Did you catch these 10 blog posts that got everyone talking, discussing, and wondering? Maybe you were part of the conversation, but if not, jump in and share your thoughts!
This fiesta was ideal for a celebration, but was there a possibility of someone ruining it?
Many types of comments exist, but what are the best ones to leave on other blogs? Is it no longer trendy to leave blog comments because readers only want information, not the community?
Don’t risk being fined for using copyrighted images or photos on your blog posts. Did you know WordPress offers users access to thousands of free pictures and photos for their blog posts? This is where and how to find them.
I’ve published many posts about the perils of using copyrighted images and photos. Several bloggers I know have been fined for downloading copyrighted images and photos, including when they reblogged posts.
Did you know that WordPress offers free, high-quality images and photos to enhance the visual appeal of your WordPress website or blog?
You’re searching for the right image for your new blog post. Rather than doing a Google search in a separate tab — and running the risk of using an image you don’t have rights to — use the free images and photos WordPress offers.
Did you know that WordPress offers users free photos and images?
To avoid any chances of being fined for using copyrighted images and photos, the best advice is to always try and use your own photos and images in your blog posts.
Of course, you could choose not to include any images or photos, but given that posts that include photos or images get 70% more traffic, you should add at least one image or photo to all your blog posts.
Where Do I Find The Free Images And Photos WordPress Offers?
Add an Image block to your blog post.
Click on the ‘Select Image‘ link to open a new menu.
The free images and photos are under ‘Pexels Free Photos‘ and ‘Openverse‘.
WordPress offers hundreds of free images and photos to all WordPress users.
Pexels Free Photos
When you click Pexels Free Photos, a new window will open that includes a search bar.
Add a description of the image or photo you are looking for in the search bar and click the ‘Search‘ button.
Look through the results, click the image you want to use and click the ‘Select‘ button.
Click the ‘Load More‘ button at the bottom of the page to see more results.
When you select an image from Pexels Free Photos, it is downloaded to your media library. Remember to add information about the image to help readers with sight impediments and who may use speech software on their devices.
WordPress will have already completed the title of the image or photo and added credit details, so the only information you need to add is Alt Text and Description.
Openverse
Openverse works like Pexels Free Photos. It’s a search engine for openly licensed media, which gives access to over 600 million Creative Commons licensed and public domain image and audio files. All files can be used free of charge.
You can use the search box to find content licensed for commercial use and content that may be modified.
If you use any images or photos from Openverse, they are downloaded to your media library. You’ll need to complete the Alt Text and Description boxes, giving the image/photo details.
It’s Not Only WordPress That Offers Free Images And Photos.
Several websites offer free images that you can use on your WordPress website. These websites curate collections of high-quality images that are free to use, often under various Creative Commons licenses. Here are some popular websites you can explore:
Review and respect the license terms associated with each image when using images from these sites. Providing proper attribution to the photographer or the source is always good practice.
WordPress Plugins
Another convenient way to find free images within your WordPress editor is by using plugins specifically designed for this purpose. These plugins integrate with popular free image websites, allowing you to search and insert images directly from your WordPress dashboard.
Some notable plugins for finding free images include:
Installing and activating these plugins will add additional options to your media library, making browsing and selecting free images for your content effortless.
Note: Plugins are not available on all WordPress plans.
Image SEO Best Practices
While finding free images for your WordPress blog is essential, optimising any images or photos you use for search engines is equally crucial. Following some basic image SEO best practices can improve your blog’s visibility and attract more organic traffic. Here are a few tips:
Use descriptive filenames and alt tags that reflect the image content.
Optimise image file sizes to improve site loading speed.
Add relevant captions and descriptions to provide more context.
Ensure images are responsive and look good on all devices.
By incorporating these strategies, you enhance the visual appeal of your content while improving your blog’s overall SEO performance.
Let’s Wrap It Up.
Finding free images and photos for your WordPress website or blog is easier than ever.
Whether you explore the WordPress options, leverage free image websites, or use dedicated plugins, the possibilities are abundant.
Adhering to image licensing requirements and optimising your images for SEO will ensure a visually appealing and optimised blog.
So go ahead and utilise the resources available to you, and make your WordPress blog shine with stunning images that complement your content!
Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Disclaimer: Always review and respect each image’s terms and conditions and licensing rights. The information provided in this article is for educational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice.
Where do you get the images and photos you use on your blog? If you have any questions about using free images and photos on your blog, leave them in the comments section. Alternatively, please join the discussion and conversation if you’d like to add any information about using free images and photos.
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Every day, our blogs come under attack from various elements.
Just like protecting our families, pets, and anything else we value, we should do all we can to protect our blogs from threats.
Are you doing enough to protect your blog from threats?
Threats come in all sorts of forms, but there are a few simple steps you can put in place to keep your blog safe.
1. Comments
What do you do if you receive unfriendly comments or comments that do not agree with what you have said in your blog post?
I’ve blogged for nearly ten years, and, in that time, I have received a handful of comments that were not only very personal but were rude, racist or homophobic.
Because I moderate all comments before they appear on my blog, I was able to stop these comments in their tracks. They were of the nature that did not call for a reply, and I simply marked them as spam and deleted them.
And it wasn’t only me that some of these unfriendly comments are aimed at.
I often see rude, unfriendly comments and spam appear on other blogs. Not only can they be shocking in their nature, but in many cases, the very name of the commenter can also be very offensive.
Unfortunately, Akismet, the WordPress software that blocks unwanted spam, doesn’t always catch all of it. So, monitoring all comments before they are published on your blog posts is worth considering.
Follow these steps to set up monitoring comments.
For the purpose of this post, instructions are via the ‘Default” view of your blog’s dashboard.
Click Settings – Discussion on your blog’s dashboard.
Click Settings and Discussion
On the Discussion Settings page, scroll down to the ‘Before A Comment Appears‘ box and slide open the button next to ‘Comment must be manually approved.’
To approve all comments, select the ‘Comment must be manually approved’ button
Click on the ‘Save settings‘ button.
You may also have noticed an option to allow comments to be posted straight away from people who have previously had comments approved by you.
Selecting the ‘Comment author must have previously approved comment’ means you don’t need to approve those comments.
For bloggers who are dealing with hundreds of comments daily, this is a great time-saving option as you don’t need to manually approve them.
However, be wary. Somebody who may have left a perfectly friendly comment on an earlier post could also leave an unfriendly comment on a future one.
How to deal with people who don’t agree with you
Sometimes, I receive comments from people who may not agree with what I have to say, but that’s a part of the whole blogging experience.
However, providing their comment has been written in a friendly and professional manner, I will approve it.
Nobody should tolerate rudeness or bad manners, so don’t allow any of these kinds of comments to appear on your blog.
If comments are unfriendly, rude or make you feel threatened, mark them as spam.
Allowing unfriendly, rude comments to appear on your blog can make your blog look unfriendly and unwelcoming, especially to new visitors.
If you see a rude comment or one that is spam on a blog you follow, inform the blog’s owner of the problem. They’ll probably thank you for looking out for them.
How to block certain bloggers or readers from leaving comments
Further down the same page on the Discussion Settings dashboard, you’ll see two boxes entitled ‘Comment Moderation‘ and ‘Disallowed comments.’
This is where you can blacklist other bloggers and comments
These boxes are where you can add certain words, the web address of a blog, the email address or the internet protocol of a user you want to block.
Comments will be held in a moderation queue if they contain anything you have added to the Comment Moderation box.
Comments will be sent to the trash bin if they match anything you have added to the Disallowed Comments box.
2. Internettrolls
If you are unlucky enough to find that an internet troll has decided to try and make your blog their new home, ignore them.
Whatever you do, don’t engage in any conversations with the internet troll. Whether through comments or if they try to contact you through your ‘contact me’ page, ignore them.
Internet trolls will do all they can to get you to react to what they have said. They may even try to get some of your readers to engage with them by responding to comments they have left, so never approve their comments.
Don’t give internet trolls the satisfaction of acknowledging them in any shape or form.
Remove any comments, and don’t allow them to upset you in any way. Add them to the ‘Disallowed Comments‘ box. They’ll soon get the message and move on.
3. Back-Up
How would you feel if you woke up one morning and found that all your blog content had disappeared?
It’s the stuff of nightmares, so be kind to your blog and make sure you back up its content regularly.
Depending on your WordPress plan, your blog can be backed up via Jetpack – Backup on your blog’s dashboard. If you don’t have this facility, consider saving all your blog posts via an external server or hard drive.
If you’re already writing your blog posts on Word, Pages or any other writing software such as Grammarly, ensure you save the documents on the iCloud (if you have access) or on another hard drive.
Don’t lose all your hard work by not backing up your blog.
4. Anti Virus Software
Always update anti-virus software on your device to protect your blog and ensure you have the latest version.
If hackers can get access to well-known websites, then they may be able to get access to your computer\device.
Malware could allow cybercriminals to take control of your computer, log your keystrokes, or access your personal information and financial data, which could lead to identity theft. So, not only could your blog be at risk from hackers, but so could your bank details and other personal information.
Remember to keep all other software on your computer up to date and use the latest software versions of any website you visit regularly.
WordPress.Com users will always have the latest version of WordPress as WordPress download updates directly. Those who have self-hosted blogs should ensure they have the latest updates installed.
This all may sound nightmarish, and you may ask yourself who would want to attack your blog, but every blogger should take it seriously. Don’t become a victim.
However, whatever you do, keep enjoying your blogging experience.
Although attacks on our blogs are happening constantly, your anti-virus software (and the software supplied by WordPress) deals with most threats without you knowing about it.
Let’s Wrap It Up.
Make sure you protect your blog from any online attacks.
Don’t approve any comments that are unfriendly, rude, or racist towards you or any other bloggers.
Consider moderating all comments before they appear on your blog.
People may disagree with what you say in your posts. Only approve their comments if they’ve been written in a friendly and professional manner.
Unsubscribe and or/block trolls and unfriendly readers from your blog.
Never respond to comments from trolls or allow their comments to appear on your blog.
Remember to regularly back up your blog or save your blog posts on an external hard drive.
Keep anti-virus software updated on your devices.
Ensure you’re using the latest version and tools of WordPress.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with us about protecting your blog from unwanted attention and attacks? Do you have any questions? Join the discussion by leaving me a comment with the details.
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In her recent post, Brenda talks about using prompts to get ideas for blog posts, especially when we struggle to find something to write about. She mentions the daily WordPress prompt, which asks a question bloggers can respond to in a blog post.
I won’t go into all the details of Brenda’s excellent advice, but it got me thinking about the subject of comments.
What kind of comments do you leave on blog posts?
I left a comment on Brenda’s post, which sparked a conversation with another blogger, Laura, who blogs at Keeping It Creative.
The following screenshot is just a small part of the conversation Laura, Brenda, and I had about the subject of comments.
Are your comments engaging?
Our conversation got me thinking about the overall subject of comments and how I’ve noticed a big difference in the comments being left on blogs.
When I first started blogging, the majority of bloggers had conversations and discussions in the comments section with each other about the subject of the post. But over time, that trend seems to be dwindling which had me asking the question –
‘What has happened to the art of conversation and discussion in the comments section of blogs?’
Gone are the days when many readers left comments that not only proved they’d read the post but also gave feedback that opened discussion and conversation.
Now, it seems, some bloggers leave comments with little, if any, way of responding to them other than with a ‘Thank you.’ Comments such as –
‘I enjoyed this.’
‘Wonderful.’
‘This is a great read.’
‘Well done.’
‘Great interview.’
‘You did a great job.’
‘Another great story.’
‘Great authors and books.’
‘Great post.’
‘Thanks for sharing this.’
Or worse, a comment that includes nothing but emojis.
Yes, some of those comments sound encouraging, but as Laura said in her comment, ‘Sometimes a comment is so generic, it feels like the person leaving the comment never read the post.’
None of the above comments mention anything about the contents of the post.
Why do people leave short, non-engaging comments?
There are probably some genuine reasons for leaving non-engaging comments all over the blogging world, but what are they?
I hope some of the reasons will be left in the comments section of this post. I’m interested in knowing.
Some bloggers claim they don’t have the time to leave longer, engaging comments because they don’t have the time to leave them. Some have too many other blogs to visit. Some rush around the blogging world because they only have so much time to visit and comment on as many posts as possible.
But in contrast, if they didn’t feel obliged to visit these blogs to leave short, non-engaging comments, they could free up some time to leave a few engaging comments that open up discussion and conversation.
Is it no longer trendy to leave comments on blogs?
I was shocked by what Janice told me. Is it really no longer trendy to leave comments on blogs? Are readers only wanting information, not a community?
The other side of the blogging coin.
It’s not only some of those visiting posts at fault for leaving short, non-engaging comments. Some bloggers respond to engaging comments that clearly show they want to discuss the contents of a post by saying nothing more than a ‘Thank you.’ They instantly cut off engaging with their audience.
What are engaging comments?
They contain information that proves the post has been read.
They are written in an engaging, friendly manner.
They are at least a couple of sentences long.
They indicate that you want to discuss the contents of a post further with who wrote the post.
Include any questions about the contents of a post.
And let me reassure you that you should never feel guilty for not leaving a comment or feel obliged to leave one on any blog. There is nothing wrong with clicking the ‘like’ button and moving on after reading a post if you’ve nothing of value to add.
I don’t enjoy having to reply to any comment with just a ‘thank you.’ I want to get into a discussion or conversation about the contents of my posts and what made whoever left a comment say what they said.
For example –
Why did they think the post was good?
What was it that made them enjoy reading the post?
Why was it a great read, story or interview?
Was it the way the post was written or some of the answers given? If so, which ones?
Did the post strike a cord? Why?
What parts did they like/dislike the most?
Was it something new they learned? If so, what, and how will they use the new information?
I’ve stopped leaving comments on blogs unless I’ve something of value to add.
And I never feel guilty for not leaving a comment.
I don’t need to prove I’ve visited a blog.
I don’t need to make anyone think I’ve read their post.
I don’t feel obliged to follow and read posts on a blog simply because that blogger follows me and leaves me comments.
And nor should you.
So, what has happened to the art of conversation and discussion in the blogging world? Is it dead, or have I, as a blogger who enjoys discussion and conversation, become a minority in the blogging world? Is it no longer trendy to leave comments? Join the discussion and conversation by letting me know what you think in the comments section.
The other day, I came across a wonderfully written blog post after clicking a link on Mastodon. But the trouble was that I seemed to be the first visitor to that blog, even though the post had been published in May 2023. But it didn’t end there.
Don’t do this with your blog.
I always find it sad to discover a well-written blog post over a few months old that has captivated me but generated no comments or likes. It’s like it’s been cut adrift, floating around in the deepest, darkest part of the blogging world, where few venture.
Yet there are blog posts I lose interest in after only reading the first few lines that have hundreds of likes and lots of comments.
Not all of those likes will have been generated by people who read the post, and I call many of the comments dead-end comments that fail to ignite any proper discussion.
What are the clues to an unwelcoming blog?
I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the blogger whose post I’d found via Mastodon. I wondered how they feel when they see other badly written posts that have generated lots of likes and comments.
Of course, just because a post has no comments and nobody has clicked the like button doesn’t mean nobody has read it, but how must that blogger feel when they see that their post hasn’t generated any engagement? Do they feel sad or cheated, or do they not care because they wrote and published the post just for themselves?
Looking more closely at the rest of the blog where I found the post, I did find some clues as to why nobody seems to be visiting and engaging with it.
For a start, none of the 15 posts had been categorised. They were all uncategorised. One of the posts was password-protected, so you could not see the contents unless you knew the password. And there was no information about how to obtain the password.
None of the posts had tags attached, meaning they would not appear on any search results page.
Although there was a ‘Contact the Blogger’ page, the ‘About the Blogger’ page contained only a photo. Who is this person? Where in the world are they located? What do they blog about? What are their interests? Why do they want you to read and follow their blog? All you can do is guess the answers to these questions.
Their first post was published in January 2019, meaning, on average, they only publish 4 blog posts a year. Not a lot, you may think, but I’ve seen blogs that publish one post every three months do well.
Imagine my delight when I checked the other 14 posts and found one with a single comment. Somebody had discovered this blog before I had. Somebody had visited, looked around, liked what they had found, and left a lovely comment. But this blog was lifeless, like an uninhabited planet; there was no response to the comment. Whoever was here three years before I arrived had left empty-handed.
The overall look of the blog was clean and simple. No fancy menus or widgets to click, so it was more of a place where visitors could hang out and engage. Yet, the sheer fact that there seemed to be nobody there had probably put visitors off from following and engaging.
I tried contacting the blog’s owner, but my words bounced back as an echo in this deserted, uninviting place. Maybe they only check in to their blog every three months. We’ll wait and see, but I think I’ll prepare my spaceship and visit another new blog where I hope I find some inhabitants who want to engage with more than just themselves.
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Have you seen images and photos in the comments section of blog posts and wondered how they were left there? It’s something I’ve written about before and, given the many changes at WordPress since I last wrote about it, deserves an update.
Yes, it’s possible to leave photos and images in comments on WordPress blogs
When it comes to adding images and photos to comments, we have to be careful with what we add. We should always ensure the photo or image has a connection to the subject of the post we’re leaving the comment on. And not only that.
If a blogger invites readers to leave photos and images (such as in a photography challenge), then go ahead and leave them.
However, leaving an image or photo just for the sake of doing so is frowned upon by many bloggers, who will mark them as spam. And given that blogs are attacked by spammers daily, I don’t blame bloggers marking uninvited images and photos as spam.
I’ve added images and photos to the comments sections on my blog posts and the comments I have left on the blogs of other bloggers. However, unless I’ve been invited to leave an image or photo, I won’t leave them.
While many bloggers will be happy for you to leave images and photos, it’s always polite to ask first.
How to add images and photos to your comments
Add the image or photo to your WordPress media library.
Once the image has been added, click it and click the edit button to open it.
Click the edit button of the photo or image you want to add to a comment.
On the righthand side of the screen, you’ll see a window where you can add details about your image. It’s important to complete these details (see the image below).
Click the ‘Copy‘ button in the URL box.
Copy the URL address of the image or photo.
Paste the URL address into your comment.
Do not, at this stage, submit your comment as you need to edit one part of the text within the link.
Carefully delete the ‘s‘ from the ‘https‘ at the beginning of the link address, so it reads ‘http‘. (If you do not delete the ‘s‘ the image will not show in the comment).
Ensure your link ends with ‘.png’ or ‘.jpg’. If it doesn’t, delete any text after ‘.png’ or ‘.jpg’.
You can now submit your comment.
The image will now show on the comment. However, remember that if you are leaving an image in a comment on another blogger’s blog, they may have to approve it (and may even remove the link to the image) before it shows up.
I’ve only found this to work on WordPress.Com blogs. On self-hosted blogs, only the link to the image is visible rather than the image appearing. However, those clicking on the link will see the image.
Note – Not all images and photos will show if the security settings on your web browser are set high. However, this does not affect the photos or pictures you leave in the comments of your own blog posts. I recommend that you not change the security settings on your web browser.
Let’s wrap it up.
Yes, it is possible to insert images and photos into comments on WordPress.
After inserting the URL address of the image, ensure you remove the ‘s‘ from the beginning of the URL so that ‘https’ becomes ‘http.’
Only leave images and photos in comments if invited to do so or if you have asked for permission to do so first.
If the security settings on your web browser are set high, images and photos may not show. However, this does not affect the photos or pictures you leave in the comments of your own blog posts.
Want to give inserting an image or photo into a comment a go?
Leave me a comment with the link to your image. Perhaps it can be a photo of your latest book cover or of a family pet. I’ll leave it up to you, but only family-friendly images and photos, please.
If you have any further questions about inserting images or photos into the comments, leave them in the comments section.
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Is your blog plagued by spam, spammers and spambots? Do they annoy you? Do you know they’re even there and the damage they could be doing?
Allowing spammers and spambots to follow your blog makes it easier for them to attempt to flood your blog with spam comments. In turn, this opens the floodgates to your readers becoming the victims of scams or having their computer, tablet or phone infected with malware.
Is your blog infected with spammers and spambots?
There are many different types of spammers in the blog world. From those who leave uninvited links, those who flood your posts with pleas to check out their blog and follow them, and comments from spambots; they can all be a nuisance.
Some spammers are easy to spot. The clues are in their name.
The name of some spammers gives them a way straight away.
Some spammers try a little harder to trick you.
Always check the web address of where a comment has come from.
The above comment may sound genuine, but just look at the web address where it’s come from.
I’ve witnessed some bloggers approve and respond to the comments from these spambots. The comments look genuine, but they’re not. Here’s an example of a spam comment from one of the dog breeders.
Comment from a dog breeders spambot
Approving and allowing comments from spammers and spambots onto your blog posts will damage the ranking of your blog. It may also end up resulting in genuine readers clicking on links in comments or visiting the sites of these scammers resulting in them becoming victims of scams or having their computer infected with malware.
These spammers often leave messages on posts that look authentic and nice, but they never mention anything about the contents of the posts (other than saying they like them) and often trick bloggers into believing they are genuine.
Spammers who follow your blog will also click the ‘like’ button on all your posts in the hope that other readers will see their gravatar icon, and visit their site. Once there, the reader puts themselves in danger of being scammed or having their device infected.
How Do You Spot Comments From Scammers and Spambot?
WordPress has recently improved the subscribers’ page of a blog. Not only has this helped spotting spammers and spambots, but it’s easy to remove them as subscribers to your blog.
Here’s a screenshot of a comment from a spambot. I’ve highlighted the spammers name for instructions on how to unsubscribe them from following your blog further down in this post.
Make sure you remove spammers from following your blog.
The Akismet Anti-Spam software that WordPress provides is excellent at dealing with spam, but it doesn’t catch it all.
Comments from spammers rarely have an image in their Gravatar, but spammers are now getting clever and inserting an image in their profile (like the one in the previous image).
Here’s how to spot, check and remove spammers and spambots as subscribers to your blog.
Make sure you are viewing your blog’s dashboard in ‘Default‘ view.
Copy the name of the spammers blog.
On your blog’s dashboard, go to ‘Users‘ – ‘Subscribers.’
Click Users – Subscribers
On the ‘Subscribers‘ page you’re taken to, paste the spammers blog’s name in the ‘search box.’
If the spammer is following your blog, their name will show in the results.
Click the three dots next to the blog you want to remove.
Click the ‘Remove‘ button to unsubscribe the blog from following you.
How to remove a spammer from following your blog.
The spammer has now been unsubscribed from following your blog.
Spammers who follow your blog are more likely to try and flood your blog posts with spam comments because they get notifications when you publish new posts. You can mark any such comments as spam, but I’d recommend you unsubscribe them from following your blog.
Of course, there is nothing stopping spammers from subscribing to your blog again, but every time they follow, unsubscribe them. As I have found out with those dog breeder spammers, they soon get fed up of having to keep subscribing to your blog.
Let’s Wrap It Up
Don’t allow spammers, scammers or spambots invade your blog or stress you out.
Spotting spammers, scammers and spambots is easy to do. Follow the guide in this post.
Never approve or respond to spam comments.
If you’re unsure a comment is from a spammer, check out their website address first.
Always unsubscribe spammers, scammers and spambots from your blog. Follow the guide in this post.
Although the Akismet Anti-Spam software that WordPress provides catches the majority of spam, it won’t catch all of it.
Approving and allowing comments from spammers and spambots onto your blog posts will damage the ranking of your blog. It may also end up resulting in genuine readers clicking on the links in their comments or visiting their website and becoming a victim of scams or having their computer infected with malware.
Look after your readers, not the spammers, scammers or spambots.
How do you deal with spam, spammers and spambots on your blog?Share details in the comments section.
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Have you noticed the three horizontal dots next to your blog posts when viewing the ‘Posts‘ page of your blog’s dashboard on WordPress? If not, you’re missing out on some useful tools that will help save you time when blogging and make your blog posts appeal to even more readers.
Have you discovered these 9 hidden blogging tools on WordPress?
For the purpose of this post, I’m viewing my blog’s dashboard in ‘Default‘ view.
These three horizontal dots are known by numerous names, my favourite being a ‘Meatball Menu.’
Not sure what I’m referring to? Here’s a screenshot pointing out the meatball menu on the dashboard of the posts page of my blog.
The Meatball Menu.
When you click on the meatball menu against a post, the three horizontal dots change to three vertical dots (known as a kebab Menu), and nine options appear.
Let’s investigate each option.
Edit
Click this button to edit or update a post. Useful when spotting mistakes. Don’t forget to press the Update button to save any changes you make.
View
This button does more than just show a preview of your post. It also offers the option of previewing the post as it appears on a desktop computer, tablet and phone. You should always preview your posts before publishing them.
See your post in desktop, tablet and phone form.
The Search & Social button (at the bottom of the menu) allows you to preview your post as it appears on Facebook, Twitter (now known as X), and a Google search.
I recommend you always preview your post first to ensure they are mobile-friendly, especially given that most people now read blog posts on tablets and phones.
Promote With Blaze
Blaze is a way to pay to have a post advertised by WordPress, putting it in front of thousands of new readers.
You can advertise a post or page on some of the millions of pages across WordPress.com and Tumblr from $5 per day. This option is not available to bloggers who have a free WordPress plan.
Stats
Click ‘Stats‘ to check a post’s latest daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly stats.
For some WordPress plans, you can view a post’s stats for emails opened and how many people who got the email clicked the link to view the post.
You can also view who clicked the ‘like‘ button on the post and how often ‘like‘ has been clicked.
What’s behind the ‘Stats’ option?
Under ‘Post Likes‘, hover your mouse over any of the profile icons to display the blog name of the blogger.
Click on an icon to view a list of that blogger’s blog posts, how many posts they have published, how many followers they have, a list of their most popular tags, and a follow button (WordPress.Com bloggers only). This is a great way to find new blogs to follow.
If you’re already following a blogger who has clicked ‘like‘, the ‘follow‘ button will be replaced with the word ‘following.’
Are you following somebody who clicked ‘like’ on your post?
To unfollow, click the ‘Following‘ button.
Comments
View all the comments that have been left on a post.
Along the top, you can view the following information for a post.
The number of comments it has received.
The number of comments that are pending (waiting for approval).
The number of comments that have been approved.
The number of comments you or WordPress have marked as spam.
The number of comments that have been sent to the trash folder.
Your replies to comments also show on this page.
You can also sort comments by newest first and oldest first.
With just one click, the ‘bulk edit‘ button allows you to perform a command (approve, un-approve, send to spam, send to trash). However, the ‘bulk edit‘ is only done per page, so if the post has many comments, you’ll need to bulk edit each page.
An easier way to view comments on a post.
You can also perform the following under the comments link –
View the post.
Approve a comment.
Mark and send a comment to the spam folder.
Send a comment to the trash bin.
Like a comment.
Edit a comment.
Reply to a comment.
To the right of each comment is a ‘User Info‘ button. Clicking on this button reveals the following information.
The name of the commenter’s WordPress blog.
The commenter’s email address.
A link to the commenter’s blog/website.
The IP address of the commenter.
You’ll also see a ‘Block User‘ button when clicking ‘User Info.’ If you press ‘Block User,’ any further comments from that user on any of your blog posts are sent directly to your WordPress trash folder.
Share
This neat button allows you to auto-share details of the post to the social media accounts WordPress have an auto-share facility with which you have connected to your blog.
Click on the ‘Share Post‘ button to share the post.
You can also manage all your social media auto-share connections by clicking on ‘Manage Connections.’
Copy Post
This is my favourite of all the options on the kebab menu.
Not only will clicking on this button duplicate your post, but the categories and tags of the post are also copied over.
This is especially beneficial if you run a daily/weekly/monthly blog challenge, series, or promotional posts on your blog.
It’s saved me lots of time by not copying, pasting, or redoing links, images, text, tags, and categories.
I also use the ‘copy post‘ function for posts with the same layout (such as my ‘Wordless Wednesday’ posts.
However, if you write excerpts for your blog posts (and I recommend you do), remember to change the excerpt before publishing the post. Otherwise, the excerpt may not make sense.
Copy Link
A link to the post is copied to the clipboard of the device you are using. You can paste the link into an email, message, website, blog post, comment, etc.
Trash
Clicking this button will send your post to the trash folder.
You can reinstate the post from the trash folder if you accidentally clicked it.
Let’s wrap things up.
There are nine hidden options available to WordPress.Com users on the page that displays their blog posts (and pages).
The options are hidden behind a menu known as a meatball menu.
The meatball menu opens up a kebab menu listing all available options.
Some of the options do exactly as they say on the can.
However, other options lead to lots more options and functions.
The comments option has a hidden ‘Block User‘ button – great for blocking comments from spammers or those you don’t want leaving comments anymore.
No need to copy and paste – The copy option copies an existing blog post and copies over the categories, tags and any images you have on that post, saving you lots of time.
It’s worth checking out all the options, especially as some are time-saving functions.
I hope you have found this post useful. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section.
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