Post-Installation WordPress To Do List
Installing WordPress is quite a simple process, but that's only where your work starts.
The real work is in your writing, but before you start that there are certain settings you should change to optimize your blog.
Every experience blogger has their own set way of doing things and in time you'll develop your own.
Here are the things I try to do before I start publishing content.
Change the Blog Title & Tagline of your blog Your Blog title should be the same as your domain name, plus maybe a couple of keywords related to your blog.
The tagline should be a simple sentence explaining what your blog is about.
Update RSS Settings People who subscribe to your blog will generally do so because they don't want to have to actually go to the trouble of visiting your site to check for new content.
They use feed readers for convenience, so when selecting how much of your articles to show in the feed, make sure you let them see the full article.
If you deprive them of this by only providing them with an excerpt, the chances are they'll be less than impressed and may even unsubscribe altogether, so the worst case scenario is that you'll lose readers.
Update your profile They say hiding behind the default name (admin) can lower your credibility as a blogger because it makes you seem like a thing rather than a person.
Allowing your readers to know your name shows them that you're just another person like them that they can relate to.
Change comments settings To avoid spam, it's helpful to moderate posts before they go live on your blog, but you don't want to be too careful that you put people off from commenting.
If you make your regular commentators wait until you come online to publish their comments they'll quickly get bored.
Select the option, "Comment author must have a previously approved comment".
That way only people who have had a comment approved by you can make further comments.
Delete the test post and meta info When you first install WordPress there will be a Hello World! post already published.
This is just for demonstration purposes for new bloggers and can and should be deleted straight away.
WordPress also comes with meta information in the sidebar.
Namely a login/register feature and a html validation link.
This should also be deleted.
Create a favicon Favourites icons, or favicons for short, are icons that appear to the left of the url in the address bar, and to the left of your website name in a bookmarks/favourites menu.
Changing your icon to one that relates to your site makes it stand out from the rest.
There are many websites that generate them for free if you've created your image in jpg, png or gif format.
Google is your friend.
Create a contact form Contact forms are a part of every good blog.
Readers need to know that they can get in contact with you should the need arise.
It's also useful for commercial reasons, like if a fellow webmaster wants to exchange links, or if an advertiser wants to buy some adspace on your pages.
Contact forms are o longer optional, they're a must have in the blogging world.
Create a feedburner account Burning your RSS feed with Feedburner simplifies the whole process for your readers.
It'll redirect your generic feed url to a Feedburner url and also give your readers the option of subscribing via email.
Get your API key It's impossible to run your WordPress blog these days without a proper spam prevention tool.
Akismet is considered the best and it comes pre-installed with the WordPress package.
All you need to do is find your API key to activate protection.
When you sign up for a WordPress account you'll be emailed your API key.
If you already have a WordPress account you can find it on your profile page.
Once you've entered your API key into Akismet your blog will be protected from spammers.
Create a robots.
txt file This simple text file is very important to how search engines crawl your website.
With it you can block access to admin pages, category pages and other content you don't want spiders to crawl.
It's a helpful tool to prevent your site being penalized for having duplicate content.
The real work is in your writing, but before you start that there are certain settings you should change to optimize your blog.
Every experience blogger has their own set way of doing things and in time you'll develop your own.
Here are the things I try to do before I start publishing content.
Change the Blog Title & Tagline of your blog Your Blog title should be the same as your domain name, plus maybe a couple of keywords related to your blog.
The tagline should be a simple sentence explaining what your blog is about.
Update RSS Settings People who subscribe to your blog will generally do so because they don't want to have to actually go to the trouble of visiting your site to check for new content.
They use feed readers for convenience, so when selecting how much of your articles to show in the feed, make sure you let them see the full article.
If you deprive them of this by only providing them with an excerpt, the chances are they'll be less than impressed and may even unsubscribe altogether, so the worst case scenario is that you'll lose readers.
Update your profile They say hiding behind the default name (admin) can lower your credibility as a blogger because it makes you seem like a thing rather than a person.
Allowing your readers to know your name shows them that you're just another person like them that they can relate to.
Change comments settings To avoid spam, it's helpful to moderate posts before they go live on your blog, but you don't want to be too careful that you put people off from commenting.
If you make your regular commentators wait until you come online to publish their comments they'll quickly get bored.
Select the option, "Comment author must have a previously approved comment".
That way only people who have had a comment approved by you can make further comments.
Delete the test post and meta info When you first install WordPress there will be a Hello World! post already published.
This is just for demonstration purposes for new bloggers and can and should be deleted straight away.
WordPress also comes with meta information in the sidebar.
Namely a login/register feature and a html validation link.
This should also be deleted.
Create a favicon Favourites icons, or favicons for short, are icons that appear to the left of the url in the address bar, and to the left of your website name in a bookmarks/favourites menu.
Changing your icon to one that relates to your site makes it stand out from the rest.
There are many websites that generate them for free if you've created your image in jpg, png or gif format.
Google is your friend.
Create a contact form Contact forms are a part of every good blog.
Readers need to know that they can get in contact with you should the need arise.
It's also useful for commercial reasons, like if a fellow webmaster wants to exchange links, or if an advertiser wants to buy some adspace on your pages.
Contact forms are o longer optional, they're a must have in the blogging world.
Create a feedburner account Burning your RSS feed with Feedburner simplifies the whole process for your readers.
It'll redirect your generic feed url to a Feedburner url and also give your readers the option of subscribing via email.
Get your API key It's impossible to run your WordPress blog these days without a proper spam prevention tool.
Akismet is considered the best and it comes pre-installed with the WordPress package.
All you need to do is find your API key to activate protection.
When you sign up for a WordPress account you'll be emailed your API key.
If you already have a WordPress account you can find it on your profile page.
Once you've entered your API key into Akismet your blog will be protected from spammers.
Create a robots.
txt file This simple text file is very important to how search engines crawl your website.
With it you can block access to admin pages, category pages and other content you don't want spiders to crawl.
It's a helpful tool to prevent your site being penalized for having duplicate content.
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