5 Things to do After Installing WordPress
July 27, 2009 by Mark
Filed under Tips & Tricks
WordPress is a popular open source publishing platform. It is the choice of most blogger. Not only because it easy to use but the installation process also take less than ten minutes. But after installation there are other things to be done to make it more secure and get the most from your blog/website.
Below is the 5 things usually I do when I install a fresh WordPress platform.
1. Change the Default Password
When you WordPress installation precess completed, it will generate a random password and give it to you as a default password. Go to http://myblog.com/wp-login.php and use the username and password to log in into your admin panel for the first time. To change this password you can go to Users > Your Profile and scroll down until you see the password textbox. Enter your new password and input it again in the text below before you hit the Update Profile button.
2. Change the Default Username
The default username for a fresh installed WordPress is admin. During installation process WordPress never ask you for your desire username. For security reason you should change the default username. My previous post on How to Change Your Default WordPress Username will guide you to change the username to something that unique.
3. Edit Permalinks
A URL like http://myblog.com/?p=12 is poor for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). But the default WordPress articles URL is something like that. So apply a better SEO for your blog by changing the permalinks so it display something like http://myblog.com/my-first-post/
To change it, go to Setting > Permalinks. Under Common settings click the radio button infront of Custom Structure. Then enter %postname%/ in the textbox. Hit the Save Changes button to apply the change. If your .htaccess is not writable, you have to edit the file manually and copy and paste the text inside the textbox below the Save Changes button. If you are using Nginx web server follow the instruction on my previous post WordPress Permalinks on Nginx. It will guide you to configure Nginx, so that you can use SEO friendly URL on WordPress.
4. Change Theme
You can find free theme at Free Theme WordPress or you search using Google or Yahoo to find your favorite theme. But if you have a knowledge of HTML, CSS, PHP and any image and graphic manipulation software you can designed your own theme. Upload it to wp-content > themes. If you do not know where is wp-content, you can find it on the root of your WordPress installation folder. Now, activate it via Appearance > Themes.
5. Create Your First Post
Now you have your blog up and running. Its time to create your first post. Go to Post > Add New. For your first post you can introduce yourself to you reader and tell them a little bit about yourself and what you are going the share in your blog. First post is really important because its give the reader the first impression about yourself. Once you completed writing read your post, read it one more time to check if any spelling or grammar error. When you satisfied you can publish it by pressing the Publish button. But don’t forget to add category and tags for the post.
The next things to do is tell your friends, family and the world about your blog. Keep posting, enjoy your blog and watch your blog grow.
Recommended Reading
WordPress Entrepreneur: How To Setup, Customize & Use A WordPress Website
