How To Use FTP - The Basic

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If you are wondering what FTP is, it is an acronym for File Transfer Protocol. It is the simplest and most secure way to transfer files from one computer to another over the internet. In simple term, it is how you send one file from your computer to your web hosting server.

If you hold off the thought of getting your own domain and installing WordPress on your web hosting server, in this article I hope I could help you to change your perception of using FTP. Uploading those WordPress Installation files or any other files is not difficult or scary, if you know how to use a FTP client.

What is a FTP Client?

It is a program or software commonly used to upload and download files from your computer to your hosting server. You need first to setup your FTP client and for that you need to know your FTP host address, your login ID and password which usually will be sent to your email upon sign up with the hosting provider. Basically, your FTP host address looks something like this ftp.yourdomain.com

Once properly setup, you can download the files from WordPress.org and upload those files to your directory /public_html or /www. If you plan to install your WordPress on a subdirectory i.e www.yourdomain.com/blog, you have to create a folder named ‘blog’ on the server and upload those files to /public_html/blog or /www/blog. For the sake of simplicity, I would walk you through the process of WordPress Installation in my next article.

Apart from uploading those WordPress Installation files, you could use FTP to upload WordPress plugins and themes. Just make sure that you drop them at the correct folders. Usually /wp-content/plugins and /wp-content/themes respectively.

Popular FTP clients

1. FileZilla
2. SmartFTP
3. FireFTP

For Mac OSX users, Transmit and Cyberduck are two of the most commonly used FTP clients. Personally I use FireFTP’s Firefox Addon to do any FTP task. With it I could use it right at my browser without opening any program at all.

I hope by now you would take the first step to download any of the FTP client recommended above and start experimenting with the process of file transfer via FTP. Happy FTP-ing.