Seven things you might have missed on your Wordpress blog

Firas is a staff writer on Mike’s Life, and you can find out more about him here.

I have been into many clients blog's admin panels, either for customization or consultation services, and I have always been shocked for different reasons. This post shares with you different tips and things that I always do for those clients or advise them to do.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1- Always update Wordpress.

Over than 99% of the blogs which I visit, use out-dated versions of Wordpress. I directly upgrade it without even asking the client. The security of the blog is paramount.

2- Optimize your plugins.

Same thing goes for your plugins. Whenever a plugin has an available upgrade, directly upgrade it. But don’t just upgrade, you should also delete all unused plugins in order to reduce the load on your server.

3- Permalinks settings.

I really get annoyed whenever I visit a blog and its permalinks look like this: http://www.domain.com/?p=123

I have mentioned within an earlier post on Mike's Life that for SEO reasons; your permalinks should contain the name of the article or at least keywords from it.

4- Choose a username.

By default, Wordpress sets the default Administrator username as “admin.” Change it – it looks much nicer and also reflects a good image of your personal brand.

5- “Uncategorized” category.

Also Wordpress comes with a default category called “Uncategorized” – there’s no need for anything to be uncategorized! You can change its name and slug (the way it's written within a url) from “Categories” under “Posts” section.

6- Activate Akismet.

Akismet is a great anti-spam plugin that comes by default with any fresh Wordpress installation and in order to have it work properly and prevent your blog from spam comments, you need to activate it by entering your API Key from Wordpress.com. I really have no idea why many bloggers do not do this step.

7- Search form.

What does any blogger want more than having his readers view more and more pages on his blog and spend more time reading it? Trust me, placing a search form on your blog (whether on the sidebar or anywhere else) makes it easier for your readers to read what they want to read about and will of course make your blog browsable and readable as well.

As well as being a staff writer on Mike’s Life, you find Firas at his own blog Steitblog and on Twitter @steityeh