Neev 2 U: Install WordPress on GoDaddy Shared Hosting

Install WordPress on GoDaddy Shared Hosting

Just a few years back, if you wanted to host a WordPress blog on your own website, you avoided GoDaddy at all costs. WordPress and other mainstream Web applications simply didn’t work on GoDaddy shared hosting without a lot of extra work. As a result, GoDaddy quickly gained a reputation as a cheap Web host that’s good only for regular HTML web sites. Over time GoDaddy support for Web applications improved, but installing WordPress still required extra work. GoDaddy also introduced automatic installers for WordPress, but the result was usually a non-standard installation and code that was a few versions too old.

Fast forward to today. With GoDaddy’s new Hosting Connection, you can install the latest version of WordPress and many other Web applications such as Joomla with just a few mouse clicks. It really couldn’t be much easier. Following are step-by-step instructions to install WordPress on GoDaddy shared hosting:

1. Get a Linux Web Hosting Account

GoDaddy only supports WordPress installations on Linux. Therefore, you must ensure that you have a GoDaddy Linux web hosting account. To sign up, go to the GoDaddy home page, click the “Hosting & Servers” link, then select “Web Site Hosting” from the drop-down menu. Follow the steps to complete the purchase.

Note that GoDaddy offer three levels of service: Economy, Deluxe and Premium. I recommend the Deluxe plan, which will support up to 25 WordPress blogs and costs $6.99/month or less. Be sure to select “Linux” as your operating system:

2. Login to Your GoDaddy Account

You selected a GoDaddy user name and password when you purchased a Web hosting account. Use these to login to your GoDaddy account at the home page:

3. Go to Your Hosting Account

Click the “Hosting & Servers” link, then select “My Hosting Account” from the drop-down menu:

A list of your Web hosting accounts appears. If you have more than one account, be sure to select the Linux account. Click on the corresponding “Manage Account” link:

4. Go to the GoDaddy Hosting Connection

The GoDaddy Hosting Control Center appears. Next you need to go to the GoDaddy Hosting Connection, which offers 30+ free and premium quick-install applications including WordPress. Click the “Your Applications” button or any “Hosting Connection” link.

5. Select the WordPress Application

The GoDaddy Hosting Connection appears. On the left is a list of available applications. Click the “Blogs” header, then click the “WordPress” link:

6. Install WordPress

Information about the WordPress application appears. Click the “Install Now!” button:

7. Select Domain

Select the domain where you want to host your blog. All domains you have purchased through GoDaddy will appear in the list. If you want to host your blog on a domain that you purchased from another registrar, click the “Can’t find the domain you’re looking for” link.

Once you have selected your domain, click the “Continue” button in the lower right.

8. Setup Database

Next you need to setup the MySQL database that will hold your WordPress blog. For the “Database description”, I recommend that you use your blog name followed by WordPress, for example, “MyBlog-WordPress”. This makes it easy to distinguish databases if you host multiple blogs. Choose a database password and be sure to save it somewhere. Note that you will not need this password unless you want to access your database manually, which is rare. Still, it’s important that you do not lose this password. Click the “Next” button in the lower right to continue.

9. Choose Installation Directory

Specify the sub-directory in your domain where WordPress will be installed. If you want to install your blog in the root directory, clear the field. Click the “Next” button to continue.

10. Setup User Name and Password

For the last step, specify the WordPress user information. This is the user name and password that you use every time you access your blog. You cannot modify the user name (though you can add and delete users) so choose wisely. The email address is where WordPress will send you notifications such as when someone leaves a comment on your blog. And of course, “Blog Title” is the title of your blog. Click the “Next” button to finish.