If there’s one content management software (CMS) in the world which has revolutionized internet the most, it’s WordPress. With this simple and easy to setup CMS you can quickly create the site of any kind. No wonder why it’s the most popular choice for websites around the globe. If you too have just installed WordPress to setup your site, you’re in a good direction. Now it’s time to perform some crucial things that should be done right after a fresh WordPress install, and here we’re going to look on them. Let’s get started!
#1. Create a strong password
It’s possible that you might have used a simple password while installing WordPress for a quick installation. However, that simple password is not going to be a good thing for the security of your new site. So, the first step that you should take is changing your password to something strong that can’t be guessed or brute-forced by anyone. If you’ve already created a strong password, you can skip to the next step.
#2. Delete default content
Your WordPress installation comes with some default content already posted onto it. There will be a “Hello World!” post, a default Sample page, and default comment. It’s entirely upon you whether you delete them or keep them, but I prefer keeping my sites clean so I delete all this stuff right after the installation of WordPress is done. You too can do the same if you wish!
#3. Setup your theme and important plugins
Install and setup the theme that you want to use on your WordPress site. Hardly anyone uses the default themes applied by WordPress during installation, and there’s also no point in using those boring themes. You would certainly want to use something more polished and professional-looking, and you should certainly install it after installing WordPress. To find the desired theme for yourself, looking into it and reading detailed reviews about it will be helpful. Once installed, set it up properly.
You should also install some important plugins required to run your site. For instance, Yoast SEO plugin is a decent and important plugin to manage the SEO of your site. Similarly, you may also want to install a caching plugin to boost your site speed like WP Rocket, Akismet plugin for spam protection, and a backup plugin for automatically backing up your site after regular intervals. Such important plugins should also be installed right after the installation of WordPress.
#4. Install security plugins
Security of any site is most important for its existence. WordPress based sites are no different, and fortunately, taking care of security is not too difficult on them due to a large number of security-related plugins available for it. You can navigate to the Plugins section of your WordPress dashboard and search for security-related plugins to install some of them. There are plugins that perform one security-related function for your site, and there also are some 360-degree plugins that take care of everything once you set them up properly. I suggest you go for the 360-degree plugins because they check and do everything required for the security of your site by themselves. You don’t need to check everything manually.
#5. Install SSL certificate
Since we’re about security, let’s discuss one more important thing that should be done by you for the security of your visitors. Being on HTTPS is a basic requirement in today’s era, and you too should have your site on HTTPS even before it goes live for the visitors. If you want the highest authentication, then EV SSL should be your choice as it shows company name before the domain name and many banks, ecommerce sites, financial institutions, payment channels use this certificate. Therefore, it makes sense to install an SSL certificate on your web server right after installing WordPress. Here, we would like to suggest one of the consistent SSL provider SSL2BUY. You can easily buy cheap SSL from SSL2BUY, and once purchased you can install it simply on your web server with help of instructions available on the web.
If you wish, you can also take help of a plugin to install your SSL certificate for you. There are many plugins available in the WordPress plugin repository to help you with this job.
#6. Setup your pages
While requirements of pages vary from site to site, two pages have become standard across all modern websites. Which pages they’re… you may be wondering! They’re About us and Contact Us. You too should setup these pages after you’re done setting up other stuff mentioned above. While About page allows you to tell people about your company, your background and your vision etc., Contact page allows people to contact you. It can be created with a contact form plugin, page builder plugin, or custom code, … The first page requires you to write up some stuff, while the later one requires only a contact form in order to be setup.
#7. Complete your user profile
Having an incomplete user profile is never a good choice. And if your site is going to be a blog, then it’s an even worse choice. So, complete your profile before your site goes live. If you’re going to launch a blog, your profile should include a bio related to the subject of your blog, a display picture and your social media profile links. Even if you’re not launching a blog, it’s still a good thing to have at least a display picture and your social media links in your WordPress profile.
Bonus: Customize your login page
Finally, if you wish… you can also customize your WordPress login page by changing the logo. The default WordPress logo that shows there can be changed by altering the wp-login file. It’s easy to do it – just install the Custom Login plugin and you’ll be able to do that! Having something customized for you is much better than having something generic, and you’ll feel it after branding your login page with your logo.
Conclusion
So, these are the 7 things that you should do after every fresh installation of WordPress. It’s a great CMS for managing sites of almost any type, and with the steps outlined above, you’ll be able to get the most out of it from day #1. So, implement these steps today and kickstart the journey of your new website in the right direction! During your journey, if you have any technical issues, you should look for help in a prestigious website development company like eLightUp or software companies in Hyderabad – a major center for the technology industry.
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