do not align the ring ends, stagger them around the piston
follow any alignment instructions you got with the rings.

use a ring compressor
coat the piston and rings and bore with gear oil like 80W
put the compressor on the piston,
tighten up the strap fairly tight
line up the rod in the bore and have the piston facing the right
direction
tap it down carfully using the end of a wooden hammer

the ring end gap is fairly important, but if your just using std rings
in a std bore, you have no problems.
The ring end gap should be measured with the ring in the bore at the
top of its travel and the bottom.