Semi-Pro Blogger

Now that you have learned how to Purchase a Domain Name and Install Wordpress in previous 2 posts, its time to look at configuring Wordpress to be a little more SEO friendly.  For those of you who may not know what SEO is, it stands for Search Engine Optimization which is the method of tweaking the site to perform better in the search engine’s results pages.  I’m not going to give you a few tips on configuring Wordpress, but am not going to go into detail on the reasoning behind the tips.  There are plenty of other sites out there that go into more detail about strategies of SEO.

A few quick tips for configuring Wordpress:

Update the permalink structures
Permalinks refer to the URLs of each individual post on your blog.  Wordpress is database driven, and is by default set up to use variables in the URL.  To change the permalink structures in the Wordpress Admin go to Options>permalinks and select the option that you like best.  I recommend using a custom with the following settings /%category%/%postname%/.  Placing this in the custom field will make your URLs appear as http://www.domain.com/category/post-title/.

Install Plugins
Plugins are peices of code to further extend the functionality of Wordpress.  Because Wordpress is open source, anyone is able to create plugins and make them available for download to the public.  Because of the popularity of Wordpress there are literally thousands of plugins you can use to add new functionality to your blog.  You can browse a wide range of available plugins at http://wp-plugins.net/beta/.  To install a plugin just access your account via FTP and drop them in the wp-content/plugins/ folder.  Below are a list of great plugins that no Wordpress user should be without.  These should get you started, but you should certainly browse through the available plugins and see if you find any others you would like to add.

1.  Akismet - This is a comment spam blocker.  You will start to recieve tons of comment spam on your posts, and this plugin all but eliminates them.  This plugin is installed by default so you just need to grab an activation key (free) and turn it on.
2. Enforce www preference - This plugin will automatically add the www. infront of your URL.  For example if someone accesses your website by going to http://domain.com.  They will automatically be redirected to http://www.domain.com.  This plugin eliminates the possibility of duplicate content.
   Download Enforce WWW Preference
3. FeedBurner Feedsmith - This plugin redirects the default RSS feed in Wordpress to a FeedBurner URL.  FeedBurner is an RSS management tool that provides stats such as how many people are subscribed to your RSS feed.  You can check out FeedBurner at FeedBurner.com.
   Download FeedBurner Feedsmith
4. OneClick Installer - This is a plugin that makes installing new plugins and themes super easy.  It removes the necessity of loging into your FTP client to place files on the server and will automatically place themes and plugins in the correct place from within your Wordpress Admin panel.
   Download OneClick Installer

These are just 4 great plugins that I recommend installing right off the bat on a new Wordpress install.  There are a ton more for you to choose from, and depending on your blog topic there is an unlimited number of combinations you may want to use.  Explore the plugin database linked above and start adding new functionality to your soon to be successful blog.