Today I have a guest Blogger. Shawn DesRochers has a useful post for those of you wishing to switch to Wordpress. He shares with us how to install Wordpress manually and with Fantastico.

By Shawn DesRochers of Visionthishosting.com

There are two methods to installing WordPress and we’ll discuss both methods in this tutorial.

Installing WordPress Manually

The first method is to install WordPress manually, but believe me it’s really not that difficult even the not so tech savvy user can do it, given you follow these steps carefully and take your time.

First download the latest WordPress version from http://www.wordpress.org and save it to your desktop or some where you can find it easily.

Now most web hosting comes with the popular cPanel for managing your web domain and email addresses. It can usually be accessed by the default method.

http://your-domain.com/cpanel

Once logged into your control panel, click the MySQL icon or text MySQL Databases to access the configuration and setup section, as we need to create a database and setup a user and password for our WordPress installation.

Once on the MySQL Database configuration page look for the section that says “New Database“. Enter a name for your database in the field.

Example: New Database: mywordpress

Next click the “create database” button, and once complete click the go back link to return to the following page as we need to create a username and password for our database.

Now that we have created a database, we need to create a username and password, but be sure to use a password that’s not too easy and mix it up with alphanumeric letters and characters to insure the security of your WordPress blog and database.

Now scroll down until you see a section that has the heading “Current Users.” In the option fields marked Username and Password, you need to create a unique username and password.

Example:

Username: my1wordpress
Password: 01%2myq(password@

Important tip: Be sure to write your username and password down as you will need this information a little later for the final configuration and setup of your blog.

Now click “create user.”

You should get the following message:

Account Created
Added my1wordpress with the password 01%2myq(password@

Click the ‘Go Back link’ to return to the following page.

Now all that’s left to do is set the permissions for the user that we just created for our database.

Scroll down until you see the following heading “Add Users to Your Databases.” From the drop down menus select the username and database that you just created in the previous steps.

Next put a check mark in the “ALL box” next to “Privileges,” and then click add user to database.

Now you’re done in the cPanel. It’s on to the install of your WordPress Blog.

Unzip the folder you downloaded from http://www.wordpress.org, and extract it to the desktop.

Before we upload it using an FTP Program we need to modify the wp-config-sample.php file.

To edit the file I recommend an ASCII Editor like crimson editor, which is freeware and can be downloaded from the following website.

http://www.crimsoneditor.com

Do not use Microsoft Word!

Once you installed crimson editor open the program and from the top menu click File -> Open -> My-WordPress-Folder -> wp-config-sample.php

We need to add the database and username to the file so that our WordPress can connect to the MySQL database and finish the installation process.

The contents of the file will look something like this:

define(’DB_NAME’, ‘dbname’); // The name of the database
define(’DB_USER’, ‘dbusername’); // Your MySQL username
define(’DB_PASSWORD’, ‘dbpassword’); // …and password
define(’DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’); // 99% of the time you won’t need to change this value

// You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a unique prefix
$table_prefix = ‘wp_’; // Only numbers, letters, and underscores!

Simply put the information we used for creating our database in the above steps in the appropriate sections.

define(’DB_NAME’, ‘mywordpress’); // The name of the database
define(’DB_USER’, ‘my1wordpress’); // Your MySQL username
define(’DB_PASSWORD’, ‘01%2myq(password@’); // …and password
define(’DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’); // 99% of the time you won’t need to change this value

// You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a unique prefix $table_prefix = ‘wp_’; // Only numbers, letters, and underscores!

“Depending on your web hosting configuration and setup you may need to adjust the database name, and username by adding the sign in name of your account if you’re WordPress fails to connect to the MySQL Database by default.”

Example: Your wp-config-sample.php file would have to be adjusted to the following:

Your-Cpanel-Login-Name_ mywordpress and same goes for the database user Your-Cpanel-Login-Name_ my1wordpress

Once you have added the database information close and save the file wp-config-sample.php.

Next step is to upload the WordPress Files to your web server; you will need to use an FTP Program.

We recommend CuteFTP or WS_FTP.

Simply connect to your server with the information that was provided to you by your web host. Once connected, you will need to decide whether or not you want to install it in the root directory or in a sub directory.

In this example we will assume you’re installing it in the root of your web directory, which is normally public_html.

Now upload all the contents of the WordPress Folder to your web server.

Once all the files are uploaded you need to rename the wp-config-sample.php file to wp-config.php by right clicking on the file and selecting rename.

Once the file is renamed be sure to upload the file to your web server.

The rest of the installation is done through your browser. As long as you entered the database information correctly, you should be prompt with the WordPress Installation Screen by accessing the following.

http://www.your-domain.com/wp-admin/install.php

Simply follow the on screen installation, by providing a Username, and a password, which you will use to access the WordPress Admin Panel and your email address.

Once you have provided all the information required you will receive a congratulation screen and you will be redirected to your WordPress Admin Dashboard, where you will be able to manage and change your settings, modify themes or start making post.

Using Fantastico to install WordPress

Using Fantastico to install your WordPress Blog is one of the easiest methods and probably the quickest ways of setting up a blog. Fantastico will install the WordPress software and create the database and the configuration file for you.

How to use Fantastico to install WordPress?

Login to your web hosting control panel, and in this tutorial we’ll assume your using cPanel.

It can usually be accessed by the default method.

http://your-domain.com/cpanel

1. Login to your control panel “cPanel.”
2. Click on the Fantastico icon or look for the Blue Smiley Face icon.
3. Select WordPress from the list on the right.
4. Click New Installation.
5. Select the domain name you want WordPress installed on.( If you have more than one domain hosted on your account, be sure to select the domain you want your WordPress Blog installed in.)
6. Decide if you want WordPress installed in the root or a sub-directory. Example: If you want it in the root directory leave it blank. If you wish to install it in a sub-directory make up the directory name you want it installed in like “blog or Wordpress”.
7. Next enter an Admin username and password, but be sure to write them down as you will use this information to enter your WordPress Admin Panel.
8. Now enter your Admin nickname that you will go by when posting articles.
9. Enter your Admin email address that you wish to use to be notified of comments etc.
10. Enter your Site name
11. Enter your Blog Description
12. You can also set up your email configuration; usually the default settings are ok as most host support PHP Mail or SMTP support throuth the PHP.INI Settings.
13. Click Install WordPress.

Once installed, you can choose to have the details of the setup mailed to your email address for safe keeping. This is highly recommended in case you forget your admin login and password.

You’re done! You now have WordPress installed on your domain.

To access your blog if you installed it in a sub-directory.

http://www.your-domain.com/sub-directory-name

To manage your WordPress Blog you would login using the following.

http://www.your-domain.com/sub-directory name/wp-admin/

If you installed it in the root directory you would use the default method of accessing your WordPress Blog.

http://www.your-domain.com

And you’re WordPress Admin Panel

http://www.your-domain.com/wp-admin/

Enjoy your new WordPress Blog!

Article © 2007 Shawn DesRochers

Shawn DesRochers is the CEO of a successful SEO & Web Design Support Forum. He also helps administrate one of the most popular Blog support forums online, where bloggers can get answers to their current questions. If you need blog hosting, Shawn recommends Vision This Blog Hosting.