You can easily install WordPress to your web hosting account with a couple of clicks.
WordPress is the world's most popular content management system (CMS) and powers a good portion of the entire Internet.
Hostbile is known for our high-speed, reliable, secure, and scalable WordPress environment so we make the install process very simple.
1) Go to cPanel -> WordPress (under Softaculous Apps Installer)
2) Click Install Now
3) Fill out Software Setup
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Choose Version: For new installs, we always recommend the current. At the time of this tutorial it is 5.5 and automatically populates. (Note: Installing older versions of WordPress could pose a security risk, so you should proceed with caution)
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Choose Protocol: If AutoSSL has generated your free certificate, you should select https://www. or https:// (Note: As long as you can see an active certificate in cPanel -> SSL/TLS Status, you may ignore that "trusted SSL" notice).
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Choose Domain: This is the domain you wish to install WordPress on. Most often, it is the primary domain you signed up with.
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In Directory: If you wish to install WordPress on your root domain, meaning when someone goes to yourdomain.com, they see your website, you should leave this field blank. If you wish to install WordPress in a sub-directory (i.e. yourdomain.com/wordpress) you may enter the directory name here (it will create it if it doesn't exist).
4) Fill out Site Settings
These settings can easily be changed after you install, so if you're unsure, you may leave these default.
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Site Name: This is the name of your website.
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Site Description: This is displayed below your site name throughout WordPress.
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Enable Multisite (WPMU): This allows you to run a single WordPress installation to serve multiple domains so they can share common themes/plugins and you can access from a single wp-admin URL. Since this changes the structure of WordPress, you should only enable this if you specifically know that you wish to use this.
5) Create an Admin Account
The WordPress admin interface allows complete control of your website. This is where you'll configure your theme, create pages, write blog posts, and much more.
Your admin account allows for full access and total control over your website so you want to use a very strong password as well as a unique username. You should click the key to have the password generate create a random one for you. This is the single most important thing you can do to keep your website secure.
6) Choose Language
WordPress ships in many different languages. Choose the one that is applicable to you.
7) Select Plugin(s)
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Limit Login Attempts (Loginizer): Once you get WordPress installed, you'll have the ability to add additional plugins, but Loginizer helps keep your admin area safe from brute force login attacks. At Hostbile we automatically prevent against this, so there isn't a need to install this.
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Classic Editor: In WordPress version 5 they changed the editor used to create pages/write posts to an updated "block" editor. Some user's still prefer the older "classic editor" which you may install using this option.
8) Configure Advanced Options
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Database Name: All your WordPress data (your pages/posts/settings) are stored inside a database. This is the internal name for your reference and should only be changed if you know what you're doing.
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Table Prefix: This is a random group of letters to secure your database tables. This should only be changed if you specifically know what you're doing.
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Disable Update Notifications Emails: If you do not plan on auto updating, you should keep these enabled. Running outdated versions of WordPress poses a big security risk.
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Auto Upgrade: Unless you plan on manually logging into your WordPress admin area weekly and completing upgrades, you should enable at least one of these options. Upgrade to Minor versions only will prevent WordPress from doing a "major" upgrade that may break any third-arty themes/plugins until they're ready to update. Upgrade to any latest version available will always keep your WordPress installation updated automatically.
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Auto Upgrade WordPress Plugins: In addition to the option above, WordPress plugins are constantly updating to add new features and increase security. It's highly recommended you enable this option unless you plan on logging into your WordPress admin area daily to complete these upgrades.
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Auto Upgrade WordPress Themes: This option will keep all your themes updated, which runs every 24 hours. As with the plugins, this greatly enhances the security of your website, and is recommended to enable unless you plan on doing daily.
Nearly all WordPress websites that are compromised are because failure to run regular updates and/or using strong admin credentials. You have the opportunity here to save yourself the headache of dealing with catastrophic data loss, please make your decisions wisely!
8) Select Theme
The default WordPress themes are pretty basic and most user's want to choose a custom theme. We provide these 100% free of charge which you can easily add/install to your website instantly. Feel free to use the search feature to find one that meets your needs. Additionally, you can add these once the installation is completed.
9) Click Install
10) Start building your website
Once installed, you'll be given your wp-admin URL where you can login and begin configuring/building your website. You should make sure you store your admin credentials in a safe place, preferably a password manager.
Common Problems
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Your website shows a critical error when you access it after installation: Sometimes this may happen if you don't have the correct mySQL PHP extension enabled. You can easily fix this by going to cPanel -> Select PHP Version and placing a checkmark beside nd_mysqli.
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When adding images to your website, the file exceeds max upload limit: You can easily adjust your upload limit inside of cPanel -> Select PHP Version -> Click Options tab -> Increase upload_max_filesize and post_max_size.
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After uploading a custom theme, your website loads a blank white page: Some custom themes require a higher memory limit. You can increase this inside of cPanel -> Select PHP Version -> Click Options tab -> Increase memory_limit.
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Your website is not displaying a secure lock in your browser window: First verify that AutoSSL has run and you have a valid SSL certificate on file (read more here). If you do have a valid SSL cert, go to wp-admin -> Settings -> General and make sure your WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) are using https:// rather than http://. Additionally, you may install the free Really Simple SSL plugin to scan your entire installation for insecure calls.
