WordPress is not as simple to use as you might assume. Especially if you don’t have a lot of experience with it, a little background knowledge will be beneficial. Naturally, the more you know about WordPress, the better your websites and blogs will be. In the article below, you will encounter terrific advice to get the process started.
Make sure to use both alt text and title tags. text tags as you upload images for your posts. Both allow you to add more keywords to your page, which effectively increases your page rank.
Make sure you have a unique template for your WordPress blog. It is tempting, but it is not going to help people think the best of you. Make sure your blog emphasizes your individuality.
Learn what you can before installing WordPress. Planning beforehand is going to put you in a much better position. Learn about search engine optimization, how to create effective content, and how to use WordPress to its fullest advantage to ensure you aren’t struggling when you get to work.
Remember to clean up permalinks. For example, “Ten Ways for Smart Parents to Tame Their Kids” would appear as a long, cumbersome URL. Instead, you could use something like: “Smart Parents Control Kids” if it works with your SEO strategy.
Clean up comments and content that is worthless to your site. Your visitors will appreciate your efforts. The plugin “Askimet” can make the process of identifying spam quite easy.
Put in some time to get to know all of WordPress’ bells and whistles. 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.
You can improve your search engine rank by spending a few extra minutes with your pictures as you upload them. Make sure to use alternate text and title tags. If your readers “pin” you on Pinterest, that title will automatically show on their screen.
WordPress makes it easy for users to incorporate video blogging into their site. Although this may take you some extra preparation, it is definitely worth it. Internet users are mainly visual. Videos can convey things words cannot, so they are very useful.
At the very top of your WordPress page, create a catchy greeting for your visitors. You will be able to understand how your user located your blog, and this will provide your user with a more personal experience. This is much less robotic, which makes things accessible through the plugin.
Set a schedule when you’re ready to post. A schedule helps you keep your eye on the deadline; so as the deadline approaches, it may give you more incentive to write that piece. In fact, to save even more time, you can create a week’s worth of posts at once, then schedule WordPress to upload them for you automatically.
Do not use “admin” as a possibility for a user name. You are risking bot attack if your username is something generic like administrator or admin. This is a major security risk. Look at each individual page on your site and change admin or administrator usernames. Pick a different username.
Don’t include any special characters in your URLS. These characters negatively affect how a search engine crawls and indexes your content. You should make your URLs shorter and only use keywords.
Organize your media library and keep it that way. While putting a bunch of pictures right into the library might seem the way to go at first, that turns messy before you know it. Start off with a good folder structure and stick to it. It will make images easier to find when you need them.
You might spend some time making changes, only to see that they haven’t taken effect. This isn’t always true. Clear the browser cache to avoid this issue. Hold down the Shift key as you click Refresh to see the changes to your site.
Only install the plugins that you really need. Plugins are cool and all, but they can make your site load at a snail’s pace. Things can really get bogged down, which can harm your rankings in the search engines. Slow websites do not rank very well in the search engines when compared to sites that are optimized to load quickly.
Are you overwhelmed by the comments on your site? If you do, it can be cumbersome to sift through all of them. A plugin including page numbers will organize this section. This makes for easier navigation and a more organized site.
Always utilize the most current version of the WordPress program on your site. Updates are necessary because they patch security vulnerabilities. Your site is more vulnerable if you use an old version. Therefore, make sure to always install new WordPress updates to guarantee your site remains tight and secure.
Never use the term “admin” or anything similar for your username. This will make your site vulnerable to bots that want to attack it. It’s a security risk. Go to your account page and delete usernames that are generic. Choose another username.
Back up your blog on a regular basis. This is an important step in ensuring that you don’t lose your entire blog. 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. You don’t want to take the chance of losing all your blog posts.
Security on your WordPress site is very important, so make your password strong and keep it secure. Also, only download reputable plugins and check the reviews before installing them. If your site ever gets hacked or infected with malware, you risk losing the entire thing.
Connect posts with the internal linking plugin. This will help your readers find content they like. Plugins like that usually ad links following each blog post, basing that on your tagged posts.
Use targeting titles and descriptions. As a visitor arrives at your page, they will see both of these things almost immediately. This makes them critically important. In order to customize them to your needs, Scribe, which is SEO software, can help. You can edit such items to boost visitor counts.
Use WordPress to schedule your blog post’s publication dates ahead of time. Have the articles posted at times when you are unable to post them. Find the ‘publish’ box under the edit options. Underneath, there should be something that says Publish Immediately. If you decide to schedule the publishing of your posts, you need to use military time. Press OK. Make sure the information on the “Schedule For” display screen is correct and then hit “Schedule”.
Connect posts with the internal linking plugin. This will help your readers find content they like. This type of plugin adds 3-5 links beneath your posts based on their tags’ relevancy.
You don’t have to manually approve comments anymore. Instead, use a plugin entitled Akismet. Don’t bother with manual approval. If you don’t do that, there really is no point in using Akismet.
Publish Box
Read reviews of a plugin you want to use. It is possible for anyone with programming knowledge to create a plugin. It is important not to use plugins with lots of problems and reported issues. Highly rated plugins with lots of downloads are generally safe.
Schedule blog posts beforehand with WordPress. You can schedule them to auto-post any time you like, even if you’re away from your computer. You can do this by tapping into the Publish box on your edit screen. Under the Publish box is a radio button that says Publish Immediately. Change that so that it will change it to the time and date you want to publish it. Press OK. Read through your “Schedule For” screen, then select “Schedule” if everything is right.
Allow visitors to comment on your posts. This engenders some community spirit, and you get to know a bit more about your readers. You can install a plug-in that allows you to review comments before posting. This discourages spammers and such.
Nobody wants to manually approve comments anymore. Instead, use a plugin entitled Akismet. You can moderate comments individually, but it’s advisable to switch off manual approval and let visitors comment freely. If you don’t do that, there really is no point in using Akismet.
Use a variety of authoring tools. Is the WordPress dashboard not to your taste? You can also use Windows Live Writer. Lots of tools can work well in conjunction with WordPress in this way. Try out a bunch of these and then decide on the best tool for you.
Be sure to pay attention to reviews of plugins when planning to use them. Anybody who understands how to program can create these plugins. Don’t use plugins that are flawed and buggy. Look for plugins that are highly rated and that have been downloaded many times.
Prior to building a site with WordPress, come up with a plan of action. Define what you hope to accomplish with you website and what you want your readers to know. This will give you a clear picture of what you want your site to look like from the get go.
Are you sick of WordPress clutter? Look at the page and turn off a few of the boxes. Go to: Screen Options on the window. Click on this and a drop-down menu will give you the option to turn boxes off.
Remember that you can add a “Read More” button. No one wants to click on to your blog’s front page and be greeted by a huge wall of text. This will give your visitors the ability to read if they want to. Not doing this could cause the blog to appear messy and overwhelming.
Single Click
Make good use of images when you blog. Remember that many people only look at the pictures and never read the words. It will give your site much more drama. Use alternate text and title tags with clear descriptions of each picture so that the search engines can crawl them.
Certain hosts allow you to install WordPress quickly and easily with a single click. This way, you won’t have to create a separate database. A single click could mean the host creates both your blog domain and your database associated with it.
Some plugins are worth paying for. You have to weigh how much the plugin costs with how much you value your time. You have much more time to do things when features are available to you, even if they cost a little something at the outset.
Allow users to comment on your website. This allows you to interact better with the people accessing your site, evoking a sense of community. You can even use plugins to have the power to approve comments prior to their publication so you can avoid spammers.
Remember, you are not required to handle all the work on your site by yourself. If you can bring someone hired or a volunteer, you can save time by doing work done correctly the first time. If that’s the case, you should have this person join you.
Blog Authoring
Use the Export option included with WordPress to keep your site backed up regularly. This ensures that you keep an historical database that lists site backups, allowing you to reverse course in time to go to clean copies in case of hacking or a routine backup if the server dies.
There are a variety of blog authoring tools; check them all out. Are you unsatisfied with WordPress’s dashboard? Try blog authoring applications that work well with WordPress. Many more efficient tools which are WordPress compatible exist. Experiment with different programs to find one that will work well for you.
Backup your files and images before you use the ‘export’ function. To do this, log into the control panel or with FTP, and then copy all folders.
Use pictures on your website. Remember that many people only look at the pictures and never read the words. This will give your site much more flair. Be certain to utilize title as well as alternate text tags in order to make pictures and their context clear to search engines and readers alike.
Take an inventory to the plugins in use on your site before you upgrade WordPress. If you have plugins that you need to work, then you should wait on upgrading until testing is done later. Not waiting may result in certain key elements not being able to function properly.
Using WordPress is not so simple, which is particularly the case if you have little familiarity with it. However, this article has given you helpful advice. Now, you just need to put into play what you have learned.
If you want to make your pages shorter, use the option for a “Read More” link. Find a good place for a break in the text that will make the visitor want to read more. Readers who want to click through to the rest of the information are likely to remain on your site for a longer time.