Ready to make a website? In this step-by-step guide we will talk about all your options, and how you can easily create your website with no coding skills required.
Let’s start from the very basic thing. What is website? In simple terms, a website is a collection of pages placed on a web server and organized typically under the same domain name.
And today we will be talking about the process of building a website.
Generally speaking, there are 2 ways to build a good professional website. The first way is to code it yourself using modern coding languages. Obviously, this way requires plenty of time, efforts, skills and knowledge.
The second way is to use existent site builder, framework, content management system, etc. If you choose this way, your site development will be much easier and more pleasant. And we strongly recommend choosing this way.
Moreover, even you can hire a website developer which can make it super easy and efficient.
Last updated: 28 July 2026. All prices and plan limits were re-checked by hand on that date.
Disclosure: some links in this guide are affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not change what we recommend — we use most of these tools ourselves.
What is in this guide
- Which platform to build on
- What it actually costs in 2026
- Step 1. Choose your domain name
- Step 2. Choose a web hosting provider
- Step 3. Create an account and install WordPress
- Step 4. Choose and install a theme
- Step 5. The plugins you actually need
- Step 6. Customize your site
- Step 7. Add Google Analytics
- Frequently asked questions
Best Content Management Systems & Site Builders
There are multiple content management systems (CMSs) and site builders on the market for modern website. The most popular ones are WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, etc.
Below is the market share of each platform. Gray bar is a share among all sites in the net. And green bar is a share among CMS systems.
As you can see the vast majority of all sites are made with WordPress CMS. And its market share is growing each month.
The reason of such an amazing growth is that this CMS has a very strong community. It develops plenty of free plugins and widgets. Most of WordPress contributors are open to give a hand to beginners.
Moreover, the engine is constantly supported and a user can update it with 1 click. Above all, it was made to be understandable and manageable by both newbie and professional developer.
So, if you want to build a website and not sure which platform to choose, we strongly recommend using WordPress.
Let’s proceed with the specific steps to create your site.
What It Actually Costs to Build a Website in 2026
Before the steps, here is the honest budget. A WordPress site has exactly three unavoidable costs and a long list of optional ones.
| What | Year 1 | After that | Can you skip it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Often free with hosting | $10–$20/yr | No |
| Hosting | $36–$60/yr | $120–$180/yr | No |
| SSL certificate | Free (Let’s Encrypt) | Free | Already included |
| WordPress itself | Free | Free | — |
| Premium theme | $39–$79 one-off | Optional renewal for updates | Yes, free themes exist |
| Premium plugins | $0–$200/yr | Same | Usually yes at the start |
| Email on your domain | Free with most hosts | $0–$72/yr | Yes, but you should not |
So a realistic first year is $40 to $120 all in, and a realistic second year is $130 to $200. The jump is the hosting renewal, which is why we list renewal prices throughout this guide rather than only the headline offer.
If you want the cheapest legitimate start, Hostinger at $2.99/mo with a free domain for the first year gets you live for well under $50. If you would rather have everything in one dashboard, Bluehost at $3.99/mo does the same job with a gentler learning curve.
Step 1. Choose Your Site Domain Name
Domain name is a unique name of your website. Also, it is a web address where internet users can find your site. For example, our domain name is themerex.net. You can find it in a browser search field.
It is crucial to choose a correct domain name. It influences your eCommerce SEO, reputation and brand memorability.
Ecommerce SEO agencies can assist in selecting a domain name that aligns with SEO best practices and enhances your brand’s visibility. With their expertise, they ensure your domain supports search rankings, is memorable for customers, and reflects your brand’s identity effectively.
Here are some general recommendations for picking a domain name.
- Pick a branded name over the general one. In long term prospective it is always better to associate your domain name with your brand rather than using general keywords. For example, if one owns a pizzeria “Sanchos”, it is better to go with something like sanchos.com than pizzeria.com.
- It should be easy to spell & read. Don’t make your domain name too long or too complicated to read/remember. Your customers shouldn’t have any problems typing your site name and access your web page.
- Pick .com over .org or .info. Intuitively web users want to go to .com websites. This extension is much more popular and easy to type, read and remember.
- Avoid numbers, underscores and dashes if it’s possible. Don’t give your customers a chance to make a mistake. Try to use only letters.
- Make sure your domain name is available. There is a chance that the domain name you pick is already used by other site. Therefore, you need to check it first. Luckily, there are plenty of free tools available online.
In fact, this process is not that easy as it seems to be. Therefore, we’ve prepared a step-by-step guide how to choose the domain name correctly.
Step 2. Choose a Web Hosting Provider
Web hosting companies provide a space on their web servers and data centers, where site owners can place their websites. They make sure your site is loading well and constantly accessible through the web.
Also, good hosting providers give convenient tools to facilitate your work over the website. Hence, it’s extremely important to choose a good hoster.
Here are some main qualities of good modern hosting provider.
- Security. You want your site to be in a safe place.
- Speed. Your visitors shouldn’t wait too long while your site is loading.
- Uptime. Hosting company has to make sure your site is always up and running, no matter whether they have any difficulties with their software or hardware.
- Support. In case you have any questions or difficulties, the hoster has to be ready to assist you.
- Services. The company has to be ready to provide you with any kind of web hosting related services, even if you don’t need them right now.
- Price. Nobody wants to pay more, if it is cheaper somewhere else.
We have been in web design and development for over 15 years. We had a chance to work with dozens if not hundreds of different hosting providers. So, here is a short list of the hosts we actually put client sites on. Prices below were checked in July 2026, with the renewal rate next to each one, because that is the number you will really live with:
- Hostinger – from $2.99/mo, renews at $10.99/mo. The cheapest option here that we would still recommend. Best if budget is the deciding factor.
- Bluehost – from $3.99/mo, renews at $9.99/mo. Domain, hosting and email in one dashboard, and still recommended by name on WordPress.org. Best for a first site.
- InMotion Hosting – from $4.79/mo, renews at $14.99/mo. Comes with a 90-day money-back guarantee instead of the usual 30. Best if you are not sure yet.
- SiteGround – from €2.99/mo, renews at €15.99/mo. Staging and Git from the middle tier up. Best if you will run more than one site.
Any of these four will do the job for a new website.
And here is the detailed guide how to choose the best web hosting provider.
Step 3. Create an Account and Install WordPress
So, we already picked our platform (WordPress), chose our site domain name and the web hosting provider. Our personal pick is BlueHost. We have been partners with them for years. As of July 2026 their Starter plan is 60% off at $3.99/mo on a 36-month term (it renews at $9.99/mo), which is the cheapest genuinely good entry point they have offered.
Let’s see how to create an account with this hosting provider.
First, open the current Bluehost offer through our BlueHost Promo-Page.
Then, click on “Get Started Now” button.
On the next screen you can choose a suitable hosting plan, considering main features and prices.
Once the plan is selected, you will be headed to the screen where you can enter the desired domain name.
If you don’t have a domain registered yet, fill in the left field. BlueHost will register it for you. In case the domain name is unavailable, the system will worn you.
However, if you already have a domain name registered, fill in the right field and click “Next”.
Now, you will need to add your Billing information.
Once all the billing information is filled in and the payment processed successfully you will get an access to your BlueHost Account.
Now, let’s install WordPress on your server.
Login to your BlueHost Dashboard and navigate: My Sites -> Create Site.
This will enable the installation wizard. Just follow the steps. First, choose the site name and tagline:
Then choose a domain and optional free plugins:
Make sure to save the access credentials.
Next, click “Go back to My Sites”:
You will find your new site in your BlueHost Dashboard. Click “Log into WordPress”.
For more details and ways to install WordPress make sure to check our post on how to install WordPress correctly.
Great job! You’ve successfully installed your WordPress. Now let’s pick a good Theme for your site.
Step 4. Choose & Install WordPress Theme
WordPress Theme (or some people call it WordPress Template) is a crucial part of your future WordPress site. It defines the look of your website, ensures compatibility with required plugins and provides general site functionality. Therefore, you need to choose a high quality WP Theme.
Here are some qualities that any good WordPress template must have:
- SEO-friendly
- Crossbrowser
- Responsive
- Fast load
- User-friendly
- Gets regular updates
- Has mostly positive customer reviews
Next, think about functionality you would need. For instance, if you are looking for a charity WordPress theme, it has to have donations and events management systems. Or if you build a medical clinic site, it should be equipped with an online booking functionality.
The best places to get high quality WordPress Themes are: ThemeREX WordPress Themes and ThemeForest. Once you have picked a theme, Fontly is a handy place to browse and pair the typography that will sit on top of it.
Here is also a detailed step-by-step guide How to Choose the Best WordPress Theme.
When you chose and downloaded the theme it’s time to install it into your WordPress.
Log in to your WordPress dashboard. Link to your dashboard will look like: DomainName/wp-admin. Let’s imagine your domain name is example.com. Then your dashboard link is: example.com/wp-admin.
Enter your username and password.
Once you are successfully logged in, navigate: Appearance – Themes and click “Add New” button.
On the next screen click “Upload Theme”.
Then, just chose your theme on your PC and click “Install”.
On the next screen click “Activate”.
Some themes have a setup wizard that walks you through the next steps of your site development. For example:
Qwery – Multi-Purpose Business WordPress & WooCommerce Theme + ChatGPT
Rhodos – Business WordPress theme
Gutentype – Blog WordPress Theme
The wizard will help you to install and activate required plugins, upload demo data and start a basic customization process.
However, if you chose the theme without a wizard, here is how you can proceed further manually.
Navigate: Plugins – Installed Plugins and click “Begin Installing Plugins”.
In a new window check all the plugins, choose “Install” in a Bulk Actions dropdown and click “Apply”.
It will take some time for WordPress to install the plugins. The page will be refreshed once the process is completed. You will need to click “Return to Required Plugins Installer”.
Here you will need to check all the plugins, choose “Activate” in a dropdown and click “Apply”.
This process also may take some time. When all required and recommended plugins are installed you can proceed with dummy data installation. Different themes may have different dummy data installation ways. But in most of the cases it’s: Appearance – Install Dummy Data.
Demo content installation requires some time as well, so be patient while it is loading on your server. Usually it takes no longer than 2-4 minutes. Once the import process is finished you will get an exact copy of the theme demo on your site.
Step 5. Must Have WordPress Plugins
Most required plugins will be uploaded by your theme during the theme installation. However, there are some “must have” plugins you need to install, if they were not installed by the theme. Here is the list with the essential free WordPress plugins.
- UpdraftPlus. No matter whether you are a beginner or an experienced WordPress user, your site needs to have a backup. There are can be different situations like your hosting / server may suddenly crash, some of your files / databases may be accidently deleted or moved. UpdraftPlus gives an option to make a full backup of your site. Moreover, it can store a copy on a remote storage. It’s great, especially of your server goes down.
- Yoast SEO. Certainly, you want your site to be seen by Google, Yahoo and be on their 1st pages. Yoast SEO helps you to optimize your metadata and site content in most effective way. This plugin has both free and premium version. But free one is more than enough for the beginning.
- A caching plugin (W3 Total Cache, LiteSpeed Cache or WP Rocket). Good site speed brings plenty of advantages. It positively influences your SEO and provides better user experience for your visitors. Use LiteSpeed Cache if your host runs LiteSpeed servers (Hostinger does), W3 Total Cache if it does not, or WP Rocket if you would rather pay once and not think about it again. Do not install two caching plugins at the same time.
- Contact Form 7. When it comes to building contact forms on your site, the #1 choice is Contact Form 7 WP plugin. It helps to easily create any number of contact forms with any set of fields.
- Wordfence Security. Obviously, safety comes first. The plugin identifies and blocks malicious traffic, suspicious requests, protects from force attacks, scans site files (theme, plugins and core), repairs overwritten files and more. Also, Wordfence Security helps to set two-factor authentication, CAPTCHA, block attackers by IP, Host etc. The plugin has both free and premium versions. But even a free one is still quite powerful.
- Elementor. Elementor is an innovative page builder that has revamped how we build websites. Compared to other website builders that are hard to use and negatively affect website performance, Elementor has allowed users with little to no coding skills to take complete control over their websites and apply the needed changes to their layouts without extra help.
Elementor offers the best visual drag-and-drop editor in the market, allowing you to use ready-made blocks of content to create sections and web pages in the intuitive visual editor and watch the results of your work in real-time. Simply drag and drop the widgets and select pre-built templates, blocks, and pages you wish to be featured on your website. Moreover, Elementor allows you to create custom sections, which you can reuse across your projects.
Certainly, you may not need some of these plugins in your project if you use other plugins with similar functionality.
Let’s see how you can install these free plugins. In your WordPress dashboard navigate: Plugins – Add New.
In a search field of new window type the plugin name and click “Install Now”.
The Installation may take from 30 sec to 1 minute. Once the plugin is installed click “Activate”.
Great job! You’ve installed and activated your plugin and you can start working with it.
Step 6. Customize Your WordPress Site
When you installed your WordPress theme, plugins and imported demo data, you can proceed with a customization.
This stage requires some time and patience. If you want to save your time you can order a professional customization from our Custom Studio Team.
Always start with what the theme offers you. Most of the theme authors provide, what we call, “Theme Panel” or “Theme Options”. It’s a place, where you can control main options of your theme. For example, logo, title, general settings, color schemes, header & footer settings, layout, etc.
Most of our themes have the theme options panel. So, make sure to start your customization from there.
The next step is a WordPress Customizer. You can find a link on the top bar of your screen.
On the left side of your screen you will see available settings.
Go through them one-by-one to see what else you can customize. Sometimes you don’t need these options immediately, but may need in a future.
The next step is managing your site content. If you’ve imported the entire dummy data, go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate: Pages – All pages.
In a new window pick the pages you’d like to delete, in “bulk actions” drop down menu choose “Move to Trash” and click “Apply”.
Do the same with blog posts. Navigate: Posts – All Posts. Then, pick the articles you don’t need and delete them.
If your theme goes with WooCommerce store, you can do the same with the products. Navigate: Products – All Products and delete those you don’t need.
Next step is setting up your site menu. Navigate Appearance – Menus.
Please note, your theme may have multiple menus, so choose the one you need to modify and set which one is your main menu.
You can drag-n-drop menu options to change the structure and hierarchy.
Also, you can add new menu items on the left side of the screen. Choose the item type, check the box and press “add to Menu”.
If you need to create a new page, navigate in your dashboard: Pages – Add New.
If your theme is equipped with WPBakery (previously known as a Visual Composer) on the next screen fill in the page title and click “Frontend Editor”.
Then, you will see a new page with a WPBakery frontend editor enabled.
Click “+” button to see the available shortcodes that you can use on a page.
However, if your theme goes with Elementor Page Builder, navigate: Pages – Add New.
And on a new screen click “Edit with Elementor”.
You will see a new page with the Elementor Dashboard on the left side.
If you want to create a new blog post, navigate: Posts – Add New. And repeat the previously described step depending on the page builder you got.
Here is a good example how to install and customize your WordPress Blog site based on Marcell WordPress Blog Theme.
Another great example of setting up an Agency site based on Eject Creative WordPress Theme.
And one more case for Real Estate Agencies site made with Good Homes WordPress Theme.
Before publishing your pages and posts make sure your content is well optimized by search engines. As it was mentioned, the easiest way to do that is to install Yoast SEO Plugin. It automatically adds it’s panel on every post and page of your site.
You will be able to manage: meta title, meta description, keywords. Also, it helps you to arrange your content properly. It will reveal and highlight any imperfections. Above all, you can manage whether to allow Google to index your pages and set metadata for social media. Additionally, you can get guidance from Light Tableau consultants to analyze any type of data.
A bonus tip regarding optimization of your site is to start implementing link building strategies from the early stage of your website growth, link building is an essential part of your organic growth and it can improve your metrics rapidly and keep them high for a long time.
Also, Yoast SEO has its own menu in your WordPress dashboard.
It’s also strongly recommended to go through the settings and set suitable options and macroses.
Step 7. Add Google Analytics
You are almost done. When you have your content and pages ready, make sure to track your traffic and user behaviour on your site. The best way is to set Google Analytics (GA). If you don’t have an account yet here is the link.
When you register an account with Google Analytics you will create a data stream and get a Measurement ID (it looks like G-XXXXXXXXXX). That is what GA4 uses now instead of the old UA tracking code, and it needs to be present on every page of your site. Most of modern WordPress themes provide easy GA implementation in theme panel. Here is how it is done in Rhodos WordPress theme.
You can add your API Key, Analytics code and Remarketing code.
However, if your theme doesn’t have this option, go ahead and use a free plugin Google Analytics Dashboard.
It is very easy to use: install, activate, and paste in your Measurement ID. Site Kit by Google is a good alternative if you also want Search Console data in the same dashboard.
When your Measurement ID is set on your website, check that it works with your GA account. You will just need to open any of your site pages and see whether your Google analytics shows active users.
If you see yourself there the GA was set successfully.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to build a website?
A simple site with a premium theme and imported demo content can be live in an afternoon. Replacing that demo content with your own words and images is what actually takes time — budget a week of evenings for a five-page business site, and longer if you are also writing the copy.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Everything in this guide is done through dashboards and drag-and-drop editors. Knowing a little CSS is useful for small visual tweaks, but nothing here requires it.
WordPress.com or WordPress.org — what is the difference?
WordPress.org is the free software you install on your own hosting, which is what this guide covers. It gives you full control: any theme, any plugin, any monetisation. WordPress.com is a hosted service built on the same software, but the cheaper tiers restrict plugins and custom themes. If you want to own the site outright, use WordPress.org on your own host.
Which host should I pick if I just want to get started?
Bluehost if you want the simplest path, because domain, hosting and email live in one dashboard and it is still recommended on WordPress.org. Hostinger if the deciding factor is price. InMotion Hosting if you want 90 days to change your mind instead of 30.
Do I need to buy an SSL certificate?
Not for a normal site. Every host in this guide includes a free Let’s Encrypt certificate, which gives you the same padlock and the same encryption as a paid one. Paid certificates only make sense if you are taking payments directly, need a wildcard for many subdomains, or want your verified company name in the certificate.
Free theme or premium theme?
Start free if you are testing an idea. Buy premium once the site matters, because you are paying for ongoing updates, documentation, a demo importer and someone to email when something breaks. A one-off $39–$79 is cheap compared with the hours a poorly built free theme will cost you.
What if I get stuck?
Your host’s live chat handles anything server-side, and your theme author handles anything theme-specific. For everything in between, the WordPress support forums are unusually good. If you would rather hand it over, our Custom Studio team can take it from any stage.
Keep Reading
- How to choose the best domain name in 2026 — naming rules, extensions and real registrar prices with renewal rates.
- Best web hosting for WordPress in 2026 — nine hosts compared on real prices, renewals and money-back terms.
- How to install WordPress quickly and correctly.
- How to choose the best WordPress theme.
- ThemeREX premium WordPress themes.
In order to save your time, you always can order any part of website development from our Custom Web Studio. They can do everything starting with WordPress installation services and ending with turnkey website development. So, you may delegate the job to professionals and concentrate on what you really like to do.
