subject: How to Set Up a Wordpress Blog for Maximum Speed and SEO [print this page] How to Set Up a Wordpress Blog for Maximum Speed and SEO
If you want to know how to set up a Wordpress blog, then read on. I'm not going to tell you how to install Wordpress because I've done that elsewhere and I'll give you a link later but I am going to tell you how to set up a Wordpress blog for maximum search engine optimisation and ease of use.
When you first log in to your blog you'll want to make the admin area load as fast as possible so firstly, at the top of the Dashboard click on Screen Options and apart from Right Now and Incoming Links, uncheck all the boxes. You don't need them and because they import data from outside your blog they slow it down.
Next, click on Plugins - Add New, type in W3 Total Cache and click the search plugins button. Download and activate the plugin then go to Performance - General Settings and enable Page Cache, Minify, Object Cache and Browser Cache and save your settings. You should find that your admin pages and those on your site proper will load much faster.
So, back to plugins. Delete Hello Dolly which comes automatically with each Wordpress installation but you don't need it. I always upload the following plugins:
All in One SEO Pack - improves search engine ranking.
Dunstan-style Error Page - provides a neat-looking error page which may actually keep visitors on your site
Easy AdSense - I find this the easiest plugin to use if you want to display AdSense (make sure that you change the ad space percentage to zero or you'll be sharing your revenue with the author.
Embed Iframe - Necessary if you want to display Amazon adverts
Google Analytics for WordPress - Collects visitor statistics
Google XML Sitemaps - Submits your sitemap to all the major search engines.
TweetMyBlog! - Automatically tweets your posts (sign up to Twitter to use this)
Wordpress Database Backup - Emails you backups of your database at intervals specified by you.
WP-Optimize - Deletes duplicate posts and spam comments from your database and speeds up operations.
So now you know how to set up a Wordpress blog for maximum speed and search engine optimisation.
