WordPress is a popular and powerful tool for blogging. Its popularity is growing by leaps and bounds every day. You can learn how to use it effectively in your life also. Read ahead for some great tips on using WordPress and make it work for you.
Make sure you have a unique template for your WordPress blog. It can be tempting to do this since it saves lots of time, but it will not give users the best impression of you. Take the time to create a unique site that reflects you and your business.
If the title for a post is long, try cleaning up the permalink. For example, “Ten Ways for Smart Parents to Tame Their Kids” would appear as a long, cumbersome URL. You can change that permalink to ” parenting-tips-unruly-kids” or similar based on SEO keywords.
If your post has a long title, make sure your permalink is clean. For instance, “Ten Ways Smart Parents Can Tame Their Children” would come across as a cumbersome, long URL. Try using just the keywords for the best results.
It is relatively easy to include video blogging in your WordPress site. Although you may have to put in a little more time, you will get rewarded for your effort in the end. Most users on the web will love this. Videos are great at getting points across that words can miss.
The title and Alt keys should be used. You should include alt text when adding images to your posts. You can put SEO phrases in these places, and those people that can’t see pictures on your site will know what should have been there.
Gain as much knowledge as possible before you start installing WordPress. The more you’re able to do in advance, the more you’ll be better prepared when you start. You need to know how to produce great content and about SEO or search engine optimization prior to your blog launch.
Make a schedule for your posts. If you know when you have to post, you’ll be more motivated to get it done. You can even create a week’s worth of content all at once and tell WordPress when to post it to your blog.
Moderate comments and content that add nothing of value to your blog. You want to make your site as user-friendly as possible. You can filter spam every day with the plugin known as Akismet.
You may change your blog and update it, but then notice nothing has been saved. This is likely not the case. To remedy this, try clearing your browser’s cache. Press and hold the Shift key when refreshing the browser for changes to show.
Be sure to take special characters out of your blog post’s URLs. These characters negatively affect how a search engine crawls and indexes your content. Try shortening all URLs to avoid overwhelming visitors. Try using only keywords.
Do your posts attract lots of comments? If they do, it can be quite a chore for you and your readers to comb through all of them. To remedy this, you can use a plugin that adds page numbers to your comments section. Not only will your blog look more organized, but it will also make navigation a lot easier.
You might find one day that you think you’ve made a lot of changes to your blog that haven’t been saved. This isn’t always true. Try solving this problem by clearing the browser cache. Refresh your browser while holding down your shift key to make your changes appear.
Make your greeting engaging on the top of your WordPress home page. This can make things more personal with your visitors, as you can create a message that relates to how the user found your blog. This males you appear less robotic and you can use the Great Box plugin for this.
Your posts will be in chronological order, but you can change that if you want. Change the date if you want to rearrange the list. Open any of your individual posts and go to the date near the top right-hand corner to change the date. Change the date by clicking on it, and be sure to save the post in the right order.
Your username should never be “admin”. Bots will attack your blog if you make your username ADMINISTRATOR or ADMIN. This puts your site at risk. Look at each individual page on your site and change admin or administrator usernames. Choose a new username.
If you have a WordPress website, be sure to have the most engaging greeting possible. This will put a personal touch to your site that you visitors will appreciate. Access this option using the WordPress Greet Box plugin as it helps make your visitors’ experience less impersonal.
Use targeted titles and descriptions. These will be the first things your audience sees when discovering your blog via a search engine. Because of this, they are extremely critical. Scribe is search engine optimization software that can help you control these aspects of your WordPress site. Carefully editing these items can lead to greater web traffic.
Security is of the utmost importance in WordPress, so never share your password. In addition, don’t download plugins from disreputable sites and always read the reviews before installing any plugin. If your site is hit with malware or by hackers, you can lose everything you worked on.
Don’t go overboard with installing too many WordPress plugins. While they can be very valuable, they also have a tendency to make your load time much longer. They can slow down things considerably, impacting your search engine rank. Optimized websites perform best in search engine rankings.
Be sure to use titles and descriptions that are targeted. People will first see these through the search engines. Therefore, they are crucial to your site. Use Scribe, from SEO software, to exert greater control over this on WordPress created sites. You can get more visitors by editing these things.
Nobody wants to manually approve comments anymore. Akismet is great for this. Make sure that “manual approval” does not have a check mark beside it so that the comments go up automatically. Otherwise, you are not saving any time.
Don’t install more plugins than you need. Sure plugins are fun and cool, but every one you add increases the load time of your website. This can impact how your site ranks on search engines. A slower site generally ranks more poorly than optimized sites.
Always read user reviews before installing any plugins. Anyone with programming knowledge can make a plugin. You do not want to use a plugin that has many reported bugs and flaws. Look for plugins that are highly rated and that have been downloaded many times.
Make sure you have the most current WordPress on your website. Updates offer patches that will strengthen the security of the site. You are more likely to be attacked by malware if you have an old version of WordPress. So, to keep your site secure, always install WordPress updates.
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 way you will not have to worry about creating a separate database. The host will be able to create your blog’s domain as well as it’s database with a single click.
Connect posts with the internal linking plugin. This will help your readers find content they like. It will put a list of links under an article leading to relevant content.
Turn on the comments for your posts. You will foster a feeling of connectedness, and give yourself insight about your readership. Plugins are available to help you approve comments prior to having them published on the site, keeping it free from spammers.
Does WordPress clutter fatigue you? Look at the page and turn off a few of the boxes. To do this, go to the top of WordPress’s window and go to “screen options”. Click it and you’ll get a drop-down menu which allows you to click off (or on) the boxes that you want.
Highlight any comments the author makes to a blog post. Comments are often filled with questions and concerns. It can be far too easy to overlook such a question because it is lost in a group of others. Make sure to highlight author commentary in a contrasting color. They will easily be visible to visitors.
Your WordPress site should have comments enabled. You can learn more about people visiting your site, and it will give users a community feeling. Don’t worry about spammers, there are plugins that allow you to screen comments before allowing them to be seen on your site.
Before beginning to create a WordPress site, take the time to draft a plan. List the things you hope to accomplish and what you want readers to take away from your content. That helps you create a site that addresses your objectives right from the start.
Look for different tools that are available to blog authors. Do you dislike WordPress’s dashboard? You can also use Windows Live Writer. Lots of tools can work well in conjunction with WordPress in this way. Try several before deciding which ones to use.
Keep in mind that a button for “read more” can be added. Not everybody wants to see a blog’s front page full of text. Let your visitors click if they wish to read more. Without that, your blog may appear cluttered and uninviting.
Highlight comments that are made by the post’s author. There are often concerns and questions in the comments. It can be easy for responses to get lost in the sea of feedback. Highlight an author’s comments in a distinct color. This makes them easy to find.
Your sites should contain images. Pictures really are worth a thousand words. You will see that your site has a great deal more flair. Improve your website’s standing on search engines by using alternate text and title tags on images.
Come up with a plan before you make a WordPress site. List all the things you’re wanting to accomplish with your website and think about what people will want to get from it. That way, you can build the site around what you want to accomplish instead of doing it the other way around.
Remember, you are not required to handle all the work on your site by yourself. Having a knowledgeable person help you do the job right from the start is totally worthwhile.
Make good use of images when you blog. It is true that most people are visual creatures. Your site will possess added interest. Make sure to take advantage of title as well as alternate text tags when describing the picture, making it clear for your readers and search engines.
Remember that categories and tags permit you to utilize SEO keywords throughout your site. In fact, descriptive category names are usually what people search for in Google. Think about the keywords you use to look up information and consider what users may be entering into a search engine to look for your website.
Search for helpful resources to help plan your site. There are forums, other blogs and even social medial groups that will give you an insider’s opinion and tips on WordPress. The community can help you with questions around a theme, a plugin or any other WordPress related issues.
Do not download a WordPress upgrade without thinking about the plugins you are using. If you have plugins that really must work, postpone a WordPress upgrade until testing can be complete. If you proceed in haste, you might discover that some of you essential stuff no longer works.
WordPress, like other tools, requires learning. Blogging with WordPress can be a huge benefit and will help get your message out. Keep on learning about WordPress so that you maximize your blogging.
To keep your primary pages concise, think about using a “read more” link. Choose a spot in your paragraph that is ideal for the break, that will lead the reader to want to read more. If they are motivated to click the link, they’ll stick around your site longer.