The sidebar is the narrow vertical column on a website.   It is usually placed on the right or left-hand side of a web page, though in some cases, a site will feature two sidebars, one on each side of the main content.

Many of my clients ask me what they should include in their website sidebar and this does vary between different sites and businesses.

A sidebar shouldn’t be random clutter that you use to fill up space just because you think something “might work”.  I have seen websites that are filled with STUFF and it winds up being super confusing, distracting, and hard to navigate.  You really need to think it through.

One of the most important things on a website is the content, so a good amount of time and planning will go into that when setting up a new site.  But planning what to include in your sidebar can actually  be just as important. 

So I would like to share some of the options that you might want to consider for your sidebar when planning your site design.

Items to include on a WordPress Website Sidebar:

• Owner Bio – All you have to do is add a short blurb from your About page with a photo and a link to “read more” that links to your About page.  Super easy, but often has a big impact because people want to know who you are and what you are about.

• Testimonials – It has a huge impact for people to see what OTHERS are saying about you and your business.  And if you are interested in learning about What Makes a Good Website Testimonial, be sure to read my recent article on the subject.

• Search box – Gives your visitors the ability to search your site for what they’re looking for. If they can easily find the information they need, they won’t go somewhere else to find it.

• Optin Box – Communicating with your visitors is a good way to keep your business in front of them. The best way to do this is to use a newsletter platform like Aweber, Mailchimp, Constant Contact or others and have them optin to receive your emails. This is one of the most important things you can do for your business, so it really needs to be the first thing on your side bar below your search box.  If you are interested in learning more about about How to Use an Optin to Grow Your Business List, be sure to read my recent article on the subject.

• Social Icons / Links – Adding your social icons and links to your social networks gives your visitors another way to connect with you. The more ways you provide to them, the better chance you’ll have of staying connected with them. These social icons can include Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest, Youtube, and RSS (just to name a few).

• Facebook Followers – Listing your Facebook followers will encourage others to request to follow you as well.

• Twitter Feed – Twitter is one of the most popular social networking sites online right now and it’s also one of the most valuable ones to use. When you post tips, articles, and other helpful information your visitors will see that and hopefully follow you so that they can see what else you can help them with.

• Recent Posts – Using a blog for your business is a great tool because it gives you the ability to post about your business and what you offer. It’s an easy way to advertise your business and share information that’s helpful to your market. When you post your recent posts on your sidebar they’ll be easy for your visitors to see and they’ll have even more help than before when it comes to discussing how you can help them.

• Video - A welcome video is a great way to create a “personal” connection with your visitors.  Allow your visitors to have control over whether or not they want to watch the video, so don’t have the video on auto-start. When you create your video be sure to include what they can expect from your business and how you can help them.

• Contact Information – I always tell clients that if they don’t have much to include in the sidebar, then it is a good idea to include contact info or even a small form that allows for visitors to send a message to them right from their sidebar.

Additional Sidebar Items:

• List of Categories
• List of Comments
• Tag Cloud
• Blogroll
• Ads and Promotions
• Events Calendar
• As Seen On Logos
• Image Slideshow

A website sidebar is valuable real estate.  You may even want to consider having different sidebars on different pages if you find that things are getting too cluttered.

A sidebar is a space where you can share valuable information with your visitors.  It is a place where they can learn more about who you are and why they should choose to purchase your product or service.  It is a place where you can provide different means of communication through social media.  It is a space where you can gather information that will help you to stay in contact with your visitors on an ongoing basis.

And like I said in the beginning of this article – you really have to think things through and figure out what to include and what NOT to include.

Your website is your storefront, especially when you work solely online. You may not have the ability to walk up and talk to someone when they visit, but do have the ability to bring clarity and keep a person coming back for more.

This is yet another cool infographic that I found through Pinterest. It gives a really great visual representation of the plugins needed for a WordPress website or blog.  They include ideas under the following categories:

• Cache
• SEO
• Social Bookmarking
• Login Protection
• Comment System
• Backup
• Maintenance
• URL Management
• Anti-spam
• Security
• Contact

There are many different plugins out there that would fall under each category.  Each wordpress developer / designer has their go-to plugins that they prefer.  The graphic below shows some options as well.

Must have plugins for WordPress by WordPress Jedi

Tracking the stats for your website will give you the information you need to know what is useful for your visitors and what’s not useful. Once you find out what’s useful you’ll know what changes need to be made to your site so you’ll be able to help your visitors with every aspect of your business. Unfortunately that’s not doable with your cpanel stats so Google Analytics is your best bet and it’s FREE.

Difference Between CPanel and Google Analytics Stats

Cpanel Stats – Your cpanel stats will give you unique visitors, total visitors, page views, link hits, and the total bandwidth for your site. You don’t have the ability to see visitors for each page so you have no idea if they’re visiting the pages that are more important than pages like contact us, about us, and thank you pages. While those are important pages, they’re not as important as other pages that show what you do, what they can purchase, and why they need to use your business.

Google Analytics Stats – The best way to find the stats for every page of your site is to use Google Analytics. Google Analytics will give you the total number of visitors for each page, the unique visitors (brand new visitors), page views, the time your visitors are on your page, and a many other things.

Who can use Google Analytics?

It’s important to know that Google Analytics is not just for big corporations or top websites with major traffic. It’s designed for all business owners (big or small). It doesn’t matter if you’ve been in business for a few months or a few years, it doesn’t matter if your site has been up for a few days or a few months, you will benefit by using Google Analytics.

Benefits of Google Analytics

• Track Online Campaigns – The Google Analytics system is designed to track online campaigns such as keyword and email campaigns. You can use these website statistics to further optimise your campaigns and know what makes a good campaign and whether or not there is room for improvement.

• Find out Where Your Visitors Are Coming From – It is not always easy to figure out HOW your visitors are ending up on your site.  But with Google Analytics, you can see the specific pages your visitors are landing on. And my favorite is the fact that you can track which keywords or keyword phrases people are typing in in order to find your site.

• Track Which Campaigns are Successful – Google Analytics provides information about each campaign that you run. This allows you to figure out which campaign is working and which ones aren’t. Better yet, it gives you the information you need to segment your results by referral source, new or returning visitors, etc.

• Allows You To Create Better Content – With the data you get with the Google Analytics reports, you can see which pages on your website are working and which need tweaking.  It might just be a matter of adding in some additional keywords or you may find that you need to rework the content all together.  But at least you can better understand what works and what doesn’t.

• It’s Free! – There are many comparable website tracking tools out there that you actually have to PAY for.  Some hosting companies will even suck you in to pay a monthly fee to track your stats from their website, but it is not necessary. Google Analytics provides just as much or even more info and it is completely free.

How to Set up a Google Analytics Account

Here is a helpful video that will walk you through how to set up your Google Analytics accounts and how to use the Google Analytics interface.

When you have the power that Google Analytics can give you, you’ll have the advantage over your competition.  You have control over the information your website visitors access from your site, and the ability to change the content as needed according to your stats.  When you choose to grow your business and use your website to make it happen, Google Analytics is a must have. This is a valuable tool that all business owners can benefit from regardless of the size of your business, the time you’ve been in business, and what type of business you run.

 Take a Tour of Google Analytics, Click Here

It’s very important to brand your business so others know that it is YOU when you comment on another website or blog or you reply when someone comments on YOUR website or blog.  There are several ways to brand your business and to protect yourself online – one of those ways is to use Gravatar.

What is Gravatar?

Gravatar is an abbreviation meaning “Globally Recognized Avatar”.  An avatar is a small photo or picture which visualizes its owner.  It gives a face to a comment.  You type in your email address and it picks up your information and displays your Gravatar image along side of the comment you make. This is a great way for people to immediately see that you were the one making the comment. It’s a good way to build trust with your readers and gain new or potential clients.  It is always better to interact face to face and gravatar allows you to do that virtually.

Setting up a Gravatar Account

In order to set up your gravatar, all you need to do is to sign up for an account using your email address and then add an image to your profile. It is that simple.  You can use a picture of you or you can use one that represents your business such as a logo or button.  Here are some examples:

The best thing about setting up a Gravatar account is that once it’s created you don’t have to do anything else.  It saves you from trying to find an image that will work every time you comment online and it eliminates the need for multiple accounts.

Why Use Gravatar

• Establishes your Branding.  As we mentioned in the beginning of this article, it is important that people recognize you and your business as you share online.  By having your photo or logo display next to your comment this just furthers your reach so that people will identify you and remember who you are.

• Helps Identify Spammers.  When you have a WordPress blog it’s important to set up a Gravatar account it is not only a great way to help build your branding, but to also protect against spammers.  They are the ones who like to leave those annoying comments with links to their sites. They normally don’t take the time to set up a Gravatar and include an image.

• Just Plain “Looks Nice“.  Gravatar makes your blog look nicer – plain and simple.  You tell me… which one looks better?

Growth is one of the most important things you think about when it comes to your business. If you don’t have success more than likely you’re business will be done and that’s certainly not what you want. When you set up and use a Gravatar you’ll begin to not only build trust, but you’ll also see the increase in potential clients and customers.

Here is a helpful video to learn more about Gravatar and how it works:

I started out using the Contact Form 7 plugin on my sites and my client sites.  It is great for simple forms, but you really need to know html code in order to set up a more in depth form or questionnaire.  It wound up becoming annoying.

A client of mine told me about Gravity Forms and I have been using it on my site for the past year or so.  I am thrilled with the results. You can see examples of several of the forms and questionnaires that I use on my “Contact Page“.

The plugin is sooooo easy to use and you can have an unlimited number of forms on one site.  Here is a short video done by Rocketgenius (the creators of the Gravity Forms plugin for WordPress) that will give you more information on how it works.

Here is a list of some of the features that the Gravity Forms plugin offers:

Easy to Use.  Quickly build and design your WordPress forms using the form editor. Select your fields, configure your options, and easily embed forms on your WordPress powered site using the built in tools.

Multi-Page Forms.  The page break field allows you to break up your form into multiple pages and even show a progress bar that let’s your user know where they are in the process.

Form Settings.  Easily configure the title, description, settings and confirmation message using the form settings.

Limit Entries.  Running a contest and only want to accept 50 entries? Easily limit how many entries a form will accept and display a custom message when that limit is reached.

Standard Fields.  Need a text field, paragraph field, drop-downs, checkboxes and some radio buttons? We’ve got you covered. Our standard fields consist of all the major form field types.

Advanced Fields.  Sometimes standard form fields just don’t cut the mustard. That’s where the advanced fields come in…. from capturing names, addresses and phone numbers to email addresses, website URL’s and even file uploads.

Schedule Forms.  Only want a form available for a limited period of time? Set a start and end date to limit form access and display a custom message when the form has expired.

Pricing Fields.  Gravity Forms makes it’s easy to create order forms. Order forms can incorporate pricing specific fields to allow your users to make selections and generate a total based on product and option selections.

The Gravity Forms plugin is one of the best options when it comes to website forms and questionnaires for a WordPress website or blog.  I highly recommend it.  It currently costs only $39 for one website, but you can have multiple forms on that one website.  They also have a Business Plan for $99 where you can have up to 3 websites using the plugin.  I would definitely check it out.  It will definitely add value and functionality to your site.

So, you have created a wordpress site, paid a good amount of money for a designer to make the site look “pretty”.  You have added lots of page content and spent hours writing blog posts and articles.  All in all, you have put a lot of time and effort into the site and a hacker has decided to get in and destroy it. What do you do?

I am sure you are feeling violated and wondering how in the world the hackers could get in.  I am sure you thought your site was secure and protected.

WordPress is a common hack entry since it is an open source platform and so many people use it.  It is easy for hackers to find things in common to look for like wp_ database prefixes or “admin” usernames.

I am not a hacker so I do not know HOW to hack a website but hackers are out there and they show up in various ways.

How do hackers get in?

• Through a hosting server.  (though the hosting company will never admit to that).
• Through Spyware and Malware – Hackers can infect your PC and steal your passwords.
• Through vulnerable WordPress databases, plugin files, and regular text/html files – this is usually the #1 cause and that is why it is extremely important to keep wordpress and plugins up to date.

Basically, if you have a computer connected to the outside world and someone wants to get in bad enough, they will find a way.  Not too reassuring, I know, but at least it CAN be fixed if it does happen to you.

Evidence of a WordPress site that has been hacked:

• Warning Window when trying to enter your site.  Google will often blacklist your site and they put up a warning that says “This site could be Malicious”.
• Website home page is completely modified with someone else’s “message”
• Website is being re-routed to another site (such as porn)
• Suspicious Content – You may notice content on your website that you did not put there.
• Stats Change – You may notice that that your site is showing up under keywords that have nothing to do with your site.
• SEO Change – You may notice that your search engine ranking drops significantly and rapidly.

What hackers leave behind:

Hackers often leave behind script code and links that have been embedded into pages and posts using non-visible code.  This can be called a “php injection attack”.  In other words, some evil person with too much time on their hands wrote a program to destroy your program files.  Do not take this personally.  Your website was not specifically targeted.  This can happen to ANYONE.

But cleaning up these type of attacks can be a HUGE pain in the neck, especially if your database has been compromised and you do not have a backup.  We had one site where we spent hours removing links from hundreds of wordpress posts.  It cost the client hundreds of dollars.  This can be prevented!

Solutions to being hacked:

• Clean up your data.
• Change your passwords.
• Upgrade your external programs (like WordPress, Joomla, plugins, photo galleries, etc) when upgrades are available.
• Notify your webhost and have them do a site restore from a backup done PRIOR to the hacking.  Please note that there are times when the hosting company does their backup AFTER the hacking which replaces the previous clean backup.  It is always best to have your own clean backup of both the site files and database saved on your computer.
• Run a Scan -  http://sitecheck.sucuri.net/scanner/
• Remove corrupt files
• Clean out any bad scripting code

Hackers will never stop finding ways to attack, unfortunately, but we can do a lot of things to prevent our WordPress sites from being hacked.  This is not fool proof but it is highly suggested.

Preventions from being hacked:

• Don’t use ADMIN as a user id.
• Always keep your upgrades current.
• Change passwords regularly (wordpress, hosting, and email passwords).  Use password generators to create passwords and then use different ones everywhere.
• Change the wp_ database prefix to something else.
• Restrict access to your wp-admin folder and wp-config.php file using .htaccess
• Keep a backup of your site files and your WordPress database (sql file) on someplace OTHER than your website server. (If they can hack your website, they can hack your backups too.)

I hope that this post will help you better understand how hackers can get in, the evidences that a site has been hacked, what hackers leave behind, solutions to fix a site that has been hacked and preventions that you can take to protect your site from hackers.

If your WordPress site has indeed been hacked, we are here to help you get it fixed and get your site back up and running again and help protect you from future attacks.

Please Fill out the form below and someone will get back to you within 24 hours.

WordPress is now one of the most widely used Content Management Systems for blogging. However there is often confusion between the two types of WordPress platforms and which one is best for a bloggers goals. This is why it is important for you, the small business owner to understand the difference BEFORE you start blogging.

What is the Difference Between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?

WordPress.com is free for the basic setup which includes your own special url (ex. www.mysitename.wordpress.com) and you also get 3 GB of space for storing your content and images.   But remember, THEY store your content, so in other words – they OWN your content.

WordPress.com is great if you want to start a simple blog or practice blogging online.  It does offer several nice looking themes and will definitely get you online and indexed with search engines – just not in the same capacity as WordPress.org.

With WordPress.org, your blog or web site is hosted on your own server through a hosting company like HostGator (affiliate link). WordPress itself is blogging software that you can tweek and play with and place blogs onto your own domain names. Therefore it will cost you money to buy a domain and host it but you can then do whatever you like with it, such as upgrade it, theme it any way you like, add/subtract whatever plugins you like and add whatever content, links, or ads you decide are appropriate.

Using WordPress.com is like you are swimming in the community swimming pool – you have to follow their rules – no jumping, no diving, etc.  In contrast, a self-hosted site, like WordPress.org where you have total control, you pretty much make up your own rules of how to swim in the pool. If you want to do a cannon ball, it’s entirely up to you!  LOL

Factors to Consider When Choosing Between WordPress.org and WordPress.com:

The following are some factors you may want to consider before you decide to start your blog on a paid host with WordPress.org or the “free” option with WordPress.com.

• Monetization and Advertisements: WordPress.com does not allow you to include advertisements of any kind. This will keep you from earning an income by offering advertising on your site.  Also your ability to share affiliate links is greatly diminished.

• Customization: WordPress.com provides a limited amount of theme options.  WordPress.org has an endless amount of themes to choose from or you can hire a web designer to create a custom theme to fit your needs.

• Knowledge: WordPress.org requires a little more technical knowledge than WordPress.com, however it is still simple to use once you master the admin panel.

• Lack of Ownership: With a WordPress.com site, you do not own your content.  Your content is hosted on THEIR server.  You are also required to have “.wordpress.com” at the end of the domain. So, instead of your site being “thisismysite.com”, it would be “thisismysite.wordpress.com”.  Having a domain like this is often viewed as unprofessional.  There is an option to pay a monthly $15 fee to use your own domain, but if you are going to do that, then you might as well go with the self hosted option so you have mo0re flexibility.
  

While WordPress.com is a good option to get started, if you are serious about blogging, desire a professional looking website or both, WordPress.org is definitely a better option for you. WordPress.Org  is very flexible when compared to WordPress.com; and the option to build a site that conveys your message effectively makes the customizations well worth the effort.

Quick Comparison Between WordPress.org and WordPress.com

Pros of WordPress.com

• It’s Free!
• Large selection of free layouts
• Automatic site upgrades, backups etc
• Possible traffic from the .com network
• Limited features make it easy for technically challenged

As a graphic and web designer who specializes in WordPress site builds, I highly recommend that you go with the “self-hosted” WordPress option (WordPress.org).  If you have any additional questions about the differences or capabilities and need further advice on which platform to choose, feel free to Email Me directly.

I have recently been alerted about yet another way for hackers to get into a WordPress website and cause havoc, so I wanted to take the opportunity and let you know about it and how to protect your WordPress site from being vulnerable.  This involves the popular image resizing script called TimThumb.

TimThumb is an image resizing feature used in many WordPress plugins and themes including Thesis and many others. The vulnerability that was reported allows third parties to upload and run malicious PHP files in the TimThumb directory. Once the code is uploaded and executed, the site will become  compromised.  This in turn runs you the risk of being blacklisted by Google and other search engines.  And getting the scripts removed and your site restored is not an easy task.

Here are a few steps you can follow to help protect yourself:

1.  Get rid of any old themes and plugins that you are not using.  Even if they are inactive, if they contain the timthumb.php file then you are potentially at risk.

2. Schedule regular backups of your site using a plugin like WP DB Backup. This particular plugin will back up your database at your selected time frame and send the backup to your email. You can select from once a month, once a week, daily or even hourly backups.

3. Install and activate the TimThumb Vulnerability Scanner plugin that was recently released by Peter of CodeGarage. This plugin will scan your entire wp-content directory for any outdated, insecure versions of the TimThumb script and it will provide a way to automatically upgrade them with one simple click.

These steps are vital to protecting your site from becoming victim to the new hackers that have emerged finding the holes in coding. If you have any questions or would like to have us help you in backing up, updating, and installing  plugins to keep your site safe – please Contact Us today!  We offer a couple different WordPress Maintenance packages which also includes checking for any TimThumb vulnerabilities.

The decision you have to make when it comes to choosing a hosting company for your WordPress website, is important. You want to choose a host that is there when you need them and gives you everything you need for your website building and maintenance purposes. Your business needs a reliable, and easy to use, host.

Tips for Finding A Good WordPress Hosting Company

• Step One: Research the possibilities. Look for dependable hosts based on ease of use, reliability, longevity and most of all customer service. You want a website host that will be with you for the long haul so you don’t have to ever switch hosts.

• Step Two: The elimination process.  There are few that don’t support WordPress, so you really need to find out ahead of time if they offer support for WordPress sites.  Some may claim that they do, but then when you run into a problem in the future, you will find out the hard way that they actually cannot help.  So do your research first and ask others who have WordPress sites.  If you can take a trial or explore their administrative panel before signing up, do so because you want to make sure it is something you can work with or learn easily.  Make sure it’s easy for you to use and understand or that they offer tutorials to help you get started. If not, eliminate them. There are too many other user friendly hosts out there than to bother with one that has a steep learning curve.

• Step Three: Compare and Choose. Assuming you now have a short lists of possibilities, compare costs. Which one is the most budget friendly? Some people also recommend testing the customer service at this point. Ask a question and see how they respond. Are they prompt? Courteous? Was the customer service process easy to use and understand?

Here is a breakdown of a few popular hosting companies for WordPress:

• HostGator: Hostgator hosting service is my FIRST suggestion.  They are reliable, reasonably priced, environmentally friendly, and best of all, their customer  service is excellent! With prices starting at $4.95 per month,  it is worth noting that all web hosting plans with a 45 day money back guarantee and 99.9% uptime guarantee. Each package comes with unlimited disk space and bandwidth as well.  This one is my personal fave.  If you click the ad on the bottom of my right sidebar and sign up, I get some nice affiliate love!

• BlueHost: Starting at $6.95 with unlimited storage and bandwidth, BlueHost provides a wide variety of services suitable for the needs of individuals and small to medium sized business owners. For anyone looking for the best hosting plan at a very affordable price, they offer a great solution. With a quality customer service department, free demos, and a host of awards for customer service and support, this is definitely one company you should consider for all your web hosting needs. This great company was also voted Best Web Hosting for 2011.

• HostMonster: Like Bluehost and HostGator, HostMonster offers unlimited domains, space and bandwidth with a starting price of $7.95. After a visit to the HostMoster’s professional looking website, you will quickly discover why they are among the best. Now in their 11th year of business, HostMonster provides hosting packages for businesses and individuals that want high-powered, but affordable web hosting services.

Before making your final choice, give anyone your credit card info, or buy a hosting package, you want to be sure to read the terms of service. Once you’ve made your decision, you’re then ready to direct your domain, set up your WordPress site, create a custom design, add content, and start blogging.  And if you are still not sure or need help getting started, we can help you every step of the way!

If your site is not a WordPress site but using a different format such as html, Yahoo is a great web hosting service option.

Getting WordPress installed and a theme customized is not the end of the road when it comes to WordPress SEO.  Yes, WordPress has things automatically integrated that will help with search engine optimization such as categories and tags (which you really need to use by the way), but there are many additional things that can be done.

One of my favorite plugins that I always add on sites that I build for clients is the All in One SEO plugin.  This allows you to add meta info for your homepage such as site title, description, and keywords.  You can also check the option to use categories and tags as keywords and you can go even further by adding meta info to every page on your WordPress website.

I am currently working with a client who is interested in getting her site ranked higher in the search engines and she has asked for some advice on how she can do that.  I decided to do some research in preparation for our phone consult and I found a great article by www.sitesketch101.com called “The 15 Best SEO Tips for WordPress in 2011″.  The writer shared some awesome ideas and I just had to share them with you as well.  I chose 12 out of the 15 tips.

1. Use an SEO Plugin
2. Add Fresh New Content on a Regular Basis - this is pretty self explanatory.  Add content that will engage the reader and keep them on your site longer and maybe even click through your site to other pages or posts.
3. Link out to Relevant / Informative Content – this is what I am doing here by linking to the article that has these awesome seo tips for WordPress
4. Use Keywords Throughout Your Articles – keyword refers to the word or phrase that you hope will be listed on a search engine.  So, for example, I would like to be listed under “WordPress SEO”, so I need to try to use variations of that term or phrase within this post.
5. Use Keywords in the Post Title
6. Optimize Your URL Structure / Permalinks – I automatically set the permalink structure to “/%postname%/” when building a site.  You should never change this if you already have an established site.  That can screw things up big time if you don’t know what you are doing.  But for a new WordPress site, it is very important to set the permalink structure BEFORE you do anything else.
7. Optimize Images In Posts – Add image titles and alt text that describes both the image and the content of the article.
8. Provide a Google Sitemap – Google likes it when you provide them with an easy-to-read overview of all the pages on your site. The easiest and most effective way to deliver this much needed SEO tool is to simply install the WordPress plugin called Google XML Sitemaps. This plugin will do all the hard work for you and automatically update every time you add new posts to your site.
9. Interlink Keywords Between Articles – Link to one of your old posts within a new post.  This increases the page views on your site and encourages people to read other articles of yours.
10. Cache Your Site Content -  WP Super Cache and W3 Total Cache are WordPress plugins that allow a generated page to be stored as a real static page so that the next person to view it doesn’t have to wait for it to be created. This drastically reduces the time it takes a viewer to see your pages and increases the possibility of keeping more readers. This means that your content will always be lightning fast.
11. Recycle Old Posts and Revive Old Permalinks – The art of recycling an old post simply means that you take an article that was previously published, let’s say five or six months ago, and add new life and excitement to it and republishing it. If you want to keep growing the ranking authority of your most powerful articles from last year then be sure to leave the permalink alone. This allows you to bring in a fresh wave of links to a page that already ranks in Google.
12. Link to Related Posts: Install WordPress Related Posts Plugin which adds  4 or 5 similar posts at the bottom of each your posts. This is a great way to guide your readers to more of your articles on similar topics and it’s a terrific way to guide search engines around your site.

I hope these tips will help you to take your WordPress site to the next level.  The last thing you want to do is to spend money on having a custom WordPress site designed and not take advantage of some of the simple things that can be done to help boost your site’s seo optimization status.

If you are currently using WordPress and you are not sure if you are doing everything you need to do for your site’s SEO, then feel free to Contact Me Today so that I can help you get your site to where it needs to be.