How to Install WordPress for a Website

WordPress is the most popular Content Management System (CMS) out there, and for good reason. It’s open-source, so anyone can install it on their server and customize the way it works. To help you get started, we’ve put together this detailed guide on how to install WordPress for a completely free website.

The Necessary Software

Before you start using any software, you’ll need to make sure you have it installed on your computer. WordPress is a popular choice among webmasters and app development companies because it’s free and easy to set up, and much more customizable than other CMSs. Here’s a list of the software you’ll need to install before you start developing with WordPress.

• Web Hosting — Your website will need a place to live, so you’ll need to find a web host that supports WordPress. There are many solid web hosts out there, so take your time to compare features and pricing before you make a decision.
• Saving — To save a file locally on your computer, you’ll need to install the ‘Saving’ plugin.
• Media — To upload and use images on your site, you’ll need to install the ‘Media’ plugin.
• Broadcast — To allow you to send live broadcasts to your blog, you’ll need to install the ‘Broadcast’ plugin.
• Contact Form 7 — To create a contact form for your site, you’ll need to install the ‘Contact Form 7′ plugin.
• Style — To add a little polish to your site, you’ll need to install the ‘Style’ plugin.
• Tiny Mail — If you want to be able to send anonymous emails to your website’s addresses, you’ll need to install the ‘Tiny Mail’ plugin.
• Akismet — To protect your site from spam, you’ll need to install the ‘Akismet’ plugin.
• WordPress — To finally put a face on your website, you’ll need to install WordPress itself.

All of these plugins are free, and you can find more information about them on the WordPress.org website. Once you have installed these plugins, you’re ready to install and configure WordPress itself.

Installing WordPress

The first step in getting your WordPress up and running is installing it on a server. You’ll need to choose a web host that supports WordPress and has a one-click install for new users. Once you have secured a hosting account, you can install WordPress using the 1-click installer provided by your host.

This will walk you through the setup process, which is very simple. Once you have installed WordPress on the server, you can log in to your admin panel and begin configuring the platform.

Configuring WordPress

The next step is to configure WordPress to work the way you want it to. To get started, log in to your WordPress admin panel.

From there, you can click on ‘Settings’ in the left navigation bar, and then select ‘Reading’. From this screen you can adjust the theme settings, as well as choose a new theme and activate it.

Configuring WordPress is very straightforward, and it’s pretty easy to figure out. To give you an idea of what’s possible, here are some of the settings you can tweak:

• Homepage — To change the homepage design, click on the blue ‘Edit’ button next to the homepage setting.
• Columns — To change the number of columns on your homepage, click on the blue ‘Edit’ button next to the homepage setting.
• Background Color — To change the background color of your homepage, click on the blue ‘Edit’ button next to the homepage setting.
• Parallax Background — To add some “wow” factor to your homepage, you can add a parallax scrolling background.
• Header Text — To add some text above the fold, click on the blue ‘Edit’ button next to the header setting.
• Footer Text — To add some text below the fold, click on the blue ‘Edit’ button next to the footer setting.
• Social Icons — To add social media icons to your site, click on the blue ‘Edit’ button next to the social icon setting.
• Video Background — To add video background to your website, click on the blue ‘Edit’ button next to the video setting.
• Captions — To add subtitles to your videos, click on the blue ‘Edit’ button next to the video setting. You’ll need to install the ‘Text’ plugin to do this.
• Website Background — To change the main background color of your site, click on the blue ‘Edit’ button next to the website setting.
• Logo — To change the logo of your site, click on the blue ‘Edit’ button next to the logo setting.
• Menu — To change the look of your side menu (the things you’ll find after you log in to your admin panel), click on the blue ‘Edit’ button next to the menu setting.
• Font Size — To change the font size of your website’s text, click on the blue ‘Edit’ button next to the font setting.
• Link Color — To change the color of your links, click on the blue ‘Edit’ button next to the link setting.
• Border Size — To change the size of your border, click on the blue ‘Edit’ button next to the border setting.

With these settings changed, your WordPress installation should look something like this:

You can take this opportunity to try out different themes, checking out the themes available for WordPress. To download a theme, head over to ThemeForest.net and download the theme you want. Once you have downloaded the theme, simply click on the “Activate” button to use it on your site. This will walk you through the rest of the setup process, which is pretty simple.

Adding Content

Now that you have WordPress installed and configured, you can begin adding content to your site. To start, you’ll need to pick a unique name for your site and create a password to protect your content.

The next step is to visit WordPress.com to register your newly created domain name. Once you have registered the domain name, you can log in to your admin panel and begin adding content to your site.

You can use the WordPress admin panel to create and manage content for your site. To get started, click on ‘Content’ in the left navigation bar, and then select ‘Add New’. From here you can begin adding content to your site, using a number of different tools.

Images & Videos

To add images to your site, you’ll need to use the WordPress visual editor. You can access this by clicking on ‘Visual Editor’ in the left navigation bar, and then selecting ‘Image’. From here you can add images to your site’s posts and pages, as well as in the header and footer of your website.

For videos, you’ll need to use a YouTube video manager like Hootsuite or Justin.tv to create and edit videos on your site. To do this, click on ‘Video’ in the left navigation bar, and then select ‘Add New’. From here you can add videos to your site’s posts and pages, as well as in the header and footer of your site.

With images and videos added to your site, it’s time to add more interactive content. To do this, you’ll need to install a few more WordPress plugins.

Interactive Content

To add interactive content to your site, you’ll need to use a tool like Tapity or Codebird to create interactive elements, like polls, quizzes, and more.

To add a poll to your site, you may need to create a form with a submit button, and then use a plugin to handle the submission process. For example, the ‘Form’s’ plugin allows you to add a contact form to your site, which can be accessed from any page. When a user submits the form, they will be redirected to a thank you page that includes a link to their submission.