Blogging // WordPress

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Wordpress Tips and Tricks

I’m so excited about today’s post — I’m nerding out. My nerdy husband has rubbed off on me and I now find it fascinating that there are so many things you can do that make it easy and awesome to blog! And lots of the things that make it easy and awesome for me are because I blog on WordPress. So if you’re a WordPress user, today’s post is your jam. And if you’re looking to get into blogging or for a new platform, this might have a bunch of info that’s right up your alley as well. I spend quite a few brain cells on making my blogging experience smooth, simple, and efficient, and I’ve learned a few tricks along the way. I’ve also realized lately while consulting with some of my blogger clients that there are lots of WordPress tools I take for granted that some folks don’t even realize exist! So today, I’m sharing my secrets. Let’s get nerdy!

Dashboard WordPress has a great dashboard that functions as your at-a-glance spot for blogging. You can customize what you see there so that it fits your workflow best. Personally, I like to see my upcoming scheduled posts, a list of drafts, and a list of recent comments. Be sure you customize your dashboard so that it works for you.

Visual vs. Text Editor When you’re working on writing a post, there are two tabs on the upper right section of the content editor. One says Visual and one says Text. It helps to toggle back and forth between those when you can’t get something formatted correctly. Usually, if something funky is happening in the visual editor, there’s a little piece of code that’s wonky in the text editor.

Comments In the left bar on your dashboard, try clicking on Comments. You can see and respond to all of your comments in one handy-dandy spot. You can also mark things as spam, delete, or filter them by comment type. Search by post, date, and a whole bunch more.

Use Your Plugins One of my favorite features about WordPress is the variety of plugins that are available. Use them to your advantage! My favorite plugin is my editorial calendar, which I use multiple times daily to plan posts. Other awesome plugins are Akismet, which protects from spam, and Image Widget, which makes it super easy to drag and drop images and ads around on the blog sidebar. Explore your options and use the ones that will make things easier for you!

Scheduling Tools A really killer tool that took me a long time to adopt is the scheduling tool! In the upper right corner of the screen as you write a post, you’ll see the Publish box. There, you can change the status or visibility of a post. But most importantly, you can schedule posts to go live while you’re away from your computer! Next to Publish Immediately, press Edit and you’ll see that you can play with the dates and times of when your post will go live. You can also edit the date and time on an old post to move it forward or backward in your blog’s timeline. Genius!

Update! Finally, and this one’s kind of boring — be sure you stay current on your updates. When you see a notification that it’s time to install an update, just do it. Leaving them undone can make you vulnerable to glitches or (worse) getting hacked, as lots of the updates are security related.

So! Those are some of my very fave tips. And if you’re still here, a quick question for you: Do you blog on WordPress? And was this helpful for you? I may or may not have some ideas cooking where I could share tips like these in much more depth and with much more awesomeness, if there are folks out there who would benefit! Do leave a comment if you’re feelin’ it. Happy blogging! xoxo

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16 Comments

  1. I recently just moved from Blogger to WordPress, and I don’t why I haven’t done it sooner. I am kind of a procrastinator. But I love all the plugins, I dont have a favorite just yet, but I just love all the possibility.

  2. I’d agree with the sidebar/image gallery piece. It’s easy to include random HTML or text on your side bar when using it! I still haven’t mastered the editorial calendar but I do pre-schedule all of my posts…I’ll crank out a post but may not be ready to publish it live just yet, so that tool helps save the day.

  3. Great post…I’m a big fan of WordPress and I love it even more now that I have a hosted blog and made the move to WordPress.org. Good reminder about the updates…That’s given me the kick I need to run all of mine 🙂

  4. I’m surprised you didn’t mention Jetpack. I am still new to blogging and wordpress but I find it to a really helpful plugin- it seems to do everything!

  5. Thanks for posting this. I have a wordpress.com and have been reluctant to transition to the .org because I was afraid of losing some of the quick and easy features available through the .com, but it sounds like they are also available in .org.

  6. I knew a lot of these tips already. Reviewis always nice and knowing I’m not missing anything. Could you do a post on your favorite plugins? I love using plugins and finding out what people’s faves are!

  7. Pingback: Blogging 101: May Tips Roundup | Studio 404
  8. I am very new to your blog and I moved from blogger to wordpress and my own domain about a month ago. It was a bit overwhelming at first but I grew to love it. WP is so amazing, the only thing I do regret now is that I didn´t take the plunge earlier!

    Two other plugins I love are SEO and Tweetily!

    Have a lovely day! xo

  9. I’m just researching how to begin my blogging and I’m so thankful! This was super helpful to me to get ideas and I was wondering if there are more wordpress ideas out there for beginners? I’m sure there is, but I’m definitely glad I came across this read. Thank You!