This article was designed to introduced you to WordPress dashboard as well as help you on how to Setup WordPress after installation. Now that you already know how to install WordPress, if you still do not have a hosting provider, we strongly recommed you to select a hosting plan for you with Hostinger. Hostinger is an affordable hosting that stands out from the crowd. Read more about Hostinger here.

STEP 1 – How to setup WordPress dashboard

After lоggіng in to WordPress on your hosting service, you wіll ѕее thе administrator dаѕhbоаrd. It is buіlt to gіvе уоu an оvеrvіеw оf уоur entire wеbѕіtе аnd соntаіnѕ three mаіn sections:

1. A toolbar at the top of the page. It contains links to the most commonly used administrative functions and resources. For example, if you hover over your website’s name, you will get a link to the public view of your site. It also displays simple notifications like updates and new comments count.
2. The main navigation menu on the left-hand side. It contains links to all administrative screens that allow configure WordPress. If you hover over a menu item, a submenu with additional items will be displayed.
3. The main work area. The first time you log in to the WordPress admin panel, you will see a welcome module which contains some useful links to help you get started. Once you are comfortable with the dashboard, press the Dismiss button in order to hide this module.

Image credit: Hostinger

The WordPress dashboard also contains four modules. In this firt step on how to setup wordpress, note that each of these modules have little arrows that you can use to quickly hide the box. You can also drag and drop them to different positions.

[symple_ul style=”minus-blue-list”] [symple_li]At a Glance box[/symple_li] This box will tell you how many posts, pages, and comments you have. It also shows WordPress version and theme you are running

[symple_li]Activity box [/symple_li] This module gives you a bit more information about your latest posts and comments. It shows the status of all comments and a short list of the most recent comments

[symple_li]Quick Draft box[/symple_li] Entering content into this box will start a new blog post. However, you cannot publish one from here as this box is only for taking blog posts ideas for you to come back to later

[symple_li]WordPress News[/symple_li] This module box displays the latest WordPress news [/symple_ul]

STEP 2 – Installing WordPress themes

The look of the WordPress site can be changed by applying themes. There are free and premium WordPress themes. Some of them are universal and can be used on any website. Others are built for a very specific purpose, for example, the e-commerce themes. WordPress made theme installation super easy. It literally takes just a few minutes to install free WordPress themes.

In the second step on how to setup WordPress, access the Appearance section and search for a nice looking theme. You can even filter themes by features or colors. Theme preview feature lets you see how your website will look with a selected theme. This is useful, as it will save your time – you will not have to install multiple themes just to find the theme that fits your needs.

The above method is suitable for free and freemium themes only. What if you purchased a nice looking premium theme? In this case, you will have to upload the theme files manually. It can take up to a few minutes for the uploading process to complete. To install a WordPress theme from your Desktop file directory:

[symple_ul style=”minus-blue-list”] [symple_li]Click on THEMES under APPEARANCE[/symple_li] [symple_li]Click on ADD NEW under THEMES[/symple_li] [symple_li]Press the UPLOAD THEME button[/symple_li] [symple_li]Press the CHOOSE FILE button[/symple_li] [symple_li]Select a theme’s .zip file from your Desktop[/symple_li] [symple_li]Hit INSTALL NOW button [/symple_li] [symple_li]Click on ACTIVATE button[/symple_li] [/symple_ul]

STEP 3 – Installing WordPress plugins

The primary purpose оf WоrdPrеѕѕ рlugіnѕ іѕ to еxраnd WоrdPrеѕѕ functionality. Juѕt bу installing аnd асtіvаtіng a рlugіn уоu саn аdd nеw features tо WordPress ѕіtе wіthоut any соdіng. There аrе over 55,000 frее and freemium plugins available on WordPress.org plugin directory. They are built for different рurроѕеѕ: frоm social mеdіа ѕhаrіng to security. Thus, уоu wіll ѕurеlу find a рlugіn thаt fіtѕ your nееdѕ.

You will spend less than a minute to install and configure WordPress plugins. It is an easy task even for a beginner. Just like themes, they can be installed by using the in-built WordPress installer. Once you get involved on how to setup WordPress, you will feel how easy is to install a WordPress plugin from the WordPress.org directory:

[symple_ul style=”minus-blue-list”] [symple_li]Click on ADD NEW under PLUGINS[/symple_li] [symple_li]Enter the name of the plugin you want to install in the search field[/symple_li] [symple_li]Press ENTER button on your keyboard[/symple_li] [symple_li]Hit INSTALL button [/symple_li] [symple_li]Click on ACTIVATE button[/symple_li] [/symple_ul]

There are also thousands of premium (paid) WordPress plugins that cannot be installed from the official WordPress.org directory. If you purchased a premium plugin, you would have to manually upload it to WordPress. The process is quite similar to theme installation. To install a WordPress plugin from your Desktop file directory:

[symple_ul style=”minus-blue-list”] [symple_li]Press the ADD NEW button under PLUGINS[/symple_li] [symple_li]Hit UPLOAD plugin[/symple_li] [symple_li]Select a plugin archive from your Desktop [/symple_li] [symple_li]Hit INSTALL button [/symple_li] [symple_li]Click on ACTIVATE button[/symple_li] [/symple_ul]

There are so many WordPress plugins – it could be hard to choose the right one. In fact, many of the plugins serve the same purpose (e.g. there are dozens of WordPress caching plugins). It is not recommended to clog WordPress with dozens of plugins as it can decrease the site’s performance. Keep your WordPress clean by installing only essential plugins and delete the ones you are not using. We listed below a set of plugins that are very popular (and essentially important) for every WordPress site.

[symple_ul style=”minus-blue-list”] [symple_li]Google XML Sitemaps[/symple_li] This plugin will automatically generate XML site maps. Search engines use sitemaps to find and index the webpages of your site

[symple_li]Yoast SEO[/symple_li] Yoast SEO is probably the most popular SEO plugin for WordPress. From meta tags to writing suggestions – Yoast SEO plugin has it all

[symple_li]RANK MATH[/symple_li] RANK MATH is a free, rеvоlutіоnаrу SEO рlugіn that соmbіnеѕ thе features of mаnу SEO tооlѕ in a single расkаgе

[symple_li]Wordfence Security[/symple_li] This plugin will keep your WordPress safe from hackers and malware. It has a very useful firewall and malware scanner modules

[symple_li]Contact Form 7[/symple_li] Simple but very powerful WordPress contact form plugin. Create any contact or even lead generation forms with this plugin

[symple_li]W3 Total Cache[/symple_li] W3 Total Cасhе (W3TC) іmрrоvеѕ the SEO аnd user experience of уоur ѕіtе by іnсrеаѕіng website performance and reducing lоаd times by lеvеrаgіng features lіkе соntеnt dеlіvеrу nеtwоrk (CDN) іntеgrаtіоn and thе lаtеѕt best practices [/symple_ul]

STEP 4 – Publishing content on WordPress

Creating a website with WordPress starts with publishing a new post or a new page. You may wonder – what is the difference between posts and pages? The answer is simple. WordPress posts can be categorized, tagged, archived. WordPress posts are used to publish time-sensitive content. In contrast, pages are mainly for static, dateless content. They do not have categories or tags. Contact us or About pages are good examples of pages.

(a) Creating a new post

To create a new WordPress post, follow one of the statements below. Then, you will be presented with an editing screen with an array of posting features. You should then enter a title for your post. Finally, enter the actual content of your post. This is actually how to setup wordpress properly. If you want to format your text, use the toolbar options.

[symple_ul style=”minus-blue-list”] [symple_li]Click on ADD NEW under POSTS[/symple_li] [symple_li]Or Click on POST under NEW from the top bar[/symple_li] [/symple_ul]

Note that, the process of “how to setup wordpress” is similar to the one you can find in MS Word or any other popular text editor. At the right-hand side of the screen, you can see the so-called meta-boxes. Each box has a particular function

[symple_ul style=”minus-blue-list”] [symple_li]Publish[/symple_li] Here you can change the status and visibility of your post, schedule it. By clicking the Publish button your post will go live. If you decide to delete the post, press the Move to Trash button

[symple_li]Categories[/symple_li] On this box, you can assign your post to a specific category. You can even create a new one by pressing the + Add New Category button

[symple_li]Tags[/symple_li] How to setup wordpress properly involves the use of tags box, which allows you to quickly add new tags

[symple_li]Featured Image[/symple_li] Here you can assign a featured image to a post. It will be visible at the very top of the post (image location can be different depending on theme) [/symple_ul]

(b) Creating a new page

In order to create a new WordPress page, follow one of the statements below. Add New page section has identical WYSIWYG text editor just like the Posts section has. Thus, the process of text input and formatting is the same.

[symple_ul style=”minus-blue-list”] [symple_li]Click on ADD NEW under PAGES[/symple_li] [symple_li]Or Click on PAGE under NEW from the top bar[/symple_li] [/symple_ul]

You may also notice that Pages section does not have Tags and Categories meta-boxes. Instead, it has a box called Page Attributes. In this section, you can change the order of your pages and set parent pages. This is useful if you want to have several pages under one parent page.

We recommend you read our sequential posts: How To Install WordPress Website on Hostinger? and How To Improve WordPress Website Speed?.