WordPress is arguably the most widely-used blogging platform around, and offers tremendous utility. WordPress has tools and features that allow you to do tasks you never thought were possible on a simple blog page. Keep reading to learn more about making blogging with WordPress work for you.
Use Title and Alt when you are uploading pictures. Use your Title and Alt. text tags when you use images in blog posts. Such areas provide a chance to add additional SEO phrases, and they show viewers who have not enabled images to see what they are missing.
Make sure that you do not choose the same design as everyone else that has a WordPress site. This may be tempting since it’s a time saver, but users will not be too impressed with your effort. You should have a site that showcases your individual business.
Teach yourself everything you can prior to using WordPress. The more you plan, the better your results will be. Search engine optimization is another thing you want to be concerned with.
Does one of your posts have a lengthy title? If so, use permalink to clean it up. For instance, “Ten Ways Smart Parents Can Tame Their Children” would come across as a cumbersome, long URL. Use just your keywords and improve your search engine rankings.
Make a posting schedule for yourself. With a schedule you’ll be motivated to keep posting. You might want to create posts up to a week ahead of time, then set the posts to upload on a schedule.
It is easy to use video blogging on your WordPress site. It can takes some extra preparation time, but it can be worth the effort. Internet users are a visual group. Videos can convey things words cannot, so they are very useful.
Sometimes you might think some changes you’ve made weren’t saved. That is probably not the case. See if clearing the browser’s cache resolves the issue. Your changes will appear by simply pressing and holding the “shift” key and refreshing the browser simultaneously.
Clean up comments and content that is worthless to your site. In this way, your site will be inviting and comfortable for your users. One great plugin to filter spam is Akismet.
You must make adjustments if you do not want your posts to show up in the order published. Rearrange your list by changing the date. To do this, open up a post and look for the date located at the top of the right corner. Change the date by clicking on it, and be sure to save the post in the right order.
Remove any special characters in the URLs of your blog posts. They make it difficult for search engine spiders to “crawl” around your pages. Attempt to keep your URLs simple for visitors as well.
Do many people comment on posts you write? It can be hard to look through all of them, for yourself and others. You can install a simple plugin that will put page numbers into this section. That will make navigation much easier and your site will appear more organized.
You may change your blog and update it, but then notice nothing has been saved. This most likely is not true. To remedy this, try clearing your browser’s cache. Try pressing and holding “shift” while refreshing to view your changes.
Improve upon the greeting you’ve put on your landing page. This makes your site more personal when trying to relate to the visitor. Use the WordPress Greet Box plugin to keep your website looking less robotic.
You must specify if you want your post to appear in other than chronological order. In order to rearrange things, dates will need to be changed. To demonstrate that, open a post and notice the date on the upper-right-hand corner. Change its position by clicking the date, changing it, and saving the post.
Provide a link that allows all your users to easily email themselves a copy of your articles. There are some people who cannot look at Twitter or Facebook in the office;however, they want to share your information with others. Utilize a WP-email application to ensure this happens.
Do you have lots of comments? If so, it can be hard to weed through all of these comments. You can install a plugin that does this for you. That way, navigation will be simpler, and your site is sure to be well organized.
Make sure you have the latest versions of all your plugins. It is possible to make your website more powerful by utilizing WordPress plugins. But like anything else related to the computer, updates are necessary. You must be sure to install updates so that you don’t miss important upgrades. Additionally, sometimes plugins stop working if they are not updated regularly.
If you edit your pictures a little bit, you’ll be able to rise in the search results. Use the alternate text and title tags on each one. Remember, the title you select will be what your visitors see if they hover the mouse over your image.
Remember to back your blog up. This has to be done regularly. Use a plugin like Xcloner to help you with the process. For added security, use plugins to make backup copies of your blog on several different locations. It would be pretty depressing to lose your blog.
Security on your WordPress site is very important, so make your password strong and keep it secure. In addition, just use plugins from reputable sites and always read reviews. Everything will be lost if your site is hacked.
Use a plugin to connect related posts and give your readers other options. This type of plugin adds lists of posts at the end of every post. These are selected based on tag relevance.
Use titles and descriptions that are descriptive. People will first see these through the search engines. They are crucial to your site. If you want more control, try using the SEO program, Scribe. Carefully editing these items can lead to greater web traffic.
You no longer have to manually accept comments. You can use the plugin Akismet to do that work. You can save time by getting e-mail alerts when comments are posted and unchecking manual approval. If you don’t, you’re wasting time.
Make sure that all your media is in order. It’s tempting to upload pictures into the library directly, however, things can easily get disorganized. Start off with a good folder structure and stick to it. Just this simple move will make it much simpler to find (and use) photos in the future.
Are you sick of WordPress clutter? Turn off a few boxes that are on the page. Go to the “Screen Options” menu found at the very top of WordPress. 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.
Use a minimal number of plugins. When you add too many plugins, it can slow your website down. They can slow down your site to the point that will negatively affect your search engine rank. Websites that are slow usually don’t rank as highly as sites that are optimized for speed.
When searching for a host, go with simplicity; you want to be able to install WordPress by simply pushing one button. Things will be much easier that way. With one click, the host can create the blog domain for you as well as the associated database.
Connect your posts via a linking plugin to easily provide visitors with more of your content. These plugins will add 3 to 5 links underneath each post according to the pertinence of tags on the posts of your site.
Turn on the comments for your posts. You can learn more about people visiting your site, and it will give users a community feeling. Plugins are available to help you approve comments prior to having them published on the site, keeping it free from spammers.
Think about scheduling post publishing in advance by using WordPress. You can schedule them to auto-post any time you like, even if you’re away from your computer. Go to “Edit”, and then find the “Publish” option. You’ll notice something that says “Publish immediately.” Set the times in military time and the day, month and year you want to post it. Choose “O.K.”. When you spot your “schedule for” screen, select it and then hit “schedule” if things look right.
Use a variety of blog authoring tools. Are you not a fan of the WordPress dashboard? Authoring programs designed for blogging sites may be the answer. The tools can be used on WordPress, but are easier and more efficient. Try a few of them out, and find the one that works best with you.
If you want to pick a header for your post, don’t bother with the drop-down menu. Use keyboard shortcuts instead. To use, simply use CTRL and the numbers 1 through 6. This has the potential to save you lots of time if you make heavy use of headers.
Think about having author comments highlighted on a blog. People frequently express concerns or ask questions in blog comment sections. It’s easy for comments to be overlooked if there are many other comments. Highlight the author’s comments as a different color. This allows you to find and recognize them easily.
Rather than simply downloading a WordPress plugin as soon as you find it, look for reviews on that plugin first. Keep in mind that any programmer can make a plugin. Avoid using plugins that are widely reported to have flaws and bugs. Go for popular plugins that have a four to five star rating to be on the safe side.
Plan your strategy prior to building your site. Write down what you want out of your blog and what you want readers to gain from it. This lets you start out great instead of having to make changes later.
Turn on the comments for your posts. People will feel more involved and you can learn about them as well. You can get plugins that allow you to filter content from others.
Be sure to use “Read More” buttons. This allows your visitors to view a few lines of a blog post before deciding whether or not to read the entire post. Show your visitors a “read more” link that they can click. Doing otherwise can leave your blog cluttered and uninviting.
Use a variety of authoring tools. Do you dislike the dashboard for WordPress? Try a program such as Windows Live Writer. There are a variety of efficient WordPress-compatible tools. Try different ones to determine which works for you.
Plugins that aren’t free can be useful, too. Think about the time involved compared to the price. It may be worth the price if it is going to free up a lot of time for you.
Plan your strategy prior to building your site. Make sure that you know what you are doing before you put the plan into action. 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.
You do not have to do it all yourself. You can hire someone or get a volunteer to take care of some of the tech work so that you don’t go through a lot of trial and error.
There is a reason that WordPress is so popular. As you can see from the article you have just read, there are so many capabilities with WordPress. Knowing how to use these tools helps you become a better blogger. Make use of these tips and tricks to do just that.
When exporting in WordPress, you must also back up your other files and images. Copy each of your folders as a security measure.