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Overview

  1. Firstly you will need to download the latest version of WordPress from WordPress.org.
  2. Then, using FTP upload these files to your web server.
  3. Create a MySQL database and user for WordPress.
  4. Configure WordPress to connect to the new database.
  5. Finalise the installation and complete setting up your new website!

Within this tutorial we will explain the necessary steps to install WordPress on your own web server/domain.

Before you begin installing WordPress

Prior to installing WordPress it’s vital that you have a good hosting provider for your website. You can find lot’s of website hosting services that will provide you with purely shared space on a web server for roughly £5-10 per month. However, theres also many hosting services that will install and maintain WordPress for you. The problem with shared hosting is that you’re sharing your storage with potentially thousands of different websites which at best could be high traffic and slow your website down at peak times, at worst they could contain illegal material or spam. We offer hosting from £21.99+VAT per month which is fully managed and on our private servers.

With that being said our tutorial solely covers the steps to required to manually install WordPress on your own web server. In order to do this, you’ll need the following:

  1. Firstly your web hosting provider should have provided you with FTP access to your web server (if you do not have this we suggest contacting your hosting provider).
  2. Following this you will need an FTP client. In short a FTP client is a desktop programme that will allow you to transfer files from your own computer to your web server. We won’t cover FTP Clients within this tutorial however if you’re stuck for which FTP client to use, check out either FileZilla or Cyberduck as these are a couple of free FTP clients that cover both Mac and PC.
  3. Next, you are going to need a text editor, like Notepad or TextEdit (this should come as a pre downloaded programme with your computer).
  4. Lastly, you need to choose a web browser. This is important as Internet Explorer does not support the latest HTML5 and CSS3 coding standards, for this we recommend either Safari or Chrome.

Time to put the above into action

Let’s start by downloading and unzipping the latest version of WordPress directly from WordPress.org.

WordPress file

Once WordPress has finished downloading navigate to your download folder and locate the .Zip file archive. Double click to expand and then upload these files to your web server using your FTP client.

WordPress files

Next, go to your FTP client and find the new WordPress files you’ve just uploaded. Enter the FTP details you’ve been provided with by your hosting provider and connect to the web server.

WordPress files
  • What you’ll now be presented with is dependant on the FTP client you’ve chosen, however most work in a similar format, with all your computer files shown on the left hand side and all the files on your web server displayed on the right. You’ll need to select ALL the files on the left and drag them across to the right-hand side, in doing so this will begin uploading your files to the web server.
  • Once the files have completed uploading to the web server go to your web hosting control panel, once again dependant on what cPanel your using you’ll be presented with a slightly different screen however nearly all web hosting cPanels offer the exact same functionality and user ability.
  • We now need to create a MySQL Database, therefore you should have a “Database” module available as WordPress store content in a database as opposed to files.
  • Simply create and enter a name for this Database and click the “Create Database” option. You’ll now need to create a MySQL user that has permissions to access and modify the database, we recommend ensuring that this is secured with a password and that you keep the credentials for this in a safe easily accessible location (or perhaps in your brain) as you will need these again! (note: before you leave this screen, make sure you add your new user to the new database, and ensure the new user has the relevant permissions associated to the account to modify the database!).
  • You’ve now set up the database – the next step is to connect the new database to WordPress. WordPress will search for the database details in a file named wp-config, so navigate back to your FTP client and rename the sample file wp-config.php.
  • Now open the files in your text editor and, and fill in the database details from the database you created in the previous step.
  • We highly recommended boosting your WordPress installation security by entering different phrases for each authentication keys. If you would like to make use of a random password generator then WordPress has a tool dedicated to exactly this, you can make use of WordPress Secret Key Generator by generating a random set of secure credentials for the authentication keys and copying them directly into your text editor “WP Config File”.
  • You’re now complete – save and close the file and let’s run the WordPress Install script.

In order to do this enter the website’s URL in address bar, and you’ll be prompted by WordPress to fill out a few remaining details. These will include: “Site Title”, “Admin Username”, “Admin Password”, and a “Primary Email Address”.

Note: These are particularly important so ensure they are memorable and you have access to them easily as you will require these to log into your WordPress Admin Area!

To access the WordPress Admin Panel/Dashboard and begin working on the website, simply type “/wp-admin” at the end of your website’s URL to navigate to the login screen. Here you will need to enter those previously mentioned very important Admin credentials, so input the username and password you chose earlier, and then simply click the Log In button and off you go!