WHAT YOU ARE MAKING HERE
A personal website, without coding. The process is like building a house. Here are the basic components:
- Hosting: The Server where the website runs and where all your files live (the land).
- Domain: The Web Address that points people to the server (the address, literally).
- Free Website Software: We will use WordPress.org to build the site (the blueprint and tools), which has free/premium–
- Themes: Controls your site’s overall look (like floor plans, overall looks).
- Elementor + Starter Templates: Gives you ready-made pages and drag-and-drop editing inside that theme–they sit on top of the theme, but CAN override its looks (like furnitures, rooms).
- Plugins: Adds extra features to make building easier/final product better (like smart gadgets).
- * Note: WordPress.org is different from wordpress.com. The latter is a package deal that contains hosting, domain, and a pre-installed WordPress software. BUT you are limited in what themes/plugins you can use unless you pay for higher-tier plans, and it can get very expensive for a simple personal website/portfolio.
THE PLAN
There are many options–I was choosing between Bluehost, Hostinger, and Vercel–we will use Hostinger here. You can choose either the Premium or Business plan–we will go with Business here (for a bit more $$, your site is faster, gets more storage, has more frequent backups, has better hosting, and scales traffic better). Then, pick a term. The longer the term is, the cheaper it is per month, so many people go with the 48 months plan, but pick whatever length suits you the most.
At some point before checking out, you will be asked to create an account. Either use Google or create an account that you want your hosting/website to be linked to (when making a WordPress account later, you can use the same login). Afterwards, be sure to verify your email in the link that Hostinger sends you.
Before paying, perhaps find a Youtuber’s discount code to get an extra % off.
Once your Hostinger account is created, you can claim your free domain from the Home page of your dashboard. By typing in the search bar, you can check whether the name is available–usually domains ending in .com are recommended. The first year should be free, so claim the domain if it’s available, unless you want to bid on the unavailable ones. You might be asked to fill in registrant contact details–you can do so to finish the registration.
Be sure to verify your domain email (via an email link). Wait for domain to show Active on your dashboard.
STEP 3: Install WordPress–Get Theme + Plugins
Through Hostinger, create a website using WordPress. If you haven’t created a WordPress account yet, create one, preferably using the same login as Hostinger.
Create a blank site, and select your domain. Choose a server location near your target audience (Business plan uses CDN, a globally distributed network of servers that copies your content to users around the world, so the location you pick matters less under this plan).
Finish the set up–WordPress installs. To log in, you can either:
(1) Go to Hostinger Dashboard –> Website –> Website List –> Click on WP Admin for your website, OR (2) visit yourdomain.com/wp-admin –> enter the WP credentials you set.
Now that you are in WordPress, we can install and activate a theme and add helpful plugins, which you can find on the WP Dashboard.
- THEME: Appearance → Themes → Add New → Search Theme (Monobase, Creative Minimalist, Bakery and Pastry, etc) → Install → Activate.
- PLUGIN: Add Plugin → Deactivate/Delete the onboarding plugins if not needed (ex. deactivate LiteSpeed Cache during editing and re-enable when done) → Install some Helpful Ones:
- Display Posts
- Elementor
- Hostinger Reach
- Relevanssi
- Starter Templates
- Superb Addons: Blocks, Patterns & Theme Designer
- SureRank SEO
- *STARTER TEMPLATE: Appearance → Starter Templates → Select “Elementor” as Builder → Browse Categories or Search → Pick Template (optionally set logo, fonts, colors) → Build Website
After importing and selecting the above, you can View Website (on WP dashboard) to see your live site.
After the Basic Set-Ups above, you can Customize Pages with Elementor–some basic steps:
- Set Up a Basic Front Page: Pages are built with Containers/Columns, with Elements within (text, buttons, images, headings).
- Import Blocks or Whole Pages from the Starter Templates library.
- Set Up Menu and Add Pages for Navigation: on WP dashboard–Appearance → Customize → Menus → Add Items → Publish.
- *Pages are mainly used for static content (i.e. Home, About, Contact).
- *If you regularly publish contents or update blogposts, for example, use Posts instead of Pages (also on WP Dashboard). Those posts can be sorted and filtered using–
- Categories–broad, main topics. For example, your category can be “books,” and after clicking on it, you can see a post about “To kill a Mockingbird” under it. A post can belong to multiple categories; it helps Google understand your site structure, allows users to filter your blog, and lets you theme your posts into relevant bins.
- Tags–specific keywords. For example, your post “To kill a Mockingbird” can have hashtags associated with it, like “MustRead and “AP Lit.”
- Those, along with some other metadata (i.e. Author name, Dates, Categories Display, Tags Display, Footer meta text) can be hidden. You can do this by going to Dashboard → Appearance → Customize → Additional CSS.
- Here is a sample CSS you can paste if you want those metadata removed. Click Publish afterwards:
.entry-meta, .post-meta, .entry-footer, .byline, .posted-on, .cat-links, .tags-links { display: none !important; }
- Indexing (make your site visible on Google): WP Dashboard → Setting → Reading
- Your HomePage should be static.
- Make sure “Discourage Search Engines from Indexing this site” is unchecked (but you can check it when editing your site).
- Permalink (SEO-Friendly URLs): Dashboard → Settings → Permalinks
- Select Post name (i.e. “About”) → change url to “example.com/?p=123” to “example.com/about” → Save Changes (do this early, since changing them later can break links).