What does it take to make a good WordPress site? Do I have to take a course or read a library worth of books? The fact is that reading this article will give you the base of knowledge you need to start your new site, so check out the advice below.
If you plan to use WordPress for your site, you should only do so if you plan to have a responsive design. People access websites from all types of devices, and you want to make sure that any person who wants to view your site will be able to without any issues.
Make your theme current on your website to draw more traffic. Switch to a new theme that accentuates your colors and logos. Also, you may want to opt for a more professioanl theme if you are planning on showing your site off to a high volume of potential customers each day.
Create smart URLs! Don’t use a lot of keywords in the URL, and keep the whole thing simple and straightforward. Avoid excessive verbiage. You want to create smart permalinks that are easy to look at and easy to understand. This helps make your blog more user friendly and comprehensible.
With WordPress you have lots of choices in themes so you can have a really good looking blog. Take plenty of time to peruse all of your choices so that you can select just the right one to suit your style and your topic. For a truly unique theme, select a premium theme. This will really help your blog stand out from the crowd.
One reason WordPress is so great to work with is that its plug-ins offer a dazzling array of functions. Be that as it may, you want to be careful when selecting plug-ins. Don’t just start downloading them willy-nilly. Begin with the essential plug-ins: WP DataBase BackUp, All-In-One SEO Pack and WP Optimize. Choose others with care to get precisely what you need.
Make sure that your content is free of fluff. Your visitors will appreciate your efforts. Check out Akismet for a great way to remove spam.
Unless otherwise specified, your posts will appear chronologically. You have to alter the dates to alter the order of the list. 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. Changing the date and saving it will re-position it.
Constantly work on improving your permalinks. As WordPress becomes more popular, your traffic may decline. Change the URLs of your WordPress articles and incorporate higher quality keywords. You can minimize the amount of keywords as long as their value increases. This can be a nice boost to the traffic you see.
Know that you can write posts and send them in the future via WordPress. All you need to do is change the post from “Publish Immediately” to a specific date and time in the future. This way you can write posts and have them set up to go out even while you are on vacation!
Don’t use something boring, such as “admin”, as the name you use on your site. This can make you more susceptible to bots. It puts your site’s security at risk. Go to your page of users and remove usernames that say “admin” or “adminstrator”. Choose something that is more difficult.
When looking for a template, look for one that has the basic layout and design that you desire for your site. This way, you would not have to customize it too much in order to give it the look that you want. This will cut down on your site development time.
Minimize the number of WordPress plugins you use. Remember that your site’s load time increases for every plugin you install. That means your site could run slow, which will impact your search engine ranking. Slower sites don’t usually rank as well as those that are faster.
Using the most current version of WordPress is very important. Updates generally include security fixes that you will want to have. If you use an older WordPress version, it opens your site up to attacks of malware. Always make sure to install the updates supplied by WordPress to keep your site secure.
Be sure you back up your blog. Backing up your blog frequently is essential. Plugins, such as Xcloner, are important to use. Back your website up in at least 2 places. It would be pretty depressing to lose your blog.
Now that you have this great advice in mind, your next step is to put it to use. Install WordPress and start to play with all of its features. Once you feel comfortable, publish your site and enjoy your new internet presence! Continue to read articles like this so you can stay on top of new advances.