What to do After Installing WordPress? Should you begin writing and publishing posts?
If you ask me the same questions my answer would be No, I don’t start writing at the first, I’ll configure my WordPress settings first. Let’s check out what are the settings to be modified when you are just installed WordPress
(PS: These are the listed settings that I’ve configured for Self Hosted Life also)
In this detailed guide, I’ve included some Essential configurations of WordPress that will make working on WordPress easier for you. That’s the configuration you have to perform only Once, also no need to change it again & again.
- Read here the common blogging mistakes suggested by Expert bloggers that you should always avoid.
So, Before starting the topic I assume that you have gone through how to start a WordPress blog (step by step Guide).
I often asked what things to do after Installing WordPress, also I found many beginners struggle that what modification should they do in their WordPress settings, so their blog looks like a professional blog.
“While I have listed here all the necessary configuration of WordPress, Instead if you want to have premium customization (like CSS, Coding, Themes, customized plugins for personal use) then There is a Plugmatter team available to help in you in your WordPress Journey. They are very dedicated to helping you”.
So, here I’m going to list the most important settings or You can say checklist that every blogger must perform after installing WordPress.
Essential settings After Installing WordPress
1. Delete Default posts and pages:
First of all, after installing WordPress you should delete default pages and posts. It is compulsory to do this as these are the sample pages and posts to guide newbies on how to create a post and page.
2. General Settings: Title, date, time, etc.
Now head on to general settings, here you can give your blog an attractive title with a tagline, be prompt for this as it appears to search engines.
Then in the same section, you can set your site language as you prefer, Timezone (according to your locality), there you can modify the date and time format according to your choice.
3. Set your Homepage look:
In the writing section, there is no need to change anything.
Move on to the Reading section, here you only have to select your homepage displays.
If you have designed a page to showcase your services and products you can select a static page.
If not let it be on the homepage, there is no need for modification in any other settings.
4. Discussion:
In this section, you can customize your article and comment settings,
for instant configuration follow as seen in the image:
5. Media settings:
You should be aware of the page loading speed of your blog from an SEO perspective. Your SEO score can be affected by images. Because images take more time to load.
WordPress itself decides the different dimensions of different images which could lead to an ugly look for your blog. Just follow the below image for better dimensions:
6. Set Permalink Structure:
It is one of the major settings for your entire blog from an SEO point of view.
Permalinks are the default URL structure for your posts, images, and pages. You can set your Permalinks as you prefer (see in the image).
Once saved never ever think to change in the future, If you do you may lose all your backlinks from where you were receiving traffic.
Say if I’m receiving huge traffic with this URL structure: https://www.selfhostedlife.com/affiliate-marketing/, Sudden I’ve changed my permalink as https://www.selfhostedlife.com/2018/05/affiliate-marketing/.
Wouldn’t it harm me?
Yes.! it would
These are the two different URL addresses in Google’s view, hence all of my traffic will see a 404 error, and this could yield me a great loss of potential readers,
So Choose Your permalink structure wisely.
7. Enable/ disable membership registration:
I consider this as the most important setting as it could lead your blog to get hacked.
“A Few days ago, when I was started writing my new blog post. I’ve noticed that WordPress is showing 5 different authors in the author section, where I was habitual to see myself as an author.
After finding the loophole that allowed those 4 people to get registered as authors, I assumed that It could have led me to some great loss. Then I realize to tick off membership checkbox”.
So, just tick off the Membership.
But if you want someone to contribute then, You have to decide whether your blog is opened for another author or you want to be the sole author of your blog. You can allow other users to register as authors, contributors, editors, etc…
Other Important settings
You can categorize your posts into various categories.
Which lets your visitor better navigation to your blog.
Tags are the terms that directly relate to your post and clarify in the first view that what your post is all about.
To set up tags and categories You can navigate to the Posts section for this.
9. Choose SEO friendly Theme:
Now you have an awesome blog, So it should be awesome for your readers also.
Hence your blog should properly be designed. How your blog looks depends upon your theme. Read How to make your blog look professional.
Remember those themes are free but not recommended. If your pocket allows going for a premium theme then I recommend Genesis, Generate Press.
10. Install must have Plugins:
Similar to the selection of themes you may have a ton of plugins available in the WordPress database.
There is no need to flood your blog’s storage with unnecessary plugins, for your blog you have to be very picky.
Some of the plugins most bloggers suggest are SEO by Yoast, Akismet for preventing Spamming, Jetpack, W3 cache for caching, Social warfare for social media connectivity.
11. Take complete Blog Backup:
It is a must not miss the task, while configuring your WordPress.
In fact, every blogger must start taking Backup from day 1.
I don’t think that I need to explain why it is necessary to take backups as you know technically it is an essential task. You must have a backup to secure your day-night hard work.
Now it is no longer a panic task, which means you can take daily backup of your entire blog with some plugins on autopilot mode. You can install WP time Machine or updraft plus plugin for this.
12. Create About us, Contact us, Privacy policy pages:
Before writing your first post, you must create some authority pages which authorize your blog for search engines and also for readers. These pages also establish you as a brand.
Sometimes your reader also wants to know about you, sometime they might want to contact you, So you must think about such pages. You may take Ideas from our About Us, Contact US, Privacy Policy pages.
Instead of all these if you want some professional WordPress services then you can take the help of the Plugmatter team.
Wrapping It Up
So now, you are all set with your blog’s back-end, and now get ready for publishing your content.
No matter how much you put in your blog to make it grow, you will never reach the point you have expected in terms of traffic and monetization. Unless you optimize it for the right things, so I have given you these tips to make your blog and its backend work for you.
I hope I have covered all of the necessary points here which I have done when I was started my blog. Instead, if you think I’ve missed something to add, do let me know via a comment under the comment section I would be pleased to have your valuable suggestions.
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