Your blog’s general settings control how your site identifies itself to the world. We’re talking blog title, tagline, timezone, date formats—basically the foundational info that appears everywhere from browser tabs to search results.
Here’s the thing: Most people breeze through these settings during initial setup and never think about them again. That’s fine if you got them right the first time. But if you’re launching a rebrand, fixing timezone issues with scheduled posts, or just want to understand what each setting actually does, this is where you’ll make those changes.
We’ve found these settings matter more than they seem. Your blog title affects SEO. Your timezone determines when posts go live. Even something minor like date format shapes how professional your blog feels. Worth spending 10 minutes getting them right.
Prerequisites
Before diving into general settings, you’ll need:
- Access to your Badass Network blog dashboard
- Admin-level permissions (you’ve got these if it’s your blog)
- About 10 minutes to review and update settings
- Your blog’s branding elements if you’re changing the title or tagline
Finding General Settings
Log into your WordPress dashboard. Look at the left sidebar menu and scroll down until you see Settings. Hover over it (or click it if you’re on mobile), and you’ll see a submenu appear with options like General, Reading, Discussion, and more.
Click General.
This opens the General Settings page—basically the control panel for your blog’s core identity and preferences.
Your Blog’s Identity: Title and Tagline
The first two fields you’ll see are Site Title and Tagline. These define how your blog introduces itself.
Site Title
This appears in browser tabs, search engine results, your blog’s header (usually), and anywhere WordPress references your site by name.
Click in the Site Title field. You’ll see whatever’s currently set—probably what you entered during setup, or maybe “My Badass Blog” if you skipped that step.
Type your blog’s name. Could be:
- Your name: “Sharon’s Wellness Journey”
- A topic-focused title: “The Minimalist Kitchen”
- A brand name: “Badass Digital Marketing”
- Something creative that captures your vibe
Keep it concise. We’d recommend staying under 60 characters because Google truncates longer titles in search results. You can go longer if your title’s important to your brand, just know that people might not see the full thing when they search.
Does capitalization matter? Yeah, type it exactly how you want it displayed. If you type “my awesome blog,” that’s what appears. If you want “My Awesome Blog,” capitalize accordingly.
Tagline
Right below the title, you’ll find the Tagline field. This is your blog’s quick explanation—usually one short sentence describing what you write about.
The tagline typically appears under your blog title in the header, though some themes hide it or display it only on certain pages. Even if it’s not visually prominent, it matters for SEO since search engines use it to understand your site’s focus.
Click in the Tagline field and type a brief description. Something like:
- “Real recipes for busy people who actually want to eat well”
- “Digital marketing strategies that don’t require a massive budget”
- “Travel stories from someone who’s always slightly lost”
We usually tell people to aim for 10-15 words maximum. Short enough to be scannable, specific enough to be meaningful.
Can you skip the tagline? Sure, leave it blank if your blog title already makes your topic obvious. But we’ve found that a clear tagline helps visitors immediately understand what they’ll find on your blog, which typically improves engagement.
Email Address
Below the tagline, you’ll see Email Address. This is the administrative email for your blog—where WordPress sends notifications about comments, updates, and account activity.
Make sure this is an email you actually check. Seriously, we can’t count how many people miss important security notifications because they entered a throwaway email here.
Click the field and update it if needed. Typically, this should be:
- Your primary personal email if this is your blog
- A dedicated blog management email if you prefer keeping blogging stuff separate
- An email you’ll have access to long-term (not a work email if you’re planning to leave that job)
WordPress sends a verification email when you change this. Check your inbox, click the confirmation link, and you’re set.
Membership Settings
Next section down: Membership.
You’ll see a checkbox labeled “Anyone can register.” For Badass Network blogs, this is usually unchecked and probably should stay that way unless you’re specifically building a community site where you want random people creating accounts.
Most personal blogs don’t need this enabled. You can manually add contributors or authors through Users > Add New if you want specific people to have access. Leaving registration open just invites spam accounts.
If you do check this box, you’ll see a dropdown for New User Default Role. This determines what permissions new registrants get. Options include Subscriber (can read and comment), Contributor (can write posts but can’t publish), Author (can publish their own posts), and a few others.
For personal blogs: Leave registration disabled.
For community blogs: Set it to Subscriber and manually upgrade people you trust.
Site Language
Scroll down a bit and you’ll find Site Language. This sets the language for your WordPress interface and, depending on your theme, some front-end text as well.
Click the dropdown to see available languages. English is default for most Badass Network blogs, but if you’re blogging in another language or prefer managing your dashboard in your native language, pick whatever works.
Changing this affects the WordPress admin interface language and automated text like “Search,” “Categories,” “Posted by,” etc. It doesn’t translate your content—you still write posts in whatever language you want.
Timezone
Here’s where things get practical. Your timezone setting determines when scheduled posts publish and what timestamps appear on your content.
Click the Timezone dropdown. You’ll see a long list organized by continent and city, like “America/New_York” or “Europe/Amsterdam.”
Scroll through and find your location. If your exact city isn’t listed, pick the nearest major city in your timezone. WordPress uses city-based zones because they automatically adjust for daylight saving time, which is honestly easier than manually changing a UTC offset twice a year.
Date Format
Right below timezone, you’ll see Date Format with several radio button options:
- November 11, 2025
- 11/11/2025
- 2025-11-11
- 11 Nov 2025
- Custom (with a text field to enter your own format)
This controls how dates display on your blog posts, archive pages, and anywhere else WordPress shows a date.
Pick whichever format feels natural for your audience. US readers usually prefer “Month Day, Year” while international audiences often go with “Day Month Year” or numeric formats like “YYYY-MM-DD.”
There’s no SEO impact here—purely aesthetic. Choose what looks good to you and matches how your target audience expects to see dates.
If none of the preset options work, click Custom and enter your own PHP date format code. You’ll need to look up the PHP date formatting syntax if you go this route—things like “F j, Y” for “Month Day, Year.” Honestly, most people stick with the presets because they cover the common formats.
Time Format
Just below date format, you’ll find Time Format. Same concept, different display.
Options typically include:
- 10:45 am
- 10:45 AM
- 10:45
Pick lowercase, uppercase, or 24-hour format depending on your preference. Again, this is purely about how times display on your blog—doesn’t affect functionality.
Most US-based blogs use 12-hour format with “am/pm.” International blogs often prefer 24-hour format. Your call.
Week Starts On
Scroll down a bit more and you’ll see Week Starts On with a dropdown.
This setting determines what day shows as the first column in WordPress’s calendar widgets and date pickers. Options are Sunday through Saturday.
For most people in the US, weeks start on Sunday. Many European countries prefer Monday. Pick whichever matches your mental model of how weeks work.
Honestly, this is one of those settings that barely matters unless you use calendar widgets prominently or you’re particular about how scheduling calendars display. We usually leave it at default (Sunday) and forget about it.
Saving Your Changes
Here’s the thing people forget: WordPress doesn’t auto-save settings pages.
After you’ve made changes, scroll all the way to the bottom of the General Settings page. You’ll see a blue Save Changes button.
Click it.
You’ll see a confirmation message at the top of the page: “Settings saved.” That’s your signal that everything’s been applied.
What These Settings Actually Affect
Let’s talk about where these settings appear and why they matter beyond just filling in fields.
Your blog title shows up:
- In browser tabs (that little text at the top of the window)
- In search engine results as your site name
- In your blog’s header (usually, depending on your theme)
- When people bookmark your site
- In RSS feed readers if people subscribe
Your tagline appears:
- Under your blog title in the header (theme-dependent)
- In search engine meta descriptions sometimes
- In your site’s metadata for SEO
Timezone affects:
- When scheduled posts publish (critical if you pre-schedule content)
- Timestamps on comments and posts
- Analytics and reporting timeframes
Date and time formats change:
- How dates appear in post metadata (“Published on…”)
- Archive page listings
- Comment timestamps
- Calendar widgets
Language setting controls:
- Dashboard interface language
- Automated WordPress text (buttons, labels, default messages)
- Some theme elements if your theme supports translation
Most of this happens behind the scenes. You set it once, it works everywhere. That’s why it’s worth taking a few minutes to get these right.
Not often. Set them correctly at the start and you’ll rarely need to touch them. Main reasons to revisit: rebranding (new blog title), moving to a new location (timezone change), or fixing something that wasn’t right initially.
Yeah, but be thoughtful about it. Minor tweaks or clarifications are usually fine. Completely overhauling your title can temporarily confuse search engines since they associate your current title with your rankings. If you must change it dramatically, do it once and commit to the new title long-term.
Your scheduled posts publish at unexpected times, and your post timestamps won’t match reality. The fix is easy though—just go back to General Settings, correct the timezone, and click Save. Past posts keep their original timestamps, but new content uses the corrected timezone.
Some themes hide the tagline by default, or only show it on certain pages. Head to Appearance > Customize and look for header settings. You’ll usually find an option to display or hide the tagline. If you can’t find it, your theme might not support tagline display (less common, but happens).
Nope. Your login username and email are separate from the site admin email. Changing the admin email just updates where WordPress sends notifications—doesn’t change your account credentials at all.
Not typically. The admin email is used for backend notifications, not displayed publicly on your blog. Your author email (set in your user profile) is what appears if your theme shows author contact info.
Things Worth Remembering
- Your blog title is part of your brand. Choose something memorable, spell it correctly, and make sure it accurately represents what you write about. You’ll use this title for years (hopefully), so take a moment to think it through rather than picking something random.
- Timezone matters more than you think. If you schedule posts or care about when your content goes live, get this right from day one. It’s fixable later, but it’s easier to set correctly now than to troubleshoot scheduling issues down the road.
- The tagline’s not mandatory, but it helps. Especially for new visitors who land on your blog and want to immediately know what they’ll find. A clear tagline answers that question in one glance.
- Save your changes. Can’t emphasize this enough. WordPress doesn’t auto-save settings. Click that Save Changes button or everything you just configured disappears when you navigate away.
- Date formats are cultural. If your primary audience is in the US, use US date conventions. International audience? Consider ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD) since it’s unambiguous across cultures.
When Something Goes Wrong
I saved my changes but they’re not appearing on my blog.
Check your cache. Your browser might be showing an old version of your site. Try a hard refresh (Ctrl+F5 on Windows, Cmd+Shift+R on Mac) or open your blog in a private/incognito browser window. If that doesn’t help, your theme might be overriding these settings somehow—check your theme customization options.
WordPress won’t let me save changes.
Usually means a permissions issue or a plugin conflict. Try disabling any security plugins temporarily (just to test), then attempt saving again. If it works, re-enable plugins one by one to identify the culprit. Still stuck? Contact Badass Network support—we can check your backend permissions.
My scheduled posts are publishing at the wrong time even after I fixed the timezone.
Two possibilities: Either you didn’t save the timezone change (go back and verify it’s set correctly), or posts scheduled before you changed the timezone are still using the old setting. For those posts, you’ll need to edit them individually and reschedule them with the new timezone in effect.
I changed my blog title and now Google shows the old title in search results.
Google takes time to recrawl and update its index. Usually happens within a few weeks. You can speed this up by going to Google Search Console (if you have it set up) and requesting a recrawl of your homepage. Otherwise, just be patient—it’ll update eventually.
My tagline shows up in weird places I don’t want it.
Head to Appearance > Customize and look through your header, footer, and layout settings. Most themes let you control where the tagline appears (or hide it entirely). If your theme doesn’t offer those options, you might need to use custom CSS to hide it from specific locations.
The date format I want isn’t in the preset options.
Use the Custom option and enter a PHP date format string. Common ones: “F j, Y” gives you “November 11, 2025,” “m/d/Y” gives you “11/11/2025,” “j M Y” gives you “11 Nov 2025.” You can find comprehensive PHP date format documentation online if you need something specific.
What You’ve Set Up
You’ve configured your blog’s core identity and preferences through WordPress general settings. Your blog now has the right title, a clear tagline (if you chose to use one), accurate timezone and date formatting, and proper administrative settings for email notifications and language.
These settings form the foundation of how your blog presents itself and operates. Every post you publish, every timestamp that displays, every search result that shows your site—these general settings shape those details.
Most people configure these once during initial setup and rarely revisit them. That’s fine. You’ve now got everything set correctly, and you can focus on creating content instead of tweaking backend settings.
What’s Next
Now that your general settings are dialed in, you’ll probably want to:
- Configure your reading settings to control homepage display and RSS feeds
- Set up discussion settings to manage comments
- Customize your theme appearance to match your brand
- Write and publish your first post (or your next post if you’re already blogging)
General settings were the administrative foundation. Everything else—customization, content, community—builds on this base.