Install eSignature Document Myself

Perhaps not "lesser known", but I've been using keyboard shortcuts for years under "Settings": This probably comes from my vim background, but inside gmail, I almost never use the mouse. Instead:While viewing a list of threads (i.e. Inbox, All Mail, Drafts, search results, etc.):c to compose a new mailj and k to move the cursor down and upx to select/deselect the current thread that's pointed to by the cursore to archive all threads that have been selected [Enter] to go into the thread pointed to by the cursor"g i" to go to my Inbox"g a" to go to All Mail"g d" to go to DraftsWhile inside a thread:n and p to browse down and up messages inside a thread (move the cursor up and down)a to reply all (or r to reply individually, but that's rare) to the message currently pointed to by the cursorf to forward the message that's pointed to by the cursoru to go back to the previous thread list view, which could be your Inbox, All Mail, Drafts, etc. This is the same as the back button: s to toggle through the stars on the message currently pointed to by the cursorIn case you're wondering, the "cursor" is the very thin vertical blue line visible to the left of the third thread in this picture:Other useful shortcuts:/ to make the search bar active"* u" to select all unread emails"* n" to deselect all emailsShift+i to mark all selected emails as readShift+u to mark all selected emails as unreadWhile inside a thread, Shift+u will bring you back to the previous thread list view and marking the current thread as unread. I do this a lot to keep important threads at the top of my inbox.And that's basically all I ever do in gmail. It can be painful to learn at first, but just start with the very basics: j, k, and [Enter] to browse through your inbox. Within a month or two, you'll be zipping through your inbox like Usain Bolt through the 200m.Full list: http://support.google.com/mail/b...Edit: David Craige mentioned a very useful Google Labs add-on under "Settings --> Labs": a [Send & Archive] buttonAnd another useful add-on:

(I started to answer a very short answer and ended up with a long entry. I hope you find it useful.)As Richard Tuisk said, it depends a lot on where you are from. However, let me tell you what my experience has been so far in Estonia, what I think it is good and what I would see as a downside of living here. Of course, I need to qualify my answer by saying that I am Latin American, but also have lived in four other countries (including the US where I went to college).A quick introduction: Estonia is a small country located in the Baltic Sea next to Russia and Latvia and very close to Finland. It is part of the European Union. The area of the country is roughly the same as Switzerland or as Maryland and Massachussets combined. There is about 1.3 million people living here which means it is not densely populated. The country is essentially flat, except in the south where you find the highest point at 318 meters (1043 ft). The main city and where I live in is Tallinn. The population is about 400,000 people. Tartu is the second city with about 100,000 people and all the rest of towns are smaller than that.Immigration systemIf you are European, moving here is no problem as you enjoy all the benefits of any country within the European Union. If you are not European, the main reasons people immigrate here is to work which would guarantee a working visa or if you are married to an Estonian citizen which allows you to apply for a visa as long as you have enough funds to live here.Overall, the process to get a short-term visa is straight forward. Obtaining a long-term visa is more complicated as you have to speak the language at a relatively high level. Obtaining a citizenship requires that you give up your own citizenship.JobsAlthough Estonia suffered also during the 2008 crisis, there is enough jobs in areas of business and technology for people to move here. One of the problems Estonia faces is that it does not have enough people to fill all jobs in IT areas as I hear.There is a few big companies who recruit people from abroad, but if you don't speak the local language, your opportunities are reduced to the IT area (I work for Skype which originated here in Estonia which was acquired by Microsoft in 2011). You can see a list of notable companies here: List of companies of EstoniaSocial interactionEstonians tend to be reserved in comparison to other Europeans. I suggest to foreigners who come here to be aware of differences so they are not taken by surprise. Some examples of faux pas I have encountered:Using smalltalk in a conversation.Saying good morning when coming to office or good bye when leaving.Smiling with no reason (I have to accept that this could be awkward in Northern Europe and some parts of the US, but it is totally normal in Mediterranean or Latin American environments).Being noisy. People love their quiet here.However, it is totally Ok to try to make a conversation in English especially with young people. I am learning Estonian and try to use the language when I can, but in some occasions (say, at the pharmacy), I need to switch to English and have never found anyone being annoyed by that.The exception to all of this is if you meet young people. They tend to be more open and curious (especially women). I am speaking about more casual environments such as a cafe or a restaurant, but a bit less at work. Another obvious exception is if you are in a touristy area (such as the Old Town in Tallinn), but this should go without saying.It is totally Ok to be in a group of people and be totally silent. For example, you can have lunch or share a cab with Estonians when no one is speaking, but there is no awkwardness on it. Another thing is that people do not demonstrate much through their expressions which is one of the difficult things to deal with for me. Remember, I come from a country where you smile or frown or show your teeth if you want someone to understand you clearly.When having a conversation with an Estonian, you should say what you mean and mean what you say (remember what I said about smalltalk?). For example, if you ask "how are you?" to an Estonian, do it only if (a) you really want to know how the other person is, and (b) don't ask it if you don't know the person well. I value that Estonians take your word at face value and you should do the same with them.One word of advice is that Estonians can be very critical of others, but they are mainly critical of themselves. Someone told me once that complaining is a national sport, and I have to agree with that. In other words, when they tell you that something is truly bad here in this country, you have to take it with a grain of salt.Because of this, you should also expect that people are straight forward with you. In some cases, this borders on rudeness if I measure by my home country's standards, but here is totally Ok. I have seen a few foreigners getting shocked by that, but you get used to it. In other words, they are not politically correct (this I like very much).Also, because people are economical with the language, you shouldn't expect what I would call, a "warm" communication most of the time. As a latin person, I need to say and hear things on a beautiful way, but this doesn't happen here much. It is different when you start to get to know locals.Which brings me to the last point. It takes a while before you break the ice with an Estonian, but it is worth waiting. I have had the chance to establish a closer link with some locals outside my wife's family and I find an honesty and sincerity that I haven't seen in other places. If you get to that point, congratulations, as you have made it through this journey. By this time, you should also be an expert on sharing saunas with people you don't know (and yes, naked) and have had your share of vodka.Quality of life, services, infrastructureWhen compared to other places where I have lived, I have to say that Estonia still doesn't signNow the level of living in Germany or the US, but it is getting closer by the day. However, I would say that Estonia is already at the level that I would call it first-world country in most aspects.Infrastructure and services need some improvement, but they provide the minimum level of service. For example, if you don't have a car, you can use public transportation everywhere even if buses, trains or trams are sometimes old. Roads in Tallinn are Ok, even if you find potholes in some places. Services such as schools and hospitals are public which means that there is always a waiting list. If you need to visit a specialist doctor, you have to wait. On the other hand, the wait is not as bad as in third-world countries (like where I come from). Also, those services are basically free. The downside is that there is almost no private service, and even the ones there are rely partially on the public health system for some aspects.I have had two children born here and had no complaints about the process. In fact, I felt that everything was very professional and that they always try to do their best. However, when I spoke with Estonians, some of them were very surprised that I spoke highly of the hospital system. I guess it's up to my personal point of view in this case.Taxes are low. Personal income tax is 21% flat for everyone. If you live here and your visa allows it, you can create your own start-up in no time which is prevalent among young people in IT.By the way, unemployment was at 8% at the end of Q3 in 2013. I am no economist, but I understand that this is still considered high. However, it came down from 10.2% at the end of 2012.Food, shoppingEstonia has the typical supermarkets like any other European country. There is also local markets, but you probably need to speak Estonian or Russian. Typical food you find are potatoes, wheat-like grains, oats and so on. Pork meat and fish are eaten often here, but beef is not yet too common. Vegetables and fruits tend to be expensive. I miss having international food though. There is one supermarket in town (Stockmann) that carries some international products, but it is very expensive. I was used to visiting Oriental-type shops in Ireland and Germany, but there is none here that I know of.There is a few shopping centres, but the variety is not wide. I am in favor of buying local to support businesses here, but in many cases, we end up buying from abroad because of the lack of options or because we would have to wait for too long. For example, my wife and I love movies (yeah, still buying old-fashioned DVDs), but there is no shop that fills our expectations. Because of that, we buy everything from Amazon.ActivitiesIf you love nature, you are in luck. There is a lot of natural areas in the country and they are a short drive away. There is plenty of sea shores, forests, rivers and lakes. In the Summer you can do hiking, camping, canoeing and you can add cross country skiing in the Winter. Estonians love nature in general.If you are a city person (like myself), then that's another story. There is a few theatres, cinemas, galleries and so on, but everything is limited. Tallinn itself has the most interesting activities in the center. There is plenty of good restaurants though.Cinemas show the popular movies like everywhere else and you can find some artsy type of cinemas for alternative movies. No movie is dubbed here, but they usually carry subtitles in both Estonian and Russian.What is impressive about this countryThere is a few good things that I haven't seen outside Estonia. The first one is the electronic system prevalent in this country. When you are a foreigner and get your Estonian ID, you are also getting your electronic identity. With that, you can file taxes online, access information about property, bank accounts, mobiles, whatever services you need. When you get your local ID number, you automatically get a local e-mail address at the eesti.ee domain that you can redirect to your personal account. With that, you never miss an official communication (such as whenever is time to file your taxes).That ID has also legal validity and you can sign documents electronically anywhere in the world. For example, if you apply to get a car leasing, you don't have to show up at the bank necessarily. They send you some forms, you put your ID card in your computer reader, sign the document electronically, and send it back and that's it. It is the equivalent of putting your signature on paper in front of the bank official or lawyer. Estonian citizens and permanent residents are even allowed to vote online with their ID.A second impressive area is bureaucracy: it is a well-oiled machine. One recurrent example is taxes. You get the notification that your taxes are ready to file, you login to the tax office site, sign in, check that they have the correct information that they have collected from your company, employer and so on, sign with your ID card, and that's it. It might take as little as five minutes. My wife and I file jointly, so it takes us much longer: twenty minutes (and that's because we always forget to do one crucial step so we are delayed).The government doesn't even use paper for their minister meetings. They file everything electronically which is made available so you can follow up agendas, minutes and whatever happens there.You want to open your own company? It might take literally twenty minutes to do that too. All of this thanks to the frictionless bureaucratic system they have here. You want to park? Send a text to the number 1902 with your plate number and where you are parking and it will be charged to your mobile.One more impressive part: internet. Besides having decent speeds, there is practically free access points everywhere through the country. I personally have witnessed free available working access points in national parks and public beaches. You can read this article that talks about this (read the date: 2005!): Estonia sets shining Wi-Fi exampleIn my case, I don't use access points much because I have a decent LTE connection with my mobile. Mobile companies have good coverage and relatively good service. I remember that when we got our internet when we moved here, it took only one day to install it. When I measured the effective speed a few months later out of curiosity, it was 50 Mbps. Not bad.The downsidesAs anywhere else, there is a few things that you need to be aware of that could be difficult to adapt to.The first part for me is the social interaction which tends to be dry and quiet. I mentioned that above, so not much more to say here.Another one is the weather. In Winter, the sun might rise at 9:30 in the morning and set at 3 in the afternoon. That's just about six hours of sunlight. If you add that it is cloudy most of the time during the Winter, then you realise how dark it might be. As counterposition, Summers are amazing (up to 20 hours of sunlight and clear skies easily).Winters are relatively long. It gets cold around the end of October and stays that way until around April. It varies from year to year, but sometimes the temperature drops to -30 degrees Celsius (-22 F). Life rarely stops here because of the cold or snow though. I have taken the bus at -30 degrees Celsius. It makes for an interesting ride.One more problem for a foreigner to live here is that you feel a bit isolated from the world. Flights are available mainly to neighbouring countries plus Germany, UK and the Netherlands. If you are from another country, you always need to make connections which makes it longer and more expensive to go back home.Last, if you are from a big city, you might find even Tallinn a bit provincial. It is changing as of late though. On the other hand, there is some positive things out of this too: less crime and virtually no traffic jam as I know it (I live 20 km. from work and make it in 30 minutes on a good day and 45 on a bad one).If you are thinking to move here, I definitely recommend this place.

Gmail offers many tools for us organize our inbox, such as folders, labels, and even tabs, which in turn saves time when we want to look for some particular mails.Labels are a simple way to categorize our messages. For eg : When a mail comes from friends we can label them as friends and if a mail comes from work, we can label them as work. So next time if we want to check those mails, we dont have to look through our entire inbox. We can just click on the respective labels they belong to. And from there the mail we want to look into.Steps to create and tag mails with LabelsGo to Create new label option on your left menu bar. (You may have to click on More to show this button)Then enter the name of the label you want to create.Then click on create.Then go to the mail you want to add the label toClick on the label button and choose the label you want to applyOn your left menu bar you will see a new category has come up having the label name you just created.When you click on it, it will show the mails to which the label is added to

Just as the best product is the one that gets the job done, the best resumes are those that communicate your skills and accomplishments in a clear, effective way. Graphical resumes are, in particular, terrible. Unless you can be one of the lucky few to get a bunch of media attention for a nifty format, you will hurt yourself far more than you'll help yourself if you use a graphical resume. Graphical resumes are typically difficult to read and they sacrifice content -- your hard-earned accomplishments -- in favor of pretty pictures and useless graphics. See: Why Your Awesome, Creative Resume Isn’t Working.A good resume format has the following attributes:Multiple Columns: Multiple columns make it easier for someone to quickly skim your company titles, positions, schools, and other key facts. It also stores this information in a very compact way, allowing more space to list things you've done. (Note: do not use one of those templates where the entire left part of the resume is a column for the categories. They waste a lot of space.)Short and Sweet: People only spend about 5 - 30 seconds reading your resume, and this isn't enough to read even a full page of content. When your make your resume too long, it just dilutes the quality of each thing on your resume. Focus on just the highlights. One page is often all you need, but if you have 10+ years of experience and multiple roles, you can justify at most two pages. That's it though.The Right Sections: No objectives (they're useless). Summary sections can be okay, but they're usually not (after all, if your resume is short and concise, then you don't really need a summary section). Use Tables: Okay, this is really nit picky, but it's a personal pet peeve of mine. The way to make multiple columns in Microsoft Word is with tables (with invisible columns), not by hitting 'space' dozens of times. Bulleted -- No Long Text Blobs: Again, you only have about 15 seconds to make an impression. Large blocks of text will not be read. Keep your bullets to 1 - 2 lines (and, ideally, about half or more of those bullets should be one line).Appropriate Use of Fonts and Formatting: You don't want to go overboard with fonts and formatting. However, a little bit of formatting (bold, italics, etc) can be useful to organize your resume.So with that said, here are two formats that work perfectly well:This resume can be downloaded here: http://www.careercup.com/resume.This resume can be downloaded here: http://www.thegoogleresume.com/r...The first resume is a format I designed myself, whereas the second one is a format required by Wharton's MBA program.

In terms of “hype” or “growing hype” regarding the internet, future of or lack there of, there was none. I mean zero, nada, zilch! Why? Because most people didn't know the internet” even existed. Even if the common man or woman had heard about it, they couldn't possibly fathom what it could do. Keep in mind that nothing really exsisted yet in terms of the internet during the 90’s not even legitimate search engine’s till the mid to late 90’s. The existing internet at that time (90’s) was basically in existence for the military, government and school use, to share information. If you weren't ...

You want to make money, right? Of course you do. Everyone wants – and needs -to make money. So you started a blog since you’ve heard it’s an easy way to make cash, but you’re not quite sure how to actually make money doing it. Or maybe you already have a blog and you’re exploring ways to monetize it.Few years back blogging was just another hobby but a lot has changed in past few years. This is 2016 and now blogging is one of the great online business that anyone can take advantage of.As a blogger, gone are those days, when blogger were dependent only on ADSENSE to earn money online, and now blogger have many more ad networks and monetization method, which they can implement and earn huge from our blogs.If you have been using those traditional methods of making money from your blog, it’s time to give a new vision and revise your Blogging business plan. Make some new tweaks, changes for design and marketing of your blog. Work hard to promote your blog and integrate new ways to earn from your blog.New Ways to Earn money online from Blog:If you are using contextual advertisement and not making enough that ways, you should try moving to direct advertisement or affiliate advertisement. Apart from the traditional form of Advertising, work on other monetization tricks which works. Instead of just adding ads, work on adding value for your advertiser. It’s better to have 1 high paying ad than 4 low paying ad units.Sell Digital ProductsIf you would rather not advertise other people’s products on your site, or if you are looking for another stream of income, consider selling digital products. This can include items like:eBooksOnline courses/workshopsImages, video, or music people can use in their own contentApps, plugins, or themesJust remember that if you are going to choose one of these avenues that you make it relevant and useful to your readers. A lot of bloggers make the mistake of assuming they are developing a product their readers need; listen to your readers first, and then create a digital product that will meet their needs.Affiliate Advertisement:Affiliate advertisement is one of the best ways to make money, since a single sale will make 10-100$ for you.Specially, if you are in the Blogging niche I suggest you, to look into WebHosting affiliates and SEO affiliates. Also, WordPress theme affiliate converts great.Referral Income:Most of advertisement programs like Chitika, infolinks and many others have pay per referral program. Depend on advertisement program you are using, you can look for referral program and refer your readers to that program. This will quickly add some quick dollar in your pocket. Make sure refer to that programs only which work. Though this will work on the niche which talks about make money online or blogging.Direct Advertisement:No doubt AdSense is best advertisement program for bloggers but again it has some limitations like you will not get paid 100% from advertisers and AdSense keep a great cut in between. If you manage to grab direct advertisements, replace AdSense with direct advertisements.Most bloggers entertain, educate, or somehow edify their readersFind a topic or niche that interests you, learn about it, and share what you learn in a unique, creative way. Solve problems, using your writer’s voice! Build your own blog with a theme and content you can’t wait to wake up to every morning!And keep reminding yourself that earning an income online – like anything worthwhile – is a long-term process.Many bloggers make money by play with types and sizes of adsThere are so many ads to choose from! Banner ads, product images, text ads, in-text link ads, pixel/favicon ads, contextual links, eBook ads, exit ads, lions and tigers and bears, oh my. Incorporate the ad types and sizes that you dislike the least, let them run for a couple of months, and see if you make money. Remember that you may need over 1,000 page views a day before you make $100 or even $50 a day with your blog, depending on your niche and products.Paid reviews:Paid reviews are again a great way to boost your monthly income report. You can quickly make anything above 10$ for a small review post. I make minimum $500 from every review at ShoutMeLoud.Create and sell eBook:If you will notice the business model of most of the top internet marketer, most of them sell eBooks. For Bloggers like you and me, it’s easier to create eBook by using your existing blog content. All you need to do is, pick a topic, compile an eBook on that topic and put it on sale on your blog or on Flipkart.All bloggers remember the concept of “compound interest”Plant seeds now; they’ll yield acorns and trees later! Some of my most popular blog posts – and highest sources of income – are articles I wrote a couple years ago. Making money blogging is a labor of love for the first two or three years. It helps if you have another source of income or a wealthy spouse to pick up the financial slack.

15 Tips for Setting Up WordPress Like a Pro1. Complete basic information about your blogYour blog’s got a name, right? Probably a tagline too?Fill those in right away…Navigate to Settings > GeneralAt the top of the page, you’ll see an area for the Site Title and Tagline. These may already be populated using the information you entered during setup. If they are and you’re happy with them, move on to the next section. If they’re empty or you want to change them, go ahead and do that.WordPress General SettingsMost WordPress themes display the title and tagline on your site, usually in the top left corner (as you look at the screen). The Site Title nearly always contains a link pointing to your homepage.The third area, WordPress Address (URL) is the address of your site.Google treats Home and Home as different sites, so be sure to choose the one you like, and use that one whenever you mention your site (email signatures, outsignNow emails, links from other sites pointing to your pages).The choice between using www and non-www is down to personal preference. Neither gives advantage over the other when it comes to ranking high in search engines. Loren Baker explains more in his article on Search Engine Journal: Canonicalization & SEO : Should I use WWW or not?2. Install a theme that suits the purpose of your blogWordPress comes packaged with three default themes. Upon installation, the latest theme, Twenty Seventeen activates.Default WordPress ThemesFor some people, one of the default themes is good enough.For many more, the first thing they do is look around for a more suitable alternative – one that suits their style, taste, and goals.If you’re blogging for business, a premium theme could be a better option than a free one.They usually contain more features, offer 24/7 support and they’re designed by professional designers and coded by professional coders.This gives you a great looking blog for a fraction of the cost of hiring a professional web designer.There is a chance of coming across a site that looks exactly like yours, but that could happen with a free theme too.Due to the size of the web, the chances of this happening are small. And perhaps a risk worth taking for a great looking site.If you go down the premium route, expect to pay $40 – $150 to get started (you may also need to buy a framework, like the one I mostly use: Genesis).Recommended premium WordPress theme shopsStudioPressWooThemesElegant Themes3. Change the Permalink StructureThe permalink is the web address assigned to every post and page you publish (the URL).The default WordPress permalink doesn’t prevent the indexing or ranking of pages. It’s just a bit, well, ugly and uninformative.This is what it looks like: HomeThe structure of the URL gives away no information about the content of the page. You can’t tell if it’s about baking or scuba diving.It’s not a complete disaster.In the search results, Google shows the title tag and either the meta description or some content from the page. So people will have an idea what your page is about.Changing the permalink structure is simple and provides a much-improved user experience.WARNING!!If not correctly managed, changing the permalink structure on an established site can result in a massive loss of traffic. To prevent this, all URLs should be configured to redirect users to the new URLs.This is usually done using 301 or 302 redirects.It can be done manually through cPanel or a .htaccess file, or by using a plugin (like Redirection).Please research the topic before changing the permalink structure on an established site.If your site is brand new, you can go ahead and change the permalink structure without worrying about losing traffic.How to change WordPress permalinks:Log in as an AdministratorFrom the menu on the left-hand side of the screen, click on Settings then PermalinksTick the radio button next to your preferred format (as you click through the various options, the information in the Custom Structure text box changes)When you’re happy, click on Save ChangesWordPress permalinks post nameThe example above uses the postname (post title) for the permalink. The example below uses the category/postname format for the permalink.WordPress permalinks using category post name structure4. Delete the default contentHave you ever seen the ‘Hello world!’ post on a brand new WordPress site?Just in case you haven’t, this is what it looks like:Hello World!It’s the default post and should be moved to the trash straight away.Trash Default PostSo to the default comment:Default CommentTrash Default CommentAnd finally, get rid of the default sample page:Default Sample PageTrash Default Page5. Install a backup pluginImagine losing your site after you’ve spent the whole weekend adding great content, uploading images and making it look amazing.You’d be devastated, right?Imagine losing a week’s, a month’s or even a whole year’s worth of work because you failed to create a backup.Boy, that would tough. It would be hard to start again if that happened.Luckily, there are services and plugins to help you avoid this terrible situation.VaultPressI’ve used the free plugins to create backups but, in my experience, if you’re not very technical, they are a nightmare to use if something when something goes wrong with your site.Last time I used one of the free backup plugins they typically had two options for managing the database backup file: 1) emailing it to a nominated address or 2) storing it on the server.Which is fine. At least you know where it is.But how do you get it back into WordPress?You can’t FTP it.You have to go in through cPanel, phpMyAdmin and then upload it. You’ll find instructions here.It looks easy ‘on paper’, but when you see the phpMyAdmin screen, the process becomes more daunting.A push-button solution is better. One that guides you through the setup, backup and restore process in easy-to-understand steps.That’s what you get with VaultPress. A backup plugin I’ve used for a couple of years now.The basic plan costs an easily affordable $5 per month.It’s ideal for anyone who doesn’t want to get involved with the technical stuff and wants to sleep easily at night knowing their blog is in good hands.Before installing a backup plugin, check with your hosting company as they may provide a backup as part of the service.Alternative backup plugins and servicesblogVaultBackUpBuddyBackWPupBackUpWordPressUpdraftPlusDuplicatorWP-DB-Backup6. Install an SEO pluginWordPress has no built-in SEO settings, so you must install a dedicated plugin.At least two do an excellent job.The first is All-In-One SEO, which dominated the space for a very long time.All In One SEO Pack WordPress PlugnDownload linkThen there’s WordPress SEO, which is currently more popular than any similar plugin.WordPress SEO by YoastDownload linkWhich should you choose?WordPress SEO, in my opinion, is the best plugin of the two.It has more features and gives you more control over settings on a site-wide and page-by-page basis, but it is quite hard to setup if you don’t understand the terminology.All In One SEO is better suited to people who have little or no knowledge of SEO and want to use a plugin ‘out of the box’.What do other people think?Both plugins currently run on over one million WordPress sites.In terms of 5-star ratings, WordPress SEO is the clear winner.WordPress SEO Plugin RatingsAll In One SEO Pack RatingsA post on the Elegant Themes blog takes an in-depth look at both plugins.So, which should you choose?Answer – The one you prefer using.If you’re new to SEO, start with All In One SEO Pack (you can always move over to WordPress SEO later, and import the settings from All In One). If you know your way around custom title tags, noindexing and noodping, choose WordPress SEO as you’ll prefer the tighter control.7. Install a caching pluginWordPress is renowned for being slow. For this reason many WordPress users install a caching plugin.It’s hard to explain without using technical terms and jargon…WordPress uses a language called PHP to build pages. It stores all the data such as images, content, links etc in a database.Whenever somebody requests a page from your site, WordPress builds it. Every time.Sometimes, this takes a few seconds and depends upon a number of factors such as the configuration of the server, its location in relation to the site visitor and the number of requests WordPress makes to the database at that time.It all happens very quickly, but sometimes it’s not quick enough for the average internet user. And if your pages don’t load in super-quick time, you may lose a potential customer.A caching plugin bypasses the calls to the database and creates HTML versions of your pages, stores them on the server and displays them to the visitor when requested. This cuts down the load time and improves the user experience.Just like the SEO plugins mentioned earlier, there’s a couple of really popular caching plugins which have been around for years. If you don’t know how these things work, it’s best sticking with the tried and tested over the new and unexplored.The two most popular caching plugins are:WP Super CacheWP Super CacheDownload linkW3 Total CacheW3 Total CacheDownload linkBoth plugins do an excellent job but the settings and terminology could confuse you if you’re not totally into server settings and suchlike. If this is you (and I include myself here), the default settings should be good enough.8. Delete the admin userThe default WordPress username is admin. Most hackers know this.They also know the average user doesn’t understand the need to switch to an alternative.Using software and sometimes multiple computers, hackers find your login page and try to gain access to your site using the admin username and a variety of dictionary words for the password.To better protect your site, delete the admin user and assign all posts accredited to admin (if you have any) to a different user.Then, delete the admin user.Here’s how you do it:Step 1 – Create a new user accountIn the left-side menu navigate to Users and click on Add New.You will see a screen like this:Add New WordPress UserNow follow these 4 steps:Think of a username and enter it into the username field. The username cannot be changed.Enter the email address for the user. WordPress uses the email address to send password reminders and contact the user (one email address per user).Enter a new password.Change Subscriber to Administrator so the new account has full control.Next, delete the admin user and switch posts to the new accountNow you have created the new account, log out of WordPress and log back in using the new details.Navigate to the Users screen via the left side menu.If you only have two users the list looks something like this:New WordPress UserTo find the delete button, hover your mouse under the username. As you do this, a couple of links show up.Delete AdminClick on the Delete link to remove the admin account.The option to switch all posts appears on the next screen.As we want to re-assign the posts, click the radio button next to that option and use the pull-down menu to choose the account to which you want to assign the posts.Confirm User DeletionNow hit the Confirm Deletion button and the account is gone, with all posts assigned to the new user.About passwordsA Lifehacker post from 2011 makes the argument for using common phrases as passwords instead of “complete gibberish”, as they take longer to crack.The point of the article is that a phrase like “this is fun” (including spaces) is more difficult to guess than ‘dictionary word’ or a password made up of a group of letters and numbers, and it’s easier to remember.It sounds crazy, but according to How Secure Is My Password?, which tests the strength of a password, it’s true.To find out how secure your password is, type it into the site and watch the data change.In the WordPress scenario, the hacker typically knows the username (admin), the URL of the login page (if WordPress is installed in the root directory), so all that’s left is the password.Here are the results of a few passwords I tested.t1m3tabl3 – 7 hourswimfsiltc*** – 178 yearsiutla164*!” – 1,000 yearsi!love!winter – 7,000 yearsi love winter (spaces included) – 24,000 yearsAs you can see, simple phrases take a heck of time to guess using a desktop PC and software.We’re never going to need a password for 24,000 years. At the other end of the scale, using a password that takes just seven hours to crack is very risky.If you’re struggling to think of a password, try using a password generator tool like this one.9. Activate the Akismet plugin(NB You only need Akismet if you use posts on your site, which you will if you’re blogging. If you only use pages, you needn’t worry about this plugin, as the comment system is inactive.)Akismet is a free plugin bundled with WordPress. It protects your site from comment spam through a quite successful filtering process.It doesn’t stop every spam comment, but it stops most of them.In default mode, WordPress comments stay open forever. You can choose to switch them off or close them after a set amount of days after publication.Navigate to Settings > Discussion to make changes.To disable comments, untick the box next to ‘Allow people to post comments on new articles’.Disable WordPress CommentsTo close comments after a set number of days, tick the box ‘Automatically close comments on articles older than’ and change the number of days accordingly.Close WordPress CommentsTo put this into perspective, I recently closed comments on a client’s site which received 1500 spam comments a day (when I got to it, there were 28,000!). He never changed the default settings so his site was open to spam comments on every single post, some of which were a few years old.Activate Akismet from inside WordPress and follow the on-screen instructions.Activate AkismetActivate Akistmet AccountTo get it working you need an API key.Akismet API KeyClicking the blue button takes you to the Akismet site, where you must register for the API key.Get Akismet APIRegister AkismetIf you already have a WordPress.com: Create a Free Website or Blog account, click the link and log in with those credentials. If you don’t already have a WordPress.com: Create a Free Website or Blog account, create one and log in.Eventually you signNow the Select a Plan page. Make your choice.Akismet Choose a PlanThe next screen asks for your payment details. Akismet is free for personal use (move the payment slider) on unlimited non-commercial sites.Akismet Payment DetailsAkismet API KeyNow you have the API key, head back to your site and copy and paste it into the API key field.Use Akismet API KeyIn case you’re wondering where all the comments come from, I’ll tell you…spammers and software.They’re typically looking for backlinks. So they send out endless comments knowing a percentage of them will be approved and published on the target sites.10. Install Google AnalyticsGoogle Analytics is the industry standard for tracking website visitors. Of course it shows you how many people visit your site, but it gives you a whole load of other information too.Here are a few examples:How long people stay on your siteHow many pages they visitWhich pages they land onWhich pages they leave byThe keywords people use to find your site (this data is usually very limited because Google doesn’t share it if the person searching is logged into their Google account at time of the search)The devices people use including desktops/laptops/mobile devicesTheir geographic locationIf you use AdSense on your site, you can link Analytics to AdSense to see which pages generate revenueIf you use PPC you can link Analytics to AdWords to track how visitors clicking your ads engage with your siteTrack conversionsThe number of people active on your site in real-timeThere are two stages to adding Google Analytics to your site. First, if you don’t already have one, you must create a Google account.Go to Analytics Tools & Solutions for Your Business - Google AnalyticsIf you already have a Google account, click on Sign in.If you don’t have a Google account, click on Create an account.Create Google Analytics AccountWhichever of the two links you click on, you see this page:Create Google AccountEnter your Google login information or click on Create an account. If you are creating an account, complete the online form, which currently looks like this:Create Google Account FormOnce you have created your account, or if you already have one, log into Google.You will see a page like the one below, to create your Google Analytics account, click on Sign up.Sign Up Google AnalyticsOn the next screen you enter information about your site and your location. Complete each section of the form, and untick any of the sharing boxes you disagree with, then click on Get Tracking ID to get your code.New Analytics accountYou will see a screen asking to you agree to the terms of service. If you are not in the United States, change the country option to match your own, then click on I Accept.Agree TermsNow, copy the tracking code (highlighted red on this screenshot) by clicking in the box on your browser. Use Ctrl + C or whichever shortcut you prefer, to copy and paste (Ctrl + V) it into your website.Tracking CodeOnce you have the tracking code you must place it in your site. Google recommends placing the code in the header section, which sounds scarier than it is.Some themes have special areas for Analytics and other scripts.Check yours, if you don’t see one, try using a dedicated plugin like Insert Headers and Footers, which you can download here – or through your site.When you have the plugin installed and activated, navigate to the options page: Settings > Insert Headers and Footers and place the tracking code in the area under Scripts in Header.If it’s correctly set up, it will look like this:Insert Headers and FootersHit save and you’re done.It can take up to 24 hours for Google to start showing data, so don’t worry if you don’t see anything straight away.If you want to use a plugin to handle this, check out Google Analytics for WordPress.11. Add a contact formYou need a contact form so people can get in touch with you.There are a few options to choose from.My favourite is Contact Form 7 because it’s simple and easy to use.Contact Form 7The default form is good enough to get started. And it’s fairly easy to create your own forms by adding extra fields.To create a contact page:Create a new pageCopy the shortcode created by Contact Form 7Paste it into your new pageWrite a few words encouraging people to contact you and when they should expect to hear from youHit publishYou now have a contact page.The default form looks like this.Contact Form 7 Default FormThe styling comes from the Twenty Fourteen theme (one of the default themes). So, it will look different on your site if you use a different theme.Download link12. Install essential pluginsNow you’ve done all the hard work and got everything setup, it’s time to have some ‘fun’ with plugins.Plugins add extra additional functionality to a WordPress site. Without them your site will function, but the user experience will fall a long way short of what’s expected from modern blogs and websites.For example, there’s no contact form in a default WordPress installation. You need a plugin for that (see above). There’s no social sharing buttons either.Everybody has their own list of essential plugins. If you Google that phrase you’ll find all sorts of lists featuring all sorts of plugins.Essential WordPress PluginsVery often you’ll see the staples: SEO, contact forms, share buttons, sitemaps.Once you get past those, try taking a smarter approach and consider the purpose of your site. When you know that, you can track down the plugins to add the functionality you need.For example, photographers will want to display their work in a professional manner, so the NextGen Gallery plugin is an option. They may also want to use a plugin for sharing photos on Pinterest.Anyone selling digital products such as eBooks might want to install an e-commerce or payment plugin.And if you want to add a membership area for paying subscribers, you will need a plugin for that too.As you can see, plugins are essential, but don’t go overboard. Avoid anything gimmicky and stick to the ones you need. Some plugins use a lot of server resources, which impacts the performance of your site.The ones you must install help your pages rank on Google (WordPress SEO), improve loading time (WP Cache), catch spam comments (Akismet) and help people get in touch with you (Contact Form 7)13. Tighten up securityOnce hackers find your site, they’ll make it a target and try to gain access through the login page, out of date plugins/themes and other vulnerable areas.Why is the login page such an easy target? Because most people don’t change the default username from admin to something more difficult to guess.This is a big mistake.But you’d only know it’s a problem if you spent time looking into WordPress security issues or came across a story somewhere.Aside from the admin user issue, there are other things to think about.Take a look at this video.Introduction to Falcon Engine by Wordfence from Mark Maunder on Vimeo.Once you’ve done that, install a security plugin such as iThemes Security, Wordfence or Sucuri.14. Create legal pagesIt’s good to have some legal information on your site – privacy policy, terms of use, terms and conditions.You are best using pages (not posts) to create these for reasons explained here.What goes into these documents depends upon the nature of your site and your geographic location. There are plenty of sites offering legal documentation so a quick search should give you something.In some cases you may have to see a lawyer to have documents drawn up specifically for your site. Before doing that, visit SEQ Legal, which offers a ton of documents you may be able to use.15. Block or allow search enginesFinally, now you’ve set up your blog, do you want the search engines to read it straight away or do you want to add some content first?It’s your choice.The default installation of WordPress allows search engines to signNow and index your posts and pages. You can block search engines reading your content until the site is ready, here’s how to do it:Navigate to Settings > Privacy > and click Ask search engines not to index this site.A word of caution – don’t forget to change this when you’re ready for search engines to index your content!