Blogs are rapidly increasing in popularity. There are many people that choose WordPress to publish their blogs. WordPress offers so much that it can be overwhelming at times. If you have just started exploring WordPress and need some help, this article is for you.
Take the time to learn about WordPress before beginning to use it. It’s best to start WordPress when you have an understanding of how it works and a general idea of which plugins will work best for you. Learn what you can about SEO, or search engine optimization, and find out how to create engaging content for visitors. Learn how you can use WordPress to the highest advantage. That will help make sure that you don’t have a tough time when you start.
Become familiar with the options and tools that are at your disposal when you blog with WordPress. Use the Kitchen Sink icon to see all the extra things you can do with your blog. That will help you with formatting.
Have a plan before you begin publishing. If you are aware of your posting time, your motivation will increase. As a matter of fact, you can create your posts ahead of time and then use the WP scheduling feature to post them at specific times.
It is easy to do video blogging with WordPress. Although this may take you some extra preparation, it is definitely worth it. The majority of web surfers are visual in nature. Using video is a powerful tool because it allows you to express your thoughts visually.
Clean up the content and comments that do not add any value to your website. Your visitors will appreciate your efforts. Trying using a plugin like Akismet to filter out spam.
Educate yourself on WordPress before you get started. When you plan ahead, the better your site will be. Discover all you can about SEO and how to build smart content with WordPress.
Get rid of the special characters in your post URL’s. They can give search engines a hassle when trying to spider your site, so it is best if you remove them completely. Keep your URL’s short and to the point.
Sometimes you spend hours changing your WordPress site, and then think that the changes have not been saved. Most likely, this is not the case. To deal with this issue, clear your browser cache. Your changes should come up if you simply depress the Shift key while you refresh the browser.
Unless you dictate differently, your posts always show up in a chronological order. To change it, modify the date. To do this, open a single post and look for the date near the top right. To change the posts position, click the date and change it.
You must specify if you want your post to appear in other than chronological order. To change it, modify the date. In order to do that, open one of your posts and you will be able to see the date at the top right hand corner. Click the date and change it. Save your post and its order will change.
Are there a lot of commenters to your posts? If you do, it can be cumbersome to sift through all of them. A plugin can separate your comments into pages. That will make navigation much easier and your site will appear more organized.
Do many people leave comments on your posts? If this is the case, it can be hard to sort through them all. Add a plugin that will add page numbers to this section. This navigational tool will save time and make your site look organized.
Ensure that users have the ability to email your posts to themselves. There are some people who cannot look at Twitter or Facebook in the office;however, they want to share your information with others. Try using a plugin like WP-Email.
Better your greeting at the very top of your site in WordPress. This makes things a bit more personal with readers since you can make a message that shows how others found your site. Use the WordPress Greet Box plugin to keep your website looking less robotic.
Titles and targeted descriptions drive traffic to your site. When prospective visitors use search engines to find your pages, these are among the first things they see. This makes these aspects very important. To have more control over these items on your WordPress site, you can use the SEO software, Scribe. You can use this to make edits on your pages in order to bring more visitors.
Users should be able to send your articles via e-mail easily. This is essential for sharing purposes, since not everyone uses Twitter or Facebook while working. Try using a plugin like WP-Email.
Don’t install more WordPress plugins that you will be using. It can be very tempting and exciting to download as many as possible, but doing so will burden your site with a lengthy load time. The web site will load more slowly and affect your search engine rank. Websites that are slow usually don’t rank as highly as sites that are optimized for speed.
Use titles and descriptions that are descriptive. When people are looking for your pages using a search engine, these are the first things they will encounter. For this reason, they are very important. Scribe is a great piece of software that you can use. You can use this to make edits on your pages in order to bring more visitors.
Keep WordPress updated to the latest version. Updates generally include security fixes that you will want to have. Malware is often able to infiltrate WordPress sites that do not have the latest updates. So keep your website’s WordPress install up to date to make sure you are as secure as can be.
Don’t install more plugins than you need. Although plugins can be a lot of fun, the reality is that web sites load slower with more plugins. That means your site could run slow, which will impact your search engine ranking. Well-optimized sites rank better than slow ones.
Keep a back up of your blog. Do it regularly. One good WordPress plugin for this is Xcloner. Utilize any plugin or site you wish for the purpose of backing up your blog. Just be certain to have a back up in multiple locations. Losing an entire website is catastrophic.
Always utilize the most current version of the WordPress program on your site. Updated versions will give you more security. Older versions of WordPress leave you vulnerable to attack by malware. Always make sure to install the updates supplied by WordPress to keep your site secure.
Internal linking plugins can connect posts and allow readers to view more content. These types of plugins add several links at the end of every post, depending on how relevant the tags of your posts are in your website.
Always back up your blog. Regularly schedule this important task. Xcloner is a great plugin to use with WordPress to do this. Use the sites and plugins that you know for backing up your blog, just make sure it’s all in one location. It would be devastating to lose your whole blog.
Manually approving comments is the way of the past. Instead, Akismet can do this for you. You can get an email when a comment is made, but it is best to uncheck manual approval and authors having to have already-approved comments to post. If you don’t do that, there really is no point in using Akismet.
Connect the posts together with an internal-linking plugin to give your reader additional content on your website to enjoy. This type of plugin adds 3-5 links beneath your posts based on their tags’ relevancy.
Is it challenging to meet self-imposed deadlines for your posts? You can write a blurb ahead of time and have it posted at the date and time that you select. When opening the page where you post new content, there will be an option to schedule a publication in the future. You can write your posts without worrying about remembering to post them.
Nobody needs to approve comments manually anymore. Let Akismet filter out the spam for you. You can set up notifications for comments, but manual approval usually deters commenters. You aren’t saving much time this way.
When choosing a website header, avoid the drop-down menu. Use keyboard shortcuts instead. By depressing the CTRL key along with a numeric key between 1 and 6, you can get different options. If you frequently use headers, this saves lots of time.
Don’t use that drop-down menu for post headers. Rather, you can use keyboard-based shortcuts. By depressing the CTRL key along with a numeric key between 1 and 6, you can get different options. If you frequently use headers, this saves lots of time.
When searching for plugins, check their reviews. Almost anyone can create a plugin. You want to avoid downloading a plugin full of flaws and bugs. A high rating and a lot of downloads usually signal that a plugin is safe.
Read user reviews prior to installing a plugin. Remember, anyone who can program is able to create a plugin. You shouldn’t use plugins with a lot of reported flaws or bugs. If a plugin has been downloaded a lot and has high ratings, it is probably a safe bet.
Do you hate how disorganized WordPress can be? You can turn off a number of the on-page boxes you see. Go to the “Screen Options” menu found at the very top of WordPress. Just click that button and access the menu that prompts you to turn the boxes you like on or off.
Have you had enough of the clutter involved in WordPress? Eliminate a few of the boxes appearing on the page. Just go to SCREEN OPTIONS in the upper portion of the window. This will give you a drop-down menu where you can choose which boxes are visible.
If you need a host to keep your WordPress blog on, pick one that comes with installation tools that are compatible with WordPress. This will prevent the need to create a separate database. The host will create a domain and database with just one click.
Look for different tools that are available to blog authors. Do you dislike the WordPress’s dashboard? You may want to consider Windows Live Writer. There are several tools that work with WordPress that make your workflow more efficient. Try using a couple of them and find one you like.
Allow users to comment on your website. People will feel more involved and you can learn about them as well. There are plugins that will require comment approval before they show up on your site. This will keep spammers and advertisers away.
Differentiate the author’s comments by highlighting them. People often ask questions or express concerns in comment sections. If there are lots of comments, it’s easy to miss quite a few. Highlight an author’s comments in a distinct color. In this way, they will be easy to find.
Create a plan prior to beginning work on your WordPress site. Write down a to-do list for your site. This will allow you to plan in advance.
Employ graphics in your sites. The saying about a picture being worth a lot more than words is true even today. It will give your site much more drama. Make picture descriptions with text tags so search engines have an easier time finding it.
Use an identical second database if you would like to test changes without messing with the live site itself. This way, you won’t inadvertently make poor changes to your site.
Do your research before planning your WordPress blog. Some things you can do include looking up Facebook groups, WordPress forums, and blogs for advice. The community can help you with questions around a theme, a plugin or any other WordPress related issues.
Make sure to backup all files on your site when you want to export through WordPress. Copy all of it from the control panel after you log in.
Hopefully, you now understand what you need to know about WordPress. The number of people who use WordPress yet understand very little about it is staggering. Put these tips to good use, and you’ll really maximize your website’s potential.
Don’t upgrade in WordPress without thinking of your installed plugins first. If you currently have plugins you can’t live without, wait until WordPress is tested further. Otherwise some of these plugins may not work.
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