Subdomain vs Subdirectory For a Blog

by sitemanager

Thinking about launching a blog to use in conjunction with your primary website? Unless you want to register a separate domain name, you'll have to choose between a subdomain or a subdirectory. While both methods can be used to create fully functional blogs, there are some key differences between the two that shouldn't go unnoticed. What's The Difference? The primary difference between a subdomain and subdirectory is the way in which the URLs are created. Blogs created as a subdomain feature URLs that are prefixed to the parent domain. If we created a separate blog as a subdomain on our site...

Is Your WordPress Site Vulnerable?

by sitemanager

Powering an estimated 75 million plus websites and blogs, WordPress is the world's largest and most popular content management system (CMS). It allows people with little-to-no coding experience to create beautiful, fully functioning websites in just minutes. However, the simplicity of WordPress has also spurred a lack of training among its users. According to a recent survey conducted by the cloud-based data backup service provider CodeGuard, 54% of survey respondents said they installed the latest version of WordPress between once a week and once every four weeks. This is a troubling stati...

Choosing a WordPress Theme

by sitemanager

One of the perks of using WordPress as your blogging platform is the wide variety of free and paid templates (known as themes) it offers. Rather than attempting to hard-code a new design from scratch, you can simply download and activate your preferred theme. This allows bloggers to instantly change the look and function of their blog without messing with code. But with tens of thousands of different themes available, how do you know which one to choose? Free or Premium? The allure of a free theme may sound enticing, but it's usually best to spend the extra money and invest in a premium the...

Easy Ways To Promote Your Blog

by sitemanager

Traffic is a direct indication of a blog's success. Without traffic, no one will see what you are publishing, and thus your blog will fall into the abyss where countless others lie. If you're struggling to generate traffic to your blog, check out some of the following methods of promotion listed below. Submit Your Blog To Directories Before you start submitting your blog to thousands upon thousands of directories, it's important to note that there's a difference between between high-quality and low-quality directories. Submitting your blog to the wrong directories could actually hurt your ef...

How To Manage Spam Comments In WordPress

by sitemanager

One of the perks of choosing WordPress as your blogging platform is the ability to engage directly with your visitors. WordPress has a built-in commenting feature which allows visitors to share their thoughts on posts/articles. While you can always disable this feature, it's usually best to keep it turned on. Each time a visitor leaves a comment, it creates unique content for your blog -- and search engines love fresh, unique content. Unfortunately, though, WordPress also attracts comment spam. You may notice generic comments like "Great blog, I'll grab your RSS" or "This was a wonderful bl...

Who Owns Your Domain Name? Hopefully You Do

by sitemanager

The domain name is arguably the single most important element of a website, which is why it's important to have complete ownership over it. Unfortunately, however, it's not uncommon for inexperienced bloggers and webmasters to allow their web designer to register the domain name for them. This may not cause any immediate problems, but it can lead to some severe heartache later down the road. Third-Party Domains The biggest problem associated with third-party domain registrations is the potential for losing control of the domain. Even if you are the rightful owner of the domain, the Internet ...

Why Self-Hosted Blogs Are Better

by sitemanager

One of the decisions you'll have to make when starting a blog is whether to use a hosted or self-hosted platform. Two of the most popular blogging content management systems (CMS) -- WordPress and Blogger -- offer both of these options. While many beginners automatically assume hosted is the best option, spending the extra time and resources to set up a self-hosted blog will prove far more beneficial in the long run. Custom Domain You can always tell if a blog is hosted or self-hosted by looking at its domain name. Hosted blogs are restricted to subdomains, such as yoursite.wordpress.com...

Can You Really Make Money Blogging?

by sitemanager

The short answer to this question is yes, you can make money blogging. But it takes more than just throwing up a WordPress site and a couple of short articles to produce any sizable income. Blogging is highly competitive industry, with millions of active blogs currently online. If you want to succeed, you must differentiate yourself from the rest while providing something of real value to your readers. So, how can you make money blogging? Dozens of different opportunities exist, one of which is writing blog posts for high-traffic blogs in exchange for a flat per-post fee. It's not uncommon ...

Google Publishes SEO Advice For April 21 Deadline

by sitemanager

Google is expected to roll out a major change to its search ranking algorithm on April 21, 2015. The update, dubbed "Mobilegeddon" by some, will focus on improving the quality of Google's index by raising the rankings for mobile-friendly websites (hence the name). Google has taken a keen interest in mobile compatibility lately, encouraging websites to update their websites and blogs so they are compatible for smartphone users. To better prepare webmasters for the upcoming Mobilegeddon, Google has published a guide on common mobile mistakes. The Mountain View company first tweeted the guide ...

Creating a Mobile-Friendly Blog

by sitemanager

In case you didn't get the memo, mobile Internet traffic surpassed desktop traffic for the first time ever last year. This means more people use their smartphones, tablets and wearable devices to access the Internet than traditional desktops and laptops. Bloggers who fail to cater to the ever-growing demographic of mobile Internet users are placing themselves at a serious disadvantage. So, how do you create a mobile-friendly blog? There are three different configurations for creating mobile-friendly blogs. The first uses a separate mobile domain. Ever visit a website on your smartphone and ...

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