I have already shared the benefits of using a WordPress as a blogging platform and why it is good in my post Which Blogging platform to choose.
I’ve also mentioned on that post how to install WordPress on your website trough your Cpanel, so in this post I’m not going to talk about installing WordPress again. Here I’m gonna share some tips and steps on how to set up a wordpress blog.
How to set up a WordPress blog:
So, If you have registered a good domain name, selected a hosting service and installed WordPress, Now in this post we will go trough some steps that are essential to perform after install to set up a WordPress blog.
1. Manage Author:
After installing the WordPress you need to remove the admin account for better security and set up the author of your blog. Make yourself the administrator and if you want to add other authors that will be writing for you, give them contributor role.
To set up author go to your WordPress dashboard, click on Users > Add News and fill out the form. Don’t forget to remove the default admin account.
2. Change Permalinks of your blog:
When you first install WordPress and write your first post, you will notice that the default article URL is something like www.guideandnews.com/?p=420.
You need to change it to something like www.guideandnews.com/2012/06/09/affiliate-marketing-guide/ because the default URL structure is poor for SEO and it doesn’t tell the visitors anything about the page they’re visiting.
To make these changes go to your WordPress dashboard, click on Settings > Permalinks and choose the “Day and name” option.
3. Set up general settings:
You need to set up the general setting of your WordPress blog. First navigate to WordPress dashboard, Settings > General. Now fill out the form of general setting correctly
Site Title: The title of your blog’s homepage.
Tagline: The description of your blog.
WordPress Address URL: In this field you will see the default URL of your blog, you have to include “www” in the address.
Site Adress: Again the same address as above.
Email-Address: The email address of the administrator who is responsible of for all issues related to the blog, used to respond to blog comments and form submissions etc.
Membership: I have checked this box because I’m accepting guest Bloggers on my blog to register as a contributor. Do not check this box if you want a single author blog or you want to create a business website.
Time zone: Put the time zone of your area.
Date format and time format: Just leave these two fields on the default.
Week starts on: Monday.
4. Update ping list:
When you update your ping list, WordPress will automatically notify the following site update service when you publish a new post.
To update your ping list go to your WordPress dashboard, click on Settings > Writing. Now scroll down your mouse and check the Update Services, you see the default Pingomatic http://rpc.pingomatic.com in your update service box.
You should add the following ping list along with the additional services.
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://bblog.com/ping.php
http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
5. Upload your theme and activate it:
If you want to make a professional blog and don’t want to use the default WordPress theme than you need to buy a premium WordPress them or there are also tons of free WordPress themes which you can choose from.
If you have found your theme, now go to your WordPress dashboard, click on Appearance > Themes > Install Theme. Upload your theme and activate it.
Read: How to choose a perfect WordPress theme
6. Set up feedburner:
Integrating Feedburner is must for every WordPress blog because it adds feed optimization option, statistics and much more. Setting up Feedburner for your blog has a lot of advantages.
If you don’t know how to set up a Feedburner and need help than the Syed Balhi’s step by step guide to setup feedburner for your blog will surely help you out.
7. Activate Akismet:
When you install WordPress, there will be a plugin that will be automatically installed, now it’s up to you to activate it with API code.
The plugin will protect your blog from spam comments, so it is worth the time to activate it.
How to activate Akismet:
In order to activate the Akismet plugin on your blog, go to your WordPress dashboard, click on Plugins > Akismet Configuration. Now if you already have a API code just paste your code on the text box and click on the update options.
But if you don’t have Akismet account and API code and don’t know how to get one than how to activate Akismet on your site will help you.
8. Install and Activate the necessary plugins and set up a WordPress blog:
There are thousands of WordPress plugins that can do anything you can imagine for your blog, but you have to install those plugins which are essential to your WordPress blog. Here’s 20 must have WordPress plugins list which I’m using here on my blog.
Hope I have mentioned all the steps which is must to to set up a WordPress blog. If you have any question or need help just leave a comment below.
This post is part of a series “Starting a Blog” which I’m going to create soon. Subscribe to receive all updates to your email address.
Awesome guide, I am wondering if there any alternatives for Askimet, because i’m reluctant to pay that much to filter out spam on my new blog, I use it on my authority blogs though.
Gautham, Akismet’s days are gone. I use Commentluv premium’s GASP plugin here at Guide and News to get rid of the spam comments, It’s great!
Why don’t to try Commentluv Premium plugin? It’s 8 in 1 plugin.
Thanks for this article. It was really so useful for me for setting up my first blog. It was like a step by step process where even a lay man can understand.
Thanks a lot for sharing this article.
Glad you liked it Shatyan.
I prefer permalink as /%postname%/ instead of day/month/sample post.
I did not know about ping list in wordpress before reading your post.
Overall it is a great post.
Thanks Omar Habib! Glad you liked it.
Fine post Ehsan it seems very easy to setup a new WordPress blog after completing hosting tasks. How ever people never think more about it and never give importance to this and failed in ranking well. Well done…
Thanks you Atul, glad you enjoyed the post. Why don’t you consider using a gravatar image?
Permalink structure plays an important role while setting up your wordpress blog.
Thanks for your comment Rudraksh.
Hi Ehsan,
Great tips that every newbie WordPress users should follow.
Thanks for sharing.
Terrific post Ehsan. This is really a perfect article for all the new WordPress users. Thanks for sharing buddy.
Thanks for your comment Priangshu, Glade to know you liked the post.
Don’t miss the latest article on everything you need to know about SEO.
Nice article! Though these points may seem quiet simple now but every experienced blogger had to figure out these things while starting out in their career.
Thanks Aniruddha,
These points are specially for newbies who are new in industry and seeking information on how to start a blog.
I’m glade you liked it.
Thanks.
Hmm, it’s great to read such a wonderful refresher course of setting up a wordpress blog. Sometimes we just take these things for granted just because we have done them on different occassions. But for those who are just starting out they are really important.
I have mentioned on many places that the series of “Starting a Blog” which I’m running these days is specially for newbies, but some experienced people will also get benefits from it.
This post was specially for newbies who isn’t familiar with WordPress.
I’m happy you stopped by Chadrack and hope you will stick around.
It’s always nice to know exactly what you should do after installing WordPress. Another thing that I do is install Platinum SEO – makes your life a lot easier.
Hey Jamie,
Welcome to my blog buddy and thanks for your first comment here.
I have never tried Platinum SEO on my blog, Instead for now I’m using All in one SEO and I’m satisfied with it, but soon I’m going to buy SEOPressor.
Hi Ehsan,
To be honest with you, I used to use All in one SEO and I was also happy with it, for some reason I’ve decided to use Platinum SEO on all my sites from now on though – it’s simple to use!
I think all the free ones has some sort of problems that is why I’m gonna purchase SEOPressor soon.
Thanks for stopping by again Jamie and nice to see you’ve used Gravatar image this time:P
Good points mentioned here. Need to add installing a auto back-up plugin is also must for having better safety.
Heye Pavan,
Welcome to my blog buddy.
I’m glade you liked the post. Thanks for your first comment here.
Stay around…
Hi Ehsan,
Very inclusive list!
I like the list of Ping sites – I will have to add those to mine as well.
I too, have had some issues with Akismet recently, but I still use them – it’s not too much that I can’t handle.
You’ve offered some great tips here for setting up a blog.
Thanks for sharing!
~Christine
Hey Christine,
I’m glade the article was helpful for you knowing the importance of adding ping list.
As I said before, Akismet is really having problem these days, but not too much that I can’t handle.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hey Ehsan,
Well, I agree with everything you’ve shared here accept #2 and #7. I do mine differently.
As for the permalinks, I set mine up with postname. All the rest isn’t necessary because you want the search engines to locate your keywords and the date, time, category, etc. isn’t necessary in your URL.
I also hate Akismet with a passion and find that it throws a lot of legitimate comments in spam so for me, GASP is the only plug-in to use for spam filtering.
Other than that, I agree with what you’ve shared and it’s a great thorough list.
Enjoy your week and thanks for sharing.
~Adrienne
Hey Adrienne,
I agree, Search engines will only locate the keywords and they don’t care about dates, time and categories etc, but I’ve read on ProBloggers ones that it is important to use the date and postname in URL because the post without it’s written date isn’t looks good. All popular blogs uses the date and postname on their URL.
And yes, Akismet isn’t working properly these days.
I couple of days ago, Pat from SmartPassiveIncome.com was reporting about Akismet on his status on Facebook, but I don’t get a lot of comments like you and Pat here on my blog so I can manage it easily.
When my blog started getting 100 comments on each of my post like your blog, than I will do something:P
Anyway, I’m happy you stopped by and as always, I appreciate your comment.
Oh I was never aware that we have to update ping list.
Thanks for mentioning it here.
I often disregards it!
Hey Nicholle,
I’m glade you have found the post useful for you. Adding ping lists is important for every blog.
Thanks for your comment here.
Hi Eshan
nice post well explained, I never cared about ping before , after reading this I will be adding all the ping urls you have mentioned in your post. thanks for sharing this with us
Bryan
Thanks for your comment Bryan, Yeah adding ping list will really help your blog.
Ping list is very useful. I as using Pingomatic… Thanks for adding more useful information.
Hi Ehsan,
The %postname% is a must, it allows for better SEO results, who doesn’t what that?
I only use postname and not any other identifiers, cleaner but also so content does not appear to be old.
Cracking guide, maybe you should create a survival pack for bloggers with all of this information.
Hey Simmeon, I agree with you! The post name is good for SEO, but I use %Date%/%postname%/ because it helped readers to find the day when that post was written.
Using only post name is also good.
Thanks for stopping by Simmeon.
Hi Ehsan,
Great post and Awesome info.
As similarly again i’ll take your side. Again you proved yourself with a good article.
These tips are really great. Headlines must be eye catching that attract readers to visit your website or blog.
In such looking good creative..I love your blog. Great insights, content and inspiration.
Hey Bushan,
Thanks for your words bro, It’s always lovely to know that someone really liked my post.
I’m glade you liked the post.
Thanks again!
Very good information. I will be adding the list of ping sites along with pingomatic.
Yeah you should add the lint of ping sites to your blog to let other website know about your latest posts.
I’m glade you liked the information.
Hi Ehsan,
I also appreciate the list of ping sites…I’ll add that to my blog.
Thanks for sharing this tips.
nice time.
It’s my pleasure bro. I’m happy to know that my post helped you.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hey Ehsan,
That was an awesome and much useful info for newbie bloggers, while it isn’t for bloggers like us.. Anyway, great work!
But you should not set up that permalink setting. This will make our and your URLs always long, you must use a custom permalink setting..
e.g. /%category%/%postname%/ ( I use )
e.g. /%postname%/
Yeah the information isn’t for Pro Bloggers like you Mairaj, It is for newbies like us.
I really appreciate to receive a comment from such a Pro Blogger like you.
You are absolutely right, we should not set up the permalink setting, Believe me! I was lying:D
Hey Ehsan, Am never a Problogger.. Stop calling me that funny word.. You’re just making me a fun, on the internet..
You’re a problogger not a newbie, lol
. I just was showing that we had did all these settings already..!
Just hate word Pro Blogger, when it is used to refer me! uh!