Have you ever read a great blog and wished that you could be a blogger? Do you worry that the software would just be too complicated to use? If so, you need to learn about WordPress. This powerful program is so easy to use that anyone can start blogging in a few minutes.
When you use different tags for the topics on your blog, keep in mind that these are strictly for searching the content on your blog. These can’t be used by search engines. If you want your pages to be searchable on Google, you have to install an SEO type plug-in such as Headspace.
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.
If you are new to WordPress, make sure to keep your sidebar simple. Make sure that it only has the essentials. Your visitors shouldn’t have to weed through a ton of ads and banners to find the links they want to click on. Try removing the items in Appearance & Widgets that don’t contribute anything to your cause or business.
You might find one day that you think you’ve made a lot of changes to your blog that haven’t been saved. This is probably not true. You may have a full browser cache that is interfering with your WordPress website. Your changes will appear by simply pressing and holding the “shift” key and refreshing the browser simultaneously.
Posts are always shown chronologically, until you say otherwise. To change it, modify the date. To do this, open up a post and look for the date located at the top of the right corner. Select the date and make your changes; then, save the post to make the position change permanent.
If you haven’t customized your WordPress sidebar, it could be cluttered with useless items that are doing nothing but confusing your readers. Your sidebar should only contain things you actually want visitors to click on. Navigate to Appearance & Widgets to edit the appearance of your sidebar and remove anything there that doesn’t actually benefit you or your visitors directly.
Download Akismet immediately with a fresh WordPress install. Akismet is a plugin for WordPress that basically blocks spam comments as they come in. If you don’t have it installed, you may be inundated with tons of spam. You’ll need to get a free key from the Akismet website to finalize the install.
Remember to make good use of the footer area at the bottom of your WordPress blog pages. In this area you can include additional information about yourself and/or your copyright. You can also add a link to another page if you wish. Different themes give you more use of this area, so choose your themes carefully to maximize the value of your page footers.
WordPress has many keyboard shortcuts which make working with posts a snap. For example, ctrl-c allows you to copy text, while ctrl-x lets you cut it. Ctrl-v will paste it somewhere else. Ctrl-b is bold, ctrl-i is italic and ctrl-u is underline. These basic keyboard shortcuts will save you a lot of time if you memorize them.
Now that you have learned a bit more about WordPress, you should realize just how powerful a tool it can be. There is no reason not to start blogging right away by using this information. Keep it in mind so that you can make your blog a must-see destination on the Internet.