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The_Best_Wordpress_Tips_&_Tricks
| The Best Wordpress Tips & Tricks!
By: Bud Wiser
This article is about optimizing Wordpress blogs for search
engines. I will share with you the best tips, tricks, hacks, and
plugins I use for my wordpress blogs. All of these tips will
save you many hours and even days or weeks searching for how to
do every thing. All the important stuff is here in one place!
Tips are suggestions, tricks are different ways to do things all
ready available, plugins are additional scripts to enhance the
capabilities and add new features. Hacks are done by replacing
existing codes with new codes to make WP do different things.
Before I begin it's important for you to consider what name you
will call your blog. Be as specific as you can. Remember that we
optimize for popular keyword phrases. Don't worry you can always
change the name. I suggest before you begin to seriously promote
your blog and start exchanging links, to first take a week to
experiment with it, trying out different ideas. If you do not
already have a domain name picked out, this is also very
important! Again, keep in mind what main keyword phrase you plan
on optimizing for. You should also register your domaon for a
minimum of 2 years in advance. The reason for this is it is
believed that Google will look at this as a long term commitment
by you, and therefore treat you better. Also make sure you have
the latest version of WP. Check with http://wordpress.org/ if you need to upgrade
now! Don't worry it's quick and easy! Later I will show you how
to back up your database too!
Permalinks
The first thing you need to do is change the default setting of
WP Permalinks.
Here is how the default urls will look,
http://www.mywordpressblog.com/blog/index.php?p=3
not very search engine friendly, and it gets worse with more
pages, posts, and archives
Better would be this,
http://www.mywordpressblog.com/realestate/agents
Not hard to do. Go to your admin page, Options>Permalinks
Here you will edit your permalink structure. The default
structure is this,
/archives/%post_id%
WP gives you a couple of alternative structure options,
Structure: /%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/
Result: http://befuddle.info/blog/2005/07/17/sample-post/
Structure: /archives/%post_id%
Result: http://befuddle.info/blog/archives/123
But you can even do better! I use this structure I made up, you
can make up your own too!
Structure: /%postname%/
Result: http://www.mywordpressblog.com/blog/realestate
If you installed WP in your main directory it would be,
Result: http://www.mywordpressblog.com/realestate
next you can add a
Category base which further makes your blog more kw rich!
last option is
Category base:
add, agents
now the result would be:
p://www.mywordpressblog.com/realestate/agents
this last mod is optional. I like to use it.
Once you save your changes you may have to copy and past a code
on a test editor, and save it as a .htaccess file and upload it
in the directory WP is in. If you do not see a code generated at
the bottom of the page, check your server, it was probably
already created and uploaded!
This is the bare bones required to optimize your pages for
search engines. You can also go further with plugins!
Plugins
Plugins greatly enhances WP capabilities! Most plugins are
free! Here are a couple you will want to get. Installations is
very easy! Most of the plugins can be found at WP!
But the one plugin you should get is not free and can only be
had from a ebook called,
Top 10 Tricks To
Conquer Your Niche With Wordpress
It only costs $37, so you might want to get it. Most of the
information in it is readily available throughout the Web, and
common knowledge, however it is valuable for newbies, and I
think worth it just for the cool plugin you get with it!
The plugin is called utopia. It produces keyword rich meta tags
that can be customized any way you like. Installation is easy
but requires a few simple WP hacks. Hacks are simply replacing
codes with new codes. The ebook provides easy step by step
instructions. Since it is not a open source plugin I can not
give it away. This will be the only plugin you will have to pay
for. Alternately you can search the WP codex for similar plugins
and experiement with them until you find one you like.
personally I love utopia!
Ok, on to the free plugins!
You need a good stats program for your blog. It's vital you
know how many times each page is getting hit, who your referrals
are, and what keywords were used to find you from search
engines. By far the best is StatTraq. I've tried a dozen different stats
plugins, none come as close to this one. A MUST HAVE!
Installation is very easy!
Google Sitemap Generator for WordPress
another must have plugin, easy and fast to install and works
like a charm! Go get it now!
Image Browser : a easy way to add
images to WP! Easy installation! place kw in alt tags of images,
makes thumbnails and links them to full size pics. great plugin.
Final Tips
Choose keyword rich Categories for WP! Don't pic lame category
names that do nothing to improve your serps. The category names
end up on your URLS! Don't be affraid to use hyphens! Don't
forget to add a description to your categories too! In fact add
descriptions to every post, and page! Choose the best kw rich
titles for your posts, and make sure you sprinkle those keywords
in your post! Any links that leave your blog should have the
target_blank code. Post at least a couple of times a day. if you
can't, make several posts in advance and date them in the future
as drafts. They will then be posted around the date and time you
select, depending on how much or little traffic you get. try to
exchange as many links as you can. Exchanging links with other
related blogs is easier then you think!
Happy Blogging!
About the author:
SEO Traffic Rank http://www.seo-traffic-rank.com
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