How to Install Plugins in WordPress Step by Step

Every website owner has heard the word “plugin” at least once in their life․ An obvious question arises, what is a plugin and what is the use of plugins in WordPress ? If you have a website, you need plugins to update it with new features.

Plugins have different functions. There are plugins specifically designed for creating quizzes, polls surveys, galleries, special contact forms, menus, and other various things.

All you have to do is understand what your site needs and install the appropriate plugin. And how to install plugins on WordPress, you will understand by reading this step-by-step guide, where it is explained two methods how you can install free plugins and how paid.

Well, if you’re ready, let’s start our journey into the world of plugins together.

Step 1. How to Install a WordPress Plugin from the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Let’s start installing a WP plugin from the WordPress plugin directory effortlessly. But here you have some limitations, as only free plugins can be installed. But anyway how to download plugin from WordPress dashboard?

Let’s start the main process of WordPress plugin installation.

WordPress dashboard > Plugins > Add New

First, go to your WordPress dashboard for installing WordPress plugins. Head to the “Plugins” button from the left sub-menu and by clicking on the “Add New” button start the main process. That’s all, now let’s search for the plugin that you need and install it.

Search plugin > Install Now > Activate

Installing plugins on WordPress is simple enough. You only need to find the plugin. The question arises where do I find plugins on WordPress? You can find them just by typing the plugin name in WordPress (if you know it) or just the functionality you are looking for in the “search bar”.

After finding the exact plugin you can see that there is a “Install Now” button on its left side. So just click on it.

Only installing WordPress plugins is not enough for using them you need to activate each plugin. The question arises of how to activate a plugin in WordPress as without activation you cannot use the plugin on your WordPress site. The process of activation is too easy. As you can see after installation the button “Install Now” is changed to the “Activate” button. So just click on it. That’s all. you successfully install and activate your first plugin of WordPress.

Step 2: How to Install a Plugin with the WordPress Admin Plugin Upload

As I mentioned above you can install only free plugins from the WordPress plugin directory. So how to get the Pro version of the plugin is the question. Here is the simple answer: you should upload it. I’m sure you now have another question, how do I upload a plugin to WordPress? Let’s try to find the answer to this question by performing the following steps together.

WordPress dashboard > Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin

In this case, also you need to go to your WordPress dashboard for installing WordPress plugins. From the left sub-menu head to the “Plugins” button and choose the “Add New” button. At the top, there is the “Upload Plugin” button, so just click on it.

All you have to do is download the zip file of the plugin you already purchased. Just by clicking on the “Choose File” button and selecting your plugin’s zip file, you can start the process. After selecting the necessary plugin you can notice that the button “Install Now” is activated, so click on it. For using the plugin you should wait until the installing process ends and the “Activate” button appears. Just click on the “Activate” button and successfully end the WordPress plugin installation.

But one last question: where are WordPress plugins stored? For finding your installed plugins you need to go to your WordPress dashboard, head to the “Plugins” button, and click on the “Installed Plugins” button and the list of your installed plugins will appear on your screen. That’s all.

To Sum Up!

As you can see from this article, installing plugins is a very easy process. It is only important to remember the correct order of the steps and not to miss anything.

I hope that with this article you were able to successfully install the plugin you wanted.

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