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So, you want to upgrade WordPress, but you’re using Yahoo Small Business hosting and are short on technical know-how? Yahoo won’t help?  Fear not! After suffering through some trials and tribulations, I created this really simple guide to help others who were stuck in the same boat. It’s easy – I promise!

Step 1

Download the latest version of WordPress to a folder on your desktop. (It’s a zip file, so you will need to “unzip” everything to one folder.) Rename this folder “WordPress” so that it’s easy to find. WordPress provides its own instructions, but Yahoo installations have some quirks, so you may want to stick to this guide if you are not technically savvy.

Step 2

Open your favorite FTP program. (If you don’t have one of these, FileZilla is a great, free option.) If you’re not sure what your login settings are, you can copy and paste them from the “Create & Update” tab of your Yahoo Control Panel, or you can just replace the text below with your own information.

Login Settings
host: ftp.YourWebsiteName.com
username: YourYahooID@YourWebsiteName.com
password: YahooPassword

Now click Quickconnect!

Step 3

Once you’re logged in, you’ll see two “windows.” On the left are files that are on your computer, and on the right are files that are hosted by Yahoo and are on your website. In the right window, navigate to where your blog files are – with Yahoo, the default folder is ‘blog.’

Step 4

In the left window (that is, files on your computer, not on Yahoo!), click on the folder named ‘wp_content‘ and delete it. This way, none of your themes, plugins, blog posts, or pages will accidentally be overwritten.

Step 5

Drag and drop everything in the ‘Wordpress‘ folder from the left window (ie; your computer) into the ‘blog‘ folder on the right window (ie; Yahoo). Filezilla may ask you if you want to overwrite the files, click ‘Overwrite.’

Step 6

Here comes the slightly tricky (and most important) step. Download the wp_config.php file to the ‘WordPress‘ folder on your desktop. Open the file you just downloaded using a program like Notepad or TextEdit. You will be copying and pasting information into another file called wp_configsample.php in the same folder, so it may be helpful to have both files open at the same time.

The wp_config.php file will have all your important database information that Wordpress will need. You are going to copy and paste the following information…

• DB_NAME: If you have a default Yahoo installation, this is usually blog. You can double check against the wp_config.php file to be sure.
• DB_USER: This is not your Yahoo username. In between the apostrophes, copy the information from wp_config.php to wp_configsample.php. Chances are, this will look like a mixed up string of letters and numbers.
• DB_PASSWORD: Again, copy the information from wp_config.php. This is usually a mixed up string of letters and numbers also.
• DB_HOST: This is the 1% of the time where Yahoo is different than most installations! Copy in mysql.

Step 7

Now that you’ve copied all the information you need, you’re ready for the last big step. In your WordPress folder on your desktop, delete the wp_config.php file. Now, rename the wp_configsample.php file you just edited, and call it wp_config.php.

Step 8

In FileZilla, drag the wp_config.php file from your desktop (on the left) into your blog folder on Yahoo (on the right). Filezilla may ask you if you want to overwrite the files, click ‘Overwrite.’ Right click the file, and select File Permissions…. In the “Numeric Value” box, type in 664.

Step 9

Log in to your blog. WordPress will prompt you to update your database. Just click the two buttons as they appear, and you will be redirected to your dashboard. You’re done!