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My Favorite WordPress Plugins, Part II (Guest Post)

10. January 2013 · 1 comment · Categories: Blogging, Business · Tags: , ,

Yesterday, I met Will Hardison for coffee at our favorite Raleigh Starbucks to chat about my new online presence management business and his projects and ideas. Inevitably, we started chatting about WordPress since it’s a site we both spend a lot of time on (which is why I loved Will’s WordPress 101 brown bag lunch session). I asked him if I could write a guest post for his blog to supplement the My Favorite WordPress Plugins post I wrote awhile back. He agreed, so I decided to write it up before I could procrastinate!

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Buying a domain, setting up an account, and adding posts and pages is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to making the most of WordPress, the popular blogging platform.

On the left sidebar of the WordPress dashboard, there’s a magical little button that says “Plugins.” This often-underutilized feature is a gateway to increased functionality and customization within WordPress. So what are plugins? They’re “pieces of code created with the purpose of expanding the functionalities of a software, in this case, WordPress. There are literally thousands of WordPress plugins already created, solving a wide range of problems and needs.”

With thousands of options available, how do you choose a few plugins that will make the most of your website or blog? Listen to my suggestions, of course icon smile My Favorite Wordpress Plugins, Part II (Guest Post)

Read the rest of my post, Favorite WordPress Plugins, over on WillHardison.com!

 

Maximizing Your WordPress SEO

05. December 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Career Development, Tips · Tags: , , , , , ,

I recently installed the WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin but was determined to do more research in order to truly master it. Enter: The Definitive Guide To Higher Rankings For WordPress Sites from Yoast.

tips on mastering wordpress seo Maximizing Your Wordpress SEO

The biggest test wil be if I can make this post insanely SEO-friendly icon smile Maximizing Your Wordpress SEO

Below is an abridged version of the suggestions that the maker of the plugin outlines. I imagine all of this advice would be easier to follow if you first install and activate the plugin and poke around on it for a bit!

  • For permalinks, use either /post-name/ or /category/post-name/ (read this article on changing your permalink structure to be sure everything redirects properly)
  • Try not to change permalinks after you publish a post
  • Avoid words like “a” “the” and “and” in your permalink slugs (the editable part of the permalink. For example, the slug for this post is “maximizing-your-wordpress-seo”)
  • Remember that search engines put more weight on the early words and people looking at result pages on search engines see the early words first
  • Post titles should always contain your brand, preferably at the end, so that you build brand identity (ie “Maximizing Your WordPress SEO, Part I << Scintillating Simplicity”)
  • Post titles should always contain the keyword you think is most important for the current post or page (called the the focus keyword). The focus keyword should be at the beginning of the title if possible
  • The meta description is the text shown beneath the URL. “The only well written description is a hand written one”; make sure that it contains the focus keyword of your post or page at least once

    Screen shot 2012 12 04 at 10.04.25 PM Maximizing Your Wordpress SEO

  • Write relevant titles and alt text for every image- or use the SEO Friendly Images plugin, which adds the title of the post and or the image name to the image’s alt and title tag
  • Use XML Sitemaps to let search engines (especially Google) know that your site was updated. I’ve found plugins that don’t make this process terribly easy, but WordPress SEO by Yoast makes it a one click solution. Just go to Settings → XML Sitemaps and click the checkbox the enable the functionality

This plugin is pretty easy to navigate once you get the hang of it. Don’t worry too much about making it perfect- it should improve your SEO even if it’s not completely optimized.

I WIN!

Screen shot 2012 12 04 at 10.13.48 PM Maximizing Your Wordpress SEO

WordPress 101 Tutorial

16. November 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Blogging, Business, Tips · Tags: , , , , ,

Remember the brown bag lunches that we used to do at The Raleigh Forum? To refresh your memory, they are hour-long skill-based lunch seminars, given by members of our community, that focus on specific issues within the business world. Think Twitter 101, Personal Branding, and Financial Planning 101.

Well, we’ve decided to carry these lunches over to HUB Raleigh, so my sister and I will plan and execute the brown bags. Our first one was this past Tuesday: WordPress 101 with Will Hardison of Fan Base and MediaPlug.

Will Hardison, a graduate of East Carolina University and recent transplant from Indianapolis, IN, is the owner of FanBase. FanBase is comprised of two divisions: custom websites built on WordPress and a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool built in-house to help companies manage and grow their customer database. Will decided to move his company to Raleigh to be closer to family, warmer weather, and to live in America’s number 1 city for young professionals. Having built over 100 WordPress websites, Will brings an extensive knowledge of WordPress, including general set-up, plugins, and a few tips and tricks to get anyone who interested in WordPress off the ground and running.

Here is the PPT that Will shared (please excuse the strange characters):

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A few other suggestions and recommendations from Will:

My one bone to pick with Will? He said that standard themes are like Honda Civics and custom themes are like Mercedes. As a Civic owner, I’m offended (but I understand what he means…).

Interested in attending the brown bag lunches and other events? Join our email list! Interested in presenting on a skill-based topic at an upcoming lunch? Email me!

My Favorite WordPress Plugins

14. August 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Blogging · Tags: , , , , , ,

Now that I’m on my own hosting, I’ve decided to fully explore the many features of WordPress. I’ve been introduced {by myself, haha} to the wonderful world of plugins and since then, I’ve been on a plugin rampage.
wordpress plugins My Favorite Wordpress Plugins Photo credit

Definition: “Plugins are pieces of code created with the purpose of expanding the functionalities of a software, in this case of WordPress. There are literally thousands of WordPress plugins already created, solving a wide range of problems and needs.”

  • Google Reader: Instead of copying and pasting links and making them into a Weekend Reading post, I can just tag the posts I love and they show up on the right sidebar {check out the What I’m Reading section”}
  • Insert Headers and Footers: Allows me to insert code into the header or footer of my blog. This is convenient if you’d like to have Google Analytics on your site or blog without inserting the code on each individual page
  • Google Analyticator: Installs Google Analytics and lets me see a short summary of my stats from my dashboard
  • Broken Link Checker: Apparently search engines don’t like to see broken links on a site, so this plugin notifies me if I have any broken ones
  • Instagram for WordPress: Shows my latest Instagram pictures as a sidebar widget and has an easy picture embedder {I have yet to use the second feature}
  • Share Buttons by Lockerz / AddToAny: Responsible for the sleek “Share” buttons you see at the bottom of each post
  • Slickr Flickr: Displays Flickr pictures in a slideshow or gallery {like in my Shelton Vineyards post}
  • Yet Another Related Posts Plugin: Generates a list of related blog posts based on tags {see it at the end of this post; helps keep people on the blog even longer!}
  • WP Twitter: Lists my latest tweets as a sidebar widget {it often has trouble loading}
  • Akismet: Blocks spam comments. Enough said!
What is your favorite WordPress plugin? Do you like/dislike any of the ones above?

Awhile back, all of this would have been foreign to me. It’s very empowering to teach myself about analytics, tricks, and codes! If you have any questions, feel free to email me, though I’m certainly no expert.

the debut of my new blog design

20. April 2012 · 1 comment · Categories: Blogging · Tags: , , ,

I know you all remember my Twitter friend Sara. I mentioned to her awhile back that I wanted to revamp my blog, so she offered to help me out. Since I love quatrefoil and the combination of gray and pink, I wanted a fun but not overwhelming design that incorporated these elements. While at first I felt iffy about having my name in such big, prominent letters, I realized that it was a valid branding tactic, since this is my little corner of the internet after all icon smile the debut of my new blog design

screen shot 2012 04 20 at 12 22 28 pm the debut of my new blog design

In Sara’s words: “We combined our brains and creative powers and created this new and fresh look for her, and with only a billion changes (some because she couldn’t decide and some because I couldn’t decide) (and yes we are still friends), her new header image has joined her new and fresh WordPress custom template to give her blog a nice and clean look. I think it says “I like pink” without saying “I’M OBSESSED WITH PINK” and scaring any male readers away.”

I do have a few male readers (hello out there, guys!) so I thought this was a valid point.

I also switched over to a new WordPress theme: Forever by Automattic. I thought it was a much crisper but still cozy look than my old Bueno theme, which is ubiquitous in the blogging world and screamed “free WordPress template” to me!

What do you think?! If you need any design work done, contact Sara over at Watermelon Roses!

P.S. If anyone knows how to get rid of that awkward white space in between the header and the blog posts, let me know icon smile the debut of my new blog design

how to find scintillating blogs

15. March 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Blogging, Tips · Tags: , , , ,
168603579769165285 9EL21pNj c how to find scintillating blogs

Source: etsy.com via Jillee on Pinterest

 

It’s sometimes difficult to find beneficial, enticing blogs that you can’t wait to catch up on. I have several “go tos,” but it’s always nice to periodically add a few more! Here’s how I find worthwhile blogs:

Blog rolls- once you find blogs that you love, see what blogs they love {blog rolls are generally found on the right sidebar}

Tags on WordPress- click here for a list of the most common tags or on your WordPress homepage, click the “Read Blogs” tab. You can add topics there {I have added “Raleigh,” “Social Enterprise,” and “Gluten-Free Cooking.”

FoodPress.com- their tagline is “Serving up the hottest dishes on WordPress” and they are indeed! Search through posts that have been “FoodPressed” to find new recipes on new blogs {one of my posts popped up on the site one time!}

Google Reader- once you have added a subscription, click “Feed settings,” then “More like this”

Comments- I periodically browse through the comments on my favorite blogs. Commenters are often bloggers and you can follow their URLs back to their pages!

Pinterest- This newbie platform is quickly shifting the game of blogging. It’s incredible to me that I can send a picture to Pinterest and have hundreds of hits to my blog within minutes. Search for random interesting topics to find a carefully curated group of results, which ultimately link back to blogs.

How else do you find cool blogs to follow? 

pixel how to find scintillating blogs
+Cristina Roman