How to Install WordPress (The Right Way) & The 5 Settings You Must Fix Immediately

You bought the domain. You secured the hosting. You’re staring at a blank cPanel dashboard, and that optimistic energy is slowly turning into a cold sweat. Now what?

This is the exact point where most entrepreneurs get stuck.

They think setting up WordPress is a deeply technical nightmare reserved for developers. It’s not. Installing WordPress is the easy part—it takes about five minutes.

The hard part? Knowing what to do in the ten minutes after you install it.

Most guides will get you to the “Hello World!” default post and then abandon you. This is not one of those guides. We’re not just installing a piece of software; we are laying the strategic foundation for your digital business. Get this right, and you’re already ahead of 90% of your competitors.

Part 1: The 5-Minute Installation (The “How”)

Let’s clear this up: there are two main ways to get WordPress onto your hosting account.

Path A: The “1-Click” Installer (The Smart Way)

Forget what you’ve heard. Using a 1-click installer is not “cheating.” It’s efficient. Your host (like Hostinger, Bluehost, SiteGround, etc.) has already automated the tedious parts for you.

This method is almost always handled by a tool in your hosting panel called Softaculous (or a custom-named installer that does the same thing).

1. Log in to your hosting panel (cPanel).
2. Find the “Software” section and look for an icon that says “WordPress,” “WordPress Manager,” or “Softaculous Apps Installer.”
3. Click “Install Now.”
4. Fill out the form. This is the only part that requires your brain.
   • Choose Protocol: If you have an SSL certificate (you should), select https://.
   • Choose Domain: Select the domain you just bought.
   • In Directory:DELETE THIS. LEAVE IT BLANK. This is the #1 mistake. If you write “blog” here, your site will live at yourdomain.com/blog. You want it at yourdomain.com.
   • Site Settings: Give your site a Site Name and Site Description (Tagline). You can change this later, but it’s good to do it now.
   • Admin Account: Create a strong Admin Username (NEVER use “admin”) and a secure password.
5. Click “Install.”

That’s it. Go make a coffee. By the time you’re back, you’ll have a fully functional WordPress site.

Path B: The “Manual” Way (The Tinker’s Way)

Do you need to do this? 99% of the time, no.

But if you’re on a custom server (VPS) or just want to understand the nuts and bolts, here’s the entire process in one sentence: You download the latest WordPress .zip from WordPress.org, create a MySQL database in your cPanel, upload and unzip the files to your public_html folder via FTP, and then visit your domain to run the famous 5-minute install script by entering your database credentials.

If that sentence gave you a headache, just use Path A.

Part 2: The 10-Minute Foundation (The “Why”)

Congrats. You have a website.

Technically, it’s a car with no gas, no GPS, and the steering wheel is in the back seat.

The next ten minutes are what separate an amateur blog from a professional business platform. We are now fixing the 5 settings that WordPress, for some reason, still gets wrong out of the box.

Log in to your new dashboard (yourdomain.com/wp-admin) and let’s build your foundation.

1. The Critical Fix: Set Your Permalinks (The “Money” Setting)

This is the single most important setting for your site’s future SEO.

• Go to:Settings >Permalinks
• By default, WordPress is set to “Plain.” This makes your new blog post URLs look like this: yourdomain.com/?p=123.
• This is ugly, bad for SEO, and impossible to remember. It tells Google nothing about your content.
• Change it to: “Post name.”
• This makes your URLs look like this: yourdomain.com/my-awesome-blog-post/.
• This is clean, descriptive, and tells Google exactly what the page is about.
• Click “Save Changes.” Do this before you write a single word of content. Changing it later is a nightmare.

2. The Identity Fix: Set Your Title and Tagline

This is what Google shows the world.

• Go to:Settings >General
• Site Title: This should be your brand or company name. (e.g., “Cark Bilisim”)
• Tagline: This is your “in just a few words” description. Instead of the default “Just another WordPress site” (which screams “amateur”), change it to what you actually do. (e.g., “Pragmatic Code. Profitable Strategies.”)
• This tagline appears in Google search results and in your browser tab. Make it count.

3. The Hygiene Fix: Delete the Default Crap

WordPress installs with “dummy” content. It’s digital clutter.

• Go to:Posts >All Posts. Hover over “Hello world!” and click “Trash.”
• Go to:Pages >All Pages. Hover over “Sample Page” and click “Trash.”
• Go to:Plugins >Installed Plugins. You will see a plugin called “Hello Dolly.” It’s a nostalgic relic. It does nothing. Delete it. You might also see pre-installed hosting plugins; leave those for now.

You wouldn’t move into a new house and leave the old owner’s junk in the living room. This is the same thing.

4. The Fortress Fix: Install Your “Holy Trinity” Plugins

A default WordPress site is a house with unlocked doors. We’re going to install the core plugins every single site needs.

Go to Plugins > Add New for each of these.

1. A Security Plugin (The Locked Door):
   • What to install: Wordfence Security or Sucuri Security.
   • Why: WordPress is the most popular platform in the world, which makes it a huge target for hackers and bots. A security plugin is your non-negotiable front-line defense.
2. An SEO Plugin (The GPS):
   • What to install: Rank Math or Yoast SEO.
   • Why: This plugin guides you on how to write content that Google can actually find. It gives you a checklist for every post, helps you manage sitemaps, and lets you control how your pages look on social media.
3. A Caching Plugin (The Engine):
   • What to install: LiteSpeed Cache (if your host uses a LiteSpeed server, which many do) or WP Rocket (a paid, but brilliant, option).
   • Why: This plugin creates static “snapshots” of your site, so it doesn’t have to rebuild every page for every single visitor. This is the #1 way to make your site load fast.

5. The Sanity Fix: Configure Your Discussion Settings

99% of all blog comments are spam. You need a filter.

• Go to:Settings >Discussion
• Uncheck: “Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the post.” This just creates clutter.
• Check: “Comment must be manually approved.”
• This ensures that no spammy, embarrassing, or malicious comment ever appears on your site without you seeing it first. You’ve just saved your future self hundreds of hours of cleanup.

You’re No Longer a Beginner

You did it. You’re no longer just “someone who bought a domain.” You are now a website owner.

You haven’t just installed a blog; you’ve configured a professional platform. The foundation is properly laid, the doors are locked, and the GPS is plugged in. You are 100% ready to move on to the real work: creating your content.

Of course, a new site is an empty fortress, and the next big challenge is filling it. The “what do I post?” panic is real. If you’re already feeling it, don’t try to reinvent the wheel. I personally use the Social Media Content Calendar – 30-Day Guide as a base for my idea generation. It’s designed for social media, but I find its daily prompts are a brilliant way to kickstart a blog content engine and build momentum from day one.

But for now, take a look at your dashboard. The machine is built.

Now, go build your empire.

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