As the most popular blogging platform on the web, there is a lot you can get out of using WordPress. Get creative and use the tools that are in front of you. Continue reading to discover how WordPress can improve your blogging.
Make sure that you do not choose the same design as everyone else that has a WordPress site. Although it can save time to use a standard design, you won’t have a professional image. Make a site that’s as unique as your business.
Does one of your posts have a lengthy title? If so, use permalink to clean it up. For instance, a title such as “Top Ten Way To Tame Unruly Children” can create a long URL. Rather, make the permalink something along the lines of your target SEO keyphrase, such as “parental-advice-misbehaving-kids.”
If your post title is really long, cut down the length of the web page permalink. Use only the most important keywords so that your URL isn’t too cumbersome. Rather, seek out keywords in the long URL and create a shorter permalink for it.
When you are committed to post content, make up a schedule. You will be more motivated when you have a schedule. Actually, you can write all the posts for a week in one sitting and then use WordPress’s schedule feature to upload the posts at the appointed time.
Make it a point to become familiar with all options and tools that are available for working with WordPress. For instance, clicking on the button called KITCHEN SINK provides you with many options with regard to formatting and importing that can help you to customize your posts. SCREEN OPTIONS is another tab you are likely to see on the admin pages. This can control many different formatting elements.
If there is content or comments that aren’t of value, remove them. That will help you to keep the site friendly to people who are looking at it. One great plugin to help remove spam from your site is Akismet.
Use Title and Alt when you are uploading pictures. When you are adding images to your posts, don’t forget to use titles and alt text. Both allow you to add more keywords to your page, which effectively increases your page rank.
Special Characters
When you are ready to start posting, create a schedule. 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.
Omit special characters from the URLs of your blog posts. Special characters make it more difficult for search engines to index your site. You should make your URLs shorter and only use keywords.
Make sure that your content is free of fluff. This will make your website fresh and professional. An excellent plugin that can aid you in removing spam from your site on a daily basis is Akismet.
Work on making the greeting found at the beginning of your WordPress page even better. You will be able to understand how your user located your blog, and this will provide your user with a more personal experience. That will make things seem less formal on your site, and can be arrived at with the Greet Box plugin.
Be sure to take special characters out of your blog post’s URLs. This can hassle those search engines, so the characters are best removed. Try shortening all URLs to avoid overwhelming visitors. Try using only keywords.
Your username should never be “admin”. Bots will attack your blog if you make your username ADMINISTRATOR or ADMIN. It puts your site’s security at risk. Eliminate admin type user names altogether. Choose names other than these.
Sometimes you might think some changes you’ve made weren’t saved. If changes are not being saved, there is probably a different problem. Clear the browser cache to avoid this issue. Refresh your browser while holding down your shift key to make your changes appear.
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. Everything will be lost if your site is hacked.
Your posts will always show up in chronological order when you have not specified otherwise. You must start by altering the date. To do this, locate the date in the upper right corner of an open post. Changing the date and saving it will re-position it.
Make sure your media library isn’t too confusing. Uploading images without thinking of organization can cause havoc to your site. Create a folder structure when you begin and place images into the folders properly. It will make images easier to find when you need them.
You can improve search engine rankings if you take some time with your pictures while you’re uploading them. Use the title tags and alternate tags to include keywords. If your readers “pin” you on Pinterest, that title will automatically show on their screen.
Always update your plugins. Plugins are a smart solution for making your site unique and highly functional. However, they are updated just as other types of software are. 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.
Make sure users can email themselves any of your articles at any time. This is essential so that they can easily share your content with others. You can use a plugin called WP-Email to help you do this.
Make sure you have the most current WordPress on your website. Updates have security patches which eliminate vulnerabilities. Using an older version of WordPress opens up your site to malware attacks. To keep your site secure, use the newest version of WordPress.
It is important that you securely store your password. Download reputable plugins to stay safe at all times. Otherwise, your site may run into a virus.
Remember to back your blog up. Do it regularly. Try using a WordPress plugin like Xcloner. For added security, use plugins to make backup copies of your blog on several different locations. It would be a shame to lose your whole blog.
Incorporate targeted descriptions in your site. These will be the first things your audience sees when discovering your blog via a search engine. Don’t overlook the importance of this fact. Consider utilizing Scribe, the SEO software, on your WordPress-created site to provide you with additional control over these things. You can edit such items to boost visitor counts.
Schedule posts a few days ahead for your blog in WordPress. For posts already written, you can set them up to post on different days and times, even if you aren’t near your computer. Go to “Edit”, and then find the “Publish” option. You’ll notice something that says “Publish immediately.” Use military time to input the times, days, months and years you want your content published. Choose “O.K.”. When your screen shows “Schedule For”, check this option and then hit the “Schedule” option if it is right.
Back up your blog. This is an important step in ensuring that you don’t lose your entire blog. Consider a plugin such as Xcloner to assist you. Use the plugin or site you’re confident in for blog backup, but be sure to backup in a lot of places. Losing your entire blog would be unfortunate.
Approving comments manually is very outdated. Aksimet will take care of it all for you. You can moderate comments individually, but it’s advisable to switch off manual approval and let visitors comment freely. You won’t be saving any time if you do not.
Do not waste your time on reviewing comments before they are posted. Akismet is a helpful plugin that you can use. You can moderate comments individually, but it’s advisable to switch off manual approval and let visitors comment freely. If you do not do this, you will waste lots of time.
Let readers comment on your blog. This will encourage a sense of community, and it will also help you to know more about the people who are reading your site. There are plugins available so that you can approve comments before they appear on the site, so you don’t have to worry about advertisers and spammers.
You do not have to depend on a drop-down menu for headers. Instead, use keyboard shortcuts! By depressing the CTRL key along with a numeric key between 1 and 6, you can get different options. This is a great time saver.
Use a variety of authoring tools. Are there things about the WordPress dashboard that you don’t like? Consider using a blog writing program such as Windows Live Writer. There are a number of tools that work well with WordPress while working much more efficiently. Give some of them a try, and you will surely find just the right tools for you.
When searching for great plugins, make sure to read the reviews. Keep in mind that plugins can be developed by virtually anyone able to write programs. It is important not to use plugins with lots of problems and reported issues. If a plugin has been downloaded a lot and has high ratings, it is probably a safe bet.
Think about having author comments highlighted on a blog. Sometimes, the comments section becomes a place to ask questions. Your response can be hard to find if there are a lot of other comments. Highlight an author’s comments in a distinct color. Using this method will make the comment section easier to read.
Does the clutter of WordPress bother you? Turn off some boxes on your pages. Go to “Screen Options” near the top of your WordPress window to do this. Click this and you will see a drop-down menu. This lets you choose the boxes you want to see.
Make a plan of your site before you dive into WordPress. Write down what you want out of your blog and what you want readers to gain from it. This will give you a clear picture of what you want your site to look like from the get go.
If you are looking for a host for your WordPress blog, choose one that has installation tools that can install WordPress for your with just a click of a button. This saves you the frustration of creating a separate database yourself. Pushing just one button will allow you to get both your domain and database set up.
Don’t forget about the “Read More” option. Not everybody wants to see a blog’s front page full of text. Let visitors read more by clicking if they choose. Without that, your blog may appear cluttered and uninviting.
Keep in mind that a button for “read more” can be added. This allows your visitors to view a few lines of a blog post before deciding whether or not to read the entire post. Let your visitors click if they wish to read more. You don’t want your landing page to appear cluttered and messy.
Keep a second folder for tests made to your site before putting them out for others to see. This will ensure that your site is not negatively affected by any changes you make.
Want to do some work on your blog without these changes being updated live? Make a duplicate of your blog inside a different folder, with a separate, but identical, database. This can keep mistakes you could make from harming your site.
Keep in mind that you need not to everything for your blog on your own. You could hire someone to help you make your website or blog.
Regularly backup your site by using WordPress’s Export function. This will safeguard you in the event that you are hacked.
There are many reasons why WordPress is used by so many people. Clearly, WordPress has a wide variety of capabilities. When you know how to use the tools, the possibilities are endless. These tips will help to accomplish your goals.
Don’t jump on a new WordPress upgrade before considering what plugins you have installed. If you use plugins, ensure they work before upgrading. Failing to wait may result in some of your plugins and widgets losing their functionality.