If you just did a new WordPress install, I have something very important to share with you before you begin publishing. I will keep this post very short because I want to make sure you read it. It is that important.
If you read my post on how to start a blog, you’ll know that I emphasized the importance of having a self-hosted blog. There are several significant reasons for this, but perhaps none more important than the ability to own and maintain your link structure.
Here is a short explanation to clarify what that means…
Every blog post you write has its own unique link. These links are how your post gets indexed and found on search engines like Google, and how your posts get shared on websites, articles, and on social media. In other words, your links are everything… they are the way you get traffic, get found, and ultimately make money. You don’t ever want to change your links once your posts are published.
When you choose to self-host, you own your links. Even if you change from one (paid) host to another, you can still maintain all of your links. It’s kind of like changing from one mobile phone provider to another… you still get to keep you phone number. When you use a free host, you cannot keep your links when you switch (and you will need to switch if want to grow and make money). Enough said on this point… let’s get to the good stuff.
Why Are You Telling Me This?
You are probably wondering what all this paid vs. free hosting has to do with your new WordPress blog. I’ll tell you…
Keeping it simple… it’s still about your links. Now that you are self-hosted and have total control and ownership of your links, you can configure the structure of your links so they help you get more traffic to your blog. (You can self-host with Bluehost if you have not done that yet). What we are going to do is to change the structure of your links so they contain the name of your blog post. This does two things for you:
- It helps with your search engine optimization (SEO)
- It helps people understand what the blog post is about just by reading the link
We can easily configure WordPress to create links with your blog post titles, but we need to do it now, before you start posting. I’ll give you an example using this very blog post. Look at the link in your browser at the top of the page. This is what you will see:
https://scottsmoneymachines.com/do-this-one-quick-wordpress-setting-before-publishing
Notice that the link is my blog’s domain plus the name of this post. By default, WordPress uses an internal index number as the link. For instance, if I did not change the setting, then my link would have looked something like this:
https://scottsmoneymachines.com/?p=123
As mentioned at the beginning of this post, we don’t want to change our links once we publish content. For that reason, let’s get this adjusted right now.
Do This Right Now
We are going to change what is called a “permalink”. A permalink is a structure that WordPress uses to generate links for your posts. It’s called a permalink for a reason… it is intended to be permanent. WordPress allows you to change it at any time, but you do not want to do that once it is set.
Here are the steps to set your permalink:
- Log into the dashboard of your blog
- On the left side, go to “Settings” > “Permalinks”
- You will now be on a page called Permalink Settings
- Under “Common Settings” you will see that “Plain” is set by default
- Change that setting to “Post name”
- Click “Save Changes” and you are done
You may want to double check that it is set properly after hitting save
Before I end this post, I want to point out that there are other choices for your permalinks. I just want you to be aware of them because once you begin publishing, you should never change it. I stand by my suggestion above, as it will be the best choice for most blogs.
There are other settings that will affect the look, feel, and functionality of your blog. I am not going to address them here because those changes, for the most part, can be made at any time. It’s more important that you begin blogging so you get things moving. No procrastination here… get blogging!
If you did not create your blog yet, check out my step-by-step instructions to start your blog, where I hold your hand through the entire process.
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