In this article, we'll learn how to install the WordPress CMS. We'll discuss the installation in a step-by-step manner so that it's easy to follow. It's a painless four-step tutorial to install and set up your WordPress website. In the end, we'll also quickly run down a list of steps to do after the installation of WordPress.
WordPress CMS is a popular tool for blogging and website creation. It is popular, and the most used CMS due to its quick installation process. Moreover, you don't need to be a developer or a programmer to deal with WordPress installation, setup, or configuration. Anyone interested to put their content online can easily get started.
Here's a summarized breakdown of the WordPress installation process:
- Get a domain name and hosting server for your website.
- Create a MySQL database and user for your website.
- Download WordPress software from their site and unzip it in your respective Webroot folder.
- Navigate to your domain and complete the WordPress set up.
Let's go ahead and learn how to do these steps with a sample demo.
Step – 1. To get a hosting platform and domain name for your WordPress website.
We need to host our website on the internet for it to be available for everyone. For that, we'll need a hosting provider, a platform to make your content accessible online. Also, we need a name for our website for users to visit it; that's what our domain name will do.
The hosting could be a managed one or a shared one based on your requirements. A shared server's resources are shared with many other websites along with yours. And in a managed server, the services are exclusive to your website and comes with built-in WordPress optimizations.
Now, WordPress has hundreds of hosting providers to choose from. However, we recommend Bluehost and SiteGround for shared hosting, which provides excellent services at affordable prices. And Kinsta and WPEngine for managed WordPress hosting and other premium services.
Note : You can also host your website on a VPS (Virtual Private Server). In a VPS, the resources are dedicated exclusively to you, which means that you don't need to share your bandwidth, RAM, or disk space. You will have the superuser access, and you're free to try out anything. VPS would be an ideal choice for resource-intensive projects and those demanding high stability. Inmotion would be a good choice for VPS hosting. However, a VPS is just a bare Linux server so, you will have to care of setting up the webserver and database.
Whether shared or managed, most of the hosting providers provide a free domain name for a year, at least. If you're looking to purchase your domain name from elsewhere, GoDaddy is the best place. Next, make sure that your domain name provider's DNS (Domain Name Server) records point to your hosting provider.
After getting a hosting provider and domain name, your hosting provider will have given you a username and password during the registration process. We'll log in to our hosting platform and create a MySQL database.
Step – 2. Create a database and add users to the database
Before we set up WordPress, we need to have a hosting provider, domain name, and a database. WordPress stores all your website data like posts, pages, and themes in a MySQL database. We have completed the first two prerequisites. For database creation, we log in to our hosting provider URL. They will have provided an interface to manage the backend of your website, known as cPanel (Control Panel).
Note: Not all hosting providers use cPanel as the interface to manage the backend. Some providers have one-click installers, or auto-installers, or even built-in WordPress. In this article, we're using cPanel to install WordPress.
At the next step, the wizard will ask you to add users to the database. You'll give a username and password for the user; these credentials will help the user to access the database. I have given the username as TestUser1. Make sure to make a note of these credentials as well.
After the successful creation of a user, you can grant permissions to the user.
After this step, you have successfully created a database and added a user to it! You can check the database entry in the database dashboard. At this point, we have completed step two of WordPress installation.
Step – 3. Download WordPress and unzip the files in Webroot
WordPress runs on PHP and MySQL on a Linux environment. Download(https://wordpress.org/download/) the software from the official WordPress website. The software downloaded will be in a .zip format.
The next step would be to unzip the WordPress zip, which is an important step. The folder where you'll unzip the WordPress software is public_html for my cPanel.
Note: The folder to unzip the WordPress software differs invariably. For folks installing through cPanel, it's usually public_html. For some others, it is the www folder. And for people using VPS, they first need to upload the folder via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and then extract via SSH. But in general, we should unzip the folder in the Webroot of your service provider.
After step three, we have successfully downloaded and installed WordPress. Also, we have hosted our website and have created a database in previous steps. Next, we should set up WordPress.
Step – 4. Go to the URL of your website and set up WordPress
Now we go the browser and type our domain/website name. In my case, my domain name is testing1.aetesting.xyz.
As a next step, you will be prompted with the below screen. Here, you will choose the language of your choice.
Now, WordPress will ask you to keep handy the details that you see in the screenshot below. Remember, we had noted down the database name, username, and password while creating the database? This is the place you'll use it.
Now, we enter the database name, username, and password. The host remains localhost in our case.
Next, you get a prompt to run the installation on a successful connection to your database. Hit the button to begin the installation.
In the next screen, you will have to give your necessary details like site name, username, and email address. WordPress generates the password; you could keep it or change it. Whatever it is, make a note of your password.
Hurray! We have successfully installed and set up WordPress.
You can now login to your WordPress site at your domain name, followed by /wp-admin.
WordPress gets installed with a default theme during installation, which we can change later.
Further Steps
Now that we have our first WordPress website, here are a few steps to follow to get started with it.
- Choose a suitable theme for your website. Install the necessary plugins.
- Learn how to optimize your website once it is all set and running.
- Know WordPress more intensely to improvise your website and your understanding of WordPress.
- The following resources are of great help to learn and know WordPress better.
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-learn-wordpress-for-free-in-a-week-or-less/
https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?q=wordpress
I hope this article was helpful to you.