4 Easy Ways to Install a Plugin on WordPress

One of the main benefits of having a WordPress website is that you can manage it by yourself very easily. Whether you are availing WordPress website development services from a professional or have made and managed it on your own, you can install or uninstall plugins by yourself very easily.

Plugins add functionality to your website or help you manage it better. For example, WooCommerce is an ecommerce plugin of WordPress that adds all the features of an online store to your site. Yoast SEO, on the other hand helps you from the backend to help you make your web pages SEO-friendly.

WordPress has more than 55,000 plugins in its directory – some are free and some are paid. Here, we’ll figure out how to install them on our own.

Plugins Installation Method on WordPress:-

Method 1: Automatic Installation of WordPress Plugins

The simplest way of installing a free plugin is through the admin. Here’s how it works:

• On the side panel, you need to go to the “Plugins” option and click on “Add New”.
• On the top right corner, you’ll get a search bar where you can type the name or type of plugin you want to install.
• You choose the appropriate plugin from the search results and click on the “Install Now” button.
• Upon completion, you go to the “Installed Plugins” section and activate it.

Method 2: Buy Plugin and Upload it to the admin

The above method doesn’t apply to the paid plugins. If you’re purchasing it, here’s how it works:

• Download a zip file of the plugin in your computer from the purchasing platform.
• Now, open the admin and go to “Add New” under “Plugins” from the left panel.
• Next, you click on the “Upload Plugin” button.
• Then, you click on “Choose File” and open your zip file.
• You can now install and activate it like you did in the first method.

Method 3: Uploading through the File Manager of Your Host Provider

If you’re unable to upload a plugin using Method 2, you open the File Manager of your host provider and do the following:

• Go to the Plugins folder under wp-content.
• Then, you click on the Upload button on the left.
• Select the zip file of the plugin in your computer and unzip it on the server.
• You can now visit the WordPress admin and activate the plugin.

Method 4: Uploading Manually through FTP Server

If none of the above methods are working for you, this is the most complicated of the lot, yet not so difficult if you follow these steps:

• Download the zip file of the plugin in your computer and unzip it there itself.
• With the help of your hosting provider or WordPress website development manager, connect to your site’s server through FTP.
• Go to the wp-content folder here and then go to the plugins directory.
• Here, you click on Upload and select the unzipped folder from your computer.
• Once the upload is complete, you’ll find the plugin installed in your WordPress admin, ready to be activated.

 All websites made on WordPress have worked very well for their users – whether blogs or online stores. If you can install the right plugins by yourself, managing the rest of the site is cakewalk.