Build Your Website with WordPress, Step by Step
Build Your Website with WordPress is a beginner-level course of 5 lessons (about 1 h 20 min), with 15 exercises and 15 quiz questions. No prerequisites. Exercises run in the browser, with nothing to install.
- Websites and CMS
- Beginner
- 5 lessons
- 1 h 20 min
- 15 exercises
- Exercises run in the browser
The course in brief
This course guides you step by step through building a professional showcase website with WordPress, without writing any code. You install and configure the site, choose a theme, build your pages with the block editor, organize menus and media, add the useful plugins, then secure and back up your work. The running example is a neighborhood bakery's website, easy to adapt to a craftsperson or an association.
What you will be able to do
- Install WordPress and set the essential settings (permalinks, homepage, visibility)
- Choose a theme and build pages with the block editor and patterns
- Organize the site structure, menus and lightweight, accessible media
- Plan the Legal Notice and Privacy Policy pages
- Select, install and test the essential plugins
- Secure the site (updates, roles, two-factor authentication) and set up tested backups
Syllabus: 5 lessons
- Distinguish WordPress.org (self-hosted) from WordPress.com (hosted service)
- Install WordPress with a hosting provider and log in to the dashboard
- Set the basic settings: title, tagline, time zone, permalinks and homepage
- 02
Themes and the block editor
- Choose and activate a theme using objective criteria
- Build a page with the block editor (paragraphs, images, columns, buttons, patterns)
- Edit the header, footer and global styles in the site editor
- 04
Essential plugins
- Evaluate a plugin before installing it
- Install the plugins a showcase site needs: form, SEO, cache, backup, anti-spam, consent
- Configure a compliant, tested contact form
- 05
Security and backups
- Apply the basic security measures for a WordPress site
- Assign the right role to each user
- Set up complete, off-site, tested backups
Final project
A neighborhood shop's showcase website
On a test site, build the complete showcase website of a shop or association of your choice (by default: the fictional Boulangerie des Tilleuls). The site must present the business, the products or services, the opening hours and directions, allow visitors to get in touch, and follow the security and backup principles covered in the course.
Deliverables
- A WordPress site with at least 6 published pages (Home, two product or service pages, Contact, Legal Notice, Privacy Policy) and 2 news posts
- A main menu of 4 to 6 entries with a submenu, and a footer menu
- A tested contact form, with information on how data is used
- A synced pattern reused on at least two pages
- A summary sheet: chosen theme and plugins with their justification, accounts and roles, backup plan and date of the restoration test
Assessment criteria
- Correct basic settings: readable permalinks, static homepage, no sample content left
- Clear site structure and a short, mobile-friendly menu
- Images resized, named and given relevant alt texts
- Plugins limited to real needs, each one justified
- Minimal roles, complete off-site backup and a restoration that was actually tested
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to know how to code to follow this course?
No. Everything is done from the WordPress interface: settings, block editor, menus and plugins. The course uses no code at all.
WordPress.org or WordPress.com?
The course follows WordPress.org, installed with the hosting provider of your choice, which gives you complete freedom over themes and plugins. Most of the concepts (blocks, pages, menus) also apply to WordPress.com.
Does the course cover a website's legal obligations?
Yes, in broad terms: legal notice page, privacy policy and cookie consent. It points you to the official sources to consult for your specific situation.
Can I add an online shop afterwards?
Yes. The CMS2 course builds on this one with WooCommerce (or Shopify): catalog, payment, shipping and orders.
This course, told for your job
Say what you want to be able to do: “Build Your Website with WordPress” takes its place in your path, with examples from your field. The concepts stay those of the course.