Creating a WordPress site is three purchases and five screens: register a domain, buy hosting that meets the requirements, run the installer, complete the setup wizard, and change two settings. Forty minutes if you already own a domain, an afternoon if you are choosing one.
This guide is the whole sequence in order, with the parts that actually trip people up — the PHP version nobody checks, the search-engine checkbox everyone forgets, and the permalink setting that has to be changed before you publish anything.
What you need before you start
WordPress itself is free. What you pay for is a domain and hosting. Beyond that, the only real requirement is that your host runs a modern stack:
| Requirement | Recommended | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| PHP | 8.3 or greater | WordPress still runs on PHP 7.4+, but that branch is end-of-life and a security liability |
| Database | MariaDB 10.11+ or MySQL 8.0+ | MySQL 5.5.5+ technically works, also end-of-life |
| HTTPS | Required | A free certificate is standard on every decent host; check before you buy |
| Server | Apache or Nginx | Any server with PHP and MySQL works, these two are the best supported |
These are the current official requirements, not folklore. If a host cannot tell you its PHP version, that is your answer about the host.
Step 1: choose hosting
For a first site, shared or managed WordPress hosting is right — not a VPS. What to look for:
- PHP 8.3+ and MySQL 8 / MariaDB 10.11, selectable in the control panel, because you will need to bump it when WordPress raises the floor.
- Free SSL with auto-renewal, and forced HTTPS.
- Daily backups, restorable by you without opening a ticket.
- One-click WordPress install, or SSH access so you can use WP-CLI.
- Staging if you plan to change anything after launch — it is the difference between testing an update and gambling on one.
Budget realistically: promotional pricing of $2–3/month is normal on a multi-year term, and renewals of $9–12/month are equally normal. The renewal price, not the promo, is what the site costs. Our full cost breakdown has the line items if you want them in one place.
Step 2: register the domain
Buy the domain from a registrar or from your host — either works, and keeping them with the host is simpler for a first site even if it is slightly less portable. Two rules:
- Prefer a .com if it is available. It is still what people type by default.
- Do not buy a domain whose name you may outgrow. Renaming later means redirects and lost links.
Expect $10–30/year. Enable auto-renew and WHOIS privacy on day one.
Step 3: install WordPress
Three routes, all legitimate:
The one-click installer. In your host’s panel (hPanel, cPanel, Plesk) there is a WordPress icon. Pick the domain, leave the directory empty for a root install, and let it create the database. This is what most people should do.
The manual install. The classic five-minute install: download WordPress, create an empty database and a database user, copy wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php and fill in the credentials, upload the files to the web root, then visit your domain and run the installer.
WP-CLI, if you have SSH — the fastest and the most repeatable:
wp core download
wp config create --dbname=site --dbuser=site \
--dbpass=secret --dbhost=localhost
wp db create
wp core install --url=https://example.com \
--title="My Site" --admin_user=jane \
--admin_password="a-strong-one" \
--admin_email=jane@example.comStep 4: the setup wizard
Five fields, and two of them are easy to get wrong:
| Field | What to enter | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Site title | The real business or project name | It appears in the browser tab, search results and email notifications; changeable later |
| Username | Anything except “admin” | “admin” is the first guess in credential-stuffing attacks; usernames cannot be changed from the dashboard |
| Password | Generated, stored in a password manager | This account can install code on your server |
| An inbox you actually read | Every password reset and security notice goes here | |
| Search engine visibility | Tick “Discourage search engines” unless launching today | Keeps a half-built site out of Google — but you must untick it at launch |
That last checkbox is the most-forgotten setting in WordPress. It lives in Settings → Reading as Discourage search engines from indexing this site, and sites sit invisible for months because nobody remembered to turn it off.
Step 5: change permalinks before you write anything
Go to Settings → Permalinks and select Post name. Doing it now costs nothing. Doing it after publishing means every old URL 404s and you owe the internet a stack of redirects.
While you are in Settings: set the timezone, the site tagline, and your preferred date format. Five minutes here saves confusion later when scheduled posts publish at odd hours.
Step 6: install a theme
Appearance → Themes → Add New. Pick something maintained within the last six months, with a layout close to what you want. A theme is a starting point, not a personality — but switching themes later means redoing menus and widgets, so choose with next year in mind, not next week.
Build with the block editor or a page builder rather than editing theme files. Anything you edit inside a theme is lost on the next update.
Step 7: install the plugins you actually need
Four categories matter on day one: security, backups, SEO and caching. That is it. Every additional plugin is code someone else maintains on your server, and abandoned plugins are a leading cause of hacked sites.
If you have not installed a plugin before, our walkthrough of installing WordPress plugins covers the safe order of operations, and accessing plugins covers what to do when the menu is missing.
Step 8: create pages and a menu
Write the three pages every site needs — Home, About, Contact — then Settings → Reading → Your homepage displays → A static page and select Home. That one dropdown is why so many new sites show a blog post list on their front page.
Then Appearance → Menus: create a menu, add the pages, assign it to the primary location. A theme with no menu assigned often renders nothing at all in the header, which looks like a broken site.
Step 9: add members and users, if the site needs them
If other people will log in — staff, clients, customers — add them now while you are still in setup, with the lowest role that works. Adding members to WordPress covers the roles and the self-registration setting, including why leaving open registration on is usually a mistake.
Step 10: secure it, then go live
- Confirm HTTPS loads with a padlock and that
http://redirects tohttps://. - Install a security plugin and enable two-factor authentication on the admin account.
- Confirm the backup plugin has produced one restorable backup — not just “configured”.
- Untick Discourage search engines from indexing this site in Settings → Reading.
- Submit the sitemap in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
Then leave it alone for a week and see what breaks. Most first-week problems are email delivery, not design.
If you just want to practise first
You do not need hosting to learn WordPress. Local (by WP Engine) and DevKinsta both run a full WordPress install on your own machine in a few clicks, with a throwaway domain. Build the site locally, then migrate. It is the cheapest way to make your mistakes.
Common mistakes at this stage
| Mistake | Cost | Avoid it by |
|---|---|---|
| Leaving “Discourage search engines” ticked | Months of zero traffic | Check Settings → Reading the day you launch |
Default permalinks (?p=123) |
Ugly URLs, weak SEO, redirect debt | Set Post name before publishing |
| Admin username “admin” | Constant brute-force attempts | Pick a non-obvious username at install |
| Editing theme files directly | Changes wiped by the next update | Child theme or custom CSS only |
| No backup before launch | One bad plugin from zero | Verify a restore, not just a schedule |
| Site built, never maintained | Compromise discovered months later | Updates tested, weekly scans, real backups |
The build is the easy part. Keeping the site fast, patched and backed up is the part that decides whether it still works in two years — which is what our WordPress maintenance plans exist for, from $99 a month, with staging on the Advanced tier so updates are tested before they touch the live site.
FAQ
How much does it cost to create a WordPress site?
Roughly $46–100 in the first year for a DIY site on shared hosting with a domain, assuming free themes and plugins. A professionally built site is a different number entirely — $3,000–7,500 for a defined scope is typical.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. You need to be comfortable with a hosting control panel and willing to read settings carefully. Coding becomes useful when you want something a plugin does not already do.
WordPress.com or WordPress.org?
WordPress.org is the software you install on your own hosting, with full control and no platform fees. WordPress.com is a hosted service with tiers, and the free tier restricts plugins and monetisation. This guide assumes the self-hosted version.
Can I build it locally and move it later?
Yes. Local and DevKinsta both give you a working install on your laptop, and migration plugins move the finished site to hosting in one step.
How long does it take to be indexed by Google?
Days to weeks for a new domain, and Search Console is how you find out rather than guessing. Submitting the sitemap helps; backlinks help more.
Once the site exists, two things come up almost immediately: picking tools that speed the build up, and changing a page link without breaking the URL that is already indexed.
If you would rather hire than build, what a website developer does and what the build costs are the two pages to read before you ask for quotes.
If the two bills on your first invoice confused you, the difference between registrars, nameservers and hosting is explained in domains and hosting. Once the install finishes, the next steps are in just installed WordPress, now what.
Not sure whether you want a site you host yourself or one somebody else runs? The two products share a name and almost nothing else — see WordPress.com versus WordPress.org.
If the site you are building is a blog rather than a business site, the settings order changes: permalinks and categories matter more than product pages. Our DIY guide to creating a blog on WordPress walks through that setup step by step.