You may think WordPress is too hard to use. If you are unsure of how to properly use WordPress, your site could suffer. The tips and techniques located below will turn your site from humdrum to hurray.

Clean up long post titles as you construct the permalink. Using too many words will make a clunky URL. Rather, make the permalink something along the lines of your target SEO keyphrase, such as “parental-advice-misbehaving-kids.”

Devote some time to learning about the various options and tools that you have at your fingertips when you use WordPress for blogging. For example, if you click on the KITCHEN SINK button, you will get lots of extra choices in importing and formatting that can really make your posts unique.Additionally, you will probably notice the SCREEN OPTIONS tab on your admin pages. Using this will help you better manage any formatting issues.

Take the time to learn about WordPress before beginning to use it. If you plan ahead, things will flow better once you get started. Learn about SEO, creating effective content, and using WordPress and its many features to help ease your workflow.

Special Characters

Remove special characters from your blog post URLs. Special characters make it more difficult for search engines to index your site. Your URLs should also be shortened to just include keywords, so they do not overwhelm your visitors.

Do not automatically assume your changes were not retained when making adjustments to your site. That’s not necessarily the case. You may have a full browser cache that is interfering with your WordPress website. Your changes will appear by simply pressing and holding the “shift” key and refreshing the browser simultaneously.

If you spend more time on your pictures, your search engine ranking will increase. Always remember to add alternative text and title tags. If someone uses Pinterest to pin your image, the title will be captured by the pin.

Be sure that your readers can forward your posts to their emails whenever they desire. This is crucial for sharing purposes. Visitors may not have access to sites like Twitter or Facebook at work and need a way of sharing your article with others. WordPress has an email plugin just for this purpose.

Don’t choose a common term, such as “admin,” for your username. Your blog is more vulnerable to attack by bots if you choose this as your username. It’s a security risk. Any user names on your users page that are “administrator” or “admin” should be removed. Select a different user name.

Make sure you titles and descriptions targeted. These are a few of the things your readership will see first when using search engines. This makes them critically important. In order to customize them to your needs, Scribe, which is SEO software, can help. This lets you edit pages to gain more readers.

Maintain organization with your media from the start. You can lose track of your files if you upload them into the library directly. Set up folders right at the outset, and put images into the correct folders. If you’d like to use an image again, you can find it easily.

Make sure your plugins are updated. The plugins are what makes WordPress so great. But as is the case with most software, they are subject to updates. If you fail to update your plugins, you may miss key upgrades and the plugin may even stop working completely.

Do not use an old version of WordPress. With each update, new security patches are rolled out. Older versions can make you vulnerable to malware. To keep your site secure, use the newest version of WordPress.

Use the scheduler tool to schedule the publishing of your blog posts. You can schedule them to auto-post any time you like, even if you’re away from your computer. Go to “Edit”, and then find the “Publish” option. You’ll notice something that says “Publish immediately.” Set the times in military time and the day, month and year you want to post it. Just click on OK. When the “Schedule For” screen comes up, check it, and hit “Schedule” if it’s correct.

Nobody wants to manually approve comments anymore. Akismet is a helpful plugin that you can use. You have the ability to receive a message when a comment is left, but it is wiser to uncheck the manual approval options. Otherwise, you are not saving any time.

Make sure you let people comment on your site. This will cultivate a community and it will give you an idea on the type of visitors that your site is attracting. Different plugins can help you weed through and figure out which are the “real” comments and which are just spammers.

Highlight comments that are made by the post’s author. You will find a number of questions and even insights from readers in the comment area. It is easy to miss something important as more and more people begin responding. Use a different color to highlight the comments and draw attention to them. This way they can be found and recognized with ease.

Even though a plugin isn’t free doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth using. Compare the value of your time to that of the plugin’s cost, and decide on the right approach. If you feel that you are getting a lot for the price, it may be worth it.

Make sure that you copy your blog into an alternate folder. That makes sure your mistakes won’t affect your entire site or affect sales.

Keep in mind, it isn’t necessary to do everything on your site by yourself. Try to get someone else to help out whether it’s a friend or professional.

There is quite a bit involved when it comes to learning about WordPress. While it is impossible to become proficient in just one day, you have made the first step in your quest. After reading this article, you’ll be on your way to becoming a skilled blogger. In time, you will be a skilled master.