How to Use WordPress More Effectively

Posted on July 26, 2015July 26, 2015 by sitemanager

Do you use WordPress to blog? There's no denying the fact that WordPress is a powerful blogging platform. It features a massive directory of plugins and themes while preserving a clean and user-friendly interface. Backup Your Files Don't forget to backup your files. Many first-time WordPress users make the mistake of only downloading their core files via a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) program. But WordPress isn't static, and most of its data is stored in the form of a database. Therefore, you'll need to download both your core files, as well as the database associated with your site. If all ...

WordPress Plugins to Reduce Your Blog’s Load Times

Posted on July 25, 2015July 26, 2015 by sitemanager

How long does it take visitors to load your blog? Load times play an important role in the usability and overall function of a blog. If visitors are forced to stare at a loading screen for a long time, some will click their browser back button. Thankfully, WordPress has a massive directory of plugins, many of which can be used to reduce a blog's load times. W3 Total Cache Arguably, one of the most effective ways to reduce a blog's load time is to enable browser caching. Rather than forcing visitors to reload the same files each time they visit your site, browser caching will automatically st...

I Want to Start a Blog. What Now?

Posted on July 10, 2015July 14, 2015 by sitemanager

So, you've made the decision to start blogging, but now you're faced with the task of actually turning your vision into a reality. If this is your first time attempting to blog, you may feel overwhelmed at the technical complexity of it. Don't worry, because we're going to walk you through the steps to creating your first blog. Choose a Niche What do you want your blog to be about? Some people choose general topics like "health," or "automobiles." While there's nothing wrong with blogging about these topics, you should choose a more narrow niche for your blog. General topics like health or a...

5 Dirty Truths About Blogging

Posted on July 8, 2015July 10, 2015 by sitemanager

Some blogging advice that used to be accurate has become outdated. Following are common "truths" that now need a second look. Keyword Density Matters Many bloggers believe they must achieve a specific keyword density when writing their blog posts; otherwise, their posts won't rank and their traffic will decline. So instead of writing with the end user in mind, they write content specifically for search engines, ensuring it contains a certain number of keywords. While this tactic used to work, it has since gone the way of the dinosaurs, with search engines playing little-to-no attention on me...

Choosing a Niche For Your Blog

Posted on June 29, 2015June 29, 2015 by sitemanager

Thinking about starting a new blog? If so, you'll want to choose a niche that's best suited for your goals. Many bloggers make the mistake of creating a generalized blog, covering every topic under the sun. While this tactic may work for large-scale, established brands like Huffington Post, it's a sure-fire recipe for disaster for everyone else. So, how do you choose the right niche for your blog? Lots of Traffic, Little Competition A good rule of thumb to follow when choosing a niche for your blog is to choose one with high traffic and low competition. In other words, you want plenty of use...

Is Guest Blogging Dead?

Posted on June 19, 2015June 27, 2015 by sitemanager

Guest Blogging: Defined Let's first go over the basic definition of "guest blogging," as some people are likely hearing about it for the first time. Guest blogging is exactly what it sounds: you write an article or post for another blog (as a guest) in exchange for a backlink to your own website or blog. The blog on which you are posting the content benefits from free content, while you benefit from a free link and hopefully traffic. You can find guest blogging opportunities through one of two ways: by using a middle-man website, such as MyBlogGuest.com, which connects guest bloggers to bl...

Tip: Embed Media Into Your Blog Posts

Posted on June 10, 2015March 11, 2016 by sitemanager

If you aren't embedding media into your blog posts, you're missing out on one of the easiest ways to make them more appealing to visitors. While uploading images is a great way to break up pure-text posts, you can create an even deeper and more complex blog post by embedding videos, tweets, Pinterest pins, and more. It's a quick and easy way to add value to your blog's content, which will subsequently attract more visitors and possibly even higher search engine rankings. YouTube Videos How do you embed a YouTube video? Once you've found a video that you'd like to display on your blog, click ...

How To Transfer a WordPress Site to a New Domain

Posted on June 3, 2015June 3, 2015 by sitemanager

Looking to transfer an existing WordPress site to a new domain? If you are reading this, I'm assuming the answer is yes. With traditional static sites, transferring involves nothing more than downloading the files from your old site and uploading them to your new one. Because WordPress uses databases, however, the process is a bit more technical. However, it can still be done, and we're going to walk you through the steps. Download The Core Files This alone isn't going to make your WordPress site appear on the new domain, but it's still one of the steps in the process of transferring it. Usi...

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