How to Integrate WordPress into Website

If you already have a website and you want to Integrate WordPress into Website without rebuilding everything, you have a few safe options. You can add WordPress in a subfolder or subdomain, match its design to your existing site, and gradually move content over when you’re ready.

This step by step guide will show you how to install WordPress alongside your current site, connect the navigation, and make it look like one unified website instead of two separate projects.

What You Need Before You Integrate WordPress into Website

• Access to your hosting control panel (cPanel, Plesk, or similar) or FTP/SFTP.
• A domain with an existing non-WordPress website running (HTML, PHP, another CMS, etc.).
• A MySQL / MariaDB database and user (your host often creates this automatically).
• Ability to create folders or subdomains under your domain.
• A full backup of your existing site and database before you make any changes.

Step 1: Plan How to Integrate WordPress into Your Existing Website

Before you install anything, decide where WordPress should live and what it will do. Good planning prevents broken links and confused visitors.

1. Open your current website in a browser and list the main sections (Home, About, Services, Blog, Contact, etc.).
2. Decide what WordPress will handle:
   • Only the blog or news section?
   • Landing pages and marketing content?
   • Eventually the entire site?
3. Choose a structure:
   • Subfolder – example.com/blog/
   • Subdomain – blog.example.com
   • Full replacement – WordPress at example.com (more advanced, usually a later phase)
4. Note which menu links on your existing site should point into WordPress (for example, “Blog” → /blog/).

Quick Comparison of WordPress Integration Methods

Use this table to choose the best way to integrate WordPress into website layouts based on your goals.

Step 2: Install WordPress in a Subfolder to Integrate It into Your Website

The most common way to integrate WordPress into an existing website is to put it in a subfolder like /blog/. Your current homepage stays the same, and WordPress powers your new content section.

1. Log into your hosting control panel.
2. Open the File Manager (or connect via FTP/SFTP).
3. Inside your site’s web root (often public_html or www), create a new folder named blog (or news, resources, etc.).
4. Download the latest WordPress ZIP from WordPress.org and upload it to that folder, then extract it. Move the contents so that wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-config-sample.php are directly inside /blog/.
5. Create a new database and user in your hosting panel and assign the user to the database with full privileges.
6. Visit example.com/blog/ in your browser and follow the on-screen WordPress installation wizard.
7. Choose a strong admin username and password, then finish the setup.

Step 3: Install WordPress on a Subdomain for WordPress Integration

If your hosting makes subdomains easy, you can integrate WordPress into website workflow using a subdomain such as blog.example.com.

1. In your hosting panel, go to Domains » Subdomains (or similar).
2. Create a new subdomain, for example blog, and let the host create its document root (like blog.example.com → /blog/ or /blog.example.com/).
3. Upload and install WordPress into that document root following the same steps as the subfolder method.
4. After installation, visit blog.example.com to verify WordPress is running correctly.

Step 4: Connect Your Existing Site’s Navigation to the WordPress Section

Now that WordPress is running, you need to connect it into your current website’s navigation so visitors can find it easily.

1. Open the existing (non-WordPress) website files in your code editor or builder.
2. Locate the main navigation menu (often in a shared header file or template).
3. Add a new menu item labeled Blog, News, or similar.
4. Set its link to your WordPress URL:
   • https://example.com/blog/ if you used a subfolder.
   • https://blog.example.com/ if you used a subdomain.
5. Upload the updated header/menu file to your server.
6. Refresh your live site to ensure the new link appears on every page.

Step 5: Make WordPress Match Your Existing Design for Seamless Integration

To truly integrate WordPress into website design, your WordPress pages should look and feel like the rest of your site.

1. Log into your WordPress admin area at example.com/blog/wp-admin/.
2. Go to Appearance » Themes and choose a lightweight theme that is close to your current design (colors, layout, typography).
3. Use Appearance » Customize to configure:
   • Logo and site title (match your existing logo where possible).
   • Colors and fonts that resemble your current site.
   • Header and footer layouts similar to your original navigation and footer.
4. Create a main menu in WordPress under Appearance » Menus. Add:
   • Links back to your main site (Home, Services, Contact).
   • Links to key WordPress content (Blog, Categories, etc.).
5. Assign this menu to the theme’s primary navigation location.

Step 6: Use CSS to Polish Your WordPress Integration

Even with a similar theme, you may need a few style tweaks so visitors don’t feel like they’re jumping between two different websites.

1. In WordPress, go to Appearance » Customize » Additional CSS.
2. Inspect elements in your original site (font sizes, button styles, background colors) using your browser’s developer tools.
3. Write CSS rules in WordPress to match these styles. For example:

body {
    font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;
    font-size: 16px;
}

.site-header,
#main-header {
    background-color: #ffffff;
    border-bottom: 1px solid #e5e5e5;
}

.button,
.wp-block-button__link {
    border-radius: 4px;
    padding: 10px 18px;
    text-transform: uppercase;
}

4. Click Publish and compare your WordPress pages to the original site in separate tabs.
5. Adjust spacing and colors until the transition feels smooth and consistent.

Step 7: Handle URLs and SEO When You Integrate WordPress into Website

Adding WordPress should help your search traffic, not hurt it. A few simple SEO checks keep everything clean.

1. Decide your “official” blog URL (for example, /blog/) and stick to it in menus and internal links.
2. If you had an old blog on a different platform, set up redirects from old URLs to the new WordPress posts.
3. Install a trusted SEO plugin (like Yoast SEO, Rank Math, etc.) and:
   • Set your preferred title and meta description templates.
   • Submit an XML sitemap to search engines if needed.
4. Make sure you don’t duplicate content between the old site and new WordPress pages. Either update, merge, or redirect old pages.
5. Update internal links on the original site so they point to WordPress posts when relevant.

Step 8: Test Your WordPress Integration Before Announcing Your New Blog

Once you integrate WordPress into website navigation and design, thoroughly test it like a visitor would.

1. Click the new “Blog” or “News” link from your main site and confirm it opens your WordPress section.
2. Navigate through several posts and categories inside WordPress.
3. Click back to your original site using links in the WordPress header/footer.
4. Test the site on mobile devices to ensure menus and layouts look good both in the old site and the WordPress section.
5. Check page speed and make sure WordPress additions didn’t slow everything down significantly.

Conclusion: You’ve Successfully Integrated WordPress into Your Website

By now you’ve learned how to integrate WordPress into website structure without tearing down your existing site. You installed WordPress in a subfolder or subdomain, connected menus, matched the design, and checked URLs and SEO.

From here, you can focus on publishing great content in WordPress while keeping your original site live and stable. When you’re ready, you can slowly move more sections into WordPress or even rebuild the entire site there—on your own timeline.

Frequently Asked Questions