I’m writing this for those of you who don’t have cPanel on your web hosting domain. This is an easy way to go about installing WordPress through an FTP client. I would be using FileZilla to do this today.
OK, so let’s jump right into it.
Create a database
You would want to log into your admin panel and search for MySQL database. If one hasn’t already been created for you, do so
Crate a database user
Again, in the MySQL page, you would probably find an option to create a database user. If one has not already been created, do so. If there is one there already and the password was not emailed to you, then change the password so as to gain access to it. You should only do this on a clean site without any kind of web installation. If something already connects to the database and you change the user password, then they would probably stop working.
But don’t forget, passwords should not be simple statements like “mypassword”, use things like “wpEnigine10_DB9”, if you would not remember it, copy it into notepad or a password keeper.
But under no circumstance should you use simple passwords for admin related operations. Unless you don’t mind sharing admin status with some stranger from half way across the world.
Download wordpress
Check out the wordpress.org site to download the latest version of self-hosted WordPress.
Download an FTP client
If you do not already have one, download FileZilla. Just follow the link. It’s a free software.
Upload WordPress
You would want to extract the contents of the ZIP file WordPress came in, into a WordPress folder and then run filezilla.
In the mail sent to you by your host after you registered your domain, you would have details for your FTP login, go through the mail to find a username and password. The URL is usually in the form ftp.yourdomain.com but double-check that that’s the right URL for you.
As shown in the picture, fill out the details of your FTP login in filezilla and click connect
The left pane in filezilla shows you your local computer directory while the right shows you your online directory.
In the left pane, navigate to your WordPress extraction folder. Navigate into the folder where all the content is, not just “WordPress” or “latest”.
On the right pane, if you see several folders check to see if it contains any of these – “httpdocs”, “www”, “public_html”. If it does, then navigate into that folder. However if it looks relatively empty with just an index.php file and one folder, then you’re good to go.
Now select all the items in the WordPress folder on the left pane, and simply drag them to the right.
You should see filezilla go to work transferring your files.
Be sure it is finished before you go any further.
Install WordPress
Once the transfer is done, navigate to your website URL in your web browser, like yourdomain.com. You should find a page that says you should create a configuration file. Click the button to do so.
Once done, you would find another page, asking for details of the installation as shown below.
Fill out this information with necessary details. A few tips though, table prefix should not be left as “wp_” as hackers now target databases using this, change it to something like “mywp_” or “thiswp_”.
The username and password are for your database user.
Once done, click submit. If everything was provided correctly, you should be taken to a page that says run the install. If not it would it’ll give an error saying it wasn’t able to connect to the database. Go back and double-check the info provided if that is the case.
Some common issues
Database details not provided correctly
Database host not localhost – Check the email sent to you by your host and search for MySQL database, it might be stated there that your host is “eXpert Server” or something similar. You might also have the server as a set of numbers like 23.453.8763.6 so be sure to check.
Run the install
Once you have filled out the right information, run the install.
If you are instructed to create the wp-config file yourself, it’s probably because your files are write protected, which is a good thing, just a pain in the behind most times.
Here’s what to do
Open notepad on your PC, copy the content on the WordPress install page and paste in notepad.
Save the file as wp-config.php, be sure to set the file type as “All files” not “text”.
When you’re done with that, transfer the newly created wp-config file to your domain with filezilla. Same method as before. But be sure to put it in the root folder of your website, don’t put it in any sub folders of WordPress like “wp-admin”. Just put it along with all the other files showing up in your WordPress online directory.
After that, go back to the webpage and run the installation.
Fill out site information
Fill out your website name and description. The description is what shows up in your search engine results and on the home page of your site so write it out well
Remember what we said about passwords when you are filling out this one. Use strong passwords, the strength indicator could help you out there.
You’re done!
Yay, your WordPress site is installed! Way more work than just using cPanel but then, no victory without pain right. Now you can fill out the other information as shown.
If you have any trouble with the installation, tweet @ososoba and I’ll try to respond as fast as I can, or comment on this post, I get new comments on my mobile so I should see it pretty quick.
I’ll be talking about customizing your own theme in the next post. be sure to subscribe to my feed if you want to get all this in your email at your convenience.
once again, thank you for reading. Its been a pleasure helping you today.