to create a website for free with WordPress, then this post could be very handy for you. Because we’ll walk you through a simple DIY (Do It Yourself) process of creating a WordPress site in just 5 easy steps.

But before we begin, let’s answer this question.

Why WordPress?

WordPress is now empowering almost 40% of the world’s website W3Techs

There are several reasons you can find out why WordPress is actually beneficial for you.

However, for your convenience, let’s shortly get a glimpse of the following things in regards to WordPress & why it is the top choice for everyone.

• WordPress the most popular CMS (Content Management System) in the world
• 100% open source with easy expansion ability
• Highly customizable for great flexibility
• Super easy to customize with themes & plugins
• Totally SEO friendly
• Manage everything from one dashboard
• Safe & secured

So its time to demonstrate the process of creating a full-fledged WordPress site step by step. For that, you would need to have patience and carefully follow all the below instructions.

So let’s get started:-

However, if you want to get a quick glance of the whole process then here are the steps for you:-

Table of content:-

1. Choose a Domain Name & Hosting plan
2. Download & Install WordPress (Free)
3. Customize General Settings
4. Download a Theme
5. Create Essential Web Pages

Choose a Domain Name & Hosting Plan

The first and foremost step before creating a WordPress site is to choose a catchy & unique domain name. Actually, your domain name, or more commonly know as Website name holds your brand identity and it normally stays unchanged. So be careful while you choose it.

To help out in that case, you can follow the below tips while choosing a domain name for your website.

• Try to keep it easy to remember & proclaim
• Keep the name short & precise (For example, ourtechideas.com)
• Make sure that it doesn’t contain any hyphens or numbers

Well, let’s shortly check out below some top domain name service providers that you can choose:-

1. Domain.com
2. Bluehost
3. GoDaddy Domains
4. Namecheap

Let’s say you want to buy a domain name from ‘Domain.com‘.

Navigate to the domain search area. And type your desired name here. And if you want to proceed with this name, just click on the add to cart and complete the purchasing criteria.

Purchasing a Hosting Plan

Web hosting is the place where all the files of your website live. It is like the home of your website where it actually lives

Your next important task is to purchase a hosting plan. Well, you can find different web hosting services in the market which are really fantastic; you can pick the suitable one for your website.

Here are some top managed WordPress hosting service providers that you can choose from:-

• Bluehost:- It’s an official partner of WordPress itself. They provide sophisticated web management tools, regular automatic updates, and support from its professional expert support team.
• WP Engine:- WP Engine is a renowned & oldest ‘managed hosting‘ provider for WordPress. It provides shared, dedicated, or cloud-based hosting services with high security.
• Hostgator:- It is one of the cost-effective yet powerful managed ‘hosting providers’ for WordPress. It offers unlimited email addresses, fast & secured, and cost-effective hosting plans.
• Cloudways:- Cloudways hosting is piled with the latest technology allowing the newest PHP versions, MYSQL as a database, and more
• Kinsta:- Suitable for users who want to keep an easy option for their site. Some of its packages are quite high. But if you want a user-friendly & powerful ‘managed hosting’ for your site, then Kinsta is probably the wise option for you to use.

Download and install WordPress in a few steps

Follow the below steps for successfully download and install WordPress:

• Download WordPress .Zip file
• Create a WordPress database and user
• Configure WP-config.php
• With the help of an FTP, upload your WordPress files
• Execute the WordPress installer

Download WordPress .zip File

To begin with, you will need to download WordPress itself. This step will be simple for those who regularly utilize the internet. Navigate to the Download WordPress page and click on the blue button available on the right side.

Save the .zip file to your computer, double click the zip to get files in it.

Build a WordPress Database and User

Now, you are required to decide if you need to make a WordPress database and user. If your host does it for you then you won’t need to do this.

In case you manually want to make a database and user, it is additionally crucial to know what web hosting control panel you are using. The only options are either cPanel or Plesk.

Set Up wp-config.php

The third step is to locate a core WordPress file -wp-config.php for WordPress to be connected to your database.

You need to configure the wp-config.php file. But before that make sure had a backup of that file.

Open the file in your text editor and search the below line:

// ** MySQL settings – This info can be obtained your web host ** //.

Below, you’ll see a list of settings:

Don’t alter the DB_CHARSET and DB_COLLATE options. Simply customize the following, with the credentials generated in step two:

DB_NAME — The name of your database
DB_USER — Your Username
DB_PASSWORD — Your Password
DB_HOST — Your Hostname (generally localhost)

Then, look for the * Authentication Unique Keys and Salts section:

Here, just create a collection of secret keys and paste them in. These keys will defend and strengthen your WordPress installation. Once finished, save your modifications and get ready to upload the files.

Upload WordPress files through FTP

Access the FTP credentials located in your hosting panel. Next, open FileZilla, log in to your server, and go to the root directory in right panel. It is generally called public_html or www.

In the left panel, go to your computer’s WordPress folder. Depending on whether you are uploading it to your root directory or a subdirectory, follow the below steps:

• Root directory: Upload the files, evade the WordPress folder, straight into the root directory.
• Subdirectory: Rename the WordPress folder to an unusual name, and later upload the folder and its contents to your server.

On completion of this, everything is finished apart from the actual installation.

Run the WordPress Installer

In the last step, you need to execute the WordPress installer. Open your favored browser, and follow one of the following steps depending on where you installed WordPress:

• Root directory — Visit http://example.com/wp- admin/install.php.
• Subdirectory — Navigate to http://example.com/blogname/wp- admin/install.php, where “blog name” indicates your folder name from the previous step.

You will view the WordPress logo and a screen with settings that may differ based on your host:

Various choices here can be modified later from your General Settings screen. But, make sure you take note of your username and password. Lastly, click Install WordPress. On completion, you can log into your brand new site.

Conclusion

I hope you might have understood the process to download and install WordPress.  Hurrah! You just have learned how to install WordPress manually. Now enjoy your newly launched website on your localhost!?