It was time to create a blog and host it on my new hosting account at HostGator . I will admit that the first time I downloaded and installed the Wordpress files for a blog I was a bit intimidated to say the least.

On the other hand I was also very excited to be hosting my blog.

I purchased the domain I wanted from GoDaddy , where I buy all my domains.

It only took me about 10 minutes from the time I downloaded the files and I was finished the install, without a glitch I might add.

Now I just use Fantastico in my cPanel account to install Wordpress and it’s all done in about 3 minutes.

Using Fantastico For My Wordpress Install

Once I have purchased my domain and set the DNS to my hosting account I log into the cPanel.

http://www.mywebsite.com/cpanel

Next I scroll to the bottom of the cPanel or until I see Fantastico. I click Fantastico and then select the click on the Wordpress install.

It’s just a matter of following the steps and filling in the blanks. It’s about a 3 minute process and Wordpress is installed.

If you have multiple domains you may see a drop down list, just make sure it’s the domain you want to add Wordpress to.

Install Directory

The install directory can be left blank if you are installing your Wordpress blog on the root. If you want to have a different main page just put in a folder name ending with \ and you will have Wordpress in a separate folder.

I usually install on the root of the domain but I do have a few sites that my blog is in a folder.

Admin Access

You will need to log into your Wordpress blog to make changes and to add blog posts. Create a username you will remember and make your password something you will remember but make it so it’s not easy to guess or you will get hacked.

Base Configuration

Here you can pick an Admin Nickname that will appear on your blog posts as the author. You will aslo specify the email address you would like emails sent to.

Next you can add your blog title. It will appear on the title bar of your browser window. And you also have a text area to put your blog description.

That’s all there is to the install. Click Install Wordpress and you are ready to start posting.

Well you could start posting but there are a few setting inside Wordpress that will make things work better when it comes to your visitors and search engine traffic.

I am installing Wordpress on a Photography site I have but I am not adding any new themes or plugins. I will do that in a later post but for now it’s all about installing, setup and posting.

Wordpress 2.7 Settings

This is the view I get of the Wordpress menu after logging into my account. What we will start with here is the last menu option, the Settings. Just click on Settings and it will open the settings menu. To close it you would just click the menu title Settings again.

Wordpress will work as is but there are a few settings that will make things run smoother and to give better performance in the major search engines.

We will start with General and move down from there.

Wordpress General Settings

This is where you can modify the title of your blog and the tagline or description.

I also set the domain for the blog so that it shows www before the domain name.

Next you can set the email address when any emails to the admin or from the admin will go. I tend to leave this as the default for the domain.

From the general settings you can also specify how your time and date will appear.

Remember, once you set the www infront of the domain name and update you will be prompted to log in again. That’s normal and you did nothing wrong.

Save your changes.

Wordpress Writing Settings

The first setting here is the size of the post box. I find 10 lines isn’t enough. I like to see more of what I am typing so I usually set this to a minimum of 20 lines. You can always come back in here and change it later if it’s not what you want or expected. You will see the post box size when you make your first post.

The Default Post Category is set to uncategorized but don’t worry about this now. You will change this later from teh Post menu options.

I use sites that automatically post articles on my blogs and they require XML-RPC be active, and this is the place to do it. Click the check box and it will become active.

Note: You can post via email, which I have not done as yet. I will when my wife and I are traveling.

Just fill in the text boxes with your details. Notice that you are asked for the default Category again. You can change the default to your main keyword phrase from the Category menu on the Post menu.

Update Services – Ping List

After you make a post you want people to know about. Well now you can add your list of sites to ping once you publish a post. I could give you my list but it may not be the list you need. So I would suggest you just go to Google and search for a ping list. You can use: ‘ping list for wordpress blogs‘ as you search text.

Wordpress Reading Settings

Front Page Display

Here you have the choice of showing your blog posts on your main page or showing a static web page here. I usually leave it as it is and show my blog posts on my main page but I have a few where I show a static front page where I can show the best of the best from what ever niche I am in on that domain.

Blog Posts To Show on Front Page

The default is to show the 10 latest posts on the first page moving the last post to the archives each time you add a new post.

I prefer to set this to about 5 posts so that I don’t end up with a long empty sidebar. If I have a lot to show in the sidebar I will increase the number of blog posts on the front page.

For the Syndication feed and article feed I like to leave them set to show 10 posts and to show the full text.

Permalink Settings

This section is where you can set the URL structure. By default your posts will be saved using a post number such as 123 so that the file structure would look like http://www.yoursite.com/?p=123 which is the best for search engine optimization is it.

There are multiple settings here but the one I use almost 100% of the time is:

/%category%/%postname%/

This way the search engines will pickup on a name instead of numbers. Like the following:

http://www.yoursite.com/seo/marketing/

… where the category is ’seo’ and the postname is ‘marketing’.

If you have not set your permalinks and have multiple posts created already all is not lost. You can install a plugin that will allow you to migrate from one permalink setting to another without losing any positioning you already have in the search engines.

I use Dean’s Permalinks Migration plugin to solve this problem. Even today, after blogging for a couple of years I still forget to set the permalink so this plugin comes in very handy.

From this point on I would update any plugins I have added to my blog. checkout the Wordpress plugins I use on my blogs.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Filed under: create a blog

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!