First let it be known that I never encourage anyone to use GoDaddy. If you haven't purchased with GoDaddy already, please consider another host like Hostgator, whom I use. If you've only purchased your domain with GoDaddy, then you are still good. Check out Hostgator. That being said, some of us went ahead and purchased our original first year hosting with GoDaddy. So as not to waste that money (and again, I do not support GoDaddy for a variety of reasons, one being they are horrible for WordPress usage), let's see how to set up your site using GoDaddy.
1. Login to your account & Launch Hosting Control
Login into your account, click My Account, scroll down to Web Hosting and click the launch button to the far right of your domain name under Control Center. Or the much easier way is to the Hosting Control Center and login there. Then click on domain name, which should bring up the Hosting Dashboard.
2. Install WordPress
There will be two ways to install WordPress. The first and easiest way is to use GoDaddy. The second method is a manual method, which I will not cover here.
- You should see a button for Install Apps with WordPress under it. Click on WordPress and it will open a new window/tab.
- Click Install Now.
- Choose Domain, then click Next.
- Fill in the database information, then click Next.
- Fill in the install directory, then click Next. If you want WordPress to control your whole site be sure to install in the root directory.
- Fill in the WordPress configuration information (however, pick a different username than root or admin), then click Finish
Now this will take a few minutes to a few hours, maybe even days...well it feels that way. However, leave this window open as is.
3. Install FileZilla
Meanwhile, go and download FileZilla. Save the file (*.exe or *.zip). Unzip and then run or run *.exe file. Once installed, run it.
- Now, your WordPress site should be installed. To check this, simply go back to the window you left open and click on My Applications. It should say Pending or Successfully Installed.
- For Host, enter your domain name. So if you own domain.com, then enter domain.com. No www is needed.
- For Username, enter your GoDaddy username.
- For Password, enter your GoDaddy password.
- Leave Port empty.
- Click QuickConnect.
You should see a bunch of words come up in the first box then a file structure appear in the Remote site area. While there may be other files in that folder, you want to navigate to the directory you installed wordpress. If you installed in the root directory, you will see three primary folders that are of interest: wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes. Below those folders will be some other WordPress files as signified by the wp- prefix.
4. Login to your Website
Now you should be able to go to domain.com/wp-admin or domain.com/directoryInstalled/wp-admin and login with your WordPress configuration information. Now you are all set to begin customizing, etc.
5. Install Your Theme in GoDaddy
Here's the main reason that you installed FileZilla. "Out of the box" GoDaddy requires you to upload one file at a time which is horrible if you need to install folders, etc. While most want to install a theme that's free, others may want to install premium themes like Genesis or Thesis. To do that, simply download those themes to your desktop and unzip them. Now need to be careful here and get the appropriate folder. When you download most of these premium themes, they typically look like themeName.Version.zip. So when you unzip, they will unzip to folder themeName.Version. Typically you want to go inside that folder and grab the theme folder that typically looks like themeName. To check, enter the folder and be sure you see files and multiple folders if necessary. Then drag the themeName folder to the Themes folder (wp-content/themes/) in FileZilla.
Then go to domain.com/wp-admin/themes.php to Activate your theme. Now you are ready to Rock and Roll!