Read this article for more information on starting your own blog. Maybe you have a blog on WordPress but don’t like how it works. You can make a more attractive blog in many different ways. Read on for helpful suggestions to improve your WordPress blog.
Avoid designs that are commonplace. You may be tempted to choose from the first couple of pages, but if you do, your blog will be very commonplace. It is imperative to make a site that highlights your individuality and the personality of your business.
If your post’s title is lengthy, shorten the permalink. For example, “Ten Ways for Smart Parents to Tame Their Kids” would appear as a long, cumbersome URL. Rather, seek out keywords in the long URL and create a shorter permalink for it.
If there’s a post with a title that’s long, make sure you clean your permalink up. Excessively long titles make for cumbersome, clumsy URLs. Instead, try making the permalink “tips-parents-uncontrollable-children” or something comparable based on the SEO keywords.
Become familiar with the tools available to use with WordPress. For instance, clicking the “kitchen sink” button gets you a multitude of formatting and importing options to distinguish your site. That will help you with formatting.
Try learning all the options and tools you can when you blog on WordPress. For example, if there’s a Kitchen Sink button you click, you’ll be able to get a bunch of other choices that allow you to format and import what you want so posts can be unique. You also may notice that there’s a Screen Options tab where your admin pages are. You can make use of this to control many elements of formatting.
Video blogging is easy with WordPress. This will take a while, but the benefits are great. Many internet users enjoy visuals. A video can show them things that the written word just can’t convey, and as a result, it can be a very powerful tool.
Video blogging is a snap with WordPress. Although this may take you some extra preparation, it is definitely worth it. Internet users are a visual group. A video is able to show people what words cannot, and that is why it’s so powerful.
Review your content for irrelevant material and remove it. This keeps your site clean and easier to use. Check out Akismet for a great way to remove spam.
Make a schedule for your posts. If you schedule when things must be posted, you’re more likely to actually post them. The fact is, you will be able to write several posts all at once, and then have WordPress upload them on a set schedule.
Sometimes you spend hours changing your WordPress site, and then think that the changes have not been saved. There is an easy way to ensure your changes have been made. Clear the browser cache to see if it helps. If your depress the “shift” key while reloading your browser, the changes you made should show.
Remove unnecessary content and delete comments that fail to add value. That will help you to keep the site friendly to people who are looking at it. An excellent plugin that can aid you in removing spam from your site on a daily basis is Akismet.
Posts are always shown chronologically, until you say otherwise. In order to rearrange things, dates will need to be changed. Do this by opening a post, and you’ll see the date in the top right-hand corner. Change the date by clicking on it, and be sure to save the post in the right order.
Get rid of the special characters in your post URL’s. They make it difficult for search engine spiders to “crawl” around your pages. In addition, make sure the URLs aren’t too long; you don’t want anyone to be turned off by the length.
Be certain that your plugins are always up to date. You can make a powerful website using plugins. However, as with any other software, there are updates. Your plugin might stop working or not work as well as it can if you stop updating it.
Do you get many comments on your posts? If you do, it may be hard to go through the comments for you and visitors. You can install a plugin that does this for you. This makes for easier navigation and a more organized site.
Don’t download an excessive amount of plugins. Remember that your site’s load time increases for every plugin you install. A slower website could also negatively impact your search engine rankings. Slower sites don’t usually rank as well as those that are faster.
Make the greeting shown on the top of your WordPress page inviting. That can be more personal for your visitors, since you can craft a message based on how they were able to find your blog. This will allow you to have a page that isn’t too “robotic” so that things can be accessed using the WordPress Greet Box plugin.
Back your blog up. Update it regularly. Xcloner is a great plugin to use with WordPress to do this. Use whatever site or plugin you’re comfortable with to back up your blog, but make sure you back it up in more than one location. It would be terrible to lose your whole blog.
Allow visitors to email your articles to themselves. This allows your readers to share an articles with their friends and also to save a copy for themselves. Utilize a WP-email application to ensure this happens.
Is it hard for you to post at the times that you promise to? It is possible to write posts in advance and have them post according to a pre-arranged schedule. When opening your new post page, there is a future publication setup. This allows you to take care of things beforehand.
Titles and targeted descriptions ought to be used. These are a few of the first words your audience will see when they find your posts in the search engines. This makes these aspects very important. You can use Scribe SEO software to gain control of these items. You can get more visitors by editing these things.
There is no need to use the provided drop-down menu when choosing a header to use for your post. Rather, you can use keyboard-based shortcuts. You can press the CTRL button and then a number from 1 to 6 to choose between the various options. This will save you time if you’re constantly using headers.
Do not use an old version of WordPress. Updates will eliminate vulnerabilities. You are more likely to be attacked by malware if you have an old version of WordPress. Thus, make a point to install WordPress updates as soon as they are available.
Do you want to get rid of the WordPress clutter? Turn off some of the boxes that you see on the page. Click Screen Options. Click this option, which enables you to choose which boxes you want.
Connect your posts by utilizing internal linking plugins. This provides your readers with additional content to peruse while visiting your site. These plugins add a list of three to five links at the bottom of each post based on the relevance of the tags on all of the posts on your site.
When searching for a host, go with simplicity; you want to be able to install WordPress by simply pushing one button. You won’t have to make up a separate database. One click will allow you to pick a domain name and secure the database as well.
Approving comments manually is an outdated practice. Let Akismet filter out the spam for you. You can moderate comments individually, but it’s advisable to switch off manual approval and let visitors comment freely. If you do not do this, you will waste lots of time.
Give various blog authoring tools a try. Is the WordPress dashboard not to your taste? You may want to consider Windows Live Writer. There are many tools that are compatible with WordPress while being much more efficient. Try different ones to determine which works for you.
Experiment with a variety of blogging tools. Don’t find WordPress’ dashboard particularly helpful? Consider Windows Live Writer or another program that does blog authoring. Lots of tools can work well in conjunction with WordPress in this way. Experiment with different programs to find one that will work well for you.
Highlight comments that are made by the post’s author. People often ask questions or express concerns in comment sections. Highlight author’s comments to avoid having the answers and responses get lost in the many comments. Highlight all author comments using a different color. They will easily be visible to visitors.
Differentiate the author’s comments by highlighting them. Many folks raise issues and ask questions via the comments boxes. Any responses made can be missed or overlooked because of so many comments. Be sure an author’s comments are highlighted in a contrasting color. They will easily be visible to visitors.
Create a plan prior to beginning work on your WordPress site. Write down what you wish to accomplish with your blog and how you think visitors will want to use it. That way, you can build the site around what you want to accomplish instead of doing it the other way around.
Come up with a plan before you make a WordPress site. Write down your goals and outline who you want your target audience to be. That allows you to build a site which can accommodate your needs without you having to add stuff later.
While a plugin may not be free, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try it. You have to weigh how much the plugin costs with how much you value your time. It’s got many features at an affordable cost, so it is worth it to free up your time.
Use a second folder that contains a duplicate database to test changes to your site without having them go live. That makes sure your mistakes won’t affect your entire site or affect sales.
Keep a second folder for tests made to your site before putting them out for others to see. This way, if you make a mistake, it won’t wreck your site or embarrass you.
You don’t need to do everything on your website by yourself. You could hire someone or find a friend or family member who is more experienced than you. It’s always best to ensure that the job is done properly the first time.
Before you build your site in WordPress, search for some resources that can help you. For example, social media groups, forums and blogs are great places to get great advice. Whether you have an issue with a plugin or a theme, they’ll be able to help you find the answers you seek.
When planning your site, look up help resources. For example, find WordPress blogs, forums and Facebook groups where you can ask questions and get expert advice. Regardless of what your question is, you should be able to find the answer.
Tags and categories are places where you can use keywords for SEO purposes. The fact remains that distinct category names might just be exactly what folks seek when looking on Google. For instance, you may have found this article by searching for “beginner tips for WordPress” or “plugins for WordPress.”
If you have a post that is not quite ready to be published, you should hold it in an unpublished mode. That way, you can change it as you please and it stays out of view. You then publish the blog post when you are completely satisfied with it.
It takes a variety of elements to create a successful blog. Plugins and proper content plays a major role in whether or not your blog sticks out from the rest. Hopefully this article has been some help. Gain the attention of your readers with these tips.
Utilize the “export” function to keep your site always backed up. Doing so provides you with a number of backups of your site that you can retrieve in case your server dies or your site is hacked.