You’ve got your blog up and running, but now you need to actually configure it. Blog settings control everything from your site’s title to how comments work to what shows up on your homepage. They’re basically the control panel for your blog’s behavior.
Here’s the thing: WordPress tucks these settings into several different pages, and if you don’t know where to look, it can feel like hunting for a needle in a haystack. We’ll show you exactly where to find every settings page and what each one actually does.
Prerequisites
Before we dive into blog settings, you’ll need:
- Access to your Badass Network blog dashboard (you should be logged in)
- Basic familiarity with the WordPress admin interface (if you’ve logged in before, you’re good)
- About 10 minutes to explore the various settings pages
That’s it. No technical knowledge required—we’re covering this from the ground up.
Where to Find Your Blog Settings
Your blog settings aren’t all in one place. WordPress splits them across multiple pages under the Settings menu. Let’s start with the big picture, then we’ll break down each section.
The Settings Menu (Your Starting Point)
Look at the left sidebar of your WordPress dashboard. Scroll down until you see Settings—it’s usually toward the bottom of the menu, right below Tools.
Click Settings and you’ll see a submenu expand with several options:
- General — Basic site info like title, tagline, timezone
- Writing — Default post settings and writing preferences
- Reading — What displays on your homepage and RSS feed options
- Discussion — Comment settings and moderation rules
- Media — Image size settings and file upload options
- Permalinks — URL structure for your posts and pages
- Privacy — Privacy policy page and data handling options
Yeah, it’s a lot. Most people don’t touch every single setting—you’ll probably configure General, Reading, and Discussion early on, then revisit the others as needed. That’s normal.
General Settings (Start Here)
This is where we’d recommend starting. General settings control the fundamental information about your blog.
Click Settings > General in the left sidebar. You’ll land on a page with several fields and options. Let’s walk through what you’re actually looking at.
Site Title and Tagline
Right at the top, you’ll see two text fields:
Site Title — This is your blog’s name. It appears in browser tabs, search results, and usually in your theme’s header. Make it clear and memorable. Something like “Sarah’s Marketing Blog” or “Tech Tips with Mike” works well.
Tagline — A short description of what your blog’s about. Think of it as your elevator pitch in one sentence. “Practical marketing advice for small businesses” or “Making technology less confusing” give visitors an immediate sense of what you’re offering.
Don’t stress too much about getting these perfect right now. You can change them anytime, and honestly, most people tweak them a few times before settling on something they love.
WordPress Address and Site Address
You’ll see two URL fields below your title and tagline:
- WordPress Address (URL) — Where WordPress core files are located
- Site Address (URL) — What visitors type to reach your blog
Administration Email Address
This is the email where WordPress sends administrative notifications—things like comment moderation alerts, new user registrations, or password reset requests.
Make sure this is an email you actually check. If it’s connected to an abandoned inbox, you’ll miss important notifications about your blog.
You can change this anytime by typing a new email address and clicking Save Changes at the bottom of the page. WordPress will send a confirmation link to the new address before making the switch.
Site Language
WordPress supports dozens of languages. By default, your blog’s probably set to English, but you can change this to match your audience or preference.
Click the dropdown and select your language. This changes the WordPress admin interface language (what you see in the dashboard) as well as some front-end elements depending on your theme.
Most English-speaking bloggers leave this as “English (United States),” but if you’re writing for an international audience or prefer another language for your admin work, go ahead and switch it.
Timezone
Okay, this one matters more than you’d think. Your timezone determines when scheduled posts go live and what timestamps appear on your content.
WordPress defaults to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), which probably isn’t where you actually live. Click the dropdown and either:
- Select your city from the list (easiest option), OR
- Choose a UTC offset manually if your city isn’t listed
I’d recommend picking your actual city because it automatically handles daylight saving time changes. If you select a UTC offset, you’ll need to manually adjust it twice a year when clocks change.
Date Format and Time Format
These settings control how dates and times display on your blog. You’ll see several radio button options like:
- November 11, 2025
- 2025/11/11
- 11/11/2025
Pick whichever format makes sense for your audience. If you’re writing for a U.S. audience, MM/DD/YYYY is most common. International audiences typically prefer DD/MM/YYYY or YYYY/MM/DD.
Same thing for time format—12-hour (with AM/PM) or 24-hour military time. Your choice.
Quick heads-up: You can also create a custom format using the “Custom” field. If you know PHP date formatting codes, go wild. Otherwise, the presets work fine for most people.
Week Starts On
This determines whether your calendar widgets and scheduling interfaces show Sunday or Monday as the first day of the week. It’s purely a preference thing and doesn’t affect your blog’s functionality.
In the U.S., most people expect Sunday as the first day. In Europe and many other regions, Monday is standard. Pick what feels natural to you.
Save Your Changes
Reading Settings (What Visitors See)
After General settings, Reading settings are probably the next most important to configure. This controls what displays on your blog’s homepage and how your content appears in RSS feeds.
Click Settings > Reading to get started.
Your Homepage Displays
This is a big one. You’ve got two options:
Your latest posts — Your homepage shows your most recent blog posts in reverse chronological order (newest first). This is the traditional blog setup and what most people choose.
A static page — Your homepage displays a specific page you’ve created (like a custom welcome page), and you designate a different page to show your blog posts.
Most bloggers on Badass Network stick with “Your latest posts” because it’s straightforward and works well for personal blogs. If you want more control over your homepage layout, you can create a custom page and select “A static page”—but that’s more advanced and you’d need to actually create those pages first.
Blog Pages Show at Most
This controls how many posts appear on your blog’s homepage and archive pages before pagination kicks in. The default is usually 10, which is fine for most blogs.
If your posts are really long, you might want to reduce this to 5 or 7 so your homepage doesn’t become a never-ending scroll. If your posts are short snippets, 15 or 20 works well.
It depends on your content style, honestly. You can always change it later if the default doesn’t feel right.
Syndication Feeds Show the Most Recent
This controls how many posts appear in your RSS feed. The default is 10, which works for most situations. Unless you have a specific reason to change it, I’d leave this alone.
For Each Post in a Feed, Include
You’ve got two radio button options:
Full text — Your entire post content appears in RSS feeds
Summary — Only your post excerpt appears, requiring readers to click through to your blog to read the full post
There’s some debate about which is better. Full text is more convenient for readers using feed readers. Summary can drive more traffic to your actual blog since people have to visit to read the complete article.
We usually recommend “Full text” because it’s more reader-friendly, but if driving traffic to your blog is a priority, “Summary” makes sense too.
Search Engine Visibility
Save Your Changes
Again, scroll down and click Save Changes to lock in your selections. WordPress won’t remember otherwise.
Discussion Settings (Comments and Interaction)
Discussion settings control how comments work on your blog. If you’re planning to allow reader comments (and most bloggers do), you’ll want to configure these thoughtfully.
Navigate to Settings > Discussion to access these options.
Default Post Settings
At the very top, you’ll see three checkboxes:
“Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the post” — WordPress tries to send notifications to other sites you link to in your posts (called “pingbacks”). Most people leave this unchecked because it’s not widely used anymore.
“Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks) on new posts” — Other sites can notify you when they link to your content. This can get spammy, so many bloggers turn this off. Your call.
“Allow people to submit comments on new posts” — This is the big one. Check this if you want readers to be able to comment on your blog posts. Uncheck it if you’d rather not deal with comments at all.
If you’re unsure, I’d recommend enabling comments. They build community around your blog and encourage engagement. You can always moderate them to keep spam under control.
Other Comment Settings
Below the default settings, you’ll find several more checkboxes that fine-tune comment behavior:
“Comment author must fill out name and email” — Requires commenters to provide contact info. Reduces anonymous spam but adds friction. Most people enable this.
“Users must be registered and logged in to comment” — Only users with accounts on your blog can comment. This pretty much kills casual commenting, so most bloggers leave this unchecked unless they’re running a private community blog.
“Automatically close comments on posts older than X days” — Prevents comments on old posts, which is where most spam happens. Setting this to 90 or 180 days is a smart move. Old posts rarely get legitimate comments anyway.
“Enable threaded (nested) comments X levels deep” — Allows replies to show as indented threads under the original comment. Makes conversations easier to follow. We’d recommend enabling this with 5 levels (the default).
“Break comments into pages with X top-level comments per page” — If a post gets hundreds of comments, pagination keeps things manageable. The default (usually 50) is fine.
Email Me Whenever
Two checkboxes here:
“Anyone posts a comment” — You get an email for every single comment submitted. This can flood your inbox on popular posts, so most people turn this off.
“A comment is held for moderation” — You get an email when a comment needs approval. This one’s useful if you’re moderating comments because it alerts you immediately.
Pick what works for your notification preferences. You can always adjust later if you’re getting too many (or too few) emails.
Before a Comment Appears
This controls comment moderation:
“Comment must be manually approved” — Every comment waits in a queue until you approve it. Gives you total control but requires more work on your part.
“Comment author must have a previously approved comment” — First-time commenters need approval, but once someone’s been approved once, their future comments post immediately. This is a good balance between openness and spam control. Most people choose this option.
Comment Moderation and Disallowed Comment Keys
These text areas let you set up filters for comments. You can specify that comments with certain words, phrases, or links automatically go to moderation or get marked as spam.
Honestly, most bloggers leave these blank initially and only add specific filters if they start getting repetitive spam. WordPress’s built-in spam detection (via Akismet) usually handles most junk without manual filters.
Avatars
At the bottom of Discussion settings, you’ll find avatar options. Avatars are the little profile pictures that appear next to commenters’ names.
“Show Avatars” — Check this if you want profile pictures to show up in comments. It makes your comment section feel more personal and engaging. We’d recommend enabling it.
Below that, you can set a default avatar style for users who don’t have their own. Pick whichever looks best with your blog’s design. The “Mystery Person” and “Gravatar Logo” options are most popular.
Save Your Changes
You know the drill by now. Scroll down, click Save Changes, and you’re set.
Writing Settings (Post Defaults)
Writing settings are pretty minimal on Badass Network, but let’s cover what’s there.
Go to Settings > Writing.
Default Post Category
Every post needs to belong to at least one category. This setting determines which category WordPress automatically assigns to new posts if you don’t choose one manually.
The default is “Uncategorized,” which is fine, but most bloggers create their own categories and set one as the default. If most of your posts fall into a specific category (like “Blog” or “Articles”), setting that as the default saves you a click every time you publish.
Default Post Format
Some themes support different post formats—things like “Standard,” “Gallery,” “Video,” “Quote,” etc. The Badass Network theme may or may not use these, depending on its design.
If this dropdown appears, pick the format you use most often. “Standard” works for regular blog posts. You can always change the format when writing individual posts.
That’s pretty much it for Writing settings. Not much to configure here, honestly.
Media Settings (Image and Upload Options)
Media settings control image sizes and file upload behavior. You probably don’t need to mess with these right away, but it’s good to know they exist.
Navigate to Settings > Media.
Image Sizes
WordPress automatically creates multiple sizes of every image you upload:
- Thumbnail — Usually 150×150 pixels (square crop)
- Medium — Usually 300 pixels on the longest side
- Large — Usually 1024 pixels on the longest side
These pre-sized versions make it easier to insert appropriately-sized images into your posts without manually resizing them.
You can adjust these dimensions if you want, but the defaults work well for most blogs. Unless you have a specific design requirement, I’d leave these alone.
Uploading Files
This section shows you the file path where WordPress stores your uploaded media. On Badass Network, this is managed automatically, so you don’t need to change anything here.
Permalink Settings (URL Structure)
Permalinks determine what your blog post URLs look like. This is important for SEO and usability, so it’s worth getting right early on.
Click Settings > Permalinks to configure this.
Permalink Structure
You’ll see several radio button options:
- Plain — example.com/?p=123 (ugly and not SEO-friendly)
- Day and Name — example.com/2025/11/11/sample-post/ (includes date)
- Month and Name — example.com/2025/11/sample-post/ (includes month)
- Numeric — example.com/archives/123 (just a number)
- Post Name — example.com/sample-post/ (clean and SEO-friendly)
Custom Structure
Below the radio buttons, there’s a field for custom permalink structures. You can create your own using tags like %year%, %postname%, %category%, etc.
Unless you’re a WordPress power user, stick with one of the presets. Custom structures can get complicated and aren’t necessary for most blogs.
Save Your Changes
Click Save Changes to lock in your permalink structure.
Privacy Settings (Data Handling)
Privacy settings are mostly about designating your privacy policy page and managing data requests.
Go to Settings > Privacy to see what’s here.
Privacy Policy Page
WordPress wants you to have a privacy policy that explains how you handle visitor data. You can select an existing page from the dropdown menu or create a new one.
If you haven’t created a privacy policy yet, don’t worry. You can do this later. WordPress even provides a template to help you write one if you’re not sure what to include.
Nope. Most bloggers start with General, Reading, and Discussion settings, then explore the others as needed. Permalinks are worth setting early because changing them later can cause issues, but everything else can wait.
Don’t worry—most setting changes are reversible. Just go back to the settings page and change it to what it was before. The only truly dangerous setting is WordPress Address and Site Address under General settings (which we told you not to touch). Everything else is safe to experiment with.
Usually, no. Settings don’t have a preview mode like the theme customizer does. That said, most changes are visible immediately after saving, so you can check your blog’s front-end, and if you don’t like what you see, just go back and adjust the setting.
Honestly, not that often. Most people configure their settings once during initial setup and rarely change them. You might tweak Discussion settings if spam becomes an issue or adjust Reading settings if you change your homepage structure, but day-to-day blogging doesn’t usually involve settings changes.
Tips for Managing Your Blog Settings
- Set Your Timezone First — Seriously, do this before you start scheduling posts. Nothing’s more frustrating than scheduling a post for 9 AM only to have it publish at 2 AM because your timezone was set to UTC.
- Check Your Reading Settings — Make sure “Discourage search engines” is unchecked unless you’re intentionally building your blog in private. This mistake has confused so many bloggers who wonder why they’re not showing up in Google.
- Enable Comment Moderation — Spam comments are a reality of blogging. Setting comments to require approval for first-time commenters gives you control without completely disabling interaction.
- Test Changes on Your Live Site — After saving setting changes, visit your blog’s public-facing pages to see how things look. Open an incognito window if you want to see exactly what visitors see (without caching or admin tools interfering).
What You’ve Accomplished
You now know how to access every major settings page in WordPress and what each one controls. You can configure your blog’s basic information, control how content displays on your homepage, manage comments and reader interaction, and set up SEO-friendly permalinks.
Next step: Start customizing your blog’s appearance through the theme customizer, or jump into creating your first real blog post. Your settings are configured—now it’s time to make your blog yours.