Once your WordPress Installation is completed, It is recommended to give two more minutes to make some changes.
1. Change The Title, Tagline, and Timezone
It is recommended to change default title, description to your own.
Head over to Settings >> General and Change as per your needs and save changes.
2. Delete Default Post, Page, and Comment
Yes is good to delete default post, Page, and comment in most cases.
Go To Posts >> All posts and Move the Post to trash.
Go to Pages >> All pages and delete the default page
Go to Comments >> Trash the comment
You need to go each trash individually to delete them completely.
3. Delete Unused Plugins and Themes
I do not use the default themes and plugins. Keep a maximum of the 2-3 theme of your choice or and delete the unused one. Generally, I keep 1 default theme and remove the 2 others.
I don’t use Akismet, It increases the server load and doesn’t stop spams. Use different plugin if you are getting spam comments.
Go to Appearance >> Themes select the theme and at the Bottom Click “Delete”.
4. Set Up WordPress Permalinks
Go to Settings >> Permalinks and select the bullet of your choice. The recommended option is to select ‘Post Page’ and ‘Save Changes’.
You can also create your own permalink structure using the different attributes.
5. Configure the Reading Settings
Most of us need a custom front page for showing our portfolio, services or want to get a custom design. This means we need to Change Front Page and Post page.
SO, Create Two pages name it i) Home and ii) Blog. Publish it.
Go to Settings >> Reading >> Select static page.
Homepage=Home
Post page=Blog
Click ‘Save Changes’.
6. WordPress Media Settings
Most of us not want to crop our images but WordPress Generally crops three more sizes which result in duplicate images and takes more spaces.
I don’t use the cropped thumbnail or any additional image sizes so I unchecked the option and made the size 0 for all.
You can do the same and Click “Save Changes”.
7. Improving WordPress Security
WordPress has tight security still some Vulnerabilities discover time to time due to outdated or nulled plugins and themes.
Install original themes and Plugins from the official source to secure your site.
Additionally, Security plugin like Shield Security or Wordfence is most recommended. Both are great and powerful. I use Shield Security free and pro. It cost only 12$ year for a site and offers more and support is lit.
8. Install A SEO WordPress Plugin
WordPress is SEO rich still SEO plugins make it more easy and flexible.
You should Use SEO Plugin to manage yours on-page SEO settings for your site.
I recommend you to try SEOPress, Yoast or SEO Framework. There all plugins are perfect. Use only one. 🙂
9. Install A Backup WordPress Plugin
Backuping your site is must. It is great if your hosting server gives you a daily backup. However, if you want to backup, clone some sites or want an external backup then using a backup plugin is a good idea.
UpdraftPlus is what I use. It is free and premium both. The free version of UpdraftPlus still works great.
Social Sharing plugin and Cache Plugin can be installed later. 🙂 I use Shared Counts and Social Warfare.
These steps are recommended and should to be followed for a perfect site.
Let me know if you do any different step after installing your WordPress site.
Hi, Thank you for the steps. I Just followed it and now site is looking great on authority pro theme.