WordPress is something a tricky thing. Lacking a decent understanding of the platform can cause a sense of frustration. Avoid looking like an amateur blogger, and keep reading for some helpful tips!
Choose an interesting and unusual design for your WordPress blog. This may be tempting since it’s a time saver, but users will not be too impressed with your effort. Your site should be unique and reflect your personality.
Choose a website design that is individualized for your WordPress site. You may be tempted to choose from the first couple of pages, but if you do, your blog will be very commonplace. Your site should be unique and reflect your personality.
If you have a long title on a post, be sure to clean up your permalink. Extremely long URLs are usually made up of excessively descriptive titles. To help shorten your permalink, use “tips-parents-unruly-kids.”
If you have a long title on a post, be sure to clean up your permalink. For instance, an overbearing or difficult URL would be along the lines of “Top Tips For Parents of Unruly Children.” Choose something simpler like “intelligent-parents-manage-children”.
WordPress can help you include video blogging on your site. This will require you to spend more time prepping, but this is worth it. Most Internet users are very visual. Videos can sometimes convey information more quickly and effectively than the written word.
Make sure to use both alt text and title tags. text when you are uploading images in your posts. This will allow you to incorporate more SEO phrases.
Clean everything that adds no value to your site, such as extraneous comments and content. That will help you to keep the site friendly to people who are looking at it. Easily clean up any spam on your website with the Akismet plugin.
WordPress can help you include video blogging on your site. This can involve a bit of a learning curve, but it is well worthwhile. Many online users are visual. A video is able to show people what words cannot, and that is why it’s so powerful.
Sometimes you may spend a lot of time adjusting your WordPress blog and then mistakenly think none of your changes have been saved. This isn’t always true. Clear the browser cache to see if it helps. Your changes will appear by simply pressing and holding the “shift” key and refreshing the browser simultaneously.
Make sure to spend some time learning before even installing WordPress. Planning ahead will give you an advantage when you start. Learn all you can about SEO, good content and using WordPress to your advantage.
Do your posts get comments from lots of people? You may not want to sort through all of the comments. Use a plugin to add page numbers. This makes your website easier to navigate.
Make a posting schedule for yourself. With a schedule you’ll be motivated to keep posting. You can site during a day and make posts for the entire week, and then you can schedule WordPress to post them for you.
Ensure that it is possible for users to forward articles from your site to their email easily and at will. Additionally, make it easy for your users to share with their Facebook and Twitter friends. This is accomplished by using the WP-Email plugin.
Special Characters
Never use the term “admin” or anything similar for your username. The more simple your user name, the easier it is for your site to be hacked. This poses a real threat to security. Delete usernames that appear with “administrator” or “admin” on your user pages. Choose a different username.
The URLs of your blog posts should not have special characters. Special characters annoy search engine spiders, so it’s best not to have any. Try shortening all URLs to avoid overwhelming visitors. Try using only keywords.
Keep your media library 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. Organize your folders into different themes if necessary. This makes it easier later on if you’d like to reuse images.
Be sure that your readers can forward your posts to their emails whenever they desire. This is essential so that they can easily share your content with others. Utilize a WP-email application to ensure this happens.
Make sure plugins are always up to date. It is possible to make your website more powerful by utilizing WordPress plugins. Like other software, they are frequently updated. Not keeping up with the latest versions can mean that versions you have now will suddenly stop working or cause other problems.
Don’t choose a common term, such as “admin,” for your username. This will make your site vulnerable to bots that want to attack it. This is a huge security risk. If you have usernames that are administrator or admin, delete them. Choose names other than these.
Make sure you have just the minimum number of WordPress plugins you need. Plugins are totally fun, but each additional one ups your blog’s load time. The web site will load more slowly and affect your search engine rank. Optimized websites will almost always rank better than slow-running websites.
Security is something a WordPress site needs, and that’s why you need to keep passwords secret. Also, be sure to only download plugins you have obtained from trustworthy sites. Always look at reviews prior to installation. Otherwise, your site may run into a virus.
Back up your blog on a regular basis. It’s important to make sure you don’t lose any valuable information. Xcloner is a great plugin that you can use. 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.
Use titles and descriptions that are descriptive. When people use search engines to find your pages, these elements are usually seen first. Therefore, they are quite important. You can use Scribe, which will help you control this on WordPress. This will allow you to edit these items and attract even more visitors.
Schedule your postings in advance of when you want to publish them. For posts already written, you can set them up to post on different days and times, even if you aren’t near your computer. Just have a look at your EDIT screen. Here you will see the PUBLISH box. If you choose to publish immediately, all of your blog posts will be published the minute you submit them. Insert military times. Also, make sure you include years, months, and days. Hit “OK.” A screen entitled “Schedule For” will appear. Once you verify that it is correctly scheduled, select “Schedule.”
WordPress Version
Approving comments manually is an obsolete procedure. Akismet is great for this. Don’t bother with manual approval. If you fail to do this, you will not save yourself any time.
Make sure you are always using the latest WordPress version. Updates usually contain patches that solve security issues and get rid of vulnerabilities. Using an out of date WordPress version will leave your site vulnerable to malware attacks. So keep your website’s WordPress install up to date to make sure you are as secure as can be.
Is it hard to post updates to your blog when you want to do so? You can pre-schedule your content to post if you like. Future publications are very convenient. This will reduce your stress of getting the content out on time.
Schedule blog posts beforehand with WordPress. This allows you to post any time of the day, even when you’re not near a computer. Locate the Edit screen, and find the Publish box. Click on the option that says publish immediately. Schedule your posts with military time and the dates. Select OK. You will see SCHEDULE FOR. If the schedule presented is correct, check it and click SCHEDULE.
Read user reviews of plugins. Keep in mind that any programmer can make a plugin. If a plugin has a lot of flaws and bugs reported, don’t use it. Go for popular plugins that have a four to five star rating to be on the safe side.
Approving comments manually is an obsolete procedure. Aksimet will take care of it all for you. Naturally, you could manually check comments, but it is easier to have them delivered to you for approval before posting. You aren’t saving much time this way.
You should allow visitors to post comments on your site. Allowing comments creates a relationship with your readers. Use this information to learn about your visitors. Don’t worry about spammers, there are plugins that allow you to screen comments before allowing them to be seen on your site.
There are quicker ways to add a header to your post than using the menu. Keyboards shortcuts will save time. A variety of options are available by holding down the CTRL button, then choosing a number between 1 and 6. For bloggers who always use headers, this shortcut saves a lot of time.
Consider highlighting comments made by the author of a blog post. People will post concerns or questions in comments. The author’s response to these comments can easily be missed, especially if there are many comments. Highlight the author’s comments as a different color. Using this method will make the comment section easier to read.
Your WordPress site should have comments enabled. You can learn more about people visiting your site, and it will give users a community feeling. Plugins are available to help you approve comments prior to having them published on the site, keeping it free from spammers.
Prior to building a site with WordPress, come up with a plan of action. 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 let you build your site to meet the needs you have instead of you attempting to add things later on.
Use a variety of authoring tools. Are you not a fan of the WordPress dashboard? You may want to consider Windows Live Writer. There are several programs that are both compatible with WordPress and efficient. Try several of them. Find one that works for you.
Remember that you can add a “Read More” button. Too much text can send viewers away if they see it all at first. You want to let visitors be able to access more information if chosen. Not doing this could cause the blog to appear messy and overwhelming.
Keep in mind that a “read more” option is always a possibility. No one wants to click on to your blog’s front page and be greeted by a huge wall of text. Allow visitors to click to read more if they choose to. Not doing this can make your blog unappealing and rather uninviting.
Use a duplicate database to experiment with changes and new plugins before making them a part of your original site. That way, errors will not spoil your existing site.
Employ graphics in your sites. Pictures really are worth a thousand words. Your site will possess added interest. Improve your website’s standing on search engines by using alternate text and title tags on images.
The work in maintaining your site does not all have to fall on your shoulders. Try to get someone else to help out whether it’s a friend or professional.
While a plugin may not be free, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try it. Think about the cost of your time and compare that to what the plugin costs. If it provides you with many helpful features at an affordable price, it is likely to be worth your while to make the investment in it in order to have time to devote to other things.
Prior to thinking about what you want your WordPress site to look like, take the time to find help resources. For example, look for WordPress blogs and forums, as well as Facebook groups that allow you to pose questions and receive expert advice. Regardless of your question, you can find someone with advice and answers.
You don’t need to do everything on your website by yourself. If you have anyone available to you, either as a volunteer or as a hire, who can help and save valuable time, they are worth asking to join you.
Always backup any images or other files before exporting from WordPress. Log in on the server control panel or FTP and copy all the folders and contents.
There is a lot you must learn regarding WordPress and it will take a while. You must start learning, though. The article above has lots of information that can help you create a successful blog. You will be writing posts all the time, when you get the hang of it.
Know that when you post something, it is always part of the Internet. If you compose a paranoid and lengthy rant on politics, people might just remember you for that. Consider the content of your website posts prior to placing on the site.
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