5 quick tips for your own WordPress blog

Arne Arnold

Putting your own website on the Internet is not difficult. We provide the appropriate step-by-step instructions and we offer here 5 quick tips for your finished WordPress blog.

Creating your own website using WordPress software is very easy. Here’s a step-by-step guide to getting you started on your own blog in no time. With the following five tips you can improve your blog noticeably.

1. How to turn off comments and turn on Facebook

Comments and discussions about articles on your website can be immensely enriching. However, you must also ensure that there are no offensive posts on your website. If you don’t have time to check new comments, you can turn off the new posts feature altogether. You can do this easily via “Settings -> Discussions -> Default settings for posts -> Allow visitors to comment on new posts”. Information on how to deactivate the comment function for posts that have already been published can be found here.

You can also view each comment for approval. Only if this one is ok, unlock it. This can be done via the function “Settings -> Discussions -> Before a comment appears -> Comment must be approved manually”. WordPress offers you a number of other useful settings on the “Settings -> Discussions” page that are worth taking a look at.

Social networks:

You can enable Facebook comments on your website in addition to or instead of the WordPress comment function. It’s easy to do with plugins. For example, download the recommended Facebook Comments plug-in. In WordPress you install it via “Plugin -> Install -> Upload plugin -> Select file -> Activate this plugin”. After that, a Facebook comment field will automatically appear under all your posts.

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There are many useful plugins for WordPress.

2. The best plugins for your WordPress website

Plug-ins enable interesting additional functions for your website. They can be integrated within seconds and often require little or no configuration. An example is the Facebook plugin from point 1. Another example is the WordPress Backup to Dropbox backup plugin, which regularly creates a backup of the website to your Dropbox (see point 5 below). Or you can use WP URL Shortener to automatically shorten long web links in posts. A list of popular plug-ins is available from WordPress itself via https://wordpress.org/plugins or in your WordPress software via “Plugins -> Install”.

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The management of the plugins also works well in WordPress.

3. How to backup your WordPress installation

There are two parts to a full backup of your WordPress installation: the MySQL database and files on the web server. If one of the two is missing, the backup is not complete. The easiest way to back up data is with a plug-in. Backup wordpress is recommended. You install it in WordPress via “Plugin -> Install -> Upload Plugin -> Select File -> Activate this Plugin”. From now on, a backup will be made on the server every night at 00:00. The settings can be changed under “Tools -> Backups”.

Alternatively, you can also use the WordPress Backup to Dropbox plugin. After its installation, the new menu “WPB2D” can be found on the left, which takes you to “Backup Settings”. When you call it up for the first time, you must grant the plug-in access to your Dropbox via “Authorize”. Via “Continue” you can now set how often and when the backup should take place.

4. Search engine optimization

Most Internet users search for a topic using a search engine – in Germany this is almost always Google. It is therefore worthwhile for your site if Google classifies it as particularly valuable. Then it will appear higher up in Google search hits. However, almost every website tries to look good for Google. So it’s not easy to compete with the many other websites on Google. Two tips can help. The first comes from Google itself: design your website in such a way that your readers will find the best information there. Then Google will find your site well. Second, you can use one of the many SEO tricks that you can find in this in-depth guide, for example.

5. Install WordPress on the PC for testing

If you just want to experiment with WordPress first, without making your website completely visible to everyone on the Internet, we recommend using the Bitnami WordPress tool. During the installation of the utility, the firewall will ask if the Apache server is allowed to communicate through the firewall. Agree here. After the installation, an information window will appear in which you can start WordPress via “Go to Application” and click on “Access Bitnami WordPress Stack”.

Your internet browser opens the new website at localhost/wordpress. This is only accessible on your computer and is not on the Internet. To be able to configure WordPress, you must log in via http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin. After you have changed the language to “German” under “Settings”, this WordPress installation behaves like any other. For example, you can also install themes and plugins.

Alternative: Those in a hurry can use Tumblr or Wix

You can use the http://de.wix.com site to create professional-looking websites in just a few minutes. Wix also offers templates for your website. These can then be filled directly with your own texts, images and navigation points to a large extent. To help you get started, you will find a video that explains how to use the template within a few minutes. The service is free in the basic version.

If you want to get rid of the limitations of the basic version, you have to resort to a paid package that removes advertising from your website, for example. You can put your site on your own domain and get more bandwidth. The package prices start at 4 euros per month. You can find an overview of this at http://pcwe.lt/h/tprdwrg .

tumblr:

If you really just want to run a simple blog, it’s best to use Tumblr. You can create your own blog in minutes at www.tumblr.com. Posting online is very easy. Similar to WordPress, you can also spend some time with Tumblr picking out the prettiest theme. If you don’t want a web address like www.mustermann.tumblr.com, but want to see the blog on your own web address (domain), you will find instructions on this page.