Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
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and running, and come back and review the settings later. However, until you do, you'll find your-
self with some unanswered questions about why your WordPress blog works the way it does.
As you go through setup, there are four categories of things that you want to get right as early in
your blog's life as possible:
•
Setup options
—WordPress asks you a number of questions as you first start your blog or blogs.
Some of these can be changed later; others can't. Spending just a bit of time to get these set-
tings right can help you avoid regrets.
•
Settings
—WordPress has dozens of options divided among a number of headings in an area
called Settings. Most people make at least a halfhearted effort to get settings right when they
start using a new program or web service (or a new car,
for that matter). In WordPress, that's a really good idea.
We show you how to move expertly around the Settings
area, bending WordPress to your will.
•
Other options
—WordPress has a number of options out-
side the Settings area that are important to review during
setup, all mixed in with options you won't worry about
until later, if ever. In this chapter, we point out the ones
that matter.
•
Themes
—WordPress offers over 70 themes to choose from
and gives you a couple of different ways to customize
themes, but unfortunately, none of the customization
options are free. We guide you through the options to help
you get the most bang for your buck (or for no bucks).
note
You might notice a lot of bullets
and short, punchy instructions in
this chapter. We don't mention
every setting, only the ones you
need to pay attention to for most
setups. This is part of our effort to
guide you through a very wide
array of choices as intelligently and
efficiently as possible. We keep
explanations to just the facts to get
you through setup as quickly as
possible, with the best results.
Easy Does It
Blogging has been promoted as a great way to make money. We're not so sure. It's definitely a
worthwhile adjunct to other activities that make money, but actually generating profits directly
from a blog is very difficult for most people, most of the time.
With this in mind, we suggest you think about everything except making money at first. Set up
your blog carefully and let it find its own purpose through your first few weeks or months of posts.
Gradually improve your blog until it looks good, works well, is interesting, and has lots of visitors.
Then consider whether it can potentially generate revenue, and how to do so without putting peo-
ple off. It's all too easy to kill the goose—to drive away your site visitors and step on any “buzz”
you had going—without ever producing any golden eggs.
How Many Visitors Do You Want?
If someone were to ask you what kind of blog you want, you would probably start talking about
your blog's topic. However, in setting up your blog, the type of blog you want has to do with how
widely you want your blog to be read:
