Just installed WordPress and not sure what to do next?

After installing WordPress for the first time, the dashboard can feel confusing for beginners. There are many settings, plugins, and options , and it’s easy to miss important steps.

In this beginner-friendly checklist, you’ll learn the 10 essential things to do after installing WordPress to make your website secure, fast, and ready for real use.

1. Change Your Site Title & Tagline

After installing WordPress, the first thing you should do is set a proper site title and tagline.

Go to Settings → General and add:

  • A clear site name

  • A short tagline that explains what your website is about

✔ Helps with branding
✔ Helps search engines understand your website purpose

2. Set the Correct Time Zone

Still under Settings → General, select your correct city or time zone.

This ensures:
✔ Accurate post publishing time
✔ Correct date and time across your website

This small setting avoids confusion later.

3. Fix the Permalink Structure

Go to Settings → Permalinks and select Post Name.

This creates clean, readable, and SEO-friendly URLs.

Example:

yourwebsite.com/my-first-blog/

Clean permalinks help both users and search engines.

4. Delete Sample Content

By default, WordPress adds:

  • A “Hello World” post

  • A sample page

Delete these to keep your website clean and professional from the start.

5. Choose & Install a Good Theme

Go to Appearance → Themes and choose a clean, lightweight, and responsive theme.

Beginner-friendly options include:

  • Astra

  • GeneratePress

  • Blocksy

  • Kadence

These themes are fast, customizable, and work well with page builders.

6. Install Important Plugins

Plugins add essential functionality to your website. Install only what you need.

Recommended plugins for beginners:

  • SEO plugin: Yoast SEO or Rank Math

  • Backup: UpdraftPlus

  • Contact form: WPForms Lite or Contact Form 7

  • Speed: LiteSpeed Cache or WP Super Cache

  • Disable Comments (optional)

Avoid installing too many plugins to keep your site fast.

If you’re confused about choosing the right page builder and layout system, you can read my detailed guide on Elementor containers vs sections to understand which option works better for beginners.

7. Create the Essential Pages

Every website should have these basic pages:

  • Home

  • About

  • Services (or Shop)

  • Contact

You can add more pages later as your website grows.

8. Set Up a Navigation Menu

Go to Appearance → Menus
(or Editor → Navigation if you’re using a block theme).

Add your important pages to the menu so visitors can navigate easily.

✔ Better user experience
✔ More professional website structure

9. Set Up a Backup System

Many beginners skip backups , but this step is very important.

Use UpdraftPlus to schedule automatic backups.
This keeps your website safe in case of errors, hacks, or server issues.

10. Secure Your Website

Basic security steps every beginner should follow:

  • Change the default “admin” username

  • Use a strong password

  • Install a security plugin (Wordfence or iThemes Security)

These steps protect your site from common attacks.

Once your basic WordPress setup is complete, the next step is designing your pages properly. If you’re using Elementor, I’ve explained the differences between Elementor containers vs sections in a beginner-friendly way to help you build cleaner layouts.

Final Thoughts

Following these 10 essential steps after installing WordPress will make your website:

✔ Faster
✔ More secure
✔ SEO-ready
✔ Professional from day one

If you follow this beginner checklist, you’ll avoid common mistakes and build a strong foundation for your WordPress website.

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