Installing WordPress

You’ve purchased your domain name, signed up for web hosting, connected the two, and given your website its own folder.

Now it’s time to turn that empty space into a website.

We’re going to install WordPress, the software you’ll use to create your pages, add pictures, build menus and manage your website.

What Is WordPress?

Remember our filing cabinet? Your hosting account provides the space where your website’s files live. WordPress gives you the tools to create, organize and manage those files.

Without WordPress, you would need to create your website’s pages yourself, often by writing code. WordPress gives you an editor and a dashboard where you can manage your website without knowing how to program.

Once it’s installed, you’ll have a website you can visit and a private administration area where you’ll do most of your work.

How Will We Install WordPress?

Your VeeroTech hosting account includes a program called Softaculous Apps Installer. It takes care of installing WordPress and creating the database that stores much of your website’s information.

In the old days, installing website software could involve downloading files, uploading them to your hosting account, creating a database and connecting everything manually.

Softaculous does that work for you. You’ll tell it where your website belongs, give your website a name and create your WordPress administrator account.

Before we open it, make sure your domain has been added to cPanel and has its own document root, as explained in the previous chapter. Have your VeeroTech login information handy.

If you recently changed your domain’s nameservers, your domain may still be propagating. You can generally install WordPress once the domain has been added to cPanel, although your new website might not be accessible through its domain name immediately.

Finding Softaculous in Your Hosting Account

Start by signing in to your VeeroTech account. From your account dashboard, click Login to cPanel.

cPanel is your hosting control panel. It’s where you’ll manage your domain, email accounts, website files and other hosting features.

Scroll down until you find Softaculous Apps Installer. You’ll see icons for different types of software. Click the WordPress icon.

This opens the Softaculous WordPress page, where you can learn about WordPress and manage installations.

Click Install to open the installation form. This doesn’t install WordPress yet. First, we’ll tell Softaculous how we want our website set up.

Where Will Your Website Live?

The first important part of the installation form is the installation URL. This tells Softaculous exactly where to put WordPress.

You already created a home for your domain when you added it to cPanel. Now you’re telling Softaculous to install WordPress in that home.

You’ll see settings for the protocol, domain and directory.

Your Domain Name

Choose the domain you added to cPanel in the previous chapter.

If you have several domains in your hosting account, pay attention to this selection. Installing WordPress on the wrong domain would put your new website somewhere you didn’t intend.

HTTP or HTTPS?

You’ll also see a choice between HTTP and HTTPS.

HTTPS provides an encrypted connection between your website and its visitors. It’s what you’ll normally want for your website.

VeeroTech includes free AutoSSL, which will issue an SSL certificate, Choose https:// .

Why the Directory Field Matters

The next field is called In Directory. This little box deserves special attention.

Softaculous may have already entered wp in it. IMPORTANT: Delete wp from the In Directory field and leave the box completely EMPTY. This tells Softaculous to install WordPress directly at your main domain.

You can leave the WordPress version at its default setting. Softaculous will normally select the current version it offers.

Giving Your Website a Name

Now that Softaculous knows where WordPress belongs, it needs some basic information about your website.

You’ll see fields for your Site Name and Site Description.

For our example business, we might enter:

• Site Name: Joe’s Auto Repair
• Site Description: Reliable Auto Repair in Inverness, Florida

Your site name identifies your website. Your description is a short statement about what your website offers.

Don’t spend hours trying to come up with the perfect wording. Both can be changed later from your WordPress dashboard.

For now, enter something that describes your business or organization.

Creating the Keys to Your WordPress Dashboard

Your next job is to create your WordPress administrator account.

You’ve already created accounts with Dynadot and VeeroTech. This is another account, but it serves a different purpose.

Your domain registrar account manages your domain. Your hosting account manages the space where your website lives. Your WordPress administrator account lets you manage the website itself.

You’ll use this account to sign in to your WordPress dashboard, create pages, upload images and change your website’s appearance.

Softaculous will ask you to enter an administrator username, password and email address.

DO NOT choose admin as your user name. Because admin is such a common username, it’s one of the first names someone might try when attempting to access a WordPress website.

Create a strong, unique password that you don’t use for your other accounts.

Use an email address you regularly check. WordPress can use it for account notifications and password recovery.

What About All Those Extra Options?

Depending on the installation form, Softaculous may offer additional plugins, themes and advanced settings.

A theme controls much of your website’s appearance. Plugins add features and functionality.

We’ll cover both in later chapters, when you’re ready to start designing and building your website.

For now, leave the optional plugin boxes unchecked. You don’t need to install extra packages to get WordPress running.

You can also leave the Advanced Options at their default settings. Softaculous will handle the database and other installation details.

Ready to Install?

Before you finish, look back over your installation form.

Make sure you’ve selected the correct domain, chosen HTTPS if your SSL certificate is ready, and left the In Directory field empty.

Check your site name, administrator username and email address.

At the bottom of the form, you’ll find a field labeled Email installation details to. Enter your email address there so Softaculous can send you a copy of your installation information.

Now click Install.

Softaculous will create the necessary files and database, configure WordPress and connect everything together.

You’ll see a progress indicator while it works. Don’t close the page until the installation is finished.

When it’s done, Softaculous will display a confirmation with two important addresses.

Two Addresses You’ll Want to Save

The first address is your public website. This is the address customers and visitors will use to find you.

For Joe’s Auto Repair, it would be: https://joesautorepair.com

The second address is your Administrative WordPress URL. This is the entrance to your private WordPress dashboard.

The Wordprss login will look like this: https://yourdomain.com/wp-admin/

Replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain name.

Bookmark your administrative URL so you don’t have to remember or type it every time you want to work on your website.

Save your installation confirmation email, too.

Welcome to Your WordPress Dashboard!

Open your administrative URL and sign in using the WordPress administrator username and password you created during installation.

You’re now inside your WordPress dashboard.

This is your website-building workspace. From here, you’ll create pages, organize your navigation menu, upload pictures, install plugins and control how your website looks.

Visit your public website address, too. You’ll probably see a fairly plain website with a default WordPress theme.

That’s exactly what we’d expect. WordPress is installed, but we haven’t started building or decorating yet.

Something Not Working?

If your domain doesn’t appear in the installation form, make sure it was added to cPanel. If it’s still missing, contact VeeroTech support.

If HTTPS displays a security warning, your SSL certificate may not be ready yet.

If Softaculous reports that files already exist, don’t overwrite anything until you’ve checked what’s in your website’s folder.

If your website isn’t appearing at your domain yet, DNS propagation may still be taking place. You can also try opening it in a private browser window to rule out an old cached page.

And if you forget your WordPress password, use the Lost your password? link on the WordPress login page.

Want to See Every Click?

Our illustrated Down & Dirty guide follows this same installation, with screenshots showing exactly where to click and which settings to check.

Down & Dirty — Step 5: Install WordPress →