Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Blog Setup: 40 Practical Tips


All the tips are actually links to previously published articles on Daily Blog Tips. Enjoy!

WordPress Setup

  1. Do your homework first and read about others’ mistakes
  2. Choose a reliable web host
  3. Choose a good domain name
  4. If you need inspiration, check this list
  5. Register and keep your domain name with a registrar
  6. Always install WordPress in the root directory
  7. Update your ping list

Themes & Design

  1. Choose a professional theme
  2. Remove unnecessary information from your theme
  3. Add a favicon
  4. Place an RSS icon at the end of single posts
  5. Create a functional footer for your blog
  6. Organize your categories
  7. Optimize the “About” page
  8. Speed up your site

Check & Validate

  1. Make sure your blog works in different browsers
  2. Check the load time of your site
  3. Test the SEO aspects
  4. Validate your website
  5. Keep a maintenance checklist

Plugins

  1. Install Akismet
  2. Install WordPress Database Backup
  3. Install Subscribe to Comments but leave it unchecked
  4. Install Chunk URLs
  5. Install Related Enteries and consider setting it to 3
  6. Install Custom Query String
  7. Install Jerome's Keywords
  8. Install sig2feed

SEO & Analytics

  1. Install Google Sitemap Generator
  2. Install Enforce www Preference
  3. Optimize your Meta Description Tag
  4. Setup an optimal URL structure
  5. Make category pages display excerpts
  6. Setup any needed 301 Redirects
  7. Create a robots.txt file (and here is a collection of different ones)
  8. Modify your title tag to be optimal
  9. Remove the hyperlink from the single post titles
  10. Offer email subscriptions
  11. Install the Feedburner Replacement plugin
  12. Add the Google Analytics plugin and track your stats

Max Pool is a software engineer by day – aspiring SEO expert by night. More ideas can be found at his blog codesqueeze.com.

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