You do not want anyone to successfully attack your blog, nor do you want visitors to take one look at it and walk away.
So read the list and add your own ideas via the comments! Step 1 - Admin User The new version of WordPress prompts you to change the password, but ideally you should delete the admin id! Full details on my blog, but basically it makes it harder for hackers to guess the logon details.
So go into user maintenance and create a new user id.
Some pointers:
- Allocate a user name that is easy to remember, difficult to guess
- Allocate a nickname that is different to the user name
- Give this new user name full admin permissions
- Once you have created it, go back in and select to display the name publicly as the nickname, not the username - this prevents us giving away what it has been changed to
You are now 1 step closer to a safer WordPress.
Step 2 - Describe Your Blog Go to settings, then general and give your blog a title and a tag line.
People will almost certainly see these when they visit your site and 'just another WordPress blog' doesn't sell your blog to them! Step 3 - Activate Akismet This used to be a standalone pluggin, but it is no a part of the basic installation so it is easy to forget it.
Go to your list of pluggins, activate Akismet and then follow the instructions to obtain an API key if you don't already have one and enter it.
Just do it! No questions, this is compulsory, else you will have a blog full of spam comments! Akismet is the pluggin tool that will delete all of these spam comments and clean up your site for you.
When it detects spam, it squirrels it away to safety for you to review and then deletes it automatically a little later.
But please, do not show off publicly how many spam comments have been caught, else spammers will use your blog to test how to get around Akismet...
There are a few more customisations that I always make, but I don't want to frighten you with a big list in one go!