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SEO For Bloggers

August 23, 2015 By Jen Kehl

seo for bloggers

 

Last month, I went to a fairly hugemongous blogging conference. Besides getting to meet many blogging friends in real life, which was a lot of fun (read getting to see a bunch of middle age folks singing karaoke like no one was watching) the most valuable thing?I got out of the conference was the session I did on SEO by Jessica Woodbury.

The beauty of Jessica’s session was that it reaffirmed what I already knew about SEO for bloggers, and gave me clarity on how to apply it.

The best thing she said? Bloggers are already doing SEO better than anyone else!

So, what is the skinny? What do you need to know?

The most important thing to know is write naturally.

Google is constantly changing the way it reads sites. It’s little spiders are getting smarter and smarter. They know when you are trying to pull the wool over their eyes, and they are not going to like you for it.

So if your goal is to have your post rank higher than someone elses, write naturally and follow these six rules:

  1. Try to make sure your keywords are in your title. I know, duh. But as a blogger, often times, we use pithy titles, metaphorical ones. We rarely say it like it is. So don’t worry! If you can’t put your keywords in your title, then you can, and should, do these next things instead.
  2. Update your permalinks. Caveat*never update permalinks that are already live! If you cannot put your keywords in your title, make sure to put them in your permalinks. For instructions how to do that seem my post on using Yoast SEO.
  3. Change your SEO title using the Yoast SEO plugin. If you can’t have your keywords in your title, and you want your post to rank higher, change the title that will show up in the Google search results by using the Yoast SEO plugin. This will NOT effect how your post looks on your blog.
  4. Make sure your word count is at least 600 words and contains your keywords. (I know you’re like, duh, try and keep me to 600 words)?There’s a lot of info going around that says your post only needs 300 words to make Google happy, well times change, and those little word munchers are hungry. Unless you make your posts 600 words or more, they aren’t going to think you are yummy enough to feature on that first page. And don’t forget the reason they came! They want your keywords! It doesn’t have to be an exact match to make them happy, remember, write naturally, which means make sure your keywords happen organically, don’t force it!
  5. Do some Keyword Research. If you have never done keyword research before, this is probably the time to try. You may be more successful by using a variation of what you were thinking, but wouldn’t know it if you didn’t research it. I found the easiest way to do it was by using the Google Keyword Planner.
  6. Show?Google you are the authority when it comes to this topic. Whether you are writing about divorced cats living in Tasmania, or famous rock bands of the fourth century, the way to tell Google that you are the Boss of This Topic is to use links. Links can come in a few forms.
    • Links to other blogs and websites writing about the same content.
    • Links within your blog back to posts that are about similar content.
    • And most precious, links from other blogs back to your site. (As Jessica mentioned, don’t be afraid to ask for a link. Maybe a blogger you know just wrote a post on divorced dogs from Tasmania and your two posts work well together, linking to each other’s posts helps both of you!)

One more thing.

It’s all about the Bounce. Google doesn’t want to see people show up on your page and then leave right away. I’m pretty sure you don’t want that either. And it’s a multi-edged sword.

Bounce tells Google that although you are trying to prove you are the authority on this matter, the people arriving on your site don’t think so. After a while, they’re gonna take the bouncers word for it.

Make your site user-friendly, make sure that when a visitor arrives they know what to do the minute they get there. That if the post they land on isn’t the one they are looking for it’s easy for them to find something they will like. Make it easy for your readers to stick around, and it’s a win win for your site and your SEO.

Try these tips and you’re guaranteed to see an increase in your search engine traffic! Let me know how it works for you, and if you’ve got a question, ask away!

 

Filed Under: Tips and Hacks, Tutorials, WordPress Tagged With: Blogging, Plugins, SEO, Tips, Tutorial, WordPress

3 Easy Steps to Setup Akismet and Eliminate Comment Spam

June 10, 2015 By Jen Kehl

setup akismet

I just got back from an amazing blogging conference called Blog U.

I was there in the capacity of “Design Lab,” which?was a brilliant idea by the conference creators to offer?a help desk for bloggers. They could schedule a 20 minute session and discuss any questions they might have.

I have been humbled hearing the feedback from the conference, and I have benefitted as well. I received?a clearer understanding of how many different levels of WordPress knowledge bloggers actually have, it reinforced my “assume nothing” position.

I wanted everyone I spoke to, to understand that it doesn’t matter what level of understanding you have. You are awesome. And it is amazing that you want to know, and you can know! You are so much more than you give yourself credit for!!

I often accuse myself (people can do that you know) of giving my knowledge away for free. But it’s that “teach a man to fish” mentality. There are so many things a blogger can do for her/himself without paying someone, with a uniterrupted hour and a good tutorial, you’d be amazed at what you can accomplish. And if there’s a really big problem, then you can come to me.

For some people getting into the backend of WordPress can be intuitive work, and they just dive in. While other people are unsure what to do, and have heard enough horror stories to make them scared to touch anything. I hope by reading this blog, you?will learn that you don’t have to be worried. And if you have backups of all your work, you are always good to go!

While at BlogU I noticed more sites than I would have thought, without active Akismet accounts. ?Some of those sites had turned their comments off because they had so much comment spam.

Akismet is probably the most important plugin you can have. This is the single most effective plugin for blocking comment spam. It is so perfect, it comes pre-installed with Jetpack*.

[bctt tweet=”Akismet is probably the most important plugin you can have. Take the time to make sure it’s activated!”]

But it doesn’t come pre-setup. So I am going to help you set it up if you haven’t already.

This is what you will see if you haven’t activated your Akismet:

setup Akismet

 

 

Akismet is one of those plugins that is purposefully?setup to integrate nicely with Jetpack and WordPress. To that end, you can locate it by clicking on Jetpack>Akismet.

setup akismet

 

It will open up this page:

akismet setup

 

WordPress, as Jetpack, already knows who you are. You should continue your login using the email that pops up unless you have a very good reason not to.

When you click on this link you will go to Akismet’s setup page.

It will ask you what type of plan you would like, choose “Basic.” Now here, you are lead to believe that you have to pay for Akismet. There is a sliding scale, you may slide it to $0 if you choose.

However, because they created this amazing and wonderful plugin that you cannot live without and will save you hours of heartache and strife, how about giving them a $1.00?

Once you enter the amount?you will be given an API key.

Your Akismet should now be automatically active!

If for some reason it isn’t, all you need to do is go back to where you should have Akismet open in your dashboard (or go back to your dashboard and click Jetpack>Akismet) and enter the API key, click Use This Key, and you are good to go!

*If you don’t use Jetpack, you can install Akismet, by going to Plugins>Add Plugin, it will show up right there at the top of the list. Install it and activate it,?from now on you will find it in Settings>Akismet. And then follow the same directions!

As always, I am here to help! If you have any questions?don’t ever be afraid to ask!

 

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Filed Under: Plugins, Tutorials Tagged With: Akismet, Plugins, Security, Tutorial, WordPress

Optimization, Vulnerabilities, Hackers, Oh My! An Explanation of the Crazy WordPress Events of the Past Month

April 27, 2015 By Jen Kehl

wordpress vulnerabilities

The WordPress Twilight Zone…

It has been a really busy month?for WordPress and WordPress users. It’s enough to freak a person out.

But don’t. I know how out of control you can feel when you rely on technology to take care of itself, and it’s been doing a really good job of it until BAM it’s not.

 

You know that saying, “A little information is a dangerous thing?”

 

March 11th?the WordPress SEO by Yoast vulnerability.

The news spread fast, and regular blogging folks like you and me were really worried. So worried, in fact, that WordPress decided to push the update themselves. Which meant your WordPress SEO updated itself automatically before you even knew what was happening.

That was awesome, only that “little information” made people even more sure it was a “huge problem” and I even heard people dissing WP SEO. Say it isn’t so!

Here’s how the vulnerability worked:

…an outside hacker can?t trigger this vulnerability itself because the flaw actually resides in the ‘admin/class-bulk-editor-list-table.php‘ file, which is authorized to be accessed by WordPress Admin, Editor or Author privileged users only.
Therefore, in order to successfully exploit this vulnerability, it is required to trigger the exploit from authorized users only. This can be achieved with the help of social engineering, where an attacker can trick authorized user to click on a specially crafted payload exploitable URL. (Hacker News)

 

In english? Basically the only person who could hack this vulnerability was someone who was already an Admin. Or someone who was tricked into letting someone be the Admin. And even so, no one would have had time. They found it so fast, it was as if it never happened.

April 20th A Dozen Vulnerable Plugins

You can pretty much bet you were using one of the plugins on this list: Jetpack, WordPress SEO, All-in-one SEO, Ninja Forms, Google Analytics, you name it, it was probably on the list.

This was another really weird thing….plugin developers use?information on WordPress code from what is called the WordPress Codex. If you have ever Googled a WordPress problem, and you wind up on a WordPress.org page, you are in the Codex.

The Codex is a great place if you understand code. It’s a scary place if you don’t.

Here’s the skinny. Code changes, which is a really good thing. Because the more code stays the same, the easier it is for hackers to figure out how to exploit it.

A few months back, the WordPress Codex was updated and changed a bit of code. The code fixed a possible open door. The problem was that developers were using copies of the Codex that still contained the old bit of code.

But.

A hacker would have to know about this vulnerability to use this vulnerability. But since WordPress was notified immediately, once again they pushed an update. Most of you had your plugins updated before you even realized what was going on.

April 27th Zero Day Vulnerability – WordPress

So, today. WordPress 4.2.1 was released to repair a vulnerability which allowed commentors to inject code that can take over a web server. Pretty scary. But the thing is, it’s WordPress’s job to keep you safe. And once again, they were on it.

In the course of the update, it also scanned for any malicious looking comments and removed those. So once again, you’re all good.

 

WordPress has got your back.

I’m a pretty big proponent of WordPress, as you have probably figured out. The truth is, as with computers, WordPress doesn’t make mistakes, users do. I know, harsh. Don’t throw anything at me *she says cowering* I’ve caused the white screen of death many times in my WordPress existence. Truth be told? It was never WordPress’s fault.

The people who work for Automattic (WordPress) are obsessed, really obsessed with WordPress. Many WordPress users are obsessed with WordPress and hang out in the WordPress forum just so if you have a question, they can answer it. For free. No one will ever let something slip in undetected because all day long they eat think and breathe WordPress.

WordPress vulnerabilities are going to happen. Hackers suck, and they aren’t going to stop trying to steal your stuff.

Don’t panic. I know it’s been crazy. But instead of thinking of the crazy as bad, think of the crazy as good. (That should be my motto.) The fact that it’s been one update after another means that everyone out there is looking out for YOU. Me too. I’m looking out for you too. Shoot me a line, day or night if you’ve got a question.

And don’t forget! If you have a backup plan and security you’re golden no matter what!!!

[bctt tweet=”You’ve entered the WordPress twilight zone! But don’t worry, they’ve got you covered.”]

Filed Under: Plugins, Technology, WordPress Tagged With: Backups, Plugins, Security, Self-Hosted, Tips, WordPress

3 Easy Steps To Secure Your Blog

April 16, 2015 By Jen Kehl

3 easy steps to secure your blog

One of my favorite jobs, is tweaking and fixing people’s blogs. I love to dig into the code, pick things apart, isolate the problem and then fix it.

I love it so much that sometimes I get lost in the looking and the researching and the fixing.

But one thing stops me cold every. single. time. I pop on someone’s blog and they have no security.

Look. I get it. You’re a small blog, or you think you are. You think no one would bother hacking you. You are dead wrong.

The best blogs to hack are the little ones, you know why? They have no security.

It’s no skin off your back to lock up your site, and I’m going to make it easy for you. How about instead of giving you choices I just tell you what I do?

I am already going to assume you have an airtight password, if you don’t please go read this post on how to create a Bulletproof Password.?And that you are keeping your plugins updated, if not, read this post about updating your plugins.

[bctt tweet=”Forget the choices. I’ll just tell you how to secure your #WordPress site?in?3 easy steps.”]

3 Easy Steps to Secure Your Blog

 

1) Install WordFence

Wordfence is the #1 free security plugin on WordPress and there is a reason for that.

You don’t have to understand anything to use it. Out of the box it will do its job.?But it doesn’t hurt to run through the tutorial and change a few settings. Just grab a cup of coffee or tea, plan to sit in front of the computer for 20 minutes and get her done.

The best thing is the Wordfence scan. WordFence automatically runs a scan of your site. It will find any malicious code or possible breaches. And when it does, guess what? It’s also going to tell you what to do about it. Can it be any easier?

 

2) Install Login Lockdown

Login Lockdown does just what you think. It locks someone out who tries to login too many times.

The #1 way hackers try to get in to your site is by running a program that adds /wp-admin to the end of a URL, when it happens upon a WordPress site it just starts hammering it with passwords until it gets in.

Login Lockdown says “You did not just try to login to this site 20 times, you are outta here!” I suggest changing the attempts to 5, unless you run a forum, because I’m pretty sure you won’t forget your password 20 times in a row.

 

3) Install a backup plugin.

Because when all else fails, you’re still okay if you have a backup.

If you’re going for free ones, may I suggest Updraft Plus Backup and Restoration?

I have noticed a lot of blogs are running WP DB Backup, in your plugin menu it will read WordPress Database Backup by Austin Matzko, please, please delete it and either use Updraft or the “real” WordPress Database Backup.?The one by Austin Matzko has not been updated in over two years and poses a HUGE security risk.

 

My advice? Don’t say I’ll do this later, do it now. If you know me, my broken record is my favorite hobby blog got hacked when it was getting 60 page views a day, it was teeny. In the end, it was pay thousands of dollars, or shut it down. I shut it down.

It’s better to never have to even have that conversation.

And remember, I am always around for a free 30 minutes, even if you want to use it to get some help installing these plugins.

There is also the Plugin Checkup that has saved a lot of bloggers quite a few headaches, I also throw in a page speed analysis with suggestions on how to fix it.

I’m always here, my mission is to help bloggers while staying in their budget. Let’s talk.

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Filed Under: Advice, Plugins, Tips and Hacks, Tutorials, WordPress Tagged With: Backups, Blogging, Plugins, Security, Tips, Tutorial, WordPress

The Easiest WordPress Yoast SEO Plugin Tutorial for Bloggers

April 13, 2015 By Jen Kehl

easy wordpress seo tutorial for blogs

As a blogger, you?hear a lot of talk about SEO, sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t. (If you don’t, it’s Search Engine Optimization – getting the search engine crawlers to see what you want them to see, determine you are an expert in your field and to stick you up there towards the top when someone does a Google search.)

Sometimes you do get it, but you don’t know what to do about it. When it comes to SEO and websites, Meta tags are a thing of the past. Google no longer cares, or looks for them. What you need now is a WordPress plugin.

While there are a few to choose from, the best option out there, that is now fully endorsed and integrated with WordPress itself, is Yoast?SEO.

The great thing about WP SEO is, it is basically plug and play. It also eliminates the need for any XML sitemaps, so if you are using a plugin for that, you MUST deactivate it. WP SEO automatically sends out a new sitemap every time you make a change to your blog. Yea!

Now before you think, “Oh NOOOOZZZZ another plugin?! I don’t want to have to figure out another plugin!” I’m gonna?make this real easy for you. (sorry, I just heard a banjo twang in the distance, did you hear that?)

[bctt tweet=”I’m gonna make installing and setting up WordPress SEO by Yoast, really easy for you. #WordPress #SEO”]

In your dashboard, go to plugins > click on Add New > in the search box type WordPress SEO and install and activate.

Here is your easy WordPress SEO tutorial for blogs!

Since originally publishing this post, I have created a screencast for installing and setting up this plugin. If you love screencasts, here you go!

Otherwise see the directions below.

 

And here is the video on how to use Yoast in your posts. (that rhymes!)

 

First! Don’t touch anything!! Ok, you can touch something….. if you are feeling particularly adventurous, and I highly recommend this adventure, go through the tour that WP SEO is going to keep offering you until you say. “Hey! Ok! I get it already!!!”

Either way, you?will now notice, there is a new item in your dashboard called SEO, with what looks like a devil in a speech bubble. (I am sure it’s not a devil, but the dude is from the Netherlands, and maybe there the devil looks different.)

Alrighty. If you don’t already have it open, click on SEO and then click on Social. This is the only place you really need to touch anything.

See the little tab that says accounts? Go ahead and enter any of the accounts you actively use?and Save Changes.

easy wordpress seo tutorial for blogs

You may ignore all of the other tabs UNLESS……

  • Facebook Tab
    • If you use Facebook Insights you will enter all of that information here. If you want to change the default image that shows up on EVERY FACEBOOK POST you will upload one here where it says “Default Image.”
  • Twitter Tab
    • If you would like to use Twitter Cards, this is where you do that.
  • Pinterest Tab
    • If your site is not already verified on Pinterest, this is where you would do that.
  • Google Tab
    • If you have a Google Page for business, not a personal page like most of us do. This is where you would attach that.

 

Now your WordPress SEO is all set up for your blog! But wait!!!

The amazing thing about WordPress SEO is not that it sends all of your information out to all of the popular search engines, it is not that it generates a new XML sitemap every time you update your blog, it’s this; you get to identify the best SEO for each of your blog posts.

 

How to make sure the SEO for your blog post rocks!

Here’s a video I made on this part

Now that you’ve installed WP SEO, you will notice that there is something new at the bottom of your post and page drafts:

easy wordpress seo tutorial for blogs

 

 

 

In order to have EXCELLENT SEO you will need to fill out a few things, but don’t worry! WordPress SEO will tell you if you’re on the right track.

There are two ways you can go.

  • Decide what your keyword or keyword phrase will be before you write your title and post.
    • I often choose this route because I feel like it’s easier to manipulate the keywords.
  • Decide what your keyword or keyword phrase will be after you write your post.
    • Sometimes it is easier to write the post first, then figure out what it’s all about, and how you feel someone would search for it. That is what I wound up doing with this post.

 

For this example, we are going to choose our key phrase first, with the increase of SEO aware websites, it has become best practice to choose a key phrase (not just a key word), and try to make it the least obvious of your obvious choices.

For instance. Setting up WordPress SEO could have been my key phrase, but I thought, “Let’s step one down from totally obvious and go with Setting up WordPress SEO for blogs.”

The first thing you want to do is incorporate your key phrase into your title.

Sometimes, when you’re snarky or poignant or like listicles, it’s not always easy to incorporate your key phrase into your title, in that case, just make sure your key phrase is in your permalink.

easy wordpress seo tutorial for blogs

To change your permalink, you just need to click the little “edit” button, next to your permalink. The box will open up and allow you to edit. Just make sure your key phrase is in there, with each word separated by a dash.

*Occasionally WordPress will change your permalink and it won’t actually match your title exactly, so always check your permalink to make sure your key phrase is, in actuality, in there.

Now, stick your Key Phrase into the WordPress SEO by Yoast box on the bottom of your post in the section marked “Focus Keyword:” Go back to the top of your post and hit “Save Draft.”

Go back down to your WP SEO box, you will see something like this:

 

easy wordpress seo tutorial for blogs

 

Don’t worry if you still have a red “no” here and there. You’ve only just started, but now you know what you need to work on.

  • Article Heading – This is your blog post’s title.
  • Page Title – See the box called SEO Title? If your post title does not have your key phrase in it, this will automatically default to the same title (without your key phrase in it). This is the title that will display in the Google feed when someone searches. If you don’t care if the title is the same, and you would rather have a title that incorporates your key phrase show up in the Google feed, feel free to type in a new title. (I never do, it will not make or break your SEO)
  • Page URL – This is your permalink. It should be a “Yes” if not, go back up a step and change your permalink.
  • Content – This is your blog content, if you haven’t written anything yet it will say “no.” Make sure when you do write your content to use your key phrase at least two times. Then when you?save draft it will change to “yes.” (If for some reason it doesn’t, check that your wording is exactly the same.)
  • Meta Description – Don’t blow this one off. This is the description of your post that will show up under the Google listing of your headline. It’s got to be short but sweet. It has to use your key phrase and make people want to click. I often find the most impressive sentence in my post that includes the key phrase and copy and paste it into my post. If it’s a little long that’s ok, as long as the key phrase shows up in the beginning part. (word of note, this will become your default Facebook text unless you change it. See the last part of this post for instructions on how to do that.)

Now Go Write Your Post!

When you are finished writing, hit save draft. Assuming 80% of the items from the “General” tab now say yes, hit the “Page Analysis Tab.”

You will see something close to this. Your goal is to have as few red lights as possible.

 

easy wordpress seo tutorial for blogs

 

 

Aha! We never talked about images!!! Look at that red arrow, up there! “The images on this page do not have alt tags containing your keyword/phrase.”

If you know what an “alt tag” is, then you’re good. If you don’t, no worries!

*Update, using alt tags is no longer a good thing. Google is not reading images anymore because people were using them to increase SEO and Google doesn’t like to be tricked.?

They are now only using them to update Google Image Searches, and as bloggers, we all know what people do with Image Searches. They steal your images.

 

Now, click save draft, and check your page analysis again. Mine looks like this now, I still have a red light. BUT according to WordPress SEO, the big picture is A-OK. I now have a green light for SEO. (I’ll show you where that is in a sec.)

The great thing about Page Analysis is, it tells you what to do. As long as you only have one or two red lights, you are good to go. But if you want to be totally OCD go for it and try to turn all those lights green!

easy wordpress seo tutorial for blogs

 

 

You may have noticed the last time you hit save draft, a green light in your publish box showed up. That green light is your SEO check. As long as it’s green, you’re good to go! Every time you make a change to your SEO, either in the “General Tab” or on your post, hit save draft and check the light. Once the light is green, you can stop trying so hard and get publishing!

easy wordpress seo tutorial for blogs

 

Wait! One more thing.

Some of you wish that you could change how your post appears on Facebook. Well, here’s your White Knight!

Click on the “Social” tab of WordPress SEO by Yoast at the bottom of your post.

Yours will be blank. This is the gist. You can change all of these elements for each specific post.

  • Facebook Title – Say when this gets posted to Facebook you want the title to be more catchy, or you want it to get straight to the point, change it here. (Leave it blank and it will use your post title.)
  • Facebook Description – Yup, just what you think. Right now, WP SEO is going to pick up your Meta Description for Facebook, but if you want it to say something different, more descriptive, stick it in here.
  • Facebook Image – Some themes default to a weird image, even if you choose a “Featured Image” for your post. This is where you can stick an image to guarantee you get the image you want attached to your Facebook post.

Rinse and repeat if you want to change the same information for Google+.

 

easy wordpress seo tutorial for blogs

 

One more little tidbit; Search Engines LOVE back links. Back links are links in your post that go back to a previous post about a similar topic. Many of my clients say they don’t like back links because they seem so obvious.

This is my advice, your back links don’t need to look obvious. Here’s an example:

When you are trying to think of blog post titles that incorporate your key phrase, make sure the title still has some pizzazz. A high-ranking post isn’t any good if no one wants to click on your boring words.

Notice how blog post titles is a link? It’s a link back to my post about rocking blog post titles. But is it obvious? No. The words occurred naturally in my post and I chose to link them back. Be creative, fudge it if you have to, let it be loosely associated with the topic. But try to have at least one back link in your post.

How’d I do?

I tried to make this an easy WordPress SEO tutorial for blogs. Before I learned tech and was a blogger myself, so many pieces of the puzzle were, well, puzzling. The?tutorials out there in the “real world” were?difficult for your average blogger to understand. And when I didn’t understand I was often afraid to ask.

I hope that I have made this easier for you, and please, as always I welcome questions! Please contact me for a free 30 minute consultation, or leave a comment with any question you may have! I also have a Facebook group just for Blog Tech Help. Keep in touch!

[bctt tweet=”Finally a #WordPress SEO by Yoast tutorial you can understand. “]

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Filed Under: Plugins, Tips and Hacks, Tutorials, WordPress Tagged With: Blogging, Plugins, SEO, Tips, Tutorial, WordPress

Don’t Get Hacked, Update Your Plugins

March 16, 2015 By Jen Kehl

update your plugins

Last week we found out that WordPress SEO by Yoast had a security compromise. Messages were blasted out everywhere, Update Your Plugins! (Actually you should be okay, because the issue was so severe WordPress.org did a forced update for everyone.) But you still should update your plugins!

This brings up a very serious topic I have been talking to my clients about. Plugins are the easiest backdoor for a hacker to walk through. Although we would like to think that this was an isolated incident, the only reason it was blasted from high and low is because WordPress SEO is the #1 downloaded WordPress plugin.

Trust me, bloggers big and small get hacked everyday because of old code in a plugin.

I have worked with a lot of bloggers over the past few months who want some help with their blogs functionality, the first thing I always check is plugins. I have been amazed by the sheer amount of un-updated plugins, from both the bloggers end and the builders end.

Most?bloggers don’t realize that not updating plugins is a security risk. Their view is that?their site is too small to be hacked. But that’s not true, a hacker doesn’t care how big you are. What they want is your platform, it doesn’t matter how big it is.

[bctt tweet=”Update your plugins to keep your blog safe! #WordPress #Plugins”]

Here’s another thing you may not know.

A plugin is also vulnerable if the plugin author is not updating it.

I recently did a plugin check for a client and discovered two plugins that hadn’t been updated in over a year. That is a huge open door. Plugins are integrated into the code that WordPress is built on, if the author does?not update his?plugins, but your WordPress code is constantly being updated, then the code gets further and further from matching up.

Think of it as a zipper. The plugin is one side, and WordPress is the other. As long as both are up to date, the zipper is all zipped up. But if one of them is not updated the zipper starts opening and any Tom, Dick or Harry can climb in your hoodie.

Just remember, plugin authors are human and humans make mistakes, as was the case with WordPress SEO by Yoast. Humans can also decide they don’t want to do the same job anymore and abandon a plugin. It is your responsibility to stay on top of your plugins and WordPress updates.

If you need help, you can always ask. But for now, go login to your WordPress dashboard and update your plugins!

 

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Filed Under: Plugins, WordPress Tagged With: Plugins, Security, SEO, Tips

8 WordPress Plugins Every Blogger Should Know About

January 19, 2015 By Jen Kehl

 

wordpress plugins

What is a plugin?

A plugin is a bunch of code, that, when added (plugged in) to your WordPress site, gives it?a ton of functionality it did not have before. The great thing about WordPress plugins, is that they take an already amazing site, that you created, and make it better without you having to know any code.

People are often concerned that there is a “too many plugins” threshold. The truth is, what matters is what plugins you have. This article by Austin Gunter over at WP Engine called, Plugins and Fast WordPress Sites – It’s Not the Number of Plugins, It’s the Quality?explains why you can be running 80 plugins and still have a safe, fast site!?So, whether you have 2 or 20 plugins (or 80!), these are WordPress plugins you should know about.

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Jetpack by WordPress

Jetpack is an amazing WordPress plugin built by the folks at Automattic (the people behind WordPress). The great thing about Jetpack is it offers you a ton of functions that used to only be available in individual plugins. Some notables are Social Media share buttons, blog follow widget, easy blog icon (favicon), custom CSS module, simple contact forms, related posts, even grammar and spell check and so so much more. Use Jetpack and only activate the modules you use.

 

akismet WordPress plugin

Akismet

Akismet is the single most effective spam reducing plugin. On my personal blog Akismet catches 500 spam messages a day.

 

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WordPress SEO by Yoast

WordPress SEO by Yoast has surpassed all other plugins as the definitive SEO plugin. As a matter of fact, this plugin also eliminates the need to have a plugin that generates XML sitemaps because it generates new ones every time you write a new post and submits them for you!
One of the best features of this plugin is that it has a simple red light, green light system alerting you when you’re SEO is not good. You scroll to the bottom of your page and can see a live page analysis. Just click on the Page Analysis tab and get an explanation of how to improve the SEO on your post.

 

wordpress plugin w3 total cache

W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache?What is cache? Caching is when your data is stored in a way that is easier for your site to access then to go to your server and request it. It makes your site run much faster with fewer errors. It is really important for page load time. All hosts recommend you use one, most recommend you use this one.

 

wordfence wordpress plugins

Wordfence Security

As far as free security goes, Wordfence Security is probably the best. With over 4 million downloads and an almost perfect rating of 4.9 you can’t go wrong. If you choose to go with Wordfence, you won’t need a caching plugin – Wordfence takes care of that. It has a firewall that blocks common forms of?attacks and has a unique way of blocking known attacks. If any other WordPress site is being attacked it blocks that same attack on every site that uses it, simultaneously!

 

simple social icon plugin

Simple Social Icons

It doesn’t get any easier than Simple Social Icons, this plugin allows you to drop clean-looking social icons into any widget. And you can customize the color and size.

 

 

better click to tweet plugin

Better Click to Tweet

Better Click to Tweet?is a plugin that everyone who wants more twitter shares needs. It places a little twitter icon in your tool bar, so while you are creating a page or post, you just click the icon and a window pops up. Enter your tweet and it shows up as a nice bit of pop out text in your post. It makes it really easy for your readers to click on it to tweet your personalized tweet.

 

Social Media Sharing Plugin

When I originally wrote this post, #8 was Shareaholic. Since then, I have had to fix more sites with that plugin than any other. And so, it lost it’s spot. In my quest to find a replacement, I have come up with these options.

You can use the built in functionality of Jetpack.? If you don’t want floating buttons in your sidebar, Jetpack is a great choice that is guaranteed not to effect how your site functions.

SumoMe?This comes with a HUGE caveat. I have never used SumoMe. That being said I have tons of clients who use it, and no one has ever needed me to fix their site. So that’s saying a lot.

Social Warfare premium plugin.?This plugin is going to get it’s own post soon. It is by far the most amazing social media plugin I have ever used. I have been using it on the blog I publish, Break the Parenting Mold, and it is so amazing that I can’t imagine how I ever lived without it. Here are some functions:

  • Choose specific Facebook Images, titles and descriptions. (I know you can do that with Yoast, but wait)
  • Choose specific PINTEREST Images and DESCRIPTIONS! Yes I am yelling. This way when someone clicks Pin, the image YOU want is pulled, it doesn’t even have to be in your post!! And it pulls YOUR description which you can load with SEO. This plugin has increased our Pinterest traffic!
  • Click to Tweet (this would eliminate your need for click to tweet) and you can choose from multiple styles.
  • Customizable sharing buttons.
  • Many sharing platforms not available everywhere.
  • Customizable counts. For instance, if you don’t want people to see a post has only been shared twice, you tell the plugin, only show share counts after x amount of shares.

Yes that link is an affiliate link, but I would NEVER recommend something I didn’t love. The customer service is very responsive, since it is a new plugin there have been a few hiccups, but they have fixed them very fast. I have been thrilled with the amount of customization I can do, and attribute our rapid growth in part to that plugin.

My Thoughts

In my opinion, WordPress plugins are part of what makes WordPress fun. Plugins are the tools you need to make your blog do the things you always wished it could do! Read the post I mentioned above, get over your fear of plugins and start looking at how plugins can make your blog more unique.

 

 

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Filed Under: Blog Design, WordPress Tagged With: Plugins, Security, SEO, Social Media, WordPress

 

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