Update Your WordPress Blogsite Permalinks and You Will Be Found
September 29, 2009
Lately, I’ve noticed quite a few established blogsites still using the standard WordPress permalink structure. By naming your permalinks well, you may find some of your posts successfully listed at number 1 in the search engines (Google loves blogs). What is a permalink, you ask? A permalink, aka permanent link, is a URL that points to a specific blog post. This looks like jibberish by default: http://example.com/?p=123. The ‘&p=123′ text is called the post slug (isn’t that an awful way to refer to it). The post slug will appear in your URL in place of the full title of your post. By incorporating keywords and shortening your post title, you will absolutely be found and can attract new visitors to your site.
From the WordPress dashboard, select Settings, then Permalinks. From the WordPress Common Settings, choose something like Month and Name or create your own. Personally, I customize the settings and use the year and the post name, like http://www.example.com/2009/sample-post.
Not only will you be found by the search bots, but humans will find the address more visual pleasing and informative, as well. Don’t let this wonderful SEO opportunity pass by. It is such an exciting moment to see a post brought up as number 1 following a Google search. Why not change your permalink structure now and remember to leave a comment after you see your name in Google lights!
I’m Excited About The Way WordPress v2.8 Handles Widgets
June 12, 2009
How exciting! WordPress version 2.8 is now available with many cool new features to simplify and improve our user experience. Notably, it is now possible to browse the theme directory like you can the plug-ins directory, all widgets are multi-instance widgets which allow use more than once, and screen options appear on every page to adjust for varying monitor sizes.
My favorite new feature is the ability to drop widgets into any one of your theme’s sidebars in a single screen, inactivate them, and save their settings. I know this would have come in handy when my blog page crashed this week because I used a one-time only widget that was suddenly invisible.
Watch this video for a nice overview of the new WordPress version 2.8.
I know it’s enticing to see that dashboard message “WordPress 2.8 is available! Please update now.” but do not select that link until you back up your database, widgets, your pages and posts and any customization you’ve done. Then, by all means, click away!
