Now that you’ve installed you new WordPress (aka WP) blog you need to get it ready to use. The steps you take next are likely to be identical for every blog you set up. You might find it helpful to create your own list of steps to take for this, or you can use my own list, which follows below.

The idea to create a list came from JT Pratt. He created his own list of steps to take when getting a blog ready for posting (you can see his list at Best Practices for Setting Up a New WordPress Blog in 60 Minutes or Less). His list is excellent, but catered to him. My list is catered to me, so it will differ somewhat from JT’s, as well as a bit more detail.

Note: These instructions are for WordPress versions 2.5 and up. Some of the instructions won’t apply to earlier versions of WP because they changed their Admin settings. For example, the link now known as ‘Settings’ was called ‘Options’ in earlier versions. Be aware that WP loves to update their software and additional changes may occur making my instructions outdated.

My instructions to setup a WordPress blog:
Step One
Remove the ‘Hello Dolly‘ plugin (only if it annoys you, as it does me):
	Tip: You can delete this file from the WP folder before you upload and install it so you don’t have to delete this after every installation.
	Use either your FTP client or your hosting account’s cPanel to navigate to your blog’s WP folder. Go to wp-content / plugins / hello.php.
	Delete hello.php.
Step Two
Delete default post, default ‘About’ page, and default links:
	Log in to your blog’s Admin, click the Manage tab, mark the default post and delete it.
	Click the Pages link, click the ‘About‘ page and delete it.
	Click the Links link, check the ‘Name‘ box (this will put checkmarks next to all the entries) and delete all links.
Step Three
Add Categories:
	Click the Categories link. Add categories (you can add more later from this page or when you are writing a new post). Click the Edit Category button to save changes.
Step Four
Edit the default Link Category:
	Click the Link Categories link. Click the Blogroll link to change the wording of this category. Add additional links, if you want (these can be links within your blog or outside it). Click the Edit Category button to save changes.
Step Five
Edit the General settings:
	Click the Settings tab, then the General link. Change the options, then save your changes.
	I make the following changes:
		Timezone = UTC - 4 (this is for EST)
		Week Starts On = Sunday
Step Six
Edit the Writing settings:
	Click the Writing link. Change the options, then save your changes.
	I make the following changes:
		Default Post Category = I choose from one of the categories I created in Step Three
		Default Post Link = I choose from one of the categories I created in Step Four
		Scroll down to the bottom, to the Update Services entry field. By default there is only one service entered. Enter any additional services you want to notify.
		Tip: As of this writing I notify the following ping services: http://rpc.pingomatic.com http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc http://ping.myblog.jp http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/ http://bblog.com/ping.php http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2/ http://pingqueue.com/rpc/ http://ping.feedburner.com http://www.bloglines.com/ping http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
Step Seven
Edit the Discussion settings:
	Click the Discussion link. Change the options, then save your changes.
	I make the following changes:
		Before a Comment Appear = The only option I have selected is Comment author must fill out name and e-mail
Step Eight
Edit the Permalinks settings:
	Click the Permalinks link.
	Mark Custom Structure, enter /%postname%/ and click the Save Changes button. This will enable SEO-friendly URLs.
Step Nine
Install a theme:
	There are a ton of WP themes, many of which are free. Sources of themes include:
		Blog/BANS themes from Mark (highly recommended if you plan on blogging with BANS)
		Themes from WordPress
	Upload your theme to the …/wp-content/themes folder.
	Log in to your blog’s Admin, click the Design tab, then choose your theme from the Available Themes (WP 2.5 or earlier, just click on it the theme choose it; WP 2.6+, click the theme, then click the “Activate “Name of Theme” link in the upper right corner).
Step Ten
Add widgets:
	Click the Design tab, then the Widgets link. Add whatever widgets you want to have on your blog. Click the Save Changes button to save changes.
	Click the Link Categories link. Click the Blogroll link to change the wording of this category. Click the Edit Category button to save changes.
Step Eleven
Help protect your folders from hackers. I’m not an expert on this issue, as I’m sure there are more steps you can take to protect against hackers, but doing what I outline below will help you quite a bit.
	Create a blank index.html file by opening a text editor, such as Notepad, opening a new page, and saving it as index.html.
	Use either your FTP client or hosting account’s cPanel to upload your blank index.html file into each of these folders:
		…/ wp-content / plugins
		…/ wp-content / themes
	If you feel the need to add the blank index.html file to other folders go ahead. I don’t think it will hurt anything. Basically, if you can see the contents of a folder from your browsers, such as http://yourURL.com/wp-content/plugins, then so can hackers. Keep prying eyes from seeing or accessing the contents of your site with this simple step.
	Tip: If you manually install WP then you can add the blank index.html file to every WP folder before you upload and install it so you don’t have to do this after every installation.
Step Twelve
Create a robots.txt file.
	From what I’ve read this is a pretty important step because you can help control the duplicate content from your blog. This is something I don’t understand all that well so I’m not going to explain how to create one. There are a lot of sites with information on how to do this. These posts were the most helpful to me:
		Robots.txt How important is it?
		Wordpress robots.txt tips against duplicate content
		WordPress robots.txt file optimized for SEO and Google
		WordPress SEO: using robots.txt to avoid content duplication
Step Thirteen
Upload and activate plugins.
	Upload the plugins of your choice and activate them. The easiest way to upload plugins is with an FTP program, but you can also use the File Manager in your site’s cPanel.
	You can see the plugins I use and how I activate them at The Must-Have Plugins I use on my WP Blogs
Step Fourteen
Claim blog in Technorati:
	Go to Technorati and sign in (or join).
	Click the Blogs button:
	Scroll down until you see ‘Claim your blog‘:
	Enter your blog’s URL and click the Begin Claim button.
	Choose your method for claiming your blog, then complete the options you want to complete (i.e. description and tags), then click the Save Blog Info button.
Step Fifteen
	I don’t think there is a Step Fifteen. Let me know if I missed a critical step and I’ll add it.
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Rochelle