Free WordPress Course for Beginners: Build Your First Website from Scratch

WordPress is a content management system that allows website owners to create, organise and publish website content through an administrative interface.

Understand these basic pieces

• Domain: the address people use to reach a website.
• Hosting: the server environment where website files and data are stored.
• WordPress: the system used to manage the website.
• Theme: controls much of the site’s visual presentation.
• Plugin: adds or extends website functionality.
• Content: the pages, posts, images and information visitors see.

Learning what each part does makes troubleshooting much easier later because you know where a particular website behaviour is coming from.

The administration area is where you manage content, appearance, users, settings and installed functionality.

Practise locating

• Pages.
• Posts.
• Media.
• Appearance options.
• Plugins.
• Users.
• General website settings.

Avoid changing several settings at once when you are still learning. Make one change, review the effect, and then continue.

Pages and posts are both used to publish content, but they generally serve different purposes.

Use pages for

• Homepage content.
• About information.
• Services.
• Contact information.
• Other important evergreen sections.

Use posts for

• Blog articles.
• News or updates.
• Content organised by categories or dates.

Before creating content, decide whether it belongs in the permanent website structure or in the blog.

A theme provides a visual and structural foundation. Your job is not to change every available setting, but to create a consistent website.

Create a basic visual system

• Choose a primary brand colour.
• Choose readable heading and body typography.
• Use consistent button styles.
• Keep section spacing reasonably consistent.
• Use a clear content width.
• Check layouts on smaller screens.

More effects do not automatically create a better website. Consistency and readability are usually more important.

Plugins add functionality that is not already provided by your WordPress installation or theme.

Examples of plugin purposes

• Contact forms.
• SEO management.
• Security features.
• Backups.
• Performance optimisation.
• Page building.
• E-commerce functionality.

Before installing a plugin

• Identify the exact problem it needs to solve.
• Check whether the feature already exists elsewhere.
• Avoid installing several plugins that perform the same job.
• Remove plugins you no longer need.

Website navigation should help visitors understand where they are and how to reach important information.

A beginner navigation might contain

• Home
• About
• Services or Courses
• Blog
• Contact

Avoid filling the primary navigation with every page on the website. Prioritise the pages visitors are most likely to need.

Internal linking

Pages can also link to relevant pages within their content. This helps visitors continue naturally through the website instead of relying only on the main menu.

Large or unnecessary media files can make a website heavier than it needs to be.

Good media habits

• Use images that actually support the page.
• Resize images appropriately before uploading when possible.
• Use clear file names.
• Add meaningful alternative text where appropriate.
• Avoid uploading many unused versions of the same image.
• Check how media looks on mobile screens.

Website performance depends on several factors, so media optimisation should be treated as one part of a broader maintenance process.

A website should be reviewed as a complete visitor experience before you consider it ready.

Before launch or handover

• Check important pages on desktop and mobile.
• Test navigation links.
• Check buttons and calls to action.
• Review spelling and page content.
• Check forms if the website uses them.
• Make sure important pages are easy to find.
• Review website titles and basic SEO settings.
• Keep themes, plugins and WordPress itself maintained.
• Use an appropriate backup process.

Website building is not finished permanently on launch day. Content, software and business requirements can change, so ongoing review is part of managing a WordPress website.