Do you want your own blog? Maybe you currently use a WordPress blog and do not like the way it works. There are many things that can be done in order to attract more visitors. The advice here can help you make an impressive blog.
Choose a design that is relatively unique when making your WordPress blog; don’t just choose the design everyone else is using. Although it can save time to use a standard design, you won’t have a professional image. It is important to create a site that shows the individuality of your business.
If your post has a lengthy title, make sure to adjust the permalink. For instance, “101 Ways for Smart People to Manage Their Children” is way too long for a URL. Try using just the keywords for the best results.
It’s easy to incorporate videos on your blog with WordPress. It may take more effort, but it’s worth it. A lot of Internet users respond well to visuals. People enjoy videos, and a video that explains things well can grab their attention faster than words can.
Take some time to familiarize yourself with all the tools and options available to you when blogging with WordPress. For example, clicking on KITCHEN SINK gives you many more choices in formatting and importing that set your posts apart. Also, notice SCREEN OPTIONS on your administrator pages. Use this for many formatting options.
Devise a schedule when you are set to begin making posts. If you have a set time when you are supposed to make a post, you will be more likely to actually do it. You can even create a week’s worth of content all at once and tell WordPress when to post it to your blog.
Alt and Title are two important things to know about. text as you upload images to posts. Not only do these fields offer more opportunities to stuff in more content specific SEO keywords, but they also allow users who can’t load images to know what they can’t see on your site.
Omit special characters from the URLs of your blog posts. They can give search engines a hassle when trying to spider your site, so it is best if you remove them completely. Use keywords and short URLs.
Make sure you learn everything you can prior to installing WordPress. The greater the amount of advance planning done, the more comfortable you will be. 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.
Unless you change it, posts will appear chronologically. To change it, modify the date. To do this, locate the date in the upper right corner of an open post. Click and change the date, then save the post. This changes where its position will be.
Eliminate comments and content that fail to add value to your site. This makes your site more appealing. Check out Akismet for a great way to remove spam.
Be certain users have the ability to email posts to themselves if they like. This is important to promote exposure, since many readers cannot use social media sites at work. You can use a plugin called WP-Email to help you do this.
You might find one day that you think you’ve made a lot of changes to your blog that haven’t been saved. That is likely not the case. Clearing the cache can help solve this. When you refresh your browser, hold the “shift” key.
Your username should never be “admin”. Bots will attack your blog if you make your username ADMINISTRATOR or ADMIN. Using these usernames can put your site at risk. Go to your account page and delete usernames that are generic. Find creative user names that you can remember.
You must make adjustments if you do not want your posts to show up in the order published. If you want to rearrange some posts, you will have to modify the date of your post. Do this by opening a post, and you’ll see the date in the top right-hand corner. Change its position by clicking the date, changing it, and saving the post.
Security is crucial for a site built with WordPress, so always keep your passwords secure. Also, be sure to only download plugins you have obtained from trustworthy sites. Always look at reviews prior to installation. Otherwise, you are vulnerable to hackers and malware.
Create a suitable greeting and heading at the very top of your home page on your site. This will make your overall site look more aesthetically pleasing. This makes your site seem more personal.
Always organize your media library. Otherwise, the images can get jumbled together rapidly. Develop a system of folders so that things go where they should. It will make images easier to find when you need them.
Users should be able to send your articles via e-mail easily. This is crucial for sharing as well, because many users may lack Twitter or Facebook access on the job, but they may want to share those articles. Take advantage of WordPress email plugins for this purpose.
Don’t forget to back up your blog. This must be a regular process for you. Consider a plugin, for example Xcloner. Make sure that you create a backup to your blog. This can be done by installing a plugin. It would be very unfortunate if you lost your blog.
Don’t share your WordPress passwords with anyone. Also, only download reputable plugins and check the reviews before installing them. If your site becomes compromised, you will have to begin again; therefore, it is important to do everything you can to keep your site secure.
If you want to post on off-days, schedule them a few days before via WordPress. It is possible to have posts published at specified times, no matter where you happen to be. Just have a look at your EDIT screen. Here you will see the PUBLISH box. Then, you’ll see the choice to “publish immediately.” Enter the time you want the post published. This should include the day, month, and year. Choose “O.K.”. Click on the ‘schedule’ button on the ‘schedule for’ screen to plan schedule your blog posts.
Use targeted descriptions and titles. This is the first thing that your audience will view. This makes these aspects very important. You can use SEO software called Scribe to get more control on these elements in your site. This lets you edit pages to gain more readers.
Is it challenging to meet self-imposed deadlines for your posts? You can write a blurb ahead of time and have it posted at the date and time that you select. Future publication is an option any time you open a page for a new post. Now you can write when you can and post when you need.
Minimize the number of WordPress plugins you use. It can be very tempting and exciting to download as many as possible, but doing so will burden your site with a lengthy load time. They can really slow things down, and that can impact how you rank with search engines. A slower site generally ranks more poorly than optimized sites.
Is WordPress clutter bothering you? Look at the page and turn off a few of the boxes. To do this, utilize the button called “Screen Options” located atop the WordPress window. Select it for a drop-down menu that lets you switch on or off boxes you want visible.
Make sure the WordPress you use on the site is always the updated version. Updates include patches that make your page less vulnerable. You are more likely to be attacked by malware if you have an old version of WordPress. That is why you should always install the latest WordPress updates to make sure everything is safe and secure.
If you want to use a new host for your blog, pick one that offers installation tools. That will make it possible for you to add WordPress to your site right away. That will help you to avoid the problem of dealing with a separate database. The host should be able to create your blog domain and its associated database through that one simple click.
You no longer have to manually approve comments if you don’t want to. Instead, use a plugin entitled Akismet. You can receive an email every time someone makes a comment, but it’s better to have manual approval unchecked and authors with comments already approved to post. If you do not do this, you will waste lots of time.
Try using different authoring tools for your blog. Are you unsatisfied with WordPress’s dashboard? Try Windows Live Writer, a third-party program for authoring blogs. There are a lot of tools that work well with WordPress and make blogging more efficient. Give some of them a try, and you will surely find just the right tools for you.
There is no need to use the provided drop-down menu when choosing a header to use for your post. Keyboards shortcuts will save time. By depressing the CTRL key along with a numeric key between 1 and 6, you can get different options. This is a much quicker way of doing things.
Highlight the author’s comments from visitors. The comment section is where many readers will leave comments or questions. Responding to one of these questions can easily be overlooked, swallowed up in a sea of comments. Be sure an author’s comments are highlighted in a contrasting color. This will make it easy to spot them.
Blog authoring tools are very valuable. Are you not pleased with WordPress’s dashboard? Use something such as Windows Live Writer to help. A number of tools works well in conjunction with WordPress while providing increased efficiency. Try several of them. Find one that works for you.
Before building a site on WordPress, put a plan together. Write down everything you want your site to do and what you want to convey to readers. That helps you create a site that addresses your objectives right from the start.
Highlight the author’s comments from visitors. There are often concerns and questions in the comments. It’s easy for comments to be overlooked if there are many other comments. Use a different color to highlight your comments. Using this method will make the comment section easier to read.
Keep in mind that a “read more” option is always a possibility. Nobody wants to see a page full of text that can be hard to read. Let your visitors click if they wish to read more. You run the risk of having your blog appear busy and unappealing if you fail to do this.
Prior to building a site with WordPress, come up with a plan of action. Make a list of all the things you want to do with your site and what you want readers to find from it. Do this and you’ll save time trying to add the things you forgot later.
Make sure that you include images in your site. The adage that a picture is worth more than a few words is still true today. This will give your site much more flair. Be sure you use alternate text and title tags to explain your pictures so that the search engines and readers know what your picture is about.
Don’t forget to make use of the “read more” button. It is a huge turn-off for a visitor to see a seemingly infinite amount of text when they arrive at the front page of your blog. Permit visitors who want to read more to do so by clicking a link. You don’t want your landing page to appear cluttered and messy.
Just because a plugin costs money, does not mean that you shouldn’t give it a try. Paid plugins may or may not be worth the funds. If it is rich in features, paying a little bit is still worth your money by saving you time.
There are many factors to consider when running a blog. Know the capabilities, plugins and other things you need to make a blog that gets noticed. Hopefully this article has been some help. You can use that to draw more people to your site.
If you would like to do work on your website without making live changes, copy your blog to another folder and work on it there. That way, errors will not spoil your existing site.