Since its release, WordPress has completely changed the way people manage websites and blogs. Whether you need a personal blog or a robust business website that attracts customers, WordPress has the features you need. If you decide to use WordPress to manage your content and control the look of your site, it is important that you set yourself up for success. Before making your site live, make sure it has these five essential elements. If you need help adding one or more of these elements to your site, a WordPress blogging consultant can help.
Author Accounts
If you plan to publish content written by several different authors, you should create separate user accounts for each writer. Because every person has a unique writing style, creating separate accounts allows you to give each writer the opportunity to develop his or her own following. If you have a particularly talented author, this can be a good way to attract natural links from other websites and convince more people to visit your site. WordPress allows you to limit the privileges of a user or author so that you are the only one who can make changes to your site template and other pieces of content.
Plugins
Plugins make it easy to manage your site and add extra functionality when needed. Before you publish your first piece of content, install and activate all of the plugins you plan to use. At minimum, you should have plugins for managing spam comments, optimizing your site for better search engine visibility, making it easy for people to share your content via social media, and getting people to sign up for your e-mail newsletter. Installing and activating new plugins before you launch your site gives you the opportunity to test the plugins and make necessary changes without affecting site functionality.
Custom Permalinks
A permalink is the unique URL that points to a specific post or page on your WordPress website. When you first install WordPress, the permalinks usually contain strings of random numbers that make it difficult for people to find your posts and pages. These permalinks do nothing to optimize your site for the search engines or convince people to link to your content. Before launching, change your permalink settings so that they have a custom structure. Many people choose to base their permalinks on the titles of their posts and pages. If you choose this option, a post titled “10 Ways to Make Money Online” would have the URL yoursite.com/10-ways-to-make-money-online. This is much better than the default permalink structure, which would look like this: yoursite.com/?p=123
Social Network Badges or Buttons
If you want to use your WordPress website to attract new visitors and gain loyal subscribers, you must make it easy for people to interact with you on social media sites. If you have accounts with Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media networks, make sure you have buttons or badges for those sites displayed prominently on your pages. Readers should not have to scour your website looking for a way to get in touch with you. Adding social media badges or buttons to your site makes it more likely that people will connect with you, which builds trust.
Categories and Tags
One way to keep readers coming back to your site is to make sure the site is well-organized. If people have to click multiple times to get to one page, they are likely to get frustrated and leave the site. Make sure you use relevant categories and tags for each post, as they make it easier for people to find your content. Relevant tags also make it easier to optimize your site for specific keywords.
Whether you want a simple website to talk about your favorite hobby or a robust website capable of running business applications, WordPress is an excellent content management system. If you have never used it before, getting started can be a little intimidating, so work with a WordPress blogging consultant to make sure you get off on the right foot.
