Blogging is a fun pursuit, but it is not easy. A lot of work will have to go into your website, starting from narrowing down the niche you want to write about, to finding the right look and feel. Reading through some WordPress tips for beginners will get you on the right track.
WordPress is a CMS platform that allows bloggers to focus on delivering content. This frees you from needing to hire a programmer on a consistent basis.
WordPress powers about 60% of the internet. Thousands of websites are established on the platform every day. It is an open source CMS, and it is additionally SEO friendly. If you are considering launching a blog, WordPress one of the best platforms you can choose from.
Here are 5 WordPress tips for beginners:
WordPress User Roles
WordPress user roles used to describe different levels of privileges users can have. They dictate the actions that different users on your blog are authorized to perform. User roles allow different capabilities. They also help secure your blog and define workflows.
The six default roles on the site are:
Administrator- This role will be given to you once you establish your blog. The administrator is the highest user level. They can access all the features of the platform’s back-end. They can create, edit, and delete content. They can also edit code, manage themes and plugins, and delete user accounts.
Editor- An editor is limited to managing content. They are able to create, publish, edit, and delete pages and posts. An editor also moderates comments and manages links and categories. An editor is not capable of instituting site-wide alterations like installing updates.
Author- An author has fewer capabilities than an editor. They can only publish, delete, and edit their posts and not those of other users.
Contributor- A contributor is only authorized to edit and delete their posts and to read all posts. They cannot upload media files or publish posts.
Subscriber- Subscribers can read all the posts and manage their profiles. This role is essential on subscription-based websites.
Super Admin- The Super admin role only applies to multi-site installations. They manage the entire network and makes high-level alterations like deleting sites.
WordPress Themes and Plugins
WordPress themes let you define the display site for the blog’s content. There are free and paid ones, and they differ in design and layout. Themes are often grouped into different categories depending on what niche they are optimized for. Photographers, for example, will get to choose between image-heavy themes. Know the features you want and preview various themes to find the most responsive one.
WordPress blogs can make use of plugins to improve their functionality. There are over 40,000 plugins on the plugin directory of WordPress.org. Additional ones are provided by third-party sites. Premium plugins are sold by developers. This software apps function on top of the WordPress software. For example, you can launch an online store simply by installing the WooCommerce plugin. Plugins make it easy to virtually do anything on WordPress. You will need to browse through these plugins and add the ones that would enhance your blog.
Search Engine Optimization
The term SEO comes up a lot in the blogging realm. To run a successful site that organically brings traffic, you should know about SEO. Learning what is and how to leverage it can boost your blog’s growth.
SEO relates to search engines, which is how you want your site to rank high on avenues like Google. Search engines present the biggest source of traffic to blogs. Search engines make use of algorithms to rank pages in search results. The algorithms are software so they will need a way to understand your content in order to rank it. The content you publish will, therefore, have to be search engine optimized.
As a WordPress beginner, you will need to know some basic SEO practices to boost your site’s visibility. There are several SEO plugins designed to improve your site’s content structure. The most popular of these being All in One SEO pack and Yoast SEO.
Another SEO practice is to create SEO friendly URL structures. Your URLs should contain keyword phrases that clearly describe the content of your page. Doing this will ensure they are easily consumable by people and search engines. XML sitemaps also make it easy for search engines to find and index your content.
Categories vs. Tags
Another WordPress tip many beginners overlook is the correct usage of categories and tags.
Categories and tags are visible in the sidebar when publishing or editing a post. They let you organize your content, and they have a bearing on SEO as well.
Categories are a general method of classifying content. It represents a topic or even a group of topics linked to one another. A post can be included in multiple categories at the same time. A reader will have an easy time navigating through your content if it is well-classified. A category can have a name, slug, and a description. Categories are hierarchical n nature. You can have a parent category branching out to child categories. The words you choose for categories should be clear and descriptive.
Tags come in handy when you want to describe content by some particular keywords. A post can have several tags, and a reader can click on a tag to view similar posts. Unlike categories, tags are not hierarchical, and each one is a standalone entity. Tags are also more specific and particular to the content in the post.
Failing to use categories and tags will discourage readers from reading your content. It will be difficult to search for content on your site. Additionally, search engines can penalize sites that use inappropriate categories and tags.
Permalinks
One final addition to the list of WordPress tips for beginners is to correctly use Permalinks.
Every page on the web contains a unique address that users use to reach the page. It is described as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). WordPress uses the title and the publish date of the post or page to create the URL. You will thus need to understand your site’s structure to set the permalinks correctly. However, you can revise the links of your content before publishing them. You should get rid of unnecessary phrases and include relevant keywords. Create a compact permalink than communicates your content to search engines efficiently.
Conclusion
Starting a blog is an exciting prospect, and you will need all the tools you can harness to be successful. If you have opted to use WordPress, there are various features you need to know about. WordPress many built-in features that will help you improve your web presence. These features include themes, plugins, SEO, categories, and permalinks. These terms are not as technical as they sound.
With the widespread popularity of WordPress, you can find numerous tutorials on YouTube. There are also many other resources out there to find additional WordPress tips for beginners.