As the world’s most popular content management system (CMS), WordPress currently powers tens of millions of websites worldwide, including personal blogs. It is such an easy to use system that many first-time website owners choose it without ever trying anything else. The wonderful thing about WordPress is that it is as easy to install as it is to use.

There are two primary ways to install WordPress on GreenGeeks. One is to use a specialized software tool found in the cPanel while the other is to install it manually. This post will look at both methods. If you don’t know a whole lot about installing software on a web server, we recommend the first method.

1. Installing Via Softaculous

Softaculous is a popular software installation package available in cPanel. This is the easiest and most effective way to install WordPress on GreenGeeks. To start, login to your GreenGeeks account then click the cPanel Login button. It is a blue button you should find on the same line as your GreenGeeks hosting service.

Once inside cPanel, scroll down until you find the Software section. Then click on the Softaculous Apps Installer link. Click on the WordPress link near the centre of the new page. If you don’t see it there, click on the Blogs link in the menu to the left. WordPress should appear in that list.

Next, you click the Install button and fill in all the information on the form. Be sure to read the form instructions very carefully. They will tell you exactly what to enter. Once you are done, the system will send you an e-mail confirming the installation.

2. Installing WordPress Manually

You can install WordPress manually by first downloading the file from the WordPress website. You can use either the .zip or .tar.gz file; Windows users will prefer the former while Linux users will prefer the latter. Once downloaded, extract the file to your hard drive. Extracting should create a WordPress folder.

Now, go into the cPanel file manager and locate the public_html folder in your root directory. Upload the contents of the extracted WordPress folder into the public_html folder. DO NOT upload the folder itself – just the contents.

Next, go back to the main cPanel screen, scroll until you find the Databases section and click on MySQL Database Wizard. Choose a name for your database along with a username and password. Write this information down as you will need it later. Click Next Step when you’re done.

Next you will be creating a user for your database. Click the Create User button after entering your username and password. Next, make sure All Privileges is checked so that you have complete access to your database. Click Next Step to finish up.

Finally, go back to the public_html folder and double-click the install.php file. This should open a new page in your web browser. Just follow the on-screen instructions and you are all set. Note that you will need to enter the database name, username, and password you wrote down earlier.