Configure Your New Blog

Some of the tagging and other options in these instructions may be obsolete due to the latest version of WordPress. If you don’t see an option in your blog explained in these instructions don’t be alarmed.

When you log in you may see a warning near the top like this:

Akismet is not active. You must enter your WordPress.com API key for it to work
Click on it and follow the directions to keep the nasty spammers from adding comments with links to their websites to your blog.
Use the same API key for the WordPress.com Stats plugin.
Please carefully read the instructions how to obtain the API key on this post, as this has caused much confusion in the past: http://www.esmartjob.com/blog/wordpress-blog/wordpress-api

Your blog has been search engine optimized, has it’s own Google sitemap that automatically notifies Google when any new posts are made. It also automatically pings all the top services so you need not and should not use any other services to ping your blog. You can also tag your posts for automatic links to two of the most popular blog directories.

To better optimize your blog, click Options, All In One SEO, check, change and or add your Home Title, Home Description, and Home keywords. Then click Update options.

You should also update the About page. Click Manage, Pages and then click Edit on the right next to the About Page. Add your details in here.

All other instructions and guides can be found in the links below. You will notice that you will be reading instructions on two different sites. I own both of these and started the WordPress service on the Work At Home Business Blog, but when that started to really take off I decided to start the dedicated WordPress Max site and eventually everything will be available from that one site.

Did you download the free ebooks I suggested on my website? Both the Authority Black Book and Blog Mastermind are excellent free resources about blogging. I don’t have any association with them and the authors will market to you, but they are worth the time and your email address to get them. The links for them can be found here http://www.wordpressmax.com/thanks/

Here are some links to instructions to help get you started.

WordPress Blog Quick Start Guide

How to change the color of your header

Configure A New WordPress Blog

Writing And Tagging A WordPress Blog Post

http://www.wordpressmax.com/wordpress-guide/wordpress-guide-to-writing-a-wordpress-post newer more detailed

How To Use The WordPress Plugin AdSense-Deluxe

Setup FeedBurner And Widgets On WordPress Blog

Working With WordPress Text Widgets

Find new WordPress themes here: http://themes.wordpress.net/

Follow the instructions on this page to add new themes and plugins to your blog: http://www.wordpressmax.com/plugins/upload-from-dashboard

Change And Install WordPress Themes

Also make sure to claim your blog at Technorati here: http://www.technorati.com/signup/#start_claim and register at http://www.blogskinny.com/

Blogskinny.com also has a blog directory that you can submit your blog to.

If you want to get a link to your blog from mine just leave a short testimonial about my service in the “Leave a Reply” box at the bottom of this page. http://www.wordpressmax.com/install-wordpress
Thanks again!

Jeff Houdyschell

http://www.eSmartJob.com/

http://www.wordpressmax.com

If you liked this post, feel free to leave a comment that is relevant to the post or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader. If you have a question about your specific WordPress blog please leave a link to it.

Drive-by comments will be deleted!

Comments

Comment by snickers workwear on March 24, 2009 @ 4:04 pm

Thanks for your post on setting up a new new blog, it should help me set up my new blog.

Thanks

Sammy

Comment by vice busting diet plans on June 10, 2009 @ 12:01 am

Thanks a lot for helping us newcomers out, I’m new to word press and sure need all the set up info I can get. I will also look in to the free e books you mentioned.

Comment by Typing Jobs At Home on June 17, 2009 @ 4:07 pm

Wow thanks a lot. I have a new blog i just started this month and I did not even know a few of these plugins even exsisted.

So thanks again! You rock!

Comment by Allan G on June 29, 2009 @ 12:47 am

Thanks for your ideas and I use wordpress as well. The plug ins should come in handy. Thanks

Comment by History of chemotherapy on July 14, 2009 @ 5:40 am

Definitely, I feel that WordPress is best among other software which has added feature of plug-in’s in it…

Comment by Asthma on July 21, 2009 @ 8:53 am

WordPress has a templating system, which includes widgets that can be rearranged without editing PHP or HTML code, as well as themes that can be installed and switched between.

Comment by no fax payday loans on July 22, 2009 @ 8:34 pm

ahhhhhh, where would this world be without wordpress? too scary to think about.

Comment by Ulcer on July 22, 2009 @ 11:48 pm

I always prefer to WordPress rather than Drupal for my blog.. Thank you for sharing this information with us..

Comment by Real Forum on July 27, 2009 @ 11:16 am

Hi! Sorry for the off-top… Where did you get such a blog theme? Could you please share a link?

Jeff Replied:
July 27th, 2009 at 4:17 pm

The current theme is customized but it started as the free WP Premium and a link to it is in the footer.

Dave Replied:
October 5th, 2009 at 1:40 pm

Thanks, I also liked the theme . Im also just getting my blog started, is there any other plugins that you use that you think everyone should use when starting a new blog?

Comment by Confronto Mutuo on August 7, 2009 @ 12:18 am

Wow thanks a lot. I have a new blog i just started this month and I did not even know a few of these plugins even exsisted.

Comment by web hosts on September 19, 2009 @ 7:53 am

Nice tips, indeed! After 5 minutes (or less) installation task, there is recommended to install and activate your necessary plugins, such as WP caching, page navigation or SEO plugins. Also, try to keep your WordPress updated.

Comment by Google People on September 21, 2009 @ 9:37 pm

Props for a very useful wordpress resource. I found the adsense deluxe plugin tut particularly informative.

Thanks -

Lisa

Comment by fast loans on July 27, 2010 @ 11:57 am

Well, that explains it. I couldn’t figure out why akismet wasn’t working. Makes sense now.

Drive-By comments will be deleted! Like "Thanks for sharing", "Nice post", or any other text that doesn't contribute to the discussion. If you ask a very specific question about your particular WordPress theme, it will probably be deleted. I can fix your WordPress site but for a price. If you ask a question like "Why don't my blog work right", it will be deleted. If you ask a question about your WordPress site without a leaving a link to it, it will be deleted. The point is to ask questions and or comment on the the actual content of the post, and to please use some common sense. All comments are moderated and will appear when approved. Thank you.