You can do so many things with WordPress, which is the absolute most popular platform for blogging. Take your blog to all new heights with some WordPress tools. Read on to learn how you can make blogging work for you with WordPress.
Spend some time learning about the tools and features WordPress offers bloggers. For instance, the button “kitchen sink” gives you a plethora of choices for formatting and importing content into your posts. Also check out “screen options” for admin functions. Use that to control all kinds of formatting elements.
Video blogging is easy with WordPress. Although this may take you some extra preparation, it is definitely worth it. Most Internet users are very visual. Videos are great at getting points across that words can miss.
Take the time to learn about WordPress before beginning to use it. You will be more successful if you make a good plan before you begin. Learn about search engine optimization, how to create effective content, and how to use WordPress to its fullest advantage to ensure you aren’t struggling when you get to work.
Have a plan before you begin publishing. If you schedule when things must be posted, you’re more likely to actually post them. 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.
Blog post URLs should not have special characters in them. These characters are hard for search engine spiders to decipher. Attempt to keep your URLs simple for visitors as well.
If you have a WordPress website, be sure to have the most engaging greeting possible. This makes your site more personal when trying to relate to the visitor. Use the WordPress Greet Box plugin to keep your website looking less robotic.
Allow your users to access your articles easily by email. Many people who won’t have access to social media will still want to share with friends. Try using a plugin like WP-Email.
It’s important that you are the only one with your WordPress password. Also, be sure to only download plugins you have obtained from trustworthy sites. Always look at reviews prior to installation. Otherwise, you are vulnerable to hackers and malware.
Make sure you regularly update your plugins. These are a great tool that will make your website more powerful. However, they receive updates just like normal applications. Not updating your site means you will not have access to upgrades and the plugins may not work as they should.
Don’t go overboard with installing too many WordPress plugins. Plugins are great, but each one slows your load time a little bit more. The web site will load more slowly and affect your search engine rank. Well-optimized sites rank better than slow ones.
No one manually approves comment any longer. Let Akismet filter out the spam for you. You can moderate comments individually, but it’s advisable to switch off manual approval and let visitors comment freely. You will waste a great deal of time if you approve every comment that is submitted to your site.
Do not use the drop-down menu to find a post header. Use the keyboard shortcuts. Press CTRL then 1-6 to select different options. This is a great time saver.
When searching for plugins, check their reviews. Remember, these plugins can be created by anyone who knows how to program. Do not use a plugin with many issues associated with it. You can usually use reviews to see which plugins are good.
Creen Options
Have you had enough of the clutter involved in WordPress? You can disable select boxes on the page. Do this from ‘Screen Options’ near the top of your window. Click the “Screen Options” button for a handy drop-down menu you can use to enable or disable your boxes.
If you’re trying to find hosting for your blog, select a host with tools capable of installing WordPress with a simple click. This will prevent the need to create a separate database. A single click could mean the host creates both your blog domain and your database associated with it.
Use comments on WordPress websites. In this way, people will feel like members of your community and you will have a better understanding of your readers. You can get plugins that allow you to filter content from others.
Try to highlight comments made by blog posts authors. Many folks raise issues and ask questions via the comments boxes. Highlight author’s comments to avoid having the answers and responses get lost in the many comments. Highlight the author’s comments as a different color. This will make it easy to spot them.
Plugins do not have to be free to be valuable. Paid plugins may or may not be worth the funds. If the price is low and it provides important features, it may be worth the cost in the time you are saved.
Use a second folder that contains a duplicate database to test changes to your site without having them go live. This keeps those changes from potentially damaging your entire site causing lost sales.
The export function comes in quite handy when you want to back up everything you created on WordPress. If something happens and you are hacked, you should be able to go back through and find a backup that you are able to use.
When using the WordPress Export function, you should also backup the files and images on your website. You can do this by logging in with FTP or the control panel on your server and then copying all of the folders you find there and their contents.
There’s a good reason why WordPress is so popular. As you now know, WordPress offers many capabilities. Learning to use its capabilities may help you become a great blogger. The information in this article can help you do just that.