Ever since WordPress hit the scene it has revolutionized the way people create blogs and websites in general. The best part of WordPress is that there is a level of software appropriate for every user and ability level. While WordPress touts its simplicity of installation and user-friendly nature, the simplicity to which they refer is, of course, relative. That is, installing and navigating WordPress is a cinch for experienced programmers, but potentially challenging – though not impossible – for beginners or those with a modicum of tech savvy.
The Progression of WordPress
Originally, WordPress was developed as an easy way for bloggers to create and manage their content. Thanks to the open source nature of WordPress, programmers were soon using its themes to create even the most complicated websites.
If you are a blogger who’s not interested in managing your own FTP site, WordPress allows you to manage your blog via their WordPress.com website. This is an easy, installation-free way to experience the foundation of what WordPress has to offer – sleek themes, easy updates and back end navigability.
For the more experienced designer or webmaster, WordPress is a cakewalk. But that’s not to say that it lacks power! In addition to being open source software that is completely free, WordPress boasts thousands of customizable plug-ins and themes, many of them also completely free. For those without programming experience, premium themes are available for nominal fees, and an experienced programmer can download a free theme and customize it to their liking.
All New WordPress Plug-in
One of the hottest new plug-ins on WordPress is the Yoast WordPress SEO plugin. Yoast boosts your site’s SEO by showing you where you’re struggling, and how you can improve the weakest areas of your website. The plugin analyzes page functionality, allows you to create meta descriptions templates for multiple pages, and previews how those descriptions will appear when searched for in Google. Yoast has developed add-ons for its plugin, including local, video and news SEO options. The latter is available for free, while the other two are available for purchase.
Yoast has incredible features for publishers, helping you to promote your content every time it’s updated. If, for example, you’ve recently purchased an article through a site like TopicBay, Yoast gives you the option to implement an XML Sitemap. The Sitemap alerts search engines that new content has been published to your site, and ranks your page according to this new information. Once you’ve opted in to this feature of the plugin, all subsequent posts and updates will be added to the Sitemap. The map is then submitted to the major search engines.
Utilizing Content Resources
Another critical component to making your site SEO friendly is finding quality content. TopicBay definitely provides a solution for that. There are actually two ways to purchase content from this source. Either you can buy an existing article from the many choices on the site or you can request to have an article written for you that will be customized to your subject matter and keywords. Then the various writers will create content based upon your specifications and you will get to choose the one that fits your site the best. With quality content so readily available, it makes operating your WordPress site even easier.
The Complete Package
Yoast is the chocolate topping on the WordPress sundae, the yin to WordPress’ yang. It allows you to make the most of the software by addressing each area of SEO for you. By exploring the functionality of each area of the plugin, including meta descriptions, breadcrumbs and image optimization, Yoast guides you through the latest and greatest SEO techniques. The plugin is particularly helpful for blogging, publishing, and updating an old site to incorporate the latest and greatest optimization techniques.
Written by: Andrea Gressman