Here’s a common question I get by email: “I already have a website and I want to add a blog onto the site. How do I add a blog to my existing website domain?”

This process varies based on the blogging program you are using. So in this tutorial, I’ll focus on the WordPress method for adding a blog to your site. In the next lesson, I’ll show you how to add a blog onto your website using Blogger. The integration processes with these two programs are completely different, so it would be confusing to cover them both in one article. Let’s tackle the WordPress method first.

Adding a WordPress Blog Onto Your Website

WordPress is a self-contained blogging program. This means that you will need to download the entire program from the web, and then upload the files onto your web domain / server. But there are also some preliminary steps between the downloading and uploading process, and this is where a lot of webmasters go astray. You also need a MySQL database to run a WordPress blog on your website, so we will talk about that as well.

To add a WordPress blog onto your site, you will need to perform the following steps (at a minimum):

  1. Download the most recent version of WordPress from http://wordpress.org/download.
  2. Set up a MySQL database through your web hosting account. Depending on who you use for web hosting, this might be a very easy step. Most of the big-name hosting companies allow you to create a database at the click of a button.
  3. When you set up your MySQL database, make a note of the database name, the user name, the password, and the host URL. You’ll need these things when you configure one of the WordPress files (prior to uploading the files to your server).
  4. Next, you will need to open the WordPress file called “wp-config-sample.php” and enter the MySQL database information I mentioned earlier. When this is done, save the config file.
  5. Next, rename the file you just edited to “wp-config.php” (by removing the “-sample” part from the filename.
  6. When all of that is done, you are ready to upload all of your WordPress files to the directory where you want to blog to reside. If you plan to add the blog onto your existing website, you would simply create a new sub-directory / sub-folder for the WordPress files. For example, if your website domain is www.MyGenericWebsite.com … you could put the WordPress files in a folder called “blog.” So the full URL for the blog would be www.MyGenericWebsite.com/blog.

Here are some detailed instructions on how to configure and upload the WordPress blogging program onto your website. But don’t let these instructions scare you. Much of the information is about building a MySQL database from “scratch.” And, as I’ve said, most big-name web hosting companies allow you create a database just by clicking a few buttons.

Once you have all of your WordPress files uploaded to the sub-directory where you want to the blog to reside, you will need to finish the install by running the initial diagnostics. This sounds complicated, but the WordPress program does all of the work for you. All you have to do is call up a particular URL for the install page, and the program will do the rest. Ultimately, if you give you a “success” message that lets you know you are done.

Congratulations! You’ve just added a blog onto your website by installing the WordPress blogging program. Now you can choose a theme for your new blog, customize it as needed, and — most importantly — starting publishing great content for your audience. Here are some blogging ideas to get you started.

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Post Info: Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 | Technical Matters | brandon