How To Install A Wordpress Blog

Blogs Are Ideal For Article Writers, Non-Programmers And Non-Web Designers

What is a Blog? Technical Answer: A Website Log (as in a Log Book) or Diary website. Basic Answer: A piece of software that emulates web pages (known as blog pages) that allows you to easily write and publish articles/comments into those pages without any knowledge of website programming (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Etc) and website design. One of the reasons why a blog is the preferred choice of many.

A blog can help you build up your visitor numbers, visitor interaction and search engine ranking/position depending on what you want to use the blog for. Many people make the mistake of thinking a blog, collectively, is a website - It is not. You cannot do with a blog what you can with a website. They are two different formats.

WHO  IS  A  BLOG  FOR?

I would say that if you are selling a product and/or service use a website and if you are writing "How-To" Tutorials or a Diary use a blog. You can have both if you wish because the two would live inside your web space as separate entities.

A blog is ideal for the non-programmer and non-website-designer. Just type, or copy & paste, your articles into a blog page (known as: Writing A Post) and then sit back while your readers read them and hopefully comment on them.

DOWNLOAD  WORDPRESS

At this time, Wordpress is one of the more popular Blog Publishing Software downloads. To install it you must first go to the wordpress download web page (http://www.wordpress.org/download/) and click on its DOWNLOAD link - The following instructions will guide you through the installation of Wordpress 2.9.2.

At the time of writing the current version of Wordpress is 2.9.2 If when you read this section the current version is 8.3.5 for example, unless there are changes in the Wordpress installation process you can take the installation process below as being applicable to that newer version of Wordpress.

Fig 1.0  Click on the DOWNLOAD WORDPRESS 2.8 link to continue

After clicking on the DOWNLOAD WORDPRESS 2.9.2 link a File Download message requester will appear, asking you if you want to Save or Open the compressed (zipped) file called wordpress-2.9.2.zip.

Clicking on the OPEN button will download (save) the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file, into the system (Windows) folder called TEMP, and then open (unzip/decompress) it for you. However. In this example, to keep it simple and because you might want to use the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file again, click on the SAVE button to save (download) the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file into a folder of your choice.

Fig 1.1  Click on the SAVE button to continue

Clicking on the SAVE button brings up the SAVE AS file requester (below). You need to navigate it to the folder where you would like to save (download) the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file.

In this example I have navigated it to the DOWNLOADS folder, but you can navigate it to some where like the DOCUMENTS folder, a Flash Drive folder or a sub-folder on a Floppy Disk if you wish. Once you have navigated the SAVE AS file requester to your chosen folder click on its SAVE button to start the download (saving) process (Fig 1.3).

Fig 1.2  Click on SAVE once you have navigated the SAVE AS file requester to your chosen folder




Fig 1.3  Wordpress-2.9.2.zip is now downloading

After choosing a folder to save the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file into and then clicking on the SAVE button (Fig 1.2 above) the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file will begin to download (save) into the folder you chose.

Depending on your internet connection you may see the above Download message requester (i.e. on a P.A.Y.G Dialup connection) or one with a green guage on it (i.e. on a Broadband connection). Either way, do not worry too much about it. As long as the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file downloads. Its current file size is: 2.39MB.

EXTRACT  THE  CONTENT  OF  WORDPRESS-2.9.2.ZIP

With the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file successfully downloaded the next step is to open the folder where it was saved (downloaded), in this example the DOWNLOADS folder, in order to extract the folders/files from within the zip file.

Begin by right clicking on the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file to bring up its Options (context/pop-up) menu and then select (left click on) the EXTRACT ALL menu-item. This tells Windows to unzip/decompress/extract the content of the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file and put that content into a new folder. In this example I am assuming you do not have a file de/compression utility installed, for whatever reason(s). If you do have a de/compression utility installed, such as WinZip, you can use its EXTRACT TO option instead.

Fig 2.0  Right click on the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file and then left click on the EXTRACT ALL menu-item

After clicking on the EXTRACT ALL menu-item (above) a message requester appears (below) asking you for a Destination folder. This is the folder where the, unzipped (decompressed/extracted), content of the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file will be stored.

In this example just leave the Destination folder as it is set by the message requester - It is set to extract the content of the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file into a new folder called the WORDPRESS-2.9.2. It will be created for you inside the DOWNLOADS folder, in this example and normally by default (normal behaviour) too. Therefore, the WORDPRESS-2.9.2 folder will actually be a sub-folder inside the DOWNLOADS folder.

If you do want to change the Destination folder simply click on the BROWSE button and then navigate the SELECT A DESTINATION folder requester that appears to your desired folder.

The setting called SHOW EXTRACTED FILES WHEN COMPLETE is normally ticked to denote that you want to have the destination (WORDPRESS-2.9.2) folder opened, once the content of the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file has been extracted into that destination folder. And in this example that is what you want to happen as well, so make sure the SHOW EXTRACTED FILES WHEN COMPLETE setting is ticked.

With the destination folder set click on the EXTRACT button to continue.

Fig 2.1  Click on the EXTRACT button to continue




Fig 2.2  The content of wordpress-2.9.2.zip is being extracted into a new folder called WORDPRESS-2.9.2

After clicking on the EXTRACT button (Fig 2.1 above) the content of the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file is extracted (Fig 2.2 above) into the newly created folder called WORDPRESS-2.9.2.

When the extraction (green guage) has finished the new WORDPRESS-2.9.2 folder will open automatically and display its content (Fig 2.3 below) which is a folder called WORDPRESS. So you will have:
Downloads >> WORDPRESS-2.9.2 >> WORDPRESS.

The just said applies even if you use a de/compression utility, such as WinZip, to extract the content of the wordpress-2.9.2.zip file.....into a folder called WORDPRESS-2.9.2. In fact, it does not really matter what the destination folder is called in that case because either way you will end up with a WORDPRESS-2.9.2 folder or sub-folder.

Fig 2.3  Double click on the WORDPRESS folder (sub-folder) to open it.

With the WORDPRESS folder displayed double click on it to open it (above). Once it is open look for a file called wp-config-sample.php (below) and rename it to wp-config.php.

Fig 2.4  Rename the WP-CONFIG-SAMPLE.php (all lowercase) file to WP-CONFIG.php (all lowercase)

The wp-config.php file is the configuration (settings) file used by Wordpress to set up (initialize) your empty MySQL Database and configure certain Wordpress settings amongst other things. Therefore, you will need to create an empty mysql database before continuing (see the Create An Empty MySQL Database section).

This is because Wordpress looks inside the wp-config.php file for the required mysql database Database Name, User Name and Password so that it can then fill the empty mysql database with blog settings and so on. In this example I am going to use an empty mysql database called wchelp_blog with the username wchelp_john and the password myblog2010.

Once you have created an empty database continue by double clicking on the wp-config.php file (Fig 2.5 below) in order to open it and change the DB_NAME, DB_USER and DB_PASSWORD entries (Fig 2.6) inside it, located in the middle of the file.

Ideally you should use a program such as Notepad to open the wp-config.php file because opening it with Microsoft WORD 2007 for example may change its format - It may add code lines, paragraph markers and so on to the text which may then make it unreadable by Wordpress. This is only a precaution but a habit you should get used to (using Notepad) when editing settings files in general.

Fig 2.5  Double click on the wp-config.php file to open it




Fig 2.6  Edit the DB_NAME, DB_USER and DB_PASSWORD entries

In Fig 2.6 above I have highlighted the DB_NAME, DB_USER and DB_PASSWORD entries for you, so that you know where to edit these settings. In this example (Fig 2.7 below) I have replaced these entries with wchelp_blog, wchelp_john and myblog2010 respectively. These are the only three entries you need to change. Do not worry about the DB_HOST and DB_CHARSET entries as they can be left to use their default settings (LocalHost and UTF8 respectively).

After editing the three entries inside the wp-config.php file select Notepad's FILE menu and then click on the SAVE menu-item. This will update (save) the wp-config.php file, now with your mysql database name, username and password inside it. From there. Come out of the WORDPRESS folder so that you are then looking at that WORDPRESS folder as a sub-folder inside the unzipped WORDPRESS-2.9.2 folder (see Fig 2.3 above and Fig 3.0 below).

Fig 2.7  SAVE the updated wp-config.php file to continue

Well done! The hard part is over! The blog files (WORDPRESS folder) are now ready to be transferred (copied & pasted) over to your web space (public_html website folder).

UPLOAD  THE  WORDPRESS  FOLDER

The next thing to do is transfer (upload) the WORDPRESS folder (and its content) to your public_html (website) folder using a FTP Client such as FileZilla. Instructions for filezilla and how to use it to connect to your web space are shown in the Connect To Website Folder Via FTP section. In this example I have used FileZilla to carry out the upload.

Fig 3.0  Transfer (upload a copy of) the Wordpress folder and its content to.....




Fig 3.1  .....your public_html (website) folder.

Depending on your internet connection, and your web hosting provider's server, the transfer of the WORDPRESS folder (and its content) may take a few minutes or up one hour. It really does depend on many factors. If you transfer using a FTP Client program, such as FileZilla, it should be noticeably quicker. And the good thing about a FTP Client is that they usually handle scenarios such as File Corruption and Dropped Internet Connection, during a transfer, quite well.

MySQL  Database  Prefix

A couple of points to mention here. In the database settings (Fig 2.6/2.7) my database name and user name are prefixed with the word wchelp, followed by an underscore. This is normally due to creating a MySQL Database from within the CPanel and is quite normal. The prefix is usually taken from your web hosting username.

Rename  WORDPRESS  Folder

The second thing to mention is that I have kept the original name of the WORDPRESS folder. I could of called it wch_blog, blog or websitecreationhelp for example. Meaning, you do not have to keep the name WORDPRESS. You can rename it to something more desirable to yourself and/or to the search engines.

In other words; You can include product/service Keywords/Keyphrases in the folder name so that when the blog folder is spidered/crawled/searched by the search engines it becomes famous for websitecreationhelp for example and not for wordpress.

INITIALIZE  THE  WORDPRESS  BLOG

The last stage of the blog set up (initialization) is to run its install.php script from your web space, by typing its path name into your web browser's (i.e. Internet Explorer's) Address Bar edit box and pressing ENTER. Your web browser will then connect to your web space in order to run the script.

In this example I have typed the path name http://www.websitecreationhelp.com/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php into internet explorer's Address Bar edit box, because my domain name is websitecreationhelp.com, but if my domain name was inthekitchen.com then I would need to type the path name http://www.inthekitchen.com/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php instead.

Fig 4.0  Type in your Blog Title and Email Address and then click on the INSTALL WORDPRESS button

When the install.php script begins the first set up web page you will see is the one above. It needs to know your Blog Title, which is the name you want your blog known as, and your contact Email Address for the general public. Your blog title is very important because it acts like the title of your website - It is what some directories, search engines and so on will list you for.

So if your domain name is inthekitchen.com, and you are a blog about cooking, you would choose a title such as "In The Kitchen" or "Traditional Kitchen Cooking" for example. And although the blog title can be changed later on it is a good idea to think of, or already have a good idea of, your blog title now.....Just as you would decide upon a domain name before purchasing some web space and so on.

If you want your blog to be private, unknown to search engines and so on, you should untick the ALLOW MY BLOG TO APPEAR IN SEARCH ENGINES... option. You may want a private blog if you are providing private services, selling limited offer promotional products or writing a "private diary" blog for family members only for example.

When you have entered your blog title, contact email address and decided on a private or public blog click on the INSTALL WORDPRESS button to continue. Doing so will provide you with the default Username of admin and a Random Password (below) that you can change once you are logged-in to your blog Administrator Account.

Fig 4.1  Wordpress has been successfully installed - Write down the Random Password if need be

You should write down the random password, or copy & paste it into memory (highlight over it, right click over the highlight and then select the COPY menu-item), before clicking on the LOG IN button (above) to log-in to your Administrator Account. Saying this, you will be emailed your username and password automatically by the wordpress script, but if you want to login straight away do the just said.

The Administrator Account takes you to the Wordpress Dashboard (Control Panel) where you can change the random password for your own password, write (post) articles, change the blog's theme (layout and look) and so on. Some of the main dashboard features will be explained/exampled in the next section.

Fig 4.2  Type in the default username (Admin) and random password before clicking on the LOGIN button

That's it for now! In the next section I will teach you how to Create A Category, Post (Article), Page (i.e. About John) and Favourites (Website/Blog) Link for your Wordpress Blog. I will also teach you how to Upload/Import A Media File so that you can insert it into a post and naturally build up a Media Library.