WordPress is by far one of the most popular tools available for building websites. One of the reasons it is so popular is because it is so simple to use. It is also something that is highly effective and offers plenty of tools for customization purposes. In the end, these benefits allow WordPress users to create a website that is attractive to their readers and will help them draw in the right kind of traffic.
One downside of WordPress is that it actually has so many tools, plugins and themes that making the right decisions becomes difficult. Luckily, we have gathered the top ten WordPress tips that will help you get the most out of the program and build the most effective website.
Tip 1: Keep your Sidebar Clean
Your sidebar is the item that gives your visitors more information about your website. Here, they will be able to click on things they are interested in, which can help keep them on your site longer. However, if you overload your sidebar, it will only serve as a distraction and cause your readers some confusion. This could cause them to leave your site early or not find the information they are looking for.
Tip 2: Caption your Images
In order to generate more visitors, it is important to caption your images with your keywords. This can easily be done with plugins that support custom CSS styling.
Tip 3: Use Scheduling
When you schedule posts for the future, you will have the benefit of being able to better manage the posts that go on your website. With this feature, you can create posts in advance without the need to login every time you wish to post something.
Tip 4: Use External Links
Another great tool for drawing visitors to your page is external links. This is something that can actually help improve the way people view your site and can raise your search engine ratings at the same time.
Tip 5: Make it Simple
When you are setting up your website through WordPress, make sure it is as easy to navigate as possible. Visitors should quickly be able to determine how to browse through your site and where to find the most important information.
Tip 6: Review your Blog URLs
Most of the time you will not need to make changes to the URL that WordPress creates for your blog posts. However, you should review them to make sure they don’t contain a special character or are especially long. This could make it harder for search engines to classify them.
Tip 7: Use Targeted Titles
Titles are the first thing a search engine will look at when it is deciding where to list your site. Make it easier for the search engines to classify your site by creating titles and descriptions that are targeted and use specific keywords that relate to your content.
Tip 8: Choose Plugins Carefully
As before mentioned, there are plenty of plugins to choose from. Unfortunately, some of them can actually slow down your site significantly. Because of this, make sure you take a look at your site speed after you install any plugins.
Tip 9: Choose a Hosting Service to fit your Needs
When it comes time to choose a hosting service for your WordPress site, make sure you keep your own needs in mind. Doing so can help you decide between the many options that are available for you to choose from.
Tip 10: Improve SEO with Quality Content
When you are creating content for your WordPress site, make sure you focus on the quality of your content. This is the best way to improve your use of SEO and get your site listed higher in search engine results.
These tips are definitely ones you will want to put into practice when you are building your own WordPress site. Not only will they help you create the best website possible, but they will allow you to create a site easily and quickly.
Also you can find more tips like these ones on our friend site FirstSiteGuide, there you will find several in-depth online guides followed by PDF’s, WordPress video tutorials and other web development resources that will come handy to all beginners who are about to establish themselves on the internet.
