diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 008a9f90..813bb6b2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ archivebox version                         # make sure the package is installed
 </code></pre>
 </li>
 <li>Create a new empty directory and initialize your collection (can be anywhere).
-<pre lang="bash"><code style="white-space: pre-line">mkdir ~/archivebox/data && cd ~/archivebox/data
+<pre lang="bash"><code style="white-space: pre-line">mkdir -p ~/archivebox/data && cd ~/archivebox/data
 archivebox init
 sudo archivebox install
 archivebox add 'https://example.com'
@@ -512,7 +512,7 @@ archivebox persona create --import=chrome personal
 # make sure you have pip-installed ArchiveBox and it's available in your $PATH first  
 <br/>
 # archivebox [subcommand] [--help]
-mkdir ~/archivebox/data && cd ~/archivebox/data
+mkdir -p ~/archivebox/data && cd ~/archivebox/data
 archivebox init
 sudo archivebox install
 archivebox add 'https://example.com'
diff --git a/docs/Install.md b/docs/Install.md
index e90593d0..c84a638c 100644
--- a/docs/Install.md
+++ b/docs/Install.md
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ echo 'deb [trusted=yes] https://archivebox.github.io/debian-archivebox dev main'
 sudo apt update
 sudo apt install archivebox
 
-mkdir ~/archivebox/data && cd ~/archivebox/data
+mkdir -p ~/archivebox/data && cd ~/archivebox/data
 archivebox init
 sudo archivebox install
 archivebox add 'https://example.com'
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ pip install --upgrade --ignore-installed archivebox[ldap,sonic]
 Finish installing runtime dependencies for the enabled ArchiveBox plugins.
 ```bash
 # create a new empty folder anywhere to hold your collection, and cd into it
-mkdir ~/archivebox/data && cd ~/archivebox/data
+mkdir -p ~/archivebox/data && cd ~/archivebox/data
 
 # instantiate the directory as an archivebox collection dir
 archivebox init