How to Install a Plugin On Your Website

When you are building a website or you want your site to do something special, you will find yourself needing to install a plugin.  While this is not a complicated task, it can sometimes leave you confused on exactly how to load the plugin. Today we are going to clear that up by explaining how to install a plugin on your website.

Step 1:  Once you have logged into your site, click the word plugin on the left side menu.

Step 2:  This is your plugins page.  It displays a list of all plugins already installed to the site.  To add a new plugin, click add new at the top of the page.

Step 3: Here is where adding a new plugin can go two different ways.  If you look at the lower part of the screen some free and more popular plugins are shown.  To install one from that list just click install now. The second option is to upload a file you already have for a plugin.  Since there are a few more steps involved in this option, we are going to use that route for today’s lesson. Click the button at the top of the page that says upload plugin.

Step 4:  Once this screen loads, you will click choose file.  This will allow you to choose the file from where you have it saved on  your computer. Once you have chosen the file, click install now to load the plugin file to the website.

Step 5:  The program will start to load and install the plugin files.  You will see updating messages that your plugin is being installed and if it was successful or not.  You will see this screen in both options for loading a plugin. Once it says your plugin was successful, click activate now to make the plugin work.

Step 6:  Once you have clicked activate now, you will be re-routed to the plugin list page.  There you will see a success message letting you know your plugin is now activated. You will also see your plugin in the list below the message.  If there are any other settings to be dealt with for the plugin, this is where you would do those.

Installing a plugin is not a complicated process but it can be confusing at times.  Plugins are extremely important for a WordPress site and the will allow you to do many wonderful things without having the knowledge of coding.  Join us next week as we dive more into what a plugin is and what they can do.