How to install a WordPress Plugin

WordPress is driven by loyal ambitious wordpress developers who have created plugins to extend its out-of-the-box functionality and in fact,  you can find a plugin for anything. WordPress Plugin Directory contains a great variety of free plugins that anyone can use . And many premium WordPress plugins are available to help you supercharge your site. Using a wordpress plugin is the fastest and easiest way to extend the functionality of your WordPress site.

How to install a WordPress Plugin?

For the novice user, it is very easy to install a plugin right from your site dashboard. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the steps of installing and activating a Plugin on your WordPress Powered blog.

We can install a wordpress plugin using any of following 3 methods:

1. Install a free Plugin from WordPress Admin Panel using Search Option
   Wordpress.org has a great collection of  free plugins thanks to loyal wordpress developers community. There are tons of free WordPress plugins available in wordpress Plugin Directory. You can search for a plugin from this directory and install it from your WordPress Admin Panel .  Click here for instructions ( in same page)
2. Install a Plugin from WordPress Admin Panel using Upload Method
   This step is ideal if you purchased a premium plugin  from a plugin provider  and downloaded the plugin as a zip file.  Click here for instructions ( in same page)
3. Upload a Plugin using FTP Manager and install from Admin Panel
   You can also upload the unzipped plugin folder using FTP and later install it from WordPress admin panel. This is the least preferred method, but will be useful, if you don’t have a plugin zip file or if upload feature in method 2 does not work due to server getting timed out. This step involves using a FTP client to upload your files to your server.  Click here for instructions ( in same page)

Method 1: Install a Plugin from WordPress Admin Panel using Search Option

1. Log into your WordPress administration panel.
2. From your sidebar on left side, go to Plugins > Add New

   

3. In this page you can see a list of featured/popular plugins available in wordpress plugin directory. Locate search box, enter the name of the plugin into the search field and perform the search

   

4. Select your plugin from the search results and click on Install button.

   

5. Wait for a while to download and install the plugin onto your blog.In the next step click on activate plugin.

   

6. Now you are done. Note that some plugins need some additional settings. So go back to Plugin page >> Find your plugin and check if your plug requires any additional settings. If so, click on settings link to enter your details. You can also read more details about your plugin by clicking on details link.

   

Method 2: Install a Plugin from WordPress Admin Panel using Upload Method

You can find many premium plugins to enhance your site’s features on internet. Download the plugin as a zip file. Please follow steps below if this is the case.

1. Download Plugin and save it somewhere on your computer.

   

   

2. Log into your WordPress administration panel. Go to Plugins > Add New. Click on Upload Plugin.

   

3. Use the browse button to select the plugin zip file that was downloaded.

   

   

   After uploading the zip, Click install Now button.

   

4. In the next step click on activate plugin.

   

5. Now you are done. Some plugins need to fill more settings. So go back to Plugin page >> Find your plugin and click in settings link to enter your details.

   

Method 3: Upload a Plugin using FTP Manager and activate from Admin Panel

This step involves Extracting plugin files, using a FTP client and FTP user to upload your files to your server.

Extracting Plugin files

Locate your downloaded Plugin file. Mostly the Themes are zipped therefore you’ll have to extract them in a separate folder

• Find the downloaded .zip file in the hard drive.
• Right click on the file and select “extract all”

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  Select the location to extract the files to and Click “ok.”

Launch FTP client FTP client lets you move files to your website Host. Personally, i use “FileZilla FTP Client” and it works for me. If you do not have FileZilla, follow  FileZilla installation tutorial to install and  connect to your host.

• Launch FileZilla and connect to your hosting(Refer this tutorial if you need any help on this). After a successful connection, you can see Local Site displays data from your local machine. and Remote Site displays data from your Host web space directory.
• On the left, i.e. Local Site, locate the directory where you extracted your plugin files.
• On the right, i.e. Remote Site, locate the directory where your WordPress blog is stored from the main directory. Click and open it. WordPress has its files arranged in a special directory listing as: wp-admin/., wp-content/, wp-includes/. Plugins are in wp-content/plugins directory. Browse through to plugins folder and click to open. Now you’ll have all your plugins in their folders.
• You simply drag plugin’s folder (for e.g. nofollow-for-external-link) from the local machine and drop to plugin folder, and then wait until transfer is complete.
• Now, i need you to login to your WordPress blog. Go to dashboard, under Plugins, you will see all your plugins in place. Find your plugin and activate it.