WordPress likes to trumpet their “Famous 5-Minute Install” but that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Sure, if you are a rocket scientist, and you install WordPress for a living, you might actually be able to do it in 5 minutes. But for regular people? Not a chance.

The last time that I installed WordPress on a shared-hosting server it took me 35 minutes. Here are the steps that I followed:

1. Made a new directory on my server.
2. Downloaded the WordPress ZIP file.
3. Un-Zipped WordPress.
4. Uploaded WordPress to my server via FTP.
5. Created a new MySQL database with cPanel.
6. Edited the wp-config.php script with the new database info.
7. Ran the WordPress installer script.

I made the new MySQL database, and edited the config file while the files were uploading. So, I didn’t spend much time staring at the FTP upload, waiting for it to complete.

WordPress is indeed pretty easy to install, but keep in mind that I am a professional software developer with a degree in computer science. The average WordPress user will need a good deal of time to do their first install – especially learning how to get the MySQL part working.