Wordpress Tutorials for Beginners: From a Fresh WordPress Setup to Publishing Your First Post

 

While the thought of creating your own blog, website, or online portfolio can be daunting, with the right resources and a little guidance, you could be publishing your first few posts in no time. This article will walk you through a few steps from getting started to setting up your own WordPress site.

1. Steps to starting a WordPress blog

The first thing you need to do is go to Wordpress.com and create a free account. Then you’ll want to choose a name for your blog domain and a username. Make sure to choose something that’s easy to remember so you don’t have to keep track of it. Once you choose your username, you'll be taken to a login page. Sign in using your username and password — you’ll also need a couple of pieces of information to get going: your name, email address, and Twitter handle.

Your place, home, blog.

With your website yet to be created, let’s take a moment to think about what we want to do. You may be tempted to create a WordPress website and be done with it. But there are so many benefits to creating your own site. As you build your online presence, you can attract customers and build your personal brand. But before we get to that, we need to go over some of the extra steps that the WordPress framework requires.

How the wordpress.org website works is by joining pages together with the help of tags. Since we’re going to be creating our own site, we have to add tags to our titles and article titles.

Before getting started, let’s understand what a module includes. A module is made up of several blog posts or similar pages that are all connected with one another with one URL. Suppose we have an article titled “Build a Personalized Online Resume” that has other article pages like “Create a Personalized Resume” and “Make More Money With the Freelancer Work Experience” in it.

In our example project, we have a module named “Resume” in the root directory that contains three articles: an article named “Build a Personalized Online Resume”, an article titled “Create a Personalized Resume”, and a short video explaining how to create an online resume. With all this in mind, we create a basic module in our root directory called “Resume” and add all three articles to it.

2. Setting up your blog

Blogging is a powerful way to build a community and to connect with people. It’s also the best way to build a following for yourself if you want to become a thought leader or authority in your industry. To get started, you’ll need to set up your blog.

If you have an existing blog that you’d love to use as your online home, sign up for WordPress. It’s easy and free to use, so don’t worry, it’s not required to start a blog.

If you don’t have any experience with blogging and you’re not comfortable going through the process of creating your own WordPress site (or if you are uncomfortable with the technical requirements), don’t worry. Here are several other options to consider.

Upon signing up for WordPress, you’ll be greeted with several options of what kind of blog to start. Under the “Options” menu, you have the option to start a blog, blog site, website, or personal website. Obviously, you can choose one of the three options at a time, and I always recommend starting your blog first.

Before you begin setting up your new blog, you’ll want to research the various requirements you’ll need from your blog. Here are a few things you’ll want to know about blogging:

For your blog to be of any use, it needs to be SEO-friendly. All of the major blogging platforms (WordPress.org, etc.) have SEO built into their software, so this will be a top priority once you’ve decided to start a blog.

In other words, you don’t want to create a blog and hope to get thousands of views and no one gets notified. SEO is better suited for blogs specific to specific industries or niches. The online world is constantly changing, and in the 1990s, online blogging platforms were not as prevalent as they are today. If you are new to blogging and have no idea where to begin, then consider creating a Twitter or Instagram account or focusing on a niche blog niche.

3. Set up your blog's design

The point of a blog is to be read. Your readers should not have to struggle to read the content. Make sure your posts are easy to read.

It’s very hard to do right if you don’t understand the mechanics of making content that sits in front of a reader. For this reason, you will want to select a platform that most people use. First, choose the blogging platform that you feel most comfortable with from the list below.

Once you are done, be sure to add these platforms to a To-Do list!

You can include social media platforms but that is extremely last minute. At this point, I would suggest checking out some tools and functions that you can leverage to help you build your website.

Let’s get to it!

Upload your Wix site. It’s a simple process if you follow these easy steps.

Choose a theme for your website. If you are a freelancer, I would suggest going with the Business/Startup theme. It’s very robust, has plenty of options, and makes it easy to move around within the theme function. For writers, I would suggest going with Good Writing Theme, as it’s a very popular option and will help create clarity in your blog. On our site, we will be using the Blogging platform WordPress.

You may choose to use a different platform. Out of the two mentioned above, I will go with Zoho CMS since it is completely integrated with WordPress. This makes it very simple and I was able to complete it within the first couple of days since I was only starting out.

You may also choose a template. Otherwise, unless you have a specific requirement from the WordPress Support team, I would recommend going with the default WordPress theme.

Once you select your Wix site, head over to Settings > General, and Security.

4. Adding content to your website

Adding content to your website is a great way to help people who are visiting your website find exactly what they’re looking for. It’s also a good way to make sure that people stick around and check out other content on your site. A good blog is an important piece of that puzzle. As I mentioned, setting up a WordPress blog is relatively easy. It is specifically designed to help bloggers easily create, manage and publish their blogs. Every other content management platform is built to serve as a blogging platform, so your only options are to work with that platform, or go the entirely DIY route.

Perhaps the biggest reason to go the DIY route with your blog is that you are free to modify a platform that works for you to suit your needs. WordPress provided by Blogger does have limitations that you will have to accept if you want to create your own blog.

You’ll also want to keep in mind that the default layout is not optimal if you have a long-form post. There are plugins available that allow you to upload your images and create thumbnails directly from within your WordPress dashboard. There are thousands of themes for you to choose from, as well as plugins that allow you to control the layout of the site. All in all, it’s a pretty appealing platform if you’re willing to work within the limitations.

If you’re interested in reading more about going DIY with your blog, I’ve written another article about developing content that sells.

I began my journey into blogging in 2016 after going through two long and frustrating years at my previous job. Since my job no longer needed me, I had more free time, and with some new tools from my home lab, I started creating online content.

I became incredibly frustrated with the amount of work it took to produce quality content. I had even considered giving up on blogging completely, but after reading many online success stories and podcasts, I decided to give it another go.

5. Publishing your first post

If you want to get the most out of blogging, publishing your first post is imperative. The first post is the first impression your audience will have of you, so it’s important that you do it right. When you publish your first post, you set the stage for everything else you do on your blog. There are four steps to publishing your first online blog post and each step will answer a different question. Let’s take a closer look at each step.

Inspiration: You probably know the person who posted the viral article you are reading right now. This is how you’ve gone viral before, isn’t it? So what type of article is it?

Here are some tips on how to come up with an article that catches the attention of readers:

3. What does the topic of your blog post want attention from the masses?

4. What is the topic of your blog post?

When you’re creating your topic, choose a topic natural to the topic you are writing about. For instance, if you are writing an article about losing weight, you would identify the role diet plays in that journey, and what diet works for you.

For example, let’s say you are an online personal trainer and you work with clients looking to bulk up or tone down. You have a blank canvas with certain services you perform in your practices and you have the freedom to write an article about them. After settling on a general topic, ask yourself a few questions about your topic suggests it’s a niche you could write in.

Example: “What topic relates to personal fitness which has potential for growth in the niche we are currently writing about?”

These are some questions you can use to write a niche article. There are general topics that are always trending, such as lifestyle and health, and there are specific topics related to your niches such as creativity and marketing.

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5 Ways To Make Your Website Appear More Professional

Having a giraffe in your website header might get you some attention, but it probably won't get you the results you're looking for. In fact, when it comes to landing that all-important first meeting, having a professional and well-designed website could be the difference between landing and losing a potential client. Follow these tips to ensure your website is as captivating as possible.

1. Use a professional domain name

You probably already have a personal domain name, but if you’re serious about blogging, you should also get a professional domain name with your blog name on it. It’s important to have both because it will help you stand out from other bloggers. Think of your blog as your portfolio, and having a strong personal domain name is important so you can highlight your work and skills, not just what you’ve written about.

Not only will being recognized help you with getting more clients, but having a personal domain name also establishes the uniqueness of your blog. People familiar with your post will know whom to expect when they click through. With several prominent blogging platforms having domain registration services, it’s important to pick a domain name that seems unique and stands out from others on the internet.

There are plenty of tools on the internet that allows you to pick different domain names that will have various prices. In this case, I’d recommend paying literally anything for a domain name in the $3,500 range. It’s really that inexpensive, and even if you get a little hit from Google for indexed domain names, you will save yourself a lot of heartache down the road.

Google won’t show you a list of all domain names unless you jump through complicated legal hoops, but it’s safe to assume you’ll pay somewhere between $1,500–3,500 for your domain.

Google won’t necessarily take you to the best site for your keyword if it has a silly name, like hoovergetst.com. Choose a domain name that is enticing and unique, and tell Google exactly what content you’ll put on it. Be sure to also check whether Google has it listed somewhere within their domain and if so, make sure it is well-designed. The best way to do that is to go directly to about.google.com and paste your first and last name into the search bar to see a complete overview of Google’s indexation.

2. Choose a great web design to start your online presence off right.

Your website is an important part of your brand’s online presence. It’s the first thing that people see when they visit your site, and it’s the thing that will make them decide whether or not to do business with you. Make sure your website looks professional and is easy to navigate. Your website header is most likely the first thing people see and this is a prime opportunity to use it creatively. You could use it to promote information about your products and services, or you could use it to showcase other useful services you provide. Try to keep it simple but effective to spark interest in your services.

The art of a great website header lies in using your keywords effectively. The simplest way to ensure your keywords appear consistently where they’re needed is to create a Google vault. Google “Select a keyword” and enter your keywords into the field at the bottom. Check out this post on what SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is and how to make it work for your website.

Keywords are often overlooked and this is a big mistake, replacing fancy terms like “affordable home insurance” with a keyword like “home insurance” will bring more conversions to your site.

Your keywords should be selected based on what will bring traffic to your page, and how your brand can address the needs of your visitors. It’s crucial that your keywords are in a location where they’ll likely be seen by your core audience, so personally check the sign-up forms you’ve used before. Ensure they have the right keywords and phrases in them.

Another pitfall is leaving out your keywords in your website header. This will result in people searching for your keywords and landing on irrelevant pages. Thankfully this is much easier to avoid simply by using a tool like Keyword Surfer. Once you use the tool, scan your header to ensure you're using all of the right words.

Site speed is a crucial factor when it comes to the performance of your website.

3. Use high-quality images in your posts

When it comes to images, it’s important to use high-quality photos. You can use a service like Fotolia to find high-quality images for free, or you can use a service like Shutterstock to purchase rights to use photos. Knowing the size or quality of the photo could reduce your cost by as much as 50%. Take advantage of tools that help you upload these photos quickly so that you can showcase your website to clients’ needs.

When it comes to your CTA, your website header could serve as the call-to-action for website visitors. Telling your web audience exactly what to expect each time they land on your site can save you time and decrease your bounce rate. You can add these buttons to call-to-action buttons on your pages or easily add them using an online form. Below, you can find the great button options you can use for a call-to-action.

Showcase your expertise in your industry by giving your focus screen a one-click ad. Give them the option to easily share to their networks. You’re their guide and resource, so prove them right by giving them a personal high-quality homepage experience that impresses them. Keep their information up-to-date by adding the new information as you talk about your company.

Visual consistency is very important in ensuring a professional and engaging website experience. Seeing your brand through the lens of your website header translates into a highly personalized experience. Fills, gradients, and typography should be consistent across all your websites. Be sure to price your products/services based on your budget and whether your strategy is a premium, free, or semi-premium. If you’re unsure how to make your prices visually consistent, you can hire a professional design service like Shea + Rodriguez to optimize them.

Don’t let a few weird characters ruin your reason for having fun. Adding a character or two that doesn’t make sense or has no place on your site could hurt the website experience.

4. Include an About Us section for potential clients to learn about you and how you can help them

You are About Us section is the first impression for people that visit your website. It’s where they can learn more about you, your business, and what you do. It’s also the perfect place for them to learn about the problems you can solve for them and how you can help them. To make you're about us section as compelling as possible, you first need to make sure it’s on-brand.

Your positive attitude and eagerness to help are two very important qualities to have on your about us page. When you take deep to heart everything you do, it makes your page easier to read and less clouded by extra marketing fluff. Have a strong enough personality to sell your services without sounding like an airhead.

Based on everything you’ve learned about your prospective customers, make sure you’ve condensed the relationship in a way that’s compelling. Don’t waste their time by talking down to them or talking over them. Keep the conversation respectful and focused on you. Remember, you're about us page is supposed to be your first — often only — introduction to your business. Make sure you make it toasty so the first paragraph hits them right in the feels.

Why does your about us page matter so much? Because having a professional and professional-looking website will make them feel at ease booking a consultation with you. Making sure you about us look great will remind anyone who sees it that you’ve got a reputation to uphold.

Describe yourself in one sentence or less. If you can’t think of three words, you may need to speed up your website layout and get your content organized.

Use bullet points — or, even better, a table of contents — to group your information. You are about our needs to set up the vibe and allow prospective customers to easily navigate your content.

Use your first and last name appropriately, but not too narrowly. Companies often use first names only to give people a sensation of familiarity.

5. Make sure your website loads quickly so visitors don't get turned off

It’s important that your website loads quickly because today’s internet users are less patient than ever. According to a survey by Akamai, 40% of web users expect a site to load in 2 seconds or less, and if it doesn’t, they’ll stop what they’re doing and leave. If your website is taking an average of 6 seconds to load, you no longer have time to do that.

When my website experienced a devastating crash, I discovered that I was all alone at the table with no way to diagnose the problem. Surprisingly, I was the only person using the site at the time, so I was helpless to fix the problem myself. Fast forward to six months later, and I now know the cause: An outdated flash container that resides in the head of every page. Luckily, I found a tutorial on how to remove the flash in minutes, and now when someone visits my design, they’ll get a clean, modern look. With that little chore out of the way, you can now focus your attention on your content instead of lamenting that the site still takes 15 seconds to load.

Although your overall website design is a critical component of the overall experience, it’s important to also pay attention to the images on your site. Great content is great content, but if it looks bad on your website, people won’t waste their time visiting. When I redesigned my website, I chose to go with a clean, modern look and avoid all images that weren’t directly related to the content behind them. In my view, if you need an image to communicate an idea, let it stand on its own — don’t clutter your website with unrelated images, and ensure that they aren’t too large. Ideally, images should be no larger than 3–4 seconds and be made of a clear, color-accurate picture to make them stand out.

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5 Tips for Optimizing Your AdSense Account to Maximize Clicks and Earnings

Choosing the right content, the right ad format. The second part is about creating that content in a way that maximizes the clicks on your ads. For an overview of these tips, see this article.

1. Write a title that people will click on

The first thing you need to do is write a title that will make people want to click on it. The title should be interesting enough to pique the interest of your target audience. Make sure that the title is relevant to your post, but if you can’t think of an interesting title then you can use the ever-popular ‘list post’.Here are some example titles that you could use: the most dangerous cities in the US, top savings accounts in Dubai, and seven banking scams to watch out for. The Honey Badger title generated some great buzz on the blog last week. I think people like it for a couple of reasons: (a) it’s short (b) it doesn’t bore people. I can’t choose myself. If you decide it was a good idea to post a list post of bad things to do with money, like you definitely do not want to do anything with money but you should perfectly ever after, then this title caught my eye. 

Using blog title as examples (in no particular order): The title is writing well. It’s correct and it persuades visitors to click on your ad. People don't click on every paid search advert, but I bet you can bet more people will click if your title is clickable and interesting. Good stuff to consider when writing your titles. The book's title might not be clickable to everyone, but if you can make your readership interested then people will click through and hopefully read some of your posts. It also works well as a savior/example to rescue you from your own financial mishaps. The title should be relevant to your post. People aren’t interested in what we do for a living, but they will care about what we have to say about it (an interesting title). Titles are also essential when people delete (mistakenly) their ad account. If they delete their account you will lose all of your data which will prevent you from reaching out to them in the future. I have money problems.

2. Use an eye-catching image to get clicks

When it comes to getting clicks, using an eye-catching image is king. For example, if you’re looking to get more clicks on your email newsletter sign-up form, consider adding an image to your newsletter sign-up form. A/B testing has proven that adding an image to your form can increase sign-ups. Here is the step-by-step process I used to get the image I used above (below) on nearly every mailing list I tried: Paste the image you would like to use in the top left side of the section of your Google Adsense account. Take note of which image is higher performing for your particular goals and set a test to edit that image. Save and celebrate! Don’t sit on the sidelines too long, because you often have a batch of images to try along with the variations on your ad. 

It won't take long to put together all of the variations on your ad and see which performs best. For some reason, I needed a FOR LOAD LETTER image but was told that Regular Email carried more traffic. Add Variation A If you need an alternative display for your text data, try a small version of the Aversion. This allows you to test out your changes without causing too much damage to your original text ad. Experimenting is crucial, and having multiple variations of your ad is best. Step-by-Step Illustrated Instructions Step 1: Paste the image you would like to use in the top left side of the section of your Google Adsense account. Add this text to the body section: Step 2: Add this text to the bottom of the section of your Adsense account. Take note of which image is higher performing for your particular goals and set a test to edit that image. Save and celebrate! Don’t sit on the sidelines too long, because you often have a batch of images to try along with the variations on your ad.

3. The headline and the first paragraph must grab the reader's attention, and it must have keywords they are searching for

The headline and the first paragraph must grab the reader’s attention, and they must have keywords they are searching for. It’s important to consider the headline and the first paragraph because these are the only elements that the reader will see before deciding to read further or to click away.ReadWriteWeb is a great resource for this.

Keeping these two parts in mind, let’s take a look at an example of a variation of a headline I wrote for a personal injury lawyer’s website, alongside ads with the key elements described above. The Legal Services Quick Sourcify View SamplePage title: "Lawyer w/Quick Sourcify View Sample" Ads: "Buy your attorney’s top year’s worth of legal advice. See opinion, case studies, & over 110 cases, all for FREE with registration!"Ad + Headline: "14-Year Old Lawyer Accurately Calls Bills for Lawyers On Price Comparison Site!"Keep these words in mind as you return to brainstorming top headlines.

Note: While I’m using a lawyer website, the same principles apply to any website. Some resources you might find useful are these. The thumbnail image of this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

You should have added a follow-up headline earlier in the article that makes it clear that the person featured in this article is speaking to. It seems people search for things like “lawyer’s top years worth of legal advice” or “call now for a 14-year old lawyer” before clicking on the article they found online. Oftentimes it’s the case that people searching for a particular keyword will also include other related words. It would make sense for the page title and ad copy to include these other words, as well.

You can use these two tips to brainstorm a new title and copy for the page. Your ad copy should follow the format you have seen online or featured on other high-quality websites. For example, you can use these headline writing tips to find ideas for your headlines.

4. Write your content for humans first, Google second

Don’t write content with SEO in mind. Write it for humans first, and for Google second. Google is the most popular search engine in the world, but that doesn’t mean that writing content for it is the only thing you should be doing. Understanding (and creating) content for www.domain.com/ (www to anywhere on the target domain) is effort-intensive. Choosing the right content and formatting it with Adsense is obvious. As for creating it... well, I can’t say I have ever seen anyone succeed with it, arguably the easiest piece of content, to get better rankings in, consistently, is a blog. Not optimized for SEO. One of the first things to understand is (if not written down thoroughly with screenshots):

You cannot write for humans first, and for Google second. You must write for humans first and for Google second, or else the human element of marketing is canceled out by Google. You can mix SEO with traditional website content, but at that point, it becomes just another page that Google can optimize (or not). To reiterate, don’t write content for SEO first and for humans second. Creating content that Google wants to show on its site (for CTR boosts, social sharing, and conversions)

There are two big differences that distinguish content for humans from content that Google wants to show on its site.

SEOs and SEO content

The difference starts with the goal of the content. Put simply, there are two things that SEOs want to achieve.

Converting humans (users or not) to convert customers 

Making themselves better recognized as experts in their field

Creating content that fits one of those two goals (and not surprisingly, one of those two is near the top of any list).

Anti-Panda content vs. SEO content

If you want to drive and help humans with your content, then content that challenges Panda and even drives users to alternative sites should be able to compete.

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How to Secure WordPress Before it's Too Late: A Complete Guide to WordPress Security

With more than half of the internet powered by WordPress, security is a big concern. In fact, if you're running a site powered by WordPress, you need to make sure that your site is secure against malicious attacks. The following tips will help you keep your blog or website safe from hackers.

1. Protect your login and password

Your username and password are the keys to your account. It is important to protect them. You should never share your login information with anyone, and if you have any reason to believe that your login information has been compromised you should change it immediately.

To help you keep your account secure from identity theft, take a few precautions:

1. Don’t share your username and password with anyone. 2. Change your username and password regularly. 3. Don’t share your username or password with anyone who is not you, your guide will tell you which services and programs you can use to generate a secure password for you.

Stateful firewall software prevents hackers from logging in to your site, executing certain subroutines, and accessing your server. The most common and effective firewall software for websites is WAF (Web Application Firewall).

You can buy a firewall that guarantees your website is secure, such as the NordVPN firewall. However, you should never take this precautionary step without testing it first. Otherwise, a once-only security update can potentially turn into a permanent security hole.

If you are using the Tor browser, you can install Tails to make accessing your site even safer.

A website’s security is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain. This is why it is important to keep your site updated with the latest security patches.

If you suspect that a critical operating system security vulnerability has been recently patched, you should immediately patch your website. Keep in mind, however, that security patches may impact your site’s performance in some cases.

A critical vulnerability on your site could allow a hacker to take control of your account or your server — all because you didn’t patch it.

When it comes to downloading and applying patches, don’t just trust the security firm’s website. Before you download any patch make sure you have read through the security advisory carefully.

2. Keep WordPress updated

If you're using WordPress, you need to make sure you're keeping it updated. Out of date software is vulnerable to hackers and cyber attacks so make sure you're always running the latest version. If you're running a business site, you want to make sure you're keeping it updated with the latest security upgrades.

Tip: If you had an active theme when you added it to your site, chances are you can safely remove it.

This is another preventive security measure that basically blocks a specific URL. Instead of going through the trouble of adding suspicious URL patterns, you can use a plugin that detects potentially dangerous patterns and blocks them.

For instance, if you have a nearly-100% open rate on your blog posts, the risk is negligible since it’s unlikely the URL would host a dangerous site. Instead, it’s better to use a dynamically-generated URL filter.

On WordPress, head over to “Settings” and then “Plugins” > “WordPress Security Scanner.” Now, you can choose a URL filter to quickly block risky URL patterns. For instance, if you want to keep your blog safe from spammers, you can use your domain name checker plugin to detect spammy domain names. The use of an URL filter and therefore URL blocks is very common if you have more than a few concurrent visitors.

You can use a tool like DoSandbox to clean up your blog and stop hackers from potentially accessing sensitive information.

A popular tool to prevent hacking is the Content Integrity Policy. This plugin applies a mark of trust to any page which you upload onto your blog. Any page detected as containing a malicious script will be flagged alongside the URL.

Once you start to train your customers not to give your website their login credentials, the likelihood of someone else accessing it goes down significantly. Fortunately, it’s easy to do. First, apply a Two-factor authentication to every logged-in account.

3. Make your blog difficult to access

If you’re trying to build a loyal audience, make it difficult for people to find your blog. If you have your blog on your own website, you can use a plugin to hide it from search engines and only display it to people who know the URL. This is called the robots.txt file.

WordPress has its own version of this, called the wp-header.php file. Anything in this file is only accessible by WordPress-powered websites. If you add a line of code to your wp-header.php file to not show something to search engines, there’s a good chance that most people won’t even know you had a site at all, much less care.

There’s another popular solution for hiding your blog from search engines. This is by adding a particular tag to your page content. The best place to do this is in the head section of your page, just below your content.

By default, people with WordPress blog sites will only see posts from their own site. You can see your posts from other blogs by adding the following code to your wp-config.php file:

Typically, if you create a directory named after your blog in your WordPress installation, you’ll be able to see all your posts from other sites there. But not if your setup is in a root directory. Thankfully, there’s a way around this that I like to call “downsizing” your blog.

Just by moving your posts into a directory that starts with your blog name, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Site Macros are essentially short code snippets that will automate actions within your WordPress installation based on certain conditions. So, if you want to guarantee that only your blog gets rendered in search engines, you can use a Site Macro that tells WordPress (not search engines) to only index posts from your blog.

There are many ways to accomplish this, but my favorite is using the Yoast SEO plugin. Once you install Yoast by downloading it, you’ll see a popup in your WordPress dashboard.

4. Back up your data regularly, and keep backups secure

You never know when you’re going to lose your data. Whether it’s a fire, a flood, or an internal power outage, you need to have a plan in place for when disaster strikes. Save your data to the cloud by using the cloud-based service Google Drive, which offers storage up to 15 GB for free.

Most people know that the biggest security risk when it comes to your website happens inside your domain name. That’s because your website sits inside of someone else’s computer name, such as wp-content/theintercept.com. Websites have to choose how much we care about our own safety and the security of our server, so we tend to give more resources to things like SSL encryption. These security features use already-existing keys that code-sign your site to verify that it came from the web domain itself. This is a security measure that helps protect you from someone who gets your website with a fake web address and tries to access it.

However, this security measure does come with a cost. It’s up to you to decide what you’ll and won’t do for your site’s SSL certification. If you only care about security, and you don’t mind spending a little extra time on your site to get it certified, you can select a lower-level option that doesn’t include encryption.

But if you do want to take extra safety steps, and you want to keep your key safe and free, you can head down the just-in-case rabbit hole of using a self-signed SSL certificate. The doctor put it in the medicine cabinet, and it’s time to pop it open and see what’s inside.

To create a self-signed certificate, we open up a site’s root folder (not a subfolder, including. htaccess) and navigate into the file menu. From there, we select “Add Certificate…” in the menu, and we’ll have the option to select the type of certificate we want to create. Of course, we’re not restricted to just.com,.net, or.org — you could even choose.de for Germany. Below that is our certificate options.

5. Use strong passwords

Passwords, also known as passphrases, are words or phrases used to authenticate your identity to a system. The problem with most people is that they use the same password for different websites and applications. A hacker could get access to one of your accounts and then use it to access other accounts. When you use passwords, you don’t need to remember them — all you need to remember is what it is to access a specific system. Even if you use a unique password for everything on a website, you should still include a common username that anyone who has access to your WordPress blog can use to log in. This way, it’s more difficult for a single individual or hacker to browse your entire website.

Many CMS, like WordPress, allow you to create a username and password. However, by using a short code, you can save yourself from having to create a long password.

The shortcode is an HTML tag that can be used in place of an HTML tag. The purpose of a shortcode is to store a portion of the WordPress CMS's code. This means that when you add shortcode tags to your blog post, they are automatically applied to all of your post types instead of just your main post.

To add a shortcode to your page, simply copy and paste the code into your source editor. Now, you can add as many shortcodes as you like within your post.

This is how shortcode codes work:

Shortcodes make your code look more organized. Notice how using this shortcode automatically applies the shortcode to all of your post types instead of just your main post. This makes it more difficult for a hacker/someone with administrator access to browse your entire blog.

To create the code, you need two things:

WordPress core. If you use another CMS, you may not need to install WordPress core. That’s because most CMS also have their own user database. By default, WordPress uses your MySQL database as a data source.

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How to Migrate Your WordPress Blog to Your Own Domain

This article will show you how to migrate your blog from wordpress.com to a self-hosted site. The process is quite straightforward and takes less than 30 minutes if you already have a domain name and hosting account set up. If you need help in setting up your domain or hosting, we've made guides for each of these tasks that explain how to complete them step-by-step.

1. Add your domain name to your WordPress.com account

Your domain name is your online identity and if you want to avoid confusion, it’s important that your domain name and the domain name for your blog are the same. If you already have a domain name, you can add it to your WordPress.com account. To do so, follow these steps: 1) Log into your WordPress.com account.2) Ensure that the Host Name and IP Address are the same, and click [Next]. 3) Once your domain has been successfully added, your users will be able to access the site through your chosen subdomain. 4) Before you start optimizing your blogging platform, it's a good idea to change some settings and clean up your CMS. A step-by-step guide for this can be found here.

How to migrate from WordPress to WordPress - Step 1

Cloudflare

Cloudflare's Domain Transfer does not require you to purchase any additional hosting; it leverages the existing platform of your choice, offering the domain transfer in a single, automated process. The primary benefit is that you get the flexibility to use any hosting that your business prefers; the other benefit is its SLA: you can cancel the contract if something happens to the Cloudflare platform, such as a migration from one platform to another.

To Google Cloudflare you’ve gone; to Google, you’ll go.

Transferring between the two platforms

If you already have a domain name and have a website on WordPress.com that you prefer to use for your blog, it’s good practice to transfer the domain to WordPress using the process below, as it’s faster than the process described in the next section. It will leave your domain at WordPress.com, but you have to transfer the CMS (content management system) to the new platform. This will have to be done by moving the.com to.org.

When exporting your CMS from WordPress.com to WordPress.org, you’ll see an HTML file with a few 'Host Name' (TLDR; a question mark) and some curtain text.

For a good overview, Cindy Krum's How to Transfer Domains Mistakes to WordPress post is a good starting point.

2. Prepare your website for migration

This is a great way to make sure that your website is ready to go when you begin the migration. You want to make sure that the new version of your website is as close to the old version as possible, so this is a great way to test out the new platform and make sure it works with your old content.

You can add all of your content from your WordPress blog into the new version of the website using a script that is part of the WordPress plugin. We've shown you how to create a script, but don't worry; this script will automatically transfer over your old text to the new version of your website. Once this process is complete, your site should work without any changes to your existing content.

You can also use a plugin such as Egghead SEO's Pro Transporter to transfer this content onto your new WordPress website. The benefit of this plugin is that it automates the import process. You don't necessarily need to have a domain and hosting account set up in order to use the plugin, but having such an account is helpful.

Before getting started with transferring all your content, you will need to ensure that the hosting for you and your migration domain is set up. This is very simple to do if you're already set up with a domain. If, however, you're not set up with a domain and hosting account, you can follow these steps to get them set up.

Download the hosting CSV file from here.

Once you have the hosting file downloaded, upload it to your hosting account. You can select which type of hosting you want to use and how much space it will take when you upload the file. If you're unsure of which hosting type you should use, you can read more about choosing an appropriate hosting account here.

Once your hosting account has been added to your settings, you will need to make sure that the appropriate dates apply.

3. Migrate your content from WordPress.com to WordPress on your own domain

It’s best to move your blog to your own domain and hosting. WordPress.com is a great place to start, and it is a fantastic resource for free, user-friendly tools to help you get started. However, the WordPress.org team has recently announced their intention to shut down the project after 2020.

In 2018, The Process came up with an easy and free migration kit that works with all popular CMS and hosts, including Squarespace. You can find the journey and toolkit in their migration guide.

Migrating your blog is relatively straightforward. You can begin by copying the content of your blog into a new document. Then follow these two steps:

Open a new page on your new site by entering your new content. Insert your header into the header of your new page. If you don’t know where to start, see our articles on header image and header image SEO for more help.

Now you have your content laid out and header image uploaded, it is time to publish. Most CMS like Wordpress.com or Drupal ask you if you want to pass on your blog to your CMS and assign a hostname to it. If you do, this is important. The hostname directly corresponds to your domain name.

WordPress.com explains this quite well on their migration documentation.

It’s probably a good idea if you had served this content through your niche market or find it handy to extend the reach there via social media. If you decide you don’t want to change the SEO of your site (or if you are not interested in migrating), you can paste the content of your blog into a text editor and move everything as follows:

This will go through the process of posting the content to social media.

The start of 2021 has been a banner year for all things media-related. This includes the feel of your website, navigation, media management, and extra content on posts and pages.

4. Migrate all of your comments from WordPress.com to WordPress on your own domain

If you’re currently a WordPress.com user, I highly recommend using the Jetpack plugin to get started with your own self-hosted blog. It’s the easiest way to migrate all of your existing WordPress.com comments and content to your own self-hosted WordPress site. You can get started for free with WordPress.com and migrate your entire site for as little as $20. If you pay the yearly plan for your domain name, which we recommend above, you can save yourself hundreds of dollars in hosting fees and set up your site as easily and quickly as possible.

Before you begin, you’ll want to make sure you can log in to your site using your normal WordPress credentials and not your domain credentials. To make sure you can log in, fire up the Dashboard and look for a link for creating or saving your username and password. If you don’t see either link, you’ll likely need to log in with another account or create a new one.

You also need to take note of your address — most sites will have a bunch of sub-domains. You’ll want to migrate to subdomain.example.com or http://subdomain.example.com as these two are the most common subdomains you’ll need to create in your migration.

You can migrate your blog from WordPress.com using another CMS such as Joomla! If you’ve been using WordPress for a number of years and your audience has grown, you might want to consider moving to a newer CMS so you can focus on your content for the more specific topic you’re writing about or growing your brand.

This option allows you to set up a standalone site instead of using WordPress.com. We’ll walk you through creating your own site from scratch, but if you’re ready to migrate to self-hosted, you can use this up as a placeholder only.

Even without Joomla! or another CMS, you can still set up your blog with Canva, a collaborative content management platform that works with WordPress.

5. Move the rest of your site over from WordPress on wordpress.com

Once your blog is up and running, it’s time to move the rest of your site over from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. It’s a pretty straightforward process, but make sure you get it right.WordPress.org is only intended for website content. Porting the whole site to it without tweaking a single file can be time-consuming. That’s why we recommend using domain registrars that offer WHMCS (WordPress Content Management System) migration services.

(If your intention is just to add a couple of posts to your site to test the migration, you may prefer to use the WordPress Shortcode plugin. This allows you to add “from wordpress.com” as a shortcode in your posts.)

Every WordPress blog needs at least a few pages, so the migration is going to take a while. A few sub-topics are addressed later on, but first, let’s spend some time on the homepage. The maintenance page of a self-hosted WordPress blog is basically a single page. It’s a good idea to have pages for each of your most important pages, including your About Us page, Your Work page, the Contact Us page, and you are About Search page. Each one should have some information on it and some contact details. (The About Us page is in the theme’s settings.) Give them a good home, and link them appropriately.

Once you have it all set up, visit “Migrations” then “WordPress CMS Migration” and follow the instructions. Then follow “Review Key Information” and give the tool a few minutes to do its magic.

After the migration is complete, visit the site you just migrated and you should see your migrated content and some tools that help you customize the site. You might also get an error message about wp-config.php not being found, but don’t worry about that. Reload your page and the error will disappear.

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Successfully Installing WordPress on Your Website

If you are looking to start a blog, WordPress is a great choice. It's very easy to use, flexible, and secure. According to W3Techs, over 60 million websites in the world are using WordPress. However, one of the biggest problems most beginners have is installing it on their website. If you want to avoid spending a whole day struggling with the installation process and instead want to get started blogging right away, then this article will be perfect for you!

1. What is WordPress?

WordPress is one of the biggest and most popular Contents Management Systems online. WordPress is open source software which means that it is free to download and use. There are a few different ways to use WordPress, either by installing it on your own web host or by renting WordPress hosting from a company like WP Engine. If you’ve used and liked any other free CMS online then you will definitely have a good understanding of WordPress. It has many features and benefits. It has a drag and drop builder, it is an important CMS that helps you implement drip campaigns, and a lot more. I’m going to show you exactly how to install WordPress on your website and how to apply for its many benefits.

It may sound tricky at first but trust me when I say that it’s not. In this article, I’ll show you step-by-step how to install and configure WordPress on your own website. And again, it’s not extremely complicated but if you have any experience with another CMS, I’d recommend that you make your posts and pages related to your niche before you start installing WordPress.

The desktop version of WordPress is also called a CMS (CMS) or content management system. It’s software that allows you to create a website or a blog. Every time you create a new post or page, it will be published as soon as the system is ready.

As you can see, WordPress has many advantages. One of those is its flexibility. This will allow you to create whatever website or blog you want. There are a few different ways you can do this:

There are many different content management systems online and they differ greatly. In addition, they don’t necessarily optimize the same way. While I’ll show you how to install and configure WordPress on your own website, you shouldn’t copy and paste the same content from other websites without checking what’s happening behind the scene.

There are many disadvantages to using WordPress aside from having a steep learning curve.

2. How to install WordPress

To install WordPress, you’ll need to use an FTP client, which will allow you to transfer files from your computer to your web host. There are a lot of great FTP clients out there, and some of the most popular ones are FileZilla and Cyberduck. Further, you’ll need to download and install the WordPress installers. These installers allow you to install WordPress in several popular hosting providers, and usually, these are either WordPress.com or WordPress.org.

WordPress is becoming popular because it has a lot of features, and after knowing which option is better for you, you’ll be able to decide which one is best for you. Additionally, some hosting providers have a pre-set amount of blog space that you’ll be able to use for free. Other owning providers offer additional services, such as optimized file permissions, using a CMS like CodePress, or extra features such as SEO. Again, this is your choice to make based on what you need.

An important aspect is a security. Because WordPress will utilize the PHP that runs on any website, security is important. The website hosting platform can have a security test at the time of your install, but because this is an extra step, it’ll usually be more than what is done when installing a CMS like CafePress. There are many other security considerations you should take into consideration, such as spammy content targeting you from certain IP addresses, phishing, malware, and the like.

There are many places to post articles, but choosing the right place will always require some research. So without further ado, let’s jump right into the topic of where you can start with your blog.

No matter where you decide to start it, making sure to have a relevant topic is a good place to start. Not everyone knows what blogging is, so most people will be either looking for a unique angle to write about their business or looking for a place to write about random topics they’re passionate about.

3. How to create a blog with WordPress

It’s really easy to create a blog with WordPress. Just follow these simple steps: 

1. Go to WordPress.com 

2. Click the “Get Started” button 

3. Enter your blog name, email, agree to the terms and conditions and click “Create Blog” 

4. Your new blog will be served up in your browser. 

5. Now you can write and publish your blog post. You can also tweak various aspects related to your WordPress blog, such as adding plugins and themes to make your blog even more vibrant and fancy.

Anyone can have a website. What’s more important is having a good, professional-looking website. If you want your blog to attract more readers, then you need to consider its appearance. A blog should look professional and aesthetically pleasing. Besides that, your website should be mobile-compatible, SEO optimized, and very easy to use. WordPress makes this process an easy one.

One of the biggest benefits of using WordPress is its support for various platforms. Besides blog platforms, you can also use different blogging platforms such as Medium, Substack, and Shopify. Apart from web hosting, next is choosing a niche for your blog — this might be your unique angle to take your blog to the next level. As you choose your niche, users should have a better understanding of what you are writing about.

If you are just starting out, picking a niche is recommended. Completing this step along with the other website-specific aspects can greatly increase your blog’s visibility. In the below image, you can see how various blog platforms are featured.

Recently, readers have started growing increasingly unhappy with the posts they see. Along with that, only the top-performing posts attract more views. In other words, the results are not going in the desired direction. Unfortunately, that’s where one-number-one-blog-knows-it-all comes in handy.

It’s a well-known fact that James Altucher is one of the most successful entrepreneurs on the planet. One of his major assets is his ability to solve problems.

4. How to get started with creating posts in WordPress

If you’re just getting started with blogging, check out this guide on getting started with WordPress. You’ll also want to create a custom design for your blog. If you’re not a designer, you can use a tool like Canva to create your custom design. It’s a simple tool that makes it easy to create graphics. Before you can start blogging, you first need to set up a blog. We will cover how to set up a WordPress blog, what content to include, how to personalize and customize your blog, how to optimize your blog post for SEO, social media sharing, SEO, SEO, and how to best promote your blog to your audience through any means necessary.

Choosing a blogging platform is probably the most challenging part of starting a blog. There are so many options out there, and you’ll likely need to test different options to see which platform best fits your blog. While many people choose WordPress as the platform to start their blogs, there are many other blogging platforms to consider including Wix, Blogger, and Magento (I hope to write an article about comparing these platforms soon).

As a beginner, you don’t need to spend a lot of money on your blogging platform. However, if you plan to increase your traffic and/or your page views, you will need to invest in some plugins and themes. To find out which plugins and themes you need, check out this list of popular plugins. Remember, you don’t need to buy the following plugins and themes if you can’t afford them.

WordPress comes with its own SEO meaning Search Engine Optimisation. To optimize your website for search engine optimization (SEO), you need to do a few things:

As with most things in life, if it’s too easy, it’s too easy, and vice versa. While there are plenty of free tools that can be used, I would recommend reading through some of the guides and tutorials online.

5. 5 ways you can use your blog

5 ways to use your blog - 1) create your own product and write about it. 2) write about the mistakes you made and how you learned from them. 3) write about problems you’ve encountered and how you overcame them. 4) write about what you’re reading, watching, or listening to.5) write about something spontaneous and nothing sponsored.

By the end of this tutorial, you will have a personal website ready to download and host. After having your website created, highlight the content, create your portfolio, and create a bit of advertisement on social media. Check out the final verdict of this article to select your social media platform. After you choose your platform, download the WordPress blogging platform and start blogging!

I’m looking forward to seeing your product/service. Written by Faye van Ree, Social Content Marketing Specialist

There are thousands of people selling things for money on Amazon. If you think you can’t find a product like hot sauce, or you think you find it too expensive, then it’s time to invest in Merch by Amazon. In this article, we’ll discuss over 100 warehouse-related products that all Merch by Amazon sellers are eligible to sell on their website. Some examples of Merch by Amazon products include messenger bags, stationery, backpacks, and sweatshirts.

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Ultimate Guide To WordPress Tutorials: From Advanced to Beginners

WordPress is an open-source tool that allows you to build, customize, and update a website. It has become the most popular Content Management System (CMS) in use today. This blog post will introduce you to some of the best WordPress tutorials available on the web; we will also talk about how WordPress differs from other CMS’s and why it is so popular.

1. WordPress tutorials for advanced users

If you're a blogger, you need to learn WordPress. It is the most popular blogging platform in the world, powering close to 25% of the internet. With WordPress, you can build a beautiful website or blog on your own, without having to pay a web designer or developer. Here are two tutorials that will help you take your WordPress skills to the next level. To start off, we have the free Ultimate WordPress Introduction course by Treehouse.

Also, if you are comfortable coding then the Bootstrapped Theme offers the ultimate theme for beginners. Professional bloggers and online content creators should go for the Digital Theme which comes with different plugins to help you drive traffic to your site on LinkedIn, Linkedin, MSN, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms.

If you’re on a tight budget then here are some amazing Photoshop themes you can install:

If you’re an online business owner then having a professional-looking website is crucial. You need to get traffic to your website to build up a portfolio and convert potential customers into followers. No matter how successful you are at your business, it's your job to grow its audience, so having a website is an absolute necessity.

A website needs to be aesthetically pleasing and has a purpose. By having a website, you help new and relevant information get discovered by potential customers. Also, by having a website, you can connect with more business owners and learn about their needs.

As you progress in your blogging journey then you’ll need a domain name. If you have never used Upwork before then the best online freelancer marketplace will give you all the information you need to find a great domain name.

While researching domain names, here are three top domain names:

Adding a website takes a little time but once you’ve done it you will feel confident and motivated to do more.

The less time you spend on creating a website, the more time you will have to spend on your other ventures. This includes marketing, promotion, blogging, blogging-related activities, and building your personal brand.

2. WordPress tutorials for people who are new to the platform

If you’re new to blogging, you’ve probably come across WordPress as the most popular blogging platform in the world. While WordPress is super easy to use once you get the hang of it, it can be a little more of a challenge for beginners. Here are my top 9 WordPress tutorials for people who are new to the platform.

Download the Fast Start Guide to get up and running with WordPress in a few minutes.

This tutorial assumes that you have a hosting plan which includes an affordable WordPress installation.

If you’d prefer to do it yourself, you can check out the official installation procedure here.

WordPress and Google are two of the largest corporations that partner together to develop the “CMS” for WordPress. In other words, WordPress is an integral part of Google’s overall strategy and SEO efforts.

Part of this technique is that Google uses “keywords” as your ranking factors for the search results pages (SERPs), where you ultimately arrive to get your website hit with search engine traffic. To help you determine your “keywords,” visit these two pages, and you should have a good idea that Google values some of your posts and pages about nutrition, health, and finance.

To find some keywords for your blog, I recommend using Ahrefs who have some great SEO keyword tools to help you with your keyword research. You can register on Ahrefs for free and start searching for your niche. Then, you can export your top rankings using the entry forms on their site.

Not every blog post will work on the search engine unless it clearly states that it does. Thus, your best option is to guest post. As a result, this is a free alternative to editing your main content on your platform.

For those of you who would also like to Guest Post on several other websites, you can check out my video on this.

If you want to explore social media more than you have in the past, you have a plethora of options out there.

3. The most popular features of WordPress and why they’re so useful

The most popular features of WordPress are its themes and plugins. WordPress has a huge library of themes and plugins because of the open-source nature of the software. This means anyone can create a theme or plugin and make it available for free on the WordPress repository.

If you are starting a new website or want to make fixing some WordPress problems easier, you definitely need to invest in a theme, a plugin, or two. This article will show you how to install a free and useful theme on your WordPress installation.

Creating a new theme is one of the most simple tasks that you can do on your WordPress installation. A theme is a folder that stores all the visual elements of a website.

Themes can include:

The visual elements of a theme are made up of things such as:

If you want to learn more about themes and how to customize your website’s appearance without spending any money, you can check out our article about the best free and premium themes for your WordPress website.

As relatively new platforms, Instagram and YouTube are still growing at an extremely high rate. Both offer a range of different Instagram themes, a range of different WordPress themes, and so on. The popularity of Instagram and YouTube has made it necessary for developers to provide solutions for these platforms.

When it comes to installing a theme in WordPress, you need to download it using a popular plugin (WordPress Integrations). This plugin allows you to pick and choose all the visual elements of your theme. The end result is an aesthetically pleasing WordPress website on Instagram or YouTube.

Alternatively, if you are comfortable using a theme manager, such as W3 Total Cache, you can install the theme straight to the theme folder of your WordPress installation. This means you can use the same theme on all your websites. Installing a theme in WordPress has several advantages over using a plugin. For one, you can easily remove themes that you do not use.

4. Understanding the differences between a CMS and a blog platform

When it comes to blogging platforms, there are two popular options: hosted platforms, like WordPress.com, and self-hosted platforms, like WordPress.org. Hosted platforms are easier to use, but they often have limits on what you can do with them, and they’re generally not as SEO friendly.When choosing a CMS, you should always consider how you want to operate your blog, not just what features they offer. So if you want to run a blog just for fun, or you are getting ready to launch one because you want to sell products on your blog, then you could do better with a self-hosted platform.

A CMS is a computer program that handles all of your content creation, access, and storage. There are many different types of CMS, each providing a different set of features. Some CMS’ are platform-based, meaning that they are software-based like a web browser, and can be used on a variety of devices. Some are application-based, meaning they are more like a smartphone app, meaning that you can plug them into your computer via a USB or Bluetooth connection, and they will start working immediately.

WordPress is a self-hosted Content Management System (CMS), which means it can be installed and run without a developer but requires you to install and configure additional software to complete your setup. A CMS allows you to monetize your blog, allows you to set up SEO classes for your blog, and to monitors its performance using a dashboard. Some of the most notable features of WordPress include:

A blog is a piece of content about a certain topic that you intend to update often. People coming to your content for the first time will most likely stop and click through your content; if they’re interested, and would like more information about the topic you write about, they will click through the blog and read your content.

5. Why use WordPress when you can use another CMS?

WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world. That’s because it’s easy to use, accessible to everyone, and has a thriving online community. WordPress is open-source software. What does that mean? It means that the code behind the software is available for anyone to see, use, and modify. At first glance, this might not seem like a big deal. After all, we all use open source software on a daily basis — Linux, Apache, node.js, etc. Why is it so important that we use an open-source CMS? Here are the top benefits of using an open-source CMS:

A website is like your blog. It’s a place to showcase your expertise and showcase your knowledge. A website should offer value in addition to what it contains. Ideally, just like a blog, a website should also be safe to use. Yes, it’s possible to build a blog that doesn't so much present a headline, but if that kind of website is harmful to you it might be time for a new blog.

A website’s menu is where visitors will be able to easily find what’s most important on your site. It should appear organically. WordPress includes a built-in SEO module that works beautifully. If Google comes across a website that contains awful design decisions, they’ll crawl it and provide you with valuable information. If you update your website’s header, footer, and menu Images without properly optimizing them the SEO crawlers will be appalled.

When you use a free theme on your website, it will get you about 90–95% of the way there. You still need to create something that visitors can easily recognize.

The best place to start is by uploading a free theme for your chosen CMS. WordPress allows you to upload a default theme. After you have the theme uploaded, you can customize just about any aspect of it. This is an invitation to your community. WordPress is user-generated content. It has millions of themes at your disposal.

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The Complete Guide to Google AdSense: Monetizing Blog Content with Google's Advertising Platform

If you have a blog, the chances are that you have heard of Google Adsense. It is one of the most popular online advertising platforms, and an essential tool for monetizing blog content. However, if you are not using it correctly, there is a chance that you are losing money. In this guide, we will take an in-depth look at how Google Adsense works, what mistakes to avoid when creating your ad units and placements, plus much more!

1. What is Google Adsense?

Google AdSense is a popular way to monetize a blog, website, or app. Google AdSense is a program that places ads on your site, and you get paid when people click on those ads. To pay or not to pay? That is the question. AdSense allows you to place 500 x 500px ad units on your author's website or app. They have done a great job at keeping things fair when it comes to placing ads, but there is still a financial incentive to move more traffic to your site in order to receive more money. It is not a bad thing, however, if some people get to benefit from this. AdSense has different tiers and arrangements that you may be aware of. It is very important to have a clear idea before you start running ads that what your model will look like. 

I will use as an example the placement of a blog post without me affiliating the word "LETTING." The key factor when it comes to the placement of an ad is the ad's success. It is necessary to place your ads at the right places within your author's website to maximize the chances that they will get seen by the right people. Some good places to experiment with are the articles, sidebar, footer, sidebars, and the author landing page. You should integrate your ad text within the body of the content wherever you can. Here are some tips to get started: As a writer, try to keep your articles interesting so people will want to share them with their friends.

Place your competitor's business cards prominently within your article and make them stand out. Anchor text within the ad should be relevant to your product or service offering. Try to incorporate social media sharing buttons into your Ad. Embed a relevant image with your links to try and further encourage people to share.

2. How does Google Adsense work?

Google AdSense is a great way to monetize your website. It’s a simple way to do it too. You add the Google AdSense code to your site and then Google will place ads on your site and you get paid when someone clicks on those ads. Adsense works in most countries, and if your site isn’t in English yet you are in luck, we will share with you the best way to set it up so that it works in English as well. If I’m not mistaken, you'll be doing me a favor by reading this guide over. But if you are a bit hardcore, and you have been working on creating some awesome content, you might want to read on. I've created this guide mainly to help you with setting up your Adsense account, so you don't have to worry about that anymore. If you want to learn more, I highly recommend you check out these top ten AdSense article sites: Now that you have taken a quick look at what Adsense is, we must get somewhere and I want this guide to be the start. Have a nice day!

Start typing in “Google AdSense” into Google and hit search. I am going to type in “Google Adsense bug”. You will see a SERP that looks like this:

Google Adsense is a paid advertising platform that works by watching where the people are clicking. Often, people will click on the Adsense logo, and the platform will automatically add the Adsense code to each of your posts. Thus, you get paid when someone clicks on your ad.

As you can see in this SERP, for the keywords “Google AdSense” and “Google AdSense bug”, there are hundreds of results for which it has placed an ad. You will notice that there is a “Sponsored Web Page” at the top of each result. Also, have a look at the “Sponsored Postings” at the bottom of each web page.

3. The advantages of using Google Adsense to monetize blog content

The Key Differences Between Google Ads & Google Place Network.

Explanation of Adsense Definitions

What is Adsense?

Adsense is the organization of free and organic internet ads across tens of Google properties, including search, maps, and YouTube. It is used by tens of thousands of websites worldwide to earn money online.

What is Google Place Network?

Google Place Network (GPN) is the umbrella product for three associated advertising platforms; Google Local, Google Places, and Google+, all of which together encompass millions of websites.

What can Adsense do for me?

Adsense has been designed for organizations who work to become familiar with internet advertising and will familiarise you with the layout and parameters of Adsense placements. A number of websites will also advertise through Adsense properties through social media channels such as Twitter.

Sponsored Posts, Tracked Goals, and Geo Overlay

There are several methods by which people can run paid ads on Google. When you are creating adverts for Adsense, you can choose whether the content will be accompanied by advertisements on other Google properties, or on other websites. Each option has pros and cons, and we will look at some of them below.

The easiest way for an individual website to become involved in Adsense is to have the standard Google Analytics integration installed. Though this is very common, Adsense does not support tracking site traffic or Google Analytics exports. This is because these products do not exist on Google servers. Google Analytics on other websites means that you could be connected to your site through AdSense units.

4. How long does it take to start earning with Google Adsense?

It's impossible to give an exact answer because it depends on how much effort you're willing to put in, how much time you can put in, how much content you can produce, and so on. But if you're willing to put in the effort, you can start earning with Google Adsense within the first month. The information in this guide is for use by anyone who wishes to learn more about Adsense. It is not intended for beginners. Some HTML knowledge is assumed. If you wish to skip this section, feel free to continue reading the next section.

Google Adsense gives you the option to buy ads onto your site. This is a monetization mechanism that allows you to:

Sell ads so that you can generate money from your advertising

Create Ads featuring your products

Place PPC ads (pay-per-click and interstitial ads)

Without knowing a thing about Adsense, you can choose one of five different advertising units (Banner, Ad, Image, Search, and Video) to enhance your blog's content in order to increase its visibility in search engines. Configuring a Google Adsense account might seem a bit daunting at first, but a few hours will go by really fast if you follow the detailed steps in this helpful Google Adsense guide.

Google Adsense provides three interfaces for you to check your account information and set up your units:

Interface 1: Overview of your account

Interface 2: Configuration of your account

Interface 3: Performance of your account

When you first create a Google Adsense account, you are taken to a rather dull and rather basic interface. But only a few hours will go by if you follow the detailed steps in this helpful Google Adsense guide.

Before you set up your account, it pays to know exactly how Adsense works in order to avoid expensive mistakes. The next step is crucial: Make sure that you select the correct units to enhance your blog's content.

5. What are the requirements for using Google Adsense?  Types of adverts that can be displayed on your site

How do you sell Adsense to people after you have created various Adsense campaigns? The easiest way is through the combination of PPC and SEO. To learn how to set up and promote PPC ads, we will focus on only three strategies: direct traffic, lead gen, and remarketing. Let's find out why landing your audience with paid advertising is key to an online marketing strategy.

The Adsense interface shares common features with other advertising platforms like AdWords, Yahoo, and Facebook, but makes it distinct from each platform. You can either interface with Google yourself through an Adsense interface, or you can use a third-party platform.

The following is a list of features shared by all Adsense interfaces. For more detail, a closer look at the different Adsense interfaces, to do research on your own, or to implement different advertising strategies, you would do well to check the useful Google Adsense tutorials from Pat Flynn. There are also similar guides published on the Apple App Store and the Windows Store. Alternatively, you can follow this Google Webmaster Central blog post.

Note that you can set up PPC as well, but as stated in this old REI post, PPC has not benefited from engine-related changes and many components have remained the same. There is a more detailed article here.

AdSense Ad design and format

Different ad formats work differently whether it’s for Google, Yahoo, or Bing. There is no “Universal” format, you cycle through different ad formats whenever the context is appropriate. This means depending on how your customers use search engines, you may have different ad formats to meet different search scenarios.

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5 WordPress Tips You Can’t Afford to Overlook

If you're using WordPress, chances are that you're familiar with the platform's out-of-the-box functionality. But there are a few settings you should know about that will help guarantee your site's performance—and your peace of mind. The following tips will make sure that your WordPress blog or website is running smoothly on the inside and out, so you can focus on what's really important: creating content and engaging with your audience!

1. How to set up a WordPress backup schedule

To protect your data, you need to set up a backup schedule. The easiest way to do this is to set up a recurring task in your calendar. For example, you can set up a recurring task in Google Calendar to backup your WordPress site every night at 11 PM. Another option is to use a plugin like UpdraftPlus. Set up backups in the background so that you don’t have to do any manual work.

It sounds like a simple task, but according to Christoph, there’s a lot that can go wrong when you perform backups on a regular schedule:

Whatever way you go, make sure that you can easily access your blog or website if you need to make changes to the website’s files or content. The easiest way to do this is to create a file extension for it, like.txt,.jpg, or even.xml (for XML-based document formats) or.csv (for comma-separated-values, like spreadsheet data).

While you can do this on your PC, you can also connect to your WordPress installation via SSH. On a Mac, you can use a utility like Filezilla to do this, and on a Linux system, you can use a utility like wpasupplicant.

Once you have a backup set up, you can easily revert to the old versions of the files—provided you have the exact same files and connections. While this works best if you have a dedicated network drive (like an external hard drive or USB drive) to install the files on — if you can’t hook up any external storage to your blog, go with a weekly automatic backup option that connects directly to your database.

Before you install new themes or plugins, make sure they are compatible with your new backup schedule. When you install a new theme, it’s best to run a test first in an empty theme area to make sure that it actually works. If it doesn’t, go back to the theme preview page and see if you can find a compatible version that you can install in a couple of minutes.

2. How to create your own 404 page

If you can’t fix the broken link, then you can at least try to help people who land on the 404 page. You can do this by creating a custom 404 page that has useful links to other pages on your site, or even links to other sites that may be helpful.

As a general guideline, you should always include a sitemap. Most search engines include a sitemap in their crawlable results. Sitemap details all of the page’s links and resources that make up the entire website, and check it regularly to help Google find additional pages for your site.

A wp-config.php file, located at the root of your website, can serve as your sitemap. All you have to do is append a unique ID number to each of the page’s resources. This process isn’t very involved, mostly because you can use Google search to help you out. Identifying all the resources associated with a specific page is simple enough as it is. Simply head to your keyword research tool and search for “location,” where location is the link to the page you want to check.

Once you have a list of pages, make note of their IDs. For every individual resource on every page, ensure that the ID you came up with matches the one you registered for that particular page. Make a backup of yours. htaccess file for your domain so you can rollback any changes you make if something goes wrong. You’ll likely need to alter certain configurations, so be sure to take a backup before making any changes.

To make sure you don’t miss anything, take an in-depth look at how your site’s URLs are structured. Search the web for example, and you’ll likely find that some pages index a variable length of words to allow SEO crawlers to show results easily; others perform well with variable word lengths for content interspersed with links.

For your own site, you should include the following three variables in your wp_head section:

How you set these variables up doesn’t matter.

3. How to optimize your site’s speed

Google has a tool that you can use to test your page’s speed. To access it, you’ll need to have a Google Account. Once you have an account, you can type in a URL in the search bar and click “Tools” and then “Lighthouse”.This will bring you to a complete report of your site’s performance.

One of the main goals of optimizing your site’s look and feel is to customize each element to tell your readers where to go next.

So, to get the best searcher experience possible, you should look to remove as much friction as possible. Here are four things you can do:

Do you think a decent Instagram story is worth 180,000 bytes? Or 500,000? You can set the standard and cover 98% of average users’ manual load by adding a tiny bit of metadata to each post’s source code. Let’s take a look at an example:

Before: “Travel GIFs by LiminalTravels” source code

After: “Travel GIFs by LiminalTravels.com” source code

This simple change will give your readers the ability to directly jump to where they need to go. Additionally, anywhere users want to navigate your site with their mouse, they’ll automatically be taken to the appropriate section.

Something as seemingly small as this can make a serious impact on the speed of your site. Of course, setting these two simple bits of metadata will be enough to give you a performance boost.

Google recommends putting a minimum of 10,000 characters on each post (doesn’t have to be on a blog), as well as a minimum of 200 elements per page (doesn’t have to be a blog), totaling 17,000 characters.

While you don’t need to go overboard with these statistics, try to stay within these limits in each category. If your blog has more elements on one page than the above, that may be a sign that the audience is getting overwhelmed. Instead, you should spread out your characters across multiple pages.

4. How to set up Google Analytics on WordPress

Google Analytics is a great tool for tracking your website. It helps you understand how people are finding you, what they’re doing on your site, and where you can improve. The first thing you need to do is log into your WordPress dashboard and install the Google Analytics plugin. This plugin will add a small button right at the top of your WordPress dashboard. If you’re using a theme like Zend Framework, this button will show up as a menu button on your footer or header.

After installing the plugin, it’s time to configure it. Go to Google Analytics in Google Suite > Libraries and enable the plugin. Once this has been done, you can integrate Google Analytics right into your WordPress dashboard.

By default, WordPress displays the site identifier (a moniker assigned by Google) as a value when a user navigates to a page that includes that specific tag.

By default, it appears as such:

The recommended strategy is to change your site ID to something unique, such as analytics_unique_ID.

To do so, add a line of HTML right below the existing value of your site ID. Substitute that value with your unique site identifier.

The affected text should look like the following:

Now, whenever a user (regardless of whether they use the WordPress dashboard or another interface) visits your site, Google Analytics will send that user’s tracking information to your chosen identifier.

When you save your changes and log out of your account, your changes will take effect immediately, without needing to be re-enabled.

After you have configured your Google Analytics, it’s time to configure your Analytics PHP module. This is a bit more complex than Google Analytics itself. First, you need to make sure that you have a list of supported tracking modules that matches your site. That can be done by clicking the Add compatibility dropdown, as follows:

Next, you need to create a new module and assign a unique name. That name is pretty much up to you.

5. How to set up Jetpack

Jetpack is a WordPress plugin that offers a suite of services like contact forms, social sharing, and statistics. Setting it up is easy: just install the plugin, create a WordPress.com account, and log in to the WordPress dashboard. Then you can navigate to Jetpack in the dashboard and configure the services you want to use. It’s that simple. It keeps a handy catalog of what’s available for each of the major CMS platforms. This makes it easier to get started since you don’t have to search for an existing plugin solution.

A freelancer’s tool that will help you mix payments from different clients and optimize your earnings is CRPP Pro. The plugin integrates with several systems like PayPal, Squarespace, and Xenu. Once a customer chooses you for a project, they’ll set up a payment method on your Cpanel. The plugin endeavors to seamlessly collect the appropriate amounts from each payment method, convert them to recurring revenue, then move those funds to your personal PayPal account.

Additionally, you can integrate with Asana to track time worked and to-do lists in addition to your CRPP Pro dashboard and invoice sources, such as PayPal.

CRPP Powerscoring is a premium plugin for WordPress that automatically powers up your blog based on the objective metrics you provide. You can utilize it to optimize your site for faster audience creation by filtering outposts and pages that don’t move the needle and redelivering content to relevant pages or posts based on SEO insights.

It’s another option if you’d rather employ live automation than manual installment. To set this up, you must first have an account on Squarespace. Once you do, you can use the plugin to set up a free CRPP account in just a few minutes.

The CRPP Dashboard is a dashboard that contains a collection of reports to help you run your blog or business. You can access additional reports by clicking on a link in the header of the dashboard.

The primary dashboard shows you the data you need about your site’s traffic, bounce rates, in-site conversions, and newsletter signups, among other metrics.

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