Things That I Know

I don’t have any statistics to back this up, but I would bet that the most popular websites being built these days (non-adult) are blogs. Blogs are a great way to share information with people without having to know a bunch of techie lingo. You can get a blog up and going with minimal computer language skills (but you will need some).

There is many a choice when choosing your blogging software. A simple web search will yield you lots of results. Since I haven’t used them all, I will not recommend anything I haven’t used. I use Wordpress, probably the most popular blogging software out there. I know there are others, but I will be of no use trying to explain their in’s and out’s so I won’t try. What I will do, is tell you how to get your Wordpress blog installed and running on your website.

At this point, I’m assuming you are already in possession of a website. You will need to have MySQL databases available and a working FTP account to make this happen.

First, go to Wordpress.org (NOT wordpress.com) and follow their installation instructions. I can’t write it any better than them, so just follow their step-by-step to the letter and you’ll be almost ready to go. There are a few additional tips that I can add to their installation guide.

First, you’ll need to know how to create a MySQL database. This is done from your web host’s control panel. Each host’s setup is different, but you should be able to find something with “MySQL” to click on, and from there you can create a database. When you create the database, either keep the page open in another tab/window, or copy all of the user information you are assigned to your Notepad. You will need the database name, user name, password, and database host. Keep these handy.

Next, you’ll need to be able to unzip the .zip file that the software comes in. You probably already have something to do this on your computer, otherwise you’ll have to download something to unzip the files.

Once they are unzipped, you’ll want to find the file “wp-config-sample.php” in the folder you just unzipped the files to. Rename it by right-clicking it, and just name it “wp-config.php”. Then you want to open the file. It opens in a basic text editor, like Notepad. Now you can continue following the wordpress instructions and fill in your database’s information.

Now, to put the files on your website, open an FTP connection. FTP accounts should be an option with your web host. Usually, your site can be accessed at ftp://yoursite.com. You’ll need a password to access you sites files. You can do all of this in Internet Explorer if you want, or use an external FTP client. If you use Explorer, just type in your FTP address and your password and you’ll see a directory, probably full of files (maybe not if it’s a new site). Click on View, and then click “Open FTP Site in Windows Explorer”. This will open you site as a folder like any other on your computer. From here you can drag files to and from your website with ease.

If your blog is the only thing on your site, just drag all of the files you just unzipped into the root directory. If you’re putting it somewhere else on your site, drag the files to the folder you want your blog to be in. After the files are in the directory, you can run the install as per wordpress instructions, then just follow step-by-step. Once you finish the install, you have a blog. If you just registered the domain name that your blog will be a part of, sometimes you need to be patient with everything. You can still do everything listed here, but you may get an error connecting to the database at the installation. If you’re sure all of your database information is correct, and all of the files are in the right place, just be patient, sometimes the database takes a bit to get up and running.

Once you successfully run the install, you have a blog. From there, you can do everything you need to maintain the blog directly from the wordpress software. But remember how to use the FTP because you will need it to upload any files to your blog like themes, plugins or pictures. But more on that in a different post.

Tags: Blogging, WordPress

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