Introduction To WordPress Dashboard For New Bloggers and Developers

We have already learned how to install the WordPress database in an older post, today I shall tell new developers/bloggers about the dashboard that we use most of the time while managing our site or blog. You can login to your dashboard by adding /wp-admin to your website address i.e. http://mywebsite.com/wp-admin. When you have successfully logged in you are able to access your dashboard as shown below. The main dashboard shows the summary of your posts i.e. number of posts, pages, categories and comments etc in the middle of the page, on the left side you see all the menu links to access other features. Today we will explore frequently used features that include Posts, Media, Appearance, Plugins and settings.

Posts/Pages

By clicking the posts or page link you will see list of your posts or pages, you can create new post or pages and edit and delete the existing posts and pages.

Media

You can upload new media i.e. pictures, videos, audio etc using this feature. You can use the media in your posts by inserting direct links to that media. The link can be obtained by right clicking View option as shown below.

Appearance

This feature is very important and need your deep understanding, here you can change the design/look of your blog or website also called theme. Existing theme is shown and you can select and install from hundreds of themes provided by WordPress free. Different themes offer different set of options in appearance section where you can update the general theme options, background image and header etc. To install new theme click “Install Themes” search themes and install one which you like. You new theme will not be applied unless you click the Activate link after install.

Plugins

Plugins are very useful applications that help in optimization of our blog or site look and its visibility to search engines. You can use and will definitely use them for different purposes that can include privacy policy, sitemap, contact, Adsense and lot more. Most plugins are available free. Don’t forget to activate each plugin after install and do the basic settings as requested.

Settings

This section provides you to update the site title and other settings, initially you may need to change the reading settings for deciding what you want to display on home page i.e. a page or your recent posts etc. I suggest you to go through all settings options and try to understand the sub options. You can ask questions in comments area if something not clear.

These are few important features that you must understand the purpose and impact on your site. Before creating the new posts or pages I shall talk about the necessary plugins and their settings for achieving the best results on search engines like Google.

Tags: blogging, dashboard, pages, plugin, posts, theme, wordpress