Launch Your First Website in 10 Minutes Using WordPress, Webflow, and Ghost

Did you ever wonder if you could avoid spending thousands of dollars and build your very own website by yourself? That’s exactly what you’re going to learn today. If fact, I’m going to teach you 3 different ways you can build a fully functional website on your own domain without writing a single line of code, without breaking the bank, and it will only take you around 30 minutes!

Whether you are a new business owner, entrepreneur, or simply want to learn how to build websites, this guide will cover everything you need to know to get started.

Purchase a domain

The first thing that we’re going to need is a domain name.

There are many different providers that you can use to purchase a domain such as GoDaddy and Namecheap. If you want to follow along with this guide we’ll be using Namecheap, but the steps will be similar if you use a different domain registrar.

Steps to purchase your domain name

1. Login or create an account at namecheap.com
2. Search for the domain you want to buy and click “Add to Cart”
3. Click on “Checkout”
4. Add your payment details during the checkout process
5. Click “Pay Now” to complete the transaction

Congratulations, you now have your very own domain for your website!

Method 1: WordPress

For our first method, we are going to use WordPress. WordPress is the most popular content management system on the web.

There are two core principles to know about WordPress:

1. There is the base code for WordPress which controls the functionality of your website and
2. Adding a theme to WordPress controls the look and feel of your website

A good analogy would be to say that WordPress like a house. The base code is like the foundation, framework, electrical, and plumbing whereas the theme is like the paint, décor, furniture and accessories that give the house it’s style. If you don’t like the look of your house, you don’t change the base code, you just change the theme and you have a completely new-looking house!

There are tens of thousands of themes available for you to build the house website of your dreams.

Today, we are going to install WordPress and use its default theme which looks great and is perfect for beginners to get started with.

Hosting options

To build a WordPress website we need a hosting platform where our website will live. There are lots of options when it comes to hosting, but the two that I will recommend today are BlueHost and Flywheel.

BlueHost is one of the more affordable options when it comes to hosting while also providing good service for the money.

Flywheel is my preferred WordPress host because they are dedicated to only hosting WordPress websites. Because of this they are experts at it and provide tremendous value.

For this guide we are going to setup our WordPress website in Flywheel.

Steps to launching a WordPress website with Flywheel

1. Sign in or create a site in Flywheel
2. Click on “Create a New Site”
3. Select a plan by clicking on “Create a Plan”
4. Choose your plan (Tiny) and select whether you want to be billed annually (2 months free/year) or monthly
5. Give your subscription a name
6. Add your credit card information (payment method)
7. Add a subscription billing address
8. Click on “Purchase”
9. Once payment has gone through, you’ll be prompted to add a site name and temporary domain
10. Create a WP admin username and password (this is very important to remember as this is how you’ll log into your site to be able to edit all content on your website)
11. You’ll now be taken to the dashboard for your new site plan, and on the overview tab click on “Add Domain”
12. Add the domain that you purchased from Step 1 of Purchasing a Domain
13. Make sure that “Make yourdomain.com the primary domain” and “Add www.yourdomain.com?” are selected, then click “Next”
14. You’ll be given new DNS records to add in Namecheap (or the registrar of your choice)
15. Log into Namecheap
16. From your dashboard, find the domain you want to use and select “Manage”
17. Select “Advanced DNS”
18. If this is a new domain you can delete all records that you see listed
19. For each record listed in Flywheel, click “Add New Record”, add the type, host, and value to Namecheap
20. Click “Save all changes”
21. Go back to your Flywheel account and refresh the status of your domain until you see the status change to Connected
22. Once the domain in connected, select the 3-dot menu and click “Add SSL Certificate”
23. Use Simple SSL, make sure all site domains are selected and click “Complete SSL Setup”
24. Open a web browser and go to www.domain.com to verify that your site is now live!
25. In the same browser go to www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin and log into your admin area using the username and password that you set up in step 10

Congratulations, you’ve just setup a brand new WordPress website on your very own domain!

Next steps

Once you have your WordPress website running you can experiment with trying different themes and seeing how each of them change the look and feel of your website.

Method 2: Webflow

Webflow is a visual editor and hosting platform all-in-one which gives you the power to create a fully functional website without writing any code. It is right now my absolute favourite tool for building websites and it’s what I use to build sites for all my clients.

Webflow is so easy to get started with that this will take you about 5 – 10 minutes to go from zero to publish. Let’s get started!

For this tutorial we are going to use a free template that I created call Nakedflow. I designed this template to be a minimal starter project that is perfect for getting a simple blog up and running as quickly as possible.

Steps to launch a Webflow website

1. Go to webflow.com to create an account
2. Go to https://webflow.com/made-in-webflow/website/nakedflow and click “Clone in Webflow” to create a new project
3. Click “Create site” and give your new project a name
4. Click “Publish” and then click “Add a custom domain” (Note:  with Webflow, in order to publish a website to a custom domain, a project needs to have a site plan added to it)
5. Select “Upgrade to CMS”
6. Select your billing frequency and add your payment information, then click “Pay now”
7. Click on “Publishing” in the left menu
8. Under Production, click on “Add a custom domain”
9. Select “Manually add domain”
10. You’ll be given new DNS records to update in Namecheap (or the registrar of your choice)
11. Log into Namecheap
12. From your dashboard, find the domain you want to use and select “Manage”
13. Select “Advanced DNS”
14. If this is a new domain you can delete all records that you see listed
15. For each record listed in Webflow, click “Add New Record” and add the type, host, and value to Namecheap
16. Click “Save all changes”
17. Go back to Webflow and click “Check status” and wait until it changes to Connected
18. Once connect you can click “Publish” and select the option to publish to production at your new domain

Next steps

Now that you have a fully functional Webflow website running, you can start learning more about how to edit and create pages and blog posts.

Weblflow has a fantastic introductory course called Webflow 101 which is free to take.

We also are going to be publishing many more tutorials here on this blog which you can subscribe to so you never miss a tutorial.

Method 3: Ghost

Ghost is a fantastic platform that focuses on publishing. I love this platform because of it’s simplicity, ease of use, and it’s ability to help you cultivate and build an online audience. Ghost makes it super easy to blog, host podcasts, write newsletters and sell memberships – without taking a single penny in transaction fees!

Like WordPress, Ghost comes with a nice beautiful theme out of the box and also has professional themes that are also free to choose from.

Steps to launch a Ghost website

1. Go to ghost.org and click on “Get Started – free”
2. Add your name, email address, and password then click “Continue”
3. Add a publication name then click “Continue”
4. Add payment details and click “Start free trial” Note: Ghost will not charge you once the free 14-day trial period is over, you must select a plan to continue after your trial
5. Click on Ghost(Pro) from the left menu then select “Domain”
6. Click on “Setup custom domain”
7. Enter the domain that you want to use with Ghost
8. You’ll be given new DNS records to update in Namecheap (or the registrar of your choice)
9. Log into Namecheap
10. From your dashboard, find the domain you want to use and select “Manage”
11. Select “Advanced DNS”
12. If this is a new domain you can delete all records that you see listed
13. For each record listed in Ghost, click “Add New Record” and add the type, host, and value to Namecheap
14. Click “Save all changes”
15. Go back to Ghost and click “Activate” and wait until it changes to Active

Setting up a new Ghost website might even be faster than with Webflow!

Next steps

From the Ghost dashboard you can experiment with changing the theme of your website. Like WordPress, themes in Ghost change the look and feel of all your content without touching the core functionality.

From your dashboard:

1. Click on the gear icon in the lower left corner
2. Click on “Design & branding” in the left sidebar
3. Click “Customize”
4. Click on “Change theme”
5. Select the theme that you like most and click “Install theme name”

Choosing the right platform

Deciding on the right platform can be a difficult choice, but here are my recommendations based on the type of website you might be looking to build.

Ghost is perfect for websites that are going to be focused on publishing content. If you are creating a newsletter, a news website, or any type of content where you are looking to get subscribers or members than Ghost is the right platform for you.

If you are looking for a simple website where you can easily publish and update content for your business than Webflow is a great option.

WordPress is a bit of a mixed bag and I generally don’t recommend it for complete beginners because of its complexity. However, if you are looking for a really custom website that you know will need lots of customs functionality then going with WordPress and looking at hiring a developer to help might be right for you.

Price summary

Personal Domain — $10 USD / year
WordPress hosting at Flywheel — $130 USD / year
Webflow CMS plan — $276 USD / year
Ghost hosting — $108 USD / year

Frequently asked questions

How hard is it to build my own website?

The short answer: it isn’t difficult to build your own website when you use pre-built themes. Building websites can get complicated when the features you or the look of your site doesn’t come built-in in the theme you choose. That’s when you have to decide if you want to spend the time learning how to design or develop, or if you want to hire someone to do it for you.

What are some popular website builders?

Popular website builders include Webflow, Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, and Ghost.

Are there any hidden costs when it comes to having my own website?

Generally, you only have two costs: an annual fee for your domain and hosting charges. Additional costs can come in the form of hiring designers, developers, or exceeding the limitations on your initial hosting plan (often this will be a good thing because it means you’re getting lots of website traffic, congrats).

Conclusion

Building your own website is important to developing an online presence for your business and it’s clear that if you are willing to put in a little effort you can follow this guide to get started with your own website today.

When choosing which platform you want to launch your website on, consider factors such as how often you’ll need to update your site, what type of content you’ll be publishing, what type of functionality it will need to have, and how much time and/or resources you can invest in customizing it.

This guide can help you get started with a new website today.