Blogging With Wordpress

WordPress is a very popular choice among bloggers because it is often included as a basic feature of web hosting, it's very simple to use, and the plugin capabilities allow you to do about anything with your site including running a merchandise store.  In today's post, we're going to go over some of the basics you will want in your WordPress setup. 

We're not going to get into how to set up WordPress because those instructions may vary depending on who you use for web hosting and the type of plan you have.  We would recommend checking your web host knowledge base or support for more information.  However, we can say our partner Skystra Cloud has a great WordPress program and makes it very easy to set up, even if you are not the most technical of people.  

Recommended Plugins & Tools

Unless specifically stated, these plugins can be installed inside your WordPress configuration under "Plugins -> Add New".

Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO checks for common mistakes that will help your blog post rank on Google, Bing, etc searches.  SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is essentially a giant cat and mouse game between web publishers and search engine developers.  As web publishers start to figure out what key features help rank your web page or blog post on page one of Google, they go and change the algorithm (aka the rules or calculation for how they rank the site).  Yoast won't guarantee that your post will end up on page one of a Google search, but you definitely will increase your chances of it happening by following the Yoast checklist for each post.

Really Simple SSL

In recent years, securing your website with an SSL security certificate has become extremely critical to website security.  The security certificate will help protect your users by verifying you are who you say you are, protect credit card transactions, and now help with Google rankings.  You'll need to check with your web hosting company to verify an SSL certificate of some kind is included (most do for free now) and make sure that it is enabled.  Really Simple SSL automatically forces your blog users from the "HTTP" to the "HTTPS" (secured) site.  Not only does it protect you, your readers, but it also will make sure Google doesn't bury your site in search results.

Grammarly

You've seen Grammarly advertised on YouTube and even without the premium service, the free service is extremely powerful and will run in your Internet Browser checking for those spelling and grammar mistakes when typing those blog posts.  The quickest way for Google, Bing, and the other web search engines to ignore your post is to have grammar and spelling mistakes.  

GDPR Cookie Consent

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation.  It's essentially a law that requires websites that do business in the European Union (EU) that requires them to disclose if you use tracking cookies, analytics (like Google Analytics or Matomo), or anything else that could be used to "track" someone.   The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is very similar to GPDR, so you should treat it as a requirement.  GDPR Cookie Consent is a quick and easy way to implement a WordPress plugin. 

Conclusion

This just barely scratches the surface with what you can do with your WordPress blog.  Using these basic tools will put you in a better position to succeed.  We highly recommend using at least the free version of these plugins immediately.