How to Download Wordpress for Your New Blog

If you have website hosting, thankfully this process will be really straight forward.

Most good website hosts have a 1-click installation option or a WordPress wizard that walks you through the process of getting set up.

If you don’t have website hosting yet, be sure to check out this article with my top recommendations, plus how to set up hosting!

Important note: Your host is the virtual land where your site lives online, but WordPress is where you’ll build the look and layout of your website (the bones, the structure). Most of your work done as a blogger will take place in WordPress.

In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to install WordPress through Siteground and Namehero, as these are the most popular hosts for new and intermediate bloggers.

{{ Our blog posts contain affiliate links. Full disclosure here. }}

HOW TO SET UP WORDPRESS WITH SITEGROUND

It’s super easy to download WordPress through your Siteground dashboard..

Important note: WordPress is FREE through your hosting account. You DO NOT need to purchase anything from WordPress.

This article explains in detail the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org (you want to use FREE WordPress.org that you’ll install through your website hosting).

When you enter your Client Area for the first time in Siteground, it’ll prompt you to ‘Set Up a New Site’. The Website Setup Wizard will walk you through the process of setting up your WordPress site.

When prompted to choose an application, you’ll select WordPress.

Then you’ll set up your basic site info and login info to access the backend of your website.

Make sure you choose a strong password and write it down somewhere you won’t forget it.

You can also store all passwords safely in Last Pass.

The WordPress wizard will prompt you through a list of options upon set up, including downloading plugins or a theme.

Just select the absolute basics in order to finish the setup process. You can do more of your site design in WordPress on your own.

Let’s just get this thing set up!

Once you have your WordPress account setup and your domain is pointed to Siteground, you’ll be able to login and start designing your blog and creating your content.

HOW TO INSTALL WORDPRESS WITH NAMEHERO

One of my newest sites is set up on NameHero and I am in love with their setup. So easy to use!

If you’d rather use NameHero than your current host, you can sign up for NameHero hosting here. You can even transfer your site from another host to NameHero for a small fee.

Similar to Siteground, once you login to your client area, you’ll be able to install WordPress and use their easy walk-through guide to get everything setup.

If you aren’t automatically prompted to set up your site upon login, just click on ‘Go to cPanel’, looks like something like this.

Scroll down until you see the WordPress Manager by Softaculous icon, and click on it to get started.

This will begin the walk-through of your WordPress set up.

You’ll select your site settings, usually the blog name and tagline you want to use.

You’ll also create a username and password for your WordPress account. Remember, your WordPress account is where most of your time will be spent on your blog, so don’t lose this password!

You can scroll down a bit and install a theme, or just hit Install and go straight to your WordPress dashboard to start designing your own site.

After your domain name has been pointed to your host and you’ve installed WordPress, anytime you want to work on your blog, you’ll simply type your domain name with this extension at the end: /wp-admin

Example: YourDomainName.com/wp-admin

When you type this into your web browser, it’ll bring up your WordPress login page.

This is how you’ll login to WordPress from now on.

That’s it! That’s how to install WordPress for your new blog.

An important note: if you recently pointed your domain name to your host, it can take up to 72 hours to fully connect. This might affect your ability to edit your settings and adjust your theme. If things feel glitchy, just check back in a day or two so that DNS propagation can finish its process!

Now, let’s choose a theme for your new blog so you can start designing it the way you want!