There are a few thing you’re going to want to do when you write a post. We can actually put a checklist in the right column that reminds you of what you need to do before you publish an article, but whether you have the checklist or not, here are a few things you’ll want to do before you publish a new post.

1. Title: Choose a short and inviting title for your post. If the title isn’t very descriptive make sure to include a description in your first paragraph and Meta Description (which we’ll talk about later).
2. Permalink: After you put in your title you’ll see a permalink automatically created for you. You can use the title as your permalink, but if the title is very long you might want to shorten the permalink to make it easier to for visitors to remember and share the link.
3. Meta Description: Then you’ll want to scroll down to “WordPress SEO by Yoast” to fill in the meta description. This is basically a short description that people will see when they view your post in search results like Google. This means that you’ll want to include information that is not included in your title that will both explain your post and give people a reason to click on the link to your post.
4. Featured Image: They’ll be a link in the right column that say “set featured image” that will allow you to either upload a new image or use an image that you’ve already uploaded to your website. This will be the main image for your article that you’ll see along with the title on your blog and social media.
5. Category: Next you’ll see categories in the right column which will list categories you’ve used before and allow you to create new ones. Categories are used to organize your posts and when clicked on will list all posts in that categories. Usually you’ll want to select one category for a post and try not to create to many categories because a lot of categories will just confuse visitors.
6. Tags: Tags also help organize posts, but are more specific and can be used like a search to find posts within a category. When selecting tags you want to choose something you’re going to write about multiple times, but won’t apply to every post in a category. Usually you’ll want to select between two and five tags to help visitors find posts related to the one they’re reading.

Choosing a good domain name or website address is important for any website or business.

1. First off you’ll want to choose something fitting for the website you’re creating. I would be as specific as possible so people will know exactly what they are getting when they visit your website. It’s also good to choose something that will be memorable.
2. Next you’ll need to be pretty creative these days to get an address that isn’t taken or doesn’t cost a fortune. Using three words and or numbers is one good place to start. The other is to use an original spelling or lesser used words, like industry specific slang. Although I would be careful choosing any words that are hard to spell or might be hard for someone to remember.
   Example: WebFirstDesigns.com (Hard to misspell any of those words.)
3. Then the .com extension is almost always the preferred extension for a website, except for community or nonprofit websites where .org might actually be better. If you’re planning to make money with the website I would stick to a .com, but otherwise you might consider something fun if you can’t find a good .com domain name.
4. Then if you want to go the extra mile you can purchase a second domain that might prevent people from going to the wrong website. Often I’ll purchase an address that includes the plural of a word I used in the address or a common misspelling and forward that address to the real website.
   Example: WebFirstDesign.com (Same address as above, but singular vs plural.)

There can definitely be more to consider if you’re really serious, but I think those are the important basics everyone should consider.