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Essential Settings for WordPress

Does your first look at the WordPress dashboard make you feel overwhelmed? You’re not alone. For most beginners, these essential WordPress settings can look like mission control.

Here’s the good news: you don’t need to be a tech wizard to get them right.

Every time BahaiWebsites sets up a new WordPress theme, we go through the steps below. And, we do some of this for you. Reviewing this list helps you know what was changed, and how to do it.

Going through this list will be a good introduction. You should make these changes now. You can save this page and refer to it later.

Remember:

  • Save changes after adjusting each section
  • Test your site after major changes
  • If you use a laptop, look at it on mobile, and vice versa
  • Keep your login information secure
  • Update WordPress regularly

Think of WordPress settings like the dash of your car – you don’t need to understand every button. You need to know the basics to avoid future problems.

You just need to know which ones keep you on the road and protect you. You can start with the essentials and gradually add to your list.

In the next few minutes, you’ll learn exactly which settings matter and how to confidently adjust them.

Over the next few months, you can follow our tutorials to add to your knowledge.

The best part? You can adjust the WordPress settings for someone else. In fact, if you really like doing this, please let us know. We have job opportunities.

There is no coding required, and no tech degree needed – just simple, straightforward tweaks that will protect your blogging journey.

Our Promise: By the end of this guide, you’ll know:

  • Exactly which settings matter (and which ones you can ignore)
  • How to protect your blog from common problems
  • Simple settings that make your blog appear much more professional
  • Time-saving tricks that we wished we’d known sooner

Let’s dive into the essential settings.

1. General Settings: Your Blog’s Foundation

Settings > General > Site Title and Tagline

Site Title is the people-friendly version of your website. Usually this is a form of your domain name. The tagline of your website is your “elevator speech.” It should be short, powerful and complete.

Your General Settings are like your blog’s business card – they tell search engines and visitors exactly who you are. Let’s get these basics right.

Relax, we have blocked the search engines. You can invite them in later, whenever you want, after you are comfortable with your settings.

Your site title is the people-friendly version of your domain name, and appears in search results and browser tabs. Choose something memorable that reflects your blog’s purpose.

Your tagline is your elevator pitch – make it clear and compelling. It should say a lot in a few words about who you are, or why you built a website.

Your site title doesn’t have to match your domain name exactly. Focus on what’s memorable and meaningful to your readers. You can come back to this later, if you don’t know right now.

Below this you will see a setting for Site Icon. This is important, but we want to get you started. We will cover that later.

The Site Icon is your identity, used in many places. Skip this for now. We will cover this later.

WordPress Roles

The Roles are: Subscriber, Contributor, Author, Editor, and Administrator. Subscribers and Contributors really can’t do anything.

To keep it simple, you your role is author on your new website. As you learn more, you can advance to Editor and Administrator.

When your new website is installed by BahaiWebsites, your role is “Author.” This gives you the ability to write and publish Posts. As you gain confidence, your Role is upgraded at your request.

Many developers create their website in Administrator, and then create an Author or Editor Role for themselves. They log out of the Admin and log into the other Role for writing their blog Posts.

Their Author dashboard is simpler and there is less risk of them changing a major setting by mistake.

1.1 Language Settings: Make Your Blog Accessible

Keep your language settings simple. Unless you’re writing in multiple languages, set both your site language and admin language to match your primary writing language.

This ensures everything from your dashboard to your published content displays correctly.

Set your Site Language. Choose YOUR language. Do NOT choose a country unless you want to exclude visitors from outside your country. Do NOT use “English (United States)” unless you actually live in one of the fifty states.

Do NOT use English (United States) unless you are currently living in one of the fifty states.

Setting your language is the most common error for beginners. Avoid setting the country unless you are excluding visitors from other countries.

English (United States) is different from English (New Zealand) or English (UK). Use general English unless you are excluding countries.

On the other hand, if your website is written specifically for Spanish speakers living in the USA, then you should use this Español (Estados Unidos) or Spanish (United States) form.”

This is important. Humans may ignore the mistake but translation software may generate serious errors. AI won’t make this go away.

1.2 Time Zone Settings: Know Where You Are

Set this to your local time zone – you can choose a city or a zone – it prevents confusion when scheduling content and helps you respond to comments promptly. (We discourage comments, but more on that later.)

Save changes. Always click “Save Changes” or “Update” (usually at the bottom of each Setting page) after you have changed a setting. Get in the habit of clicking the Save button. If you don’t, those settings will have to be done again later.

2. Writing Settings: How You Create Your Content

Writing settings might seem basic, they can change your content after after you click save.

There are different Post types. Take a look if you will be posting videos, or other special types. A few quick adjustments here will save you hours of frustration later.

Default Post Category

“Uncategorized” looks unorganized and unprofessional. Every post needs a category, so let’s change that now. You should edit “Uncategorized.”

Then, you can add Categories, either from the Posts Category page, or directly from the sidebar while writing your new Post.

Here’s how you do it.

To edit Categories, open the Categories section under Posts. Posts is located near the top of your left side Menu.

Posts > Categories

You can edit “Uncategorized”, which is the primary category for your website (like “Blog” or “Themes”) and set it as your default. Now every post automatically has a Category.

You can leave the “Slug” empty. This is the machine-friendly form of the Category name. It will automatically be entered when you click “Save.”

Change “Uncategorized” to a general Category you will use by clicking “Edit” under the Category. After this, you will choose Add Category. Leave the “Slug” blank and it will be automatically updated by WordPress.

You can set or select the Category from each Post. You can add new Categories, either from the Posts menu or from within the Sidebar in the Post, itself. Use only one Category per Post. Open the sidebar when writing your Post.

To open the Sidebar while writing a Post, click the Sidebar icon near the top right of the page.

Next, go to the bottom of this sidebar, and choose only one Category.

You can add a Category while writing a Post from the Sidebar. Choose only one Category.

Your Post draft is automatically saved by WordPress. (More on writing Posts and Sidebar Settings later.) You will need to close this sidebar to find the Publish button.

Close the sidebar after adding a Category. by clicking the “x”

Save changes.

Settings > Writing

Default Post Format

Keep this set to “Standard” unless you use a theme that supports other formats. Most blogs work best with the standard format, and it’s one less thing to think about when publishing.

Save changes.

3. Reading Settings: How People See Your Content

Settings > Reading

These settings determine how visitors experience your blog. Making smart choices here can keep readers engaged and coming back for more.

Homepage Display

You have two main options: show your latest posts or set up a static homepage.

If you’re just starting out, showing latest posts works perfectly.

As your blog grows, you might want to switch to a static homepage that showcases your best content. WordPress started with a blog and later added the pages. You can, too.

Blog Posts Display

Choose how many posts appear on your main blog page.

The default is 10. However, most galleries and columns show three across. This makes the sweet spot 9 posts – divisible by 3 and enough to give readers a choice without slowing down your page load time.

RSS

Never set your RSS feed to “Summary” instead of “Full text.” While it might seem smart to make readers visit your site, it may frustrate them and can hurt your subscriber cou

Save changes.

4. Discussion Settings: Manage Your Community

This is where you’ll control comments and interactions on your blog. Getting these settings right helps create a welcoming space while protecting you from spam.

Most blog comments these days are generated by AI or Bots. However, it can be a useful way to connect with your community, and it’s free.

Comment Settings

If you allow people to comment, be aware that many “comments” are AI slop generated by Bots. Protect yourself with these essential settings:

  • Require name and email (prevents anonymous spam)
  • Hold comments for moderation if they contain links (stops automated spam)
  • Turn off comments on posts older than 90 days (reduces old-post spam)

Email Notifications

Set up email notifications for comments that need moderation, but disable notifications for published comments. This keeps you in control without overwhelming your inbox.

Save changes.

5. Media Settings: Keep Your Images Organized

Managing your blog’s images might not seem exciting, but proper media settings prevent your site from slowing to a crawl or eating up your storage space.

Image Sizes

WordPress automatically creates multiple sizes of each image you upload. Let’s set them up smartly:

  • Thumbnail: 150 x 150 pixels
  • Medium: 300 x 300 pixels
  • Large: 1024 x 1024 pixels

File Organization

By default, WordPress organizes uploads by month and year. Keep this on. Storing all your photos in one folder will make your website slower.

Save changes.

6. Permalink Settings: Create Search-Friendly Links

Settings > Permalinks

Your permalink structure affects how easy it is for people (and search engines) to find your content. The right setup makes your links clean, clear, and memorable.

Select either “Post name” or “Category/Post Name” as your permalink structure. This will create URLs that look like:
“yourblog.com/cookie-recipe” or “yourblog.com/chocolate/cookie-recipe”

Do NOT use: “yourblog.com/?p=123”

There was a PhD in San Francisco with a popular interview show about new technology on major media. Her articles were on page three of Google, while the people talking about her show were on page one.

She did all the work and other people merely talked about it, yet they got all the credit. This was because her Permalinks Settings made no sense to the search engines.

Save changes.

7. Privacy Settings: Protect Your Readers

Privacy is a real concern. WordPress has provided a Privacy Page Template that you can edit. Use it.

Privacy isn’t just about following rules – it’s about building trust with your readers. These settings help you stay compliant while being transparent.

Privacy Policy Page

WordPress creates a basic privacy policy page automatically. Take a few minutes to customize it with:

  • How you collect and use email addresses
  • What cookies your site uses
  • How people can contact you

You can simply remove the “Suggested Text:” and publish your page. We have done this when installing your Theme. Review and make any changes.

You can also add a simple cookie notice that pops up when people first visit your site. Most themes include this feature – just activate it in your privacy settings.

Save changes.

8. User Settings: Secure Your Account

WordPress powers almost half of the internet. This popularity also makes it a popular target. Your user settings are your blog’s first line of defense against hackers. Let’s make them strong but manageable.

Display Name

Your Administrator username should be treated like a password. It can contain numbers, lowercase letters, and UPPERCASE letters, but not other characters.

If BahaiWebsites has set up your website, a strong username will be used. Usernames cannot be changed.

Users > All Users > [username] or
Users > Profile

Choose a display name that’s different from your username. This simple change makes it harder for hackers to guess your login credentials.

Before: username “lisasmith” and display name “lisasmith”
After: username “lisasmith” and display name “Lisa”

Save changes.

10. Email Settings: Stay Connected Without Getting Overwhelmed

Your blog will send various notifications, from comment alerts to update reminders. Let’s set these up to work for you, not against you.

Email Notification Strategy

Choose notifications thoughtfully:

  • Comments awaiting moderation: ON (catch spam quickly)
  • Published comment: OFF (avoid inbox overload)
  • Plugin/theme updates: ON (stay secure)


Consider creating a separate email folder for blog notifications. It keeps your main inbox clear while ensuring you don’t miss anything important. I check mine twice a day – morning and evening – which helps maintain boundaries while staying responsive.

11. Security Settings: Protect Your Hard Work

The final piece of the puzzle is securing your blog. These settings create a strong foundation for your site’s security.

BahaiWebsites’ Essential Security Steps

  1. Enable automatic updates for minor WordPress versions
  2. Restrict file editing through the dashboard
  3. Turn on SSL if your host provides it

Next Steps and Quick Reference

Now that you’ve configured these essential WordPress settings, your blog has a solid foundation. Keep this guide handy – you might want to revisit these settings as your blog grows.

Remember:

  • Save changes after adjusting each section
  • Test your site after major changes
  • If you use a laptop, look at it on mobile, and vice versa
  • Keep your login information secure
  • Update WordPress regularly

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How often should I review these settings?
A: Do a quick check monthly, focusing on security and discussion settings. Other settings typically only need attention when your blog strategy changes.

Q: What if I make a mistake?
A: Most settings can be easily reversed. If something looks wrong, simply change it back. WordPress keeps a log of recent changes in your dashboard.

Q: Do I need to set everything up right away?
A: Focus on security, permalinks, and discussion settings first. The rest you can adjust as you grow more comfortable with your blog.

Ready to take your blog to the next level?

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SEO For Bahá’í Communities

Practical Hierarchy of SEO Needs

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, has been over discussed and is still poorly understood. In this article I’m going to share my personal experience with SEO. I have had both successes and failures. Unlike many, I can prove what I’m saying.

Practical Hierarchy of SEO Needs

Many WordPress users think that installing an SEO plugin is enough to rank well in Google. It took us years of trial and error to create a comprehensive approach to WordPress SEO.

Over the past decade, we’ve helped countless website owners improve their search rankings. During this time, we’ve identified the exact steps that make the biggest impact on SEO success – without getting lost in technical complexities.

We’ve distilled all this knowledge into a simple WordPress SEO checklist that anyone can follow, regardless of their technical expertise.

Let’s use this graphic as an example. We are going to work our way to the top – literally and figuratively. This article will have seven steps to understanding Practical SEO for Bahá’í Communities – without plugins, without advertising, without commissions. Let’s go.

Crawl accessibility (so engines can reach and index your content). It should go without saying, this is essential. First, go check your WordPress Dashboard. When WordPress was installed, there is a checkbox to block the search engines.

Settings > Reading

I once saved a client $30,000 USD. He had been using his new website for several months but it wasn’t showing up in his Google searches.

I offered to take a look at it for him. The developers had checked this box during the build and had not unchecked it when they delivered the website. I checked his website and unchecked this checkbox in his Settings page. I saved him $30,000; I could have charged him more than I did.

Uncheck the “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” checkbox in your WordPress Dashboard.

There is another way that your website can be blocked.

In this example, have the correct website, and we can see that the Cambodia community has a beautiful new website. It’s quite an improvement over the last one.

Bahá'í House of Worship in Battambang, Cambodia
Bahá’í House of Worship in Battambang, Cambodia

But when we search for “bahai temple cambodia” the first item in the Search Results Page is TripAdvisor.

When we search for “bahai temple cambodia” the first item in the Search Results Page is TripAdvisor

This means something is wrong. For humans, this usually isn’t a big problem. The correct website is directly below TripAdvisor, and we can just click on that link.

This illustrates the problem. Machines – even AI – can’t think. we must do it for them. It is the human’s job to make sure the machine does what we want.

To www or not to www

In the early days of the internet, every website was written as http://www.example.com. Later, http became https to force the security and reduce spamming and scamming. Along the way developers began dropping the “www” also.

Partly this is because extra letter takes longer, and also longer names means a bigger change for errors and typos.

There is a difference between “www.example.org” and “example.org.” These can be two different websites. In the modern world, most developers choose redirect these to the same website.

However, if Google can’t find your website, something should be done.

This is the same address used above, but in this example Google’s search tool can’t find the website, either.

There are a couple ways to do this. The old fashioned method is by uploading a file called “htaccess” it’s very effective, and very powerful when misused. An easier method is with cPanel. For BahaiWebsites, you would go here and flip the switch:

Log in > My Products > Web Hosting > Manage > cPanel > Domains

Flip the Off/On switch in your cPanel to Force HTTPS Redirect.

Compelling Content (that answers the searcher’s query). This isn’t as simple as unchecking a checkbox, but there are some very simple things you can do.

It is essential that your content is easy to read. It plays a massive role in getting higher rankings because blogs that are easier to read often rank higher than those that are hard to read.

Visitors scan through your content, and you have a very short time to convince them to stay on your website. Studies show that people spend less than a second deciding whether to exit or stay on the page.

A simple way for beginners is to first make an outline, grouping sections of your content under headings (h2, h3, h4, etc). This is basic to any article but many sidestep this. In HTML, this is important.

The title of your article is the “h1” tag. There should be only one. Tags with h2 are second, and h3 are third, and h4 are next. Your article should include at least three h2 tags and three or more h3 tags, with paragraphs for each heading. Writing is much easier with an outline.

Write short sentences, use bulleted lists, break long chunks of paragraphs into smaller paragraphs, and consider adding a table of contents.

Adding images, videos, and other multimedia can also enhance readability and make your content more engaging. Be sure to describe your photos in the “alt” tag.

Keyword Optimized (to attract searchers and engines). Use the words that people are using when they search on Google. There are many tools to improve readability, but one writer’s trick helps many people: write for one person. Another thing you can try is to speak it into your phone.

Most of your visitors don’t always read the entire article. They scan the information to find interesting bits.

People are lazy, so keep your sentences short and your paragraphs short, as well. Keeping your sentences short and using fewer sentences per paragraph makes your content easy to scan.

You should also consider replacing difficult words with words that are more common and easy to understand. Difficult vocabulary makes it harder to scan your pages.

Great user experience (including a fast load speed, ease of use, and compelling UI on any device). Google’s Pagespeed Insights covers each of these well. Over 200 audits are separated into four categories: Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, and (technical) SEO.

Red, Yellow, Green

Each of these categories is scored on a percentage basis, and colored like stoplights: red, yellow, and green. Scores 90% and above are acceptable colored green, below that are areas that need work and are colored yellow, and below 50% are fails and colored red.

An example of a PageSpeed score
An example of a PageSpeed score

This tester, includes specific items that need work, and offers suggestions on how to fix the errors. A perfect 400 score is nearly impossible for modern websites. But all green scores is desirable and possible.

Share-worth content (that earns links, mentions, and shares). Honestly, have you come across something really useful, and linked to it or share it? Create something like that.

Every link that goes to a website, improves it’s rank in search engines, and those pages – and other pages in that website – rank higher in search results.

This can mean gathering data from the real world and putting it online, or gathering data that’s online in different places into one source. This is work, but valuable and can be rewarding.

Buttons should big enough for thumbs, easy to see and read. If you want visitors to call you, have your phone number clearly visible.

Title, URL, and Description (to draw high CTR in the rankings). The title is most important. It should match either the question or the answer of your article. The URL is the web page title. Description should be summarized in the second paragraph.

Snippet or schema markup (to stand out in SERPs). A snippet is a quote or an excerpt or phrase. Schema is labeling your information.

Humans can tell a phone number from an address (both being numbers) but machines have to guess. Make it easy for them to get it right.

Internal links (links to other pages on your website) are part of the authority and ranking method, if your own content is valuable, tell your visitors and link to it. A good way to do this automatically is with “related Posts.”

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One Thing

Dearest Friends,

There is one thing, a very small thing, that you can do. Doing just this one thing will help build a strong, vibrant Bahá’í community – word-wide. It’s easy, it’s simple, and it didn’t cost me anything. It probably won’t cost you anything, either. In fact, I have a gift for you.

The one thing you can do for every Bahá’í National Community on the planet is to link to their website. Links build authority. To make this easy, we created a free download. Download our free subfooter for your website. See the National Bahá’í Communities section below.

One Million Lights

Path of Service

A few years ago I began looking for a path of service. I’m old, my skills are valid but old fashioned. I don’t know social media very well. I tried several things. I took a look at the national websites at the world center. Most of them look great. Then I tested them. There are some things that could be better, and I am open to helping where I can. I do know websites.

There is one thing that every community can do!

I have a vision. I began building a network. But to tell you what that is, I need to back up just a bit. I want to tell you how I learned this, and how it can help all of us. You see, I was away from the Faith for a while – a long while – but that’s another story. This not about making money or affiliate links, or ads, or commissions. None of that!

Driving for Uber

I starting making websites in 2003, but up until 2015, I had enough work to pay the bills. I was successful building sites on several platforms. In 2015, I began looking for ways to earn extra money. That’s when I looked on Craigslist for a side job. I saw an ad that said “you have the license, I have the car, drive for Uber and we can split the income 50:50”. So, I signed up with the owner’s affiliate link and began driving. Every week I got paid, made a screenshot, and sent the owner half. After 50 trips, I got a sign-up bonus from Uber. When I got a bonus, he also got a bonus. The car owner was really interested in the Uber sign-up bonus. and began signing up new drivers. I was soon out of a job.

The Best Website

That’s when I realized that I didn’t need a car to sign up new Uber drivers, I needed a website. And, I knew how to build websites! So I got busy and made the very best website I could. It was technically the best I knew how to make it, and tested it many times, to make sure. Then I answered all the questions people had been asking me. It was perfect.

Cost Zero Dollars

What I’m saying by this, is that I put all my effort into the website. I spent zero dollars on advertising, marketing, promoting and the song and dance show. I made a livable income for the next five years from one website, one product, one time. OK, I put a lot of effort into that website. I worked and worked on it for maybe a month or two. It was good – really good.

Website Marketing

I learned several marketing secrets in making that website. Test it in Google’s website tester. It needs to be technically successful. This means it must be fast (nobody likes a slow website), accessible (put the buttons where people expect them), follow best practices (designer colors can be hard to read), and SEO (ask and answer the questions people actually are asking). People are lazy. Provide valuable information, that people will link to instead of create themselves.

I taught my website to do the marketing.

What I learned about marketing the Uber site, is that backlinks are, in part, the definition of authority online. The more websites that link to your content, the higher your website ranks, and the more authority you have. In social media this would be members, followers, shares, mentions, etc. In websites, it’s links to your website or specific pages on your website.

Unity in Diversity

We have diversity in languages, countries, and clothing. We also have online diversity in styles, platforms, and web hosting. We already have unity in linking to bahai.org and some of the other websites at the World Center, the Media Bank, Bahá’í Library, The House of Justice, etc. What will increase the ranking, and therefore the authority, is for all the national community websites to link to the other sites at the World Center – and to each other. This will create a de facto network of Bahá’í websites.

“…for the more we love each other, the nearer we shall be to God.”
– ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

View Source

You don’t need to be a web developer to find and copy the links to the national communities – it’s public knowledge. In fact, that’s why it’s on the internet. All browsers have a feature called “view source” to see the HTML on any website. Anyone can copy this and paste it into their own website. That’s what I have done at BahaiWebsites – and why I did it.

Free Download

If this seems too complicated, relax. I have a gift for you. It’s HTML, it’s not code. Languages like PHP, JavaScript, and others are “dynamic” and can do many powerful things. HTML is a “static” language, and is very safe because of this limitation. I have downloaded the national community links from bahai.org, simplified it to remove some classes and styles. It’s a free and easy HTML download in text.zip form.

Download the Footer.php.zip here

Need Help?

If that somehow feels dangerous, I have made it even easier for you. This is how it would be styled for a WordPress page. The websites are categorized exactly like they are a bahai.org (alphabetically by continent, then country) because that is where I got them. If you have a WordPress website, this may work without any changes. If you have a different platform, you may need to keep the divs but remove the classes. Just copy this and paste it into your website. I prefer to place this just above the footer. That way, you do it once, and it’s available from every page.

This file is formatted for WordPress. If you need help installing it, please let us know. We have experience with HTML, Bootstrap, Website Builder, WordPress and a few others. We’d be glad to help. There is no charge.

Download the Footer.php.zip here
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VinSail

VinSail is a domain that I bought for sailing. This domain may be for sale.

VinSail is a domain that I bought for sailing. This domain may be for sale. This is also a test of the post type and the css that I added to remove the date from blog posts.