How To Install WordPress Plugin (and WordPress Theme)
Knowing how to install WordPress Plugin and Theme is important as plugins maximize your website potential. The core features provided by WordPress are good but with WordPress Plugin, it takes your website to the next level.
WordPress Plugin is what makes WordPress powerful, well-known, and popular nowadays. It is the most used CMS platform in the world with approximately 35%-40% market share. Without the Plugin features, it is quite impossible for WordPress to dominate the website building CMS.
How To Add Plugins To WordPress
There are a few ways how to add plugins to your WordPress:
- Upload via WordPress Admin Backend
- Upload via FTP client such as FileZilla
- Upload via File Manager from Hosting Control Panel
Method 1: Upload via WordPress Admin Backend
This is possibly the simple and most straightforward method. To use this method, Go to the menu on the left Plugins – Add Plugins, type the name of the plugin in the plugin search box, and hit Enter. (The default and common use is to search by keyword, however you can also search by tag or author by changing the dropdown option)
Chances are there will be multiple searches results appear. Select the one that is most relevant to you and click Install. As a rule of thumb, the plugins with the highest rating, most active installations, compatibility are most preferred.
Once the installation is done, the button will turn from Install Now to Activate. Click Activate.
Now the plugin you have just installed is active. Most plugins come with a page or a complete dashboard for users to manage the functionality/settings of the plugins. The plugin page is usually accessed directly from the menu on the left, or it could be under the Tools or Settings submenu.
In case you could not find it from the left side menu, the other option is to go to the Installed Plugins Page and look for Settings, Open Tools, or some other label used by the plugins. Click on it and it will bring you to the plugin setting page.
Method 2: Upload via FTP Client such as FileZilla
This method involved using a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) software and in this example, I am using FileZilla. Filezilla is simply an FTP Client that allows you to connect to your hosting server. It is absolutely free and very light software.
- Download and install Filezilla at https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?platform=win64
2. Once the installation is done, launch the software. Enter the FTP configuration to connect to the server:
Host: this is referring to your website (eg wpfaq.net)
Username: your Cpanel username. If you are creating the FTP access to a web developer, you can also create a new FTP account under your Cpanel (or any hosting panel you are using)
Password: your Cpanel password or FTP account password that you created.
Port number is 21 for FTP but you can leave it blank.
Hit Quickconnect button. A pop-up will appear and if prompted, click OK
Once you have connected to the server, you will notice the right pane (represent the remote site) is now shown.
You are ready to upload the plugin. You will need to upload your plugin file to this directory/folder /public_html/wp-content/plugins. On the remote site directory, click Public_html, click again on wp-content, then Plugins.
Once you have finished uploading the plugin, it will show in your Installed Plugins Page. You can proceed to click Activate it.
Method 3: Upload via File Manager from Hosting Control Panel
File Manager is the hosted version of the FTP client. This means instead of download and installs Filezilla, you can log in to your hosting control panel (eg Cpanel) and use File Manager without any setup and installation.
Within the Cpanel, the File Manager is located under the Files section.
The same as Filezilla, browse /public_html/wp-content/plugins and upload your plugin by clicking on the Upload on the top of the page.
Once, upload is done, go to your Installed Plugin page and the plugin you have just uploaded will be ready for activation.
Those are the 3 methods on how to install the WordPress plugin.
How about installing WordPress Theme?
To install WordPress Theme, go to Appearance – Themes. Click on the Add New button.
You can either upload the WordPress Theme (if you have it on your local computer) or browse the huge library of available themes on the WordPress database.
To use the theme, click on the Activate and the theme will go live immediately.
