Spring is here, it might not be exactly warm right now here in Michigan but, nonetheless it is spring. With that said, this is a good time to spring clean your blog.
I would suggest the following…
Make sure you are up to date on your…
- Wordpress Version
- Plugin Versions
- Theme Version
Over time software and themes will be updated to fix vulnerabilities.
You could also…
- Clean up your categories and tags.
- Revise your static pages to be current.
- You might also think about altering or changing your theme to keep it fresh.
- Filter through your comment spam and possible start using a plugin like Askimet.
- Start submitting your entries to sites like Digg and Delicious to help in marketing.
- Lastly, think about your readers. Email several and thank them for reading your blog.
Every once in a while you might find something really cool you’d like to put on your blog or site. Usually these things require a little coding, or the pasting of code. For example, creating a Google Analytics account requires you to paste a bit of tracking code onto your blog or website.
Now this may not seem like a big deal, just pasting some code into your template, but where do you put the code? How do you know it’s in the right place? Would you be able to find it later? How would you modify it? Would you remember to re-paste this code every time you switched to a different template? These are several questions some people never think about or contemplate. One way to help the situation would be to use good commenting practices. You could clearly block off an area marking the beginning and end of your added code. You could also write a few lines describing what the code is, what the code is doing and where the code was obtained. This still doesn’t take care of the problem of switching templates. You would still lose all of the custom edits you made and the valuable time you spent.
You might have guessed this already from the title, but I would suggest a plugin if possible. Plugins can be easily turned on and off and they don’t get tossed in the trash when you uninstall or change a template. They can also be customized and configured with appropriate settings. Going back to our Google Analytics example, there are several Wordpress plugins designed just for this task. All you have to do is go to the Wordpress Plugin Directory and search for “google analytics.” It’s just that easy.
The next step is choosing one that will work best for you. This can be easier said than done. Sometimes you’ll need to try a few out and see which you like best. There are many factors that can affect the selection process. These could include how and where you want to use it, the version of your blogging tool, how much you want to customize the plugin and even the fact if it works or not. It’s usually not a bad idea to check out user reviews if they’re available - and don’t just read the first one you see. Like most things in life there are people that both hate and love every plugin out there. Try to read at least a few reviews to get a general idea of how people feel about it. From there, it’s just trial and error, but hopefully you won’t have to deal with all of that hassle. We’re planning on testing a lot of these plugins to give you the rundown of when, where and why you might want to use it.
After you’ve got the “essentials” out of the way, it’s time to style your blog. Without knowing a thing about HTML and CSS, you can personalize your site’s look-n-feel.
There are a lot of pre-made themes out there for you to use. The best site out there for browsing these themes is themes.wordpress.net. It’s a slick site that lets you search for themes based on the features you’d like to see.
So, with all those choices out there, how do you choose the right theme? Here are a couple of things to think about:
- How many columns do you want? These will contain both your content and your extras (widgets).
- Do you want your site to stretch when people resize their browsers (fluid width), or do you want it to look the same no matter who sees it (fixed width)?
- You’ll definitely want to get a widget-ready theme. This will allow you to add… stuff… to your blog in the future. We’ll post, at some point, about widgets.
For different kinds of blogs, you’ll want different kinds of features - different types of themes. My suggestions on getting started:
Journal-Style Blogs
Start by looking for something with at least two columns. You’ll have your posts, of course, but you also have complete control over the rest of the space. And there are some pretty great plugins and widgets out there. At the very least, you’ll want to have a sidebar that displays things like your blogroll (list of links to other blogs you find interesting), a list of the latest posts and/or comments on your posts, and a list (or cloud) of your post categories/tags.
From your selection of multi-column themes, choose something that matches your content. If your blog is a personal journal blog, choose something that reflects on your personality and have fun. If you’ll be posting on a theme (news, politics, religion, movies) that might interest a broad audience, make sure that the theme you choose is simple enough you’ll be taken seriously.
Video/Photo Blogs
If you’ll be posting only videos or photos, you’ll want a theme that really makes your work stand out. Try to find a theme that doesn’t have multiple columns/sidebars - rather, look for something that’s laid out with horizontal bands (like Hemingway or Squible). Getting rid of the distractions in the sidebars puts the focus on your photography.
That’s it for now - stay tuned for more posts on templates and themes. I’ll be writing about how to tweak and customize the look of your new theme.
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