Uploading a WordPress Site (Home/Office)

Topics Covered in This WordPress Tutorial:

Exporting a Database, Modifying the SQL to Use Appropriate Absolute URLs, Uploading WordPress, Importing a Database

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Exercise Overview

Once you've thoroughly tested your site's functionality and are satisfied with its performance, the next critical phase is deploying it to a production web server. This comprehensive exercise guides you through migrating your local WordPress development environment to a live hosting platform. While originally designed for 000webhost.com's free hosting tier, the fundamental principles apply to any hosting provider. You'll master essential deployment skills including database migration, URL transformation, and file transfer protocols—competencies that are crucial for any WordPress developer or site administrator in today's web development landscape.

Signing up for a Free Hosting Account

We'll use 000webhost.com for this demonstration, though the concepts translate to any hosting provider. Free hosting services like this are excellent for testing deployment workflows before committing to premium hosting solutions.

1. Open a web browser and navigate to 000webhost.com (note: those are zeros at the beginning of the URL).

2. Click the Free Sign Up button on the right side of the homepage.

3. Under Start Free Sign Up, enter your Email, create a secure Password, and choose your website Name (subdomain). Document these credentials securely—you'll need them throughout this process and for ongoing site management.

4. Click Get Free Hosting to initiate the account creation process.

5. Complete the CAPTCHA verification if prompted to confirm you're not a bot.

6. Monitor your email for a confirmation message (check your spam/junk folder if it doesn't appear in your inbox). Click the verification link to activate your account and return to the 000webhost dashboard.

7. In the welcome dialog that appears, click It's ok, I want to learn to proceed to the management interface.

8. Click the Manage website "website Name" button to access your hosting control panel.

9. Under Build website, carefully note your complete domain URL—this will be essential for the database URL replacement step coming up.

10. Navigate to the Settings menu in the top-right corner and select General.

11. Locate and document your FTP details, which are required for file uploads. Record the following credentials:

    • Host Name (typically files.000webhost.com)
    • Username (your unique FTP username)
    • Password (matches your website login password)

12. Test your new domain by clicking the website link under website Settings. You'll see a default placeholder page—this confirms your hosting environment is active and ready for your WordPress installation.

Exporting the Database

WordPress stores all dynamic content—posts, pages, comments, user data, and configuration settings—in a MySQL database. Successfully migrating this database is crucial for maintaining your site's content and functionality. The export process creates a complete snapshot of your local database that can be imported to your production server.

1. Start your local development server and launch phpMyAdmin using your platform-specific method:

   Database Export Purpose

   WordPress stores all posts, page content, and comments in a MySQL database. Exporting allows you to transfer all site content from local development to the remote server efficiently.

Replacing the Local URLs

WordPress stores absolute URLs throughout its database for media files, internal links, and configuration settings. These URLs currently point to your local development environment (localhost:8888 or localhost), which won't function on your live server. This critical step ensures all internal links work correctly in your production environment.

1. Launch your preferred code editor (Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text, Atom, or similar).

2. Select File > Open from the menu bar.

3. Navigate to your Downloads folder (or wherever your browser saved the SQL file):
   • Mac: Macintosh HD > Users > [your-username] > Downloads
   • Windows: C: > Users > [your-username] > Downloads

4. Open the mrp.sql file. You'll see the raw SQL commands that recreate your database structure and content.

5. Access your editor's Find and Replace function:

   • In Visual Studio Code, use Ctrl+H (Windows) or Cmd+Option+F (Mac)
   • In Sublime Text, go to Find > Replace
   • In Dreamweaver, go to Edit > Find and Replace

6. Configure the Find and Replace operation with these exact values:

   Find:	http://localhost:8888/mrp (Mac with MAMP) or http://localhost/mrp (Windows with XAMPP)
   Replace:	Enter the complete URL of your new hosting domain (including http:// or https:// as appropriate). Example: http://yoursite.000webhostapp.com

7. Execute Replace All to update every instance. This may affect hundreds of database entries.

8. Save the file to preserve your changes. Your database is now configured for the production environment.

Importing the Database

With your database properly configured for the production environment, you'll now create and populate a MySQL database on your hosting server. This process establishes the data foundation your WordPress installation will rely on.

1. Navigate to 000webhost.com/members in your browser.

2. Log in with your hosting account credentials if you're not already authenticated.

3. Locate and click Manage database in the top navigation menu.

4. Click New Database (typically found in the bottom-right area) to create your production database.

5. Configure your new database with these specific credentials for consistency:

   Database name:	mrp
   Database username:	user
   Password:	passw0rd (note: the 'o' is actually a zero)

6. Click Create to establish your database.

7. The system will display your actual database credentials with auto-generated prefixes. Document these carefully:
   • DB Name (will include a numeric prefix like id12345_mrp)
   • DB User (will include the same prefix like id12345_user)
   • DB Host (the MySQL server address)

   Important: Your hosting provider adds these prefixes to prevent conflicts with other users' databases on shared servers.

8. Click Manage > PhpMyAdmin next to your newly created database.

9. Log into the phpMyAdmin interface using your prefixed database Username and your chosen Password.

10. Select your database from the left sidebar (it will show with its full prefixed name).

11. Click the Import tab to begin uploading your local database content.

    

12. Click Choose File (or Browse in older browsers) to select your database file.

13. Navigate to your Downloads folder and locate the modified mrp.sql file.

14. Double-click mrp.sql to select it for upload.

15. Click the Go button to begin the import process. Success is indicated by a message like: Import has been successfully finished, [number] queries executed. The query count varies based on your content volume.

FTP Clients

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) clients are essential tools for web developers, enabling secure file transfers between your local development environment and remote servers. While numerous excellent options exist—including FileZilla, WinSCP, and Transmit—we recommend Cyberduck for this exercise due to its free license, cross-platform compatibility, and intuitive interface. The principles demonstrated here apply universally to any FTP client you choose to adopt in your professional workflow.

Uploading Your WordPress Site

Now you'll transfer all your WordPress files from your local development environment to the production server. This process replicates your entire site structure, including themes, plugins, media files, and core WordPress files.

1. Launch Cyberduck from your Applications folder or Start menu.

2. Click the Open Connection button in the top-left corner to initiate a new server connection.

3. Enter your hosting FTP credentials (website credentials, not database credentials) that you documented earlier. If you need to retrieve this information, visit 000webhost.com/members and navigate to Settings > General.

   Server:	Enter your FTP host name (typically files.000webhost.com)
   Username:	Your FTP username (provided by your hosting service)
   Password:	Your FTP password (same as your website login password)

4. Click Connect to establish the FTP connection. If you encounter an Unsecured FTP connection warning, click Continue—this is normal for free hosting services that don't provide SSL/TLS encryption.

   Troubleshooting: If connection fails, verify your credentials are correct and contain no extra spaces or characters.

5. Double-click the public_html folder to enter your website's document root directory.

6. You'll now see your hosting account's file structure. For future efficiency, consider creating a bookmark by selecting Bookmark > New Bookmark to save these connection settings.

7. Position the Cyberduck window to occupy half your screen—you'll need to see both this and your local file browser simultaneously.

8. Open your system's file browser and navigate to your local WordPress installation:
   • Mac: Macintosh HD > Applications > MAMP > htdocs > mrp
   • Windows: C: > xampp > htdocs > mrp

9. Arrange your file browser window alongside Cyberduck for easy drag-and-drop file transfer.

10. In your local mrp folder, select all WordPress files and directories by clicking any item and pressing Cmd+A (Mac) or Ctrl+A (Windows).

11. Drag the selected files from your local folder directly into the Cyberduck window. Ensure you drop files into the main directory, not into any existing subfolders.

    If another Unsecured FTP connection warning appears, click Continue to proceed.

12. A Transfers window will display upload progress. Large sites with many images or plugins may take considerable time to upload completely.

    If prompted about overwriting existing files, click Continue—you're replacing the default hosting files with your WordPress installation.

13. When the upload completes successfully, close the Transfers window. Your WordPress files are now live on the server.

Editing the Wp-config.php File

The final step connects your uploaded WordPress files to the database you created earlier. The wp-config.php file contains critical database connection parameters that must be updated for your production environment.

1. Switch to your code editor application.

2. Open the original wp-config.php file from your local WordPress installation:
   • Mac: Macintosh HD > Applications > MAMP > htdocs > mrp
   • Windows: C: > xampp > htdocs > mrp

3. Immediately save this file as wp-config-remote.php in the same mrp directory. This preserves your local development configuration while creating a production-specific version.

   Best Practice: Maintaining separate configuration files allows you to continue local development without disrupting your live site settings.

4. Update the MySQL database connection settings (approximately line 18) with the prefixed credentials you documented during database creation:

   /** The name of the database for WordPress */
   

   define('DB_NAME', 'id12345_mrp');

   /** MySQL database username */
   

   define('DB_USER', 'id12345_user');

   /** MySQL database password */
   

   define('DB_PASSWORD', 'passw0rd');

   /** MySQL hostname */
   

   define('DB_HOST', 'mysql123.000webhost.com');

5. Save your changes to the wp-config-remote.php file.

6. Return to Cyberduck and your local file browser window.

7. Drag wp-config-remote.php from your local directory into the Cyberduck window to upload it to your server.

8. Monitor the Transfers window until the upload completes, then close it.

9. In Cyberduck, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) the existing wp-config.php file and select Delete. Confirm the deletion if prompted.

10. Right-click or Control-click wp-config-remote.php in Cyberduck and choose Rename.

11. Rename the file to wp-config.php to activate your production database configuration.

12. Test your deployment by visiting your assigned domain URL. Your complete WordPress site should load with all content, styling, and functionality intact.

13. If you encounter a database connection error, verify the database credentials in your wp-config.php file match exactly what your hosting provider generated. Pay special attention to the numeric prefixes and ensure no extra spaces were introduced. Correct any errors and repeat the upload process for the configuration file.

Congratulations! You've successfully deployed a WordPress site from local development to production hosting. This workflow—database export, URL replacement, file transfer, and configuration—forms the foundation of professional WordPress deployment practices used across the industry.