10 Steps to Configure Your First Wordpress Blog

Previously, we walked through how to install a Wordpress blog for new writers or bloggers. That’s just the first part of the battle, the second part is getting your blog configured and setup so you can start posting your own content! This article will walk your through the steps of configuring your blog and setting up your initial Wordpress Theme. I wanted to stop the article at 10 steps, so in the next tutorial, I’ll cover how to install plug-ins and some recommended ones to use.

Wordpress Blog Configuration Steps

Step 1- Launch the Wordpress Configuration Page
To do this, open your Web Browser. Then enter, http://www.yournewblog.com/wp-config. This will take you to the initial login page for your blog shown in the below screenshot.

Step 2: Pick Your Blog Title
You’ll need to enter the title of your blog along with the email address that you are going to associate with the blog. Don’t forget to check the box to “Allow my blog to appear in search engines like Google and Technorati” as well.

Step 3: Log-in to Your Blog
The next screen will provide you with your default administrator password for the blog. You will need to copy->paste the password or write it down unless you are really good at memorizing indecipherable passwords. You can change it later in Wordpress. Click the “Log In” menu button and you’ll be logged in to your Wordpress blog.

Step 4 – Familiarize Yourself with the Wordpress Dashboard

Take a bit and familiarize yourself with the Wordpress Dashboard for your blog. You will be using the “Posts”, “Pages”, “Links”, “Settings”, “Appearance”, and “Plugins” menu options at various points of the setups, so go ahead and click on each to see the menu options. You won’t break anything by doing so.

Step 5: Configure Your General Blog Settings

Click the “Settings” menu button on the lower left-hand side of the blog. The first entry you will need to make is to update the “Tagline” for the blog. The default entry will be “Yet another Wordpress Blog” or something to that effect. This should be something short but descriptive about your blog. Change any of the date/time options that you want to modify and select “Save Changes”.

Step 6: Configure Your Reading Blog Settings

Click the “Reading” menu button that is now visible under the “Settings” button on the left hand menu on your Wordpress dashboard. Wordpress defaults to 10 posts showing on a page which initially includes the main page of your blog. I recommend changing this to no more than 5 or less. Eventually, you may come back here to use the option to place a static page on the top-level of your blog instead of showing your recent posts. It will just depend on what direction you are going to take your blog.

Step 7: Update Your Permalink Structure

Click the “Permalinks” menu option that is below the “Privacy” option on the Settings menu. The default structure in Wordpress will result in a URL for your blog posts similar to: www.mywebsite.com/?p=123. This is not very Search Engine friendly, however, so you will want to either pick a custom structure, or pick something like month/post name for your permalink strucuture on the blog. Choose the “Save Changes” menu option and the option will be saved.

Step 8: Remove the Default Wordpress Links

Wordpress will have a bunch of links already loaded on your blog. Although these are good references, most writers will want to remove them. Click the “Links” menu option on the menu on the left of your Wordpress Dashboard. Then select the “Edit Links” menu option. Underneath the name of each link, select the “delete” menu option and the subsequent “Ok” menu button to remove the link. Repeat this process until all of the default links are removed.

Step 9: Remove the Default Wordpress Post and Comment

Now, the last two things to remove from the default post are the default post and comment from your blog. Choose the “Posts” menu option and then click the “Delete” menu option below the “Hello World” blog post.

Step 10: Pick a Theme

Now you don’t have to pick a new theme initially since Wordpress installs a default one for you, but its something you may want to consider mucking with at this point. So, to check out some of the themes available for free through Wordpress, click the “Themes” menu option. Then pick the “Add New Themes” menu choice. You can search on themes via “Featured, Newest, Recently Updated, or by tag and/or search term”. Once you find one that you like, select the “Install” menu option followed by the subsequent “Activate” menu option, and you’ll be all set.

That’s it for this tutorial. The final step we have left for getting your blog ready for publishing is to load-up some of the basic plug-ins that will help you in your efforts for running your blog.

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