Disclaimer: I am a non-technical person. All the WordPress tips shared below is the result of my self-learning process. If you are looking for technical aspects of WordPress, then I am afraid that this is not my thing. The tips here are the accumulation of my experience with this platform since 2013.
Whenever I meet a person, he/she asks what the best platform for blogging is. In fact, this is the most asked question to any blogging coach. I have personally used Blogger and WordPress but if need to choose one, I would choose the later. I have been using this platform since 2013 (both free website and self-hosted) and so far, the experience is amazing. Here are some WordPress tips to run your blog smoothly.
Always self host your blog
A free website is good in the initial stage, but it may cost you in the long run. When you self host your WordPress blog, it gives you the freedom to use the plugins and design it according to your need.
Choose your host wisely
My blogs are self-hosted in Hostgator. Till now, both my blogs are smoothly running and I have not encountered a single problem. If you have a free blog and you want to move it to self-hosting platform, do it without any worry.
Most of the hosting companies transfer your posts and media to the new site for free. I have not lost a single thing during the transfer and Hostgator did it for me without any cost.
Choose a suitable theme
WordPress themes are the design which is displayed on your blog. There are millions of free and premium themes available for all types of blogs. I am using a premium theme right now but free themes did well for me too.
While choosing the theme, choose a theme to keep in mind the following things
Use a simple theme without much extravaganza. The readers should read the blogposts without getting distracted by anything.
Choose a clean, responsive theme.
Check if the theme has compatibility with most of the browsers, plugins and widgets.
Always choose a theme which is mobile friendly.
Most important of all, the theme must be SEO friendly.
Use the plugins which are absolutely necessary
Plugins are the little snippets of codes which help you to run the site smoothly. Though the plugins are helpful in every essence, lots of plugins can slow down the site. That is why; it is advisable to use the plugins which are really necessary. Below are the plugins I use for this site.
Akismet (anti-spam)
Jetpack
Recent Post Widget
WP Importer (cause I imported my blog from a free one to a self-hosted one)
Yoast SEO (for SEO)
Sumo Me (Social sharing)
Mailer Lite (For sign-ups)
Keep your sidebar clean
The sidebar of your blog is an important place to display information about you. But too many of widgets can look clumsy and may hamper in the reading. I display the following things on my sidebar.
Google plus
Pinterest
Archives
Search button
Comments
My badges
Give attention to header and footer
Normally the header consists of the navigation bar. Do not display lots of things in the navigation bar too.
Keep the footer clean. I show only the copyright information on my footer.
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