Essential Settings For WordPress Blogs For Newbies
Thursday, March 31st, 2011WordPress is a very straight forward blogging platform. Truth be told, there is not a huge amount that they can do to improve the platform apart from copy wordpress versions from the past, and add a few new features to it, as it really is just a platform that evolves from the emmense community support that it has.
So, it is really simple. WordPress is a blank canvas for most of us, and with the added community support, you are free to mould it whichever way you like. Although WordPress is not a complex system, there are many ways that will allow you to easily mould it whichever way you like. WordPress settings are important to start with, so we will kick things off there.
Essential Administration Configuration
Your permalinks will be the first thing that you want to change, not just becuase this makes your URL’s look mich nicer and more professional, but because of the added search engine optimization benefits of having your chosen keywords in the URL. You should always include the post title, or even the keyword on its own on the domain at bare minimum. You can also opt to use categories too, which has its added SEO benefits.
I also recommend that most people use a WWW in front of the domain. Although there is no real SEO benefit of this, this will just look nicer in the search engines, and from experience, it actually instigates trust in your visitors when they find you in the search engines.
You must always fill in your profile information. A good bio, an accurate user name, and display name will suffice. As some themes actually make use of this information, it is essential to be able to display this information if required.
Basic Plugin Installation
This phase is my favourite part. I am a self confessed plugin addict, I cant stop experimenting with new plugins, and love adding more functionality to my blogs.
The first plugin that I always use is All In One SEO. This allows you to add custom titles, and desctiptions to each page, which will allow you to appear more relevant in the search engines, plus the added ability to sell via the search engines.
If you are not tracking your visitors yet, then you will need to install Google Analytics. This can be done using Google Analyticator, which verifies using Google’s authentication services so that you dont need to insert any code at all.
Its Time To Theme Up!
There are so many theme makers that are always going to compete for your attention, but most of these come at a cost. Remember, there is a large directory of free themes available via your appearance tab if you dont want to invest in themes just yet, all of which can be installed with a click of the mouse without having to mess around with FTP settings and the such. This is a great way to make your blog unique compared to the rest of the crowd.
I have only just started to scratch the surface. The WordPress platform is a very unique and easy to mould platform that really makes blogging and website creation simple. Most people including myself actually made a copy wordpress file so that they can deploy their favourite installation across multiple domains, but that is just me. The first step is installing the blog.