7 first steps for your new WordPress blog

You’ve decided to start a new WordPress blog, so you install WordPress on your web hosting, log in, and …. what next? Here are seven first steps to getting your new WordPress installation ready for blogging.

1. Configure your accounts

When you install WordPress you choose an admin account name and password. This account has full administrative rights to your WordPress blog. You want to protect this account with a strong password, and only use it when you need to do administration for your site. For every day use you will want to create a different account with just the rights to write posts and manage comments.

In your WordPress dashboard look in the top right area for the link to administer Users.

Fill out the Add New User form and set the role to Editor.

An Editor can write new posts, manage categories, and moderate comments amongst other capabilities. They can also edit any other user’s posts which is handy if you’ve accidentally written a few as “admin” and want to make changes to them.

2. Configure your General Settings

Some of the default WordPress settings may not be to your liking. In your WordPress dashboard look in the top right area for the link to administer Settings. Configure your Blog Title and Tagline, Timezone, and check the Membership settings. I prefer to disable user registration entirely for my blogs and manage my comments in other ways.

3. Configure your Discussion Settings

While still in the General Settings area click on the Discussion link in the top menu. This is where you decide what kind of comment strategy you wish to enforce. For a new blog I prefer to approve a reader’s first comment but then allow them to comment freely if I have approved a previous comment of theirs. I also like to be emailed for all new comments.

As your blog grows and attracts a higher volume of comments you might change this strategy to permit a more free flowing conversation in your comments and to avoid being swamped by comment notification emails.

4. Configure your Permalinks

Permalinks are the URLs for individual posts in your blog. The default permalink structure is to append the post ID to the URL of your site, for example http://demo.bloggingteacher.com/?p=123. This is generally unattractive and does nothing to tell a reader or search engine what your post is about. Other options presented by WordPress are better, but still not ideal as they include useless information such as the year/month/day of the post.

The best and simplest permalink structure is to simply append the post name to the URL for your site. To do this choose Custom Structure and enter /%postname% in the field next to it.

Now the permalink will reflect the title of your blog post, for example the permalink for this post is http://www.bloggingteacher.com/seven-first-steps-for-your-new-wordpress-blog.

5. Activate Akismet for comment spam protection

Akismet is a plugin that is included with your WordPress install. It is developed by the same people that develop WordPress and is there to help prevent your blog comments from being overrun by spammers. In your WordPress dashboard look in the top right area for the link to administer Plugins.

Click on the Activate link for Akismet. WordPress will now notify you that you need to enter your WordPress API key.

To get your WordPress API key go to Wordpress.com and sign up for an account. You don’t need to create a new blog on Wordpress.com, you just need an account to receive the Akismet key. Once your account is created you will receive the account details including API key in your email. Copy and paste this API key into your WordPress Akismet configuration and the plugin will now go to work protecting your comments from spammers.

6. Choose a theme and upload it

The default Kubrick theme for WordPress is okay but not very exciting to look at. Luckily there are thousands of free WordPress themes available for you to download and use at themes.wordpress.net.

Search or browse for a theme that you think reflects the style of your blog, download and unzip it, and then upload it via FTP to your web hosting. Be sure to upload the entire theme folder to your wp-content/themes folder.

Now you can activate that theme via the Design link at the top of your WordPress dashboard. Try the new theme out by writing a few posts and if you don’t like it you can always choose another and try that one.

7. Start writing!

Now that you have configured the basics of your new WordPress blog it is time to start writing your own posts. Log in with your Editor account and click on the Manage link at the top of your WordPress dashboard. Delete the default “Hello World!” post and then click on the Write link and start blogging.

Tagged as: Akismet, Configuring, WordPress