You can use “Plugins” in WordPress to extend the functionality of your website. You can install plugins from within your WordPress dashboard, thus making it extremely simple to do. Follow the steps below to learn how to download and install plug-ins.

* For this tutorial I will be installing a plugin called “Contact Form 7″ this is a plugin you can download to have a contact form plugin for your website. If your are interested in this plug in, here you go: Contact Form 7

1. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard.

2. Once you are inside your dashboard, locate the “Plugins” link in the left hand side menu.

3. After clicking on the “Plugins” link a drop down menu below it will fall revealing three more links (Installed Plugins, Add New, Editor). To add a new plugin click the “Add New” link.

4. You will now be on the “Install Plugins” page. You will see a search bar on this page (example in image below) this search bar is where you can put the exact name of the plugin and it will most likely show up near the top of the search results or you can put a search term for what you are looking for and then browse the plugins that came up.

5. Once you have your plugin name in the search bar click the “Search Plugins” button to the right of the search bar to start the search process.

6. The results will return a list of all the plugins WordPress found. I typed in the exact name of the plugin I was looking for, and it came up at the top of the search results.

* For this tutorial I am only showing the Contact Form 7 Plugin in the image below, but lots of other contact form plugins came up underneath it.

7. Underneath the name of the plugin you are interested in you will see two links (Details and Install Now). If you click details you will get a pop up window explaining more details about the plugin. The pop up window will give a more in depth description of the plugin, installation instructions, screen shots of the plug in in action, a changelog so you can see improvements in newer versions, and a frequently asked questions area.

* If you are unfamiliar with the plugin you are looking for, checking out the details can be a very useful bunch of information. I recommend always reading it for new or unfamiliar plugins.

8. After checking out the details and everything looks good and your sure this is the plugin you want, there are two simple ways to start the installation process.

• Method A:You can click the orange “Install Now” button in the upper right hand corner of the details pop up window as seen in the image below.
• Method B:Close the pop up window and click “Install Now” underneath the plugin name, next to the “Details” link (examples of the install now link in the image above).

9. After clicking one of the “Install Now” buttons as described in the last step. WordPress is automatically start installing the plugin. The page will show the step that WordPress is on in the installation process and let you know when it is done.

* In the image below you will see an example of this your’s may differ than mine but it will be similar.

As you can in the image above it says that the plugin has been successfully installed. Now your plugin should be installed.

The next step to using your plugin at this point would be to activate it. You can learn how to activate the plugins here:

Activating Plugins in WordPress Tutorial »