Today I bring you a very special guide. This is a complete WordPress Tutorial updated to date 2019 that will allow you to create your own website even if you have never used WordPress before. And best of all, you don’t need prior knowledge.
You will learn to install WordPress in your web hosting or hosting service, to upload and configure a template, to design the sections of your website, to create entries in your blog, to create your personalized menu and much more.
And as this WordPress manual is aimed at beginners, I have included several video tutorials in which I explain step by step every detail in video format. Learning WordPress step by step has never been so easy!
Are we starting to create your website? Come on!
What is it and why use WordPress?
WordPress is a free tool that allows you to create all kinds of websites, from corporate websites for companies, online stores with payment gateways, thematic blogs, personal brand websites for entrepreneurs and freelancers, etc.
At present, it has become the most popular platform and, today, approximately one-third of the world’s web pages have been created with WordPress. But do you know why it is the preferred option for many to create your blog or personal website?
- It is simple to use. Making a website with WordPress is very easy. Anyone can create their own website by following WordPress guides and tutorials like this one.
- It is flexible and allows you to create all kinds of websites.
- It is optimized for SEO. It will allow you to position your content, services and products on Google easily with the help of plugins like Yoast SEO.
- There are thousands of templates on which you can base your design to streamline and facilitate the web design task.
- It is a quick tool . Web pages created with WordPress are fast, do not take long to load and get very good scores in the Google PageSpeed test .
- Secure pages. If you choose a good hosting, your website will be out of reach of hackers. In this WordPress tutorial, I will show you what are the best hosting for your website to be secure.
- There is a lot of information on the internet. Because WordPress is the most used tool for creating web pages in the world, there are many WordPress guides step by step like this to help you.
Now that you know the benefits of this platform, let’s get to work and I will teach you how to use this tool step by step.
I have divided this WordPress manually in Spanish into several sections and steps so you can easily create your own website with me. Anyway, if you have doubts about any of the points, you can write to me in the comments and I will be happy to help you.
Step 1: Choose a hosting and domain
So you can create a web page or blog, the first thing you need is a web hosting service, also called hosting. This is where you will host your website so that it is visible worldwide.
You have to keep in mind that hosting is the basis of your website, so if you choose poorly, this will lead to many headaches and occasional disgust.
Imagine that after several weeks of hard work creating your website, it suddenly stops working and you don’t know why. If you have good hosting, in a perique you will have it solved. If your hosting does not have daily backups or fast customer service, you will be tied hand and foot.
Many times, cheap is expensive.
Therefore, to choose a good hosting, you don’t just have to look at the price. Not to hire the most expensive hosting means that we will have the best service, maybe we are throwing money. And neither for hiring the cheapest hosting means that we are choosing the best option. Like almost everything in this life, the middle ground is usually the right choice.
As a web designer with WordPress and Professor of the Classroom WordPress Course CM, I have tried numerous hosting services and, without a doubt, there is one that stands out above the rest. I speak of Webempresa.
With Webempresa you will have the best value-for-money hosting on the market, your website will be fast, secure and you will receive support 24 hours a day in case any unforeseen event arises.
Do not play with the hosting and always hire a quality one
On the other hand, in addition to the web hosting service, you will need a domain. The domain is the name that you will give to your website.
Step 2: Install WordPress on your hosting
There are two ways to install WordPress on your hosting: manual and automatic. If you have chosen a good hosting as Webempresa, the installation process becomes very simple, since they offer you an automatic installation system in 1 click. If not, you will have to do it in several steps.
In this WordPress tutorial, we will see both methods.
Install WordPress automatically
Access your hosting and look for your Active Services. There select the name of the web the option of the hosting that you have hired. Once inside, you have to click a blue button that says cPanel and then Create WordPress.
Now several installation packs will appear with the already included template offered by Webempresa for free. If you are going to buy and install a premium template (the recommended option that we will see later in this WordPress tutorial), choose the dry WordPress pack that is below at all.
Then, you just have to fill in the installation data as I show you below and click on the Install application:
You have to give your site a name (this can be changed later), select the domain you chose when you hired the hosting, put your email and choose a username and password to enter your WordPress administration panel.
In case you missed a step, here is a video showing you how to do it from scratch:
Install WordPress manually
If you do not have a good quality hosting, you will need to install WordPress manually. But don’t worry because in this WordPress tutorial I will also show you how to do it. In the video I just put you up, I teach you to do it both ways.
Download WordPress and upload it to your hosting
The first thing you have to do is download WordPress. To do this go to wordpress.org and download the zip with the latest version.
Then enter your hosting, go to cPanel and look for the file manager of your hosting. Once you’ve found it, upload the zip file you just downloaded to the root folder of the hosting, it’s usually called public_html. When you have done it, unzip the zip and extract all the files.
Create a database
Now you have to go back to cPanel and look for the section where the databases are located. In webempresa the route you have to follow is Database > MySQL databases. Here you will have to perform 3 steps:
- Give your database a name and create it.
- A little further down is the user creation zone for the database. Create a user with your name.
- The next step is to link that user you just created with the database. Go to the Add users to the database section and enter the same username and link it to the database.
Access the administration panel / wp-admin
The installation process is almost over. Type the URL of your domain followed by / wp-admin
When you do this, the WordPress installation wizard will appear and all you have to do is fill in all the fields with what you are asked. When finished, it will ask you to enter the name or email you have entered, and the password you have chosen and you will be able to access your website.
Step 3: Handling and configuring WordPress
Now that you have your website running, the next step in this WordPress guide is to learn what menus and how WordPress works.
As you can see, when entering your administration panel you will see a side menu on the left with many sections that we will see throughout this WordPress tutorial. When you hover over one of them, you will see how additional subsections are displayed. You just have to click on the one that interests you.
For example, if you want to create an article or post for the blog section, you just have to go to Entries > Add new and a text editor will open. If you want to create pages or sections, you will have to go to Pages > Add new. However, I explain all this a little below. Stay tuned.
First adjustments you must make in WordPress
Go to the Settings menu in the left sidebar. If you click or hover over it, a submenu with more options appears. From there, you just have to click on the section you want. We will go step by step discovering the most important settings.
Settings> General
Here you can give a title and description to your website put the email address you want to associate with your page, determine the time zone you are in, etc. As for the title and description, include keywords for which you want to appear on Google. For example, if you are a lawyer and perform your duties in Madrid, try that the words lawyer and Madrid are in both fields.
Settings> Write
From here you can adjust some parameters related to writing on your website such as choosing to convert typical signs to image emoticons, determine a default category for your entries, etc. It is not a very important section in which to stand.
Settings> Reading
In this section, you must select what you want your home page to be. If you have not created a homepage yet, do not worry, since a little below I will teach you how to create pages and sections with Visual Composer. When you’ve done it, don’t forget to come back here and select it.
If instead of a static page you want only your blog articles to appear on your homepage, select Your latest posts.
On the other hand, look at the Visibility option in search engines. Until you have your website done in full, I recommend that you check that option to hide your website from Google. When you have finished the entire design process, come back here and uncheck that option.
Settings> Comment options
This section refers to the management of the comments you receive on your website. It is very important that you configure it to your liking if you are going to have a blog or news section.
When someone writes a comment in a blog article, you can decide to have it approved automatically or have to review it manually before it is published. I recommend this last option so you can control what is commented on your blog.
Settings> Permanent links
Here you have to decide how the URLs of the sections of your website will be built when they are created. To be friendly and can contain keywords, select Post name. In this way every time you build a new section or entry, you can include keywords for which you want to be found in Google in the URLs and improve your SEO positioning.
Step 3: Download your Premium Template
Now we are going to go to the Appearance > Themes section. This is where you are going to choose which template you want to use to set up your website. But what is a template?
Basically they are predefined designs that you can use to create your web page. Quality WordPress templates bring several examples of complete websites that you can modify to your liking and that contain text and demonstration photos.
This will make even if you are a beginner in web design, you can mount your page in a simple way and achieve a result at the highest level.
However, using a template does not mean that the design of your website is the same as that of other users who bought the same template as you. When using a template, what you do is start from a good base and have many additional features to modify the styles and appearance of your website.
In addition, most premium quality templates include a visual layout maker like Visual Composer that will allow you to design your page by dragging and dropping elements. You choose the element you want (blocks of text, images, buttons …) and drag and drop them wherever you want them to appear. That easy.
Best templates for WordPress
As a Web Designer and Professor of the AulaCM WordPress Course, I have tried many templates and I can distinguish which ones are the best. Choosing a template well is a key point when creating your website. Therefore, in this WordPress tutorial, I want to emphasize its importance and provide you with a series of tips and recommendations for you to choose with knowledge.
A template not only has to be beautiful and offer you multiple designs, but it must be fast, you must bring a visual layout plugin so you can easily modify it, it has to be responsive to adapt to mobile devices and there must be a support team behind In case at any time you have a problem.
One of the best templates today is Bridge, a very versatile theme, easy to use, fast, ready to position well in Google and that offers you many customization options.
Other templates that are very worthwhile, with similar characteristics and that include a visual layout to make it very easy to design your website, Salient and The Gem.
However, if you want to know more professional WordPress templates and not go crazy looking without knowing if you have chosen well, I have compiled for you a list with the best ones here. It is organized by sectors and themes for your convenience.
When you access a template from the links that I provide in this WordPress tutorial, or through the collection of the best templates that I have linked to you just above, you will see a Live preview button through which you can see all the available designs. If you like and want to buy it, click on the green Buy theme button.
When you have purchased your template, go to your ThemeForest download area and download the installable files as I show you below.
Now go to your WordPress admin panel and look in the menu on the left for the Appearance > Themes section. You will see that there is a button that says Add theme so click there and then click Upload theme. Select the template in zip format that you just downloaded from ThemeForest and click Install Now.
When you have finished uploading, click Activate and you will have your template installed and activated.
If you have any problems during the upload, it is probably because your hosting does not allow you to upload very large files by default. Therefore, contact support and ask them to extend the upload limit so you can try again or do it yourself by modifying the php.ini file.
If your hosting is of quality, such as Webempresa, you will not have any problem and you can upload your template without hindrance.
Now it would be necessary to import the demo content of your template (all pages, photos, texts, etc. that come by default). In premium templates, there is usually a specific section for this. In Bridge, it is done by going to the Qode Import section, where you have to select the demo you liked when you bought the template, and select import everything.
Finally, if your premium template includes plugins that add additional functionalities, you will get a message indicating it above. If you have chosen Bridge as your template, the message says This theme recommends/requires the following plugins. Install them by clicking on Begin installing plugins and activate them as well.
Step 4: Create your first section or page
There are two ways to create your web page. Create section by section from scratch or use the demo pages that are included with the template you have chosen. In this WordPress manual we will see the two options:
Create your pages from scratch
Now I am going to show you how to create your first section or page, for example, the start one.
To create a page go to Pages > Add new and you will appear on a screen with a blank canvas to start writing, include images, links, listings and everything you can think of. It basically works very similar to a text document like Word.
If you have chosen a premium template such as Bridge, or any of the list I provided before this WordPress tutorial, you can layout your home page with a visual layout plugin such as Visual Composer. To start editing, click on the Backend editor button.
If you have chosen a template that is not Bridge or does not have Visual Composer, you may have another button that puts something like Page Builder or similar.
When you have clicked on that button, the visual editor will appear with which you can add rows, blocks of text, images, buttons and more. In this way, you can create all the pages one by one and totally to your liking.
To better understand its operation, here is a WordPress video tutorial to teach you how to create sections on your website and use Visual Composer to layout them.
Create your pages by editing the demo pages
If you prefer to use the demo pages that are included in your template, go to Pages > All pages and find the page you want to edit from the demo, for example, the home page, and click on it.
An editor will open with which you can modify the demo content that is included with your template. If all you see is meaningless code, activate the visual layout by clicking Backend Editor, Page builder or similar.
Now you just have to change the photos and texts for your own and in a periquete you will have your section created. I recommend you watch the video tutorial above.
Step 5: Create a contact page
When you have created the sections of your website (home, services, who we are, etc.), you will need to create the contact page with a form linked to your email.
So go to Pages> Add new and create a page with the Contact title. Now you need to install a plugin called Contact Form 7. I don’t want to stop much to explain what a plugin is now, because I will explain it a little later in this same WordPress tutorial, so for the moment follow the next steps.
How to create a contact form
The first thing you have to do is install and activate Contact Form 7. To do this go to Plugins > Add new and in the search engine on the right put Contact Form 7. If you do not have it installed, click Install and then Activate.
After having done this, in the main menu on the left, you will see a section that will put Contact. Click and you will see a test contact form that automatically generates the plugin. Click on it and you will see a text editor with all the contact form fields.
Now you have to edit the fields and add the ones you need to show in your contact form. To facilitate this task, I have recorded a complete video tutorial so you don’t miss out on detail.
After creating it, copy the code that appears above the editing area and paste it on the page where you want to display it.
How to insert a Google Maps map in WordPress
If you are a company or have a physical location that customers can go to, your thing is that you insert a Google Maps map on the contact page you just created to indicate your location to users.
With WordPress, inserting a map is super simple.
Go to Google Maps and put the address you want to display in the search engine. On the left, you will get a side menu with the address and you will see that there is a Share button. Click on that button and a window like this will appear:
Now you have to select what size you want the map to appear on your website. You can choose between small, medium and large sizes. However, you can also select the custom and put the dimensions you want on the map.
Once you have chosen, copy the HTML code of type <iframe> that Google Maps gives you and paste it where you want to show the map.
I leave you a video in which I explain it in a practical way:
Now that you’ve created your pages, it’s time to create your own menu and add them. To do this go to Appearance > Menu. Click on create a new menu, give it a name (this will not be seen by users visiting your website) and click on create menu.
As you can see, all the pages you have on your website will appear on the left, either because you created them yourself, or because they come with the demo content of your template.
Now mark the pages in the area on the left that you want to add to the menu and then click on the Add to the menu button and you will see how they are added to the right. If you want to vary the order in which they appear, you just have to drag them with the mouse.
Once you have added all the pages to your new menu, it is very important that you follow one last step.
Below are some boxes that will allow you to make this menu you just created the main one of your website. To do this, look for a box that says the Main menu, Top primary, Main menu, Primary navigation or similar and checks it.
Finally, click on the Save menu button.
Step 7: Create your blog or news section
Something that could not be missing in this guide and WordPress tutorial, is how to create a blog with WordPress. Whether as an additional section of your website or simply because you want your entire site to be a blog, with WordPress it is very easy to create it.
Although now you may not see the advantages, having a blog in which to publish valuable content that helps your target audience is one of the best ways to attract new customers. Thanks to the blog and content marketing, you can create a very powerful SEO strategy and establish trust links with your audience.
In case you want your website to have a blog or news section, it’s time to create it. Go to Pages > Add new and put the title “Blog”, “News” or as you prefer. Then click on the blue Publish button.
Now go to Settings > Reading and select as the entries page, the blog page you just created and save the changes.
Step 8: Create your first blog post or article
You have already created your blog or news section, now you would need to start writing articles. To do this go to Tickets > Add new .
If you look, you will see that the screen that appears is very similar to the one we used before to create the pages or sections of your website. The main difference is that entries are written directly over the text area without having to layout them. After all, it’s about writing valuable content, so we don’t want to add design elements that distract the user from reading.
Give the entry a title and build its URL
The first thing you have to do when creating your tickets is to give them a title. Once you believe it, below will appear the URL of your article with the name of the entry. If you want to modify the URL, just click on Edit.
Below the title, area are the text area where you can start writing your content and a toolbar very similar to that of any word processor such as Microsoft Word.
As you can see, you can choose the color of the letter, if you want to list points, links, italics, etc. If you don’t see all the options, click on the More tools button.
How to create subtitles and structure your entries
At the beginning of the toolbar, you will see a drop-down that puts paragraph but that if you click the options appear Title 1, Title 2, Title 3, etc.
To structure the information correctly, I advise you to use these titles, since it makes the information properly structured and with them you can put the headings of each section of the entry.
The most frequent are Title 2 and Title 3. To use them, simply select with the mouse the words you want to put as title 2, 3, etc. and in the drop-down choose the one you want. Normally, Title 1 is the largest and most important and Title 6 is the smallest and least important.
How to include links
If you want to include links to other web pages or other sections of your own site, simply select the words you want to link and click on the button in the chain toolbar. Once this is done paste the link and voila.
How to add images
Images are fundamental elements when creating an entry for your WordPress blog. They make the content more enjoyable and download the user’s view.
To add them, click with the mouse in the place where you want to insert the image and then click on the button above the toolbar that says Add object. Then a window will open in which 2 options will appear: Multimedia Library and Upload files.
Click Media Library and drag the photos from your computer to this window to upload them. Then, select the photo you want to insert in the entry and click on the blue button in the lower right corner that says Insert in the entry.
How to add embedded videos
If you want to increase the time spent by users and enrich your content with more information in other formats, videos are a great option.
To embed (embed) a YouTube video, all you have to do is go to the video you want, copy the URL and paste it into the post. The video will automatically be inserted.
How to create and organize categories in WordPress
In WordPress, the categories are used to organize and classify your blog articles by themes and thus provide better usability and organization to your users.
For example, in my blog, I have created the categories of “WordPress”, “SEO”, etc. Within each of them, I group the articles of each theme. When I write an article like this (WordPress tutorial) I mark it so that it belongs to the WordPress category. When I write one of SEO, I catalog it in the SEO category.
To create your categories, you can do it from the sidebar on the right. Enter the name of the category you want to create and click Add new category.
Assign a featured image in WordPress
Depending on the template you have chosen, your tickets will appear with a header image. Normally, each post has an image that represents it.
To add it, go to the right column and look for the Featured Image section. Now click on Set featured image and choose on the image you want to upload.
How to publish an entry in WordPress
To publish an entry and appear automatically in your blog section, all you have to do is go to the box in the upper right corner that says Publish and there you will see a button that says Save only, Preview and Publishes.
- Just save: If you want to save your post without publishing it, click on this option and your article will be saved as a draft.
- Preview: Click here if you want to see how your ticket is looking.
- Publish: When you have everything ready, click on this blue button. By doing so, your post will automatically go to the blog page you created earlier.
As you can see, you can also see the status of the entry (if it is published, if it is in the draft, etc.), if the entry is visible to users and the number of revisions and autosave in case you want to return to one saved earlier.
Here I leave a video in which I explain all the above in a practical way. In it I create an entry from scratch, the layout, I add images, links, videos, categories, etc. In addition, I teach you how to create the blog page, if you do not have it created, and configure it to be the page where all the entries appear automatically:
Step 9: How to install Plugins in WordPress
Before we start installing plugins, I want to explain exactly what they are and how they can help you.
Basically they are small applications that add extra functionalities to our website. You could say that they are like the apps we install on our smartphones. There are thousands of them and most are totally free.
To install them, you just have to go to Plugins > Add new and use the search engine to find the one you want in the free WordPress repository. Then, click on Install and then on Activate as you did with Contact Form 7 when we created the contact page.
In addition to the free ones, you can download premium plugins from other platforms such as CodeCanyon in zip format and upload them directly to your WordPress.
WordPress plugins you should know
Below, I have compiled a small list of the best WordPress plugins with a brief explanation of what each one is for.
- Yoast SEO : With it you can control and improve all the SEO of your website.
- Visual Composer : As we saw at the point of creating sections and pages, it will help you design your pages quickly.
- FV Antispam : It serves so that you do not receive spam comments on your blog.
- EU Cookie Law : Thanks to this plugin you can insert the typical message that your website uses cookies, which by law you must have on your website.
- Monarch : It will allow you to add social sharing buttons in multiple ways.
- Bloom : If you want to insert a subscription form and then use it in your Newsletter, it is certainly the best option.
- WooCommerce : If your thing is to set up an online store, with WooCommerce you can do it easily and quickly.
Step 10: Configure your widgets
You’ve probably heard of them but don’t know exactly what they are. Well, do not worry because it is very easy to understand. The widgets are small boxes in which you can place various elements such as the icons of your social networks, the blog categories, the latest posts and even a feed with the latest photos from your Instagram profile.
Depending on the template you have chosen and the plugins you have installed, the number of widgets you can choose will be different. However, with WordPress come many widgets that you can use regardless of the template or plugins you use.
To manage and modify the widgets go to Appearance > Widgets.
You will see that you have two zones. On the left, you have all the available widgets and on the right all the areas where you can place them. All you have to do is select the widget you want and drag it to the area where you want to show it.
For example, if you want the blog and all entries to display a list with the last 5 posts on the right, in the sidebar, you just have to select the widget called Recent Entries and drag it to the Sidebar area or sidebar.
I leave you a video explaining more thoroughly what are the widgets and what are the main ones that you should know how to put:
Another important thing that I want to teach you in this step-by-step WordPress guide is to insert and link your social networks with your website or blog.
First I will tell you how to add the share buttons in your posts and articles. In this way, when a user goes to an entry they can share it on social networks and thus increase the visibility of your web page.
To add them for free, you can use a plugin called Simple Share Buttons Adder , which allows you to add all the social networks you want.
You just have to install it, activate it and a section called Simple Share Buttons will appear in the WordPress Settings menu. There you must select the buttons you want to appear and configure the size, color and phrase you want to put on top of the buttons.
It is very simple to configure, but I have recorded a video to help you do this and further complete this WordPress manual step by step.
What do you think of this WordPress manual?
Learning WordPress to make a web page is easy if you follow all the steps in this WordPress tutorial.
However, this platform is almost infinite and you can add multiple functionalities. Therefore, to complete this WordPress tutorial, I am updating all the material collected here. Each month there will be new sections and videos to complete this WordPress guide.
If there is something that has not been clear to you, do not hesitate to ask me in the comments and I will try to answer you as soon as possible!