WordPress is a fully functional website right after installation. However, there are some initial configuration steps are should be done. These are related to sample content and settings.
WordPress is designed to be a blogging platform. To help figure blogging out, WordPress installs a sample blog post with a sample comment. These are good to help see how they both relate to website as a whole but should be deleted before adding your own content. Additionally, WordPress installed a sample page to see how one is built. Again, a good example but it should be deleted.
WordPress also installs a number of default themes to control the appearance of the website. You should take a look at them and preview how the look of your website is different. If you like one, that is fine but most people install a different theme. You should keep one default theme around for testing purposes but otherwise delete the remaining default themes.
WordPress also installs two plugins. These can be deleted.
The other area that should be reviewed after installing WordPress is the settings. They are general, writing, reading, discussion, media, permalinks and privacy. You should review all the areas but here are a few things to change.
- In general, you should set the Site Title and time zone.
- In discussion, unless you want comments on your website, you should uncheck the option to allow people to submit comments on new posts.
- In permalinks, you should change to post name.
If you would like to learn more about how to configure WordPress, check out a companion article on Digital Marketing Extreme.
