Basics of WordPress - Setting up Plugins

Richard Butler
WordPress Basic - Plugins
Website Hosting & Design - ebits.ie

WordPress Plugins
In this guide I show you how to find, install, configure, deactivate and delete plugins.
Basically everything you need to know but were afraid to ask!
Note always use plugins from a trusted source and never, ever use ones that have been "nulled."
These are plugins that are paid plugins but hackers have removed the copy protection. Doing so is
not only illegal but may allow those very hackers to take control of your site.
Plugins
From the main dashboard click on Plugins
2

Plugins -> Add New
On this screen you will see all the installed plugins - all of them should be up to date if you followed
the process in the previous guide.
Click on Add New to add a new plugin - don't worry if you don't know the name of the plugin, we
cover that on the next slide!
3

Search plugins
In this screen you are going to search for a plugin that will help you with SEO (Search Engine
Optimisation.)
This can give your blog posts and pages a better change of being indexed by the search engines -
and this is something you really want to be done!
In the search screen (highlighted) type in All In One
4

Install Now
Now that you have downloaded the plugin you need to install it.
Click on Install Now to begin the install process (that's it there is no other step!)
Activate
Actually there is one more step! You have to Activate the plugin by clicking on Activate - now that
was not too hard!
5

Installed
The following screen will appear confirming that you have installed the plugin correctly.
Now click on Plugins -> Installed Plugins so that you can go the final step for this plugin (not all
plugins will have this step)
6

Configure
For this plugin we need to do some configuration.
Click on Seo Settings to go to the configuration screen.
7

Configuring All In One
Scroll down a little until you see the Home Page Settings.
The two options allow you to enter in a:
Home Title - this is the title of the homepage that appears on the title bar of the browser, but more
importantly it appears on the search engine results as the title of your page. This must be catch as
searchers scan down a page of results and look at the results that catch their eye.
Home Description - below the title in the results is a short description of the page that the potential
searcher will encounter after clicking on the result. It is important that this description is short, to the
point and accurately describes the contents of the page. It should entice the search to click!
The above two elements are crucially important to get right in order to ensure people click from the
search results to your site.
8

Title Settings
Once you have set the home page title and description there is not much more to do to be honest,
however let's look at one option here.
As you scroll down you will see the Title Settings. This is controlling how the titles will appear in
the search engines for other pages. The default is that it will display the page title of the post or
page - you could add in something at the beginning or end, for example:
- brought to you by Richard
If you did add this it would appear at the end of every page title. However, you don't need to change
anything.
9

Custom Post Type Settings
It is best to leave this as it is, although what it allows you to do is to select the type of post you want
SEO features to be available for.
I recommend you leave it as it is.
10

Webmaster Verification
If you want to get even more from your website you can add it to the google webmaster console
(https://www.google.com/webmasters/) where you will be able to find out more about how many
pages are indexed, submit new pages to be indexed and much more.
When you create an account in Google webmaster and add your site you will be asked to insert a
verification code (to make sure you own the site.) In this case you would enter the code into the
highlighted section.
11

Google Settings
In this section you can add specific Google information such as your Google Plus profile. I would
suggest selecting all the options bar Disable Google Plus Profile.
If you have not set up a Google Analytics account I would suggest you do this asap. This will help
track your visitors and give you a lot of information regarding the performance of your website. It's
free and easy to do.
Once you get your GA code you should enter the part that starts UA- in the second highlighted box
on the screen.
12

Update Options
Now that you have configured all the options click on Update Options
13

Deactivating & Deleting Plugins
Deactivate & Delete
Sometimes you may find that something is not working correctly with your site. The first thing you
should do is deactivate each plugin one by one. This can be done by clicking on the word
Deactivate. The plugin will now become deactivated.
In the second highlighted box you can see there are two options:
Activate - to make the plugin active again
Delete - to delete the plugin
When you delete a plugin it will not only delete the plugin but also any data associated with the
plugin, for example configurations etc
14

Deleting the plugin
When you click on Delete the following dialog box will appear warning you that the plugin and its
data will be deleted.
If you are sure press OK if not press Cancel
Plugin Deleted
A notice will appear briefly telling you that the plugin has been deleted
15

Resources
I mentioned a number of resources in the guide:
Google Webmaster Tools
Google Analytics
Remember if you want to protect your blog use this software
If you need any more information visit ebits.ie
16

Basics of WordPress - Setting up Plugins

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Basics of WordPress - Setting up Plugins

Similar to Basics of WordPress - Setting up Plugins (20)

More from Richard Butler

More from Richard Butler (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Basics of WordPress - Setting up Plugins