Instead of advanced tips, we are today writing about top 10 basic things which you need to do after installing WordPress. We choose this topic especially considering those people who start posting without configuration their basic settings. As WordPress is not much Google friendly, you have to add your effort to make it SEO friendly. Here we are discussing those basic things which help to make your site base. So are you ready?
Top 10 Basic Things You Need To Do After Installing WordPress
1. Head To General Settings
Yes, this is the first thing you need to do immediately after installing WordPress. After login into your WordPress admin panel just goes to Settings > General.
Here you need to provide Site Title and Tagline first. Under this, you will find WordPress Address (URL) option. Here you need to give the preferred domain structure. You can choose your domain name with www or without www.
It’s completely your choice whether you want to go with www or non-www. There is no benefit of one above another it is just a matter of choice but remember that if you change it after a few months or years, then it will affect your ranking so decide how you want to see your domain.
i.e. http:// www.xyz.com or http://xyz.com
After setting up your domain set the time zone. In Timezone section, this will help you to show most accurate time on your published post, and it also helps you to schedule posts.
2. Change Permalink Structure
Go to Settings > Permalinks.
Permalinks are one of the most important things which you need to select very carefully. It’s your choice how you want to set your URL structure but changing it much later will affect your ranking so better set it now.
In Permalinks settings you will find many options but if you don’t have any of the given options then make a customize by selecting Custom Structure. If you want the same permalink structure which we are using, then add “/%postname%/” without quotes in the Custom Structure field. For more custom tags click here.
3. Reading Setting
Go to Settings > Reading
In this setting page, you can select what your site’s home page should look like. You can change it anytime. Because you are configuring basic settings most probably, you have no post. So know that in the Front page displays, Your latest posts option will show the most recent post on the home page. The second option “A static page” allows you to set your desired page. It will not change and most of the time suitable for sites that are providing any service.
4. Delete Extra Themes
When you install WordPress no doubt you have installed and tried lots of themes on the very first day. If you choose your final theme, then feel free to delete all those extra themes which are now useless.
There are two reasons for it. First extra themes occupy space, and second, it will affect your website page speed. Deleting a theme is very easy you just need to hover over the theme and click on Theme Details after that click on the Delete button which is in the right bottom corner.
5. Install Cache Plugin
Why do you need a cache plugin? Well, you need it if you want to speed up your site. It is also necessary in terms of ranking a website. Caching makes your site’s server load free. It also saves your site from crashing when your site has lots of loads. You can find many cache plugins, but we recommend you to choose from W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache.
6. Improve WordPress Security
Making a website is too easy, but when it comes to building it, then it takes too much time and patience. Now in this, you don’t want to lose it at any level of the point. To avoid such a situation, you need to take your website security very seriously. You can use these methods to make your WordPress website hacking-free.
7. Install Anti-Spam Plugin
Do you like spam obviously not, nobody likes spam, right? It’s sad that you are going to get lots of spam on your website and moreover spam comments are bad for SEO. But don’t worry it’s the right time to prepare for it. We have the perfect solution to deal with spam. We recommend you use Akismet or Antispam Bee.
8. Install SEO plugin
SEO is one of the most important things for any site which you need to take care till your site it lives. Now as we said WordPress is not SEO friendly, you need to make it but how. When talking about SEO of a website the first thing which is recommended is on-page SEO. Now you don’t have to learn much more about it. You can take the help of the Yoast SEO plugin which is one of the complete SEO plugins. It will help you to do more than 90% of the on-page SEO of your site pages.
9. Social Media Plugin
Suppose you have just published a well-researched amazing article now what? The next thing you will do is share this article on social media, right? But when anyone visits your site they don’t find any way to share the article. You don’t want it, right? To deal with this situation immediately install any social media plugins which will help your website to rank higher.
10. Make a Habit of Regular Backup
Above we told you about the security of the website but as you know that there is always 1% of chance of everything no matter how hard you try. To stay safe, we recommend you take a regular backup of the site. Here regularly doesn’t mean that you need to take backup on a daily basis. Weekly or monthly backup is acceptable.
