Guides
WordPress guides, in plain English
Step-by-step help with starting a WordPress website, building and installing themes, keeping everything updated and backed up, and fixing problems when they happen.
Start a website
Choosing hosting, picking the right kind of WordPress, installing it and the settings to change on day one.
01
How to Start a WordPress Website: A Step-by-Step Guide
Seven steps from no website to a live WordPress site: a domain, hosting, installing WordPress, choosing a theme, adding your pages…
02
Choosing WordPress Hosting in the UK: What to Look For
What WordPress needs from a host, the main types of hosting, and the questions to ask before you pay.
03
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: What's the Difference?
WordPress.org is free software you install on your own hosting. WordPress.com is a commercial service that hosts WordPress for you. Here is…
04
10 Settings to Change After Installing WordPress
Ten settings that are quick to change on a new WordPress site, and fiddly to fix once it is live.
Build a theme
How themes work, how to install one from a .zip, and how to make one of your own, with or without code.
05
How to Install a WordPress Theme from a .zip File
Upload a theme .zip in a couple of minutes, install it by FTP if the upload fails, and fix the errors that most often get in the way.
06
Block Themes vs Classic Themes: Which Do You Need?
Block themes are edited visually in the Site Editor; classic themes use PHP templates and the Customizer. Here is how they differ and which…
07
How to Make Your Own WordPress Theme: 3 Ways
Three routes to a theme of your own: an online theme builder, designing in the Site Editor and exporting, or writing the files by hand.
08
What's Inside a WordPress Block Theme?
A tour of the files in a block theme: which two are required, what theme.json does, and how templates, parts and patterns fit together.
09
WordPress Child Themes Explained: When You Need One
A child theme keeps your code changes safe when the parent theme updates. Here is how they work, when you need one and when you don't.
Maintain your site
Updating WordPress, plugins and themes without breaking anything, backing up properly, and a routine that keeps your site healthy.
10
How to Update WordPress Plugins Safely
A safe routine for plugin updates, when to turn on auto-updates, and exactly what to do if an update breaks your site.
11
How to Update a WordPress Theme Without Losing Changes
Which customisations survive a theme update and which don't, plus three ways to update a theme safely.
12
How to Back Up a WordPress Site Properly
A WordPress backup has two parts: the files and the database. Here is how to back up both, how often, where to keep the copies and how to…
13
How to Update WordPress Safely
Minor and security releases install themselves; major releases need one click. Here is how to update WordPress safely, and what to do if it…
14
The WordPress Maintenance Checklist
The weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly jobs that keep a WordPress site secure, quick and backed up, in one list.
Security, speed and SEO
Keeping your site safe, making it fast, helping people find it, and fixing it when something goes wrong.
15
How to Fix Common WordPress Errors
Plain-English fixes for the critical error message, the white screen, 500 errors, database connection errors, memory errors and more.
16
WordPress Security Basics: 10 Steps That Matter
Ten practical steps, drawn from WordPress's own hardening guide, that protect most sites from most problems.
17
How to Speed Up a Slow WordPress Site
Eight practical fixes for a slow WordPress site, in the order that usually gives the biggest gain for the least effort.
18
WordPress SEO Basics: How to Get Found on Google
What Google itself says matters for search, what WordPress already does for you, and the settings and habits that help people find your…