WordPress installation guide step by step is useful if you plan to create your new website by yourself. Here we wrote what you need to do so you can start using all the benefits of WordPress.

Step 1: Forbidden is OK before installation

In case you just started with new hosting, it is OK if you see the white page that says Forbidden on your domain (when you try access to your domain):

This page simple marks that folder, where your site needs to be placed, is empty. In this situation, there are no permissions to show anything to the public and that is the reason why you see Forbidden. We are going to put WordPress files here in order to show something – that will be your new website.

Note: Step from 2 to 8 are steps for manual WordPress installation, and they can seem complicated if you do this for the first time. But do not worry about anything if you read it carefully.

Step 2: Download WordPress files for installation

Go to https://wordpress.org/download/ and simple click on Download WordPress button. This will start your download.

You need to save that file to your computer for now and in the next step, you need to upload those files to your hosting. Here is how to upload WordPress files to your new hosting:

Step 3: Upload WordPress files to your hosting

First, log in to your cPanel. Username and password for login you already have (we sent that to you in the mail “New account information”).

In cPanel search for File Manager application. From here you can manage your files on the hosting, you can upload, download, copy, move or delete your files so be careful. If you do not see this File manager, just type “file manager” in the search field of the cPanel.

The file manager will open the default location /home/username and this is not the right location for WordPress files. The right location where you need to upload WordPress files is /public_html folder, and you need to click on that folder name. This folder only show the cgi-bin folder. Click on the Upload button:

That will open the upload page. Now click on the Select File:

This will open a window from your computer. Here you need to find the WordPress package that you download in the previous step. Just select that file and then click on the Open:

After the upload is finished (you will see the green 100% notice). Click on the Go Back link and that will back you to the upload folder where you need to be.

This is what you need to see now in the /public_html folder:

Step 4: Extract WordPress files

Let’s unpack the files. Click on the WordPress zip package with a right click and then select Extract:

cPanel will ask you is this the right place for unpacking, and you can confirm that with click on the Extract File(s) button:

You will see the report about extracting and you can click on Close in that notice. After extracting, you need to see this in your folder:

If you leave it like this, your website will work in the folder WordPress from the picture above. This will result with the following address for your website your-domain.com/wordpress. In order to have a nice address for your website, you need to move all the WordPress files from the /public_html/wordpress to /public_html.

Go to /wordpress folder and select all the files from here. You can click on Select all to do that. Then use the right click, and select Move option:

In the windows that open, cPanel will ask you where you want to move the selected files. Just delete the “wordpress” from the line and click on the Move File(s) button. This action will move the files to /public_html. This will result in your site to work directly on the your-domain.com instead of the your-domain.com/wordpress.

You can delete the empty folder “wordpress” that remain after moving. This is completed now and we need to create a database, so you can close the file manager, and go back to cPanel first page.

Step 5: Create a database in the cPanel for WordPress

In your cPanel find the MySQL Databases application. Open this application and locate the Create New Database part of the page. Here you need to enter a name for your new database. Enter any name you want and click on the Create Database button. Copy the database name in your note, because you will need it later (copy the full name, example linoginf_imebazepodataka1).

After you get the confirmation that the new database is created, just click on the Go back link. Now you need to create a database user.

Locate the MySQL Users Add New User part of the page. In the field Username enter username by your choice. In the fields, Password and Password (again) enter the password for that user. You can use the Password Generator also for that. Copy the exact username and password to you note, like you already do for the database name. To create the user just click on the Create User button:

After the user is created you will see a notice about that, so you can click on the Go Back link. Now we need to add a user to a database.

On the bottom of the page, there is an option Add User To Database. From the drop-down menu User select the user you created. From the drop-down menu Database select the database you created, then click on the Add button.

This action will open the Manage User Privileges page. Check the field ALL PRIVILEGES, and then click on the Make Changes in order to save the privileges.

Now you can close the cPanel.

Step 6: Connect your WordPress with the database you created

The most complicated things are over. Type the address of your site in your browser. This will open the page where you have to select the language you will use for administration. After that you will see this page:

Click on the button Let’s go! in order to start the WordPress installation. Here you need to enter the database parameters from the previous steps. After you enter all parameters, click on the button Submit.

If the parameters are correct, you will see the next screen and you need to click on the Run the installation button to start:

Step 7: WordPress installation

This is the main part. Enter your site title. Enter the username that will be used for administration. Do not use common names for username, like “admin”, “username”, .etc. Instead of that use original username. Also, use a strong password.

If you want to be invisible for the search engines during development, you can check to Discourage search engines from indexing this site.

Click on the Install WordPress button so installation can begin.

Right after you see the notice about successful installation you are ready to go!

Step 8: Login to your WordPress site

You can always log in to your WordPress site if you on your domain add the /wp-admin/ part after. Example: If you have a website on your-domain.com, your WordPress Dashboard will work on your-domain.com/wp-admin/

This is how WordPress Dashboard will look once you access it:

Step 9: Check the title, subtitle, time and date

Go to Settings – General. Here you can check your main Title and subtitle. People often forgot the subtitle and leave the default “Just another WordPress site”. Use the subtitle that better describes your website. In this part, you also can set time zone, date and time.

To save your settings just click on the button Save the changes.

Step 10: Setup your permalinks

This is important. Go to Settings – Permalinks. WordPress by default create links like this one your-website.com/2019/02/25/example-post/. We suggest you use the “Post name” permalink structure for better results with search engines. Please do not use the first option from the image below – “Plain”.

Step 11: Install new WordPress theme

You can change the WordPress theme in Appearance – Themes. WordPress comes with a few minimalistic themes. If you want to install a new theme, you can click on the Add New button.

In the next window, you will see a WordPress repository from which you can install new themes. When you find a nice looking theme just click on the Install button to install a new theme.

Step 12: Install security plugin for your WordPress

To protect your website, you need to install a security plugin. In a previous article, we are recommended some useful plugins for that and you need to select and install one. If you are a beginner, we recommend WordFence. Here you can read WordPress Plugins For Detecting Malicious Code And Protection.

Step 13: Install and set your first SEO plugin

You need an SEO plugin to control how the Search engines, like Google, will see your website. When you publish page or post, you need to fill out the SEO field so Google can know what you have in your page or post. Without that, Google can freely decide what your page want to present. You can read our previous article about that here Manual: WordPress SEO by Yoast.

Step 14: Delete Hello world! and Hi, this is a comment and Sample page

With WordPress comes an example post named with Hello world! You can delete that post because it is not professional to be seen on your site. Delete that post in Posts – All posts with one click on on the Trash option.

Besides that, you can find an example comment under the title Hi, this is a comment. This comment will be deleted right after you delete the example post, and new comments you can manage in the Comments section:

There is and one sample page with the title Sample Page. You can delete this page in Pages – All pages:

Step 15: Start your work, create pages, write your first post

For the fresh start, create pages that represent you and your services if you are a legal entity, or your interests if you are a blogger. General pages that you can create are Home, Blog, About, Contact… Later you can add new pages, and all that you do in Pages – All pages with a click on Add new.

New articles – posts, you need to create in Posts – All Posts with a click on Add New.

Do not forget to create Categories for your new posts to group it in the different topics depending on what you write. If you don’t have a category or you do not put the post in any categories, WordPress will put that post in Uncategorized. New Categories you can create in Posts – Categories.

Step 16: Create menu

After you create new pages and new posts you will need a menu to show all that new stuff in simple navigation on your site. Go to Appearance – Menus and in the Menu Name enter a name for your new menu and then click on Create Menu:

After you create a new menu, in a left panel under the Add menu items, you can add pages, posts, categories or custom links in the menu. Just check the item you want to add and then click on the Add to menu. In the Menu Settings check the place where the menu will be shown (Primary is the main menu on top…). Save the settings with a click on the Save menu.

How to proceed on your own?

From this point, you continue on your own. Opportunities are great, depending on what you plan to present on your site and how you plan to beautify and arrange it to make everything functional and useful to people who come here. Here you can see where you can find free images and videos for your site Royalty free pictures, videos and music for your new site, design or blog. To include better fonts on the site, see the text with good fonts for WordPress websites. Take a look at Ways To Optimize WordPress Website For Displaying On Mobile And Tablet Devices.