Names and software · WordPress install · 10 minutes
How to install WordPress — The Address You Install On Is the One You Are Stuck With
WordPress records its own address at install time and then uses it to build every link on the site.
The short answer
Install WordPress on the exact hostname you intend to keep, over https, with DNS already resolving — because the installer writes that address into the database as the site's own identity and then builds every link, redirect and asset URL from it.
The software takes about ten minutes. The decisions that are awkward to reverse are all made before you press the button: www or bare, root or subfolder, and whether the certificate exists yet.
By the Hosting & Domains team · Reviewed 24 August 2026
Beginner
Level assumed
10 minutes
Budget for it
5
Stages, start to finish
24/7
Support, at any hour
This walkthrough treats the install as a naming decision with a software step attached, because that is the part people rediscover later at some cost.
Everything here is reversible, but two of the choices are reversible in the sense that a database search-and-replace is reversible: possible, and nobody's favourite afternoon.
The install writes your hostname into the database
WordPress stores its own address in two options, siteurl and home, and consults them constantly. They decide the base of every internal link, every redirect, every image URL and the address the login form sends you back to. Whatever hostname is in the address bar when you install is what gets recorded.
Changing it afterwards is more than editing two fields. Absolute URLs get written into post content, into widget settings and into serialised option data where a naive find-and-replace corrupts the string lengths. It is a solvable problem with the right tooling, and it is entirely avoidable by choosing the hostname first.
Settle www or bare before you press install
There is no technical winner. What matters is picking one, installing on it, and redirecting the other to it permanently so that both forms work and only one is canonical. Sites that never make the decision end up serving both, which splits their standing and produces two versions of every URL.
One practical consideration does favour www for some setups: the bare domain cannot hold a CNAME, so a name that may one day need to point at a service publishing a hostname rather than an address has fewer options at the apex. If that is a possibility, install on www.
DNS and the certificate come first
Point the name at the platform and wait for it to resolve before you install. Then let the free certificate issue — automatic once queries arrive, but not instantaneous. Install over https and WordPress records the https address as its own, which is the state you want permanently.
Install before the certificate exists and the site records itself as http. Everything then works until you add the certificate, at which point mixed-content warnings appear because the pages are still asking for their own assets over the insecure scheme. Waiting five minutes at the start removes that entire category of problem.
Root, subfolder or subdomain: you are choosing a URL
Leaving the directory field empty installs at the root of the name, which is what almost everyone wants. Type something in it and the site lives at yourdomain.com/whatever, permanently, and the homepage of the bare name returns nothing. This is the field people skim past and pay for afterwards.
A subdomain is the third option and a legitimate one: shop., app. or a staging host, each with its own document root and its own certificate. Choose it deliberately for something genuinely separate, rather than as a way of postponing the decision about the root.
The settings that depend on the name. Once installed, five minutes of setup pays for itself: timezone, permalinks moved to Post name, the sample post and page removed, and the site title confirmed. Permalinks in particular become part of every URL you will later be redirecting, so they are best settled before anything is published.
Set the administrative email to an address at a domain you can still read if this one stops resolving. The reset link for the site goes there, and an address at the site's own name is unreachable in precisely the situation where you need it most.
Written against the real panel, not a generic one
Instructions written against imaginary hosting go stale quickly. These are written against the thing itself: the same Zone Editor, the same domain settings, the same buttons in the same order.
A copy is taken daily on every plan, and putting a file or a database back is one click in the panel rather than a support ticket.
- Every step checked against the live panel
- The trap named before you reach it
- What the clock is doing, at every stage
- Support that answers mid-job, not next week
Why Hosting & Domains
Standard on every plan
The hostname decided first
Because siteurl and home are written at install time and changing them later is a database job rather than a settings change.
www or bare, settled properly
Pick one, install on it, redirect the other — plus the apex CNAME restriction that occasionally decides it for you.
https recorded from the start
DNS, then certificate, then install — which removes the whole mixed-content stage that catches people later.
The directory field called out
The box everyone skims, and the permanent /whatever URL that comes of skimming it.
An admin address you can still reach
Password resets go somewhere readable even when the site's own domain is the thing that has broken.
Ten minutes, installer included
Softaculous creates the database, places the files and writes the configuration in one pass.
Quick Start
Order placed to site online
- 1
Point the name here and wait for it to resolve
Set the nameservers or the A record first and confirm the name answers. Installing against a hostname that does not yet resolve is how sites end up recording an address they were never meant to keep.
- 2
Let the certificate issue, then load https
Issuance follows DNS automatically and takes a few minutes rather than an instant. Confirm the padlock before you go further, so the install records the https address as the site's own.
- 3
Choose the exact hostname you are installing on
www or bare — decide now and redirect the other permanently afterwards. Then leave the directory field empty for the root of the name unless you specifically want the site at yourdomain.com/journal.
- 4
Run the installer with credentials that hold up
Open Softaculous from cPanel. Pick an admin username that is not 'admin', accept the generated password, and set the administrative email to an address at a domain other than this one.
- 5
Set permalinks and the rest before publishing anything
Post name permalinks, timezone, site title, and the sample post and page removed. Permalinks become part of every URL you might later redirect, so they belong in the first five minutes rather than the first year.
Built In
Fitted to every plan
- Softaculous included for one-click application installs
- Free SSL on every plan, reissued before the old certificate lapses
- WordPress Toolkit, with the updates seen to for you
- Staging copies for trying a change before it reaches a visitor
- Full zone control — A, CNAME, MX and TXT — from the panel
- cPanel, which is what most of the industry already runs
- A daily copy, with restores you run yourself from the panel
- People on the support desk every hour of every day
- PHP versions set per site from the control panel
- Money back within 30 days on hosting plans, 7 on reseller
Frequently Asked
Questions we field again and again
Should I install on www or the bare domain?
Either, as long as you choose deliberately and redirect the other one permanently. The only technical nudge is at the apex: a bare domain cannot hold a CNAME, so if the name might one day need to point at a service that publishes a hostname rather than an address, www leaves you more room.
Can I change the site address after installing?
Yes, but it is more work than it looks. Beyond siteurl and home there are absolute URLs written into post content and into serialised option data, where a plain find-and-replace corrupts the record. Use a tool built for the job — or, far better, install on the right hostname to begin with.
Do I need the certificate before I install?
It is much the easier order. Install over https and WordPress records the secure address as its own from the outset. Install first and you get a site that identifies as http and then serves mixed-content warnings once the certificate arrives, which is an avoidable afternoon.
Can I install on a subdomain now and move it to the root later?
You can, and it is a normal way to build a site quietly before launch — but the move is the same database job as any other address change. If the site is going to live at the root, install it at the root and keep it out of the search engines until you are ready instead.
Keep reading
How to Check DNS Propagation
Checking a new hostname is visible to everyone before you install anything on it.
Reseller Hosting
Reseller plans where each client site gets its own name, zone and certificate.
cPanel Reseller Hosting
cPanel reseller accounts with separate zones and separate certificates per client.
Changing provider? Work through this checklist beforehand.
A straightforward running order for a migration your visitors never spot: which files travel first, how to bring the mail across without dropping a single message, the right moment to repoint DNS, and the two errors that sit behind almost every outage we get called in to fix.
Install it on the name you mean to keep.
Free SSL, a free migration, full zone control from the panel, and support that answers while the change is still landing.
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