So as my struggles with writing continues, my knowledge of Linux and WordPress Continues. I’ve looked through my old posts on various platforms and have decided to start fresh, and that involves a fresh installation of WordPress.

But once the installation is complete, what should you do next?

The database creation and installation are relatively easy to do. As I’m running WordPress on Ubuntu 18.04 via Linode, I’m including their installation & configuration document as a point of reference. Not only a good source for a basic install, but also provides some specific tuning tips.

Create a SEO Friendly Permalink Structure

This is the first and most important task in every new WordPress install. Permalinks are the permanent URLs (address in simple words) to your individual blog posts, pages and categories. The URL to each blog post should be permanent, and never change hence permalink.

To change WordPress permalink structure, go to Settings -> Permalinks and select your desired permalink structure.

Your URL structure should be as simple as possible. I recommend that you use Category/Post Name as your permalink. It is more readable and search engine friendly.

Google recommends that you use hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_) in your URLs. You should read this article about simple URL structure by Google to learn more.

Delete Default Post/Page And Rename Category

Don’t forget to delete (or Edit) default sample post and page. Go to Post > Categories and rename default category.

I am always quite amazed at the number of blogs that still have their default “HELLO WORLD” as a first post!. Please don’t let that happen on your next new WordPress install!

General Settings – Title, Tagline And Time Zone

Go to the Settings > General settings page to add your site title and tagline.  Also, when there, select time zone, date & time format and site language.
If you want to allow people to register on your site select Anyone can register checkbox and set default user role for new members.

Create Contact Page

Make it easy for people to contact you. Create a Contact us page and add a contact form. Contact form 7 is the most popular plugin to create contact forms.

Optimize Website For Speed

If your website takes too much time to load, You will lose your visitors. 83% of visitors expect sites to load in less than 3 seconds. So make sure to choose a reliable and fast hosting provider. This excellent info-graphic below (from KISSmetrics) explains how loading time affects your bottom line! [Click image to view]

According to a report by Kissmetrics, 47% of consumers anticipate a website page to load within two seconds. If it does not, they are unlikely to stay around.  There are many free and premium plugins available to optimize your website for speed. Install caching (W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache) are great places to start.

Disable WordPress Login Hints

By default, WordPress shows error messages whenever an incorrect username or password is used on the login page. These error messages can be used as a hint to guess a username, email address, or password.

You can disable login hints in WordPress login error messages with a simple function. Just add the following code in your functions.php file. Source GitHub

 function no_wordpress_errors(){
return 'Nothing to see here, move along!';
}
add_filter( 'login_errors', 'no_wordpress_errors' );

Remove WP Generator Meta Tag

Quite often bloggers do not update to the latest version of WordPress – and this can become a security risk that hackers will exploit. (because outdated versions of WordPress sometimes have known security flaws)

For this reason it is advised that you don’t make your WordPress version visible. (public)

To remove details of the WordPress version you need to place the following code in your theme’s functions.php file.

 remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_generator');