How to Install a WordPress Plugin
Installing WordPress plugins on your site is a simple process.
1. To install a plugin on your WordPress site, locate the Plugins menu after logging in to your site’s WordPress Dashboard. Expand this menu.
2. On the Installed Plugins page, you’ll see a list of all the plugins currently installed on your WordPress site. Some plugins come bundled with your WordPress installation, like Akismet, a plugin that protects your blog from comment and trackback spam, and Jetpack, a way to connect your blog to a WordPress.com account and activate additional features.
3. To upload a new plugin, click the Add New link. From this page, you have the option to search for plugins to install from the WordPress.org Plugin Directory. You can also click these links to see featured, popular, newest and plugins you’ve marked as favorites.
The first plugin we recommend uploading is BackupBuddy, a premium plugin developed by our team at iThemes. BackupBuddy backs up your entire WordPress site’s installation, so you’ll always have a Backup plan if your site crashes, is hacked or if you mess something up and need to go back in time to an earlier version of the site.
5. To upload a plugin to your site, click the Choose file button, locate your plugin zip file and then click Install Now. Then, click Activate.
6. The last menu item beneath Plugins in the WordPress Dashboard is the Editor. The built-in WordPress plugin editor can be used to make changes to any of your plugins’ individual PHP files. Just be aware that if you make changes, plugins updates will overwrite your customizations. So, unless you know PHP, you probably won’t want to edit any of your plugin’s PHP code.
Kristen has been writing tutorials to help WordPress users since 2011. You can usually find her working on new articles for the iThemes blog or developing resources for #WPprosper. Outside of work, Kristen enjoys journaling (she’s written two books!), hiking and camping, cooking, and daily adventures with her family, hoping to live a more present life.
