Once installed, the first things I would do:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Rename the admin account from “admin” or “administrator” to something less common. \u00a0This reduces your likelihood for an attack from those that would like to turn your blog into a spam center (trust me, they exist). \u00a0Additionally, make sure your passwords are long, have numbers, letters (capital and lowercase) and have a symbol (or a few).<\/li>\n
- Setup Plugins:\n
- \n
- Setup Akismet (anti-spam).<\/li>\n
- Setup Jetpack add-ons<\/li>\n
- Add and setup Login Security Solution<\/li>\n
- Add and setup WordPress Database Backup. \u00a0I have backups emailed to me on a daily basis.<\/li>\n
- Add WordPress Editorial Calendar (you’ll see why later)<\/li>\n
- Add WP-DBManager<\/li>\n
- Add and setup WP Super Cache (this speeds up your site considerably)<\/li>\n
- Add Shadowbox JS (and if wanted, Shadowbox JS – Use Title from Image) – this has images come up on the page as opposed to separate “pages” when clicked.<\/li>\n
- Optional: add Syntax Highligher and Code Prettifier Plugin for WordPress – this is a code tool. \u00a0I actually no longer use it because I’ve been using Github Gists.<\/li>\n
- Optional: add Embed Github Gist – since I use Github Gists, this makes the experience much easier! \u00a0If you’re not going to show code on your site, you can ignore this.<\/li>\n
- Optional: add LaTeX for WordPress – I’ve used LaTeX only once, but it makes equations so much nicer. \u00a0If you’re not going to show equations, ignore this.<\/li>\n
- Optional: Setup Google Analytics and add Google Analyticator – this is one of many places where you can track ‘hits’.<\/li>\n
- Don’t setup social sharing yet! \u00a0You’ll see why.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
- Either trash the first test post and comment and write your first post and page, or revise the first test post to something more substantial.\n
- \n
- In WordPress, posts are the weekly (or daily, monthly, etc). \u00a0Pages are items that generally don’t change. \u00a0I have four pages, and one of them is hidden.\n
- \n
- If you look somewhere on my site, you can see a heading for Pages, and under it are links to Contact Me, Travel Demand Modeling 101, and Welcome!. \u00a0My feelings are that the Welcome and Contact pages are pretty important, and an about page is pretty important as well (maybe one day I’ll write one).<\/li>\n
- The posts on my site are the front-and-center content<\/li>\n
- I’ve seen a lot of bloggers claim that you should have a privacy policy and a comment policy. \u00a0Truthfully, you don’t need them unless you have a lot of visits (over a few hundred, at least), and if you’re in that arena, you should probably be looking for professional blogger help (I am absolutely serious about that).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- You definitely want at least one post and one page before moving on to the next item. \u00a0The post can be just a test post, but I would do more words than the basic test post that comes with WordPress.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
- Find a better theme!\n
- \n
- In the Appearance area, you can find more themes. \u00a0Many can be customized, or you can make your own.<\/li>\n
- Find a theme that suits you. \u00a0Many themes can be adjusted, and I would encourage you to tweak it a lot and make sure everything looks good before settling on one<\/li>\n
- Making a custom theme is not the easiest thing to do. \u00a0I’ve done it once (for this blog) and I’m tempted to do it again (for my other blog), but there is so much that goes into it that I don’t really advocate it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Categories\n
- \n
- Setup some categories. \u00a0This is important in the permalinks structure, but can have some importance elsewhere.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
- Fix Permanent Links\n
- \n
- In the WordPress Dashboard – Settings – Permalinks, change the default (e.g. www.siliconcreek.net\/?p=123) to a custom structure of \/%category%\/%postname% . \u00a0This works best for search engine optimization (SEO). \u00a0This is one of the few things I do for SEO.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
- Setup Social Sharing\n
- \n
- If you’re going to be a blogger, you generally should have a few things already:\n
- \n
- Twitter<\/li>\n
- LinkedIn (IF your blog is professional related)<\/li>\n
- Facebook (IF your blog is personal)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- You want to setup sharing to automatically post new posts to the correct platforms. \u00a0Keep in mind that the “other” content of your social media should relate to the blog and vice-versa… What I mean by this is that I don’t post amateur radio stuff to my @okiAndrew twitter feed or to LinkedIn and likewise, I don’t post transportation stuff to my @KE8P twitter account. \u00a0Different accounts for different uses. \u00a0I don’t advocate mixing too much (there are links between the two, but I expect users that are interested in the “two me’s” to deal with the social media side on their end).<\/li>\n
- If you think the social media side isn’t important, think again. \u00a0Over the past 6 months, most of the tracked referrers was from LinkedIn and Twitter (the t.co referrer) – both around equal shares. \u00a0They were ~4 times the third-place referrer.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Once these items are completed, you’re ready to move forward!<\/p>\n
Moving Forward<\/h1>\n
So moving forward obviously means “write content!”. \u00a0And that’s something you should do.<\/p>\n
I advocate publishing on a weekly basis. \u00a0This generally doesn’t mean that you have to write weekly. \u00a0For example, I’m writing this a week before it is scheduled to publish. \u00a0Also, I’m not God – you can post daily, monthly, or irregularly. \u00a0It APPEARS (key word!) that regular posts are better than irregular, but for niche blogs (like transportation modeling and amateur radio), it doesn’t matter as much.<\/p>\n
“Marketing” your blog is important. \u00a0If you’re like me (read: not a pro), marketing is about professional clout as opposed to money. \u00a0It occasionally gets help (if you want to see an example, there is a LinkedIn thread where Roger Witte sent me to some pretty useful information). \u00a0Generally, social sharing is the best marketing you can do without spending lots of time marketing. \u00a0No, it isn’t perfect (look how many DOTs block Twitter and Linked In). \u00a0I don’t advocate posting to listserves, either (unless it is relevant to answer a question or the post is a how-to to help people do something that is difficult).<\/p>\n
Make sure you use tags in your posts. \u00a0It helps to be able to send someone to www.siliconcreek.net\/tags\/cube-voyager-c++ as opposed to a list of links. \u00a0It also helps find posts (in the post listing, you can click on the individual tags and see all posts with that tag).<\/p>\n
Be wary of where you link to your blog, particularly in other blog’s comments. I occasionally comment on other blogs, but my rule of thumb is that if you’re going to be a troll, you probably don’t want to link to your blog. \u00a0OTOH, if you post a comment that enhances value (is constructive, positive, a question, etc), then linking to your blog is a good thing. \u00a0If you do blogging of a controversial nature, I would be a lot more cautious, as the rules can be very blurry.<\/p>\n
Final Words<\/h1>\n
There will be a lot of things you’ll start to see. \u00a0One is occasional marketing for SEO firms (you’ll see this both as spam email and blog comments). \u00a0In certain worlds, it may make sense to use these services. \u00a0Truthfully, in my world it does not. \u00a0The most SEO you can do is setting up good categories, using social media, providing an RSS feed, and occasionally (and appropriately) pushing your blog via other (generally social) means.<\/p>\n
Proofread your posts. \u00a0Don’t ask how many times I didn’t do that only to find a typo a few days later. \u00a0This post was written over a week early and I came back to it a few days later to proofread and clarify things.<\/p>\n
Preview your posts, check them when they go live.<\/p>\n
Don’t obsess over numbers. \u00a0Obsess over content (if your content is numbers, it is okay to ignore that part about obsessing over numbers). \u00a0And mostly, go with your gut instincts. \u00a0The reason? Story time!<\/p>\n
I recently got an email from WordPress that has my “year in review”. \u00a0It wasn’t the best, according to them. \u00a0three of the top 5 posts were from years past. \u00a0However, a few people had mentioned my blog in passing before that, and I had received some interaction from people based on my blog. \u00a0Later, at TRB, a handful of people that I respect A LOT mentioned my blog. \u00a0I’ve had more comments via LinkedIn than… ever (that might have something to do with starting to post to LinkedIn this year\u00a0
![\":-)\"](\"http:\/\/www.siliconcreek.net\/wordpress\/wp-includes\/images\/smilies\/icon_smile.gif\")
\u00a0). \u00a0My gut instinct was that the blog was better this year, and those friends at TRB confirmed that.<\/p>\nAlways update WordPress when it wants to. \u00a0I’m going to use Michel Bierlaire’s\u00a0quote: “In all non-trivial software, there is at least one bug”. \u00a0Software development is hard work, and it is really hard when the software can be used (and abused) by anyone. \u00a0When WordPress finds security issues (and bugs, too), they fix them and issue updates. \u00a0YOU WANT THESE UPDATES.<\/p>\n
Finally, keep your best year ahead of you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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- If you’re going to be a blogger, you generally should have a few things already:\n
- In WordPress, posts are the weekly (or daily, monthly, etc). \u00a0Pages are items that generally don’t change. \u00a0I have four pages, and one of them is hidden.\n