WordPress: Build a Website with the CMS

Why use WordPress?

• Ease of use: Its admin interface is famous for its simplicity.
• Flexibility: Thousands of themes and plugins let you adapt it to almost any need (blog, e-commerce, portfolio, brochure site, etc.).
• Large community: You will find help and resources everywhere on the internet.
• SEO-friendly: Many tools exist to help with your site's search engine optimization.

Prerequisites: The LAMP or LEMP stack

WordPress needs a server environment to run. The two most common setups are:

• LAMP: Linux, Apache (web server), MySQL/MariaDB (database), PHP (scripting language).
• LEMP: Linux, ENGINX (Nginx, web server), MySQL/MariaDB, PHP.

This guide assumes you already have a server with one of these stacks up and running.

Installation

Step 1: Create a database and a user

WordPress stores all of its content in a MySQL or MariaDB database.

-- Connect to the MySQL/MariaDB shell
sudo mysql -u root -p

-- Create a database for WordPress
CREATE DATABASE wordpress_db DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;

-- Create a dedicated user and grant it privileges on this database
CREATE USER 'wp_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'a_strong_password';
GRANT ALL ON wordpress_db.* TO 'wp_user'@'localhost';

-- Apply the changes
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

-- Quit
EXIT;

Step 2: Download and extract WordPress

Go to your web server's root directory (e.g. `/var/www/html/`) and download the latest version of WordPress.

cd /var/www/html/
sudo wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
sudo tar -xzvf latest.tar.gz
# The files will be in a "wordpress" folder. We can move them if needed.
sudo mv wordpress/* .
sudo rm -rf wordpress latest.tar.gz

Step 3: Set the permissions

The web server (usually the `www-data` user) must be able to write to these files for updates and uploads.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html
sudo find /var/www/html -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/html -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

Step 4: Configure `wp-config.php`

This is the file that connects WordPress to its database.

# Copy the example
sudo cp /var/www/html/wp-config-sample.php /var/www/html/wp-config.php
# Edit it
sudo nano /var/www/html/wp-config.php

Edit these lines with the details of the database you created in step 1:

define( 'DB_NAME', 'wordpress_db' );
define( 'DB_USER', 'wp_user' );
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'a_strong_password' );

It is also strongly recommended to fill in the unique security keys (SALT). You can generate a fresh set via the official WordPress API.

Step 5: The web installation wizard

Open your browser and go to your site's address. The WordPress installation wizard, famous for its simplicity, will greet you.

It will ask you for:

• Your site title.
• The administrator username (do NOT use "admin").
• A strong password.
• Your email address.

Click "Install WordPress" and you're done!

Next steps (Crucial)

• Permalinks: Go to `Settings -> Permalinks` and choose "Post name". It's better for SEO.
• Security: Install a security plugin such as Wordfence or iThemes Security.
• Backups: Set up an automated backup solution (e.g. UpdraftPlus).
• Caching: Install a caching plugin (e.g. W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache) to improve performance.
• HTTPS: Configure an SSL/TLS certificate (with Let's Encrypt) on your web server to switch your site to HTTPS.

Conclusion

Installing WordPress is a quick process, but it's only the beginning. The real work of managing a WordPress site lies in its ongoing maintenance, hardening, and optimization. By following these first steps, you have a solid foundation to build your web project.