You just installed WordPress and are excited to get your website started but where do you start? The WordPress dashboard suggests creating a blog posts, about page or setting up a homepage but is that right? Let’s learn about eight things we can do to our settings after installing WordPress.
General Settings
How to get there: Left side navigation > Settings > General
Site Title
We recommend setting this to your brand or business name.
Email Address
Ensure this email is correct and you have access to it. This is the admin email where all notifications will be sent to.
Timezone
Configure your timezone to match your location. If you are unsure of your UTC timezone you can search for a city close to you. For example we would select Chicago as it’s close to us and in the same timezone.
Date and Time format
Select the date and time format that suites your website the best.
Reading Settings
How to get there: Left side navigation > Settings > Reading
Your homepage displays
By default WordPress shows your latest posts on your homepage which is great if you’re running a blog. If you’d like a static homepage and your blog posts on another page this is where you’d make those updates. First create and publish a home and blog page in Pages. Then come back to the reading settings and select those pages from the dropdown.
Search Engine Visibility
Ensure this checkbox is unchecked as checking this box will block your site from being shown in search engines.
Discussion Settings
How to get there: Left side navigation > Settings > Discussion
If you’d like to remove the ability for visitors to leave comments on your blog articles please view our post: How To Turn WordPress Comments Off
Permalink Settings
How to get there: Left side navigation > Settings > Permalinks
By default WordPress links are by ID meaning your page would look a bit like, /?p=1982. This is terrible for SEO and for visitors to remember so we recommend selecting Post name as your permalink option. Post name is great for SEO and for visitors to remember pages.
