1. Not all hosting companies are created equal.
It’s important to understand that if you bought your domain name through a company like Namecheap or Inexpensive Domains, it does not mean you have to use them as your host provider. And, in fact, I recommend you don’t. There are a ton of companies that sell cheap domain names, but choosing a hosting provider is a much bigger deal. You need to take into consideration several factors.
–> Customer Service: Is it free? Is it free 24 hours, seven days a week?
–> Domain Space: Some will say you have “unlimited” space, but that’s not true. There’s always a limit. Ask your potential provider what it is.
–> Domains: Again, some companies say you can have an unlimited number of domains on your account. Some have a limit.
–> 1-Click Install for WordPress: Most major host providers now offer an easy, one-click install of WordPress and other website builder tools. Ask your host provider if they offer this service.
–> Backups: Some companies charge for backups. Others have a complimentary backup. And many of them offer professional backup services.
–> eCommerce, SEO, Training: Does your host provider offer help in these areas in the way of free or paid services?
–> Coupons or Vouchers for Adwords/Facebook Advertising: Ask your host provider if they are running any specials for free advertising of your new website or blog. There are several companies that provide all of these services and more. GoDaddy, HostMonster, Bluehost, and Hostgator are all popular choices.
2. Decide if you need multi-site before installing WordPress.
Multi-site is necessary for a blogger or business that needs more robust functionality than a single install of WordPress. Multi-site allows you to manage an unlimited number of blogs/sub sites all using one mega dashboard and network. The themes and plugins are managed globally and can be shared with all your sites. A perfect example of a multi-site is WordPress.com. This site allows an unlimited number of users to set up their own blogs on a subdomain (http://subdomain.WordPress.com). If you have a business (or a blog) with several different “arms”, multi-site might work for you. For more information about multi-site and who it’s for, you can read a comprehensive guide on the WPMUdev blog.
3. Decide where to install WordPress (root directory or subdomain).
If you decide you need multi-site, you’ll have to install WordPress in the root directory (otherwise known as the public_html folder) on your server. If you don’t use multi-site, you can decide if you’d rather install WordPress in its own folder. The advantage to this is that your public directory is not cluttered with WordPress files; however, unless you customize your site properly, your WordPress will automatically show up at this URL: http://yourdomain.com/foldername.
Back when WordPress was considered only a “blogging” platform, many people had their static HTML site on the root directory and the WordPress install in a blog folder. This is no longer common practice, because WordPress is a one-stop-shop for both your site and your blogging platform. It stands to note that there is a way to customize WordPress so that it shows up on your root domain while being inside a subdirectory, but you (or your webmaster) must customize it this way. If you are just starting out, I’d recommend installing it in the root directory for simplicity’s sake.
4. Choose a framework, not a customized out-of-the-box theme.
Once WordPress is installed, you must begin the labor-intensive search for a theme. You will be bedazzled by the sheer volume of choices, with price ranging from free to thousands. It’s very difficult to wade through them all, and a beginner might think it’s just a matter of aesthetic or functional preference. The problem is that any themes are coded poorly. Poor coding creates conflicts with various plugins, not to mention formatting headaches when things don’t work just right.
There is another factor to consider. A lot of these “themes” act like skins. If you modify the code to customize it to your liking, a theme update will wipe these customizations away. What you need is a framework. A framework is the foundation of your design. It allows you to customize your site in great detail, giving you a look that is unique to your business or brand. Your customizations are made as a child theme or skin, so updates don’t eliminate the work you’ve done. Frameworks are coded well, allowing you to use various types of plugins and features.
Great frameworks known for their speed, SEO, and tech support: Genesis, Prophoto, and Thesis
5. Start with few plugins.
Just when you think you’ve done all there is to do (pick a name, pick a host, pick a theme), there are plugins to choose from! So many plugins….and so many of them are HORRIBLE. Plugins can add great functionality to your site, but they can also wreak havoc. Proceed with caution. You’ll want to carefully check them out first. Here are a few ways to decide if a plugin you are looking at is right for you: [slickquiz id=2]
6. Decide on a permalink structure before you begin.
Permalink structure is the way your URL looks in a browser when a reader clicks from page to page. There’s a lot of debate about the best permalink structure, but if you are starting from scratch, I recommend that you use the following: http://yourdomain.com/year/month/postname To change your permalink structure, you must go into Settings > Permalinks.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are migrating from a free platform, or if you are converting your static HTML site, your permalink structure is crucial to SEO and to the preservation of backlinks. For example, if you had an html site with pages that looked like this: http://yoursite.com/page/pagename.html, you may want to create the same custom structure on your WordPress site so the pages will retain their ranking.
7. Use a CDN and caching plugin to deliver your site quickly to your readers.
CDN stands for Content Delivery Network. It allows a cached version of your website to display in the event your server goes down (whether because of traffic, a bug, maintenance, etc.). A popular CDN is CloudFlare, and some hosting companies will help you get it set up. If you are a beginner, have someone knowledgable in CDNs help you. (I did have an issue with CloudFlare that even the techs at Hostmonster didn’t understand, and after hours of research, discovered the answer.)
The two most popular plugins for caching are WP Super Cache and W3 Total Cache. Super Cache is much easier to install and recommended if you are a beginner. W3 Super Cache is the better of the two, but may break the mobile version of your site if you don’t customize the plugin properly. W3 also has paid customizations options for people who don’t understand how to use it. Just remember, when you use a caching plugin, design changes made to your site may not display immediately unless you first empty your cache.
8. Organize from the start. Create hierarchical categories, tags, and parent pages.
It’s tempting to start writing right away, but organizing from the start will save you hours of cleanup work down the line. Using a pad and paper, write down the big overarching topics you’ll be writing about. Then branch off and come up with some more specific keywords and ideas. This brainstorming exercise will help you identify what sort of categories and tags you’ll need on your site. For a comprehensive overview of categories and tags, you can read this WordPress tutorial.
9. Save your images and graphics as progressive JPGS.
Large images can cause your pages to load more slowly, so you’ll want to upload them in the smallest size you can, while still preserving a great visual experience.
Two general principles to take note of:
–> PNGs are typically larger in file size than JPGs. Unless you need an image to have a transparent background, a JPG is the better option.
–> If you have Photoshop, save your JPG at medium or high resolution, but check the box that says Progressive. This means that the image delivered isn’t the full quality size, but it will continue to load the picture until it’s at full resolution. This way, it appears as if the image/page is loading immediately, without sacrificing the quality of the picture.
You can also use a plugin called smush.it to help reduce the file size of your images. I’ve known bloggers who’ve had trouble with it though, so if you can do the image compression without a plugin, do so.
10. Optimize your database to keep it from getting bogged down with queries.
WordPress has this great little feature that saves all the revisions of your posts. This means every time you hit update, it saves a new version! While helpful in some cases, most of the time it simply bogs down your database with unnecessary files. WP Optimize is a plugin that will help get rid of those excess revisions, spam comments, and other things that can cause slow queries. If you’re comfortable with code, you can adjust the settings in your WP_config file to limit post revision copies stored.
11. Do not write your copy in a formatted Google or Microsoft Doc.
I prefer writing my posts in a simple text edit program, so I don’t have to deal with the formatting issues that occur when you copy and paste text from a document into WordPress. This is one of the big hurdles for new WordPress users (who’ve only had experience with document programs). HTML doesn’t like extra spaces, returns, tabs, and formatted lists. Write your blog post as plainly as possible, and then you can add spacing once it’s in WordPress. If however, you have someone who sends you copy in a document, before you paste it into WordPress, click on the TEXT tool. It looks like a T on a clipboard. This will turn the plain text mode* on. It’ll strip the content of any formatting (including links, just so you know) and make your job a lot easier. Be sure to hit the button again to turn off plain text mode. If you don’t, when you are copying and pasting in WordPress, it’ll continue to strip the formatting. *This is a new feature in the latest version of WordPress {3.9}.
12. Turn off user registrations, and other general settings.
When you first install WordPress, you’ll want to go into the general settings area and customize that whole screen.
–> Site Title: This shows up in the tab on the browser and in Google search results.
–> Tagline: This will appear on the tab and in search results as well.
–> WordPress/Site Address URL: You won’t want to touch that unless you know what you’re doing.
–> Email Address: This is the address where all your comment moderation will go to.
–> Membership: TURN OFF registrations. If you don’t, you’ll have hundreds of spam users in your account in no time.
–> Timezone/Date/Format: These are personal preferences, but you’ll want to get the time right so your posts publish when you want them to.
13. Create a backup plan and schedule.
After all your hard work, time and energy, you don’t want to be caught with a crashed blog or site and no backups. There are several ways to back up your site and here is a brief overview.
–> For people who don’t want to think about it: Contact your host provider and pay for a premium service like SiteBackupPro where all the backups are done for you.
–> For people who want a simple DIY: Download one of the many premium backup plugins available and set it to schedule a backup to send to your Dropbox, Google Drive, or other external hard drive.
–> For people who need something free and fast: There are plugins like WP-DB-Backup, which are free. Their scheduling capabilities are limited, but it with perform a backup with one click of a button, and you can choose whether to have it delivered to your computer, your email, or saved on your server.
It’s also important to understand that there are several different types of backups. All the advice above is for a full database backup, which includes your content, theme, plugins, customizations, tables, etc. However, you may want to keep a version of your content on your hard drive as well. The case for this in the unfortunate event that you have a malware attack and your database is corrupt. A content backup will only save your posts, pages, categories, tags, and comments, but it’s simple to do by clicking on TOOLS>Export and downloading the XML file. Finally, some frameworks (like Dynamik and Prophoto) will allow you to save a zip file of the theme customizations. You can do this once and then not worry about it much (since design changes are far less frequent than database updates).
14. Create a security plan.
Security is a big deal on WordPress. Whereas the free WordPress.com platform takes care of security for you, self-hosted means it is your responsibility. Backing up your blog/website is a great plan for the worst case scenario, but a security plan will keep you from ever needing it. Here are some things you should include in your plan…
–> Make sure your password is strong (including numbers and characters- both upper and lower case).
–> Use a Limit Login Attempts plugin so WordPress will lock out spam-bots trying to access your site through brute force (this means trying thousands of passwords in quick succession).
–> Believe it or not— a good anti-virus software on any computer that regularly accesses your WordPress dashboard and server goes a long way in protecting your site as well.
–> Limit the number of plugins you use.
–> Keep everything up to date.
–> Consider a premium monitoring service like Sucuri that will alert you of any suspicious activity and help you clean out your site should it get hacked.
15. Customize your dashboard and user profiles.
Take a few minutes after setting up WordPress to customize the user profiles of any and all authors on the site. If you activate Jetpack, you can get your Gravatar to show up next to your name as well. Fill out all the relevant social media information, a bio, and you can also customize how your dashboard appears and whether or not the toolbar shows when you are logged into your site. This is also the spot where you can change your password (and you should do this regularly). Finally, you can specify a meta description (if you are using an SEO plugin) for the author page on a multi-author site.
And now you’re all set. WordPress, set up like a boss!
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