Install WordPress in 5 Minutes - for Non-Techies

The Basics of Installing WordPress

When you install WordPress, you have a basic choice of setting up your site where you have little to no control at www.wordpress.org or you can install your WordPress site where you have absolute and total control.

When you set up your site at WordPress.org (free),  your site is actually a subdomain of their website.  So if you choose the name for your WordPress site or your blog as "Joesblog," your website address will be www.joesblog.wordPress.org.

If you use the second alternative, where you host your own site (explained below), then your website can have the name www.joesblog.com.  Not only do you have a more custom and personalized website address when you host it yourself, but you you will have many more options such as selecting different WordPress themes, selecting and using many plug-ins and a variety of other control features that you do not have when you have your site hosted at WordPress.org.  Most importantly, if you devote any resources to driving visitors to your site, why would you want to drive them to a site that you don't control i.e. WordPress.org?

WordPress hosting - Difficult Way

If you are a tech geek, you may want to control every technical aspect of your site, things that only a webmaster understands.  In those cases, you want to rent a server from a hosting company (say $50-$100 per month) and then install WordPress on that server.    You would need to understand all of these steps (skip steps 1 through 8 below if you want to read the easy and less expensive method):
1. Download WordPress files (zip file)
2. Unzip the Folder
3. Set Up Your FTP Program
4. Get Your FTP Access Information
5. Set Up Your MySQL Database With Your Web Host
6. Enter Your Database Information into Your Config File
// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //

/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'putyourdbnamehere');

/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', 'usernamehere');

/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'yourpasswordhere');

/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

7. Upload WordPress to Your Server
Do you install WordPress in the root directory or sub-directory?
Once, decided, enter you domain name, your username and your password, connect to your host's server and upload your files

8. Run the Install Script
•    If you installed WordPress in the root directory of your server, open your web browser and type the following: http://www.mydomain.com/wp-admin/install.php (replace “mydomain.com” with your own domain name).
•    If you installed WordPress in a sub-directory, open your web browser and type the following: http://www.mydomain.com/subdirectory/wp-admin/install.php (replace “mydomain.com” with your own domain name and “subdirectory” with the name of the sub-directory you created).

WordPress Hosting - Easy Way

If you just want to have a blog that fulfills your objectives (e.g. espousing your wisdom, making money, trashing your ex, placing Adsense, etc.) and don't want to do any programming or webmaster duties, then all you need is a little bit of hosting space on an existing server.  You can rent that kind of service from an excellent hosting company like bluehost.com (say $6 per month).
Companies like www.bluehost.com and others that have catered their service to those who want to install WordPress, make it really easy (disclosure- I am a Bluehost customer and affiliate and they compensate me for referrals, as they will you).  You don't need any technical knowledge and once you open your account, you literally press a couple buttons and they have a program which does all the pieces of WordPress installation.  It take less than 10 minutes from the time you start, install wordpress and are writing your first blog.

That's the way I have installed WordPress and hosted this blog--the easy way in minutes.  By the way, they are the only company I have found that let's me host as many WordPress blogs as I want for the same $6 per month (I currently have 15 blogs with them).