15 Things You Should Do Before Writing a Word

Some people install a new WordPress site more often than they change their underwear. And some people, of course, might install a WordPress site only once or twice in their lives. (And some people, unfortunately, fall into both of these categories.)

Whichever type you are, after you’ve installed WordPress on your domain, there are still a number of things you should do before you ever write a word. Below is a checklist of the fifteen most important steps you should go through before hitting “Publish.”

The Experienced Installer

For the experienced installer, getting your site set up can be somewhat tedious. You know WordPress backwards and forwards, and so there are no decisions you need to think about for your blog. You know what should be on it and what shouldn’t. Installing a new site is just a matter of going through the steps.

But have you ever laid those steps out in a checklist fashion? Or do you need to try to remember everything each time you set up a new site?

If you’re like most, you just go through the process and try to remember everything. And then typically, of course, you forget something until down the road when it starts causing some type of issue for you.

If you are an experienced WordPress installer, then you can take the Quick and Dirty List below and be on your way. You may change it up to suit you, but it’s a good place to start.

The Beginning WordPress User

If you are a beginning WordPress user, or you’re someone who installs a new site infrequently, then the amount of choices you have when beginning a new site can be overwhelming. Some decisions are critical, of course, but some things can wait for later. But which are which?

Not to worry. This set up checklist will highlight the critical areas that you’ll need to address.

How This List is Organized

Some things on this checklist are more critical than others, but instead of listing them in order of importance, we will list them in the order that you find them on your Admin Menu in the Dashboard of your site. This way you’ll be able to start at the top and then just work your way down in a quick and systematic way.

The Quick and Dirty List
(Extensive details below for less experienced installers.)

POSTS SECTION

1. Trash “Hello World” Post
Posts >> All Posts >> (hover over title) Trash

2. Set Default Category
Posts >> Categories >> (hover over title) Quick Edit

LINKS SECTION

3. Delete Links
Links >> All Links >> (click “Name” to select all links) >> (choose “Delete” from pull down menu titled “Bulk Actions”) >> Apply

PAGES SECTION

4. Trash “Sample Page”
Pages >> All Pages >> (hover over title) Trash

APPEARANCE SECTION

5. Install Your Preferred Theme
Appearance >> Themes >> Install Themes tab (default view is “Manage Themes” tab – you will need to select “Install Themes”) >> Activate

6. Install Google Analytics / Statistics
Appearance >> Editor >> (on the right-hand side click “Header (header.php)” >> in your header.php file, find the code </head>) >> (paste your Analytics code directly before </head>) >> Click Update File (at the bottom)

PLUGINS SECTION

7. Delete Default Plugins
Plugins >> Installed Plugins >> (check the “Plugin” box to select all – or manually select what you’d like) >> (choose “Delete” from pull down menu titled “Bulk Actions”) >> Apply

8. Install Desired Plugins
Plugins >> Add New

SETTINGS SECTION

#9-13: Settings >> General

9. Title
10. Tagline
11. Set Your URL to WWW
12. Membership / Registration
13. Timezone

14. Allowing Comments or Not
Settings >> Discussion >> (check or uncheck the boxes according to your preferences) >> Click Save Changes

15. Set Up Permalinks / Pretty URLs
Settings >> Permalinks >> (choose permalink structure or create your own) >> Click Save Changes

Set-Up Checklist with Explanations

For those who may need more explanation, please see the expanded list below.

POST SECTION

“All Posts” Subsection

1. Trash “Hello World” Post

By default, WordPress comes with one post already published titled “Hello World” in order to show you what a post (and a comment) looks like once it’s published. You’ll want to trash this.

Posts >> All Posts >> (hover over title) Trash

Once you trash the post, you will see Trash (1) near the top of the page. Click on that to go to the Trash section, and then hit the “Empty Trash” button.

“Categories” Subsection

2. Set Default Category

With a new WordPress install, the default category is called “Uncategorized.” You should change this to something more appropriate for the theme of your site.

Posts >> Categories >> (hover over title) Quick Edit

After changing the title, remember to hit the “Update Category” button.

LINKS SECTION

“All Links” Subsection

3. Delete Links

WordPress comes with a number of links in your Links section. All of these can be deleted.

Links >> All Links >> (click “Name” to select all links) >> (choose “Delete” from pull down menu titled “Bulk Actions”) >> Apply

PAGES SECTION

“All Pages” Subsection

4. Trash “Sample Page”

Like the “Hello World” post, WordPress also comes with a published “Sample Page” to show you what pages look like. You should delete this page in the same manner you deleted the “Hello World” post – trash it and then go empty your trash.

Pages >> All Pages >> (hover over title) Trash

APPEARANCE SECTION

“Themes” Subsection

5. Install Your Preferred Theme

If you have a theme that you would like to use, then install it and activate it. If you are planning on looking for a new theme, then it’s recommended to skip this step for the time being and go searching for a theme after you have completed the other steps in the set up process.

Looking for a theme you like can take a long time, and you are likely to get sidetracked if you go searching for a theme at this point.

Appearance >> Themes >> Install Themes tab (default view is “Manage Themes” tab – you will need to select “Install Themes”) >> Activate

If you have a theme on your computer that you would like to use, then choose the “Upload” link. All the other options on this page are for searching the WordPress theme directory.

Once you have chosen a theme, remember to “Activate” it.
“Editor” Subsection

6. Install Google Analytics / Statistics

Of course you’re going to want to check out all your site’s statistics, even from Day 1. Google Analytics is probably the best free way to do that.

If you aren’t registered with Analytics, then you can get signed up here. You can find instructions on the site for setting up a domain and getting your Analytics code. Once you have that code, you will need to insert it into your theme’s header file before it will begin tracking your site.

(Note: If you prefer not touch your theme’s code, then there are plugins you can get that will insert the code for you. See the plugins section below for a few suggestions. … Some themes also have a space for Analytics code in the theme, so you may want to check for this.)

Appearance >> Editor >> (on the right-hand side click “Header (header.php)” >> in your header.php file, find the code </head>) >> (paste your Analytics code directly before </head>) >> Click Update File (at the bottom)

PLUGINS SECTION

“Installed Plugins” Subsection

7. Delete Default Plugins

Currently WordPress comes with two plugins by default – Akismet and Hello Dolly.

Akismet is an anti- spam plugin. It requires an API key (i.e. you have to sign up to use it). If you are planning on making money with your site, then you’ll also need to pay for it. Many people who make money with their sites prefer to use a free anti-spam plugin. If that’s your case, then you can delete Akismet. (You can always reinstall it later if you decide you want to use it.)

Hello Dolly is plugin that inserts random lyrics from the song “Hello, Dolly” on your blog. Why do you need this, you ask? You don’t. It’s a holdover from the very beginning days of WordPress. And while it can be configured to do other things, you probably won’t ever get around to it. That being the case, it’s better to say, “Goodbye, Dolly.”

Plugins >> Installed Plugins >> (check the “Plugin” box to select all – or manually select what you’d like) >> (choose “Delete” from pull down menu titled “Bulk Actions”) >> Apply

“Add New” Subsection

8. Install Desired Plugins

While you don’t need the default plugins, there are a few plugins you should install.

Anti-Spam Plugin – If you choose not to use the default Akismet plugin, you should get some other type of anti-spam plugin. Even if you don’t open up your comments to the public, spammers will still spam your comments file with automatic bots.

ANTI-SPAM PLUGIN SUGGESTIONS

• WPMU Dev’s Premium Comment Spam Pack
• Bad Behavior Plugin
• WP-Hashcash

SEO Plugin – WordPress is pretty good out of the box for SEO (search engine optimization); however, having a good SEO plugin can still help you get more traffic from the search engines.

SEO PLUGIN SUGGESTIONS

• WPMU Dev’s Premium SEO
• All-in-One-SEO-Pack

Google Analytics Plugin – If you prefer not to touch your theme’s file in order to install your Google Analytics, you can get a plugin to install the code for you. Below are two plugins that will do the trick.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS PLUGIN SUGGESTIONS

• Google Analytics Plugin
• Google Analyticator Plugin – This plugin shows some stats in your dashboard.

Plugins >> Add New

Like the themes directory page, if you have a plugin on your computer that you’d like to use, you should choose “Upload” in order to install it.

You can search the WordPress plugin directory for these types of plugins or others you might want. All the other options on this page are for searching the WordPress plugin directory.

Once you have chosen a plugin, remember to “Activate” it.

SETTINGS SECTION

“General” Subsection

#9-13: Settings >> General

9. Title

Make sure the title of your site is what you’d like it to be.

10. Tagline

Make sure the tagline of your site is what you’d like it to be. The tagline is typically printed just below your title in the header section of many themes if you choose to use it. The tagline is a good place to put keywords related to your site and/or a USP (unique selling point) – a slogan that sets you apart from your competition.

11. Set Your URL to WWW

On the General Settings page you will see your site’s URL listed twice (“WordPress address” and “Site address”). There is a good chance that your URL is NOT the WWW version. In other words, it probably looks like this:

http://blackberryindonesia.com

Your site will work either way, but it’s better to have only one version of your site (www or non-www). One reason for this is that if others link to your site’s homepage in two different ways, the authority of those links may get diluted. (Some of the authority will go to the www version, and some of the authority will go to the non-www version.) The reason to choose the www version of your site is that many people naturally think of web addresses as being www.something.something.

There’s no use fighting the tide. It’s better to change your site’s address to the www version.

http://www.blackberryindonesia.com

Remember, there are TWO places to change this:

Settings >> General >> WordPress address (URL)

AND

Settings >> General >> Site address (URL)

12. Membership / Registration

You will need to decide if you are going to let visitors register for your site or not. In most cases for WordPress sites, this depends on whether you will require visitors to be registered in order to post comments. (We will talk about more comment controls later.)

If you are planning to allow comments on your site, and you are also planning to require visitors to register in order to comment, then you will need to enable registration. If not, you can skip this step.

General >> Membership >> (check box titled “Anyone can register”)

13. Timezone

You will want to make sure your site has the right timezone for you. By default, you will see your Timezone set to UTC. (UTC stands for Coordinated Universal Time. It is a standard by which time is regulated worldwide.)

Your time zone is either 0 UTC (if you live in Greenwich, England, for example), or it is number ahead or behind 0 UTC (such as UTC-5 or UTC+7), depending on where you are in the world.

But you do not need to know any of that. WordPress has made choosing your time zone easier by including a number of major cities from around the world. Simply use the pull down menu to find a city that is in the same time zone as you.

Settings >> General >> Timezone >> (use pull down menu to select a city in the same time zone as you)

>> CLICK “SAVE CHANGES” – Most likely, you have made a lot of changes in this section. Don’t forget to click the “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page!

“Discussion” Subsection

14. Allowing Comments or Not

One big decision you will need to make is whether you are going to allow comments or not. By default, WordPress is set up to allow comments. If you do not want to allow comments (or don’t want to allow them yet), you will need to edit this section.

In this section, you can also put other parameters on commenting such as requiring visitors to register in order to comment. (Remember, if you do this, you will need to check the “Membership” box that we talked about in Step #12.)

Settings >> Discussion >> (Check or uncheck the boxes according to your preferences.) >> Click Save Changes

“Permalinks” Subsection

15. Set Up Permalinks / Pretty URLs

The last thing to do is to turn your URLs from ugly web addresses (like http://www.example.com/?post_id=2) into web addresses that make more sense to both your visitors and the search engines (like http://www.example.com/top-5-recipes-for-chocolate-cake).

WordPress currently gives you a way to easily change your URLs three different ways. However, there are many more ways to set up your URLs if you use the “Custom Structure” option available to you.

One of the biggest advantages to have a “pretty permalink” is that it can help (at least somewhat) with SEO. Because of this, most people like to include at least their title in their permalink, like the example above:

http://www.example.com/top-5-recipes-for-chocolate-cake

In this case, the title of the post was “Top 5 Recipes for Chocolate Cake.”

But you might also want to include your category too, so it might look like this (if your category is “Cakes”)

http://www.example.com/cakes/top-5-recipes-for-chocolate-cake

Or it would look like this if your category is “Desserts.”

http://www.example.com/desserts/top-5-recipes-for-chocolate-cake

If you choose to set up a custom permalink structure, then there are a number of tags for you to use. You can find a list of different available tags here. (You can also find a link to this page on your Permalink Settings page.)

We’ll go over a few common permalink structures that many people like to use. If you find one that suits you, then you can just copy these tags into the “Custom Structure” box on the Permalink Settings page.

1. Postname only

Looks like this: http://www.example.com/top-5-recipes-for-chocolate-cake
Tags (put this in the box): /%postname%/

2. Category/Postname

Looks like this: http://www.example.com/desserts/top-5-recipes-for-chocolate-cake
Tags (put this in the box): /%category%/%postname%/

3. Category/Postname/Date

Looks like this: http://www.example.com/desserts/top-5-recipes-for-chocolate-cake/2011/10/20
Tags (put this in the box): /%category%/%postname%/%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/

You can obviously switch any of these tags up in any order. Just remember to put /% before the tag and %/ after the tag (but DON’T DOUBLE the slashes //).

Settings >> Permalinks >> (choose permalink structure or create your own) >> Click Save Changes

The Advantages of Checklists

Checklists are great. They keep you on track and keep you from wasting time trying to remember everything.

This checklist may not be suited exactly to your tastes, but it should at least provide a starting point for you. I’d encourage you to go through it the next time you set up WordPress and edit it to your liking. Every install you do thereafter should go at least twice as smooth.

To start with, I want to move my sites from GoDaddy to HostGator (my other sites are on Coolhandle who are even more useless than GoDaddy but I’ve got to start somewhere).

Before you get started it’s a good idea to tell anyone who works on the site that you’re migrating it and they should not make any changes to it until the migration is complete.

1. Backup your Database

First of all make a backup of your database. If you’re working on GoDaddy or something similar you’ll find your MySQL DBs under Databases > MySQL

Click the database you want to back up and enter the login details. Make sure you change your database type to English (UTF-8) when you log in.

Tip: If you can’t remember your database password you’ll find it in your wp-config.php file

Click on your database.

At the top you’ll see a tab that says “Export” click here.

Now you’ll be presented with options of what you wish to back up. Make sure that all of your database tables are selected, along with SQL.

Under Structure, make sure that the following are selected:

• Structure
• Add DROP TABLE / VIEW / PROCEDURE / FUNCTION
• Add IF NOT EXISTS
• Add AUTO_INCREMENT’
• Enclose table and field names with backquotes

Make sure the “Data” checkbox is ticked.

You should end up with something that looks a bit like this:

Select “Save as File” and then click “Go”

Your database will back up. It may take a few minutes, depending on the size of your database.

2. Create Your New Database

Now I’m going to hop over to Hostgator where I’ll create my new database.

Log in to CPanel (or Plesk) on your new host and look for where you can create a new MySQL database. In Hostgator it’s about 2/3rds of the way down the page. Click on “MySQL Databases”.

Add the new database name.

Add a database user, or add an existing user to the database. I’m going to use one that I’ve already created.

3. Import Your Site’s Database

Once you have created your user return to your CPanel homepage. Scroll down until you find phpMyAdmin.

Click on the database that you want to access.

Look for the import tab at the top bar.

Browse for the file you want to import. Leave the character set as utf-8.

Make sure the Format is set to SQL. Click “Go.”

Leave it to do its thing.

Once it’s ready it’ll let you know. Your database for your site now has a new home on your new host (which isn’t stupid GoDaddy – w00t!)

Tip: if you are using a host which allows outside access to your MySQL databases you can use a trick from Vladimir Prelovac to avoid any downtime to your site. Unfortunately, it’s not going to work with Hostgator.

4. Download your Site

Open up your favorite FTP program and navigate to your site. Download all of the files onto your computer. This might take a while – go make a cup of tea!

Open up wp-config.php and update the MySQL details with your new database.

You will need to change the following:

• Db_name
• Db_user
• Db_password
• Db_host

5. Upload Your Site

With your new wp-config.php details inserted you’re ready to upload your site onto your server. Using your FTP program drag and drop the files you want onto your server.

6. Change Your Nameservers

Unless you have transferred your domain to your new hosting company, you’ll need to update your nameservers. This process can take anything from 2 hours to 48 hours.

Log into your Domain Manager. Select the site you want to edit and then click “Nameservers”

Click “Set Nameservers”.

You will get your new nameservers from your new host. When I signed up with Hostgator they came with the account info email.

Wait!

My site took about 10 minutes to transfer the nameservers – so you might be lucky! You can do a Whois lookup on DNS Stuff to see if your nameservers have moved.

And that’s it – your site is moved to your new host. Easy! Now I’ve only got another few dozen to do….

How to SEO WordPress

• Permalinks - WordPress’ tool for customizing your blog links;
• Meta descriptions - set a correct meta description for each page/post you make to improve your ranking in the search results;
• Optimize your images - allow search engines to correctly index your images;
• Use Headings - the proper structure of your articles will rank your content higher;

How to use Permalinks to optimize your WordPress website

WordPress gives you the freedom to set your links the way you want them to look like. In the administrative area of WordPress go to Settings -> Permalinks. On this page you can choose from several predefined options or use a custom structure for your links.

You can choose the Custom Structure option and enter /%postname%/ for example. This will make your links look likehttp://yourdomain.com/the-name-of-your-post/. Or you can enter /%category%/%postname%/ if you want to include the name of your category in the URL. You can also add custom text or other WordPress variables. The full list of available variables that you can use in your permalinks can be found at the WordPress official website.

How to optimize your meta descriptions

You should enter the meta description for each one of your pages. Use simple but informative sentences. The search engines will check how relevant your description is to the actual content of your page so  make sure that you describe only the current page and avoid adding irrelevant information in this description.

It is a good practice to categorize your posts in articles. Once you go to the Posts -> Categories page in your admin area, note the description field available for each category. WordPress will take what you enter in this field and insert it as meta description for the category.

How to optimize your images

It is essential to have the “title” and “alt” tags specified for each one of the images you use in your posts. The search engines will then know what this image is supposed to represent. Typing the title and alt tags for each image you use, however, can be a time-consuming task. Instead, you can use the handy SEO Friendly Images plugin. For more information on how to install this plugin, you can check our tutorial on How to install WordPress plugins.

Once you install the plugin, go to Settings -> SEO Friendly Images in your WordPress admin area. On this page you can specify the ALT and TITLE tags for your images. The plugin gives you the option to use internal variables such as %title,%name and %category. With them you can set the ALT and TITLE tags of your images to the title of your post for example. The plugin does the rest. This saves you a lot of time  and keeps your images SEO-friendly .

How to use Headings to optimize your WordPress blog

You should make sure that you use the <h1> tag only for the titles of your posts.

You should use a few <h2> tags and as many <h3> tags as you need for the other headings in your posts. Doing this will allow the search engines to index the important information from your website better. A good document has headings and subheadings, because headings make it easier to determine the subject of the page.

For blog websites the best SEO practice is to set the title of your post in a heading1 tag. Most of the good WordPress templates do that. If not, you should modify the theme in order to achieve a correct output of your pages.

In the default WordPress installation, there are a couple of themes you can choose from. You can find the themes in your WordPress administration area > Appearance > Themes.

You can change the theme simply by clicking on the desired theme and then Activate <theme name>.

How to install a WordPress Theme?

If you would like to use a different WordPress theme for your blog web site, first of all you will have to download it to your local machine. You can visit our Wordpress themes gallery and download free themes from there:

Once you have the new WordPress theme on your local hard drive, you have to upload it under the ‘wp-content/themes’ directory of your website. You have two options to do that:

• You can upload the .zip file of the theme in the ‘wp-content/themes’ directory via the File Manager and extract it online, or
• Extract the file in your computer and then to upload the content in the desired folder via FTP.

Now, that you have the new theme uploaded on your site in the right folder, you can see it in your WP admin panel and select it as a default theme for your site.

In WordPress your visitors have the option to leave comments on your site. This feature creates a dynamic interchange between you and your readers.

Moderate comments

You can moderate your visitors’ comments via the Comments menu in the WordPress administrator backend.

Comment options

You have a number of options that you can set for your Comments. They are listed under Settings > Discussion.

This is the place where the site administrator decides:

• if comments are allowed,
• if pingbacks and trackbacks are acceptable,
• and what constitutes Comment Spam.

Create a new category in WP

A new category can be created from the Posts menu > Categories.

Change the category of a post

In order to move a post from one category to another, you should click on Edit in the Posts menu, hover over the post you wish to edit and click Quick Edit.

From the Categories section select the new category (in our case the Test category) and click Update Post to save the change.

Delete a category

Note that deleting a category does not delete posts from that category. It will just set them back to the default category Uncategorized.

• Dashboard
  Here you can see the latest news from the WordPress developer’s site.
• Write
  This is the place where you can share your thoughts and ideas with the world by writing posts and pages or editing the existing ones.
• Manage
  This is actually where you can manage the content of your site. You can see lists of all your Posts, Pages, Categories and Comments, read and edit them. Here you can also edit your Templates and other files used in your blog.
• Links
  Here you can add links to your favorite web sites. They can be organized by category, have internal references about your relationship to their destinations, be automatically associated with images, and can even be rated on a scale from zero to nine.
• Presentation
  From that part of Administrator’s area you can manage the way your content will be shown to the visitors of your blog. Here you can change the themes and add new from the developer’s site.
• Plugins
  This is the place, where you can manage the existing plugins and add new ones from the developer’s site. Every plugin comes with the description about its functionality and instruction how to enable it.
• Users
  Here you can manage your user’s profiles or add new users to your blog. This way they also will be able to add content to your blog.
• Options
  This is the place where you can manage all the configuration settings for your blog. This section includes general, writing, reading, discussion, miscellaneous options and customization of permalink structure.
• Import
  Here you can import posts or comments from another system into your current blog.

All you need to do is sign up for a hosting account, and have the WordPress application installed. Here at SiteGround we offer FREE WordPress installation! With our Wordpress hosting package you can start creating your site right away! If you already have a hosting account and would like to change your host, we offer free website transfer of WordPress sites.

Once you have your WordPress blog installed, you need to log in to the WordPress administration area from where you can write posts and articles, manage comments, change your theme, etc. To log in the WP admin panel, navigate to the WP login page or directly type the URL in your browser:

http://yourdomainname.qi.fi/wp-admin/

Writing a post in WordPress

Writing posts and pages is the core activity in WP. You can start your editorial experience by clicking the Add New button located in the Posts menu:

You can proceed with entering the desired content. Once you are ready, the new post can be published just by clicking thePublish button.

Creating pages in WordPress

Creating individual pages in WordPress is quite similar to writing a post. You should simply click Add New in the Pages menu.

When you are ready with your new page, click Publish to save it.

Other examples of common pages include Copyright, Legal Information, Reprint Permissions, Company Information, and Accessibility Statement. (By the way, it’s a good idea to always have an about page and a contact page — see this advice from Lorelle.)

In general, Pages are very similar to Posts in that they both have Titles and Content and can use your site’s Presentation Templates to maintain a consistent look throughout your site. Pages, though, have several key distinctions that make them quite different from Posts.

What Pages Are:

• Pages are for content that is less time-dependent than Posts.
• Pages can be organized into pages and SubPages.
• Pages can use different Page Templates which can includeTemplate Files, Template Tags and other PHP code.
• Pages may have a more complex array of readily available display adjustments when using certain sophisticated Themes, such as Weaver 2.2.
• In essence, Pages are for non-blog content. It is possible to remove all or most Posts from a WordPress installation, and thus to create a standard non-blog website.

What Pages are Not:

• Pages are not Posts, nor are they excerpted from larger works of fiction. They do not cycle through your blog’s main page. (Note: You can include Posts in Pages by using the Inline Posts Plugin. Sophisticated Themes such as Weaver 2.2 may also enable this capability.)
• Pages cannot be associated with Categories and cannot be assigned Tags. The organizational structure for Pages comes only from their hierarchical interrelationships, and not from Tags or Categories.
• Pages are not files. They are stored in your database just like Posts are.
• Although you can put Template Tags and PHP code into a Page Template, you cannot put these into the content of a Page and expect them to run. (Note: You can achieve this by using a PHP evaluating Plugin such as Exec-PHP.)
• Pages are “technically” not blogs. Pages are not readily included in your site’s RSS feed. Sophisticated users can adjust any such differences. For most users however, Pages and Posts might attract attention in different ways from humans or search engines. Perhaps the greatest difference between Post and Page, in terms of attracting or impressing an audience, lies in whether your Front page is designated for “your latest posts” or “a static page.” Under Dashboard: Settings: Reading: WordPress allows you to experiment between these configurations. This includes the option of having a static Front page, meanwhile still having a blank static inner page for showing “your latest posts.”

Creating Pages

To create a new Page, log in to your WordPress installation with sufficient admin privileges to create new articles. Select the Administration > Pages > Add New option to begin writing a new Page.

Changing the URL (or “Slug”) of Your Pages

If you have Permalinks enabled, and you have selected the Day and Name option (Click the Settings tab, and then click the Permalinks subtab), then the permalink automatically shows up below your post title when you start typing in the body of your post (not just the title).

Permalink settings

However, if you have a different permalink option selected, or if you don’t have permalinks enabled at all, you must do the following to edit your page URL:

1. Write a page by going to Pages > Add New.
2. Click the Publish button to publish your page.
3. Go to Pages > Edit.
4. Click Edit under the name of your page.
5. See the permalink under the title, and click the Edit link to change it.

Pages > Add New

Publish

Edit Permalink

Remember, if you don’t have the right permalink option enabled, you must publish your page before you can set its URLs.

Listing Your Pages on Your Site

WordPress is able to automatically generate a list of Pages on your site, for example within the sidebar, using a Template Tag called wp_list_pages(). See the wp_list_pages page for information on how to do the following:

• Sort the list of Pages (to fully customize the order in which the Pages are listed, you might find the “Page Order” section on the Pages > Add New administration panel
• exclude (or ‘hide’) a Page from the list,
• Control which Pages are displayed (i.e., all Pages or just certain SubPages), and
• Control how deep into your Page hierarchy the list goes.

Naturally, you can also link to Pages manually with an HTML link. For example, if you want your Copyright Page listed in your footer, that link might read as below:
If you do not have Permalinks set up

<a title="Copyright information" href="wordpress/?page_id=14">Copyright 1996-2010</a>

If you do have Permalinks set up

<a title="Copyright information" href="wordpress/copyright/">Copyright 1996-2010</a>

Note: Your .htaccess file must be writeable for Page Permalinks to work, otherwise you must update your .htaccess file every time you create a Page.

Organizing Your Pages

Just as you can have Subcategories within your Categories, you can also have SubPages within your Pages, creating a hierarchy of pages.

For example, suppose you are creating a WordPress site for a travel agent and would like to create an individual Page for each continent and country to which the agency can make travel arrangements. You would begin by creating a Page called “Africa” on which you could describe general information about travel to Africa. Then you would create a series of Pages which would be SubPages to “Africa” and might include “Lesotho”, “Cameroon”, “Togo”, and “Swaziland”. Another individual Page is made for “South America” and would feature SubPages of “Brazil”, “Argentina”, and “Chile”. Your site would then list:

• Africa
  • Cameroon
  • Lesotho
  • Swaziland
  • Togo
• South America
  • Argentina
  • Brazil
  • Chile

To begin the process, go to Administration > Pages > Add New panel, in the upper right corner of the panel and click the “Page Parent” drop-down menu. The drop-down menu contains a list of all the Pages already created for your site. To turn your current Page into a SubPage, or “Child” of the “Parent” Page, select the appropriate Page from the drop-down menu. If you specify a Parent other than “Main Page (no parent)” from the list, the Page you are now editing will be made a Child of that selected Page. When your Pages are listed, the Child Page will be nested under the Parent Page. ThePermalinks of your Pages will also reflect this Page hierarchy.

In the above example, the Permalink for the Cameroon Page would be:

http://example.com/africa/cameroon/

Page Templates

Individual Pages can be set to use a specific custom Page Template (a PHP template file, e.g., snarfer.php) you create within your Theme (see Creating your own Page Templates below on how to create a custom template). This new Page Template will then override the default page.php Page Template included with your Theme. See What Template is used to Display a Particular Page? below, to find out exactly which Template will be used, but read the following first, so you understand the answer 

WordPress can be configured to use different Page Templates for different Pages. Toward the bottom of the Write > Page administration panel (or on the sidebar, depending on which version of WordPress you are using) is a drop-down labeled “Page Template.” From there you can select which Template will be used when displaying this particular Page.

NOTE: In order to access the Page Template selector, there must be at least one custom Page Template available in the active theme (see Creating your own Page Templates below to learn how to create one). If a custom page exists, but you still are not able to see Page Template selector, try to re-activate your current theme.

Default Theme Page Templates

The Default (TwentyEleven) theme contains three Page Templates for your use:

• page.php - Default Page Template: displays Page content
• archives.php - ignores Page content and instead displays a list of Archives by Month and Archives by Subject (by Category)
• links.php - ignores Page content and instead displays your links using wp_list_bookmarks()

What Template is used to Display a Particular Page?

WordPress will look for several template files in your active Theme. The first one it finds will be used to display any given Page. WordPress will look for files in the following order:

1. The Page’s selected “Page Template”
2. page.php
3. index.php

Creating Your Own Page Templates

The files defining each Page Template are found in your Themes directory. To create a new Custom Page Template for a Page you must create a file. Let’s call our first Page Template for our Page snarfer.php. At the top of the snarfer.php file, put the following:

<?php
/*
Template Name: Snarfer
*/
?>

The above code defines this snarfer.php file as the “Snarfer” Template. Naturally, “Snarfer” may be replaced with most any text to change the name of the Page Template. This Template Name will appear in the Theme Editor as the link to edit this file.

The file may be named almost anything with a .php extension (see reserved Theme filenames for filenames you should notuse; these are special file names WordPress reserves for specific purposes).

What follows the above five lines of code is up to you. The rest of the code you write will control how Pages that use the Snarfer Page Template will display. See Template Tags for a description of the various WordPress Template functions you can use for this purpose. You may find it more convenient to copy some other Template (perhaps page.php or index.php) to snarfer.php and then add the above five lines of code to the beginning of the file. That way, you will only have to alterthe HTML and PHP code, instead of creating it all from scratch. Examples are shown below. Once you have created the Page Template and placed it in your Theme’s directory, it will be available as a choice when you create or edit a Page. (Note: when creating or editing a Page, the Page Template option does not appear unless there is at least one template defined in the above manner.)

Examples of Pages and Templates

The following is a list of instructional examples. Feel free to make additions.

Archives with Content

A Page Template that shows the Page’s content at the top, and then displays a list of archive months and categories below it. This is designed to work with WordPress’s Default theme (aka Kubrick), but will probably work with many other themes with a little modification.

Save this to arc-cont.php:

<?php
/*
Template Name: Archives with Content
*/
?>

<?php get_header(); ?>

<div id="content">

 <?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post();?>
 <div>
  <h2 id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>"><?php the_title();?></h2>
  <div>
   <?php the_content('<p>Read the rest of this page &raquo;</p>'); ?>
  </div>
 </div>
 <?php endwhile; endif; ?>
 <?php edit_post_link('Edit this entry.', '<p>', '</p>'); ?>

</div>
<div id="main">

<?php include (TEMPLATEPATH . '/searchform.php'); ?>

<h2>Archives by Month:</h2>
  <ul>
    <?php wp_get_archives('type=monthly'); ?>
  </ul>

<h2>Archives by Subject:</h2>
  <ul>
     <?php wp_list_categories(); ?>
  </ul>

</div>
<?php get_footer(); ?>

A Page of Posts

A Page Template that displays posts from a specific category depending on a Custom Field assigned to a Page. In this example the value of the Custom Field “category” is retrieved and used as the category to retrieve the posts in that category. So if the category of posts you want to display is called “Events” then assign the Custom Field “category” with a value of “Events” to the Page. Note that this will adhere to pagination rules meaning that four (4) posts will display per page with links to older/newer posts provided. This is designed to work with the WordPress Default theme (aka Kubrick), but should work with other themes with a little modification.

Save this to pageofposts.php and then assign PageofPosts as the Template when creating the action Page:

<?php
/*
Template Name: PageOfPosts
*/

get_header(); ?>

<div id="content">

<?php
if (is_page() ) {
$category = get_post_meta($posts[0]->ID, 'category', true);
}
if ($category) {
  $cat = get_cat_ID($category);
  $paged = (get_query_var('paged')) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1;
  $post_per_page = 4; // -1 shows all posts
  $do_not_show_stickies = 1; // 0 to show stickies
  $args=array(
    'category__in' => array($cat),
    'orderby' => 'date',
    'order' => 'DESC',
    'paged' => $paged,
    'posts_per_page' => $post_per_page,
    'caller_get_posts' => $do_not_show_stickies
  );
  $temp = $wp_query;  // assign orginal query to temp variable for later use
  $wp_query = null;
  $wp_query = new WP_Query($args);
  if( have_posts() ) :
		while ($wp_query->have_posts()) : $wp_query->the_post(); ?>
	    <div <?php post_class() ?> id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
        <h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to

<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
        <small><?php the_time('F jS, Y') ?> <!-- by <?php the_author() ?> --></small>
        <div>
          <?php the_content('Read the rest of this entry »'); ?>
        </div>
        <p><?php the_tags('Tags: ', ', ', '<br />'); ?> Posted in

<?php the_category(', ') ?> |

<?php edit_post_link('Edit', '', ' | '); ?>

<?php comments_popup_link('No Comments »', '1 Comment »', '% Comments »'); ?></p>
      </div>
    <?php endwhile; ?>
    <div>
      <div><?php next_posts_link('« Older Entries') ?></div>
      <div><?php previous_posts_link('Newer Entries »') ?></div>
    </div>
  <?php else : ?>

		<h2>Not Found</h2>
		<p>Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.</p>
		<?php get_search_form(); ?>

	<?php endif; 

	$wp_query = $temp;  //reset back to original query

}  // if ($category)
?>

	</div>

<?php get_sidebar(); ?>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

A Page of Posts for a Custom Post Type

A Page displaying the posts belonging to a custom post type. In this case, the custom post type is book. The Template below is designed to work with the WordPress TwentyEleven theme but is best used as a Twenty Ten Child Theme.

<?php
/**
 * Template Name: Page of Books
 *
 * Selectable from a dropdown menu on the edit page screen.
 */
?>

<?php get_header(); ?>

		<div id="container">
			<div id="content">
<?php
$type = 'book';
$args=array(
  'post_type' => $type,
  'post_status' => 'publish',
  'paged' => $paged,
  'posts_per_page' => 2,
  'caller_get_posts'=> 1
);
$temp = $wp_query;  // assign orginal query to temp variable for later use
$wp_query = null;
$wp_query = new WP_Query($args);
?>

<?php

 get_template_part( 'loop', 'index' );?>
			</div><!-- #content -->
		</div><!-- #container -->

<?php get_sidebar(); ?>
<?php get_footer(); ?>

WordPress as a CMS

You can use WordPress for basic content management. If you do, you’ll probably create a large number of pages for your content.

Using a Page as the Front Page

A Page can easily be set to be your site’s Front Page. Visit the Administration > Settings > Reading panel and under Front page displays, you can choose to set any (published) Page or Posts Page as the Front Page. The default setting shows your blog with the latest blog posts.

Templates by page-ID or page-Slug

You can use different archives “page”, with ID or slug in your name. Only Available with Version 2.9.

examples:

• page-{id}.php
• page-{slug}.php

Including a Page

You might also want to include Pages in various places on your site. That way, you can have an easy way to edit elements of your website. There is a Plugin called Improved Include Page that makes doing this easy.

The Dynamic Nature of WordPress “Pages”

A web page can be static or dynamic. Static pages, such as a regular HTML page that you might create with Dreamweaver, are those which have been created once and do not have to be regenerated every time a person visits it. In contrast, dynamic pages, such as those you create with WordPress, do need to be regenerated every time they are viewed; code for what to generate has been specified by the author, but not the actual page itself. These use extensive PHP code which is evaluated each time the page is visited, and the content is thus generated on the fly, upon each new visit.

Almost everything in WordPress is generated dynamically, including Pages. Everything you and others write in WordPress (Posts, Pages, Comments, Blogrolls, Categories, etc.) is stored in your MySQL database. When your site is accessed, that database information is then used by your WordPress Templates from your current Theme to generate the web page being requested. Thus, WordPress information is dynamic, including the information contained in your Pages.

An example of a static page might be an HTML document (without any PHP code) you’ve written as an addition to your dynamically generated WordPress pages, perhaps an “About Me” page. The problem with purely static pages is that they are difficult to maintain. Changes you make to your WordPress settings, Themes and Templates will not be propagated to pages coded only in HTML. The Page feature of WordPress was developed, in part, to alleviate this problem. By usingPages, users no longer have to update their static pages every time they change the style of their site. Instead, if written properly, their dynamic Pages will update themselves along with the rest of your blog.

Despite the dynamic nature of Pages, many people refer to them as being static. In the context of web publishing, static and dynamic mean what has been described above. More generally, however, static can mean “characterized by a lack of change”. It is easy to see how this definition influenced the word’s use in describing types of web pages. It is also easy to see why people think of Pages as being static; Posts come and go, but Pages are here to stay since Pages are typically used to display information about your site which is constant (e.g., information about yourself, description of your site).

In other words, a Page contains static information but is generated dynamically. Thus, either “static” or “dynamic” may be validly used to describe the nature of the WordPress Page feature. However, in order to avoid confusion, and becausePages themselves are dynamic while it is only their contents which are in some way static, this document does not refer toPages as being static.

To upload files, you can use WordPress’s online interface, theDashboard or one of the recommended editors and upload your files via FTP.

This article tells you how to upload files using the Dashboard. To upload files via FTP, read Uploading WordPress to a Remote Host.

About Uploading Files on Dashboard

After you log in to WordPress and click on the Dashboard menu at the top of the screen, you can upload files with the Flash uploader.

Dashboard lets you upload files in the following ways:

• Immediately in a post.
• Immediately in a page.
• For later use in your Media Library.

WordPress supports uploading the following file types:

• jpg
• jpeg
• png
• gif
• pdf
• doc
• ppt
• odt
• pptx
• docx
• pps
• ppsx
• xls
• xlsx

To Upload a File in a Post

1. On the Dashboard menu, click Posts, and then click Add New to display the “Add New Post” page.
2. On the Upload/Insert menu, click the icon for the type of file you want to upload and the “Add media files from your computer” page will appear.
3. Click the Select Files button.
4. In the dialog box, select the file you want to upload.
   To select multiple files, hold down the SHIFT key (for PC users) or the COMMAND key (for Macintosh users).
5. Click Open.
6. When your file uploads, a field appears. At the bottom of the field, click the Insert into Post button.

Note: If you are having problems uploading files with the default Flash uploader, you may want to use the Browser uploader instead.

To Upload a File in a Page

1. On the Dashboard menu, click Pages, and then click Add New to display “Add New Page.”
2. On the Upload/Insert menu, select the icon for the type of file you want to upload and the “Add media files from your computer” page will appear.
   
3. Click the Select Files button to open a dialog box.
4. In the dialog box, select the file you want to upload.
   To select multiple files, hold down the SHIFT key (for PC users) or the COMMAND key (for Macintosh users).
5. Click the Open button.
6. When the upload is complete, a field with your file appears. At the bottom of the field, click the Insert into Postbutton.

To Upload a File for Later Use

1. On the Dashboard menu, click Media and then click Add New to display the “Upload New Media” page.
2. Click the Select Files button to open a dialog box.
3. In the dialog box, select the file you want to upload.
   To select multiple files, hold down the SHIFT key (for PC users) or the COMMAND key (for Macintosh users).
4. Click the Open button.
5. When the upload is complete, a field with your file details appears. Below the field, click Save all changes.

Note: If the file does not open, then the file type is not supported, the chosen format may not match the file’s true format or the file may be damaged.

To Upload a File with the Browser Uploader

1. To upload a file for later use: on the Dashboard menu, click Media, and then click Add New to display the “Upload New Media” page.
   -Or-
   To upload a file in a page: on the Dashboard menu, click Pages, click Add New to display “Add New Page,” and then, on the Upload/Insert menu, click the icon that represents the type of file you want to upload.
   -Or-
   To upload a file in a post: on the Dashboard menu, click Posts, click Add New to view the “Add New Post” page, and then, on the Upload/Insert menu, click the icon that represents the type of file you want to upload.
2. Below the Select Files button, click the link to “Browser uploader.”

1. When the Browser uploader appears, click the Choose File button to display a dialog box.
2. In the dialog box, select the file you want to upload.
   To select multiple files, hold down the SHIFT key (for PC users) or the COMMAND key (for Macintosh users).
3. Click the Upload button.