Install WordPress: 3 Easy Fast (&Efficient) Ways

The reasons why WordPress (WP) is one of the most popular platforms when it comes to blogging is that it's easy to install. Its features are not only attractive, the interface is also user-friendly. I know that a number of beginners are intimidated by all the technical language used when we talk about installing WordPress, so I decided to take some time to create this tutorial on how to do do a WordPress installation without pulling your hair out. In fact, I use this very same method for my blog: https://howtostartablogonline.net

If you want to do a WordPress install you have several choices as you can accomplish this task using a number of ways. For me, the easiest way to do this installation is on HostGator using QuickInstall. I will look at how to do the installation on your individual computer using both manual and an auto installer and also on a network that has a number of sites. Let's start by looking at the things you need to know before you even start.

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Why Using WordPress Is A Good Idea

The reasons why WordPress has become a synonym for great web hosting are many. One of them is that it can help you to create web pages and blogs that can simply be called beautiful. But, what can WordPress do for you? It can put you or your business on the map. You probably know that a business that doesn't have an internet presence is a business that is going fast towards extinction.

WordPress allows you to have this presence and the good thing is that it is easy enough to manage. So you don't need to spend great amounts of money getting other people to do this for you. The reason why there are over 60 million installations of WordPress across the world is that it's flexible, easy to manage, affordable and above all, it works. It is also constantly being updated so that the security of your site will be enhanced.

What You Need To Know Before Installing WordPress

I think that the main reason why many people find navigating WordPress difficult is that they do not do the first things first. You can be as good as you want to be at a roofing a house but if the foundation is not done properly, the house, (together with your roof) will come crumbling down. If you do not pay attention to the things that I’m looking at in this section of the tutorial, your WordPress website will run into problems sooner or later.

Register A Domain Name

The first thing you will need to do is to register a domain name and set up web hosting with a solid hosting company such as HostGator. Once this has been done, you now have to open access to your site so that anyone who types the domain URL on a browser can have access to your site. This is made possible when your domain name connects to the servers of your web host. To do this, your nameservers for your domain have to be connected to the settings that your hosting company provides.

Nameservers are always at work informing the browser where it should look on the internet to identify the web server that hosts your domain. This is a process that sounds pretty complicated but if you bought your domain from HostGator, you will never have to worry about this as your domain will automatically be configured for you. If you are working with another provider, contact the people who host your domain so that you can instruct them to do the configurations.

Installing WordPress On HostGator Using QuickInstall

I have already indicated that I think that the best WordPress installer is QuickInstall on HostGator. Millions of other people already hosting their sites using this domain provider are a testimony to its effectiveness when it comes to hosting WordPress. If you still have any doubts that installing your WordPress on this site is a breeze, just check out the steps I detail below.

Step One: Log On With HostGator

Customers of HostGator have access to a cPanel. This panel is not only powerful, it is user-friendly too. The panel will ask for your ID and password so that you can log in. Your details should be on your order confirmation or the email that welcomed you after signing up with HostGator.

Step Two: Go To QuickInstall

On the Software/Services section, you will find QuickInstall. This is a pack composed of a variety of auto installers and various other web applications.

Step Three: Look for WordPress under a subsection Labelled Blog Software

Clicking here will give you access to a quick introduction to the CMS of this website together with its size, version, and other information.

To process, go to the continue button and click on it.

Step 4: Configure The Installation

When the above three steps have been accomplished, it is time now to configure the WP installation. This section gives you a chance to enter your domain name address and then allocate it to a website reference. It is also in this section that you will choose the version of the app you want, select and enter a title for your website or blog, you will also enter your name and surname. It is important that in this section, you enter a valid email address as this is where your login password will be sent to after it has been auto generated.

Step Five: Complete The Installation

Now that everything is done, you can hit the Install button. This is the reason why I still insist that this WP installer is your best bet if you are looking for a simple and quick solution.

Once all the dust has settled, you can now go and check the email you entered as the admin email account. This is where you will find the password for you to log into the installation. You can now go to the default login and enter your admin details and your password on the dashboard provided by WordPress and you are ready to blog.

WordPress Auto Installation Issues And How To Resolve Them

The method above applies if you are installing WordPress using an auto-installer. You can still install WordPress on HostGator using that manual method. However, before we go there let's look at some issues that you can get with the auto installer and how you could resolve them.

When Domain Is Not Linked To WordPress Site

As you can see, the steps I shared above are steps you use to set your WordPress site on a server run by HostGator. What this means is that if the domain you are dealing with does not properly point to their server, your site will not be accessible to visitors. If the domain is registered with a different domain, say BlueHost, the domain should be pointed to Bluehost. What this means is that following the steps we give above will not work. If you want to be with HostGator, you will have to change the Nameservers to HostGator.

When You Are Unable To Access Your WordPress Site Properly

Sometimes your WordPress site is registered and verified on HostGator but you are still not able to access it properly. The error you get is something like, page not found. You can resolve this by looking at the installation folder of your WordPress site. Ensure that the site is installed to the domain root folder. If it is on a subfolder, you won't be able to access the WordPress site unless you use the installation's directory.

Deleting WordPress

Sometimes the issues are so massive you decide to delete the whole installation and start again. The one thing I like about QuickInstall is that it is easy whether you are installing or deleting. In the cPanel on QuickInstall go to Manage Installations. This space will list all the installations that have been done via QuickInstall. Once you are here, you can then delete any installation.

I hope that this helps where you encounter problems. Now let’s look at how you can do a manual WP installation. If done properly, this should take about five minutes. As you can see, this is a manual installation so it does not require a third party auto installer.

How To Install WordPress Manually

To get started on this process you will have to download the installer from the official WordPress site. However, even though you are doing this manually, you still have to install your site on the server that hosts your domain. Every step I suggest in this part of the tutorial can be done by yourself manually. The advantage of doing things this way is that in the long run, you will have more freedom when it comes to managing your website.

Things To Do First

Before you start on the manual installation process, ensure that you have downloaded the latest version of WordPress. Working with older versions could easily create issues with and conflicts with updated plugins in the future. You will also need to ensure that you have the details you need in order to access your web server either through the online file manager or FTP.

Step One: Uploading WordPress Installer

Start by downloading the WordPress bundle to the host computer. As I said earlier, do this from the official site. Downloading from anywhere else leaves you at the risk of allowing malware into your system without noticing. Once the download is complete, it’s time to log on to your web host. All good hosting services make cPanel available to their customers.

Step Two: Register ON MySQL Database

The following steps will help you to register MySQL:

Click on the MySQL Database Wizard icon, in the Database Section

Enter the name of the database and click on Create Database, this will Create a Database.

Create the user by entering the name of the database user and their password, and then click on Create User

By clicking on the All Privileges checkbox, you can add the user to the database

Step Three: Configure

The main aim of this step is to assist you to identify and edit the "WP-config.php" file with the WordPress configuration so that you can enter the information relating to the database. This ensures that you can create a connection between your WordPress site and the database. The WordPress information is stored in the database.

Step Four: Run Installation

If you have uploaded your WordPress files onto a domain root directory, you can open the URL leading to the installation on the web browser.

When you get to the WordPress installation page, you will be required to fill in information relating to the name of the site, the username of the WordPress administrator, their password, and a valid email address.

If you want the search engines to index the site, you will make that selection here. If you want to change this later, you can do it from the WordPress dashboard. I personally would allow the search engines to index my site so I will enable this feature. Once all this has been done, you can click on Install Now, and the WP installer wizard will do the rest.

Installing WordPress On Multisite Network

I am sure that the steps I detailed above are quite simple if you are doing a WordPress install for just a single site. Now, let's go a bit deeper and look at the steps you can follow if you are looking at doing an installation for a multisite network.

Explaining WordPress Multisite

By WordPress multisite, we are talking about the ability to manage a number of WordPress sites using one installation. This allows you to start new sites at the same time and use the same login credentials. This feature gives you the ability to allow other users to use your domain to set up and own blogs.

What You Need For WordPress Multisite

In order to run a successful WordPress multisite network, a good host for your site is a must. If you are on shared hosting, you may run into problems; ensure that you select a proper plan even if this could be more expensive than using shared hosting. For this, I still recommend HostGator as they have both shared networks and dedicated hosting solutions. Learn more about what HostGator can do for you on this YouTube Video:

Apart from having a good hosting solution, you will also need to have some working knowledge of both installing WordPress and using FTP to edit files.

Step One: Select A Domain Structure

The number one thing you will need to do is to choose the domain structure for the multisite network. Your sites can be installed using subdomains or sub-directories. If your choice is subdomains, you will have to go to your server and configure wildcat subdomains. However, if your choice is subdirectories, the only thing you will need to make possible are permalinks on the root site.

Step Two: Wildcat Subdomains Setup

Do this by logging into your web hosting account to access your cPanel dashboard. Go down to the section with domains, select Subdomains and click. Once you are on the screen that follows, enter the star sign (*) in the field labeled subdomain. From the main drop down menu, select your main domain. CPanel has a way of automatically identifying the document root and displaying it in the field labeled Document Root. All you need to do when you are here is to click on the button Create.

Step Three: Enabling The Multisite Network Feature

Since the multisite network feature would come already included into each WordPress install, you do not really have to do a lot here. Just do the WP installation in the manner we explained above. For you to successfully enable Multisite, you will have to access your website using either cPanel of FTP Client. Remember to hit the save button when all is done.

Step Four: Set Up The Network

Once the site has been successfully configured, it’s time to get the network set up. Before you do the setup, remember to deactivate every plugin that is already on your site. Once this is done, configure your multisite network by going to Tools and the Network Setup. Once you are on the network setup screen, you will be informed of the need to install Apache’s mod-rewrite module. If you are using a reputable WordPress provider such as HostGator, this module comes installed and enabled.

Step Five: Inform WordPress Of Your Domain Structure

Now, you must tell WordPress what domain structure you are going to be deploying to manage the sites on your network. Make a title for the network. Once more, ensure that you have provided the correct email address for the network admin. Click the Install button so that you can continue. WordPress will tell you the information you need to add. To edit the files, utilize FTP client, then just copy and paste the code. The next steps involve configuring networks and adding sites. That is not part of the brief for this article, so we shall call it a day here.

Conclusion

I know that the steps I have detailed above on how to to do a WP installation can sound quite complicated in theory. Get on with the practical work and you will see how easy this is. Most of the steps are intuitive as you will see when you move from one to the next. However, you will need to ensure that you are hosting with a solid provider such as HostGator. Also, ensure that the details you enter when prompted are always correct, especially the email address.