How to Start a WordPress Website in 2025: Beginner’s Guide to WP Setup

Here’s the thing: while WordPress is famously beginner-friendly, the first steps can still feel like assembling IKEA furniture without the instructions.

Domain names, hosting, themes, plugins, admin panels, SSL certificates, permalinks… what even is a permalink?

This guide is here to de-mystify all of it.

You’ll learn how to set up your first WP site the right way — from picking the right tools to clicking that shiny “Publish” button. No fluff, no jargon soup. Just a step-by-step walkthrough from someone who’s built dozens if not hundreds of WordPress websites since 2009.

Let’s get started 👇

What Is WordPress (Really)?

It powers a quarter of the Internet. It is by far the most popular way of creating and maintaining a website. It is free for anyone to use and modify in any way they want. But what is WordPress?

Let’s clear the fog: WordPress isn’t a website builder like Wix or Squarespace. It’s not a hosting service. And it doesn’t come with a neon “Launch Me” button either.

So… what is it?

WordPress is a free, open-source tool that helps you build and run websites. More precisely, it’s what’s called a Content Management System (CMS) — which is a fancy way of saying it handles all the behind-the-scenes stuff (text, images, menus, pages, users, settings) so you can focus on making your site look and work the way you want.

No coding required. Pinky swear.

It’s made up of three main ingredients:

• WordPress Core – the actual CMS software that runs the show
• Themes – these control how your website looks (layout, fonts, colors, the rest of the vibes)
• Plugins – add-ons that make your site do more things (like contact forms, shops, SEO tools)

Think of it like this: WordPress Core is your house’s structure, themes are the interior design, and plugins are all the appliances and gadgets.

What can you do with WordPress?

• Create and manage pages and blog posts
• Customize your site’s appearance (without breaking anything)
• Add functionality like email forms, image sliders, shopping carts, forums — you name it
• Collaborate with other users (admins, authors, editors, contributors — each with their own superpowers)

But here’s what WordPress doesn’t do by default:

• It doesn’t give you a domain name like mycoolwebsite.com — you’ll need to buy that separately (check out our domain guide)
• It doesn’t host your website — you’ll need a place to “put” it (here’s our definitive guide on choosing a hosting provider)
• It doesn’t magically write or design your content for you (yet 😏)

Don’t worry — we’ll walk you through all of that in this guide, with links to our best tutorials along the way. But first: is WordPress still a smart choice in 2025?

Should You Use WordPress in 2025?

Before we get into tools and settings and fancy themes, let’s ask a more fundamental question:

Is WordPress actually the right choice for your project?

Because while WordPress is powerful, flexible, and everywhere — it’s not always the best fit. But…

• If you want full control over your site (without paying monthly fees)
• If you’re okay learning a few new things along the way
• If you want the ability to scale, customize, and actually own your site

…then WordPress is still one of the best options in 2025.

But let’s look at the competition for a sec.

When not to use WordPress

If you’re just testing an idea, need a single landing page up today, or absolutely don’t want to deal with hosting, domains, or plugins — then you might be better off with a site builder like Wix, Squarespace, or Webflow.

Those tools bundle everything (including hosting), and give you drag-and-drop control out of the box.

But the tradeoff?

You pay monthly, get fewer customization options, and once you’re in — you’re in. Moving away later is like trying to leave a cult with stylish fonts.

Why WordPress still wins (for most people)

Here’s why over 40% of websites still run on WordPress:

• You can start free — the software is open-source and the vast majority of plugins and themes cost nothing
• It’s endlessly flexible — blogs, portfolios, shops, forums, newsletters, even entire SaaS apps can be built on WP
• You’re not alone — if you run into a problem, someone’s already solved it (and blogged about it)
• You keep control — no proprietary lock-in, no surprise shutdowns, no weird limitations

Major sites like TechCrunch, BBC America, and even parts of whitehouse.gov use WordPress. If it works for them, it’ll probably work for you too.

So unless you have a very niche use case or hate learning new tools, WP is a solid bet in 2025.

Next, let’s open the package:

What You Need Before You Start

Before you can install WordPress and start tweaking settings like a pro, there are two essential things you’ll need to get sorted:

1. Domain Name

That’s your address on the Internet — the yourwebsite.com part.

You can register one via services like Namecheap, GoDaddy, or through your hosting provider.

But don’t rush it — your domain name matters more than you think. We’ve got an entire guide on choosing a domain if you’re not sure where to start.

2. Hosting Provider

This is where your website will “live” — a server that stores your files and delivers them to visitors.

There are thousands of hosting providers out there, but not all play nice with WordPress. Look for one that offers:

• 1-click WordPress installs (saves a ton of time)
• Free SSL certificate (for that secure https://)
• Decent support (preferably with live chat)

Short on time? Go for Hostinger. Feel like going into the nitty-gritties? Check out our hosting guide.

Optional: A Local or Staging Setup

If you want to experiment before going live, you can set up WordPress on your computer (a “local” site) or use your host’s staging environment. This is especially useful for playing around without breaking anything on the public version.

Tools like Local by Flywheel make it ridiculously easy.

* * *

Once you’ve got your domain and hosting ready, it’s time to install WordPress.

You’ve got two options — and we’ll walk through both of them next.

Installing WordPress (2 Easy Methods)

Alright — you’ve got your domain, your hosting, and that glint of ambition in your eye.

Let’s get WordPress up and running.

There are two main ways to install WordPress:

• Easy Mode: one-click install via your hosting control panel
• Manual Mode: doing it yourself (still pretty simple, promise)

Pick whichever feels more comfortable. They both lead to the same result: a blank but functional WP site you can start customizing right away.

Method 1: One-Click Install (Recommended)

Most decent hosting providers offer a WordPress installer in their dashboard — usually under funky names like “Softaculous”, “Installatron”, or just a WordPress logo.

It’ll ask you to fill out a short form:

• Site Name and Tagline – you can change these later
• Admin username – please don’t use “admin” 🙏
• Admin password – strong and unique (a password manager helps)
• Email address – use one you actually check
• Install path – leave blank if this is your main site (more on that below)

Click “Install”, wait 30 seconds, and boom — you’ve got a website.

What’s this “install path” thing? If you leave it blank, WordPress goes into the root folder (your main domain). If you add something like blog, your site will live at yourwebsite.com/blog. That’s useful if you want to run multiple sites later.

Method 2: Manual Install (The Nerdy but Useful Way)

If your host doesn’t offer one-click installs, or you just want to flex some technical skills, here’s how to do it manually. Total time: ~10 minutes.

1. Download the latest version of WordPress from the official repository at wordpress.org
2. Create a new MySQL database + user in your hosting panel (usually under “Databases”)
3. Unzip WordPress and rename the folder to whatever you want (e.g. myawesomeproject)
4. Upload the folder to your server via FTP using FileZilla or your host’s file manager
5. In your browser, go to yourdomain.com and follow the setup wizard — enter your database info, pick admin username/password, etc

That’s it — you’re in! You can now log into your WordPress dashboard by visiting:

yourdomain.com/wp-admin

Bookmark that link. You’ll be using it a lot.

Next up: the settings you’ll want to tweak right away (before adding any content or themes).

Must-Change WordPress Settings

You’ve installed WordPress — congrats! 🎉 Before you start designing or publishing posts, let’s take five minutes to dial in some key settings.

Why now? Because a few defaults are… not great. And fixing them later is going to be increasingly messy.

Here’s what to do right after installing WP:

General Settings

Go to Settings → General in your WP dashboard. Fill out:

• Site Title – this shows up in browser tabs and search results
• Tagline – optional, but good for SEO if it describes what your site does

Also check:

• Timezone – set it to your actual location so posts and backups get the correct timestamps
• Date + Time Format – personal preference, but it affects how things display to visitors

Discussion Settings

Head to Settings → Discussion. If you plan to allow comments (for a blog or community site), go ahead and leave “Allow people to post comments” on. If not — turn it off and enjoy the silence.

Other smart tweaks:

✅ Enable “Comment must be manually approved” (trust me on this one)
❌ Disable pingbacks + trackbacks (they’re mostly spam these days)
✅ Enable threaded comments (looks cleaner if you do allow discussions)

Permalink Structure

This one’s crucial for both humans and search engines. Go to Settings → Permalinks and choose:

✔️ Post name

This setting turns ugly URLs like yourwebsite.com/?p=123 into clean, readable ones like yourwebsite.com/awesome-guide. Much better.

Remove Sample Content

WordPress installs often come with junk like a “Hello world” blog post or a “Sample Page”.

Delete them from Posts and Pages to avoid weird stuff showing up in your menus or sitemap.

* * *

Once that’s done, your site is cleaner, safer, and better prepared for Google (and humans).

Next up: how to make your site actually look and work the way you want — with themes and plugins:

Your First WP Themes and Plugins

Now that your site is lean and freshly installed, it’s time to give it some personality — and power.

This is where themes and plugins come in.

Plugins: What Your Site Can Do

Plugins are where the magic happens. They add new features to your WordPress site — things like contact forms, SEO tools, online stores, performance boosters, you name it.

There are 59,000+ plugins in the official repo alone, but don’t go overboard. A few well-chosen plugins will do more for your site than 30 random ones.

Here are a few essential (and free) picks to get started:

• Rank Math – an SEO plugin to optimize titles, meta tags, and search snippets
• Akismet – filters out spam comments automatically (a must if you allow comments)
• WPForms Lite – lets visitors contact you through simple, customizable forms
• LiteSpeed Cache (or WP Super Cache) – helps your site load faster
• Wordfence Security – protects against hacks, malware, and other bad stuff

Want to track your visitors? Add Google Site Kit — it connects Analytics, Search Console, and more right into your dashboard.

A Word on Plugin Bloat

Not all plugins are good for your site. Some are slow, outdated, or conflict with others. So:

• Stick to well-reviewed, actively updated plugins
• Only install what you actually need
• Delete (don’t just deactivate) anything unused

Themes: How Your Site Looks

Themes control your site’s design — layout, fonts, colors, header style, blog format, all of it.

You can think of them as your website’s outfit. And yes, you can change clothes later without losing your content.

There are thousands of themes out there, but don’t just grab the first flashy one. Some are bloated, others are buggy, and a few are downright broken.

To keep it simple:

• Start with a free theme from the official directory, e.g. our own Bento
• If you want more control or features, check out reputable marketplaces like ThemeForest

If you’re planning to use the new full-site editing features in WordPress, look for a block-based theme like Astra or GeneratePress. They play nicely with the native editor and don’t weigh your site down.

Next step? Finding a theme that doesn’t suck.
We’ve got a full guide on that → how to choose the right WP theme.

Next Steps: What to Do After Setup

At this point, you’ve got:

✔️ A working WordPress site
✔️ Clean settings
✔️ A theme that doesn’t make you cringe
✔️ Plugins doing useful things in the background

So what now?

Here’s a short roadmap for what to do next:

• Create your first pages: usually a homepage, an about page, and a contact page
• Add your first blog post: even a short “hello world” intro is a good way to test things
• make sure visitors can actually find stuff
• Set up backups: your host might handle this, or you can install something like UpdraftPlus

Optional but smart:

• Explore new themes if you want a more custom vibe
• Start thinking about speed optimization, caching, and security — we’ll cover all that in upcoming guides

WordPress Setup FAQ

— Do I need to know how to code to use WordPress?

Nope! You can build and manage an entire WordPress site without writing a single line of code. That said, knowing a bit of HTML/CSS or using a page builder like Elementor or the built-in block editor can give you more flexibility.

— What’s the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?

WordPress.org is the free, open-source version you install on your own hosting. WordPress.com is a hosted service — easier to start with, but much more limited unless you pay. If you want full control, use WordPress.org (which this guide covers).

— Can I change my theme later?

Yes! You can switch themes anytime without losing your content. Just keep in mind that layouts and widgets might need a little cleanup afterward, especially if you were using a page builder or a highly customized theme.

— Is WordPress secure?

WordPress is secure as long as you keep it updated, use strong passwords, and install reputable plugins. Adding a security plugin like Wordfence or Solid Security is also a good move — and always keep backups, just in case.

— Can I build a store or portfolio with WordPress?

Absolutely. WordPress can handle everything from online shops (using WooCommerce) to photo portfolios, membership sites, forums, or even full-blown SaaS platforms. It’s endlessly flexible if you’ve got the right plugins.

* * *

WordPress can feel overwhelming at first — but once you’ve gone through these steps, it starts to click.

You’ve got the framework. Now it’s about content, design, and making your site actually useful to visitors.

In case you’ve got questions about WordPress installation and initial setup, don’t hesitate to hit us in the comment section below – let’s discuss!