How to Create a BuzzFeed Like Website Using WordPress

Creating a website like BuzzFeed using WordPress is a great way to share viral content. BuzzFeed’s success has inspired many bloggers to adopt a similar model for their sites.

It’s known for its engaging articles, quizzes, and lists that attract a broad audience. We’ve seen how this style of content can drive traffic and user engagement.

In this article, we will guide you through the steps to create a BuzzFeed-like website using WordPress. We will make it simple so you can get started quickly.

Why Start a BuzzFeed Like Website?

BuzzFeed is one of the most popular websites on the internet. Famous for its quizzes, listicles, and pop-culture commentary, the website has grown into a massive media company, with an annual revenue of $253 million in 2023.

We’ve observed how this type of content can draw in a large and engaged audience. BuzzFeed represents a successful business model many aspiring bloggers and entrepreneurs can follow.

For example, our founder, Syed Balkhi, started a blog called List25 several years ago. It combined engaging content with strategic monetization methods. He later sold that website to a different company when it was immensely popular.

This gave us a unique perspective on building an online community around viral content.

This approach allows you to make money online while showcasing your creativity and offering value to your users. This approach has proven effective for those looking to build a sustainable online presence.

What Do You Need to Build a BuzzFeed Like Website?

First, you will need to choose the right platform. You can pick from many blogging platforms, but we recommend using WordPress because it is the world’s most popular website builder and content management system.

Fun fact: WordPress powers over 43% of all websites on the internet.

When we say WordPress, we are talking about self-hosted WordPress.org and not WordPress.com. They are two different platforms. See our side-by-side comparison of WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org.

We recommend using WordPress.org because it gives you full control, ownership, and freedom to build your own BuzzFeed-like website. To learn more, see our complete WordPress review.

There are three things you will need to make a website like Buzzfeed:

• A domain name – This will be the address of your website that users will type in their browsers to see your WordPress blog (For example, wpbeginner.com).
• Web hosting – This will be your website’s home and where you will store all your website files
• Your undivided attention for 40 mins

Yes, you can make a BuzzFeed-like website in 40 minutes, and we will walk you through it every step of the way.

In this tutorial, we will cover the following:

Ready? Let’s get started.

Setting Up a BuzzFeed Like Website Using WordPress

First, you will need to register a domain name and purchase hosting.

Typically, a domain name costs $14.99 annually, and website hosting costs $7.99 per month, usually paid annually.

If you are just starting, this is quite a lot of money.

Thankfully, Bluehost has agreed to offer WPBeginner readers a free domain name and a generous discount on hosting.

Basically, you can get started for $1.99 per month.

Bluehost is one of the largest hosting companies in the world, and it is an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider.

We recommend Bluehost because of its faster hosting servers, excellent customer support, free domain name, and affordable hosting plans. For details, see our complete Bluehost review.

Note: At WPBeginner, we believe in transparency. If you sign up with Bluehost using our referral link, we will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you (in fact, you will save money and get a free domain). We would get this commission for recommending just about any WordPress hosting company, but we only recommend products that we use and believe will add value to our readers.

Let’s move on to setting up your domain name and hosting so you can start building your website.

First, visit the Bluehost website and click the ‘Get Started Now’ button.

Next, you will be asked to select a plan. Basic and Plus plans are popular among our users.

After that, you will need to choose a domain name for your website.

Here are some tips on choosing the best domain name for a BuzzFeed-like website.

• Your domain name should be easy to remember and pronounce.
• Stick with a .com domain name extension (To learn more, see our article Com vs Net – What’s the difference between domain extensions)
• Do not use hyphens or numbers in your domain name.

Need more advice? See our guide on choosing the perfect domain name for your website.

After choosing your domain name, you will enter your account information, such as name, address, email, and so on.

Below, you will see some extra hosting options you can purchase. We don’t recommend purchasing these extras because they will increase your hosting bill. You can always add them later if needed.

Next, you must add your payment information to finish the purchase.

Afterward, you will receive an email with a link to your hosting control panel and login details.

Installing WordPress

Bluehost will automatically install WordPress for you, and you can log in to your WordPress site directly from the hosting dashboard.

Once logged in, you will see the WordPress admin area.

From here, you will manage your WordPress website, change content, and add content.

Choose a BuzzFeed Like Design for Your Website

WordPress has a basic theme that looks nothing like BuzzFeed by default.

Luckily, you can choose from thousands of pre-made WordPress multi-purpose themes.

These themes are not exact copies of BuzzFeed’s website, but they are highly customizable and can be used to add design attributes to BuzzFeed’s website.

We have hand-picked a few WordPress themes for viral content and BuzzFeed-like websites.

1. Astra

Astra is one of the most popular WordPress themes for building almost any kind of website imaginable. It comes with dozens of starter websites, including several magazine-style websites.

You can install a starter site with one click and then customize the colors, layout, logo, sidebars, and more using the built-in theme settings.

You also can choose layout options for individual posts and pages as well. Astra works great with the default block editor and all top WordPress page builders.

2. Divi

Divi is another popular option among WordPress beginners due to its versatility and built-in page builder. It comes with dozens of website templates that you can start with, including several viral content media layouts.

3. SeedProd

SeedProd is the best website builder plugin for WordPress. It comes with dozens of templates that you can use with any WordPress theme of your choice,

Plus, you can use it to create a custom WordPress theme for your magazine website with your own layout and unique design.

It comes with an intuitive, drag-and-drop design tool that lets you easily create custom designs without any special skills or writing any code.

4. Public Opinion

Public Opinion is a beautifully designed WordPress theme made for content-rich websites like online magazines and newspapers. It comes with dedicated spots to display ads on your website.

It also includes multiple layouts for the homepage, categories, and single articles. It is easy to use, with tons of customization options and unlimited color choices.

5. OceanWP

OceanWP is a free WordPress multipurpose theme. It ships with dozens of pre-built sites and a 1-click content importer to get started quickly.

All the theme layouts are fully customizable, so you can use your own logo and brand colors with any design.

6. Ultra

Ultra is another great multi-purpose WordPress theme that can be easily used to create a BuzzFeed-like design in WordPress.

It ships with dozens of starter templates, including a few magazine layouts that would work for a content-rich website. Plus, it is highly customizable so that you can edit it to your liking.

Want to look at more themes? See our expert pick of the best WordPress magazine themes that can be used to build a BuzzFeed-like website.

Creating Viral Content for Your Website

BuzzFeed started with viral content like personality quizzes, memes, listicles, and pop-culture commentary. It has now evolved into a large media company publishing different types of content.

You will need to decide what type of content you want to publish on your website.

WordPress makes it easy to add any type of content to your website. You can create listicles and articles, upload images, embed videos and audio, create photo galleries, and more.

To learn more, see our beginner’s guide on adding a new post in WordPress and utilizing all its features.

Here are some of our guides that will help you create content similar to BuzzFeed and other viral magazines:

• How to create a contact form in WordPress
• How to create a landing page with WordPress
• Best WordPress plugins to create quizzes
• How to create interactive polls in WordPress
• How to create surveys in WordPress

While building a website similar to BuzzFeed, it is essential to make it your own by giving it a unique voice and style. This will help your brand stand out and capture a loyal audience.

To achieve this, you will need to publish new content regularly. You will notice that larger websites publish a lot of content each day. Initially, this isn’t easy, so you must choose your frequency.

We recommend starting with three articles a week and then increasing your pace to publish daily.

Now, you may think, how would you come up with new ideas for blog posts regularly? See our pick of blog post ideas that are engaging and can easily be used on a viral content website.

Need even more ideas? Make it a habit of visiting websites similar to BuzzFeed for inspiration. We are not saying that you should steal or copy their content.

Instead, collect ideas /topics, get inspired, and learn. Use these ideas with your blog posts to create something new and original.

Getting More Visitors to Your Viral Blog

Viral content websites like BuzzFeed rely on traffic and user engagement for success. More people visiting your website means more pageviews and higher advertising revenue.

However, we have noticed that most beginners struggle to get traffic to their new sites. Here are some steps that we have seen worked well for most users.

Optimize Your Website for SEO

Most popular websites get the majority of their traffic from search engines like Google. Experienced website owners use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to improve their websites for search engines.

WordPress is built to be an SEO-friendly platform out of the box. However, you can still do a lot to make sure your content is found by search engines and displayed higher in search rankings.

We recommend using the All in One SEO for WordPress.

It is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market and comes with powerful features like a site-wide SEO audit, competitor analysis, full Schema.org support, powerful custom sitemaps, and more.

The best part is that it is super beginner-friendly. You don’t need to be an SEO expert to use it.

For complete setup, follow the step-by-step instructions in our WordPress SEO guide for beginners.

Improve Your Website Speed and Performance

You will notice that BuzzFeed loads extremely fast and works well even on slower internet connections. A faster website offers users a better user experience and improves your SEO.

You can make your website fast by implementing some best practices to fine-tune its performance.

We have a complete guide for beginners on improving WordPress speed and performance with step-by-step instructions.

Learn From Your Users

You need to know what your users prefer to make your website popular. Most beginners try to make educated guesses instead of getting the actual data. We recommend collecting actual insights to help you make a good strategy for growth.

Simply install Google Analytics on your website, and it will tell you which pages are popular on your site, where users are coming from, how much time they spend, and more.

You can also track user engagement on your website with Google Analytics. This allows you to see what users do on your website and how you can increase their engagement.

Making Money From Your BuzzFeed Like Website

BuzzFeed not only has a large audience, but it also makes a lot of money.

Their primary source of revenue is from online advertisements and selling marketing solutions to businesses and advertisers.

As a beginner, you may not get as high-paying advertisers as BuzzFeed, but there are plenty of ways to generate a steady income from your website.

1. Displaying Ads on Your Website Using Google AdSense

Millions of websites on the internet rely on ads to make money. Google AdSense makes it super easy for bloggers to display website ads.

You don’t have to worry about finding advertisers and collecting money. Google deals with advertisers, collects money, and sends it to you after taking a small cut.

For detailed instructions, see our step-by-step guide on how to properly add Google AdSense in WordPress.

2. Sell Memberships and Subscriptions

Many online publications sell subscription and membership plans to generate recurring revenue.

You can use a subscription plan for some pay-per-view content and also use it as your Patreon-like program to give members additional perks and benefits.

To do that, you’ll need MemberPress. It is the best WordPress membership plugin. allowing you to easily sell subscriptions on your website.

Related: For more details, see our in-depth MemberPress review.

It also allows you to simply create a BuzzFeed Community-like area for your website, which is free but requires users to create an account.

3. Build a Social Media Following

Viral content platforms like BuzzFeed have substantial social media following, which has made them even more attractive to top brands. These brands approach them for collaboration, brand placement, and other deals to reach their massive social media audience.

However, you must start building a following on social media platforms. Instagram and YouTube are the two platforms that attract a lot of big and small businesses.

An easy way to build a social following is by sharing posts on your website. You can share your Instagram posts on your blog and embed your videos in your blog posts.

4. Start Building an Email List

BuzzFeed has built a massive subscriber base subscribed to their email lists. This brings them a ton of returning visitors, revenue, and advertisers.

This is why you need to instantly start building your email list from day one. We recommend using Constant Contact, the best email marketing service for beginners.

Related: See our complete Constant Contact review with pros and cons.

For more details, see our tutorial on how to start an email newsletter.

However, users often ignore simple, plain plain-looking email sign-up forms. That’s why you see BuzzFeed using clever optin popups to convert visitors into subscribers.

Luckily, you can do that with OptinMonster. It is the best conversion optimization software in the world and helps you quickly grow your email list.

It has powerful optin tools like lightbox popups, countdown timers, header and footer banners, slide-in popups, and spin-to-win popups.

5. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing allows you to recommend products and get a referral commission when your users purchase a product after clicking on your link.

BuzzFeed has a whole ‘Shopping’ area dedicated to promoting partner products and earning revenue through affiliate marketing.

You will need to find products that complement your website’s topics and have an affiliate program. The biggest affiliate network you can join is Amazon Affiliates. It has thousands of products that you can choose from.

To get started, see our guide on how to manage affiliate links in WordPress.

You can create a sub-section of your website similar to BuzzFeed shopping by creating an Amazon affiliate store. It is an eCommerce store featuring external products.

There are plenty of other ways to generate revenue from your viral content blog. Take a look at our guide on different ways to make money from your blog for some more ideas.

Bonus: Other Website Ideas You Can Build with WordPress

The success of websites like BuzzFeed inspires many others to create similar content. This increases the competition, making it harder for new websites to build a sustainable business.

However, we have seen niche websites beating this trend. Basically, you can make a BuzzFeed-like website but cover more focused topics.

Here are some guides that will inspire and give you more ideas:

• How to Start a Fashion Blog (and Make Money) – Step by Step
• How to Start a Food Blog (and Make Extra Income on the Side)
• How to Start a Travel Blog (to Make Money on the Side)
• How to Create a Real Estate Website Using WordPress

Resources to Learn WordPress and Grow Your Blog

Building a magazine website like BuzzFeed allows you to experiment with different ways to add content, engage audiences, and grow your business. As you work on your website, you will realize there is so much more you can do with WordPress.

WordPress is relatively easy to use, but occasionally, you will come up with questions. The good news is that there is plenty of help available online.

WPBeginner itself is the largest free WordPress resource site in the world. We have many helpful resources, guides, and how-tos explicitly written for beginners, bloggers, and business owners.

Here are a few handy WPBeginner resources that you should check out. All of them are entirely free:

• WPBeginner Blog – This is where we publish our WordPress tutorials, how-tos, and step-by-step guides.
• WPBeginner Videos – These step-by-step videos will help you learn WordPress FAST.
• WPBeginner on YouTube – Need more video instructions? Subscribe to our YouTube channel with over 1 million subscribers and 53 Million+ views.
• WPBeginner Dictionary – The best place for beginners to start and familiarize themselves with the WordPress lingo.
• WPBeginner Blueprint – Check out the plugins, tools, and services we use on WPBeginner.
• WPBeginner Deals – Exclusive discounts on WordPress products and services for WPBeginner users.
• WPBeginer Engage – Our Facebook group, with over 98,000 active users, is where you can connect with other WPBeginner users and our experts.

Many of our users use Google to find answers on WPBeginner by simply adding ‘wpbeginner’ after their search term.

We hope this article helped you create a BuzzFeed-like website using WordPress. You may also want to see these practical tips to drive traffic to your new website and our expert picks for the best WordPress plugins to grow your website.

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