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By TJ SoftUpdated:

How to Create Your First Website? WordPress Beginner’s Guide.

Jak zrobić swoją pierwszą stronę internetową? WordPress Poradnik Na Start.

Want to create your own website but don’t know where to start? WordPress may seem complicated, but with this guide, you’ll quickly learn how to use it—from purchasing a domain and server, through installing WordPress and choosing plugins and themes, to making your first changes to the website’s appearance.

Fortunately, this content management system (CMS) was designed specifically for people who do not know how to program.

It is one of the most popular tools in the world—more than 40% of all websites run on it, from blogs and sports clubs to major companies’ websites and… the White House. It offers enormous possibilities and flexibility that simpler alternatives such as Google Sites, Carrd, Webflow, or Framer lack. These platforms can be good for getting started, but they have their limitations—I describe them in more detail in a separate article.

Even if you don’t plan to build websites yourself, it’s worth learning the basics of WordPress – this will make it easier to assess costs and understand what you’re really ordering. You’ll also be able to make minor changes and add articles.

Table of Contents

How to start creating a website and using WordPress as quickly as possible (speedrun)

In the following section, you will learn the basic concepts, such as hosting, domains, and themes, as well as the differences between WordPress**.com** and WordPress**.org**—this will make it easier for you to navigate the world of WordPress and feel confident in it. These are important elements to understand if you are considering creating your own website, blog, or online store.

But… if you simply can’t wait and want to launch WordPress and start “clicking around,” I have good news: it can be done faster.

A Fast yet Thorough Approach, Offering Full Capabilities

WordPress is most often installed through the server provider’s (hosting) services. Most of them come with a built-in WordPress installer. In theory, you do not need to have a domain purchased, as hosting providers often allow you to use free domains (except that instead of .pl at the end, you will have, for example, .net.pl or .pfirma). Although the domain itself is not particularly expensive either.

The cost of a domain is PLN 10–15 for the first year and PLN 50–70 for each subsequent year. The cost of hosting (for a small website) is approximately PLN 70–150 per year. There are also promotions offering everything for PLN 1–10 for the entire year. Sometimes, after the first year, the price increases to the regular rate, but some domain and hosting providers significantly raise their prices after the first year (home.pl and nazwa.pl, for example).

WordPress installation varies depending on the hosting provider we use. Please remember that when creating a new website, you should select web applications rather than a blank website (with a blank website, WordPress or other systems must be installed manually).

Choosing a theme and a site builder (a plugin that is a page editor)

Once we have access to the WordPress dashboard, the key task is choosing the right theme. Changing the theme after we have created something on the website generally means having to start everything over. There are ways to create content so that changing the theme does not delete it, and there are also various backup methods, but at the very beginning there is no point in learning about them.

Themes offer various customization options, especially when it comes to the appearance of the banner and menu. Although these elements can often be extended with plugins (as a general rule, the fewer plugins, the better), at the beginning, we should not delude ourselves into thinking that we will be able to set everything up exactly as we want. It is best to adapt to the theme we choose.

The best free themes to get started:

  • Kadence
  • Astra (and the Spectra builder)
  • Kubio (it does the job, but in this case the website footer contains a non-removable link with the theme name)
  • Elementor (more difficult to learn)

The default block editor (Gutenberg) does not work in practice.

In theory, you can start creating a website without installing additional editors (or themes that function as editors); in practice, however, this is not very convenient.

Theme Testing, First Steps:

Each theme has many templates. Some themes are also less intuitive, meaning that to make them look like they do in the preview, we need to configure them. That’s why it’s worth testing how they look and work at the beginning. Sometimes it may be helpful to search for them online or on YouTube.

Simply installing the theme without experimenting with it does not make much sense; it is worth starting by testing what setting up the banner and menu looks like, and checking whether editing two fields is convenient.

A simple graphic design that also works as a backup

WordPress website backups can be made in several ways, e.g. using the WP Vivid Backup plugin. It is useful when we have spent several hours building the website. However, at the very beginning, it is highly useful to simply take screenshots and save them in Canva, preferably together with the text and images. This way, in addition to a backup, we also obtain a graphic design that helps us with the design process.

If we spend, for example, an hour building a website and then break it, with such a manual backup we can restore it in 20 minutes, while generally we can also fix it immediately and make it better.

Without practical knowledge of website development, there is no point in creating complex graphic designs for a website, because not everything we create in Canva can be easily recreated on a website. However, once we learn the main building blocks that make up a website, such designs are a good option for testing different visions for the site.

Prototyping: Gamma app, Google Sites, ChatGPT, and Claude

Google Sites

Using Google Sites, you can create a website directly from Google Drive. Since there is a 99.9999% chance that you already have a Gmail account, you do not need to log in separately to start creating a website. This allows you to conveniently create website prototypes that display properly on computers, tablets, and phones, which is especially useful if you do not want to deal with hosting and so on. Later, this can help you create the final website on WordPress more quickly; you can also connect a purchased domain to such a website. You do not have to pay anything—the website is available in Drive, so you can return to it, for example, after a few months. It is also a good alternative to regular presentations.

Gamma APP

A wonderful AI-powered generator of websites and presentations. In just a few minutes, we can create a visual mockup of a website. This is useful for quickly putting together presentations, and it also gives us a foundation for creating a proper WordPress site. Importantly, websites created in the Gamma app can be edited manually.

ChatGPT

A significant part of working on a website does not involve technical or programming aspects, but rather simply writing text (and selecting graphics). If we already have a description of our company, some copy, or, for example, an offer, we can easily break it down into a series of short paragraphs, together with an introductory lead and title, for use on the website.

Claude serves the same purpose, but it can additionally generate a page along with its preview.

The fastest, cheapest, and simplest way to launch WordPress:

If you don’t want to spend a penny but would like to test how WordPress works, the quickest and simplest way is to use Taste WP. You don’t need to log in at all—just one click gives you access to the WordPress dashboard. The downside is that you only get access for 48 hours. You can extend it by inviting friends or by paying around 4 dollars (PLN 20) per month. If you use a website migration plugin, you can save the results of your work and then upload them to a new website.

Another solution is ZipWP, which offers an AI-powered website content generator (based on the Astra theme). Unfortunately, in this case, we have to create an account, and the site is active for only 24 hours.

Basics

Where to Start—What Are a Domain, a Server, and Hosting?

Before we move on to WordPress itself, you need to understand three basic concepts: domain, server, and hosting.

What is a domain?

A domain is the address of your website on the internet—for example

mojafirma.pl

or

nazwisko.net

. This is the address a user enters in a browser to reach your website. A domain is associated with what is known as an IP address, a string of numbers identifying a particular computer on the network. Since remembering an IP address would be difficult (e.g.

142.250.186.196

), the domain name system was invented. Domain registration is carried out through registrars—companies authorized by the ICANN organization to sell domain names. The domain is paid for annually, and its cost is usually several dozen zlotys.

What is a server and hosting?

A server is a computer that is constantly connected to the internet and stores your website’s files. In theory, you could set up a server in your own home, but in practice it isn’t cost-effective—it would have to be running around the clock and properly secured. That’s why people use hosting companies, which offer exactly that… hosting—that is, renting space on a server.

WordPress Installation

If you already have a domain and hosting, it’s time to move on to the most important step – installing WordPress. With most hosting providers, the installation is extremely simple and involves clicking the “Install WordPress” button in the customer panel. If this option is not available for some reason, you can manually download the system from the official website wordpress.org, and then upload the files to the server via FTP.

Once the installation is complete, you will receive login credentials for the administration panel. This is where you will manage the entire website—adding content, changing its appearance, installing plugins, and much more.

WordPress.org and WordPress.com – a distinction that in practice does not matter.

It is important not to confuse WordPress.org with WordPress.com. The latter is a ready-made hosting solution with limited capabilities—it is more like a blog builder than a standalone environment. It is also quite expensive and restricted. In general, it is not cost-effective. WordPress.com offers a free version with a banner advertising WordPress at the very top of the page, but the free version is so limited that it is not suitable for testing themes.

In practice, however, this does not matter at the very beginning—we install WordPress through the hosting provider, so we do not actually need to visit either the WordPress.com or WordPress.org website at all.

If we want to install WordPress manually, it can be downloaded from the WordPress.org website.

On this page, you will also find guides on WordPress.

.

First Look at the WordPress Administration Panel

After logging in to your site’s back end, you will see the so-called Dashboard. It is the WordPress command center—from there, you can manage every aspect of your site. On the left, there is a sidebar with the most important tabs: Pages, Posts, Media, Appearance, Plugins, Users, Settings, and more.

In the center of the screen there is a workspace where specific tools appear, depending on the selected option.

Sometimes, when installing WordPress through the hosting provider’s website, we also install other plugins by default.

It’s worth knowing that the appearance of the dashboard may vary—it depends on the installed themes and plugins. If you’re using an online guide and see a different layout than the one in your dashboard, don’t worry—the functionality remains similar.

In practice, this distinction is not very important, but it helps when using the guides.

Themes – the foundation of a WordPress website’s appearance.

Appearance → Themes

Every WordPress website operates based on a theme. A theme is a collection of files and settings that determines the website’s overall appearance—including its colors, layout, fonts, headings, and many other details. Some themes offer extensive customization options, while others are more rigid.

.

To change the theme, go to Appearance → Themes, then click “Add New”. You can use the free WordPress directory or upload your own file

.zip

with a theme downloaded from the internet.

It is worth remembering that a theme ≠ a template. In WordPress terminology, a theme is the entire visual system, while a template (or pattern) is a ready-made layout for an individual page or section that you can fill with content.

.

How to Choose a Good Theme?

When choosing a theme, most people are guided by its appearance and price. However, it is also worth considering other factors:

  • is editing the site in this theme convenient?
  • is the theme compatible with editors (e.g. Elementor, Spectra, Kadence Blocks)?
  • what are the customization options for the menu, header, and footer?
  • how fast does the site perform?
  • what does the free version offer, and what does the paid version offer?

Changing the theme on an existing website can be difficult – you often have to set everything up again from scratch. That’s why it’s worth testing a few themes at the beginning and choosing the one that best suits your needs.

The Best WordPress Themes for Beginners: Kadence and Astra

In the “speedrun” section, I discussed the best themes for learning WordPress. Both are fully functional, and we can use them to create a website that does not contain built-in links advertising the given theme.

The Astra theme is better to start with because setting up the menu is easier in it. However, the Kadence theme is better if we want to achieve a good visual result easily.

After installing a theme, we need to activate it. We may have several installed themes, but only one of them can be active.

Motif vs. Template

In WordPress, we often encounter the terms “theme” and “template” — many people use them interchangeably, but in reality they mean different things. A theme is the entire visual and technical environment in which we create a website. It can be compared to a set of building blocks — it contains general appearance settings, such as colors, fonts, and the layout of the header, footer, or menu. The theme determines the visual character of our website and the customization options available to us.

A template, also known as a pattern, is a more detailed element. It refers to the specific layout of a selected part of a website—it may be the appearance of a single post, the “About Us” subpage, a contact section, or a 404 error page. We can reuse such a pattern in different places on the website, filling it with different content. This solution makes work much easier, especially for larger websites where maintaining a consistent layout is important.

When installing a new theme, we immediately receive a set of default templates designed specifically for that theme. This means we do not have to build layouts from scratch—we only need to add our own content. In practice, within a single theme, we can have many different templates intended for different types of pages or sections.

And to make matters even more complicated, many modern themes include a built-in page builder (e.g., Elementor, Spectra, WPBakery) that lets you choose from ready-made page sets created specifically based on templates. Such a set may include a homepage, services, contact, blog, “About Us” page, and others—all with a consistent aesthetic. This allows you to quickly import a ready-made design and adapt it to your needs, but it is also easy to get confused if you do not know exactly what comes from the theme and what is merely one of the layouts available in the builder.

Editors – how to edit a website without knowing code

WordPress’s default editor is the so-called block editor, known as Gutenberg. It allows you to create content using ready-made blocks: text, images, headings, lists, buttons, etc. It can be extended with additional features by installing plugins such as Spectra or Kadence Blocks, which add new blocks and broader capabilities.

An alternative is to use more advanced visual editors, such as Elementor or WPBakery. They work on a “drag-and-drop” basis, allowing you to easily build entire sections of a page without any knowledge of code. Keep in mind, however, that they are standard plugins—although they have a significant impact on the appearance of your site, you install them just like any other plugin.

You can use the editor in several ways: from the Pages tab, by editing posts, or directly from the website—if you are logged in as an administrator, a bar with the “Edit page” option will appear at the top.

."

Two ways to edit the appearance of a WordPress site.

WordPress gives you several options for editing the appearance of your site:

Editing page content

Go to

Strony

, select the subpage you are interested in and click “Edit”. You will be taken to the block editor (or another editor if you install one). Here, you create the layout of the given subpage—you add text, images, buttons, and forms.

“Customize” Option

If you want to change the elements visible on every page (menu, logo, footer), go to

Wygląd → Dostosuj

. You will find global settings there, such as:

  • homepage selection (static page or blog),
  • site title and icon (favicon),
  • menu and its location,
  • header and banner (if supported by the theme).

The scope of what can be changed in the “Customize” option depends on the selected theme—some offer a great deal, while others are limited to only the basic functions.

Some themes also allow you to edit the menu’s appearance directly from the main page editor.

WordPress Plugins

Plugins are one of WordPress’s greatest strengths. With them, you can add virtually anything you need to your website—from simple features to entire online stores. There are thousands of plugins, and most of them are available in a free basic version.

.

Which Plugins Do You Need to Know?

  • Security plugins (e.g., Wordfence) – block unauthorized logins.
  • SEO plugins (e.g., Rank Math) – help optimize content for search engines.
  • Gallery and form plugins (e.g., Contact Form 7, Modula).
  • Plugins that speed up the website (e.g., WP Super Cache).
  • Page builder plugins (e.g., Elementor, Spectra).

Installing plugins is similar to installing themes – simply go to

Wtyczki → Dodaj nową

, enter the name and click “Install”. After installation, you still need to activate the plugin.

Don’t overdo it with the number of active plugins – too many can slow down the site, and some low-quality plugins may pose a security risk.

Getting to Work – Editing Pages, Adding Subpages (WordPress Guide)

Why Do We Always Use the WordPress Page Builder?

.

Most themes have a page builder. If a theme includes both an editor and a builder, we always install it. The result of using such a builder is not (and probably will not be for a long time) satisfactory. Nevertheless, it remains a great help when creating a website, especially when we are learning WordPress.

It’s much easier to edit a website than to create one from scratch. Especially since the website already looks like a website from the start. But that’s not all.

Thanks to the page builder, we gain access to blocks that are generally paid. We can then duplicate these blocks and use them on other subpages.

."""

Using the wizard does not require a more detailed description—that is precisely the purpose of wizards: we do not have to think about what to do. In the case of the Kadence wizard, you only need to remember to select Classic Starter Templates. Unless you want to pay for a theme, in which case AI versions are available.

Adding Subpages

Sidebar – pages (or “pages” if we are using the English version). Here we can add a new subpage.

.

The subpage then needs to be added to the WordPress menu. We do this using the Customize option.

This is one of the more common problems faced by beginner WordPress users. Although adding a subpage to a menu is technically simple, the process itself is not the most intuitive. Many people spend dozens of minutes, and sometimes even several hours, trying to understand what went wrong—often feeling that “WordPress is broken.” Meanwhile, once you know where to click, adding a subpage to a menu takes literally just a few minutes.

The matter is complicated by the fact that sometimes creating a new subpage immediately adds it to the Menu. WordPress works this way if, in the Menu settings, we select the option: “Automatically add new top-level pages.”

We select the Appearance -> Customize option.

Here we have access to the global settings of our website. Select the following option: Menu

.

Here we add subpages to our Menu. If we want to nest them (create subpages within a subpage), we simply move them accordingly using the mouse.

Logo settings

When you hover the mouse over a given element, an option to edit it appears.

.

In a similar way, we gain the ability to edit the footer.

.

Selecting and Configuring the Homepage and Blog in WordPress

Here, we can choose which subpage is the home page, displayed first when a user enters the website. We can also set which subpage serves as the blog.

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What else is worth remembering?

WordPress has a few more hidden features worth mentioning:

  • Do not edit theme files manually if you are not familiar with code. It is easy to damage the website.
  • Take screenshots and save text, especially during the testing stage. Restoring the website will then be easier.
  • Always back up the website, especially before making major changes. You can use the WPvivid plugin or a similar one for this.

Summary

Creating websites in WordPress may seem difficult at first, but after just a few hours of learning, you will start to feel comfortable. The most important thing is to approach it step by step: first understand what a domain and hosting are, then install WordPress, and finally choose the right theme, editor, and a few useful plugins.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. WordPress is an environment created for learning—with time, you’ll discover for yourself what suits you best. .