How to design a Free website with Astra Theme

What Is the Astra Theme and Why Should You Use It?

Astra is a free WordPress theme that has become one of the most installed themes in the entire WordPress ecosystem. It is built to be exceptionally fast, fully responsive on all devices, and deeply compatible with the most popular page builders including Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Gutenberg.

Here is what makes Astra stand out from the crowd:

• Speed: Astra loads in under half a second on a clean install, with less than 50KB of front-end resources. Google uses page speed as a ranking factor, so this matters a lot for your SEO.
• Free Starter Templates: There are hundreds of professionally designed free templates available across every industry — salons, clinics, gyms, restaurants, coaches, and more.
• Elementor Compatibility: Astra and Elementor are designed to work together perfectly. You get edge-to-edge layout control and can design every part of your site visually.
• SEO Built In: Astra includes schema markup and clean code out of the box, which helps search engines understand and rank your site.
• Fully Responsive: Your website will look great on desktops, tablets, and phones without any extra work from you.
• WooCommerce Ready: If you want to sell products, Astra integrates fully with WooCommerce.

For any local business that needs a professional online presence without a big budget, Astra is genuinely one of the best starting points available.

What You Need Before You Start

Before you can design a free website with Astra theme, you need a couple of things in place. Do not worry — none of these require technical skills.

1. A domain name (your website address, e.g. yourbusiness.com)
2. A web hosting account (this is the server where your website files are stored)
3. WordPress installed on your hosting account (most hosts offer a one-click WordPress installer)

Once WordPress is installed, you are ready to go. Everything else in this guide happens directly inside your WordPress dashboard.

Step 1: Install WordPress and Set Up Hosting

WordPress is a free content management system (CMS) that powers more than 40% of all websites on the internet. It is the foundation everything else sits on.

If you already have a hosting account, most providers like SiteGround, Bluehost, or Hostinger let you install WordPress with literally one click from your hosting control panel. Once that is done, you will receive your WordPress dashboard login URL, username, and password.

Log in to your WordPress dashboard and you are ready for step two.

Step 2: Install the Astra Theme in WordPress

Installing Astra is quick and straightforward. Here is exactly how to do it:

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard
2. Go to Appearance in the left-hand menu
3. Click Themes, then click Add New at the top
4. In the search bar, type Astra
5. When Astra appears in the results, click Install
6. Once installed, click Activate

Astra is now your active theme. You will immediately notice it is one of the most installed themes in WordPress — it is that popular for a reason. If you do not see it right away in the search results, just type Astra in the search field in the top-right corner of the theme browser.

Step 3: Install the Starter Templates Plugin and Import a Free Template

This is the step that saves you hours of work. Instead of building your website from scratch, Astra gives you access to hundreds of professionally designed starter templates that you can import with one click.

To access them, you need to install the Starter Templates plugin:

1. Go to Plugins in your WordPress dashboard
2. Click Add New
3. Search for Starter Templates
4. Install and activate the plugin

Once activated, go to Appearance and you will see a new option called Starter Templates. Click on it and a library of templates will open.

You can filter templates by industry, by page builder, and by free versus pro. For this guide, make sure you filter to free templates only. Browse through the options until you find one that suits your business.

When you have chosen a template:

1. Click on the template to preview it
2. Select your preferred page builder (more on this in the next step)
3. Click Import Complete Site
4. Wait for the import to finish — this usually takes less than a minute
5. Click View Site and your new website will be live with the demo content

From this point, you just need to replace the placeholder text and images with your own business content.

Step 4: Choose Your Page Builder (Why I Recommend Elementor)

When you import a Starter Template, Astra will ask you to select a page builder. Your main options are Elementor, Beaver Builder, and the default Gutenberg block editor.

My personal recommendation is Elementor. I have been using Elementor as my go-to page builder for years, and nearly every client website I build uses it. The drag-and-drop interface is intuitive, the design flexibility is excellent, and it integrates perfectly with Astra.

Astra is actually built with Elementor users in mind. When you select a full-width layout in Astra, Elementor gets edge-to-edge control of your page layout, which means you can design every section of your page exactly the way you want it without any code.

The free version of Elementor is more than enough to get a great-looking business website live. If you need more advanced features — like a pop-up builder, a contact form, or custom theme templates for your header and footer — you can upgrade to Elementor Pro.

Step 5: Customize Your Website with the Astra Customizer

Once your template is imported, it is time to make it your own. Astra has a built-in WordPress Customizer that lets you control the global look and feel of your entire website. You can access it by going to Appearance and then Customize.

Here are the key things to set up in the Astra Customizer:

• Site Identity: Upload your logo and set your site title and tagline
• Colors: Set your brand’s primary color, accent color, and background color
• Typography: Choose your heading and body fonts. Pick something clean and readable.
• Header: Configure your navigation menu, header layout, and any sticky header behavior
• Footer: Customize your footer layout, add copyright text, and set up footer widgets
• Layout: Set your global page layout — full width works great if you are using Elementor

All changes you make in the Customizer are previewed in real time on the right side of the screen, so you can see exactly what your site will look like before you save anything. You can also toggle between desktop, tablet, and mobile views to make sure everything looks right on all devices.

Step 6: Customize Your Pages with Elementor

With your global settings done in the Customizer, it is time to edit the actual content of your pages. This is where Elementor comes in.

To edit any page with Elementor:

1. Go to Pages in your WordPress dashboard
2. Find the page you want to edit and click Edit with Elementor
3. The Elementor editor will open with the imported template layout visible
4. Click on any text, image, button, or section to select and edit it
5. Drag new elements from the left panel onto the page
6. When you are happy with the page, click Publish or Update

The most important pages to customize first are your Home page, your About page, and your Contact page. Replace all placeholder text with your real business information — your actual services, your location, your phone number, your opening hours, and your own photos.

A quick tip from my experience: always use your own real photos where possible. Stock photos are fine as placeholders, but real images of your business, your team, or your products will always connect better with your actual customers.

Step 7: Set Up Key Pages Every Business Website Needs

Whether you are a salon, a gym, a restaurant, or a coach, there are some pages every local business website should have. Here is what I recommend setting up:

• Home Page: Your first impression. Should clearly say who you are, what you do, and how to contact you — within the first few seconds.
• About Page: People buy from people they trust. A genuine About page with a photo and your story builds that trust.
• Services Page: List every service you offer with a brief description and a price range if possible.
• Contact Page: Include your phone number, email address, physical address, a Google Maps embed, and a simple contact form.
• Testimonials or Reviews Section: Social proof is powerful. Add real customer testimonials to your home page or create a dedicated reviews page.
• Blog (Optional): A blog helps with SEO over time. Even publishing one article a month about your industry can bring in steady organic traffic.

If you are setting up a WordPress website for a restaurant, also add a menu page. For a salon or clinic, add an online booking option using a free booking plugin.

Step 8: Publish Your Website

Once you are happy with how your website looks and all your content is in place, publishing it is the easy part.

If you imported a starter template, your website is technically already live at your domain. All you need to do is make sure each page is set to Published status in WordPress. You can check this by going to Pages in your dashboard and confirming no pages are left in Draft status.

Before you officially share your website with the world, run through this quick checklist:

1. Check all pages on mobile — open your site on your phone and make sure everything looks good
2. Test your contact form — fill it out yourself and make sure you receive the email
3. Check all links — make sure your navigation menu links work correctly
4. Add your site to Google Search Console — this helps Google find and index your website
5. Install a basic SEO plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math and fill in your page titles and meta descriptions

That is it. Your website is live.

Free vs Astra Pro: What Is the Difference?

The free version of Astra is genuinely powerful and more than enough for most small business websites. However, if you want to go further with your customization, Astra Pro unlocks some useful extra features.

Here is a quick comparison:

Free Astra:

• Hundreds of free starter templates
• Full Elementor and Gutenberg compatibility
• Basic header and footer layouts
• Global colors and typography
• WooCommerce support

Astra Pro:

• Advanced header and footer builder
• More layout options for blog and archive pages
• Additional starter templates (180+ require Pro)
• Custom fonts and advanced typography controls
• White label options for agencies

For most local business clients I work with — salons, clinics, gyms, coaches — the free version of Astra is all they need. I only recommend Pro when a client specifically needs a highly custom header layout or advanced WooCommerce shop customizations.

Astra Theme SEO Benefits

One of the reasons I recommend Astra so often is that it is built with SEO in mind from the ground up. Here is what that means in practice:

• Fast loading speed: Astra’s front-end footprint is under 50KB, which means pages load extremely quickly. Google rewards fast websites with better rankings.
• Clean, semantic code: Astra writes clean HTML that search engines can easily read and understand.
• Schema markup: Astra includes built-in Schema.org structured data, which helps Google understand your content type and can improve how your site appears in search results.
• Mobile-first design: Every Astra template is fully responsive. Google uses mobile-first indexing, so a site that works perfectly on phones is essential.
• SEO plugin compatibility: Astra works seamlessly with Yoast SEO and Rank Math, the two most popular WordPress SEO plugins.

In my experience, starting with a fast, clean theme like Astra gives your website a serious head start in search engine rankings compared to heavy, bloated themes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Astra theme completely free to use?

Yes, Astra has a fully free version available on WordPress.org that you can install directly from your WordPress dashboard at no cost. There is also a paid Astra Pro version that unlocks additional features, but the free version is more than enough to build a professional business website.

Does Astra theme work with Elementor?

Absolutely. Astra and Elementor are designed to work together and are one of the most popular combinations in WordPress website design. Astra provides the global styling, header, and footer, while Elementor handles the page layouts with its drag-and-drop editor.

How do I import a free template in Astra?

You need to install the free Starter Templates plugin from your WordPress dashboard. Once activated, go to Appearance and then Starter Templates, filter by free templates, choose the one you like, and click Import Complete Site. The full website will be imported within seconds.

Is the Astra theme good for SEO?

Yes, Astra is one of the most SEO-friendly themes available. It includes built-in schema markup, loads in under half a second, uses clean semantic code, and is fully compatible with SEO plugins like Yoast SEO and Rank Math.

Can I use Astra theme for a local business website?

Astra is ideal for local business websites. There are free starter templates specifically designed for salons, clinics, restaurants, gyms, coaches, and many other business types. You can import a template and have a professional-looking website live within hours.

What is the difference between Astra free and Astra Pro?

The free version includes hundreds of starter templates, full Elementor compatibility, basic header and footer layouts, global typography, and WooCommerce support. Astra Pro adds an advanced header and footer builder, more template options, custom fonts, and advanced layout controls for blogs and WooCommerce stores.

Do I need to know how to code to use Astra?

No coding knowledge is needed at all. Astra is designed so that beginners can create professional websites entirely through the visual WordPress Customizer and a drag-and-drop page builder like Elementor. Everything is point and click.

Final Thoughts

Thanks so much for reading all the way through this guide. Building a free website with Astra theme really is one of the most beginner-friendly ways to get a professional business online — and I have seen it work for hundreds of clients across salons, gyms, clinics, restaurants, and coaching businesses. If you want to see the entire process in action, make sure you watch the full video tutorial I have embedded in this post. It walks through every step visually so you can follow along at your own pace. If you have a question — about choosing a template, connecting Elementor, customizing your header, anything at all — drop it in the comments below and I will get back to you. And if you would like me to set this up for your business, feel free to get in touch through the contact page. Happy building!