In last last installment of this series, I recommended you start a web site in order to learn more about tech. If you haven’t done that yet, please review that article and do the homework listed at the end.
Today we’re going to go over some of the settings in WordPress you’ll need to be familiar with before you start adding content. First off, the menu on left side. Today we want to make sure the “Settings” section is set up for best results. By default, the menu sections are collapsed, click on the main part to expand the selections.
First the General Section:
- Site Title - This is typically the name of your web site. On this one, it’s “The Crossing of Marketing and IT.”
- Tag Line – This is a short description of the site. It’s a good idea to write something descriptive. On this site, it’s “The Crossing of Marketing & IT: Where Marketing and Technology meet – Web + Search + Social Marketing, Teamwork, Leadership & More.”
- WordPress Address (URL) – This is the domain you registered. You can enter it as “http://site.com” or “http://www.site.com” as you see fit. Either way is correct, but you need to refer to your site by that address after it’s set.
- Site Address (URL) – Typically, set the same as the WordPress Address.
- E-mail Address – This is the email address which will receive messages when someone posts a comment. Make sure this is a valid address which you will check often.
- Membership – If you intend your site to be membership driven, then check this box. If you are writing articles for the public, you’ll want to leave this box unchecked.
- New User Default Role – If you left the “Membership” box unchecked, you can ignore this setting. If you checked the box, then select the default role you want new users to have. You’ll likely want to leave this on “Subscriber.”
- Timezone – Select your time zone. This is important if you plan to write articles and schedule them for publication.
- Date Format – Pick how you want dates to appear
- Time Format – Pick how you want times to appear
- Week Starts On – Pick the day on which you’re week begins.
Writing Section- For now, let’s leave this at the default settings.
Reading Section – Here you will pick what you want to display on the “home page” of your site. This will depend on the purpose of your site. If you are writing articles (like I do here on The Crossing), you’ll likely want to pick “Your latest posts.” If you’re site is themed somewhat more statically (like I have www.elmerboutin.com set up) then you’ll want to pick “A static page” and then select a page from the list.
Plugins – Up to this point, we haven’t gotten into plugins. I’m going to save that topic for a little later on. However, I do recommend you install Login LockDown. This nice application limits how many times someone from a particular IP Address can unsuccessfully attempt to log into your new web site. This, combined with a strong password, can help prevent someone from hacking into your blog.
- In the menu, expand the “Plugins” section
- Click on “Add New”
- In the search box, type “Login LockDown”
- Find the plugin in the list (should be first) and click on “Install Now”
- You can leave the default settings for now
Note On Updates – From time to time when you log into WordPress you’ll see a notice at the top of the page indicating there are updates for plugins or for the WordPress software itself. It’s very important you heed these warnings and update software quickly. Many times these updates are to fix holes in security. You don’t want to leave unpatched holes in your system which might allow someone to hack into your site.
Homework:
- Go through the menu and familiarize yourself with where everything is
- Go through the settings outlined above and set those up
- Install Login LockDown
- Start thinking about an “About Me” page. That’s what we’ll work on next time
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I just moved from Blogger to Wordpress a week ago. I’m still learning about the Wordpress platform. So reading this post has really helped. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Dan. I’m glad it was helpful. You may want to check out this week’s Saturday Summary for a couple other helpful WordPress articles I caught this week.