Installing WordPress is not a big deal but once the installation is complete there are some important tasks that you must do to get most out of your blog.

Below is the list of check points like installing essential plug-in and choosing the right theme etc.

• Change Admin Password
• Activate your theme
• Configure Permalinks
• Activate Akismet
• Add Categories & Rename Uncategorized
• Database Backup
• Track Blog Traffic
• Test with Dummy Post
• Google XML Sitemap
• Submit your RSS Feed to Feed Burner

Change Admin Password

At the time of installation WordPress usually generates a random password which is very hard to remember. So, you have to change the password, something easier for you to remember. WordPress allows upper and lower case characters, numbers and symbols like ! ” ? $ % ^ &) so, make use of the special characters and create a strong password.

Manage your user settings via the Users panel, and you can also add any additional blog authors there.

Activate your theme

By default WordPress is installed with only 2 themes which are just basic themes. There are thousands of free WordPress themes available for you to download or if you need quality professional themes you can try elegantthemes.com

1. Download a theme you like and unzip to your local computer.
2. Connect to your hosting directory using FTP and upload the unzipped theme to wp-content > themes
3. Login to your wp-admin and activate the theme from Appearance > Themes

You can also design your own theme matching your current website look and feel.

Configure Permalinks

Permalinks are nothing but permanent URLs to your blog posts and categories. Permalinks plays a vital role for SEO. By default the URL of your blog post will look like below:

http://example.com/?p=20

The above URL structure does not make sense and not good for SEO. To include the article category and title to the URL that looks like something below,

http://example.com/wordpress/Important-things-you-must-do-after-wordpress-installation

To do this go to Settings > Permalinks and you can choose one of the pre-defined option or you can select custom structure and make your own URL style by entering,

/%category%/%postname%/

Activate Akismet

This is a great plug-in which stops spamming in your blog. If you have enabled commenting in you blog then you must activate this plug-in which comes handy with WordPress Installation. Get an API key and activate Akismet following the below steps:

1. Register in WordPress and you can find your API key from your profile page.
2. From your wp-admin panel go to >Plugins > Akismet and activate the plug-in.
3. Now go to Akismet Configuration page and paste your API key.

Add Categories & Rename Uncategorized

After WordPress is installed the default category available will be “Uncategorized “. You can add more categories and rename the “Uncategorized” Category following the below steps:

1. Go to Posts > Categories
2. Add more Categories.
3. Edit Uncategorized and rename which will be your default Category.

Database Backup

Database crash or data loss may happen anytime so you need to backup your WordPress database time to time. So you need to install a plugin to do it.

1. Download WordPress Database Plugin and unzip it to your local computer.
2. Then upload the wp-db-backup.php file to /wp-content/plugins/
3. Activate the plugin from Admin > Plugins
4. You can then configure the plugin from Tools > Backup

Track Blog Traffic

Now, your blog traffic needs to be analyzed you need to know the traffic and marketing effectiveness. To track your traffic you can register and Install Google Analytics or Mint.

Test with Dummy Post

Always test your blog with dummy post to make sure things are right.

Google XML Sitemap

Sitemap is a XML file that keeps track of all URLs on your blog. Sitemaps actually inform major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN about new URLs available in your blog for crawling.

Updating XML Sitemap each time is tedious task so here is the Google XML sitemap plugin that will update your sitemap automatically when you add or edit a post. Every time you edit or add a post, the sitemap will modify itself.

Then Login to Google Webmaster Tool using your Gmail account and add your website and follow the instructions to verify your website. Once your website is verified you can add your sitemap through Dashboard by going to Site Configuration > Sitemaps > Submit a Sitemap.

Submit your RSS Feed to Feed Burner

RSS Feeds are the best way to promote your blog with updated content to your visitors. You can configure your RSS Feed from Settings > Reading.

Now you need to add your RSS Feed to Feed Burner for that you need to go to feedburner.com and register yourself with your Google account. Once registered Feed burner will provide you with a Feed Subscription link by which you can replace the existing RSS link.

Happy blogging!