SEVEN THINGS YOU SHOULD DO WITH A NEW WORDPRESS. COM SITE

1

Go to Settings | Permalinks and sort out your permalink structure (the format in which URLs will appear). You want to keep your URLs as short and snappy as possible, whilst adopting a structure that sees search keywords appear in the URL. It’s important to get this right from the start as it’s difficult to change later. Remember, you can edit individual URLs on posts and pages.

2

Embed Google Analytics. The Jetpack service will provide you with decent site stats, but for full details of key metrics such as page load times, user behaviour when they enter your homepage and other more detailed metrics, you need Google Analytics. Tracking codes can often be inserted in WordPress theme settings. The Yoast SEO plugin is also worth installing, helping to manage Google Analytics and ensure that your posts are SEO optimised.

3

Make sure you’ve got AMP pages switched on to make your content more accessible on mobile devices. AMP is a Google initiative, standing for Accelerated Mobile Pages, which strips any fancy elements out of pages accessed on smartphones to make the pages load faster. AMP sites, marked with a little lightning bolt in Google search results, are given preference in mobile search, which means you can’t ignore AMP if you hanker after mobile traffic. You can see how AMP posts will look from the WordPress CMS.

4

Tailor your CMS. At the top of the Posts page you’ll see a button called Screen Options. This lets you hide irrelevant parts of the WordPress CMS, making it easier to navigate these box-heavy pages. Don’t allow reader comments on your website? Hide the panel that surfaces comments within each post.

5

Check for dummy pages. Themes will often arrive with a host of dummy pages designed to show off the various different layouts within the theme. Make sure you either delete these pages or switch them to Draft.

6

Check the Jetpack settings. Jetpack provides various useful features such as anti-spam filtering, automatic plugin updates and security scanning. Open the Jetpack dashboard from the top left of the main menu in your WordPress CMS to check the services you want are switched on.

7

Install the WordPress smartphone app. It’s limited when it comes to posting, but it’s a great way to keep an eye on your site stats. The Android app comes with its own homescreen widget, showing Views, Visitors, Comments and Likes for today on your site. It’s a handy way to keep an eye out for traffic spikes or lulls that could indicate a problem.