You do not have to download WordPress, create a database or upload anything. cPanel carries two tools that do all of it, and either one leaves a working site behind within minutes. This article is about the decisions you make along the way, because those are what cost you time later if you rush them. The click by click is in installing WordPress in a few clicks.
Where each tool lives
| Tool |
cPanel section |
What for |
| WordPress Management |
Domains |
The tool built for WordPress. It installs, and then stays around to manage what it installed. |
| Softaculous Apps Installer |
Software |
The general installer. It carries WordPress and hundreds of other applications. |
| WordPress Manager by Softaculous |
Software |
The part of that installer that deals only with WordPress installs. |
If you do not know where to start, start in the Domains section. To reach cPanel in the first place, see how to get into cPanel.
Four decisions before you press install
| Decision |
What to pick, and why |
| Which domain |
Pick the domain the site will really live on. Changing the address afterwards is possible, but it is work and it breaks links. |
| Root or subfolder |
Leave the directory field empty and the site sits at yourcompany.com. Type a name in it and the site sits at yourcompany.com/name, which is what you want for a trial run, not for the real thing. |
| Administrator username |
Never keep the suggested name, and never admin. Half the attacks out there start by trying exactly that. The password has to be long and used nowhere else. |
| Site language |
Pick the language you will write in. You can change it later in Settings, but that is one step fewer. |
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Installing over something erases it. If a site already lives on that domain or in that folder, the installer writes over it and does not ask twice. Take a backup first: restoring a backup yourself.
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The first ten minutes after it installs
| 1 |
Open the WordPress dashboard at yourcompany.com/wp-admin and check that the user you created actually gets in.
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| 3 |
Delete the themes and plugins you will not use. Code nobody updates is still a door. Leave one spare theme in place.
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| 4 |
Set the site title and the administration e-mail address in Settings, General. That address is where the password reset goes, so it has to be one you actually read.
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| 5 |
Choose your permalinks in Settings, Permalinks. Changing this later, once the site is indexed, is what causes trouble.
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| 6 |
Write down where your keys are. The WordPress password is not the cPanel password and not the My MozOut password: they are three separate things.
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The install went through but the site will not open? Give us the domain and the folder and we will look.
Open a support ticket
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