Last updated on June 25th, 2024 at 05:48 am
This guide will walk you through every step of installing WordPress in India.
From the moment you successfully register a domain name in India, to the point you publish your first article, this is the guide for beginners.
See, wordpress is a pretty popular content management system in India, and here is why;
- Ease of use – wordpress comes with an intuitive dashboard where you can control every aspect of your website in India.
- Allows you to manage your website from any computer. There is an app for your mobile phone.
- You do not need any HTML editing or FTP software to use WP in India
- It is easier to rank wordpress sites in India.
- The design of your website is 100% customizable thanks to hundreds of plugins and thousands of themes to choose from.
- Comes with an in-built blog.
With that in mind, here is something else you need to know before we proceed.
Types of wordpress in India
There are two types of wordpress in India;
The first one, wordpress.com which is a free site allowing to create a website for free.
Think of it as a free website builder. Gives you free web hosting and a free domain as well.
The other one is wordpress.org.
This is the ‘real’ wordpress you hear a lot about and comes as downloadable software.
Both of them are free, but WordPress.org offers more customization than the WordPress.com version.
And now you may be wondering, which one should I use between wordpress.com and wordpress.org?
Well, there are two scenarios;
- If you are looking for a free option, where you can create a website without paying for anything, go with WordPress.com. Gives you access to themes and supports Gutenberg block editor, which actually makes it easy to start a blog in India
- Looking for hands-on experience and control over how your website should look and feel? WordPress.org is the way to go. Comes with a ton of themes and plugins to help improve the functionality of your blog in India.
With that said, let us look at how to install wordpress in India for beginners.
Guide to Installing wordpress in India for Beginners
The installation process follows domain registration.
Once you are done paying for your domain, Truehost will send you an email with the login details to your control panel.
In fact, this tutorial will cover how to install wordpress on Cpanel in India.
a). Search for Softaculous App Installer
So, once you log into your Cpanel, type softaculous into the search box.
Click on Softaculous Apps Installer.
This is a free app on Cpanel that helps install scripts, it is fast and easy.
b). Choose WordPress
From the list of several apps available, click on WordPress.
Hover on it and click on install.
c). WP installation set up
Your next step is setting up where to install wordpress in India.
Make sure you are using the latest version of wordpress to avoid compatibility issues when later installing plugins and themes.
Choose the protocol; whether HTTPS or HTTP, depending on whether you have installed an SSL certificate on your domain.
Pick the domain (if you have more than one domain) and make sure the ‘in directory’ box is empty (delete the words WP).
Give your blog a name here;
And a short description.
You can use a business name and tagline on this section.
Set up your account by providing the username;
And choosing a strong password and providing admin email which can be your Gmail address or professional one with your website name on it, say, [email protected].in.
Choose your preferred language;
Select plugins you think you will need.
- Loginizer helps protect your site by limiting login attempts, locking out those trying to guess your password.
- Recent wordpress versions come with Gutenburg block editor as its default option, if you wish to revert to Classic editor, tick the box.
- Wp Central helps you manage multiple wordpress websites in India.
Finally, skipped themes (we will install later) and click on Install.
WordPress will begin the installation.
And once the process is complete, you will get a successful message.
Click on Administrative URL to log into your wordpress dashboard.
Important Note;
Copy the password you created/generated because wordpress will log you into the dashboard directly without asking for a password.
But when you log out, you will need them to get back in.
Now, that is how installing wordpress in India works.
WordPress dashboard tour
To your left, there are navigation menus leading into every part of your wordpress website in India.
Your top right corner is your personal profile (admin).
This is where you can update your profile.
And the center part is your information center where you get various updates about your website.
With that covered, let us change your wordpress theme, shall we?
How to change wordpress theme for beginners in India
Go to your dashboard and click on Appearance>>themes
This will take you to a place where you can access themes currently installed on your website.
To add a new one, click on Add New.
And you will be redirected to the wordpress themes repository.
There are thousands of themes, both free and paid ones.
To get the one you want, either use the filters available or search (if you know the one you are interested in).
Once you find the one you like, click on it to preview;
If you like what you see, click on Install and then activate to add it to your wordpress blog in India.
To customize your new theme, click on Appearance>>Customize
This opens up a new world where you can completely overhaul how your wordpress website looks and feel.
For example;
To upload a logo on wordpress in India, click on Site Identity then tab on the select logo.
Finally, choose the logo from your computer and it will be added automatically to your website.
Once done, click on Publish to apply changes.
The next thing on installing wordpress in India for beginners is installing plugins.
How to install plugins for beginners in India
Plugins are applications you can add to your website to improve its functionality.
There are both paid and free ones, but more of them come in the form of freemium (where they have a free version of the plugin, and you pay to access premium features).
Here is a list of must-have wordpress plugins in India;
- MonsterInsights for analytics
- Yoast SEO for SEO (others include Rank Math and All in one SEO)
- Contact form 7
- UpdraftPlus for backups
- WP Rocket for caching
Now, to install a plugin on wordpress in India, go to your wordpress dashboard and click on Plugins>>Add new
You will be taken to a marketplace full of plugins.
Click on the Recommended tab to display only the necessary plugins you will need and then pick the ones you want.
To install, click on Install Now.
Once the process is complete, click on activate to set up the plugin to work properly (some won’t require setting up).
How to create a page on wordpress in India
To create a page, go to Page>> Add new
Give your new page a title and then the message or description.
Finally hit publish to launch your new page.
How to create a new post on WP
Follow these steps to publish your new article on wordpress in India.
On your wp dashboard, click on Posts and then add new.
Give your blog post a title and then start writing.
Once done, do some proofreading to weed out errors and then publish once you are satisfied with the article.
What to do next
Installing wordpress in India is not the end, so does publishing your article.
There are other things that follow such as creating social media accounts for your website and then sharing articles in there.
Then there is SEO.
See, you will need to get eyeballs to your website, and to do that you will need to implement SEO strategies, this way you can attract free traffic to your website in India.
And that is why you need a plugin like Yoast or Rank Math, they help streamline the process.
The next thing is making sure your website is kept up to date with the updates.
WordPress releases new software updates frequently, as such, you need to be aware to avoid exposing your wordpress blog to security threats such as hacking.
The same applies to plugins, they release updates regularly, so make sure you are around to receive them.
If that sounds like too much work for you, enable auto-updates, this way the plugins receive upgrades automatically without needing a manual action.
Finally, keep your blog fresh with valuable content.
Draw an editorial schedule and stick to it, be it publishing once a week, or twice a month, whichever works for you.
Google loves websites with fresh content.
Now, to get you started, go here and register a domain for cheap and add hosting.