WordPress is a great platform for sharing your content. It is easy to use and can be highly customized to suit your specific needs. That said, the platform can also be rather overwhelming, especially when you’re just getting started. To help you master WordPress and have an optimized site up and running in no time, here are five essential tips every beginner should know.
Switch to Readable Permalink
One of the first things – if not THE first thing – you need to do once you have installed WordPress on your hosting account is to change the WordPress permalink. Instead of using the default format, change it to something more readable.
Changing the permalink early will also help prevent future problems. When you change your permalink format, you may have to deal with broken links and making further adjustments. Getting it right the first time can save you a lot of time indeed.
Be at Home on the WordPress Editor
WordPress has a built-in visual editor that you can use to create posts and pages. Before you do anything else, learn more about the WordPress visual editor. There are some handy tips that will help you write posts and publish articles more effectively.
For instance, you can use Control + 1 (or Command + 1) to create an H1 heading. You can also select text and use the same shortcut to format it to H1. Other shortcuts are available too. Find a good guide to creating a blog and take the time to learn about them and you’ll start composing blog posts like a pro in no time.
Complete Your Author Profile
Even when your theme doesn’t display an author profile at the end of the article, completing the profileText is still important. Search engine crawlers will still pick up on the authorship as well as other details you include in the profile. More importantly, certain plugins can automatically add your social networking page (i.e. @yourusername on Twitter) when visitors share your articles.
It is also important to know how to set the author of articles correctly, especially if you’re running a multi-author blog or website. Activate the Author tab on your WordPress post editor and you can set the author of the article manually.
Stay Consistent with Your Updates
The last thing you want is to have one article posted weeks after the previous one. This will hurt both your SEO performance and your user engagement rate. Users want regular updates; it doesn’t even have to be frequent.
Unfortunately, it is not always easy to find the time to write blog posts. When you do have some time on your hands, it’s a good idea to write multiple posts and schedule them for later dates. You can save a post as a draft and schedule it by clicking on the drop-down menu on your Publish tab.
Jump Right In!
Last but certainly not least, just start. Today. The biggest mistake you can make when starting a WordPress site is worrying too much about layouts, design, plugins and other things. Your content should be your main focus. Start publishing your content; you can improve the site as you go along.
Take these tips and you’ll be able to master WordPress and blog like a pro in no time. Still want more tips on how to dig deeper into WordPress’s features? Stay tuned for updates right here on Theme Surface.