How to Install WordPress on A Self-Hosted Website in 2024

SiteGround will take you through some different steps to get you started quickly. You may also have to go through an extra verification step. SiteGround will send a small payment to your credit card account — you’ll need to check your account to see what the amount is so you can confirm it. Before your SiteGround account is created, you’ll first get a text message to confirm your phone number. If you decide not to use the SG Site Scanner, I strongly recommend installing Sucuri or another security plugin on your WordPress site.

  • Let’s chat on Twitter (X?) and YouTube about our feelings (and business, of course).
  • Here’s the quick version of the instructions for those who are already comfortable with performing such installations.
  • After that, the setup wizard will show information about how WampServer works.
  • One of the best things about self-hosted WordPress is that you can add lots of extra features and functionality.

Their plans are cheaper and both those hosts include a free .com (or other) domain name with each annual plan. For this reason, if you’re on a tight budget, I’d recommend opting for Bluehost or Dreamhost over SiteGround. SiteGround is a very well-established web host — and like both Bluehost and Dreamhost, it’s an officially recommended WordPress web host. You can use the “Welcome to WordPress” links to get started with your website. If you don’t already have a HostGator account, go to their website and click the “Get Started Now! On the next screen, you’ll see some information about WordPress.

Step two – Make a plan

Despite the abundance of brand new website builders and content management systems, WordPress remains the most popular choice for webmasters. It is free and open source software released under the GPL. It’s one of the easiest drag-and-drop website builders plugins, plus they have a great resource library to get you started in no time. With such a large selection, it might be a bit overwhelming for you to choose the ones that you really need. So I compiled this list of 3 of the most important plugins for the ultimate WordPress setup. If you don’t want to worry about hosting at all, this option is for you.

How to install and start working with WP

You should find it really easy if you follow the steps and instructions above. If you don’t already have your Dreamhost web hosting account set up, it’s elementary to get started. Go to the Dreamhost website and scroll down to the hosting plans. The web server needs to be told to view index.php by default. The simplest option is to create a file named .htaccess in the installed directory and place the directive there.

All Features

Bluehost and Dreamhost will give you a completely free domain name (such as yourwebsitename.com) when you sign up, too. You might feel bewildered by discussions about setting up databases or configuring wp-config. The following are some of the most common installation problems. For more information and troubleshooting for problems with your WordPress installation, check out FAQ Installation and FAQ Troubleshooting. If you successfully install the WordPress, login prompt will be displayed. Let’s create a database to store all of your WordPress site content.

How to install and start working with WP

Software like WampServer allows you to easily install them and have a working local environment within minutes. Simply enter the username and password you entered earlier when setting up the local website and then click the ‘Log In’ button. For super-easy WordPress installation, Dreamhost is my top pick. Being able to check the box to install WordPress at the point at which you create your account makes it really fast and hassle-free.

Upload the WordPress files

Before you can build your WordPress websites, you’ll need to purchase a domain name. As mentioned, a domain name is your website’s unique online address. When selecting a domain name, it should be memorable, relevant to your website’s niche, and easy to spell. You should also strive to keep it short, catchy, and brand-relevant. Check for availability and consider registering multiple variations to avoid conflicts. Some popular domain registrars include GoDaddy, Google Domains, and Namecheap.

How to install and start working with WP

Once you’ve added content, assign it to a category (1), add any relevant tags (2), then click the publish button to make your post live (3). To add content, click the plus icon at the top left of the screen (1) or in the page editor (2). The WordPress settings section allows you to set your site’s title and tagline, set a home page, set default media sizes, set privacy, and more. These settings are too complex to go into here, so we’ve linked some helpful articles below to walk you through the steps.

Divi Features

Then try creating a new folder called ‘test’ and uploading files to this folder. Practice deleting the files and folders once you have finished uploading them. This exercise helps you practice the creation and deletion of databases. Then, find the main MySQL databases page in cPanel, and try deleting the database and user, installing WordPress in a different folder. Sometimes you’ll have to install WordPress inside of a subfolder inside of your main public HTML folder.

How to install and start working with WP

Alternatively, return to the My Sites tab from Bluerock and view the site you’ve created. On the next screen, select the domain name where you want to install WordPress and click “Check Domain”. Once you’ve signed up for an account, log in to your Bluehost control panel and click on the “website section”. Log into your hPanel dashboard and scroll down to the ‘Website’ section.

In case you don’t find an answer to your question, don’t worry. Our always helpful, full-time WPBeginner support team will be happy to assist. If you are curious about all the plugins and tools that we use on our website, then check out WPBeginner’s wordpress how to use it Blueprint. That list contains all the tools that we use to grow the WPBeginner blog. On the posts screen, you will notice several other sections, such as Categories and Tags. You can use these to organize your blog posts into sections.

This will take you to the 1-Click Installers page on QuickInstall. You will see that it offers installations for most popular web applications including WordPress. You need to click on WordPress to launch the WordPress installer.

However, we strongly urge you to always use a strong password. See our guide on the best way to manage passwords for WordPress beginners to learn how you can manage strong passwords easily. Cpanel is a popular software used by many web hosting companies. It provides website owners with a simple web-based interface to manage their hosting account. First, you need to login to your HostGator hosting account’s dashboard. From here, you need to click on the ‘QuickInstall’ icon under the ‘Software’ section.