How to Create a WordPress.com website? (4 Easy Steps)

Why do you need to know ‘How to create a WordPress.com website’?

Creating a website has never been so easy. But WordPress has made it so simple over the years.

You don’t need to know how to code a website or hire a web developer. And most importantly, you don’t need money to start a website.

Seriously, it’s that simple.

And that’s WordPress for you.

Are you ready to create a free website with WordPress.com?

Oh yeah! Let’s get started.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is a CMS (Content Management Solution). And that narrows down our question to,

What is Content Management Solution?

It is software or an application or whatever you call it. You install it right onto your server. And after that, you are not going to worry about your server. You are just going to work on the content alone. The CMS will act as an intermediate between your content and the server.

Since the CMS does so much and gives you ample time, you can work peacefully on content, bringing out the best of you.

And WordPress is such a powerful CMS and website platform that the world is looking for.

Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org

There is a more significant difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Although they mean, they are not the same.

WordPress.org is open-source software that allows you to create a soft-hosted website. To create a website with WordPress.org, all it takes is to register a domain, point it toward your hosting, download your WordPress software, and install WordPress on the server. You would have created a website with empty content.

But WordPress.com is a hosted version of this open-source software. You don’t have to do all the work on registering domains, getting hosting, and installing WordPress. It is all pre-made. You must go to the WordPress.com site, register your account for free, choose a sub-domain name, and your website with empty content is ready.

All your pain points with creating and managing a self-hosted site are taken care of.

And that’s why we always recommend that beginners go with WordPress.com if they are not serious about blogging/building a website.

Similar Read: Best Free and Almost Free Hosting Companies For Non-Profits

4 Steps to create a WordPress.com website

I hope you are now ready to create a website at WordPress.com. Let’s get started.

Step1: Visit the WordPress.com website

The first step is to visit the WordPress.com website.

Okay, now you would have landed up at the WordPress.com homepage. Click the Start your Website button.

Step 2: Creating your WordPress.com account

Now, the next step is to create your WordPress.com account. You can use your email address / Gmail account / Apple account for sign up.

Step 3: Choosing a domain name

Since we are creating a free website with WordPress.com, we will be allowed to use a subdomain of WordPress.com.

If you are serious about creating this website for your client, for an event, or want an online store, or something like that, you will need a domain name.

To use domain names, you need to upgrade your paid membership.

For this tutorial, I chose freewebsite421505780.wordpress.com (subdomain) as my domain name.

Step 4: Choose the hosting plan.

WordPress.com has got five different hosting plans available. They are:

1. Free
2. Personal
3. Premium
4. Business
5. eCommerce

Let’s compare the five plans:

Feature	Free	Personal	Premium	Business	eCommerce
Jetpack Essential Features*	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Pre-Installed SSL Certificate	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Free Domain for One Year		✓	✓	✓	✓
Email & Basic Chat Support		✓	✓	✓	✓
Storage Space	3 GB	6 GB	13 GB	200 GB	200 GB
Free Themes	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Installing WordPress Plugins				✓	✓
Premium Themes			✓	✓	✓
Payments		✓	✓	✓	✓
Automated Backup				✓	✓
eCommerce Features					✓

* The Jetpack’s essential features include adding contact forms, email subscriptions, comments, etc.

And now, it is done. You have officially created a free website at WordPress.com.

Your WordPress dashboard will look like this.

This is what the front page of the site I created for this tutorial looks like.

I Have Created a Website; What’s Next?

I have just shown you how to create a WordPress.com website in 4 easy steps.

Creating a website has just looked like a cakewalk for you. But you haven’t completed your site. You will have to complete the Site Setup List.

Site Setup List:

• Giving your website a name
• Creating a Navigational site menu
• Update your Homepage with content
• Launch your website
• And finally, download the WordPress.com app to manage your website through a smartphone.

Even after you complete the site setup list, If you look around your website, you will understand that your website lacks content.

Content is the King for any website.

So go ahead and start adding content for your website. If you are a newbie Writer or Author, check out the following resources to help you out.

• How to Become a Professional Writer? (8 Simple Steps)
• 100+ Best Blogging Tools for Beginners and Experts to Manage Blogs Effectively (2020)
• How To Embed Google Docs Files Inside WordPress?
• 7 Headline Generators for Writing Success
• How To Start a Blog In India and Make Money From It?

These resources will help you get started with writing content. Once you start adding content to your website, you will need to find ways to drive traffic.

And in this context, driving traffic means driving visitors to your site.

Here are some resources to help you get traffic to your blog posts

• 9 Tactics to Promote Your Blog Content on Facebook
• How to get traffic to my blog for free?
• 13 Reasons why you need to use eBooks for Lead Generation

And over the period, you should be considering Search Traffic as your Primary Traffic Channel.

Recommended Article: Best CDNs for Images Compared (Editor Picks)

Should You Upgrade Your Free Plan?

Mostly, it is a question that many readers are looking for.

You will consider moving to the next level when your website has grown to a reasonable level.

At this point, you will have two options to consider.

• Move on to a self-hosted WordPress website.
• Upgrading to a premium WordPress plan.

My Opinion:

If you are comfortable with using WordPress.com, then consider upgrading to the Premium Plan. But, if you are looking for more features, you must move to a self-hosted WordPress website.

You won’t have difficulty migrating to WordPress.org because the user interface will look more or less similar.

Frequently Asked Questions on using WordPress.com.

There are some common questions asked by new users of WordPress.com. I have managed to compile a list of such problems.