After installing WordPress, you should check some basic settings before you start building your website. Many of them seem inconspicuous, but they have a direct impact on how your website is displayed, what address WordPress uses, how user accounts are handled, and what timezone applies to posts and other time-dependent functions.
You can find the most important basic settings in the WordPress dashboard under Settings > General. In this guide, we explain the individual options and show you which settings make sense for a typical WordPress website.
Info Some settings on this page can affect the accessibility of your WordPress website. In particular, change the WordPress address and site address only if you know exactly why you need to adjust them.
Where can I find the general WordPress settings? #
First, log in to the administration area of your WordPress website. This can usually be found at the following address:
your-domain.ch/wp-admin/
Then open in the left menu:
Settings > General
On this page you will find the basic settings of your WordPress installation.
Set website title #
In the field Website Title you specify the name of your website. For a company, this is usually the company or brand name. For a blog, for example, the name of the blog can be entered here.
Examples:
Muster AGRestaurant AlpenblickMy travel blog
Depending on the theme used, the website title can appear in various places, for example in the header or as part of the page title in the browser.
Note: The website title is not automatically identical to the SEO title of an individual page. If you are using an SEO plugin, page titles and meta information can be configured separately.
Website subtitle #
Directly below the website title is the field Subtitles. For new installations, WordPress often uses a default text like „Just another WordPress site“ here.
You should change or remove this standard text.
The subtitle is intended for a short description of your website. For example, a company might use a phrasing like this:
Web design and IT service from Graubünden
Whether and where the subtitle is actually displayed depends on the WordPress theme used.
WordPress Address (URL) #
The field WordPress Address (URL) specifies the address where the WordPress installation is located.
For a normal installation directly on the main domain, it could say, for example:
WordPress uses this address, among other things, to correctly call its own files and resources.
Website address (URL) #
The Website address (URL) determines the address at which visitors can access your website.
On most standard WordPress installations, the WordPress address and the site address are identical:
There are special configurations where both addresses can differ. For example, WordPress can technically be installed in a subdirectory while the website is accessible via the main domain. However, this is not necessary for a standard installation.
Warning: Do not attempt to change the WordPress address or site address. An incorrect URL can cause your website or the WordPress admin area to no longer be accessible correctly.
HTTP or HTTPS? #
A publicly accessible WordPress website should generally be operated via an encrypted HTTPS connection. The address then begins with:
https://
and not with:
http://
For this, the domain requires a valid SSL certificate. A free SSL certificate is available for your domains with CURIAWEB Hosting.
We explain in detail how to set up SSL for WordPress correctly in our guide Enable SSL in WordPress.
administrative email address #
The administrative email address is an important address within your WordPress installation. WordPress uses it for administrative notifications and various system messages.
Therefore, use an email address that you have permanent access to.
For a business website, this could be, for example:
webmaster@deine-domain.ch
or:
info@deine-domain.ch
When you change the admin email address, WordPress may send a confirmation to the new address. The change will only be fully applied after it has been confirmed.
Recommendation: Do not use an email address that is likely to exist only temporarily. The administration address may be needed for important WordPress notifications.
Membership: „Anyone can register“ #
Under Membership Do you find the option:
Anyone can register
For a normal corporate website, club website, or personal website, you should generally use this option Leave disabled, provided you do not need public user registration.
Enabling this option allows visitors to create their own user accounts using the WordPress registration feature.
This may be desirable, for example, in the case of certain member pages or community projects. For a standard website, however, open registration usually offers no advantage.
Default role for a new user #
If you have enabled user registration, the setting determines Default role for a new user, what permissions newly registered users receive.
WordPress provides various user roles, including:
- Subscriber
- Employees
- Author
- Editor
- Administrator
For publicly registered users Subscriber usually the safest standard role, as this role has only very limited permissions.
Warning: Never use „Administrator“ as the default role for public user registration. Administrators have extensive rights and can manage practically the entire WordPress website.
We cover the different user roles and their permissions in more detail in our guide. Manage users in WordPress.
Set website language #
About Website language you set the default language of your WordPress installation.
The setting influences, among other things, the language of the WordPress backend and various texts provided by WordPress. Themes and plugins can also load translations for the selected language, provided corresponding language files are available.
For a German-language Swiss website, for example, you can Swiss German select, provided this language variant is available in your installation.
However, this setting does not automatically make your website multilingual. A website with multiple languages additionally requires a corresponding multilingual solution.
Set the time zone correctly #
The correct one Time zone is more important than it appears at first glance. WordPress uses it, among other things, for post publication times, scheduled publications, and various time-dependent processes.
For a website in Switzerland, you should choose a suitable city as the time zone, for example:
Europe/Zurich
In the WordPress interface, this is usually referred to as Zurich or the corresponding regional time zone is offered.
A geographical time zone makes sense compared to a fixed UTC offset because it allows the transition between standard time and daylight saving time to be automatically accounted for.
Tip: If your website is operated in Switzerland, choose a geographical time zone like Zurich and not just a fixed UTC value.
Set date format #
Under Date format you determine how WordPress should display dates.
Depending on the website, a date might appear like this, for example:
August 27, 2026
or:
27.08.2026
Which variant makes sense depends on your design and the type of your content. For German-language websites, a format with day, month, and year is usually easy to understand.
Set time format #
Directly below that you can Time format determine.
In German-speaking regions, the 24-hour format is common, for example:
14:30
WordPress also allows other presentation formats. The decisive factor above all is that the format fits your website's target audience.
The first day of the week #
With the setting Week begins on you determine which day of the week WordPress uses as the start of the week.
For websites in Switzerland and large parts of Europe, it is normally Monday the right attitude.
Among other things, this setting can be used by calendar functions as well as certain themes and plugins.
Recommended basic settings for a Swiss WordPress website #
For a typical corporate, association, or private website in Switzerland, the following settings can serve as a starting point:
- Website title: Company, project, or website name
- Subtitle: customize or remove
- WordPress Address:
https://deine-domain.ch - Website address:
https://deine-domain.ch - Administrative e-mail: permanently reachable address
- Anyone can register: disabled unless needed
- Standard role: Subscriber
- Language: appropriate German or Swiss language version
- Time zone: Zurich
- Date format: matching the website
- Time format: 24-hour format
- Week starts on: Monday
These settings are not mandatory requirements. However, they form a sensible basis for many WordPress websites targeting an audience in Switzerland.
Save changes #
After checking or adjusting the settings, click at the bottom of the page Save changes.
Then briefly check your website. Especially after making changes to the website title, language, or URL settings, you should verify that the website and the WordPress admin area continue to function as expected.
Which WordPress settings should you configure afterwards? #
The area Settings > General is only part of the basic WordPress configuration. WordPress has other settings areas that also influence your website.
Next, you should in particular the Writing Settings in WordPress, the Reading settings in WordPress, the Discussion settings in WordPress, the Media settings in WordPress and the Permalink settings in WordPress check.
You should determine the permalink structure as early as possible, before your website contains a lot of content. This will help you avoid making later changes to URLs that are already in use.
Conclusion #
The general settings are among the first areas you should check after a new WordPress installation. Site title, administrative email address, language, timezone, and user registration can be centrally configured here.
Special care must be taken with WordPress Address and the Website address required. These values directly influence the URLs under which WordPress and your website can be accessed. If you are not sure whether a change is necessary, you should not alter the existing values.
Recommendation: Take a few minutes after a new WordPress installation to thoroughly check the general settings. A clean basic configuration will save you unnecessary errors with user accounts, publication times, URLs, and administrative notifications later on.
