You’ve successfully installed WordPress and you’ve logged into your admin dashboard…now what? How should you configure all of the settings for your site?

Since I have set up well over 200 wordpress sites, I thought it might be good to share my basic checklist of things I do for every single wordpress site I start. This does not include the pre-planning phase nor does it include any considerations for specific types of sites, but it will help you get an idea of my general workflow. (Note: If you are setting up multiple websites, you may want to consider using a service such as managewp.com to save on time or use a database backup plugin so you can build one site then make multiple clones with all of your settings intact).

Step 1: Configure WordPress Settings

There are several settings for WordPress, and they will likely vary depending on your individual preferences.

First I begin with general settings and enter my website name and a general description for it. If you’re concerned about SEO or will be using SEO plugins later, it’s a good idea that your description contain the primary keywords for your site.

Writing, Reading, Media, and Privacy settings I typically don’t change, unless I plan on adding services to ping or want to configure a static homepage without using a theme template file.

For Discussion Settings, I always uncheck the boxes to be notified of new comments, simply because I own a lot of websites and I don’t have time to reply to each comment individually when I check my email. I usually set it up so avatars display and make it so comments go to moderation if they contain 1 link and that all comment authors need to have approved comments first before being trusted.

Permalinks are important, because WordPress does not come with pretty permalinks out of the box. A permalink is the address you see for the pages in your website. For example: http://wprain.com/1/hello-world.I usually go with a /%post_id%/%postname%/ structure. You can also go with a date. Numbers are better than words, as it reduces the likelihood of database strain and pagination/custom post type/category/page name conflicts. You may need to configure this with an htaccess file or with your webhost if you get any warnings when you activate a new permalink structure.

Step 2: Skipping Past Tools and Users

I don’t normally use these for many things unless I am transferring a site from another host or domain and need to import posts. If I plan on having multiple wordpress users I will create them user accounts. If you plan on displaying an author resource box or author page on your site however, you may want to update your profile now with a brief bio.

Step 3: Onto the Plugins!

There are many great plugins for WordPress out there, and you will definitely need some! These are the plugins I install/activate with pretty much every single WordPress site I set up:

Google XML SiteMaps: Several plugins can do this for you, basically it helps search engines find and prioritize content on your website.

Contact Form: Definitely a requirement for any site – see my post on forms for wordpress. Some themes also include a contact form page, so if that’s the case you can likely skip this one unless you need advanced form capabilities.

Askimet & Other Spam Blocking Plugins: Activating Askimet is your first line of defense against spam. I also recommend using a plugin with a captcha or other method of keeping spam robots away.

Google Analytics: I’ve found it is best to keep analytics in its own separate plugin file instead of in a theme, because if your theme breaks or you change themes or the theme updates you might lose your tracking code and it could be days, weeks, or even months before you realize you have no analytics data. I like the super simple ones best – just ad your ID and go.

There are hundreds of others, but these ones are the bare bone minimums for any wordpress site.

Step 4: Set up A WordPress Theme

It’s really easy to upload a theme to your site and activate it, or you can search the thousands available from WordPress.org. If you plan on customizing a theme, you will want to create your own child theme or a completely different version of it so it won’t get overwritten from updates. I will sometimes skip this step and come back to it later if I want to first organize my content and then think about what I want the site to look like.

Step 5: Set Up Pages

Every WordPress site should have these pages: About, Contact, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and FTC Disclosure statements if it’s a site where you will be making money from affiliates or advertisers. You can either delete the default sample page or update it with new content.

Step 6: Start Writing Posts

If I have a clear plan of action for content, I will set up categories first. Otherwise, I just start writing. You can delete the Hello World blog post or start adding new content to it. A lot of people get hung up on the first blog post to write – I know I once did when I first started blogging. Don’t worry about it – Just jump in. Write whatever is on your mind or write “Pillar Articles” – content that you will likely reference back to over and over again while you keep adding new content.

That’s It! You’re all set up and ready to go!

It sounds like a lot of work, but it really gets much smoother and easier the more often you use WordPress. It took me about 6 hours to do all of these things when I first started – now I can do most of this within 20-30 minutes (unless I’m doing heavy theme customization or using specific plugins that require advanced configuration) – and that’s if my kids distract me while I am working.

Once your site is setup, all you have to do is keep adding content – once you have enough content your next step is onto marketing your site to get more traffic and visitors!

Have any questions about configuring the settings for WordPress? Any tips you might like to share or add? Comments are always welcome below!