So you need to set up your WordPress Site? First I want to say YAY! Go team you for actually starting your blog!
>> If you haven’t started a blog yet, go here to get started AND avoid the techy stuff! <<
After you’ve installed WordPress on your hosting account (or I have) and customised a theme (or I have) it’s time to add a few fun details to your site! Before you get started with your content you need to have a few things set up. Don’t feel rushed to launch your blog. I implore you to have at LEAST 15 posts on there BEFORE you launch.
Otherwise your traffic will SUCK for a few months.
11 Things To Do After You’ve Set Up Your WordPress Website
1. Add a Maintenance Mode Plugin
If you haven’t done so already, I advise that you install a maintenance mode plugin before you work on your WordPress website, creating content or adding pages.
IF you still want to start promoting your blog on social media (you should), you should sign up to Mailerlite. That way, you can collect email addresses of people who want to know when you launch! It’s free for the first 1000 email subscribers.
Then, we add some pages.
2. Add an About page
Believe it or not, your about page is probably going to be the most visited page on your site.
It’s important that you know who your ideal customer is and to make a real connection. Start with why you do what you do and don’t forget who is reading. Remember that your reader will always ask ‘what’s in it for them?’
Don’t be afraid to be you. People need to know more about who you are as a person, and by sharing stories about who you are, you will be to create genuine connections with your readers. Tell a story.
Excellent resources for writing an about page:
- Ashlyn Carter is my go to for copywriting advice
- Courtney from Rule Breakers Club is my GO TO for sales and selling advice, so that includes selling yourself! But not in a sexy way.
Tell YOUR Story
Your about page doesn’t have to read like a C.V/resume. Make it engaging. Enable people to understand how you know what you know.
3. Show your beautiful face
People don’t like seeing logos or blank icons as profile pictures, and they certainly don’t like buying from them. That’s why almost every post you read about optimising your social media profiles suggests you use your face instead of a logo.
People are more likely to trust you and what you have to say if you are willing to show your face.
Tell people how you can help them.
Share customer testimonials if you have them. Doing this builds even more trust.
Add testimonials and stories about how you work/behind the scenes. People love a good nosey behind the curtain. It’s just human nature to be curious.
4. Add A Contact page
After you create your contact page, return to your about page and add a link to said contact page OR use an AMAZING plugin called TastyLinks. Tasty Links allows you to choose a keyword and then link up to whatever the heck you like.
For example, you could use the keyword “vegan recipes” and link it to the ‘vegan recipes’ category of your blog. Then everywhere on your blog with the keyword “vegan recipes” will be linked to that category.
Your about page should not only provide information and build trust, but it must also encourage potential clients to get in touch.
How do you want your reader to feel after she’s read your about page?
Do you want her to book a service or buy a product?
These are some important things to think about! Knowing the answers to these questions will help you to craft the perfect about page.
5. Create a custom 404-error page
As you continue blogging, you will continue to tweak and test what works and what doesn’t….
Some posts that you’ve linked to previously may not be live on your site anymore. So, when people land on your blog, they could be met with a rather ugly and very standard 404 error page.
Creating a custom 404 is no problem at all.
Themes like this one, have a custom 404 page already
What you can do is navigate to custom 404 page settings.
Then you can write,
“Oh no, you’ve ended up here by mistake. Why don’t you try to search for what you were looking for:”
And if you have had a blog for a while, add some images and links to your most popular posts.
6. Make sure that comments are enabled on your blog
You’re giving advice, sharing tutorials and sharing yourself on your blog. Opening up your comment system means you are opening a conversation with your reader.
7. Sign up for Google Analytics and install it on your site
Google will provide invaluable you with information about your blog! So go and sign up then install this plugin, because it will help you with Facebook Pixels, Pinterest Pixels AND Google Analytics. Don’t worry about those pixels yet… just start with Google Analytics!
You can view live information about who is surfing your blog, you can check analytics info for months at a time, and you can see the top 10 most popular posts on your blog of all time.
Creating content similar to the already popular content should allow you to see success quickly!
8. Create an RSS Feed from Feedburner
To Claim your blog on Feedly:
I don’t recommend using Bloglovin’ anymore as they scrape all of your content and you need to go via their URL.
Copy and paste the following text into the URL bar in a new tab in your browser. Edit the YOURAWESOMECRAFTBLOG.com to your own website name. 👇
http://www.feedly.com/home#subscription/feed/+http://www.YOURAWESOMECRAFTBLOG.com/feed/
If you want to follow my blog, click on this link.
Create your feed button for the sidebar here.
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The sad truth about the blogging world is that there are swines who will want to copy your content. You can choose whether or not you want to be protected under copyright or a creative commons license.
“A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work. A CC license is used when an author wants to give people the right to share, use, and build upon a work that he has created.”
10. Change the Blogs Tag Line
Which you can do via Appearance -> Customise -> Site Identity
While you’re there;
11. Add a Favicon or ‘Site Icon’
Upload a Favicon that will show up in a tab when opened and a bookmark bar when saved. The previous image shows a yellow arrow pointing to my favicon.
Final Thoughts
It’s worth stressing that your about page should be well thought out and you may have a few drafts created before it’s ready for public consumption. Grab a cup of tea and a notebook and brainstorm a few ideas before you begin typing, as it’s an important page.
The rest is relatively simple!
I really enjoyed this post. I’m still figuring things out with WordPress. Your tips are so helpful.
Thank you so much Tasheena!
This is so helpful. I’ll pass this onto my friends who have been wanting to start a blog. I know this will help walk them through the process.
Such a GREAT guide for people who need help with WordPress. I know when I first started blogging, I WAS SOOOO overwhelmed!!! Thankfully it’s common knowledge to me now, however, I have a bunch of friends who come to me asking for help, so I should just send them this link! 🙂
Same here, wordpress is family new to me, navigating the plugins can be difficult at times. This definitely helps.
I always get lots of questions from people starting out with blogging. This post would be so helpful for newcomers to the blogging world.
Wow, this is a great guide! Thank for sharing all these tips, it is a big help!
WordPress is so popular for blogs nowadays. I have done all the things you mentioned. This is such a great resource.
This is such a useful guide. I think a security plugin would be the first thing someone should install, over the maintenance plugin. I like all your other tips
This is a really good guide for anyone setting up a blog on wordpress. I will admit I still need to do some of these and have been blogging for years.
Such great tips for beginners. I have been using WordPress for years and I totally love it.
I am bookmarking this page! Very useful info for newcomers!
Excellent Rika, Thank you!
This is wonderful for those first started out with a website. I could have used this when I first started. Lots of great information here.
Thank you Kathy 🙂 I’m hoping to be a navigational tool for new bloggers!
All great tips for setting up a wordpress site. People don’t know that there’s actually a ton to it!
That’s a great point and very true!
These are great tips for setting up a WordPress site. WordPress makes such a userfriendly platform that we can start and maintain our blogs fairly easily. Thank you for sharing this with us!
Thanks so much 🙂 The only problem is when a plugin sticks a glitch in the matrix!
These are all great tips. I do most of these, except for the maintenance plugin. Thanks for sharing this!
Yeah, it’s just for blogs that are under construction but still get traffic 🙂 Thank you for your comment!
This is really interesting to know very informative. It really helps a lot especially for the people wants to start a blog.
Thank you Cathy! That’s what I’m aiming for. I remember what it was like to be a beginner all those long years ago!
This is a great post for a wordpress beginner!! I will have to pass this on to some blogging newbies I k ow who have LOTS of questions!!
This great useful post for those who want to start the wordpress blog. After starting the blog needs good content.