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New WordPress Blog Install Checklist

Gleb Reys — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 10:16:31 +0000

I’ve recently started new blog, and thought it would be useful for you to know my checklist for making sure the website is build with SEO basics in mind, ready to attract traffic and has its feed delegated to FeedBurner service for easier management.

Update 15/03/2008: – I’ve just noticed how someone liked this post enough to stumble it, so I have made a quick update to the post with some more steps of my new blog routine. Also, please check out the WordPress Plugins Magic website for a ready-made collection of plugins for download.

Here is what I do, feel free to ask questions in comments:

WordPress Setup

Enable Akismet plugin, you’ll need a WordPress API for this
Make all the files under wp-content/themes writable for your webserver – this will allow you to edit themes from WordPress control panel
Create a .htaccess file in the top level directory of your WordPress install, and make it writable for your webserver to allow permalinks config from WordPress control panel

Basic SEO

Enable permalinks, chose the permalink structure wisely – if you’re aiming for a timeless content, don’t use date tags.
Download and activate the SEO Title Tag plugin. Change the options to use category names and blog name in relevant titles if you like.
Download and activate the Google Sitemap Generator plugin. Submit your newly generated sitemap through the Google Webmaster Tools page.

Improve experience for your visitors

Download and activate the Smart Archives plugin , you will probably need to create a separate page for it and put the appropriate tag for it to show the archives.
Register a FeedBurner feed, install and point to it the FeedSmith plugin. Enable the SmartFeed option in FeedBurner‘s Optimize section for your new feed.

Open ways for interaction

Set up a comment form (cForms for me – the best forms plugin ever!) – again, you’ll probably want to create a separate page for this.
Download and activate the Sociable plugin (check out my tutorial on configuring it: Must Have Plugins: Sociable)

Hope this helps. My list is never static, I practically reinvent it every time I start a new project, so I’ll be updating this post from time to time.

Moving To or Launching A New Domain

Gleb Reys — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:53:15 +0000

I've switched my Personal Development Ideas blog from greyspk.com domain to a new one – personaldevelopment.ie. It was a planned event and I do know what to expect from such a move – for instance, my Google rankings will inevitably drop and will be regained in 3-6 months, after most of my newly located pages will be indexed and available by Google search.

But SEOmoz have just posted a great article on Expectations and Best Practices for Moving to or Launching a New Domain. What I really liked about this article is not only the realistic expectations set for both scenarios, but also truly the best practices for achieving your goals.

Here are just some of the really good advices given in the article:

Submit and verify your sitemap to Googe's Webmaster Central.
Get as many links to your new domain as possible
Update all your own links to reflect the new domain and not the old, redirected one.
Monitor your logs and contact major resources linking to you to update their links

An excellent article, Rand! Thanks a lot for sharing!

Blogging Glossary: Google Sitemaps Definition

Gleb Reys — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 09:04:48 +0000

I haven't found an easy enough way to highlight the most recent updates to the Blogging Glossary, and so I'll probably be announcing some of the articles there until a better way is found.

I've just created a page with a definition of Google Sitemaps which I think you may find useful, especially if you're new to this technology. Please have a look here: Blogging Glossary: Sitemap.

pS: I'm planning to implement a sidebar plugin which will show a total counter of all the articles in the Blogging Glossary, and will also give a list of the ones most recently created/updated ones. Do you think such a feature will be useful for you? Do you have any other ideas or suggestions? Please let me know! Thanks!