wordpress

Sep 5, 2012

SEO Plugins for WordPress – Yoast

One of the best SEO plugins for WordPress

SEO plugins for WordPressI’ve been using SEO plugins for WordPress sites for a few years now. So far I have focused on the All in One SEO plugin and XML Sitemaps plugin for search engine optimisation. They have helped me to get my clients’ blogs in on the first page and sometimes top billing for certain keywords in Google. Recently they have been flying up the Alexa league table. But now I’ve swopped them out for a new Plugin – WordPress SEO by Yoast.

Why have you changed the SEO plugin?

Well, having played with it for a few weeks I found it to be a more elegant solution to getting your SEO right on your blog. It integrates into your dashboard in such a way that it becomes an indespensible guide for making sure your SEO is as good as it gets.

Benefits of SEO WordPress Plugins by Yoast

  1. Target keyword allows you to check that the keyword you want to rank for is in all the relevant places – title, URL, description, content etc.
  2. Gives a visible representation of how your page or post will appear in a Google search. I really like this as it gives you a feel of what it’s like to be in your visitor’s shoes when they find you in Google. It helps you to make your entry more compelling and relevant.
  3. Checks you have the right amount of characters in your title, description and your Slug!. This is important as truncated text (text that get’s cut off because there are too many characters) in either of these can confuse your visitor and put them off making that vital click.
  4. It’s free. Having looked at various reviews of SEO plugins for WordPress this one is considered to be as comprehensive and effective as others you have to put your hand in your pocket for! The only plugin I pay for at the moment is Commentluv. I may look at purchasing a more powerful SEO plugin in future but results so far show this is having a positive effect on blogs it has been installed on.
  5. One plugin for the price of two. SEO plugins for WordPress can do various tasks for you. The beauty of this one by Yoast is that includes XML sitemaps so you can dispense with your other SEO plugins and those that generate XML sitemaps – that helps declutter things so your site runs a bit faster too.
  6. It gives you step by step indicators to get the following factors right for your SEO:
      Keyword density
      Readability
      Use of stop words in keyword phrase
      Keyword in first paragraph
      Alt descriptions on images include keyword
      Sub-heading tags include keyword
      Word count over recommended 300 words
      Outbound links
  7. It also covers the fact that you might have spent many hours getting your SEO right with another plugin. Those carefully crafted titles and meta descriptions can be imported easily with this plugin.
  8. And lastly it has comprehensive settings to make your blog SEO tailored to your requirements.

    9. Look no further at other SEO plugins for WordPress. This one is as good as it gets for free.

    What’s your opinion?

    By Andy Britnell Blog Optimisation, WordPress Plugins 33 Comments Tags: , , , ,

Jun 6, 2011

What’s all the fuss about Google +1?

google +1 for bloggersYou may have been aware of Google’s strategy to take on Facebook with its own ‘Like’ button called Google +1. I have added it below to show you what it might look like. (There are various display options) The blogging community have responded rapidly due to the fact that it appears to get you noticed more on Google search if you have lots of +1′s. (if you look at my post on Google Love this is another way to attract it!)


How do I put it on my blog or website?

At the moment there is a reasonably easy way of getting the Google +1 button on your site if you are comfortable adding some script code to your blog. Some themes (my theme ‘Bloggie’ from Themify for instance) will provide an easy way to add code to headers and footers via the theme settings. Others may need to be changed via the editor within the WordPress admin dashboard or via FTP (File Transfer Protocol for those who are interested) using a file transfer program like Fetch for Mac or FileZillar for PC.

There is also this post on how to implement the +1 button on WordPress or Blogger using Google Webmaster code. Another source of information is from WP Beginner on how to add the +1 button to WordPress which is more detailed than the rest and shows you how to add the button to your theme rather than adding the code to each post or page.

If you feel queasy after reading the last two paragraphs then you might want to try the new Google +1 WordPress plugin with the rider that it is new, has only just over 600 downloads so far and is therefore a bit bleeding edge. You might want to wait a while to see if it this plugin proves itself or ask a techie mate to implement the first option above. It only takes about 10 minutes if you know what you are doing.

I know this is a more techie post than usual but sometimes being a little ahead of the crowd can make a difference to your ranking and get you noticed. In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king!

Update: Google now have a go faster Google + button which loads more quickly.

By Andy Britnell Blog Optimisation 8 Comments Tags: , , , , , ,

Jun 3, 2011

WordPress plugins – the ugly ones!

WordPress Plugins - which ones are safeHaving discussed what’s good about WordPress plugins I wanted to square the argument with some tips to make sure they don’t turn out to be ugly!

How do you know which ones are good to use and which WordPress plugins to avoid?

I always check the wordpress.org plugins page in order to qualify whether a plugin is going to add value or not. This is what you need to look for:

1. How many downloads has it had?

2. Is it compatible with your version of WordPress?

3. What feedback has it had? (Is it broken, how many stars, how many have left feedback etc.)

4. What people are saying about the plugin – social proof?

5. When was it last updated?

Look at the statistics for Contact Form 7 to get an idea about a plugin with social proof in bucket loads.

The more popular a plugin is, the more likely it is going to be supported by the author, discussed by the WordPress community in forums, kept up to date with new WP versions and upgraded in order to add to or improve the way it works. I also do a Google search on the WordPress plugins name to see what the top bloggers are saying or not saying about it.

There are obviously some ‘bleeding edge’ WordPress plugins that could give you a competitive advantage (or maybe a very big headache and wasted time attempting to solve a problem). It depends on how brave you are about trying new things out. At least with a blog you can test things out with only a relatively small risk. However be aware of how things can turn ugly.

Ugly WordPress plugins – what’s that?



‘Ugly’ WordPress plugins are those that do one or all of the following things:

1. Breaks your site – you lose your presence on the web or your look and feel goes out of the window making things unreadable and messy.

2. It is in conflict with another plugin – making the new plugin fail or preventing the one it is in conflict with working.

3. You need a degree in astrophysics to work out what to do with the settings or understand how to use it.

4. It doesn’t really add anything to your site other than slowing it down thus affecting the visitor experience.

5. It prevents you from accessing your administration panel – If you ever experience this there is a simple fix for broken WordPress plugins here.

To be sure you get a clean plugin you might want to invest in a premium one. That depends on how big your pockets are and if the plugin is right for your blog, your audience and your technical expertise.

So just take a little time to research WordPress plugins before you install and activate it and you should be fine.

Broken plugin support can be found on the WP forum plugin thread.

Which WordPress plugins have you found problems with?

By Andy Britnell WordPress Plugins 5 Comments Tags: , , ,

Jun 2, 2011

WordPress Plugins – the good, the bad and the ugly – part 1

WordPress plugins - the good, the bad and the uglyOne of the great things about a self-hosted WordPress blog is that you get to play with a powerful array of plugins. These are small bits of software that can add functionality, provide a better customer experience for your visitors and give you the technology to generate more traffic to your blog.

If you are a veteran blogger and have some technical ability most of the WordPress plugins available will be easy to use and manage and you should be able to stear clear of any pitfalls.

If you are new to the game you will need to be aware of the essential WordPress plugins to use, the ones to avoid and the more powerful but technically challenging ones that you might need help with.

So what is good about WordPress plugins?

I tend to split this into five different types. For each one I have given a link to the plugins that apply. This is by no means an exhaustive list and there are alternatives which may suit your blog better. These are the ones I tend to use on the blogs I write and manage that work and add value.

Traffic generation WordPress Plugins.

All in One SEO Pack – allows you to optimise posts and pages with keywords and appropriate titles and descriptions.

XML Sitemaps – easy way for you to create and submit site-maps to search engines.

Social Media WordPress Plugins.

Simple Facebook Connect- allows visitors to like your posts and pages and much more.

Xhanch My Twitter – visitors can see your recent tweets and connect with you on Twitter.

ShareThis – allows visitors to add your content to almost all social media sites.

Visitor experience.

Subscribe To Comments Reloaded – allows visitors to subscribe to comments.

CommentLuv – I like this and intend to install it as it rewards other bloggers who comment by giving a link to their latest blog post when they have commented. Share the luv and it might come back to you. It does encourage more contribution from your audience.

Widget Context – you could do a lot of coding to manage where your sidebars with widgets appear on your blog. This allows you to customize your blog layout without coding knowledge.

Assessing blog effectiveness.

Google Analytics for WordPress – allows you to track your blog with Google Analytics – possibly better for someone who wants to up their game. if you are a beginner try Google Analyticator.

Feedburner Feedsmith – allows you to deliver user-friendly RSS feeds via a reader or email, get statistics on subscribers and see what people are reading.

WP Super Cache – speeds up delivery of your blog to visitors (helps with SEO as 9 out of 10 search engines prefer faster loading sites!) You may need a bit of geekery to get this working. I’ve had a bit of trouble getting this one to work myself. Possibly should be under the “Ugly” list as it might be a bit intimidating for the beginner.

Revision Control – how many times do you edit a post? You could have quite a few revisions bloating your database. This keeps your revisions at a manageable limit.

You will need to come back to Part Two for the bad and the ugly. This post expanded more than I thought it would.

What are your favourite WordPress plugins and why?

By Andy Britnell WordPress Plugins 9 Comments Tags: , , , , , ,

Apr 1, 2011

How to Install Google Feedburner on your Blog – Simples!

How to install Google Google Feedburner on your blogNow that you are aware of the benefits of Google Feedburner you’ll want to know how to install it on your blog. As someone who looks for the easiest way to get something done I suggest you check out one of my favourite Blogs from WordPress Beginner which covers the more technical side of WordPress with user friendly posts and tutorials on every aspect of the WordPress platform.

It includes a step by step guide to setting up Google Feedburner which I can’t improve on. It also has many comments with questions and answers that might be useful for you.

Although this is the process for WordPress, where you need to install the Feedburner Feedsmith plugin, you can integrate Feedburner into pretty much every blogging platform or website with the code provided for your set-up.

I encourage you all to add this to your site and get the warm feeling of knowing that people are watching you, clicking on your feed and reading your content. It allows you to fine-tune your content as you can see where your visitor’s interests lie.

You can also check out new content and see if it strikes a chord. I think that this is one of the great things about blogging – you can test the market quickly, easily and at little cost. It is also satisfying to watch your subscribers grow over time.

So make this an action now and let me know how it helps you improve your ability to deliver great content and attract raving fans.

By Andy Britnell Blog Optimisation, Blog Traffic, WordPress 12 Comments Tags: , , ,

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