In this tutorial I will show you how to install WordPress as your Content Management System (CMS) on a website hosted by Namecheap.com.
To do this you will need to have access to your cPanel account. This should be provided by Namecheap. When I first started online, all of this stuff was SUPER confusing…but you will figure it out!
There will be a lot of information on your screen as we proceed, just ignore it and follow my step-by-step directions. I will highlight exactly what you need to do.
Let’s get started!
How To Install WordPress On Your Namecheap.com Hosted Website
Step 1: Log into cPanel. You should have been given a URL to access your cPanel by Namecheap when you purchased hosting. If you can’t recall the URL, you can try entering this: “cpanel.yourdomain.com”. This should take you to the (A) cPanel login screen. Enter your credentials (again, should have been provided to you) and click (B) “Log in”.
Step 2: Find & Open Softaculous Apps Installer. Now you should be at your cPanel home screen. Think of this as your control center for every website you have hosted with Namecheap. Now we need to find the drop-down menu in the list that says (C) “Softaculous Apps Installer” and click on the (D) little gray arrow to expand the menu. Your menus may be in a different order than mine so just look around until you find it.
Step 3: Go to WordPress installation page. Now that the Softaculous Apps Installer menu is expanded, find the (E) “Scripts” section of it and click on the (F) WordPress icon. This will take you to the WordPress installation page.
Step 4: Begin installation process. Click on the blue (G) “Install” button near the upper part of your screen.
Step 5: Choose installation settings. Now we need to look through and modify our settings. Let’s take a look at each section individually.
Software Setup
Choose Protocol: Essentially, this is the “technical” URL address of your website. If your site has SLL, then you need to select one of the options that begins with “https://” (with the “s”), if not, select one of the “http://” (without the “s”) options.
Choose Domain: Here you must choose which domain name you want to install WordPress on. This is only relevant if you host more than one domain name with Namecheap.
In Directory: I would highly suggest deleting the “wp” that is already in the text box and leaving this one blank. It will save you many problems in the future.
Database Name: You can just leave this as the default, unless you have a specific database name you would like to enter.
Database Settings
Table Prefix: Just leave this as the default. No need to make changes here.
Site Settings
Site Name: Here you can enter the name of your website. For example, for this website my website name is “Kirby’s Marketing”.
Site Description: Here is where you can enter in a more detailed description of your website and it’s purpose. Try to keep this description to a few short sentences at the most.
Enable Multisite (WPMU): Only check this box if you’re an advanced user and know what you’re doing!
Admin Account
Admin Username, Password, & Email: Here you must decide what you want your Admin account’s username and password to be as well as the attached email address. I would recommend changing the username and password and entering an email you check regularly.
Choose Language
Select Language: Self explanatory.
Select Plugins
Limit Login Attempts: Choose whether or not you want WordPress to automatically install this plugin onto your website. This is completely up to your personal preference.
There may be other plugins shown here. Again, just read what they’re about and see if you want to utilize them on your website.
Advanced Options
Disable Update Notification: Decide whether or not you want to be notified, via email, when future updates are available. This is completely up to you.
Auto Upgrade: Decide whether or not you want WordPress to automatically update when possible. This is completely up to you as well, but I would err on the safe side and leave this unchecked.
Automated Backups: Decide if, and how frequently, you would like automatic backups to be made of your website.
Backup Rotation: Choose how many backup files you would like to keep on file. If you select “4”, for example, then once you have more than 4 backups the oldest one will that is still saved be deleted every time a new one is created.
Step 6: Install WordPress. Now that you have everything set as you would like, it is time to install WordPress by clicking the gray (H above) “install” button below all of the settings. Once you click install you will have to wait.
Step 7: Go to your website’s WordPress Admin page. Hopefully, assuming everything went right, you should get a “Congratulations, the software was installed successfully” page. Under it you will notice two URLs. The first (J) is the URL where the public will view your website at. The second (K) is the URL where you will access your WordPress Admin page. It should look something like “http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin/”. Click on this url address to be taken to your login page.
Step 8: Bookmark page and login. Make sure to bookmark this page, as it is where you will have to return every time you want to log into the Administration Page of your website. You simply login using the username and password you entered in step 5.
Congratulations!
That’s it! You have now installed WordPress on your Namecheap.com hosted website. Don’t stop now! This is just one of the first steps of getting started online! Now the hard part, content creation, starts!
Good luck and check back frequently! If you have any questions or comments regarding this process, please drop me a comment below and I will get back to you ASAP!
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Hello and thanking you for this great, clear and interesting explanation.
I am interested in subdomains because they will save me money for paying for a new sub domain. Or will it? Can I add a subdomain for free or?
And the same goes for running WPress. Could have all my subdomains on one domain and not pay for WP for each? Or has this option been removed?
Excellent tutorial, thanks. In the past I’ve had WP sites, but one thing I always struggled with is FTP.
I’m certainly drawn to this simpler Namecheap way of installing WP as I’m just about to start a new business. My concern is whether I would need to use FTP at all, as I don’t fancy again having to get someone else to work through it for me.
If everything is in cPanel that’s no problem for me.