In this tutorial let’s learn about how to configure your WordPress “Settings” to optimize and get the most out of your WordPress site. Configuring your Settings should be the very first task you do just after every successful installation of a new WordPress.
A new WordPress instillation has seven sub-panels under Settings. These are:
General Settings
This controls the most basic configuration settings for your site. For beginners, the only important fields that you should change are Site Title, Tagline, and the E-mail Address.
Change the details according to your site’s requirements then click “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page.
Writing Settings
This controls the edit interface you use to write your posts and pages.
Here you can set the default category for new posts. This means that every time you write a new article it will be automatically added to the category you set here.
So for this example, if you set the category to “Affiliate Marketing Tips” every new article you are going to publish will be categorized as Affiliate Marketing Tips. You can override this default category during writing/editing.
You can also set the Default Post Format here but this setting may not be necessary if you are still new to WordPress. The standard format will be enough for most users.
Reading Settings
Your homepage displays allows you to set a static content (a welcome page for example) or just allow your newest posts to appear chronologically on your homepage. For the meantime, just leave the default settings.
Personally, I set the “For each article in a feed, show” to Summary.
Discussion Settings
This setting allow you to control comments on your blog as well as control the incoming and outgoing pingbacks to your site.
If you want to allow comments on your site, it is best to check the fields as shown on the image below as blog spamming is rampant. Don’t forget to click the “Save Changes” button.
Media Settings
This section allows you to set the maximum dimensions in pixels to use when creating the various versions of an uploaded image.
For beginners, simply skip this area since you don’t need to change anything in here. You can come back here and experiment with the settings once you get the hang of using WordPress.
Permalink Settings
This setting determines the url format of your posts and pages. The default settings uses web urls with question mark and numbers. However, for a SEO benefits you should use SEO friendly urls.
For the best setting, check the “Post name” and WordPress will automatically write the code on the “Custom Structure” field.
Don’t forget to save your changes by clicking the “Save Changes” button below the page. It amuses me when a lot of clients say “it doesn’t work!” when they simply forgot to click that “save” button.
Privacy Settings
This panel allows you to tell search engines whether or not to index your site. Unless you are setting up a blog for demo purposes, you do want your site be indexed and listed by search engines.
In short, simply skip this step since the default setting is set to allow search engines to index your site.
That’s it. Your Settings is now complete.