Actionable, straightforward and no-nonsense blogging tips and information.
A step-by-step guide to creating a new WordPress website with DreamHost, from registering a domain to purchasing web hosting and installing WordPress.
I have used DreamHost for many years now, and I still recommend them to new and experienced bloggers looking for affordable and reliable web hosting for their WordPress websites.
This guide shares 11 practical tips on how to come up with a good name for your new blog so that you never have to change it!
One of the most important steps in starting a new WordPress blog is choosing a good blog name. Far too often, new bloggers register a domain too quickly, only to find out months or years later that their chosen blog name is not the best one.
WordPress Tags, some love them and others strongly dislike them. I belong to the second group, but I’m not against using tags.
When I started blogging, I used to create multiple random tags each time I published a new blog post. As I got older and wiser, I’ve learnt to step away from using WordPress tags.
Perhaps one of the most neglected parts of WordPress blogs is the good old category page. Whenever you navigate to a category page within a blog or website, chances are it’s not much more than a list of the latest blog posts within that category.
And worse, often the title of that category page is something along the lines of “Category Name Archives”.
The Internet is overcrowded with WordPress blogging tools, services, and other goodies designed to make your life as a blogger easier.
I’ve used (and paid for) many tools over the years, and I now know what works for me and what doesn’t. The below blogging tools are those that I use on a regular basis, or are tools that I have happily used in the past.
Editor’s note: Twitter is now called X and a Tweet is now called a Post. However, to keep things simple, we’re still using the old terminology in this how-to guide.
Ever wanted to share a Tweet on your Facebook timeline or on your Facebook page, and you couldn’t work out how to do it? One would be forgiven for thinking this is an easy thing to do, but it’s actually not all that straightforward.
Other than the homepage, the About Me page is often one of the most important pages on your website. It should contain everything readers need to know not only about your site, but also about who you are as a person.
Your readers should have a clear idea of your goals, your values, your services, and your personality, by reading your About Me page. If written properly, you should have a new fan or new regular visitor to your blog each time someone reads it.
Many WordPress bloggers have recently been asking how to redirect their author archives link to their About page.
By default, a blog post author link will point to the author archives page, which doesn’t add much value to the reader when there’s only one author on the site.
When you publish reviews of products on your website, it’s important to also include Structured Data markup along with the reviews.
Google will use that Schema markup to reward you with the Review Snippet in the search results, which can greatly increase the CTR to your site.
You can either use a WordPress plugin to add that Structured Data to your content, or you can do it manually. This article explains the manual way, which is my preference.
If you’re a food blogger, you will most likely be familiar with the jump-to-recipe button. And you may also know that this little button is often the cause of heated debates.
These debates revolve around SEO and advertising revenue. Some say you should never use that button, as it negatively impacts ad revenue. Others say that there are SEO benefits in having that button at the top of your recipe articles.