Learn how to use WordPress to start your journey today. Whether to create a website for your business or start a blog of your own, WordPress offers a range of features from paid to free to best suit your work needs.
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If you have already intalled WordPress you must be wondering how to get started.
From where to what needs to be done?!
How to use WordPress?
Let’s start with what is WordPress?
It’s an open-sourced content management system where you can build a blog or create a website without needing a web designer, developer, or coder.
Knowledge of web managing or coding skills is not required.
This software is so easy to use, effortless, and stress-free to manage. Anyone interested in creating a website for free or building a blog of their own can use it with such ease.
This platform is not only made for beginners but also the in-betweeners and the most advanced users too, who can take advantage of building a site that suits best.
Have you decided to go with the paid or free WordPress?
WordPress.com OR WordPress.org?!
WordPress.com
Your website URL will look like www.websitename.wordpress.com. It is free to use, but it is not all completely yours. WordPress does most of what goes behind the scenes and offers to host your site.
No need to manage or download any software. This means you do not get the freedom to customize the site to your style.
It’s free but it can later be upgraded from free to paid. This means from www.websitename.wordpress.com to www.websitename.com. With the upgrade, you get to take advantage of the extra features and perks the service offers.
WordPress.org
100% your own. You get to buy a domain, buy a hosting service, install WordPress to build your site, design it with themes to match your style, customize with plugins to manage your site’s health and improve the appearance with awesome features.
Your website URL will look like www.websitename.com. This is the most recommended option to choose if you want to own your site.
From customizing to controlling, it is all yours to use how you wish. The WordPress itself will be free, however, with this option, everything besides the WordPress platform can be paid or some are free to use, depending on the features you prefer.
What if you are feeling unsure?
Check out the 10 must-ask questions to see what works best for you. The answers to these questions may help clarify your next move and to help build a stronger blog or website from the very start.
This site runs on WordPress hosted by Bluehost. Bluehost is a reliable and well-known web-hosting service used by millions worldwide.
Did you know, WordPress highly recommends Bluehost as one of the top best?
Their 24/7 customer support, 1-click WordPress install, ease-of-use for beginners and affordability makes them one of the best web hosting services out there.
Bluehost offers a wide range of features other than just hosting a site. They offer a FREE domain for the first year, SSL certificates for your site, email accounts with storage space and other sweet perks and features.
Their hosting plans and terms are a select few that you can choose from to best suit your work needs.
If you are unsure which hosting plan to go with, reach out to Bluehost for a free consultation to help you decide which one is the best fit for you.
To continue to the following step by step of how to use WordPress, you must have the WordPress login to view the dashboard.
This blog post covers how to use the WordPress hosted by Bluehost service.
RELATED check out how to start a site with a self-hosted service (Bluehost) and the 1-click WordPress install to start your site in 5 easy steps.
Once signed up for a self-hosted service (Bluehost), next, install WordPress, then log in to view the WordPress dashboard.
The first thing that needs to be done is to get familiarized with the WordPress (WP) dashboard.
This is where all your hard work gets done. From here you can manage your sites inside and out.
Take a look at the left side panel, you can view everything you need from this list. Create a post, manage comments, change themes, install plugins, pages and so much more. The first thing on the list is Bluehost.
Bluehost
This is where you can create your content, design & build to customize the look of the site. Manage your traffic & engagement, its performance, and any changes you may want to do for your site hosting can be done right here.
Just underneath the menu Bluehost, you can view and edit themes, plugins, settings and so much more.
Dashboard
This dashboard will take you to any updates, site metrics, and news you can catch up on.
Site Kit & Jetpack (Plugins)
These two are plugins that need to be installed to be activated. They both offer features that can help maintain your site.
Site Kit is a free plugin that manages your site traffic, content, speed and your monetization data all from one spot. This plugin can provide real-time statistics, predictive understanding and suggestions for your site, which can be very useful to grow your site.
While Jetpack is known as one of the best plugins in the market and offers must-have features to WordPress-powered website users. It’s available in both free and paid versions. Some features include advanced security systems, social sharing abilities, detailed stats of your site, optimized SEO, backup tools, 24/7 support and more.
Post
Not all website creators publish blog posts. Let’s say, for example, a constructor or a makeup artist website. He/She provides information related to the services they offer and how to reach out. This can be set up and done once and forget it until you need to update them again.
However, as a food blogger, my blog posts include recipes or posts that are related to food in general that I often publish to stay connected with my readers.
When creating a post, it should consist of quality content, clear images, SEO optimized rich keywords included, and a call to action at the end.
From the side panel drop-down list of the post section, you can view and add new posts to create new content, view all your completed posts, drafts, published and scheduled posts. You may also manage your posts’ categories and tags from here as well.
Media
This is where you can manage, add, or delete the images and videos you upload to your site. You can view all your media files from the library menu of the drop-down list underneath the media.
From all the sites you’ve ever visited, besides the images, have you noticed there is one thing they all have in common?
Pages
Pages can be set once and forget it. It can be updated as you need with the most accurate information.
So it is important to craft a well-structured page with the most accurate information that would attract more readers your way. To name a few important pages all website must-haves are… The about page, contact page, FAQ page, subscribe age, privacy policy, etc.
Each page together provides an insight story of who you are, what you are offering and what you expect of others who visit your site.
Comments/Feedback
In this section of the side panel, you can view all of the comments viewers left on your website. From here, you are able to reply, delete, edit, or spam the ones that don’t belong. You can find other details including which post the comments came from, who did it come from, and other useful details to view if needed.
WP Recipe Maker (Plugin)
This plugin is a useful one for all food bloggers like me. A recipe contains elements like the ingredients, the time it takes to complete, the method of cooking and etc.
Plugins like this one can help fill out the precise information of a detailed recipe without missing a thing.
It presents a clean layout, pre-made recipe templates to choose from, optimized for SEO, made easy for sharing, print options available to those who wish to print out the recipe and more.
Appearance
Oversee your site from this section. In the drop-down list below appearance, you will see the site’s themes, customizing options, widgets that can be added, menus of the site and also able to create a header or footer to customize your site’s overall appearance to look attractive.
Plugins
For a WordPress-powered site to evolve and grow, plugins can help advance your site to success. Plugins are like phone apps. Search, install and activate to use them.
Each plugin offers unique features that can help optimize your site. Whether to add side widgets, advanced securities, auto-save a daily backup or improve your site with other gadgets, there is a plugin, both paid and free, for just about everything.
This section will let you search, add, manage all your plugins from one spot. Check out the 14 most essential FREE WP plugins for beginners of all niches must-have.
Users
You can view all users of this site from this section. View each user’s profile information, edit and manage their role to suit your work and assign responsibilities from here.
Tools/Settings
From these sections, you can view the available tools, site health and other personal data that are available. More importantly from the setting section, you can view the sub-menu from the drop-down list. View from general, writing, reading, discussion, media and etc.
All of which can make changes to your overall site settings. Remember to save any changes you make from this section to activate.
the rest…
All of the other plugins you install can be managed from the plugins section. Only a select few will pop up on the side panel for easy viewing.
Now that we reached the end of this post, you should have a clear understanding of how the WP dashboard works. Go through the list to familiarize yourself with the menu and sub-menu to access easily.
Create posts, pages and manage your plugins and site comments to stay on top of everything. You don’t need knowledge of web managing or coding to create a website or to become a blogger.
Everything is done easily for a beginner, so go for it.
Create your masterpiece.
Showcase it to the world and enjoy the journey it brings.
If you haven’t installed WordPress yet, check out how to start a site with 5 easy steps. Follow the step by step to set up your own website with Bluehost and the 1-click WordPress install to start the journey.
Not sure whether a blog is a right fit for you? Ask yourself these 10 most-asked questions to help clarify your next step. The answers to these top 10 questions can help build your website stronger from the start.
Also, look into the 14 must-have FREE WP plugins to add to help maintain your site’s appearance and performance.
