Here are Basic Tips to know before Starting WordPress Blog.WordPress is a
well-known platform for Blogging and it is being used by millions of
webmasters and bloggers. It is a self-hosted blogging platform. MBT is
hosted on Blogger.com but, there are hundreds of other popular blogs
which are hosted on WordPress. So therefore, WordPress can’t be ignored
for Blogging. It is also called WP in short words by webmasters. It is a
CMS (content management System) which provides you the opportunity to
set up your blog easily. And it is totally developed in PHP, a popular
web programming language. In this post I will give you some basic tips
before establishing a blog with WP. My tips will be for securing WP,
optimizing WP and designing WP. But before going straight to my tips I
would like to give you some information about WordPress features and
benefits.
What are the Advantages of WP?
If you choose WordPress for your Blog you will benefit from the many
features WP provides. There are tons of free and premium plug-ins,
Themes you can use to design and optimize your blog. WP blogs have
professional themes and frameworks. The installation of WordPress is
also easy and can be done in minutes. There are many companies and
individuals who make WP themes and plug-ins for WordPress users. Also,
WordPress is SEO friendly by default.
Disadvantages of WP
There aren't many disadvantages, but in my opinion; WordPress is a web
development environment with complex coding of PHP. And that’s a big
problem for newbies, because new bloggers can’t customize WP themes or
templates easily. While blogger is a platform where even an absolute
beginner can easily manage/design their blog. But without having
sufficient knowledge of PHP you can’t do anything complex. The security
for WP blogs is also an issue for newbies, because WP blogs are hacked
most often if they are not well secured. These are some issues which can
be handled by learning the basics of WordPress and here now I am going
to share my tips with you.
Tip # 1. Change User Name & Password
The very first thing to do for WordPress security is to change the
default Admin details. You can change your default user name &
password by going to users page on your WP dashboard. You must change
the default user name and password in order to secure your blog from
being hacked. While installing WP script from your cPanel you’re given a
default user name and password. So your first step is to change it with
a strong one. You can select a strong password by using a combination
of different characters like this one: [myname123is!^*(#] and it is
necessary for security reasons. Also, change the default user name to a
better one.
Tip # 2. Change the Registration Status
If you go to your WP dashboard and click the general option under the
setting tab; you will find a check box saying “Any one can register”
which is already checked by default. At the beginning of your blog you
need to uncheck it. Because someone can register to your blog and can
harm you. Later on, you can once again check it and assign a role to the
new members. Never assign the Administrator role to new members. Always
assign a subscriber or contributor role to new members. This way, you
will only be the Administrator of your blog.
Tip # 3. Allow Search Engines to Index Your Site
In your WP Dashboard there is a link called “Privacy” under the setting
tab, click that and check if the radio button is selected or not which
says “Allow Search engines to index this site” if not then instantly
select that and save the setting. This way, Search engines will follow
your blog and will index it.
Tip # 4. General & Reading setting
This is very easy step, when you get your blog’s dashboard. Visit
General Option under the setting tab and make the necessary setting. In
site title insert your Blog title which shouldn’t be more than 3 or 4
words. In Tagline, just insert a little bit description about your site.
WordPress Address URL and Site Address URL are same, leave them as
default. Put your email in Email box and make the date and time setting
according to your country/region.
Next go to the reading setting. If you want to show your latest posts on
home page then do nothing. But if you want to show static page on your
blog’s main page then select the radio button “A static page”. Also you
can select the number of posts you want to show on your blog’s home
page; there will be 10 posts by default and you can select minimum or
maximum posts to show on main page.
Tip # 5. Important Plug-ins that you must install
In order to set up your blog successfully on WordPress you must consider
installing some free plug-ins that are exist in WordPress library
itself. I will give you a list of plug-ins which are about securing your
blog, optimizing your blog and socializing your blog. In order to
install a plugin; just click on the plugin link located at left side of
your WP dashboard and search the plugin you want to install.
Plugins that secure your blog
Akismet
Akismet is a plug-in that protects your blog from spam comments and
track back spam. It is 99% effective. It detects the bad comments and
saves your time.
AntiVirus
AntiVirus plugin is a smart security solution for your blog which saves
your blog from different malicious attacks and spam injections.
AskApache Password Protect
AskApache is an advance security plugin which blocks the attacks on your password & Installation.
Login LockDown
This plugin blocks an IP address from a given range and blocks the hacking attempts on your WP admin.
Replace WP-Version
Hackers mostly attack by knowing your WP version, if you hide WP version
then your blog will be more secure. Replace WP-version hide your
WP-Version from all.
Secure WordPress
It checks all the basic security measurements of your blog.
Semisecure Login Re imagined
Sometimes your WP blog get hacked when hacker gets your password, so
this plugin encrypts your password when you login to your WP admin.
WordPress File Monitor
This is also a very good plugin which informs you by email that what
happened to your blog. If someone deletes something or adds something to
your, it will instantly inform you. Even if your blog got hacked it
will inform you about the activity.
Optimization Plugins
All SEO in one Pack
This is the most used plugin on WordPress. By installing this plugin you
can write Meta title tags, meta description tags and meta keywords
separately for Search engines. It is very useful plugin for SEO.
Google XML Sitemap
This is another important plugin. This plugin generates your sitemap for
Google. You will just have to add this sitemap once to your Google
webmaster account. It will refresh your sitemap whenever new content
will be added to your blog. And will inform Google crawler.
SEO plugin by Yoast
This is another great plugin for WordPress SEO, it is also all in one
and can perform better than All in One SEO pack it used perfectly.
Social Plugins
Better Related Content
This plugin is very simple and lovable. It shows the most relevant content below every post when they are viewed by visitors.
WordPress Social Ring
This is an awesome plugin which shows the social sharing buttons below
every post of your blog. In some templates, it can also be added to home
page.
WP Email-to-Facebook plugin
This plugin sends your recently added post to your Facebook fan page or profile wall.
YD Recent Posts with thumbnails
I like this plugin and recommended to use. This plugin shows your most
popular blog posts image thumbnails; same like Blogger blogs popular
posts. It will add attractiveness to your WP blog.
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