As the title indicates, this tutorial will walk you through a Wordpress installation. Watch the video to the left or read the text version that follows.

1. Download Wordpress

The very first thing you’ll want to do is download a copy of Wordpress 2.0. So, go the Wordpress site here, and look for the link that says “DOWNLOAD.ZIP.” You should see it on the right side of the page with a dark blue background. When you see the link, click on it, and save the file to your desktop so it’s easy to find going forward.

2. Unzip the Folder

After you download the program, you’ll need to unzip the files into their own folder on your desktop. Most computers have a built-in zip/unzip application when you buy them, and if you’re not sure about your system, right-click on the file you just downloaded, and look for the menu option that says “Extract All …” Select that option if you see it. If you don’t have an unzip feature already installed, you can download a free program called Stuffit Expander (for PC or Mac).

3. Set Up Your Hosting Account

You may already have a web host, and if so, you can skip this section. If not, the web host I’ve been using for a couple of years is 1and1 Internet, Inc., and I recommend them highly. They offer several hosting packages, and I’d suggest the “Business Hosting” plan at $9.99 per month. You can find it on the left menu bar under the heading “Hosting.”

During the set-up process, you’ll need to choose a domain name for your site if you don’t already have one you want to use. Give careful consideration to the domain name you choose. Try to make it something memorable yet easy to spell as people will be typing it into their brower to get to your site. You wouldn’t want them to have to type www.superlongandhardtospelldomainname.com. Also keep in mind, you can add on other domains very easily in the future if necessary.

4. Set Up Your FTP Program

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and an FTP program will allow you to copy files from your own computer to your web host. There are many FTP programs available, and the one I use is a free program called SmartFTP. You can download it here.

5. Get Your FTP Access Information

You’ll need to enter this information into your FTP program to access and upload files to your web host. Specifically, you’ll need to enter the the domain name, user name and password for your FTP account. You can get this information from your web host if you don’t have it already. If you have a 1and1 account, you’ll find a link on the main “Administration” page just after you log-in to your account (login page: admin.1and1.com).

6. Set Up Your MySQL Database With Your Web Host

This isn’t as scary as it may sound. Well, not if you have a good web host. Again, back to 1and1 (because that’s who I use). It’s really simple to set up a database in their control panel.

• Simply log in to the control panel at admin.1and1.com, and go to the Administration page.
• You’ll see a section that says “Websites and Applications,” under which you’ll see a link that says “MySQL Administration.”
• Click that link, and look for a button that says “New Database.”
• Enter anything you like for the description of the new database (e.g. WPBlog), then click “SetUp.”
• That’s it. Your database is set up. On the following page, you’ll see the information about your new database, such as the database name, host name, user name, etc.
• Keep that window open or print the page as you’ll need the database information shortly.

7. Enter Your Database Information into Your Wordpress Config File

Remember when you downloaded and unzipped the Wordpress program on your computers desktop? Open that folder, and you’ll see another folder labeled “Wordpress.” Open that folder, and find a file named wp-config-sample. Open this file in a text editor such as Notepad or Wordpad. When you open the file you’ll see some text, much of which looks like gibberish, but it’s not. Look specifically for the lines that read:

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

This is the place to enter the database information you saved from the previous step. So whatever the database name is, enter that information in place of ‘wordpress.’ Just be sure to leave the ‘ marks before and after as it appears above. Do the same for the DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD and DB_HOST. When you’re done, save the file, but save it as wp-config.php rather than wp-config-sample.

8. Upload Wordpress to Your Server

Okay. We’re in the homestretch. The next thing you want to do is copy the entire Wordpress program from your computer to you host’s server. So, first, open your FTP program and connect to your host’s server. Back in step 5, you tracked down your FTP information. If you haven’t already entered it into your FTP program, go ahead and do that now. Again, you’ll need to enter you domain name, your user name and your password. After you enter the information, go ahead and connect to your host’s server.

At this point, you’ll need to make a decision about where you’ll place your Wordpress program. You can put it in, either, the root directory of your host server or a sub-directory. Personally, I place mine in a subdirectory because I run several different websites on the same server, and it just makes things a lot easier by keeping them separate. After you make your decision, go ahead and upload all the files and directories located in the Wordpress folder you unzipped to you desktop, excluding the folder itself.

9. Run the Wordpress Install Script

• If you installed WordPress in the root directory of your server, open your web browser and type the following: http://www.mydomain.com/wp-admin/install.php (replace “mydomain.com” with your own domain name).

• If you installed WordPress in a sub-directory, open your web browser and type the following: http://www.mydomain.com/subdirectory/wp-admin/install.php (replace “mydomain.com” with your own domain name and “subdirectory” with the name of the sub-directory you created).

After you go to this page, Wordpress will do the rest. Just follow the onscreen directions, and then you’ll be all done.