WordPress is the most widely-used blogging platform, and there are many things it can do. Use WordPress’ tools to turn your blog into exactly what you always dreamed it could be. Here are some of the things you need to know when using WordPress.
Choose an interesting and unusual design for your WordPress blog. While using something that others already have up is simple, it doesn’t create a great first impression of your site. It is imperative to make a site that highlights your individuality and the personality of your business.
Devote some time to learning about the various options and tools that you have at your fingertips when you use WordPress for blogging. For example, clicking the Kitchen Sink will give you choices such as importing and formatting posts. Use this to control a wide variety of formatting elements.
If your post has a long title, clean up its permalink. A lengthy URL would be created by a title like “How Wild Children Can Be Made to Behave by Outsmarting Them.” Rather than writing that, have your permalink be “discipline-tips-children” or something similar that captures your keywords.
Alt and Title are two important things to know about. when uploading post images. This way, you can add a lot more keyword phrases to your content, and visitors who have images disabled on the computers will get a good idea of what is there.
Become familiar with the options and tools that are at your disposal when you blog with WordPress. For instance, clicking the “kitchen sink” button gets you a multitude of formatting and importing options to distinguish your site. Control a variety of choices with this.
It is simple to add video to a site created with WordPress. This will take a while, but the benefits are great. A lot of Internet users respond well to visuals. This can be a great tool to clarify what you want to say.
Make sure to use both alt text and title tags. This lets you add text to your posts. These areas allow you to add even more SEO key phrases to the content of your page, plus they allow viewers who have images turned off to know what they’re missing on your site.
Take the time to research WordPress prior to working with it. The more you plan, the better your results will be. Understand the basics of SEO and content creation before starting your site.
It is relatively easy to include video blogging in your WordPress site. While this might take a little extra preparation on your part, it is worth it. The majority of people that use the internet are extremely visual. Videos are great at getting points across that words can miss.
Clean up comments and content that don’t add anything to your website. That will help you to keep the site friendly to people who are looking at it. You can filter spam every day with the plugin known as Akismet.
Learn what you need to know before you begin. The more you plan, the better your results will be. Research SEO, WordPress and content generation before starting to develop your site.
Have you even worked on your site and thought that the changes you made were not saved? This is mots likely false. Clear your cache to see if it will fix the problem. Try pressing and holding “shift” while refreshing to view your changes.
Make a schedule for your posts. If you know when you have to post, you’ll be more motivated to get it done. In fact, you have the option to write all of your posts in advance and schedule them to be published at regular intervals.
Are there a lot of commenters to your posts? If so, going through all your comments might be tough for you and other people who are reading along. You can install a simple plugin that will put page numbers into this section. It will make your site more organized.
Clean up comments and content that don’t add anything to your website. In this way, your site will be inviting and comfortable for your users. An excellent plugin that can aid you in removing spam from your site on a daily basis is Akismet.
Make it easy for your followers to email your articles as they wish. There are some people who cannot look at Twitter or Facebook in the office;however, they want to share your information with others. You can do this by using a WP-Email plugin.
Unless you change it, posts will appear chronologically. Change the date if you want to rearrange the list. Upon opening one of the posts, you can view the date in the right-hand top corner. Select the date and make your changes; then, save the post to make the position change permanent.
It is important that you securely store your password. Download reputable plugins to stay safe at all times. If your are hacked or infected with malware, all your hard work on your site will be lost.
Make sure you have a unique greeting. This makes things a bit more personal with readers since you can make a message that shows how others found your site. It personalizes the experience. Use WP Greet Box to do this.
Use titles and descriptions that have targeted keywords. This is the first thing that your audience will view. Thus, they are also the most critical. You can use SEO software called Scribe to get more control on these elements in your site. This will allow you to edit these items and attract even more visitors.
Ensure that users have the ability to email your posts to themselves. 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. A WP Email plugin can make this possible.
Maintain a well-organized media library. Sure you can just throw images in there, but it may become overwhelming pretty quickly. You should start with a simple folder structure and go from there. You can then find pictures you wish to use later much easier.
Your username should never be “admin” or anything similar. This will make your site vulnerable to bots that want to attack it. This is a huge security risk. Comb through your pages and delete any such user names right away. Choose something that is more difficult.
Make sure you are always using the latest WordPress version. Updates will eliminate vulnerabilities. Using an outdated version opens your page up to all sorts of negative possibilities. Install all updates WordPress offers in order to ensure the best security.
Make sure you have your blog backed up. This should be done on a regular basis. Think about utilizing a plugin such as Xcloner. Back your website up in at least 2 places. It would be terrible if you lost everything.
Blog Posts
Connect your posts via a linking plugin to easily provide visitors with more of your content. 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.
Write blog posts in advance and then schedule them to be posted later. You can have a post added to your blog at any time, and you don’t even need to be near your computer. Locate your edit page and find the publish box. Beneath that, there will be an option labeled: Publish Immediately. Insert military times. Also, make sure you include years, months, and days. Press OK. Click on the ‘schedule’ button on the ‘schedule for’ screen to plan schedule your blog posts.
Is it hard for you to stick to a posting schedule? It is possible to write something ahead of schedule and have it post on a selected date. Once you have any new post page open, look for the choice to set a publication in the future. Writing ahead of time prevents a time crunch later.
Read reviews of a plugin you want to use. Don’t forget, anyone who knows programming can build these plugins. You should be careful with any plugin you are installing. To help protect your site only use plugins that you have researched with a lot of downloads and high ratings.
Always look at user reviews before using plugins. Keep in mind that plugins can be developed by virtually anyone able to write programs. You should stay away from plugins that are full of problems. Look for ones that have high ratings and have been heavily downloaded.
Does WordPress clutter fatigue you? Turn off some boxes on your pages. You can do so via the “Screen Options” button at the top of the WordPress window. Click this to access a drop-down menu where you can turn boxes on and off.
If you are searching for a WordPress host, select one that has a user-friendly control panel with a one-click install of WordPress. This makes things very easy for you. The host will also be able to make you a blog domain.
Try a wide variety of tools for authoring blogs. Do you dislike the WordPress’s dashboard? Blog authoring programs, such as Windows Live Writer, can be of help. There are a lot of tools that work well with WordPress and make blogging more efficient. Try different ones to determine which works for you.
Let people comment on your posts. This builds a sense of togetherness, and it also allows you to know a bit more about your traffic. You can get plugins that let you approve comment before they show up.
Create a plan beforehand to give your site the best organization. Know what you want from your site and consider what your readers expect. The time spent drafting a plan will help you when setting up your blog.
Differentiate the author’s comments by highlighting them. People express their opinions or ask questions in the section open to comments. It can be easy for responses to get lost in the sea of feedback. To make them stand out, highlight your responses. This allows you to find and recognize them easily.
Add the “read more” button to your website. Visitors to your blog do not want to be confronted with a vast block of text. Let visitors read more by clicking if they choose. You don’t want your landing page to appear cluttered and messy.
Create a plan prior to beginning work on your 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. 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.
It may be worth it to spend money on some plugins. Think about how long it will take you to make something like that; then, compare it to the cost. There are so many features available, it is well worth the price.
Make sure to place images on your website. The adage that a picture is worth more than a few words is still true today. Your own blog can have just that much more oomph. Be sure that readers and search engines both notice your images through good use of titles as well as alt text tags in describing it.
Make sure that you copy your blog into an alternate folder. This can keep mistakes you could make from harming your site.
Regularly backup your site by using WordPress’s Export function. This ensures that you keep an historical database that lists site backups, allowing you to reverse course in time to go to clean copies in case of hacking or a routine backup if the server dies.
You do not have to do it all yourself. If you can recruit a volunteer or hire someone who has the skill to do the work, you will save time and money in the long run.
Before upgrading WordPress, consider your plugins. If you’ve got plugins that must work, then you may want to wait on that WordPress upgrade until further testing is done. By not waiting your plugins and widgets could cease to function.
WordPress has gained great popularity, and for good reason. It has so many great features and plugins available. Learn how WordPress can help you run a successful blog. Do this by using the tips above.
To make pages shorter, think about using a “read more” option. To choose the perfect place for it, think about where you can break up the text with the reader wanting to click through for more. People will stay with your site longer if they feel drawn to READ MORE.