Top frequently asked questions by WordPress beginners
1 How to create a WordPress website
WordPress is a great way to get your business, project, or product online. It offers lots of functionality, flexibility, and is ideal for scaling as your venture grows.
To create a website using WordPress, you’ll first need to choose a hosting service which offers everything required to build your site and make it accessible on the World Wide Web. 5wire offers secure and reliable WordPress hosting at a convenient cost ideal for even beginners looking to keep costs to a minimum.
You’ll also require a domain name which will be your website’s address. Typically, a domain name should match the service or product you offer for instance, ‘yourbusinessname.com’.
Once you sign up with a hosting provider and have a domain name, install WordPress following the steps provided.
2 How much does WordPress cost?
WordPress.org is free to use. However, since you’ll require hosting and a domain, the true cost includes the amount you’ll pay the service provider of your choice.
Domain registration is typically renewed on an annual basis. While many domain registration service providers have special pricing offers for the first year, be sure to check how much you’ll be charged every year to retain the domain name. Unique domain extensions such as .shop or .store tend to renew at more expensive rates than the common .com extension.
To configure the look and feel of your website there’s a host of free themes available directly in WordPress. Some hosting services also partner with third party website/theme builders and you can opt to use one of the starter themes on offer.
While many core features of free themes are available at no cost, some functionality may be limited to a paid version. However, free features on themes like Astra and Neve are enough to start with.
3 How to change fonts on WordPress
Once you’ve installed and activated a WordPress theme you may want to change the font for reasons such as having a consistent look for your website and social media posts or product labels. The easiest way to change fonts on WordPress is to use Google Fonts, a collection of free to use typefaces. If your theme doesn’t support Google Fonts natively, you can use plugins such as Easy Google Fonts. You can learn more about the different ways on how to change fonts on WordPress on this guide.
4 How to delete themes in WordPress
Especially when starting out, you may find yourself wishing to reset your site to change its appearance or improve performance.
One way to do this is simply switching to a different theme. In the WordPress dashboard, navigate to the left-side menu and hover on ‘Appearance’. On the menu that appears, click on ‘Themes’ and then ‘Add New’. Go over the different options and use the ‘Live Preview’ feature to assess how the new theme would look before using it.
After you find a theme you like, simply click ‘Install’ then ‘Activate’ once installation is complete. Once you have a theme added to your WordPress dashboard, you can’t delete it, but rather switch to another.
5 How to install plugins on WordPress
Plugins take the core functionality of WordPress to a new level. You can turn your site into an online store, improve your website’s Search Engine Results Pages “SERP” rankings, and do so much more through plugins that add such capabilities.
Installing WordPress plugins is easy. On your WordPress dashboard, hover over ‘Plugins’ then select ‘Add New’. Use the search bar to look up a feature you’d want such as ‘ecommerce’. Results will be displayed based on criteria such as popularity. Go over the plugin details, checking stats such as user reviews, overall ratings and features to decide if it meets your needs.
If the plugin doesn’t work as well as you’d like, go to the Plugin option and select ‘Installed Plugins’. Scroll until you find it from the list and select the ‘Deactivate’ option next to it. You can also opt to delete unused plugins by checking the boxes next to them and clicking on ‘Bulk Actions’ then ‘Delete’ and then ‘Apply’.
