In my WordPress 101 series, I already taught you how to start a WordPress blog & website in 10 minutes or less, by choosing a website hosting, domain name and then installing WordPress.
Now you’re probably wondering – what happens next? Today, I wanted to talk about 18 things to do after installing WordPress, to make sure your website & blog is optimized and ready for you to publish a new page or post. I’ll provide you with an ultimate guide to kick start your website.
Let’s dive in, shall we?!
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18 THINGS TO DO AFTER INSTALLING WORDPRESS
1. CHANGE DEFAULT ADMIN USERNAME & PASSWORD
If you use Siteground’s* WordPress one-click-installation, you can set up your username and password there. But if you or your designer installed WordPress in a different way, your default username is probably “Admin”, which is not a secure username.
2. CHANGE SITE TITLE & TAGLINE
From WordPress Dashboard go to > Settings > hover over to General > and edit the Site Title and Tagline fields. These steps are important for SEO because both site title and tagline are visible in the search engines. Also, you can see them when you hover over the browser tab.
3. SET TIMEZONE, DATE & TIME FORMATS
Stay in the General settings and scroll down to Timezone, Date and Time Formats. Set it up accordingly to your location and preferences.
4. CHECK SEARCH ENGINE VISIBILITY
Go to Settings > Reading and make sure that in the Search Engine Visibility the Discourage search engines from indexing this site is ticked off. This way, your website will be popping out in the Google search.
5. SETUP THE PERMALINKS STRUCTURE
Permalinks, in short, is the way how your links look like, so everything after / in yourdomain.com/ .This is something that you should set up only once on your site. Otherwise, you’ll get broken links (404 errors).
Go to Settings > Permalinks > and choose Post Name (the most SEO-friendly link structure). If you want to have a custom link structure (like I have), use the tags listed below.
6. INSTALL A WORDPRESS THEME
WordPress theme determines how your website function and how it looks like. It allows you to customize your blog & site and make it unique for your brand. Learn How to Install a WordPress Theme in this post or click the image below
7. CREATE A CHILD WORDPRESS THEME
Once you’ve installed your main theme (Parent theme), now it’s time to create a Child Theme. A Child Theme is a theme based on the files from the Parent theme, but it allows you to keep your changes even if you update the Parent theme. Read How to Create a Child Theme in this post or click the image below
8. DELETE DEMO & SAMPLE CONTENT
When you install WordPress, it will create some sample content like Sample Page or Sample Post. Some of the WordPress themes, also install demo content. Go ahead and delete unnecessary content from Pages, Posts and Media Library.
9. CREATE WORDPRESS PAGES
Pages on WordPress are used for static content, so website pages for example about, contact or services page. Read about How to Create a Page in WordPress in my post or click the image below
10. SET UP A NAVIGATION MENU
Once you created the pages, now it’s time to add them to the navigation menu – well firstly, in WordPress, you need to set up the main menu. Learn How to Create a Navigation Menu in this post or click the image below
11. ADD A FAVICON TO WORDPRESS
Favicon is a small element that you can see in the browser next to the page title. It helps you differentiate the website, especially when you have dozens of tabs open at once. View How to Add Favicon to WordPress in this post or click the image below.
12. INSTALL WORDPRESS PLUGINS
Once you did a basic setup, now it’s time to install necessary WordPress plugins. Plugins are the elements of software that can be used to expand the functionality of your site, improving your website design wise and making it easier for you. Learn How to Install Plugins in WordPress in my post or click the image below.
13. INSTALL AKISMET PLUGIN
Akismet is an anti-spam plugin for your blog comments. You can read more about it in my post How to Secure WordPress Blog & Website or click the image below.
14. INSTALL GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Google Analytics allows you to track the page views, unique visitors and referrals, so from which source your audience click through to your website. You can learn How To Add Google Analytics to WordPress in my post or click the image below.
15. INSTALL A BACKUP PLUGIN
Backing up your blog & website is super important. You wouldn’t want to lose all your awesome work, right?! Read about How to Backup a WordPress Blog & Website here or click the image below.
16. INSTALL A SECURITY PLUGIN
Protecting your website from hackers is an essential part of setting it up. I mention the security plugin that I use (and love) in my post How to Secure WordPress Blog & Website or click the image below.
17. SET UP THE BLOG CATEGORIES
Categories in WordPress help you organize your posts. They allow you to categorize the content about the same topic into the separate sub-page on your website. Read about How to Create Blog Categories in WordPress in this post or click the image below.
18. WRITE YOUR FIRST BLOG POST
Once you’ve created the blog categories, now it’s time to write your first blog post. Learn How to Write a Blog Post in WordPress in this post or click the image below.
Of course, there are more things to do later in order for your blog & website to be up and running fully, but these are the most basic and important things to do after installing WordPress. These are the steps I always take when setting up a WordPress website for my clients. I hope this list will help you jump-start your business or help you set up WordPress if you’re moving from another platform.
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