How to Setup a WordPress Blog

Blogging has become one of the most popular activities on the Internet, for many bloggers it is a way of life and a way to make money . The numbers of blogs has increased because now it´s easier to create and manage one. There are new tools and platforms that can help people to create and edit their own blogs, most of them are free services. Some of the best platforms are WordPress and Blogger, both of them are very popular and useful, as you can see Blogger Lounge is powered by the first one. This time I´m going to explain you how to setup a WordPress blog. Here is what you have to do.

Check web hosting requirements. First of all you have to ensure that your hosting provider supports PHP and MySQL database. PHP version has to be at least 4.2 and MySQL 4.0. Here is the link where you can see the requirements, you can ask your provider for more support.

Download WordPress. You can download the script from the website for free. Save the “.zip” file on your hard disk and use something like WinZip or WinRar to unpack the files to a temporary folder.

Now, rename the wp-config-sample.php file to wp-config.php.

Then open this file in your favorite text editor (like Notepad).

Now edit the next variables:

The name of the MySQL database (create a new one using your web hosting control panel in case you had never created it before).

Your database username, password and MySQL database server (usually localhost).

Now upload all files to your web host. Point your browser to /wp-admin/install.php and follow the instructions on the screen. During the installation process the admin password will be generated. Take note of his password because you will need it in the next step.

Another and easier solution on how to install the PHP script is to sign up for a quality web hosting service which offers pre-installed PHP scripts. Then easily go to your control panel, find the section with pre-installed scripts and select WordPress. The installer will do all the job for you. All you need to do is to choose the script you want to install.

Now the setup

At this point the script should be successfully installed. Point your browser to wp-login.php file in your WordPress folder and sign in with the username admin and the password generated during the installation (this password can be changed from the Profile section at any time).

Remember that the design of a blog is very important. For this reason WordPress offers the option to change the layout. Here is a post where I give you some great links and resources where you can find the best WP themes. Once you have a theme, upload the files to wp-content/themes/your-new-layout-name folder. From the Presentation section select your new theme and activate it. Now your blog has a new look and you are ready to start blogging for money (or just for hobby)!

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