You can create a website in less than 19 minutes. It’s never been easier for people to get started with building their own website. All you need is an idea and the web design skills of any user – no technical expertise required!
It’s not as complicated as you might think.
The first thing you need is a domain name and web hosting. You can get one from any domain registrar, but it’s best to use one from a company that specializes in domains and web hosting, such as Hostinger.
Next, you need to register for a web hosting account with the company of your choice. This is where your site files will be stored and accessed by visitors to your site. Again, it’s best to go with a company that specializes in hosting and domains like Hostinger and save up to 80% on your web hosting as well as free domain sign-up and SSL certificate.
Whether you want to create a website for business or simply for fun, you don’t need any fancy expensive designer or developer. The steps below will have you up and running in no time!
Compare the Best Web Hosting for WordPress
Create a Website with the Best Web Hosting
Hostinger – Best web hosting overall
Bluehost – Best for new WordPress websites
HostGator – Best for simple websites
GreenGeeks – Best eco-friendly hosting
SiteGround – Best WordPress-certified host for speed and security
DreamHost – Best value for shared hosting
A2 Hosting – Fast and reliable shared hosting
WPEngine – Best managed WordPress hosting
Nexcess – Best for ecommerce hosting
Cloudways – Best managed cloud hosting
InMotion – Best VPS hosting provider
Compare the Best Web Hosting Services
To get your new website up and running as quickly as possible, start out with our quick-start checklist. This will guide you through the whole process in just two simple steps.
Read more: Building a Website for a Small Business
How to Create a Website: Quick-Start Checklist
When you want to set up your own website really quickly? These two steps will help you get your site up and running in 19 minutes or less.
Sign up for Hostinger and take advantage of their great Single Shared Web Hosting plan. Get everything you need for only $1.99 per month! The contract is for four years but it’s a great deal and you get a free domain name, too. Follow the easy steps to create your account and purchase the website hosting plan.
- STARTS AT JUST $1.99 PER MONTH
- BEST DEAL FOR HOSTING
- FREE DOMAIN REGISTRATION
- BEST FOR WORDPRESS SITES
Read on: Hostinger Web Hosting Review
Install WordPress. Hostinger’s intuitive one-click WordPress installation makes it easy to create a great website. You’ll use the CMS to control your site’s look and feel, upload content from anywhere and more.
If you want to create a website for your business, you’ll need to work a bit more. But don’t worry – everything is broken down into specific steps in the rest of this article.
Compare the Best Cheap Web Hosting Services
7 Steps to Create a Website
If you’re feeling like you don’t know where to start, that’s ok! I’ve been in your shoes and I want to walk you through getting started on making a website. That was over 15 years ago and it was still difficult back then to put the pieces together without any technical know-how.
With all the tools and programs that you can use today, creating a website is easy.
Unlike other guides, we’re not going to bore you with a long introduction for this step-by-step guide to website creation – instead, let’s get right into it.
Step 1: Choose the Perfect Domain Name
Choosing a good domain is super important for anyone’s site and can make a huge difference. This kind of branding really says what you want it to say and will be the way some people remember you.
Even though many great domain names are taken, there are still plenty of domains available that work for your needs.
Here are some key tips when brainstorming good domain names:
Avoid hyphens and numbers. This just makes the URL hard to say out loud. Plus it can also make it difficult for people to remember your URL.
Sweet and Short. We recommend a 14 character domain name or shorter. It should be easy to remember, say and type without error.
Easy spell and pronounce. Your domain should be easy to spell and pronounce, so potential visitors won’t have to repeat themselves or ask how it’s spelled.
Use your own name. A good idea is to keep your name in mind when choosing a domain for your website, personal blog, or online portfolio.
Go with .com, .net or .org. While there are plenty of domain name registrar companies out there, it’s best to stay with what has been tried-and-tested. You want to make sure people will be able to remember your domain after all.
Compare the Best Domain Registrars
Think of a few domain names that you could use in the case your preferred choice is taken. With the Hostinger Domain Checker, you can know in a matter of seconds if the .com, .co.uk, .net or any other domain name you want is available.
By typing in your desired domain name, you’ll be able to immediately see if it’s available or not. If it isn’t, Hostinger Domain Checker will offer you some alternatives that are similar to what you are looking for.
When looking for a new domain name, one of the first things to do is brainstorm a list of potential names and start searching for an available domain. Avoid simply taking a domain that is not quite right just because it’s available.
It’s possible to buy a domain that’s already taken, but I don’t recommend it as it’s incredibly expensive. Most domains cost anywhere between a few thousand dollars to six or seven figures.
You may not find the best domain straight away so don’t be discouraged. Keep trying and looking for the best option. The moment you find one that suits your needs, snap it up!
Don’t add the domain to your cart at this time. You can sign up for Hostinger Premium Shared Hosting to get a domain for free and I recommend it.
I’ll give you an overview of the steps involved.
Step 2: Get web Hosting and Free Domain Registration
Websites need two things before they’re ready to go live: A domain name and web hosting.
You just picked an awesome domain name. You deserve to show it off with a good web host.
We highly recommend you host your website with Hostinger. They offer a fast, reliable, and affordable web hosting service. Whether you’re new to the game or a seasoned entrepreneur, Hostinger provides you with everything you need for your website. Their free domain registration is also an added perk.
- STARTS AT JUST $1.99 PER MONTH
- BEST DEAL FOR HOSTING
- FREE DOMAIN REGISTRATION
- BEST FOR WORDPRESS SITES
With Hostinger you can get a powerful website setup that gives you everything you need. It’s only $1.99/month when you use our discount link!
Start by heading over to Hostinger’s website. Once there, click on Claim Deal.
They provide three options for shared hosting, which is the type of web hosting most people choose when creating their website.
Hostinger has three different hosting plans for shared hosting: Single, Premium and Business.
Compare the Best Cloud Hosting Provider
You might want to sign up for Premium plan if you’re not sure and don’t have a domain.
Here’s a comparison of the differences between the host plans. The Single Shared Hosting does not come with a free domain, whereas Premium plan and Business do.
Buying a domain without a hosting plan is like buying an empty house. Sure you’re getting the structure, but what about all the appliances + utilities?
Since most people looking to create a website will need a domain name to go along with hosting, it makes sense that provider offer both of those things bundled into one service.
Once you decide on the plan that best suits your needs, Hostinger will ask you for how long you’d like to sign up. For example, if you choose to sign up at the Premium plan, this is what it would look like:
I decided to go for the 48-month plan because I want to maximize my savings. This means I get more for less and spending less than $100 over four years of hosting.
That’s an amazing price, and best of all you won’t have to pay for any hidden extras like website builders, SSL certificates, email accounts or other features either as Hostinger will provide them all at no extra cost.
Once you select how much time you want your hosting package to last, finish filling in the rest of the details on the page.
Sign up for an account with Hostinger so you can take advantage of all the great services we offer. Either use your email address to register, or sign up through your current Google, Facebook, or GitHub account. We’ll be in touch with you either way and will help you get started!
Select payment. Hostinger accepts a variety of online payment gateways and all major credit cards, such as GooglePay, PayPal, and more.
Click “Submit Secure Payment”. Once you’ve paid, you’ll receive a full 30-day to try Hostinger with best resources and features. If you’re not happy, cancel within the first month for a full refund.
After your payment goes through and you confirm your email address, it will only take a few clicks to begin setting up the site.
Claim Your Free Domain
You will receive an email with instructions on how to login. Follow the instructions to access your Hostinger account.
Once you log in, the system will ask you a series of simple questions about the website your are trying to create.
The entire set up takes a maximum of a few minutes and it’d be hard to go wrong.
To make things easier, you can claim your domain for free as long as you signed up with Premium or Business Shared Hosting.
You can also buy and register additional domains at this time. The process for registering new domains is very easy.
When you select a free domain from the list, you should pay attention to the renewal pricing. However, you should watch out for renewal costs. Renewals are typically at a higher price than their initial year of free registration, but that’s not uncommon among hosting providers generally speaking.
The renewal price is more expensive than the starting price in the top example. However, this seems to be an exception and not a trend. The bottom example is much more within the normal range of domain name renewals.
Step 3: Install WordPress with One-Click
There are not just one type of website builder out there but rather many options to choose from. I recommend using WordPress because it has everything you need and is very simple to use.
Hostinger can offer you a wider range of CMS, but if you don’t have a specific reason to choose anything else, WordPress is the smartest and safest option for your workflow.
Create a WordPress account with strong, unique password and choose from dozens of different website layouts. These are called themes for your site, which will change things like how the menus work and what type of images you can use.
In order to get started, you’ll need to make a decision- which theme should you start experimenting with? We’ll go into how customizing your site will work in future steps.
For now, just confirm everything is correct:
Double check this and make sure that you are comfortable with how Hostinger has placed your website. You can edit it if for whatever reason it’s not in the location you want by clicking the pencil icon.
Once you have completed your setup, all that is left to do is click Finish Setup. This will only take a few short minutes to finish.
You’ve now officially joined the ranks of internet pioneers and helped shape the online world as we know it today.
Great! WordPress is one of the most popular platforms for blogging and website creation. We’ll be diving into it now.
How to Access WordPress in Hostinger Dashboard
Hostinger is well known for their very friendly website control panel, which is called hPanel. This can be a great starting point for new site managers, who may not have much experience with website control panels.
And if you need any help, Hostinger has a ton of documentation to help you get started and how to use hPanel.
WordPress is used to build websites. You are prompted to use it when creating a new site. If you don’t catch a prompt or simply decide to bypass it, you can always log into WordPress via the left-side panel in the dashboard.
Now that you’ve created your WordPress account, it’s time to start customizing your new website! Just enter the password you created in this step of this tutorial and click Log in. You’ll be on the home screen of your WordPress dashboard and ready to go!
Step 4: Choose a WordPress Theme
You’ve chosen a new WordPress theme to build your website- if you’re pleased with how it looks and functions, great!
If you’re looking for something different to explore, it might be worth exploring WordPress.org’s many themes – there are over tens of thousands on there! A lot of them are free, but if you want more control over the design and features, then some will require a small fee.
This might seem like a daunting task, but don’t worry about getting this exact from the first time. It’s much more likely that you’ll need to make minor changes later. The important thing here is to aim for a well-considered iteration that improves on what you already have and furthers your design intentions.
The most important thing you can do is choose a basic theme and stick with it. You can always change your theme later.
Go to your WordPress website’s administration panel. You can do this by navigating to ‘Hostinger hPanel dashboard’. Alternatively, type [ yoursite/wp-admin ] into your web browser of choice and enter the username and password you created in the previous step.
Once you’re logged into your admin dashboard, head over to the sidebar and click Appearance>Themes>Add New Theme.
You can now choose from any of WordPress’s available content library themes. They can be used for any website with ease.
For this article, we’ll be using the free Astra theme. With Astra, you have the freedom to make your site into whatever it needs to be. A blog? Done. An eCommerce store? Done. Whatever else? Sure! And it’s lightweight and free too.
For example this website is running with the Astra and we are lucky for such a great performance due to Astra theme. Astra, one of the most popular WordPress themes out there, is much faster and offers a host of UI and design improvements. It’s used by more than 2 million websites!
Astra is a popular WordPress theme that has an impressive five star rating on the WordPress theme website. The theme comes with schema.org structured data code which is good for SEO out of the box.
Astra is compatible with most popular page builders like PageLines, Elementor, Beaver Builder, Divi, Visual Composer and SiteOrigin. It also integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce for e-commerce projects.
Search for the Astra theme using the search bar and install it by clicking on “Install“.
Once the installation has completed, click “Activate” to apply the theme onto your website.
You can now personalize the Astra theme by clicking on the “Customize” button.
Now, you have full control over what your website looks like. You can change everything from the color and graphics to the font and the overall layout.
Once you click on customize, you’ll be able to see your website as it changes as well as left-hand sidebar with different customization options.
Each theme has different options, but many are available across multiple themes. We’re going to explore each option in more detail-explaining what it does and whether or not it will be necessary.
Site Identity. Important. This will allow you to change the site’s title, head tagline, and site icon. This image is what people see when they open a new tab while visiting your website.
Menus. Very important. The menu lists all of the pages on your site and makes it easy to navigate. You can also choose where it appears (top, footer or sidebar).
Widgets. Optional. These are a few options you have at your disposal if you’d like to, such as (search bar, archives or calendar). These are completely optional but they can be helpful depending on how the site turns out to be.
Global color. Optional. Change your website’s color palette. The Astra theme offers global color options to help you maintain a cohesive color scheme on your site. These colors are applied to various sections of the website.
Typography. Important. This is where you can customize all things font related. Change the size and font type and choose where they’ll show up on your website pages.
Homepage Settings. Optional. Do you want your homepage to be static, or to automatically show the latest blog posts? This is optional and will depend on what kind of website you have.
Additional CSS. Optional. This is where you can add in more customization options using CSS code. You’ll want to make sure you have enough knowledge and the right resources to change your website without running into any troubles.
Header. Important. The header area of your website should be yours to customize. Add your site logo or images, change the font and colors, or whatever you choose to make it stand out from the crowd.
Blog. Optional. This allows you to customize your blog layout, including how it appears on post pages.
Sidebar. Optional. Readers can get around your website with the top navigation bar, but you can add a sidebar to make it easier for them. The sidebar is totally optional and only adds one more menu on the page.
Footer bar. Optional. This is the footer of the website, which contains a copyright, contact information and other content. It might be important if you’re running a business.
Footer widgets. Optional. Edit footer, add tools (customize).
Now, you can customize your website to be as good as it’s going to get. Once you’re finished, just click publish & roll with it. Your website will automatically update to reflect your changes!
A website is not complete until you’ve added content. Pages like “About Us” and “Contact Us” need to be created before your site will begin looking inviting.
Step 5: Plan and Build Your Website Structure
It’s not always easy to look at a recipe and decide to just go for it without knowing what you’re doing. The same applies when you create a website from scratch. Improvising is rarely the go-to solution here.
Before setting up your website, you will need to plan how it will be structured and what content will go into each part. This process of planning also helps you to figure out which sections you need and to create a feel for the design of the website.
A good idea to start with is by creating a mind map with all the different features you want to include for your website. Items which seem like navigation points are made into links on the navigation bar and other points of interest will be served from within.
Tips for planning your website:
Use a physical pen and paper to write down everything you want on the website. Brainstorming and mind mapping can be a helpful way to organise your thoughts.
When you look at other sites, take note of what design features you love as well as which features may not work for your own site.
Once you have a rough draft of what you want on your website, ask other people what they think. You’ll get feedback that can be interesting to know and will be helpful.
Plan out and create a list with all the pages your website will have, making sure to detail what exactly the page will have. Note down the title, what kind of content you’ll have, keywords, the purpose, the kind of page and their importance.
If you want your content to be found by search engines, then you need to start thinking about keywords. This will help you tell what most relevant themes should be for each page on your site.
Keep in mind that navigation menus are an essential part of your website, since they allow your visitors to easily navigate between pages.
Hold on to your emotions and learn to translate them into inspiring content. Make sure everything is organized logically, using common terms such as “About,” “Contact” or “Services.”
Sometimes, being too abstract can lead to confusion – for example, I have seen a site where Who, How, and What were all used to signify the three aforementioned items. That might not make the most intuitive sense when you consider it.
Examples of pages that could be important for your business website:
An “about” page on the company and its history
A page to present products or services
A contact page
A blog with useful articles
A calendar of events
A FAQ page
Step 6: Create Content and Start Publishing
For this step, we’ll be using the free Elementor plugin. With Elementor, you have the freedom to create content and start publishing without having to worry about all the technical aspects of a website. It’s also completely free!
Elementor is a drag-and-drop website builder that allows you to create a beautiful, responsive website in minutes. It’s perfect for bloggers and small business owners who want to spend less time on design and more time on creating content. We use Elementor and the Astra theme to create all of our website pages and blog posts.
How to Create a Website with Elementor?
Elementor is a drag-and-drop page builder for WordPress. It’s been designed to make your website creation process as visually appealing and functional as possible.
This WordPress plugin does it all. It lets you get to know your website design through customizing every aspect of how it looks. You can change font, background images and other elements with just a few clicks.
Elementor’s Free plan includes all the features you need to create a perfect site user experience including their drag-and-drop editor that lets you easily design your site without touching any code. With over 40 prebuilt widgets and 30 templates, the free plan has everything you need to make an exceptional website.
How to Install Elementor
From your dashboard, click Plugins > Add New. In the search field, enter “Elementor” to find Elementor Website Builder.
Click “Install Now”. After installation, click “Activate”.
One of the things you will notice about Elementor is that a sidebar menu for it automatically appears on the left side of your page. However, keep in mind that this menu isn’t meant to be used to edit pages in your website, even if it looks like it.
With Elementor, designing your new website becomes a seamless, intuitive process. Live editing lets you see the impact each element has on your design as you add it. Let’s explore how to use the Elementor editor.
How to Build Your First Page in Elementor
Elementor keeps things intuitive. You’ll understand and be able to use the editor in just a few minutes.
To get started, create a new page or post and click Edit with Elementor.
You are now in Elementor’s page editor. Below is an example of what your page may look like.
Elementor is surprisingly intuitive and accessible, empowering anyone to design online with ease. You can start by designing your first page of content and will find that no coding skills are required to build functional layouts with the drag-and-drop interface.
Add content
After we define the style with Elementor, we’re finally ready to add content to our brand-new website.
Speak the language of your visitors
Focus on your potential visitors by ensuring they are front and center in your content strategy.
To stay competitive, you need to speak a language that is understandable to your visitors. They are busy and are not going to read through long paragraphs of jargon that make no sense. Be clear and concise with your written word so people will be happy with your content.
Optimizing and structuring your content
Some factors that distinguish a website from a paper or a letter: we’re less formal and more to the point. The goal is to help visitors find what they need.
Things you should do:
Break up your content into sections with titles and subtitles. Your visitors are looking for something to scan and skimmed the content, so it’s important you facilitate this.
Try using short sentences with line breaks to make it easier to read.
To save time, use bulleted lists. They work just like this one!
Effective fonts: limit your use of different fonts to no more than two or three, which are easy to read on a screen.
Be proud of your website as you are the author. Use photos whenever it is appropriate and clearly show who you are. Reveal your qualifications when necessary.
Things you should avoid:
Using complicated words to try and sound smart just pushes potential visitors away. Keep your writing clear so they don’t get discouraged by the length of your writing.
Be sure to include various CTA’s (call to actions) on your website. You want your visitors or customers to be able to easily see the ways they can contact or interact with you, so make sure they’re visible and available on every page.
Start publishing
Once you’re done creating menus, and setting up your pages with your own unique, professional design, just publish your website! Add content in a variety of formats including blog posts, social media posts, articles and more.
Congratulations on creating your first website. With a little practice, you’ll be building websites in no time!
It’s underwhelming right now, but that’s because you haven’t gone about branding your website or adding in any content yet! You should make sure to add a blog and page layout soon after it goes live.
Now it’s your turn to make your website live with valuable content and published on time. Follow these easy steps as shown at the beginning of this guide and see your business grow.
Step 7: Promote Your Website
If your website is already up and running, you have the opportunity to reach a wider audience and further improve the user experience.
It’s important to increase visitor traffic so that you can learn how best to engage with your meeting seekers, ask your patients for feedback, or get more business referrals. Many even believe that SEO is worth its weight in gold these days since it’s an essential part of any digital marketing strategy.
Websites are dynamic, information-focused spaces that are updated regularly. If a website’s content is outdated, it should be updated to make sure it stays on pace with current technology and consumers. Be sure to create new and relevant content when you have the chance and to never neglect updating your website.
Marketing online can be challenging, but that doesn’t mean it is hard to do. Optimizing your website for search engines means one more thing you need to do and that is work. Your website’s SEO can be optimized in no time with just a little bit of effort and for the most profitable result, you should put some time into it as well.
Measuring website traffic is important because this provides you with information on whether your online efforts are working or aren’t. Google Analytics is among the most popular (and free!) web analytics tools.
Once you publish your website, you should register with Google Search Console to notify Google that your page exists and get information. From there, you can access information including how many different pages link to yours and any problems or errors search engines may be experiencing.
Email marketing is another important practice for businesses to implement. It’s often used to maintain contact with visitors, which can be useful for small business owners, online stores and bloggers.
Social media has been around for a while now, which is good for your business’s marketing efforts. Building a social media profile (e.g. YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) can help your company connect with potential customers and increase the chances of converting them into leads or customers.
You Just Build Your First Website!
When it comes to making your own website, there is a lot to consider. But don’t be discouraged! This guide has compiled some of the most popular tools that you can use in order to successfully get your website up and running. Maybe this will help encourage you and make that big jump into entrepreneurship!
- STARTS AT JUST $1.99 PER MONTH
- BEST DEAL FOR HOSTING
- FREE DOMAIN REGISTRATION
- BEST FOR WORDPRESS SITES
Congratulations on creating your first website! It kicks butt and you should feel really proud.
Now that you have installed WordPress and signed up with Hostinger, there are a few things left to do. You’ve just entered the beginning stages of your journey to success by creating a website.
You’ll still need to monitor your site closely and make regular adjustments to ensure it meets the needs of your followers. If you want to get more visitors to your website and make some extra cash, check out these useful resources on monetizing your website:
We hope this guide is useful for you. These guides are all beginner-friendly, so we hope you can get the hang of it quickly and have fun!
Read on: What Is a Name Server?
How to Build a Website in Summary…
Now you can get familiar with the WordPress interface and learn how it works. You’ll be able to use the Elementor: #1 Free WordPress Website Builder in your Page and Post creation activities so that you can add content and make your site interactive.
How to Build a Website: Checklist
To find the right content quickly, feel free to use these links to jump around the article.
Required Tools:
Things Needed?
7 Steps to Build a Website
How to Create a Website: FAQ
How can I build my own website for free?
If you're looking for a website to build yourself, there are several ways you can do it for free. You can use a free website builder like Wix or Weebly. You can also use a free website hosting service like 000Webhost or Infinityfree. Finally, you could use Google Sites to build your own site and then host it on Google Drive.
To build your own website for free, you can use wordpress.com or wix.com. These are two of the most popular website building platforms and they are both free!
WordPress: WordPress is a popular platform for building websites that use content management systems (CMS). It's a great place to start if you want to build a website for your company or personal blog.
Wix.com: Wix is another popular platform that has been around since 2006 and has over 20 million users worldwide. It offers several features like drag-and-drop interface, social media integration, and mobile app support, which makes it easy to create websites with ease.
Can I create a website without knowing how to code?
With the rise of content marketing, many people are looking for ways to build their own website for free. There are a lot of ways to do this, but not all of them are easy.
The best way to start your own website is by using a WordPress theme and building your site on it. You can then add content that you want and customize it for your needs.
WordPress - a blogging tool that is easy to use and has a huge community of users. It makes it easy for everyone to create their own blog without any coding knowledge required. You'll also be able to collaborate with others who have blogs on the same platform as well as share content across multiple websites using the WordPress plugin system.
Drupal - an open source content management system that is used by many websites including The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Washington Post. It allows users to manage content with ease and offers a wide range of features like custom themes, widgets, modules, and more.
Squarespace or Wix.com - This platforms offers an easy-to-use interface and also has a lot of templates that can be used to create your own website without much work on your end.
Should I use a website builder or hire a web developer?
This is a question that many people ask themselves when they've decided to build their own website.
It is hard to decide whether to hire a web developer or use a website builder. If you have the time and budget for it, hiring a web developer is the best way to go. But if you are busy and tight on budget, using a website builder like Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress is your best bet.
Hiring a Web Developer:
Web developers know how important it is for websites to be mobile-friendly and SEO-optimized. They also know how important it is to have good design. They can help you with designing your website in addition to building it.
Website builders:
Website builders like Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress are great options if you don't want the hassle of hiring an expert web designer but still want professional design work done on your site.
What is the difference between a CMS and a website builder?
A website builder is a tool that allows you to build a website without the need for coding. With a CMS, on the other hand, you are required to have some coding skills.
With Wix.com website builder, it is easy to create and publish your own websites. You can also choose from different templates that are already pre-designed for specific purposes such as corporate or personal sites.
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that allows users to manage their websites and blogs with ease. It has an extensive library of themes and plugins that users can use for their websites and blogs.
Why is SEO important for my business website?
SEO is an important aspect of any business website. That's why it's important to make sure that your site is optimized for search engines.
An effective way to optimize your business website for search engines is to use a content management system (CMS) and have a keyword-rich, well-structured website with natural language text.
SEO helps increase the visibility of your website on search engines such as Google and Bing, which in turn leads to increased traffic and revenue for your business.
