Angela Booth

In this tutorial, we assume that you've purchased your own domain and hosting. In your Web hosting account, open C Panel, and then click Fantastico.

Note: your Web site host may have another name for this scripting feature. DreamHost for example, calls it "One Click Installs"; GoDaddy calls it their "Hosting Control Center"... it doesn't matter what it's called. Just search for "WordPress" or "WordPress Installation" in your hosting account's Help files, and they'll tell you where they've hidden it. Many Web hosts use Fantastico to install scripts, so that's what I've used in this example.

(Contact your host's support, if you can't find the script which installs WordPress.)

Click Fantastico, and then click WordPress, and you'll be taken to another screen. Read the information, then click "Install WordPress". You'll be asked to fill in a couple of passwords for the database and your email account. Fill in the fields, making a note of your entries. Click OK, and WordPress will be installed within a second or two.

Enter your email address in the appropriate field, and the details of the blog installation will be emailed to you. Please save these details.

Here's a snippet from the email message I received just after installing a blog, giving me my blog's details. SAVE this email message, it's very important.

This is my new blog, on my http://moneydiviner.com/ site. From go to whoa, installing this blog took my around three minutes. Installing a blog really is super-easy.

Access your blog via URL in the email message you received. It will be your blog's URL, with wp-admin/ on the end of it. Click this, and you'll be taken to a log in screen. Enter your username and password, and you'll arrive at the Dashboard.

This is the dashboard for my new moneydiviner blog.

I always like to add a couple of posts to a new blog, so that I have something to work with in customizing the blog. I know some bloggers like to set up the customizations first, but I find adding a few posts first is easier.

You can find WordPress themes everywhere - many of them free. Here's the WordPress theme viewer - http://themes.wordpress.net/. Click "Download" when you've found a theme you like. You'll need an FTP program to upload themes to your WordPress themes directory. FileZilla is free - it's available for Windows and the Mac - http://filezilla-project.org/

Upload your theme into the Themes directory as shown above.

This is what your theme will look like once you've installed it into the Themes directory.

Next, go to your Dashboard in WordPress, and scroll down. Your new theme will appear in the Themes list.

Here's the theme I just installed in the Themes list.

Click the theme, and it's activated at once. Click View Site in the Dashboard to view your new theme.

So there you have it - installing themes into WordPress is very easy. It looks much more complex than it is.

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