It’s been a little while since I’ve done any WordPress webinars or in-person classes. But I finally got around to setting up a few. Just to clarify, webinars take place online only whereas classes are conducted in small groups in the Los Angeles area. Those sexy folks that are on my email list always get the first opportunity to sign-up and they always get a coupon code for discounts.
Most people have heard they need a sitemap so Google will like their site but what are they and how do you go about creating one?
Sitemaps are recommended for search engine optimization to help Google (and other search engines) discover all of the content on your site. Search engines typically discover the content on your site by following all the links that exist to your site, and within your site (your navigation etc). When you have a large site or one that has a complex structure which might make it harder for Google to find all the pages on your site, a sitemap is especially helpful because it simply lists all of the available content.
Sitemaps come in two flavours: XML and HTML
XML sitemaps are designed for search engine bots, not humans.
HTML sitemaps are more geared toward humans, but search engine bots can crawl them too.
The easiest way to create an XML sitemap is by using an SEO plugin such as Yoast SEO or All-in-One SEO. Both have the capability to create an XML sitemap.
Swiftype is a new plugin on the block. It is designed as a replacement for the in-built search feature on your WordPress site. The main thing that’s cool about it is that it has an autocomplete feature which is commonly found on many modern websites such as Amazon, Google etc. That’s where you start typing something and before you’re even finished, you see a list of possibilities that would complete your search. This is how it looks on Amazon.com:
It’s a pretty slick feature that will give your site a more modern feel. I tested it out on my local installation of WordPress and it works pretty nicely. It wasn’t quite as fast as I would have liked initially, but then, sites like Google and Amazon have trained me to expect almost psychic levels of autocomplete. However I will say that it seemed to get faster over time, meaning that if I searched for the same or similar thing multiple times, it produced autocomplete faster after the initial search.
I’ve talked before on this blog about the need for us to focus on active creation rather than passive consumption. But once you’ve made that mental switch, you can still face the dreaded blogger’s block. Do you ever sit down to write a blog post and are at a loss for where to start? Read on and you’ll never face the blank white screen again.
First, a few basic concepts that have become evident to me through blogging:
1) Ideas are not finite, you’ll never run out….
… even if you post every day….
I find that a lot of new bloggers worry that by posting a lot, one day their stockpile of ideas will run out. So it becomes counter-intuitive for them to write a lot. Given that more content = more traffic, this is quite problematic ;)
2) The more you write, the more new ideas you’ll generate.
There seems to be a flow in the way ideas come into your brain. So the more you write the more room you allow for new ideas to come in. If you stop the flow by not clearing them out of your head, you may end up mentally constipated!
The more regularly you write, the more ideas will come to you. Not only does the flow improve, but you learn to look at the world from a blogger’s perspective, meaning that you frequently see the inspiration for a blog post in interactions you have and events that occur.
3) Inspiration happens at inopportune moments
Your brain has a great capacity for generating ideas at unexpected moments, not just when faced with the white screen. Inspiration rarely strikes when you are sitting in front of a blank blog post, that’s a lot of pressure. Ideas tend to come in random ways, when you’re browsing other websites, when you’re having dinner, brushing your teeth, driving on the freeway etc.
The MOST important factor in being able to keep a steady flow ideas coming into your grey matter, is having a solid system in place for capturing and acting upon the ideas that strike you, no matter when or where that happens.
Today's Quick Tip comes courtesy of WordPress media expert Jason Tucker. oEmbeds allow WordPress users to easily embed content from 3rd party sites such as YouTube and Vimeo by simply pasting the url of the video in the WordPress post…
WordPress.tv is a wonderful resource for WordPress users of all levels. They post all the videos of presentations gathered from WordCamp events all over the world. You can see some amazing speakers with excellent info to share.
The video below is from my friend Natalie MacLees who is an extremely talented WordPress designer & developer and also runs the SoCal WordPress Meetup group (highly recommended if you are in the LA area). She spoke recently at WordCamp Phoenix on how to go about setting up a WordPress site the right way. And don’t be fooled by the title…this is not your average tutorial about how to install WordPress.
