Zero'$ Biz. Course 

Previous Lesson: Guide: How to Get Best SEO Hosting and Quickly Install WordPress? [S1E05]

Next Lesson: How to Outsource Article Writing? Why You Should Do It [S1E07]

 

How to Set Up WordPress? Easy Guide by WordPress Expert [S1E06]

In this easy lesson, WordPress expert will guide you through WordPress set up. You will be able to start publishing your work in less than 1 hour.

 

Don’t know how familiar you are with WordPress. But let’s start with basics.

 

First login to your WordPress. You can use two URL versions yourwebsite.com/wp-admin/ or yourwebsite.com/wp-login.php, use admin login data from the previous lesson.

 

After login you should see something like this:

 

Add Author

First thing I always do is I create my Author user account in my name, or in the name that will be website content author.

I don’t use admin user to post articles. It’s because of website security. Your author account will be public and potential attackers can easily find your username and possibly an email address. So if you get hacked you will still have the admin account and your whole website won’t be compromised. Ok, let’s make our author account.

 

First, hover Users in the menu and click Add New.

And then fill the form.

 

Ok, you will use this Author user in lesson 8 where we will publish our article.

 

Change Theme

Next thing I do is I change the default theme to my beginner’s favorite theme SuperAds. It’s free, fast and simple.

 

To do that:

1. Go to Appearance -> Themes.

2. A new page opens, click Add New here.

3. Search for SuperAds Lite.

4. Click Install.

5. Click Activate.

Ok, now you have a new WordPress Theme installed.

 

Next, add a logo

A logo is the most basic part of a website and we need to have it. You can create it yourself or you can get one done for you.

In the Spreadsheet, I included all the sizes you will need. Not just for the website but for the social networks also. And you will also need the cover graphic. So if you are hiring somebody tell him to do all the sizes you need. Also, tell him to create the cover graphic.

You can use sites like Fiverr, Upwork, 99design etc…

For the WordPress website using SuperAds Lite theme, you will need logo 230×90 pixels and site icon 512×512 pixels.

When you have those two graphics prepared go to Appearance -> Customize.

Than choose Site Identity and upload Logo and Site Icon.

While you are here click back symbol ( < ) and then click Style & Color Options.

Set Primary Navigation and Anchor Text Color. Try to play with it until you match site identity and your vision.

 

Next Settings

Go to Settings -> General.

Set time zone, date and time format.

Then Settings -> Reading and switch to Summary if Full Text is selected.

Last Settings -> Permalinks.

I always pick Custom Structure and then I add this /%category%/%postname%/. That way my articles are shown as …/category/article_name/.

 

Next Contact Form 7 plugin

To add the contact form to our website so visitors can contact us we will use a plugin called Contact Form 7.

First, go to Plugins -> Add New and search for Contact Form 7. Click Install Now and then Activate.

Then go to Contact -> Add New and type in Title. Check all tabs (Form, Mail, Messages and Additional Settings) if everything is how you want it. For example is your Mail right, are messages written as you want them etc.

After you click Save you will see shortcode in blue color under the title. Copy that shortcode and go to Pages -> Add New. Enter title Contact Us and for body paste shortcode you just copied and click Publish.

You now have a working contact form. Save your page slug in the spreadsheet we will need it later.

 

Next, Privacy Policy & Terms Of Service Pages

To protect us from lawsuits we will need to have Terms of Service and Privacy Policy pages on our website.

I’m not a legal advisor so I will tell you how I do it. But I can’t guarantee it will protect you. To be sure how to do this contact your legal support.

Ok here is how I do it. I add two pages on my website. To do that go here Pages -> Add New. Write Terms of Service in the title field and for the body, I use auto generators that you can find online. I will give you two auto generators but there are probably even better ones out there that you can find if you do more research.

Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

After you generate terms of service paste it in the body section and then click Publish. Save your slug in the Spreadsheet we will need it later.

 

Repeat everything for privacy policy. Just add title Privacy Policy and use an auto generator for privacy policy not for terms of service.

 

Next, create a Google Analytics account

To be able to see how many visitors we get and other statistics we need to set up some kind of tracking. Best and most popular one in the world is Google Analytics.

So first create a Google Analytics account. You can do this at this URL: Google Analytics. Or just search Google Analytics in Google Search if my link is changed.

Then create a new property with your website name. And then look for tracking code.

 

Next copy tracking code

Now we need to put that tracking code to our website.

 

To do that go to Plugins -> Add New again and search for WP GDPR Compliance. Click Install Now and then Activate.

Now go to Tools -> WP GDPR Compliance.

Click Consents -> Add New.

Than past your tracking code in Code Snippet box. Fille everything the same way I did. (Disclaimer: I am not legal advisor so to comply with GDPR consult your lawyer. I just explain how I am doing this not how it needs to be done according to law.)

From now on you will be able to see who visited your website. Just open your Google Analytics.

 

Next complete GDPR compliance

There are other things we need to set up. First, click the Integrations tab and enable Contact Form 7. If you will allow comments on your website enable WordPress Comments also. Click Save Changes.

 

Next, click the Settings tab.

Here choose your Privacy Policy page from the drop-down box. The page that we created a few steps above.

Then if you allow comments check Activate page checkbox.

And then Save Changes.

 

Next SEO

We will add SEO (search engine optimization) plugin. This plugin helps you rank better on Google search engine.

Go to Plugins -> Add New and search for Yoast SEO first. Click Install Now and then Activate.

For now, we will only add our social network profiles in Yoast and leave all other options untouched. Go to SEO -> Social and put in social URLs for networks you have (Spreadsheet Lesson S1E04).

 

Next Gallery

We will add a plugin that will:

1. make our images look better,

2. allow our visitors to see images enlarged without leaving the page,

3. allow us to create image galleries.

 

Go to Plugins -> Add New and search for Envira Gallery Lite. Click Install Now and then Activate.

 

Next Facebook Likebox

We will add a plugin that will allow us to show Facebook Likebox in the sidebar.

To do that go to Plugins -> Easy Facebook Likebox. Click Install Now and then Activate.

 

Now go to Appearance -> Widgets. Find Easy Facebook Likebox widget on the left click it and add it to the Sidebar. Put width 300 and your Facebook URL (Lesson S1E04). Also, click the Responsive checkbox and Save.

 

Next Menu

And last we need to set our menus. To do that go to Appearance -> Menus.

We will create 3 menus. One for top menu, one as the main menu and one footer menu.

 

Let’s start with the Top Menu.

1. Click create a new menu link.

2. Write Top Menu into Menu Name field.

3. Click Custom Links and in URL field type your website homepage URL, and for Link Text write Home. Click Add to Menu.

4. Check Top Menu check box.

5. Save Menu.

 

About the Main Menu. Here we will have our categories. You need to create this menu after you add your first category.

So first go to Posts -> Categories.

Fill Name and Description field and click Add New Category.

The category name is one from S1E03 – Content Plan.

Now return to Appearance -> Menus.

1. Click create a new menu link.

2. Write the Main Menu into Menu Name field.

3. Click Categories and find your newly created category. Click Add to Menu.

5. Check the Primary Menu check box.

6. Save Menu.

 

About the Footer Menu.

1. Click create a new menu link.

2. Write the Footer Menu into Menu Name field.

3. Click Custom Links and in URL field type your website homepage URL, and for Link Text write Home. Click Add to Menu.

4. Click Pages and check the Privacy Policy page, Terms of Service page and Contact page. If you can’t find them click View All.

5. Click Add to Menu.

6. Check the Footer Menu check box.

7. Save Menu.

 

And now you have your website ready for content. Next, we will cover how to order articles or if you write them yourself how to do it better.

 

Next Lesson: How to Outsource Article Writing? Why You Should Do It [S1E07]