WordPress is one of the most popular blog building sites worldwide for very good reason. The versatility of WordPress can’t be beat. WordPress is the perfect application for anyone wanting to start a new blog. Read this article to learn about how to make WordPress work for your needs.
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. Take the time to create a unique site that reflects you and your business.
If you have a long title on a post, be sure to clean up your permalink. Excessively long titles make for cumbersome, clumsy URLs. You can change that permalink to ” parenting-tips-unruly-kids” or similar based on SEO keywords.
Educate yourself on WordPress before you get started. The more you plan in advance, the better you can start off. Search engine optimization is another thing you want to be concerned with.
Make it a point to become familiar with all options and tools that are available for working with WordPress. For example, “KITCHEN SINK” gives you more format options on posts. Your admin pages will also have a “SCREEN OPTIONS” tab. This can control many different formatting elements.
Create a posting schedule for yourself. If you are aware of your posting time, your motivation will increase. You can actually make all of your posts for a week in one day. You can then schedule it so WordPress will upload some of these posts at a later date.
Video blogging is a snap with WordPress. It can takes some extra preparation time, but it can be worth the effort. Internet users are typically really visual. A video can show them things that the written word just can’t convey, and as a result, it can be a very powerful tool.
Remove unnecessary content and delete comments that fail to add value. This will keep your site user-friendly to the honest people who are viewing it. Easily clean up any spam on your website with the Akismet plugin.
Gain as much knowledge as possible before you start installing WordPress. You will be more successful if you make a good plan before you begin. Learn all you can about SEO, good content and using WordPress to your advantage.
You may sometimes devote much time in tweaking your blog in WordPress, and assume that your changes do not get saved regularly. That is probably not the case. You can solve this by clearing the cache of your browser. Your changes will appear by simply pressing and holding the “shift” key and refreshing the browser simultaneously.
Make a schedule when you wish to start posting. You can stay motivated when you know how to post. In fact, you can sit down one day and create posts for the rest of the week, then you can use the schedule feature to have WP upload the posts for you.
Make sure that your greeting is appealing for your WordPress site. You can cultivate customer relationships this way, by including a message on top commenting on how visitors found your site. This is much less robotic, which makes things accessible through the plugin.
Clean up comments and content that don’t add anything to your website. This will help ensure that your site remains user-friendly. The plugin “Askimet” can make the process of identifying spam quite easy.
Make sure users can email themselves any of your articles at any time. 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. Try using a plugin like WP-Email.
Special Characters
Don’t share your WordPress passwords with anyone. Also, be sure to only download plugins you have obtained from trustworthy sites. Always look at reviews prior to installation. If your site is hacked or attacked with malware, you could lose the whole thing.
The URLs of your blog posts should not have special characters. Special characters make it more difficult for search engines to index your site. Keep your URL’s short and to the point.
Make sure your library of media is organized. 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. Develop a system of folders so that things go where they should. This will make searching for a particular image much easier.
It can happen where you have made changes to your blog on WordPress, only to think that the changes weren’t saved. This isn’t always true. You might be able to solve the problem by clearing out your browser cache. Just hold the ‘shift’ key when you refresh your browser to see the changes.
Use a minimal number of plugins. Plugins are great, but each one slows your load time a little bit more. They can really bog things down, which will impact how you do in the SERPs. Slow websites do not rank very well in the search engines when compared to sites that are optimized to load quickly.
Be certain users have the ability to email posts to themselves if they like. This is essential so that they can easily share your content with others. WP-email plugins are a great way to accomplish this.
Do not use an old version of WordPress. Updates generally include security fixes that you will want to have. You can be at risk for malware if you use an old WordPress iteration that hasn’t been updated. So, make sure you’re installing all updates that are rolled out.
Make sure you titles and descriptions targeted. These are a few of the things your readership will see first when using search engines. Therefore, they are quite important. Scribe is a great piece of software that you can use. You can then edit some of these items to make sure more people come to your site.
Back up your blog. It’s important to make sure you don’t lose any valuable information. Consider a plugin, for example Xcloner. Pick whichever plugin or site you would like to use. However, have it backed up in numerous locations. It would be terrible if you lost everything.
Always update your plugins. The WordPress plugins give you a great way to boost your website’s power. They will update just like normal software. If you don’t wish to keep up with the update installation, you may miss important upgrades, or they may stop working.
Use linking plugins to help connect your posts. With these plugins, up to five links appear following each post. These links are related to the tag relevance of the posts that appear on your site.
Keep your WordPress website updated. Updates usually contain patches that solve security issues and get rid of vulnerabilities. Using an older version of WordPress opens up your site to malware attacks. Install all updates WordPress offers in order to ensure the best security.
You no longer have to manually accept comments. Instead, use Akismet to do the work for you. Don’t bother with manual approval. This will end up saving you quite a lot of time.
You no longer have to manually accept comments. Rather, Akismet can do it on your behalf. Make sure that “manual approval” does not have a check mark beside it so that the comments go up automatically. Failing that, you won’t really save any time.
Try using all kinds of authoring tools for blogs. Are you not fond of the dashboard on WordPress? Consider Windows Live Writer or another program that does blog authoring. There are several tools that work with WordPress that make your workflow more efficient. Try different ones to determine which works for you.
It can be difficult to keep up with scheduled blog posts. Write your posts beforehand, and have them automatically posted at a certain time or on a specific day. Whenever you open up a new post page, you will see the option to set up a future publication. You can write with this and get it done in advance.
Consider highlighting comments made by the author of a blog post. The comment section is where people ask any questions they might have. It is easy to miss something important as more and more people begin responding. Use another color to highlight comments from the author. It will be easy for visitors to recognize the responses.
Avoid using a drop-down menu to choose headers for your blog posts. Learn how to utilize the shortcuts on your keyboard instead. Press CTRL and a number from one to six to choose your option. This is a major time saver if you frequently use headers.
Keep in mind that it is possible to include the “Read More” button. Nobody wants to see huge walls of text on the landing page of a blog. Give users the option to read more, should they choose to, by clicking on a button. Not doing this makes your blog look cluttered.
When searching for plugins, check user reviews prior to selecting any. These plugins are not that difficult to create. Avoid plugins with a lot of reports of bugs, flaws and security holes. To help protect your site only use plugins that you have researched with a lot of downloads and high ratings.
Employ graphics in your sites. Picture can tell a lot about the information that you are trying to convey. Your site will have that much more drama to it. Search Engines and readers alike will appreciate your use of alternate text tags and titles.
Screen Options
Plugins do not have to be free to be valuable. Think about what the plugin does and how much time it would save to see if the cost is worth it. If you feel that you are getting a lot for the price, it may be worth it.
Is WordPress clutter bothering you? Toggle off the homepage boxes you don’t need. To do this, utilize the button called “Screen Options” located atop the WordPress window. Click the “Screen Options” button for a handy drop-down menu you can use to enable or disable your boxes.
Prior to planning a WordPress site, find assistance and advice first. For example, look for WordPress blogs and forums, as well as Facebook groups that allow you to pose questions and receive expert advice. Whether your question is about themes or plugins, you should be able to find viable answers.
Make your choice for host when it comes to your WordPress blog simple, meaning you can install the platform with a simple click. This way, you would not have to separately install a database on your own. One click will allow you to pick a domain name and secure the database as well.
If you’re not ready to post what you’ve written, store it as unpublished until you are ready. This way, you can still edit it, but it won’t be visible to the public. Don’t post it until you are completely happy with it.
Let people comment on your posts. You will foster a feeling of connectedness, and give yourself insight about your readership. If you are worried about spam or advertisers, you can find plugins that allow you to look over and approve the comments before they get published on your site.
For search engine optimization, carefully place your keywords and key phrases in specific areas of your website. The fact remains that distinct category names might just be exactly what folks seek when looking on Google. You can do something like “best WordPress plugins, for example, and that could lead to your article.
Use a variety of tools for blog authoring. Do you dislike the dashboard at WordPress? You may want to consider Windows Live Writer. There are many tools that are compatible with WordPress while being much more efficient. Give some a try, and see what you like the most.
Think carefully about updating WordPress; the current plugins you have must be compatible. If you need your plugins to work, it may be wise to hold off on a WordPress upgrade until additional testing occurs. If you don;t, some crucial widgets and plugins could stop working.
After using WordPress for a couple weeks, you’ll see why many people use it. Apply the guidance in this article and have an optimal WordPress experience. Soon enough you’ll be running a professional blog and you will be able to spend more time on writing and getting readers.
Use a “read more” link to make main pages shorter. To place it correctly, think about where text can be broken up so that the reader wants to click for more. The will be on your site longer if they click the link.