Installing WordPress on shared hosting in ten minutes

"Self-hosting WordPress" does not have to mean running a Linux server. On any host in this directory offering shared or cPanel hosting, you install WordPress from a menu and the provider handles the server.

Route A: the one-click installer (recommended)

1. Log into your hosting control panel — cPanel, hPanel, My20i, Site Tools, Plesk.
2. Find WordPress, Softaculous, WordPress Toolkit or "Install applications".
3. Choose your domain, and make sure the protocol is https:// and the directory field is empty (an accidental /wp means your site lives at example.com/wp forever).
4. Set the admin username to something that is not "admin", and use a password manager to generate the password.
5. Set the site email to a real address you monitor — it is your password reset route.
6. Install. It takes about 60 seconds.

Route B: the manual five-minute install

1. Download WordPress from wordpress.org/download.
2. In your panel, create a MySQL database and a database user, and grant that user all privileges on the database. Write down the database name, username, password and host (usually localhost).
3. Upload and extract the WordPress files into public_html (or your domain's document root) using File Manager or SFTP.
4. Visit your domain in a browser. WordPress asks for the database details, writes wp-config.php and installs.

The six things to do immediately after

1. Force HTTPS. Settings → General: both URLs should start https://. Enable the free SSL certificate in your panel first.
2. Fix permalinks. Settings → Permalinks → Post name. Do this before publishing anything.
3. Delete what you are not using. Remove the Hello Dolly plugin, unused themes, and the sample page/post. Unused code is still attack surface.
4. Turn on automatic updates. Plugins page → enable auto-updates for plugins you trust; keep core minor updates on.
5. Check search engine visibility. Settings → Reading: make sure "Discourage search engines" is unticked when you go live — and ticked while you build.
6. Set up backups. Confirm what your host backs up and how far back. If the answer is vague, install UpdraftPlus and send backups to your own Google Drive or Backblaze account.

A sensible starting plugin set

Resist installing more. Every plugin is code running on every page load, written by someone you have never met. Fifteen plugins is a busy site; forty is a liability.