How to Build a WordPress Website from Scratch

Learning how to build a WordPress website from scratch is one of the skills most in demand among business owners, freelancers and small business (UMKM) owners in Indonesia. WordPress powers 43% of all websites on the internet, more than 810 million sites, for a simple reason: it combines ease of use with almost unlimited flexibility. This step-by-step guide shows you how to build a professional WordPress website from the ground up, even if you have never worked on a website before.

Further reading:

What you need before you start

You do not need any coding skills to build a WordPress website. All you need is:

Domain: your website address (for example businessname.com). Price: Rp 150,000–250,000/year
Hosting: the server where your website files are stored. Price: from Rp 30,000–150,000/month
Time: 2–4 hours on average for the basic setup
Content: a business description, logo, photos and text for the home page

The total cost of building a WordPress website yourself can start at Rp 500,000–800,000 a year for domain and hosting. That costs far less than hiring a website development service, although you will need to put in more time and patience.

Step 1: Register your domain name

Your domain is your business's digital identity, so choose it carefully, because it is hard to change later. Here is how to pick the right domain name:

Tips for choosing a domain name

Short and memorable: ideally 1–3 words and no more than 15 characters
Reflects your brand or business: the domain name should be the same as, or close to, your business name
Choose the right extension: .com for general businesses, .id for businesses targeting the Indonesian market
Avoid hyphens and numbers: they make a domain harder to remember and type
Check social media availability: make sure the same username is free on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook

Trusted domain providers in Indonesia

Hostinger: a domain and hosting provider that many beginners use. Prices for .com and .id domains change often with promotions, so check the latest prices on their site before you buy

Our recommendation: buy your domain and hosting from the same provider, so they are easier to manage and the DNS is configured automatically.

Step 2: Choose and buy WordPress hosting

Hosting is the foundation of your website's performance. Poor hosting means a slow website, a slow website means visitors leave, and visitors who leave mean fewer sales. Do not cut corners here.

Types of hosting you should know about

Shared hosting: the server is shared with thousands of other users. Affordable (Rp 30,000–100,000/month), but performance can be unstable. Suitable for new websites with little traffic
VPS hosting: more dedicated server resources, so it is more stable and faster. Price: Rp 150,000–500,000/month. Suitable for growing businesses
Managed WordPress hosting: servers optimised specifically for WordPress. The best performance, at a premium price ($10–100/month). Example: WP Engine
Cloud hosting: scales automatically with your traffic, and you pay for what you use. Examples: Google Cloud, AWS, DigitalOcean

For a first business website in Indonesia, Hostinger is the best choice: servers in Singapore (low latency for Indonesia), free SSL, NVMe SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth and the easy-to-use hPanel control panel. Hostinger also offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee, while its plan prices change often with promotions.

Minimum hosting specifications for WordPress

PHP version 8.0 or later
MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+
HTTPS/SSL enabled
At least 2GB of SSD storage
A memory limit of at least 256MB

Step 3: Install WordPress from cPanel

Once your domain and hosting are active, it is time to install WordPress. Almost every hosting provider in Indonesia uses cPanel with Softaculous for one-click WordPress installation.

Log in to your hosting cPanel (usually at yourdomain.com/cpanel or through your hosting provider's member area)
Scroll to the “Software” section and click Softaculous Apps Installer
Click the WordPress button and choose Install
Choose the protocol: https:// (make sure SSL is active)
Select the domain you want to install WordPress on
Leave the “In Directory” field empty if you want WordPress on the main domain (not in a subfolder)
Fill in the Site Name and Site Description with your business name and description
Create an Admin Username (do not use “admin”, for security reasons) and a strong Password
Enter an email address you actually use as the Admin Email
Click Install and wait 2–3 minutes
When it finishes, note down your WordPress admin dashboard URL (usually yourdomain.com/wp-admin)

Step 4: Configure the basic WordPress settings

Once you have logged in to the WordPress dashboard (wp-admin), there are a few basic settings to configure before you start designing the site.

General settings (Settings > General)

Site Title: the name of your website or business
Tagline: a slogan or short description of the business (used for SEO)
WordPress Address & Site Address: make sure both use https:// (not http://)
Timezone: choose Asia/Jakarta for Western Indonesia Time (WIB)
Date Format: set it to suit local preferences

Permalink settings (Settings > Permalinks)

Permalinks are the URL structure of your pages and posts, and they matter a great deal for SEO. Choose “Post name” so your URLs are clean and descriptive (for example yourdomain.com/page-name/), rather than uninformative URLs made of numbers.

Delete the default WordPress content

Delete the default “Hello World!” post
Delete the default “Sample Page”
Delete the default spam comment
Deactivate plugins you do not need (Akismet, Hello Dolly)

Step 5: Choose and install a WordPress theme

Your WordPress theme determines how your website looks and how it is laid out. There are thousands of free and premium themes available. Choose one that suits your type of business and the features you need.

The best WordPress themes for 2026

High-quality free themes:

Astra: an extremely lightweight, fast theme with more than 1 million active installations, according to the WordPress theme directory. Ideal for business websites and landing pages
GeneratePress: best-in-class performance, suited to developers and anyone who puts speed first
Kadence: easy to customise and compatible with every page builder
OceanWP: versatile enough for many types of website, with plenty of ready-made demo templates

To install a theme, go to Appearance > Themes > Add New, search for the theme name, then click Install and Activate.

Customising your theme

Once the theme is active, customise it under Appearance > Customize:

Upload your business logo
Set the main colours to match your brand identity
Choose a font that is easy to read
Configure the header and footer
Set a background colour or image

Step 6: Install the essential plugins

Plugins extend what WordPress can do. These are the must-have plugins for a professional business website:

Rank Math SEO: the most complete SEO plugin, covering meta titles, descriptions, schema markup, sitemaps and more. Free, with premium features available
Elementor: the most popular drag-and-drop page builder, for designing pages without code
WP Rocket: the best caching plugin for website speed ($59/year)
Wordfence Security: protection against hackers, malware and brute-force attacks
UpdraftPlus: automatic backups to Google Drive or Dropbox, free of charge
Smush: automatic image compression without sacrificing quality
Contact Form 7 or WPForms: contact forms for landing pages and service pages

Step 7: Create the key pages of a business website

With your theme and plugins in place, it is time to create the page content. A professional business website needs the following pages:

Home page

The home page is a visitor's first impression of you. It should include:

Hero section: a main headline that explains the value of your business in 1–2 sentences, plus a CTA button
Problem and solution: the problem you solve and the solution you offer
Featured services or products: 3–6 main services or products with icons and short descriptions
Social proof: customer testimonials, client logos or the number of satisfied customers
CTA: a clear call to action, such as “Contact Us”, “View Portfolio” or “Order Now”

About Us page

The About page builds trust. Tell the story of your business: when it was founded, who is behind it, what your vision and mission are, and why customers should choose you. Add team photos for a more personal, authentic feel.

Services or products pages

Create a separate page for each main service or product category. This matters for SEO, because each page can be optimised for a different keyword. Include a detailed description, the benefits, pricing (or a price range), how you work and an FAQ.

Contact page

Include your WhatsApp number, email, address (with an embedded Google Map), opening hours and a contact form. A WhatsApp number that visitors can tap to start a chat makes a big difference to conversions, especially in the Indonesian market.

Privacy Policy page

You need this page to comply with regulations, and it also builds visitors' trust. WordPress has a built-in privacy policy generator under Settings > Privacy.

A good navigation menu helps visitors find information easily. Go to Appearance > Menus:

Create a new menu called “Main Menu”
Add the pages you have created: Home, About, Services, Blog, Contact
Arrange the order by dragging and dropping
Create submenus by indenting services that have subcategories
Assign the menu to the “Primary Menu” or “Header Menu” location
Save the menu

Step 9: Basic SEO for your WordPress website

A good website that nobody can find on Google is a wasted investment. Once your website is built, carry out some basic SEO:

Set up Rank Math SEO

Install and activate the Rank Math SEO plugin
Follow the Rank Math setup wizard and connect it to Google Search Console
Enable the Schema Markup feature for your business pages
Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console: yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml

Optimise every page

Focus keyword: choose one main keyword per page and enter it in Rank Math
SEO title: a title that contains the keyword and your brand name (max 60 characters)
Meta description: an engaging description of 150–160 characters that includes the keyword
H1 heading: make sure every page has a single H1 that contains the keyword
Image alt text: add a keyword-relevant description to every image

Step 10: Test and launch your website

Before you announce your new website to the public, test it thoroughly:

Pre-launch checklist

WordPress website pre-launch checklist

SSL is active (https://). The website displays well on mobile. All links work (no 404 errors). The contact form works and notifications arrive. Images load quickly. Google Analytics is installed. Google Search Console is verified. The sitemap has been submitted. The WhatsApp number can be tapped on mobile. Loading time is under 3 seconds (check it in GTmetrix). A favicon has been added. The first backup has been made.

How much does it cost to build a WordPress website?

Cost comparison: doing it yourself vs hiring a website development service

Component	Do it yourself	Hire a service
Domain	Rp 150–250k/year	Included
Hosting	Rp 360k–1.2 million/year (shared hosting)	Included
Premium theme	Rp 400–700k	Included
Setup & design	Your time (10–40 hours)	Included
Premium plugins	Rp 500k–1.5 million	Included
SEO setup	You need to learn it yourself	Included
Total	Rp 1.4–3.7 million plus a lot of time	Rp 2.5–10 million (one-off payment)

The alternative: hire a professional website development service

Building a WordPress website yourself is a good choice if you have the time and want to learn the technical side of websites. But if your time is better spent running your business, hiring a professional website development service is the right investment.

With Webzoo's professional service, you get:

Full ownership of your website's code
A design built to turn visitors into prospective customers
Basic SEO in place from day one
Optimised loading speed
WordPress training for your team
A bug warranty after launch, for the period set out in your contract

References & data sources

WordPress Official Documentation: the official WordPress guide
W3Techs WordPress Usage Statistics 2025
Google SEO Starter Guide

A professional WordPress website for your business

No time to learn from scratch? Webzoo can build your business's WordPress website for you, from domain, hosting and design to basic SEO.

Website development. Bug warranty. SEO optimised. Free website consultation

Free initial consultation, you own the code, and a bug warranty after launch.

How to Build a WordPress Website from Scratch: A Beginner's Guide