Installation and Base WordPress Configuration

16 September 2008 15 Comments So Far, Join In!

Since we are Building a Website with WordPress, I mentioned yesterday that it will be good time to take a look at the WordPress application itself, along with some of the basic options we need to be aware of. Today, we are going to revisit the Installation as well as a few quick examples of what to expect when you get into the WordPress administration.

WordPress Hosting

WordPress Hosting with HostgatorI am going to start right at the most basic requirement for WordPress, Hosting! WordPress is whats commonly referred to as a “LAMP” application, meaning you need at minimum, Linux, Apache, MySQL and php enabled on the server you plan on installing WordPress. I can tell you that I also have it installed on a Windows Server, but I still had to install those applications in order to make WordPress run properly.

If you are into making things as easy as possible, use HostGatorfor your WordPress hosting! With HostGator, you can do everything through a simple point and click installation interface called Fantastico, that truly takes all of the work involved with installation out of the picture!

I imagine its only fair to also state that even if you host elsewhere, you can download and install WordPress directly. The install process on the manual side is as simple as it was with Build a Niche Store! Upload files, create a database and simply configure one single file!

Installing WordPress with Fantastico

I actually started recording this again this morning and realized I already have it done! Just click over to the Install WordPress with Fantastico post from July, and watch the first 5 minutes! It doesn’t get any easier…

Some Basic and Required Configuration

Maybe that’s just a bit misleading… what comes next is not really “required” so to speak, but it is a very good practice! Each time I install WordPress, I try to take these exact same steps in order to make it a habit! I would guess that I get #1 & #2 done 100% of the time… #3, not so regularly! Until now that is…

  1. Complete my user information in the WordPress admin and change password. [Watch 1:57 Video - Update WordPress User Info]
    Login at: yourwebsite .com/wp-admin/ Goto: Users > Click on your Username (Under the Manage Users section) > Edit and Save.
  2. Edit my Permalink Sturcture for WordPress to support friendly url’s. [Watch 4:40 Video – Update WordPress Permalinks
  3. Domain Canonicalization, according to Matt Cutts, is what we need to check into in order to assure we are not serving up the same page with different URL’s. After making the above changes, step #2 creates your htaccess file you, and you need to verify it works right. I head over to: http://www.webconfs.com/http-header-check.php and test the main url of the site to be sure it is sending the right page header information to browsers.
    1. Enter the main site url exactly as you set it in step #2. The result should be: HTTP/1.1 200 OK
    2. Enter the domain with or without the www, opposite of what you just entered. It should say: HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently

As you can see… the above methods can be completed in less than 5 minutes total, and truly save you alot of redirecting in the future!

Tomorrow – I am going to get into the differences in a “Page” and “Post” in WordPress, and when you want to use each!

Do you have other initial WordPress tips for us? Please do share…

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About the Author, Mark Hansen

Mark Hansen has written 468 article(s) at the Niche Store Builder site.

I have been doing my part to "Build the Internet" since 1994, when I built my first website! Since then, I have built hundreds of niche websites for myself and many others, focused on design, applications, ecommerce, search optimization and internet marketing. 

Latest Readers Who Commented on This Article

15 Comments »

  • Bill G said:

    Another egg-cellant post

    Thanks Man

    Reply – Quote
    # 16 September 2008 at 7:04 pm
  • Julie said:

    I set up several wordpress blogs a month ago and have been learning as I go. After today’s post, I am regretting that I went ahead with it since, obviously, I have made mistakes.

    Concerning the canonicalization: Both of my addresses were without the www, so I left them that way. Then I went to the HTTP/HTTPS site and submitted the www address and the non-www address. I got a 301 redirect for both of them. What does that mean? Is there something I need to do?

    I had set may permalink structure %postname%. If I change it to include the date as you recommend, would the links break to the posts I already have?

    I really appreciate your help!!

    Reply – Quote
    # 16 September 2008 at 7:47 pm
  • John Treby said:

    This is great Mark-feel when I follow all these great instructions I will not be wearing loose nappies-if you understand what I mean-strong building blocks from the start no air space for disasters!-Just great help-really appreciate your time and effort,as one forgets the basics and starts running before one can walk–

    Reply – Quote
    # 17 September 2008 at 2:47 am
  • Manuel Merz said:

    Neat posting. I just blogged about my suggested wp plugins. Its in german but Redirection and Headspace 2 is a must have for SEO blogs ;-)

    Reply – Quote
    # 17 September 2008 at 3:10 am
  • wlben said:

    Hey Mark:
    I did a check to see if you had this answered anywhere and couldn’t find it.
    Could you tell me the difference between WordPress and WordPress Direct?
    And can I use WordPress Direct with your installs?
    Seeing as I’m paying $37 a month for the “…Direct” I figured why pay more?
    At the present time WPD is using 2.5. They say there going to 2.6 sometime but don’t know when.
    If you can fill me in, that would be great.
    Thanks.
    w.

    Reply – Quote
    # 17 September 2008 at 9:52 am
  • Jeff Jones said:

    Mark,

    A great quick and dirty, let’s get it done now post! Good work!

    Two questions:

    1. I have a brand new site that comes up 200 ok for both. Is this because I have not submitted my sitemap to google and selected a domain preference?

    2. Is it a bad idea to go back to an established site and change your permalink structure? In other words, does it only change posts made from this point on or attempt to change older ones?

    Jeff

    Reply – Quote
    # 17 September 2008 at 10:49 am
  • Mark (author) said:

    @ WLBen –

    I have limited exposure to WPDirect, but it really is just a fancy splog platform isnt it? It goes out and grabs content from other sites based on your keyphrase imput… then republishes the content on your site?

    Forgive my ignorance on it… just not 100% familiar with it.

    @ Jeff –

    In regard to the 200 status, this should be completely independant of Google. The status should be 301 on one method and 200 on the other.

    Try making a copy of your htaccess as a backup, then delete the original. (Yup – delete it!) The site will be inactive for a few minutes, but when you go back into your WP-Admin and submit your General url structure, it will be recreated. Retest and see if that helps…

    On an established site – I have used the older version of the 301 redirect plugin to “recreate slug after permalink change” and it covers the changes. I dont know if the new version does the same or not!

    Mark

    Reply – Quote
    # 17 September 2008 at 11:17 am
  • Jeff Jones said:

    Mark,

    I did what you recommended and still nothing.

    This site uses the WP/BANS combo. Does that change how you indicate your wordpress and blog URLs?

    Also, whenever I use www. anything with Hostgator it just ends up anything.com. Why should I use www or why do you?

    Jeff

    Reply – Quote
    # 17 September 2008 at 3:18 pm
  • Cecile said:

    I have BANS installed on a site already and want to change to the blog format. Should I reinstall BANS in a subdirectory and have wordpress in the main directory? Or just install wordpress under a /blog directory? Is one way better than the other?

    Great information!

    Thanks!

    Reply – Quote
    # 19 September 2008 at 6:04 pm
  • Mark (author) said:

    @ Cecile –

    I plan a post about this early next week – but I would move bans into a folder and keep WP on the root.

    Here: http://www.thenichestorebuilder.com/moving-bans-off-the-root-of-the-domain.htm is a good post of instructions.

    Mark

    Reply – Quote
    # 19 September 2008 at 6:26 pm
  • Cherie said:

    Hi

    I notice after watching the video on permalinks that this blog that we are on here doesn’t seem to follow the “month, name” url. Is there a reason for that?

    thanks

    Reply – Quote
    # 23 September 2008 at 8:25 am
  • Mark (author) said:

    @ Cherie -

    Yup… I ran into this blog and setup everything based on what I read at the time. I had read that the best url structure was simply %postname%, and I added the .htm behind it myself.

    Fast forward 1 year and I have actually read what WP recommends! :-)

    Honestly, it works just fine 99% of the time as postname only, but if I had to do it again with the postname structure, I would include a forwardslash / at the end versus htm.

    Mark

    Mark

    Reply – Quote
    # 23 September 2008 at 8:32 am
  • Cherie said:

    Thanks Mark

    Love the WP instructions

    Reply – Quote
    # 23 September 2008 at 9:51 am
  • Frank Pasinski said:

    Hi,

    I’ve tried to click the header check as mentioned-http://www.webconfs.com/http-header-check.php but I keep getting a “Page Cannot Be Displayed”. Does anyone know if the link has been removed.

    Thanks

    Frank

    Reply – Quote
    # 24 September 2008 at 2:51 pm
  • Building WordPress Categories that Make Sense to Visitors! | The Niche Store Builder - Succeed with Build a Niche Store said:

    [...] on How to Build a Website with WordPress, we have covered the basics of several key areas. From installing WordPress to adding your first plugin, and most currently, adding your first page to WordPress, I am trying [...]

    Reply – Quote
    # 22 September 2008 at 1:32 pm

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