Have you decided to create a website on your domain in the popular WordPress content management system, but you don’t know how to install it? Right off the bat, I’ll tell you that it’s not complicated and even beginners can do it without any problems.
WordPress can be installed in two basic ways.
Installing WordPress through the hosting company’s control panel
Most quality hosting companies allow you to install WordPress (or another CMS) directly from their control panel automatically. It’s generally a matter of a few clicks. For example. in the most famous Slovak hosting company WebSupport (I recommend it) you can do it this easy:
- Log in to your account at admin.websupport.sk.
- Under Services, select the domain where you want to install WordPress.
- Since WebSupport installs WordPress over an encrypted connection https://, it is necessary to secure an SSL certificate on the domain before the installation (if it has not already been activated automatically by WebSupport). So click on “SSL Certificates” in the menu and then click on “Add/Create New Certificate” on the right. You are completely free to create a Let’s Encrypt certificate.
- Once you have the certificate for the domain, you can install WordPress. In the left menu, go to “CMS – Content Management Systems”. In addition to WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, PrestaShop can also be installed using this tool. There are 2 different “installers” for WordPress itself. I recommend installing pure WordPress (at the end of the list), not the “WebSupport edition”.
- In the next step, fill in a few basic details and click “Install”. A few minutes later, you have WordPress up and running on your site.
TIP: never use “admin” as your login name, or. “administrator”. For safety reasons, it is better to use others.
Manual WordPress installation
This installation method is intended for advanced IT users, who are expected to be able to perform the following steps without a detailed description. That is why I will only describe this procedure in general terms.
- Activate SSL on the domain, e.g. via Let’s Encrypt.
- Create MySQL, resp. MariaDB database, which will be used by WordPress.
- Download the WordPress installation package from en.wordpress.org
- Unzip it and copy the files via FTP to the home directory of the website
- In your browser, open the domain (I recommend https) where you want to install WordPress – e.g. https://www.domena.sk
- Fill in the necessary details on the installation page and install WordPress
