Learn WordPress – 18 Blog Essentials

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Blogging can be very rewarding to blogger and reader alike. Whether you are a new or experienced blogger it is my hope that these tools and tips will offer resources for your adventure in blogging.

#1 – Get Found

You can write the most amazing blog posts ever, but if no one finds them, you have no audience.

SEO – Show up in search results. My go-to SEO plugin is Yoast SEO. Yoast SEO is reasonably user-friendly with tons of free tutorial and resource information on their website.

Article: 6 Ways To Optimize Your Blog Posts For SEO
Article: How to Choose the Perfect Focus Keyword
Tool: Yoast Google Suggest Expander Tool

#2 – Share, Share, Share

Make it easy for readers to share your articles. Don’t miss out on this expected and important tool. Social share icons/plugins are probably included in them, but if not, here are some great plugin options.

Article: 9 Best Social Sharing Plugins For WordPress In 2017

Post to your social media accounts. This is the ultimate in free advertising!
Tools to make posting it easier:

Article: How to Auto-Post from WordPress to All Your Favorite Social Networks with Blog2Social

• IFTTT – ‘IF THIS THEN THAT’ app. You choose the “Applets” that you want. For example, ‘If I tweet, post to Facebook also’. Countless options!
• Hootsuite Tool for managing multiple social media accounts.

#3 – Network

Join groups and get connected. Rub elbows and see what you can contribute to and learn from each other.

• Utilize Pinterest boards.
• Post helpful and interesting comments on other bloggers posts. People will think you are interesting and may check you out.
• Join blogger groups (get support, seek guest bloggers, share tips, etc.)

Article: 15 Best Facebook Groups for WordPress Bloggers to Join

#4 – What Time of the Day Should You Post?

If you are looking for optimal readership on posting your articles, it is good to be aware of optimal times to post. [1]

• Most traffic? Monday at 11am EST
• Most comments? Saturday at 9am EST
• Most social shares? Thursday 9-10am EST

Article: When Is The Best Time To Publish Blog Posts?

#5 – Invest In a Quality Website

Create a quality website yourself or hire a professional to design it for you. Encourage readers to look around or return to your website.

• Add sidebar content that provides useful links and information. (search bar, brief ‘about me’, categories, tag cloud, recent posts, etc.)
• Have a navigational bar at the top of the page that leads to other areas of your website (home, about, contact, shop, featured content pages, etc.)

#6 – Mailing List Sign-Up

Add a mailing list sign-up to the sidebar or footer. If a visitor is already on your site and likes what they see, don’t miss the opportunity to offer an easy sign-up for your future posts!

A word of caution – don’t assault visitors with your sign-up form. A pop-up that asks you to sign-up for the mailing list when you have not even viewed the website yet is annoying.

#7 – Stay Safe

For your own security and for the safety of your website visitors, take reasonable precautions.

• Install a security plugin, like iThemes Security, WordFence, or WP Security & Firewall.
• Use Akismet to help with comment spam.
• Never use “admin” for your username. If you need to change it, TAP HERE for instructions.
• Choose a strong password.
• Run your updates. Always. When security vulnerabilities, bugs or other issues arise, updates are released to address them. If you don’t run the updates your site can become compromised.

#8 – Back It Up

My rule — If I would cry if I lost it, it should be backed up. Period. I have learned this the hard way.

• Learn to save a copy of the wp-content folder of your website locally through FTP. You can use a free program like FileZilla Client, or a plugin like WP File Manager.
• Use a Managed WordPress or other hosting plan that includes automatic backups.
• Use a plugin to run your backups.

#9 – Use Killer Headlines

Grab their attention. Half the battle is getting a user to engage with your text. What better way than a great headline?

• Check out these handy tools:
Headline Analyzer
Title Generator
• Be mindful of keyword strategy.

#10 – Write Quality Content

Short paragraphs and concise content are generally preferred. Users often leave web pages in 10-20 seconds [2] so you don’t have long to hook them.

Article: Clean and Lean Website Design

BUT… Longform Content is coming around. Go figure. Studies have shown people are interested in longer, engaging content. [3]

Article: Tips for Designing Great Longform Content on WordPress

Review the recommendations for both brief and extensive content to determine what is more appropriate to your article.

Handy Tools: Plugins can add a ‘reading time’ feature to your post. This is especially nice if you go the ‘Long Form Content’ route:

• Reading Time WP — OR — Reading Time (I use this one)
• Worth The Read (adds a progress bar)

#11 – Grammar & Spelling

Don’t kill a great article by missing the mark on spelling and grammar. Poor grammar or spelling are unprofessional.

#12 – Show the Love

The nature of blogging is that you are interacting with an audience. Acknowledge that in your approach – whether your blog is a dialogue or a monologue.

#13 – Boundaries

Know where to draw the line. Your privacy and the privacy of your friends and family should be respected. Don’t share personal stories or information without permission and serious consideration.

#14 – Don’t Let It Get Ugly

Don’t vent on your blog. Such a move could sink a healthy blog. Be careful and thoughtful about any content you publish.

#15 – Links Are Your Friends

Links are a great tool for the blogger. They can direct an engaged reader to further content.

Internal links will lead the user to other blog articles that you have written, encouraging them to stay on your website. This increases interest in your blog, return visits, bookmarking, or subscribing to your blog. Who doesn’t want that?

Article: The Right and Wrong Ways to Do Internal Linking on Your WordPress Site

External links provide the user with recommended to resources that are outside of your website. This can increase confidence and gratitude on the part of your user. As they visit the external site to learn more they can find validation for your content and additional information.

Tip: Always set external links to open in a new tab so users don’t lose your site! In HTML language, that means that your link should contain the following: target=“_blank;” within the tags. Click here to see how it works.

#16 – Don’t Overuse Ads

Ads can quickly go from subtle to overwhelming. No one wants to feel they are being bombarded by ads while they are reading your post.

#17 – Post Regularly

Your readers and Google will have more interest if there is a steady stream of posts to your blog. If you go months at a time between posts, Google and users may think you have abandoned your blog.

#18 – Images

People respond well to images. We are visual beings by nature, and images will engage your audience.

• Make sure your images are relevant and punctuate your content.
• Choose quality images.
• Web-ready your images so they do not slow down your load time.
• Make sure you are aware of the permissions and credits you are obliged to when using an image.

Enjoy Your Blog!

I would love to hear your feedback and input! Please scroll to the bottom of this page to find the comments section. There is so much we can all learn from each other that I am sure ‘18 Blog Essentials’ is just the beginning of the list!

Related: Learn WordPress – Advice & Tips for Beginners
Related: Learn WordPress — Maintaining Your WordPress Website
Related: Why Your Business Needs a Website
Image Credit: Elisanth / bigstockphoto.com