Tutorial : How to configure Wordpress for a first-time run

If you havent yet installed Wordpress you may want to first read the Tutorial : How to install and configure Wordpress for a first-time run

One of the basic things you’ll want to do after you’ve finished your Wordpress installation is to properly configure it. What does this mean ? I’m sure that by now you’ve heard many people say that Wordpress isn’t just a blogging platform it’s more of a CMS and holds great potential - it’s true. It’s easy to customize, very flexible, light and ultra fast. The only problem is that it doesn’t come pre-configured. Here are a few tips that might interest some of you.

First off, go to your Settings page ( For Wordpress 2.5.x users it’s on your right side, for older versions of Wordpress it’s quite easy to spot ) and there you’ll see 7 different tabs. Each of these tabs contains different settings that can help achieve the desired result - a lightning fast, SEO optimized, spam free Wordpress powered blog.

1) The General tab

Blog Title :

I think it’s self explanatory what this field is for - by modifying this field you’re modifying your blog’s title. Usually the title tag of Wordpress is called using a function which is in most cases wrapped around a <h1> tag - make sure you choose your title according to the niche you’re targeting. Having the title wrapped around a <h1> tag means it has to contain the most important keywords on the page. Choose wisely.

For a more detailed explanation be sure to check out this tutorial : How to optimize your title tag.

Tagline :

This usually contains the keywords you’re trying to target - meaning you should add into it the keywords corespondent to your niche. ( For example for WordpressLounge the Tagline would be : Wordpress tutorials, guides and tips - this example is for learning purposes only ).

The rest of the settings contained under this tab aren’t too hard to understand and don’t yeld such a high grade of importance. Be sure to tick ( or untick ) the fiels in the Membership area and to change the Timezone according to yours.

2) The Writting tab

Size of the post box - I like to keep this at 40 lines so I can have a wider perspective of what I’m writting, it’s not convenient to always scroll up to read the last paragrapah.

Formatting - From my point of view, the first box should be unticked ( Convert emoticons like :-) and :-P to graphics on display ) depending on what type of blog you’re running - I don’t have a problem with it but I feel that a professional blog shouldn’t have smilies on it. Remember though to tick the second one, the one about XHTML nesting.

The other fields need no more modifications for now.

3) The Reading tab

This page has a lot to do with the CMS features you’ve heard Wordpress holds. For instance choosing to display a static page as your first page is a very nifty feature. Having the flexibility of choosing between a regular blog layout with a number of the latest posts displayed or a static page is one of the features that make Wordpress a good choice.

Also, to keep your blogs safe from beeing scrapped I would suggest ticking the Summary box in the For each article in a feed, show.

4) The Discussion tab

In this particular tab I usually untick the first box ( the one that says Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the article (slows down posting. ) - you can see why ) and leave the other two ticked.

For a nice display of the other two ( Comments and Trackbacks ) check out this Tutorial which will you show you how to do it - easy and stylish.

I for one don’t want to receive emails everyone posts a comment so I usually untick those two boxes.

During my blogging experience I’ve found out that keeping comments in moderation can actually slow down and affect the progress of the discussion so that’s why I think it’s unnecessary to keep the first box ticked in the Before a comment appears box. The other two can greatly contribute to your blog’s security - forcing the user to complete both the username and email address ( which has to be valid ) will get you rid of a percentage of spam bots, but even more - forcing him to have a pre-approved comments makes it impossible for spammers to post any links that might pass one’s attention and slip into the archives compromising your blog’s integrity. This was quite about it for this tab, I usually leave the other fields as they are.

5) The Privacy tab

There’s not much to say here other than if you wish to have your blog seen and indexed by Search Engines you should leave everything as it is.

6) The Permalinks tab

This is where the flexibility of Wordpress shows it’s features the most. I usually go for a custom permalink structure using /%postname%/ . It looks nicer for SE ( Search Engines ) to index a title that has some meaning and possibly contains some good keywords rather than having to index a post with a ?p=random_number which shows no information about your post. The other fields I leave blank by default.

7) The Miscellaneous tab

This is the tab where I’ve invested only a small portion of my time, only ticking the Organize my uploads into month- and year-based folders box.

This was a short introductive tutorial ment to clear things a bit and make you understand the power and flexibility of Wordpress. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s tutorial and don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feeds.