How to Build a WordPress Website with Elementor

How to Build a WordPress Website with Elementor

Last modified: May 1, 2023

Cloudways

Building a website is not something that is exclusively done by website developers, those with graduate degrees or years of experience. Numerous applications and software packages allow anyone to build a website. All you need to do is know how to do it. Therefore, in this article, we will tell you how to build a WordPress website with Elementor.

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Why Build a WordPress Website with Elementor?

There are numerous reasons why you would want to build a WordPress website with Elementor. For one, WordPress is a free CMS system that allows you to host any kind of website. You can build a personal website for the family, or you can build a complex eCommerce business that allows you to generate millions in revenue.

While WordPress on its own is very simple, it can be customized with free and premium plugins and themes that allow you to adjust the style, look, and function of the website. For instance, there are SEO plugins, gallery plugins, eCommerce plugins, and other plugins that can improve functionality.

One of the best plugins that can be used for your website is Elementor. It is one of the most effective plugins for designing your WordPress website. What it does is take your basic theme and then allow you to drag and drop design elements to make your website look unique.

Numerous elements can be added to your website and you can design any page from the front page to your website’s product pages. Elements you can add include portfolios, contact us elements, text, images, reCaptcha, and more.

The basic Elementor plugin is very flexible and also good. However, there is also the Elementor Pro. The upgrade adds new features, premium options, and more control. In addition, there are Elementor extension plugins you can use which can be more cost-effective, but there are downsides to using free Elementor extensions such as:

  • If the developer stops working on the plugin, it can make it useless in future releases of Elementor.
  • There can be speed issues.
  • Support can be limited with free plugins, so if there is a problem, you might need to hire a developer.
  • Compatibility issues between the new plugin with themes and other plugins.

However, that doesn’t mean that they can’t be useful for your website-building project.

How to Build a WordPress Website with Elementor

Building a WordPress website with Elementor is very easy and simple. All you need to do is to follow these steps. We’ve included lots of tips and hints to help you get the most out of your website.

Step 1 - Buy Domain

The first thing that you need to do is to buy your domain. A domain is the address of your website, like the address for your home. It is the written text that a user can enter into their browser to get to your website.

Many website owners have lots of domains that they own, but then they point to one domain. Usually, this is to prevent others from using a similar name to get traffic from users who aren’t entering the right domain.

For instance, you could have the domain that is example.com. However, users might enter example.us or example.co and if someone else bought those domains and used them, they would get the traffic.

Therefore, people tend to buy the domain they want with all the TLD they can (i.e. .com, .org, .net, etc.).

Domains can’t technically be bought. They are registered for a set period, after which you would need to reserve them again. Typically you can reserve a domain name for about one year to two years. There are sometimes options to register a domain for 3-5 years or even up to 10 years. But this is rare.

Tips for Domain

There are numerous tips for buying a domain that you might want to think about. For example, here are some of the tips that you might want to consider.

  • Keep the domain short. The shorter the domain the easier it is for the audience to remember.
  • Consider keywords for your industry. Using good keywords within the domain, you will find that your website traffic will increase.
  • You should register as many TLDs as you can. The more TLDs that you register and redirect, the more protected your traffic is.
  • Reduce the chance of typos within your content. For example, keep the domain short, don’t have complicated words, and try to avoid having the same letter appear more than twice next to each other in the domain.
  • Don’t get your domain to resemble another brand in the industry.

Step 2 - Choose Hosting

Websites need a server, or a computer, to be active and visited by users. You can buy your server and host the website yourself, but this can be more expensive. Another option is to use a hosting service.

Numerous hosting services are available across the world. You have such a wide range of hosting as well. There is shared hosting, VPS, dedicated servers, cloud hosting, and more. And some are specific such as green energy hosting, WordPress hosting, and others.

What you need to do is choose the host that is going to help you have the best website. You need something that provides you with a mixture of speed, ease of use, cost, and other elements. Hosting is paid on an annual or monthly basis.

Sometimes hosts can offer you the domain at the same time, but this ties you to the host, and if something goes wrong, then you can find it challenging to move the domain.

Tips for Hosting

There are many tips for choosing a host. Here are some of the things that you will need to consider for your business’ next hosting.

  • Numerous platforms offer shared hosting. This can be very slow for loading times and loading times are very important, with brands suffering a 7% reduction in revenue for every second loading.
  • Cloudways offers a very effective cloud hosting system at a reasonable cost.
  • Those on a budget should look at cloud hosting or VPS.
  • Look at reviews of all hosting platforms.
... and Scan WP's recommended WordPress theme is... Astra (Click to try)

Step 3 - Install WordPress

The next step that you’ve got to do is to install WordPress. WordPress is the best software package for you to use because the base software is free. What you tend to get is that you will have a one-click install option on many hosting packages. This will allow you to have a WordPress website up and running, sometimes within 10-20 minutes.

In addition to the installation of the WordPress core software, they will sometimes allow you to have premium or other plugins that can help you run your website. Normally included are elements such as JetPack and spam protection.

Be sure to check what you get with your download.

Step 4 - Finish Off WordPress Installation

Once the WordPress software has been installed on your website, you will be provided with an email. This email will include the first login information for your website. You follow this link and it will allow you to finish the setup of your website. Part of this will include the logging-in information for your website.

After this, you will be taken through the basic information for your website. You will be asked about the name of the website, information about what you do, and address. There might also be offers for certain aspects of the website.

It should take just a few minutes, perhaps up to 20 minutes, to complete the work. There is no personal information sent to other parties.

Once you’ve completed the process you will be taken to the main dashboard of the website. The backend part of the WordPress website is very simple. There is a menu down the left side of the screen that will include options for you.

Step 5 - Choose a Theme

Now you need to choose a generalized theme for your website. There are lots of options including themes that are specific to certain aspects. For example, you could have a theme that is designed for car showrooms or one that is designed for social media sites.

Choosing a theme can take some time. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t easy. Themes can cost a small amount, like $50-$100 or they can be free. You do get some free themes with WordPress, but these are very basic and you will want to upgrade soon.

Because you’re going to use Elementor, you’re not looking to choose the design, but rather the color scheme and other elements for your business website.

Step 6 - Install Elementor

Now you need to consider installing Elementor on your website. There aren’t a lot of steps when it comes to installing Elementor on WordPress. All you need to do is find the ‘Plugins’ on the left-side menu. Then when you open this up you need to click on the option to ‘Add New’.

Once you’re in the ‘New Plugin’ menu, you need to enter the search bar, which is located near the top of the page ‘Elementor’. Then Elementor will appear in the options below. You can then install and activate the plugin.

You can also upgrade and activate Elementor Pro, which will offer you lots of options.

You might also want to register for the Elementor website, which will give you access to all the templates that can speed up the website-building experience for you.

Other Plugins that can be Useful

Numerous plugins can be helpful. For example, you might want to use these plugins for your website:

Yoast SEO – For helping your website rank on Google and other search engines.

WooCommerce – For building an eCommerce website.

Tidio – Live chat features for your website.

Modern Events Calendar Lite – Showcase upcoming events for people to book.

Smart Slider 3 – Create sliders that allow you to showcase products and services at the top of your screen in a simple format.

Step 7 - Create a Page

Now you need to create a page for your website. Creating a page on Elementor is very simple. All you need to do is to go to the ‘Pages’ section on the left-hand menu. Then ‘Add New’. What you can do then is use an Elementor template to create the design of your website.

Once you’ve selected the template you can make changes to the template. Just open up the Widget menu, find the widget you want to use, and then drag and drop it into the correct position on the screen.

Once the element is on the page, you can make changes to your element. All widgets have different requirements and options, so explore what you can do.

Remember that you want to have the most important elements on your website at the top of the page, above the fold. This is where your audience will spend most of their time. Half of the audience won’t go below the website.

Step 8 - Create a Blog Post

Now you need to create blog posts. The same process as pages apply to the blog post, but you’re going to the ‘Posts’ section instead of pages. Blogging is vital. The more content that you publish, the quicker and higher you will rank on Google and other search engines.

Blogs should be between 800 and 1250 words ideally. And you should not be solely on the content, but rather more informative for your audience. Remember to add lots of links in blog posts, this can help with ranking and reduce the bounce rate of your website.

All blog posts should include at least one image. The image should have the same metadata as the keyword for the blog post.

Final Word: How to Build a WordPress Website with Elementor

Above are the instructions on how to build a WordPress website with Elementor. It is a rather simple process on the basics. However, there are some complex operations you can learn to take your website to the next level. For instance, you can learn how to duplicate a page on Elementor or change the header for your WordPress website. Good luck with your new website.

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