Is your blog using WordPress but not gaining a lot of readers? Are you thinking about starting one but, want to make certain you do it right? Operating a successful blog takes the right combination of know-how and hard work. This article has some really useful tips.
Learn everything you can about WordPress choices to use it most effectively. For example, “KITCHEN SINK” gives you more format options on posts. Your admin pages will also have a “SCREEN OPTIONS” tab. You can make use of this to control many elements of formatting.
WordPress makes video blogging easy. While you may need to prepare a little more, that makes things worth it. Visitors to your site will appreciate how visual a video is. This can be a great tool to clarify what you want to say.
WordPress makes it easy for users to incorporate video blogging into their site. This will require you to spend more time prepping, but this is worth it. Visitors to your site will appreciate how visual a video is. Using video is a powerful tool because it allows you to express your thoughts visually.
Set a schedule when you’re ready to post. With a schedule you’ll be motivated to keep posting. You can even create a week’s worth of content all at once and tell WordPress when to post it to your blog.
Make a schedule for posting to your blog. You will be more motivated when you have a schedule. Actually, you can write all the posts for a week in one sitting and then use WordPress’s schedule feature to upload the posts at the appointed time.
The URLs of your blog posts should not have special characters. They make life hard for search engines when they spider the site, so get rid of them. While utilizing keywords, make sure you keep those URLs short as well.
Eliminate comments and content that fail to add value to your site. This keeps the site easily usable to the honest viewers. Akismet is one of the better plugins for filtering out spam.
Your posts will always show up in chronological order when you have not specified otherwise. You must start by altering the date. First, open the posts and look for the date in the top-right corner. Change the date by clicking on it, and save the post to change the order of posts.
Do you have lots of comments? It can be hard to look through all of them, for yourself and others. Include a plugin which will add numbers to the pages in this section. That will make navigation much easier and your site will appear more organized.
Do you have lots of comments? If you do, it may be hard to go through the comments for you and visitors. Install a plugin that can divide this into different pages. That will improve navigation and make your site look better organized.
You can increase your rank by including keywords with your pictures. Use the alternate text and title tags on each one. When visitors pin your images to sites like Pinterest, the title you gave is what will be represented on their screen.
If you edit your pictures a little bit, you’ll be able to rise in the search results. Always use titles and alt text tags. When visitors pin your images to sites like Pinterest, the title you gave is what will be represented on their screen.
Incorporate targeted descriptions in your site. People will first see these through the search engines. This gives them great significance. Scribe is search engine optimization software that can help you control these aspects of your WordPress site. This allows you to attract additional viewers by editing the items that appear on your pages.
Provide a link that allows all your users to easily email themselves a copy of your articles. This is essential for sharing purposes, since not everyone uses Twitter or Facebook while working. Try using a plugin like WP-Email.
Organize that media library often. It’s tempting to upload pictures into the library directly, however, things can easily get disorganized. Make a folder structure before uploading, and put the pictures into each correct folder. At later times, when an image is needed, your search time will be greatly reduced.
Avoid using a username such as “Admin”. Your blog is more vulnerable to attack by bots if you choose this as your username. This raises the risk in security. If you have usernames that are administrator or admin, delete them. Choose something else.
Do not forget to create a backup of your blog. This should be done on a regular basis. One good WordPress plugin for this is Xcloner. The actual plugin doesn’t really matter, as long as it is something that you can use relatively easily. It would be very unfortunate if you lost your blog.
Security is an important measure that you will want to consider. Keep your password to yourself. On top of that, only download plugins from sites which are reputable and check the reviews before you install anything. It just takes one instance of malware to mess up all your hard work.
Schedule posts a few days ahead for your blog in WordPress. You can set it up so that they will be posted at very specific times. Just have a look at your EDIT screen. Here you will see the PUBLISH box. Click “Publish Immediately” under that. Use military time that indicates the exact date. Then you just select “okay.” When you spot your “schedule for” screen, select it and then hit “schedule” if things look right.
Organize your media library and keep it that way. You may wish to just put images right into your library, but this can result in chaos. Set up folders right at the outset, and put images into the correct folders. You’ll have a lot easier time finding images in the future that you hope to reuse.
Do not waste your time on reviewing comments before they are posted. Instead, use Akismet to do the work for you. Don’t bother with manual approval. Failing that, you won’t really save any time.
Remember to back your blog up. Do it regularly. In WordPress, you can use a plugin for this, such as Xcloner. Create a back up of your blog using any method that you are comfortable with; just be sure to create multiple backups. It would be very unfortunate to lose your entire blog.
Don’t use that drop-down menu for post headers. Use keyboard shortcuts instead. Press CTRL, then pick a number between 1 and 6. This shortcut can save a lot of time when working with headers.
Internal linking plugins can connect posts and allow readers to view more content. These plugins create lists of a few links to each post by using tag relevance.
Tired of WordPress clutter? Turn several of the boxes off to clear it up. Do this from ‘Screen Options’ near the top of your window. Clicking on it results in the appearance of a drop-down menu on which you can click boxes that you do or do not want to appear.
Write blog posts in advance and then schedule them to be posted later. You can schedule them to post at different times, and you don’t have to be around a computer. Go to “Edit”, and then find the “Publish” option. Beneath that, there will be an option labeled: Publish Immediately. Select the time and date you want it to be published. Hit “OK.” Read through your “Schedule For” screen, then select “Schedule” if everything is right.
Get a webhost that is able to install WordPress by simply clicking a button. Using one of these tools will save you the trouble of creating your own individual database. A good host will create a blog domain on your behalf and a database to go with it.
You don’t have to manually approve comments anymore. Instead, let Akismet perform that job for you. You have the ability to receive a message when a comment is left, but it is wiser to uncheck the manual approval options. Failing that, you won’t really save any time.
Be sure to let people comment about your blog posts. This builds a community and gives you more information about your readers. There are plugins available so that you can approve comments before they appear on the site, so you don’t have to worry about advertisers and spammers.
Don’t use the drop-down header menu. Use keyboard shortcuts instead. Press CTRL and the numbers one to six for the various headers. This will save you a lot of time if you use a lot of headers.
Experiment with a variety of blogging tools. Do you dislike the WordPress’s dashboard? There are other programs you can use, such as Windows Live Writer. WordPress is compatible with a variety of tools that make it more efficient. Try several of them. Find one that works for you.
Are you sick of WordPress clutter? Eliminate a few of the boxes appearing on the page. Go to: Screen Options on the window. Click on that button and you will see a drop-down menu. Use this to control the various boxes.
You may want to highlight comments from the blog author. There are often concerns and questions in the comments. If there is a response from the author, it can be easily overlooked. Use a different color to highlight your comments. Using this method will make the comment section easier to read.
Try several different tools to author blogs. Are you not fond of the dashboard on WordPress? Authoring programs designed for blogging sites may be the answer. There are several tools that work with WordPress that make your workflow more efficient. You have to try more than one to really know your personal preferences.
Create a plan beforehand to give your site the best organization. Write down what you want out of your blog and what you want readers to gain from it. This will help you build a blog that covers your needs rather than you trying to tack a lot of things on at a later date.
Write a tentative plan before starting your WordPress blog. Write down your goals and outline who you want your target audience to be. This lets you start out great instead of having to make changes later.
Your sites should contain images. It is actually true when people say a picture is a lot more worthy than very little words. Your own blog can have just that much more oomph. Search Engines and readers alike will appreciate your use of alternate text tags and titles.
Look for all of the advice you can get before building a WordPress site. When searching for help, make sure to check out Facebook groups, forums and blogs specializing in WordPress. No matter what your problem, from themes to plug-ins, someone will surely have the ability to help you.
Use a second folder that contains a duplicate database to test changes to your site without having them go live. This reduces the risk of visitors being ran off by bad performance.
Utilize WordPress’ Export function to give your site a regular backup. Having a backup allows you to easily recover your site in the event of a server error.
Keep in mind that you need not to everything for your blog on your own. Hire or trade work with someone to get the job done.
Since reading the piece above, you know more about WordPress. Make use of these ideas today. You will be able to bring more traffic to your site. Also, users will find it easier to use. Set a bookmark to this page to reference later. Once you put all these changes in, your site is going to be better for it.
Be sure you’re backing up your site by using the Export function. That means you have a chronological database of backups that let you restore your content in the event of hack or server failure.