Things to do when setting up WordPress

If you are starting a blog on your own website host and installing wordpress for the first time, these are the things to do when you install wordpress and log in for the first time to set up your new website:

1. Change Permalinks structure to Post name – that way your URLs will not have sub-folders and auto generated numbers in them – you can choose a different setting that you like.
2. Use a custom Login/Password – don’t use default ADMIN for the username. If you can’t change this setting on the install, you can do it later under USERS.
3. Pick a theme and add/remove widgets from your sidebars to make the site look nice.
4. Set up pages – pages are meant to be static pages like your “contact page” or “about me” you can set these up first before adding posts.
5. Set up categories – these are like your menu headings. I like to set up categories to display on my main menu.
6. Install plugins – search for and install any plugins you like to use. Delete Hello Dolly plugin.
7. Create a Menu for your site from the categories/pages you have set up.
8. Upload custom logo/background or any images for the main layout of the website. You can set these up under the THEMES section.
9. Settings – browse through General/Writing/Reading/Discussion and choose the options that you want for displaying posts, accepting comments, make sure your site title and description are correct (this is what displays on a google search result for your URL title and snippet.)
10. Delete the sample page, comment and Hello World post that are automatically posted with a new installation.

You can continue to customize options further, but these are the basic things that I like to do when I’m setting up a new blog or website using wordpress for the first time.