How To Build a WordPress Website Using Astra Pro and Cloudways Hosting

If you’re planning to build your first website, don’t be put off by technical terms or perceived complexity.

It’s actually very easy to build a WordPress website and we’ll show you how.

The Brainstorm Force team has built hundreds, perhaps thousands of websites over the years. We created the Astra WordPress theme, the Spectra page builder, the SureCart eCommerce plugin and many more web-based products.

We have the skills, knowledge and experience to help you start your website building journey!

In this article, we’ll show you step by step how to create a stunning WordPress website that perfectly suits your business using the Astra Pro theme and Cloudways hosting.

Are you ready to build a website?

Building Your First Website

Trust us when we say, anyone can build a WordPress website. All you need is some readily available tools and services and a little time and patience.

We recommend:

• Hosting: Cloudways
• Domain name: Namecheap
• Platform: WordPress
• Theme: Astra Pro
• Plugins: Spectra, Schema Pro, Yoast SEO, Convert Pro, W3 Total Cache, Contact Form 7

With these in hand, you’ll be able to create a responsive website in just a few hours!

Why Choose Cloudways To Host Your Website?

Some of the many reasons why we suggest Cloudways as your hosting service include:

Ease of Use

Cloudways has a straightforward signup process that walks you through setting up, installing WordPress and Astra, and getting your website up and running.

The interface is simple, everything is easy to find and use and there’s support available if you need it

Managed Hosting

Managed hosting is where the host takes care of server maintenance, security, backups, and other technical tasks for you.

That gives you the time and space to fully focus on building and promoting your website, while Cloudways handles everything else.

Scalability

Is your hosting provider capable enough to provide the resources to help your website gain popularity? Can they offer more resources as you grow?

Cloudways offers scalable hosting services that grow alongside you. Start small and grow big without having to change web hosts or move your website.

Reliability

Reliability is key for any website. That’s even more true if you’re building a business website or online store.

You have a right to expect a minimum of 99.9% uptime, along with backups, 24/7 monitoring and customer support to help you if you ever need it.

Performance

Speed plays a major role in customer satisfaction. That’s why we always recommend working with a web host that offers performance guarantees.

Cloudways offers features like a built-in content delivery network (CDN) and advanced caching. Both help improve your website’s load times and overall performance.

Overall, if you’re looking for a reliable and user-friendly hosting provider that offers managed hosting, scalability, and top-notch performance then Cloudways is a great option.

How To Create a WordPress Website With Cloudways

As promised, we’ll now show you how to create a WordPress website. Follow along and by the end, you’ll have a fully functioning website!

Step 1: Sign Up for Cloudways Hosting

Web hosting is where you rent server space and set up your website so it’s available to the public.

Astra’s partnership with Cloudways offers an Astra Pro theme for free!

What’s more, you can install WordPress and Astra when setting up your hosting plan so there’s less work to do. This is what we call the combination of excellent benefits!

There are many plans available starting from as less as $14 per month.

Step 2: Select a Domain Name

A domain name is the www name you type into your browser to get to a website.

It forms part of your brand and it’s the name your audience will see every time they search for you on Google or any other search engine.

A few domain name registrars we recommend are:

• NameCheap
• SiteGround
• Domain.com
• Bluehost
• HostGator
• DreamHost

To purchase a domain name: Visit the domain registrar, enter your desired domain name and press search

If the domain has already been registered, you’ll view a ‘not available message’

If the domain is available, you can purchase it

Prices vary depending on the registrar and TLD. The TLD, Top Level Domain, is the .com, .net., .org at the end of your name. Some are more expensive than others.

During the checkout process, you’ll be asked to add a few additional pieces of information about yourself and your company.

Then, it’s all done!

Step 3: Install Astra Pro With One Click

If you buy the Asta Pro partnership plan, you can skip this step as Astra is automatically pre-installed for you.

For completeness, let’s show you how to install Astra on your Cloudways account, just in case:

• Click on the Grid and select Add-ons

• Navigate to Astra in the list and click edit

• Next, you will be prompted to subscribe to the Astra Pro addon. Review the details and click on Subscribe button

Step 4: Launch WordPress

If you select the Astra Pro Bundle as your application, the system will automatically install WordPress.

The Astra Pro Bundle is a Cloudways-optimized WordPress application with the theme included.

• Select the geographical location where most of your customers will be based. (I’ve selected New York for the example website)
• Click Launch Now

There are also options to name your app, server, and project, but it’s not an issue if you leave everything else as it is.

The Astra powered WordPress application will be installed and you should be presented with a success screen.

It’s now time to connect your domain name with your hosting plan.

Step 5: Connect Your Domain Name to Cloudways

Now we need to point your domain name to your new WordPress website so people can find it.

As your domain name and hosting plan are in two different places but work together, each will need to know how to find the other.

That’s what we need to tackle now.

To connect your domain name with your web host:

• Head to Applications > Domain Management > Add Domain > Three dot menu > Make Primary

This allows your hosting server to know what the domain is and respond when it receives a request for it.

Similarly, you will have to tell your domain where the hosting is. For this, you’ll need the IP address.

• You’ll find it in Cloudways > Applications > Access Details > Public IP

• Copy the IP address and head to your domain account > Domain List > Manage > Advanced DNS > Add New Record

We use Namecheap here but the process should look very similar whoever you use for your domain.

And add these 2 records:

1. A record:
   • Host/Name: @ or blank.
   • Value/Target: The IP address you’ve just copied.
   • TTL: Automatic/Default
2. CNAME record:
   • Host: www
   • Value: your domain name (e.g. nameofyourstore.com)
   • TTL: Leave default

Make sure to save the changes once complete.

It takes around 24 – 48 hours to propagate across the internet. Once complete, the foundation of your WordPress website is ready!

Step 6 Access Your WordPress Website

Now you have a domain and web host set up, you can now create a website!

You can access the private admin panel from yourdomain.com/wp-admin.

On your Cloudways account, you will find access to the admin URL in the Access Details tab.

Upon clicking the URL link you’ll be redirected to the admin login page.

Enter your username and password and log in to your WordPress website. You will have received these credentials when you set up WordPress.

Now you can log in and explore your WordPress website.

Check Appearance > Themes from the dashboard of your WordPress website to make sure Astra is installed and activated.

Step 7: Install the Starter Templates Plugin

With the Starter Templates plugin, you can unlock the professionally designed templates you can install and use as you like.

You can browse through 240+ website templates and select the one that best fits your needs. Niches range from eCommerce to LMS to business. There are templates for all the businesses you can think of!

Install the plugin on your website:

• Head to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress dashboard
• Search for Starter Templates

• Install and Activate the plugin

Step 8: Install a Template and Customize Your Website

Next we’ll need to install a readymade template and customize it to fit your brand.

• Head to Appearance > Starter Templates

• Click on Build Your Website Now button to get started

• Select the page builder you want to use

• Select a template you like the look of from the options

Once you decide upon which template to use, select it.

Here, we will select the Love Nature template.

Once the template loads, you’ll see the homepage on the screen with some options on the left.

Those options form part of the setup wizard that will help get you started.

• Start by uploading a logo if you have one

If you don’t have one, select the Skip & Continue button. You can upload it later if you want to.

• Select the colors and fonts for your website. You can change them later if you like

Lastly, enter information about yourself to help us understand who uses our templates.

Check the boxes underneath as required to install optional plugins and import settings.

Once the import process is complete, you’ll see a Congratulations page.

• Click the Visit Your Website button to preview your website

The demo imports all the default pages and posts but you’ll need to customize it and update it with your information like contact details, website name, logo, and so on.

To customize your website: Click on the Customize option at the top of your website or head to Appearance > Customize from the dashboard

When it comes to customization, there are no fixed ways or steps to follow.

You’re free to make changes, add or remove pages or posts and customize the theme however you like.

However, there are a few mistakes you can avoid when designing your website.

Step 9: Install Necessary WordPress Plugins

You can think of plugins like apps on your phone. If you want to add or enhance any WordPress feature on your website, there’s a plugin for that.

The following plugins are what we consider must-haves for your website!

Spectra

Spectra is a free WordPress page builder plugin to help you customize your WordPress website. The plugin works perfectly with the WordPress block editor and adds blocks, patterns and wireframes to help you build pages.

You can add elements like forms, star ratings, animations, and more to create an unforgettable user experience.

Spectra is built with our theme theme in mind, making it a perfect companion for Astra-powered WordPress sites.

Schema Pro

If you want your business to be recognized by search engines using structured data, Schema Pro is the plugin for you.

The plugin helps add schema to pages to help Google better understand what they are about and increase your chances of featuring in rich snippets.

Yoast SEO

Yoast is a leading WordPress SEO plugin ideal for any website. The plugin offers lots of core tools to help you optimize your website for search engines.

It covers all the basics from XML sitemaps to adding metadata to posts and pages. It’s a great SEO plugin to optimize content for keywords, metadata and works with schema.

Convert Pro

If you want to gain subscribers and increase conversion on your WordPress website, Convert Pro is the plugin for you.

It’s an intelligent engagement plugin that helps you build opt-in lists to engage and grow your business.

It offers a drag and drop form builder to create opt-in forms and deploy them on your website. There are multiple pre-built designs to select from, making it as easy as possible to attract subscribers.

W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is a plugin designed to speed up your WordPress website. As speed is so important on the web, the faster a page loads, the happier the visitor is.

It can minify JavaScript and CSS, cache copies of your pages and perform other tricks so your pages load quicker for visitors.

The plugin is very simple to use and works with mobile AMP files too.

Contact Form 7

Contact Form 7 is a very useful WordPress plugin if you want to use forms on your website. The plugin is popular for being very easy to use.

It offershas a drag and drop form builder to help you customize existing forms or create your own. It also has a library of default forms that can be enough for many websites.

Astra’s Partnership With Cloudways

Astra is proud to partner with a reliable web host like Cloudways. The company has the same priorities as us, to deliver fast, reliable websites you can be proud of.

Benefits of the partnership include:

Easy Installation and Setup

WordPress and Astra are easy to install and configure, but work with Cloudways and it’s all done for you. You can quickly set up your website and get on with building.

24/7 Support

Astra’s support team is available round the clock to assist with any issues you may encounter. Cloudways also offers dedicated support, should you need it.

Astra and Cloudways FAQs

Wrapping Up

Astra is a popular WordPress theme that is lightweight, fast, and highly customizable. It offers a range of customization options that allow you to design literally any type of website.

Cloudways is a cloud hosting platform that allows you to host your website on a range of cloud infrastructure providers such as AWS, Google Cloud, and DigitalOcean.

Cloudways provides managed hosting services, which means that they handle the server management, security, and optimization of your website, so you don’t have to.

When used together, Astra Pro and Cloudways can provide a powerful solution for building a fast, reliable, and highly customizable WordPress website!