How To: Create a Free Wordpress.com Site
Wordpress began as Wordpress.org, a content management system (CMS) in 2003. It was intended to be a completely free and open-source way to publish web blogs. At that point in time, broadband internet service, which had first become available in the mid-1990s, was being installed in an increasing number of households, and personal computers were more and more common to have in homes, due to the mass marketing of Dell PCs and Apple’s iMacs, and this led to what sometimes felt like exponential growth in people having personal blogs. With just a domain of their own and an installation of Wordpress.org’s blog-publishing system, you suddenly had a way to create a personal website or blog without much prior knowledge of coding or web architecture.
Blogs became so popular, in fact, that Wordpress launched its own platform for self-publishing blogs and websites: Wordpress.com. Wordpress.com is a freemium service where people can create a blog or website; you can create a completely free blog, but you can also pay for upgrades that give you access to additional features.
Because Wordpress.com is a freemium service, they try really hard to get people to purchase an upgraded account, or a unique domain to use for their website. And this can make trying to sign up for an account confusing or frustrating. But it doesn’t have to be! Here is a demonstration of how you can sign up for a completely free account on Wordpress.com. There are just three steps!
First, of course, you want to go to http://www.wordpress.com. You’ll start at their landing page, where the big blue button in the middle (“Start your website”) will take you to the first step in the process.
Step 1: Create an account at Wordpress.com
Here’s where you’ll create your Wordpress.com account. You can use an existing Google or Apple account, or create a new account with Wordpress.
If you’re creating a website for a group project, we recommend that you don’t use a personal email. You can create a shared group email with any free email provider, and use that for your Wordpress.com account. We recommend Google and Gmail in particular because you’ll also have access to a Google Drive and the suite of Google products like Docs, Sheets, Slides, and more.
Step 2: Pick your URL
Once you have your account created, you’ll be taken to a page where you can specify the URL for your website. This is the first place where Wordpress.com makes it a little tricky for users who just want to sign up for a 100% free account. When you type in the URL name you want for your account, the page will populate with a lot of different options for you to buy a personal domain and use that. But if you look carefully, you’ll find the free option (YOURSITE.wordpress.com) listed. Just click on the “Select” button for that option. See the image below for an example of what to look for, we’ve highlighted the free option inside a red box.
Step 3: Ignore the Paid Plan Options
The last step in the signing up process can also seem confusing, and the site makes it seem like you have to pay for something. But don’t worry, you don’t. Just click on the “start with a free site” link. We’ve outlined it in red below so you’ll know where to look.
And that’s it. After you click on that link, you should see a temporary screen with the Wordpress logo letting you know that you’ve successfully completed the sign-up process and that your site will be ready soon. It should refresh in a few seconds (maybe a minute), reloading with your dashboard.
Now you’ve taken the first step toward creating your own website, and you’re ready to start thinking about layouts, content, and more!
Check back for our next Wordpress post, where we’ll show you how to get started with a theme for your site, and publish your first page.
