FYI – we are talking about the open source version of WordPress – wordpress.org – meaning it is free and you can download it and install on any server / hosting company you like. We never use the wordpress.com as it doesn’t give us the flexility and our own domain settings.

 
So you want to get WordPress installed on your hosting – let’s begin!

Now, if you’re not too technical, or just like the convenience of a 1 click install – many hosting companies have WordPress auto-installers ready to go.

Here’s a screenshot from Siteground

Also Bluehost Has This Too

With WPengine because they only use WordPress, it is by default.

Others you need to either install by downloading the code on wordpress.org and installing

Here I will give some of the top configuration settings I use when I install a new WordPress install.

Now I set the site to remove the date from the post URLs. I HATE that! I’m not sure why WordPress makes that the default setting – but it is really annoying. Why do you want to show everyone who reads this post the exact date it was published?

Especially if that becomes years and years ago. It just makes you look like an outdate post (even if you later update it).

!!show preview
Another thing is I don’t like to show the full post in the feed or on an archive page. I want the reader to have to click into the post to read all of it. This I believe makes 1 page the focus for each post – not confusing people and search engines which page / URL is the focused page for that content.

I like to have pretty complete footers. I’m not sure about you – but for me – I read a page and then scroll down to the bottom. That is how I browse to the next page on the site I want to read.

I also use Yoast SEO Plugin right away and get the sitemaps setup.

I like Redirection plugin in case I need to setup pretty URLs or other 301 redirects (if I change a link later).

 
Already have WordPress Installed and want to learn how to login, and update pages and content?

If you already have WordPress installed (maybe Mike’s Blog set it up for you) but want to learn how to login and update things – check this video tutorial to go through logging in and updating content. Don’t be afraid – it is possible! YOU CAN DO IT YOURSELF!!!

Watch the video training now: