If you don’t report problems to WordPress, how will they know about issues with their platform?
I am thrilled to inform you that the issue I reported regarding the ‘Email me new comments‘ checkbox when leaving a comment has been successfully resolved by WordPress.
Click the ‘Email me new comment’ button to get an email notification of when somebody has replied to a comment you left them.
So here’s what happened: When you checked the ‘Email me new comments‘ box, things went a bit haywire. You not only started getting email notifications for comments on that specific post, but you also got bombarded with notifications for comments on other posts on that blog, even if you hadn’t left a comment or picked the ‘Email me new comments‘ option. Your inbox was basically drowning in a sea of WordPress emails. Crazy, right?
Now, when you select the ‘Email me new comments‘ option, rest assured that you will only receive email notifications for comments posted on the exact same post where you have left a comment.
Why do I tick the ‘Email me new comments’ box?
Not only do I get informed via email when I get a reply to a comment I’ve left, but reading other blog posts’ comments always helps me with ideas for new posts. Sometimes, comments can be as interesting as the post they’ve been left on.
I can also definitely lend a helping hand when bloggers reach out for assistance in their comments. Moreover, I take great pleasure in rectifying any misinformation that comes my way. Just the other day, I came across a comment where a blogger erroneously mentioned that having a WordPress account is a prerequisite for leaving comments. Allow me to assure you that this information is not accurate. Indeed, anyone can participate in the discussion without the need for a WordPress account.
One problem remains
The problem I reported concerning no longer getting email notifications when somebody leaves a comment on any of my posts has still not been fixed. However, WordPress has assured me that they’re still working on fixing it.
I’d be interested in knowing if anybody else is experiencing problems with not getting email notifications when comments are left on their posts. Please let me know in the comments section.
Are you experiencing any problems with leaving or receiving comments on blog posts? What are they, and have you reported them to WordPress?
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You may already be acquainted with these exciting new features I’ve recently uncovered on WordPress. However, I wanted to discuss them in case some of you are still unaware of their existence or unsure about how they function. Let’s delve into these remarkable additions and explore their potential!
New features you may like to try out on WordPress.
Send Test email.
I absolutely love this new feature! It’s incredibly handy because not only do I get to double-check my email notifications for my new blog posts before hitting the publish button, but it also serves as a safety net to ensure that my blog post is flawless and error-free. This is a game-changer for me!
Note – this feature may not be available to WordPress free plan users.
Before scheduling or publishing a new blog post, click the ‘Send test email‘ button, and WordPress will send you an email showing the excerpt and a link to the post.
Where can I find the ‘Send test email’ button?
Under the ‘Publish‘ settings of the draft of your post. Ensure you open the ‘Newsletter: Everyone‘ section to see it.
Here’s a screenshot.
Send test emails for all your WordPress new post notifications.
Not only can you check that the excerpt of your blog post is correct, but you can also click the link within the email to open the post and verify that everything is as it should be.
So, no more –
Missing images
Uncentred captions
Upsidedown images
Misplaced images
Images and text overlapping
Missing blog post titles
Missing headings
Missing words
Spelling mistakes
Forgetting to close comments
Broken videos or YouTube links
Broken links/pingbacks
Of course, spelling and grammar mistakes may still appear, but at least you now have another way of checking and editing a post before it’s published.
A new way to showcase previous blog posts.
Most bloggers like to showcase previous blog posts so those who missed them the first time can catch up.
There are various ways to promote older blog posts on newly published posts. This is a new blog post template that WordPress has added to ‘Patterns‘ to help promote previous posts. In fact, WordPress has added lots of new ‘Blog Post’ templates. Here’s one I selected.
Where would we be without friends in our lives? We all need them, don’t we? As a gay man, I’ve had my fair share of both male and female friends over the years, but some of those friendships were not what I thought the true meaning of friendship was all about. Meet Tasmin, Neville and…
Where can I find Blog Post templates?
On a draft post, click the ‘+‘ symbol to add a new block and select ‘Patterns.’
On the menu that opens, click on ‘Blog Posts‘ and select from the many templates on offer.
Select a ‘blog posts’ template from the many on offer.
You can also select the ‘Blog Posts’ block for the same job.
Each template has many settings you can play around with. For example, I set the template I displayed above to two rather than three columns (displays as one column when viewing on a mobile phone). You can also change the background colour and text colour of the template.
On the template I used, up to six posts can be displayed, with new blog posts added as you publish them.
Unfortunately, I could not find a way of choosing which blog posts I wanted to feature in the template I chose, but some of the templates allow you to do this.
The one drawback I have noticed about my chosen template is the inability to set links to open in a new tab. As a result, users clicking on any of the links will lose their current page. To address this issue, I highly recommend including the ‘Blog Post Template‘ at the end of each post. This way, readers can easily navigate to related content without losing their place on the page.
Where did all my reusable blocks go?
Synced patterns have replaced Reusable blocks, offering a unified creation experience for new pattern functionality on WordPress. Any reusable blocks you’ve created for your blog can now be found under ‘Patterns.’
Ensure you view your blog’s dashboard in ‘Classic‘ view. When writing this post, it won’t work when viewing in ‘Default‘ view (WordPress are aware of the problem).
On the draft page of a post, click the three dots (options button) in the top right-hand corner of the page.
Click ‘Manage Patterns‘ in the new menu that opens.
Click ‘Manage Patterns’ to manage reusable blocks.
A page will open that lists all your reusable blocks. This is where you can edit or delete them.
A list of reusable blocks
IMPORTANT NOTICE – Please exercise caution when deleting a reusable block that has been previously used in your posts. Deleting a reusable block will result in its disappearance from all associated posts, and a notification will be displayed indicating that the block is no longer available. It is crucial to be mindful of this consequence to avoid any unintended disruptions to your content.
Have you explored any valuable new features on WordPress, or are you already utilising the ones I’ve mentioned? Are reusable blocks an essential part of your workflow? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section,and don’t hesitate to ask any questions.
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I’ve written about comments a lot over the last few months, so this seems like the ideal opportunity to discuss some problems with commenting on WordPress.
First, I want to discuss a problem with getting email notifications from WordPress whenever comments are left on my blog posts.
Are you experiencing any of these problems with comments on WordPress?
I’ve stopped getting email notifications whenever anyone comments on one of my posts, so I have had to revert to checking for new comments on my blog’s dashboard.
It’s not a huge problem, but the email notifications act as a backup, so I know when comments have been left, and they also serve as a reminder that I have comments to respond to. I don’t delete an email notification until I’ve replied to a comment. That way, I don’t miss any.
I reported the problem on the WordPress Forum. That was over two weeks ago, and whilst I’ve had a lot of contact from WordPress staff, the problem is currently with their developers.
Is anybody else having problems getting email notifications of comments left on their blog posts? Or is it just me?
I’ve also reported another issue to WordPress. I’m wondering if any of the following are happening to you when leaving comments on other blogs?
Other problems with commenting.
Have you noticed that the comments box on WordPress has changed? The old comments box has been replaced with a new one (see the following image), but it seems to be causing me a few problems.
Have you noticed the new comments box on WordPress?
The above new style comments box has gradually been introduced to most blogs on WordPress.
You can write a comment, press the reply button, and move on pretty swiftly, but my concerns are with something hidden behind the settings (cog) button next to the icon that displays your Gravatar image. When you press the cog, you’ll see this.
There are three options to choose from in the new-look comments box.
See those three new options at the bottom of the comments box? Not only can you now get web and phone notifications of new blog posts from the blog you’re leaving a comment on, but you can set how often you get notifications of new posts.
These are not new, though. They’ve been available for use on WordPress for a long time but were buried deep in our blogs’ dashboard settings. Now, they’re much easier to find and use.
So far, so good, you may think, but it’s the ‘email me new comments‘ button that is causing me concern.
You see, I’m one of those bloggers who like to receive an email whenever anyone replies to a comment I’ve left on their blog or when anyone else leaves a comment on the post I’ve already commented on. It’s my way of knowing that not only have they responded to my comment but also a way for me to either reply to or ‘like’ the comment. I do not like the thought of any blogger thinking I’ve ignored their comment.
The problem now is that when you slide the ‘email me new comments‘ button on, not only do you get emailed comments for the posts you’ve left comments on, but you’ll get email notifications of any comment left on any of the posts on that blog regardless of whether you left a comment or not.
If the blog you’ve left a comment on is huge and gets hundreds of comments, this could become a big problem with your email box filling up quickly.
Needless to say, that is something I do want. I only want email notifications of comments left on the posts I left a comment on. Why? Well, I find that reading comments can sometimes be as interesting as the post they’re left on, plus comments often give me new ideas for blog posts.
I’ve reported the issue to WordPress, and they’ve replied. See the screenshots below. However, I’m not the only one who reported this particular problem.
Somebody else has reported the same problem.
A response from a member of staff at WordPress
That was the last response from WordPress, but I’ll update this post with any developments.
Some good news – My spam box is empty!
Is it only me, or has anyone else seen a drastic reduction in spam since the new comment box appeared? I used to get hundreds of spam messages to scroll through every day, but now my spam box is empty almost every day – hooray!
So, there is no need to close comments off posts anymore if WordPress has waved a magic wand and stopped the spam once and for all. Hooray – that means I can leave comments on blog posts that are more than a month old.
Are you having any of the problems described in this post or any issues with leaving comments or receiving WordPress notifications as a whole? Has the amount of spam you’re getting plummeted? Let me know in the comments section.
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Who do you blame when something goes wrong with your blog?
Most of us will probably blame WordPress, yet have you ever thought that the problem could be that the theme of your blog is to blame because you’ve never changed it and it’s been retired?
Is your blog’s theme causing the problems you’re experiencing with your blog?
Many problems can arise on blogs when a theme has been retired.
How Do I Find Out If The Theme I’m Using Has Been Retired?
You’ll see the following image on the themes page of your blog.
Has your theme been retired?
Go to your blog’s dashboard and click Appearance – Themes to determine if your chosen theme has been retired.
Can I Still Use My Retired Theme?
Yes, you can. WordPress won’t remove it from your site. However, when a theme is retired, it no longer appears in the list of themes available on WordPress.
Your retired theme may remain available for the lifetime of your site or blog, but it will no longer be fully supported by WordPress. It won’t receive any updates with new features; hence WordPress won’t guarantee it will always function correctly with their ever-evolving software. If anything goes wrong, it may not be possible to fix it.
You can still contact WordPress support so the Happiness Engineers can take a look, but support will be limited, and they’ll probably recommend switching to a newer theme. In addition, they won’t provide any CSS support for the retired theme.
Why Do Themes Get Retired?
Web technology updates make the visibility and functionality of some themes outdated.
Web design is an area that is continually evolving, thanks to trends, tastes, and new technologies. WordPress has to keep up to date with these changes and is at the forefront of wanting blogs to look fresh and modern.
Retired themes can make blogs look outdated, stale, and uninviting to visitors, especially if you’ve never changed your theme since starting to blog.
Themes may also be retired if their design has become old-fashioned or uses certain no longer supported features.
What Should I Do If The Theme I Am Using Is Retired?
You can continue to use it, but it may no longer be possible for WordPress to fix any issues you encounter.
Some of the issues I have found with blogs that are still using retired themes are –
I can no longer leave comments.
Pingback to the blog no longer work.
Pingbacks from the blog no longer work.
The gravatar image is no longer displayed.
The ‘Notify me of new comments via email’ box is missing.
Pressing the ‘like’ button no longer works.
New blog posts do not appear on the WordPress Reader.
Blog posts are no longer mobile or tablet-friendly.
Comments do not display correctly.
Images, photos and paragraphs do not display correctly.
Sharing buttons no longer work correctly.
In all cases, when I’ve checked the blog’s theme when these problems have happened, it’s an old, retired theme.
Some bloggers find workarounds when problems occur, but all this does is put off the inevitable that one day they will have to change the theme.
My recommended advice is to consider switching to a new theme to ensure your blog has a modern look and feel to its design.
If you’re not bothered about parts of your blog being broken, you may wish to continue using it until you are forced to change the theme. However, that’s not something I recommend.
Not only can finding a new theme be fun, but it can also boost your blog’s ranking.
How Do I Find A New Theme?
On the dashboard of your blog, go to Appearance – Themes. You’ll see all the WordPress themes available. For free themes, click the ‘Free‘ button in the top-right of the page.
You can also use the search field on the themes page to find a replacement theme. Click on the filter options below the search bar or type directly into the search field to filter by specific features or subjects or by the number of columns the theme natively displays to select a new theme similar to your retired theme.
Block Themes Vs Classic Themes
Block (or Full-Site Editing) themes are the new boys on the block.
WordPress recommends switching to a Block theme, as these are the future and what will be supported in the long term.
I have heard of some bloggers encountering problems switching to Block themes. It’s a long learning curve to get used to them, but WordPress has plenty of advice and help for switching to one.
Some bloggers who have already made the switch have reported that not only do their blogs run faster after switching to a Block theme, but problems they were experiencing with their blogs also disappear.
I recommend watching WordPress tutorial videos and reading their guidance page before switching to a Block theme. For information, click the links below.
Contact the WordPress Happiness Engineers by clicking on the ‘question mark’ icon (next to the ‘bell’ notification icon) in the top right of your blog’s dashboard.
Ask for help from your followers and other bloggers by writing and publishing a post or contacting a blogger directly.
Important Information: Do not activate a new theme unless you are absolulty sure you like the theme you have chosen, as it’s impossible to go back to a retired theme once you’ve activated a new theme.
Classic themes were created to work with the old Classic editor, but with the large drop in Classic editor users, WordPress has been retiring them, especially when they no longer work with new functionality software or when updates to the WordPress platform have been released.
Unlike Block themes, Classic themes are heavily loaded with CSS code, meaning many things can go wrong. Block themes are only lightly loaded with CSS code, so are less likely to break.
Currently, WordPress provides 54 Classic themes that are free to use and compatible with the Block editor.
To find current Classic themes, search for them by adding ‘Classic‘ to the search bar on the Themes page, and select ‘Classic Theme‘ from the dropdown menu that appears.
If the theme you’re currently using has been retired, I recommend you switch to one of the Classic themes if you do not want to switch to a Block theme. Doing this will fix some or all of the problems your blog may be experiencing.
If you still experience problems after switching to a current Classic (or Block) theme, report the problems to WordPress. How will WordPress know about a problem unless you report it? Don’t rely on other users reporting the problems you’re having with your blog.
Does WordPress have any plans for new Classic themes?
I asked WordPress the above question. Their response was –
‘No, and we doubt there will be as the industry shifts to the more modern and convenient Full Site Editing (Block) themes that remove most of the need to learn coding to create and customize your theme.’
Is WordPress retiring all Classic themes? If so, when?
Their response –
‘It’s likely, as the focus is shifted to the more modern approach. We do not have specific timelines for each theme or the ones available on our list at this moment.’
So I guess it’s a case of ‘watch this space.’
However, given that the Classic Editor plugin is still available, my guess is that WordPress will retain some of the Classic themes until they stop supporting the Classic Editor plugin. But the choice of Classic themes will become more and more limited as time passes.
I didn’t ask WordPress if there are any plans to stop supporting the Classic Editor plugin, although I have heard rumours that they plan to stop supporting it by the end of 2024.
Let’s wrap it up.
Problems may affect your blog because your theme has been retired.
WordPress may be able to fix some issues, but they will advise you to switch to a new theme if the theme you’re using is retired.
You can continue to use a retired theme you’re using, but it may not work correctly.
Once you activate a new theme, you won’t be able to go back to the retired theme you’ve been using.
Upon publication of this post, WordPress offers Full Site Editing (Block) and Classic themes.
All Classic themes are free to use.
There are no plans to introduce new Classic themes.
The number of available Classic themes will continue to diminish.
I’ve seen some bloggers say they will wait until they are forced to switch themes. Given that switching themes can be a complicated and time-consuming project, all that will do is make them panic when the time comes to switch. Don’t be one of them.
If the theme you’re using has been retired, switch now.
WordPress welcomes feedback on the new Block themes and encourages everyone to contact them with suggestions for improving them.
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‘Help! I’ve run out of media storage space on my blog and can no longer upload new photos, images or videos. What can I do?’
That was a question to me from Micheal, who blogs at Spo-Reflections.
Michael was happy to upgrade his WordPress plan to obtain more media space, but there are other things you could do if you find your blog running out of media space.
Have you run out of media space on your blog? Here are 5 things you can do to obtain more.
1. Upgrade your plan.
WordPress currently offers 6 plans.
The amount of media storage space you get varies. Click the following link to see the plans – ‘There Is A Plan For You.’ Pricing is correct at the time of publication of this post.
Each plan provides the following media storage space.
Name of plan
Storage Amount
Free
1GB
Personal
6GB
Premium
13GB
Business
200GB
Commerce
200GB
Enterprise
N/A
However, only upgrade your WordPress plan if you absolutely need to. Do not get into debt by upgrading unless you can afford it, as there are other things you can do to free up media storage space.
2. Resize the size of your images and photos.
One of the biggest reasons bloggers run out of media space is that they do not resize their images and photos before uploading them to their media library.
There are several ways you can reduce the size of images and photos. You can reduce them using photo editing software or via the tools of your device you use to blog.
I use an Apple iMac and can change the size of photos and images by clicking on Tools – Adjust size on the menubar of my desktop computer. I do this before uploading them to my WordPress media library.
I recommend reducing image and photo sizes to 900 x 675 pixels.
On a Windows computer, you can use Microsoft Paint. Open your image with that program, then click on Resize. You can find this option on the middle-right side of the “Image” section at the top of the Paint window.
The WordPress media library also has editing software, but please note that if you reduce the size of an image or photo using this tool, the original image is kept in your media library when you reduce the size of the picture – thus, you won’t have freed up any storage space.
Large images can also slow down your blog’s downloading speed, negatively impacting your blog’s search engine rankings and overall user experience. So, I recommend you always reduce the size of images and photos before uploading them to your blog.
3. Do not upload videos to your media library.
If you include videos in your blog posts, uploading them to your media library can take up vast amounts of space.
To overcome this problem and free up all the space they take up, upload your videos to YouTube. Then add the YouTube block to your blog post and include the link to the video in the block.
Adding videos to your blog via YouTube helps free up media space for your blog.
Do this for any existing videos you have in your media library. Upload them to YouTube and add them via the YouTube block before deleting the original from your media library. This will free up large amounts of storage in your media library.
4. Delete images from your media library.
We can accumulate vast amounts of images and photos in our media library, many of which will become redundant.
Deleting these images will free up storage space. However, when you delete any images or photos in your media library, they disappear from the blog posts they appear on.
Deleting old, redundant blog posts containing images, photos, and videos frees up storage space. However, delete any images, photos and videos in your media library before deleting the posts.
5. Reduce the number of images and photos you add to blog posts.
While I recommend adding at least one image or photo to a blog post (because blog posts containing images get up to 70% more traffic), reducing the number of images and pictures will help save media space.
Before adding more images or photos, ask yourself if adding them to your post is necessary.
Let’s wrap it up.
Resize your images and photos before uploading them to your blog’s media library.
Upload videos to YouTube and use the YouTube block to show them on your blog posts.
Delete old images and photos from your media library, but remember to remove them from any posts first.
Do not resize images using tools in the media library, as this does not save storage space.
Consider deleting old blog posts that are no longer relevant.
Reduce the number of images and photos on blog posts. Ask yourself if they’re necessary.
How do you free up storage space in your blog’s media library? If you have any questions about this post, leave them in the comments section.
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How easily can all visitors engage with you on your blog?
Is it as easy as you think it is?
Did you know that you could be preventing some visitors to your blog from leaving you comments?
After receiving an e-mail from Jean, who blogs at DelightfulRepast.com, who had seen one of my posts at the Senior Salon Pitstop weekly linky party hosted by Esme and Julie, I was somewhat concerned when she mentioned that it wasn’t easy for her to engage with me on my blog.
Jean explained that she didn’t want to leave her e-mail address, create a WordPress account or use social media to be able to leave me comments. I understand why she didn’t want to leave any of those details. After all, our information is private and shouldn’t be given out if we don’t want to give it out.
WordPress offers ‘Discussions‘ options where users can decide how easily readers can engage with them without leaving any personal details. I thought I already had this option switched off, so nobody needed to leave any personal details, and I was right, but it didn’t explain why Jean thought she had to leave her personal details if she wanted to comment on my posts.
Upon further checking my discussion settings, I saw where the confusion was coming from and want to highlight it so those who wish to engage with me without personal details can still leave comments knowing they do not need to give any personal information.
Let’s Look At The Discussion Settings On WordPress.
Ensure you’re viewing your blog’s dashboard in the Default view. To do this, click on the View button in the top right of the screen when viewing your blog’s dashboard.
Go to Settings – Discussion.
Make sure you’re viewing your blog’s dashboard in the Default view.
On the Discussions Settings page, look for the Comments box.
Look for the comments settings box.
As you will see from the above screenshot, I have turned off both the ‘Comment author must fill out name and e-mail‘ and ‘Users must be registered and logged in to comment‘ options. So why wasn’t Jean able to leave me a comment?
It seems that, for whatever reason, in their wisdom, WordPress has decided to still show visitors a login box when these options have been switched off. This is what Jean and visitors who are not logged in see.
The log in box tricks visitors into believing they have to leave personal details to be able to leave comments.
And this is what WordPress say –
Comment author must fill out name and e-mail: When this setting is on, anyone leaving a comment will be forced to leave a name and a valid e-mail address. If the setting is off, visitors can leave anonymous comments. While your commenters do not have to fill in the e-mail field if you’ve turned this setting off, it will still be visible to them when they comment.
So I understand why Jean thought I wasn’t making it easy for her to engage with me.
If you only want readers to engage with you who must leave their name and email address, ensure you have this option switched on.
If you only want comments from readers who are logged in and registered, ensure you have the ‘Users must be registered and logged in to comment‘ setting switched on.
If you want comments from both, ensure both settings are switched on.
However, if, like me, you’re happy to allow anyone to leave you a comment, then switch both of these settings off.
Don’t forget to click the ‘Save‘ button in the Comments settings box if you make any changes.
Are There Any Disadvantages To Switching These Discussion Settings Off?
The main disadvantage is that it could open the gates for spammers and trolls to leave you comments. However, the Akismet antispam software on WordPress catches and places the majority of spam into your blog’s spam folder, so you’ll never see it unless you check what’s in it.
Further down on the Discussion Settings page, there is more help to filter out spam and troll comments.
Look for the ‘Before A Comment Appears‘ box, and you’ll see these two options.
Comment must be manually approved: If this setting is on, all comments will go into moderation, and they will need to be approved by you before appearing on your blog.
Comment author must have a previously approved comment: If this option is on, any visitors that have had a comment approved on your blog in the past will get a free pass through approval and only comments from new visitors will go into moderation.
As you will see from the following screenshot, my blog is set for manually approving all comments before they appear on any of my posts.
Decide which level of protection you want to stop the comments of spammers and trolls from appearing on your blog posts.
This helps me stop unprofessional, rude, nasty comments from appearing on any of my posts, even if they’re from somebody who has previously left a friendly comment.
My thanks to Jean for contacting me about discussion settings on blogs. And apologies for the confusion WordPress causes in insisting a login box shows when visitors do not need to leave any personal details when wanting to engage or leave a comment.
If you see a login box or are asked to leave your name and email address when leaving a comment, try leaving a comment without filling in personal details or logging in. If the blogger you’re engaging with has switched off the ‘Comment author must fill out name and e-mail‘ and ‘Users must be registered and logged in to comment.‘ options, your comment will go through.
If either or one of those options is switched on, you’ll need to follow the instructions to be able to leave a comment.
Let’s wrap it up.
Check the discussion settings on your blog to see if you’re preventing visitors from leaving comments.
Decide whether you want only certain visitors to be able to leave comments or if you’re happy for all visitors to leave comments.
The majority of spam comments will go straight to your spam folder. Remember to empty your spam folder regularly.
To stop comments from trolls appearing on your blog posts, switch on the ‘Comment must be manually approved‘ setting.
Consider whether comments from those who have previously left you a friendly comment do not need to be manually approved by you.
If you have questions about the discussion settings on your WordPress blog, leave them in the comments section.
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Getting readers to engage with you by leaving comments on your blog posts is something many bloggers crave.
And when those comments clearly show that your post has been read, it’s one of the best feelings in the world.
However, once you get visitors reading your posts and leaving comments, you need to do all you can to ensure they keep coming back.
Writing good quality posts that make your readers want to engage with you and each other is one way to keep your readers returning, but you also need to ensure they can easily find your other similarly themed posts, which are often buried deep in your blog archives.
Need more readers and followers? These 5 blogging tools will help
Here are five blogging tools that work for me. Not only do they give my readers a way of finding more similarly-themed content, but these tools have also helped bring me many new readers and followers.
1. The Search Bar
The other day, I was writing a new blog post and wanted to include links to some posts I had read on other blogs.
However, try as I might, I couldn’t find one of the posts I wanted to link to. Even worse, there was no search bar on the blog concerned.
It wasn’t long before I gave up looking for that blog post. I didn’t have the time to find it.
You can make it easy for readers to find what they are looking for by including a search bar on your blog.
Does your blog have a search bar? If not, WordPress has a ‘search’ widget. Click here to find out how to install one.
Once you’ve installed a search bar, open up one of your blog posts and check you are happy with its position. Ensure it’s visible and easy for visitors to find. The search bar on my blog is the first widget on my widget bar to the right of all my blog posts.
Remember, too, that you can use the search bar when looking for your own posts. You can save yourself a lot of time by doing this instead of scrolling through all your blog posts on your blog’s dashboard.
2. The Menu Bar
Navigation is of prime importance on any blog. Make it difficult for visitors to navigate or find more content, and they’ll probably give up and never return.
That’s why it’s essential to have a menu bar on your blog.
A menu bar allows your readers to check out what is on your blog and helps direct them to other parts of your blog they’d like to explore.
Many bloggers can be frightened by including a menu bar on their blog or adding items. However, it’s an easy and straightforward process.
Click here for details on how to set up a custom menu bar on your WordPress blog.
However, don’t overload the menu bar on your blog, as it can look overwhelming. And ensure you keep it updated and check that everything works on it.
3. The ‘Contact Me Page
Just imagine another blogger, a magazine editor, or somebody from your local radio station wanting to contact you to invite you to write an article or appear on a show. How exciting would that be? But they can’t find a way of reaching you privately!
Not everyone wants to leave a comment when they want to invite you to write a guest post, be interviewed, or ask you to appear on a show. If you don’t have a ‘contact me’ page, and nobody can contact you privately, then they’ll probably move on and give that opportunity to somebody else.
On the menu bar of my blog, you’ll see a ‘Contact Hugh’ button. That’s how people can contact me privately.
I get lots of people contacting me every week. As a result, I’ve written guest articles, appeared on radio shows and recorded podcasts, all of which have allowed me to promote myself and my blog. In return, I’ve got hundreds of new readers and followers to my blog.
Make sure you’re contactable. Click here to find out how to set up a ‘contact me’ page.
4. The ‘About Me’ Page
Ever since my early days of blogging, I’ve been told that many new blog visitors will want to learn a little about the blogger behind the blog before deciding whether to follow.
When I visit a new blog, I first look for an ‘about me’ page to learn more about the blogger.
If the blogger doesn’t have an ‘about me’ page or it’s difficult to find, I’m more likely to move on than check out the rest of their blog.
If you do have an ‘about me’ page, ensure you allow new visitors to introduce themselves by allowing them to leave a comment on it. And don’t forget, a friendly reply is more likely to keep that visitor returning to read your posts.
Click here for details on setting up an ‘About Me’ page and what to include.
5. The Gravatar
The image that appears next to all comments is known as a Gravatar. A gravatar is created for you as soon as you leave your first review or comment on the internet.
How many times have you clicked on the gravatar image of somebody who has left an excellent comment on a post and not been able to find their blog details? Frustrating, isn’t it, especially when you think it may be a blog you’d like to follow.
Unfortunately, one of the biggest mistakes many bloggers make, as soon as their gravatar is created, is they forget about it. Many don’t realise they can add images and leave links to their blog and social media accounts on their gravatar.
If a reader then clicks on your gravatar, they’ll see the links to your blog and social media accounts and be able to visit them. That means more visitors to your blog and social media accounts which could result in more followers.
Click here to find out how to add links to your blog and social media accounts to your gravatar.
Let’s wrap it up
Many blogging tools can help readers notice your blog and keep them returning.
Make sure you have a Search Bar on your blog to help visitors find other content.
Ensure your blog includes a menu bar, but don’t overload it with too many items.
Ensure the links on your blog’s menu bar all work. Check for broken links at least once a month and fix any that have become broken.
Ensure your blog has a page where readers and visitors can contact you privately. Not everyone will want to leave a comment inviting you to write a guest post or to appear on a radio show or podcast.
Many new visitors want to know a little about the person behind the blog before deciding whether to follow. Tell visitors a little about yourself on an ‘about me’ page.
Ensure your Gravatar has links to your blog and social media accounts.
This is an updated version of a post originally published on Hugh’s Views And News in September 2018
What powerful blogging tools do you use on your blog, and why do you use them? Share them with us by leaving a comment.
Performing housekeeping on your blog has many benefits. After all, who doesn’t want their blog to look like a friendly, easy-to-use and inviting place old and new visitors will want to keep coming back to?
If you’re a blogger looking to expand their readership, performing housekeeping on your blog is something you should seriously consider.
But what blog housekeeping jobs should you consider doing?
This is why blog housekeeping is essential.
During a 4-day heatwave last month, I couldn’t venture outside, so I took the opportunity to do some blog housekeeping. Here’s what I did.
1. Delete old, out-of-date blog posts.
I always feel that old, out-of-date blog posts that can not be updated or rewritten do nothing but drag down my blog.
They hang around like some uninvited members of the family you hardly ever see or have contact with. You know they are there but feel afraid to ask them to leave.
I had over 400 blog posts on my blog, some of which were doing nothing apart from attracting spam comments. They were dead ducks. They were not attracting any new views, visitors or comments.
I ended up deleting over 80 posts. Not only did I feel good getting rid of what I considered clutter, but it made my blog look much better with no more outdated information.
Some bloggers claim that deleting old posts is not a good idea because they can look back and see how much they have improved since those early posts. I disagree! When you’re somebody who never goes back to read old posts, mainly because you don’t have the time to do so, deleting these old blog posts is like cutting away the string tied to the brick holding your blog down.
2. Fixing broken links.
A downside of deleting old blog posts is that any pingback and links you have to them will become broken.
I used Broken Link Check to run a report showing me broken links on my blog. It’s free to use.
Since SEOs like Google rank blogs that have broken links lower, cleaning up and fixing broken links is a job every blogger should consider.
That first broken link report could be long and overwhelming, but once you start running a broken link report every month, you’ll soon conquer that job.
Fixing broken links was the best bit of blog housekeeping I did because it improves your blog’s overall ranking, meaning more traffic and visitors to your blog.
3. Categories and tags
When I checked how many categories and tags I had on my blog, I was shocked by the number.
What amazed me was that many categories and tags were no longer active. Like some of my old blog posts, they were deadwood.
Checking which categories and tags are no longer active is easy.
Follow this guide.
On your blog’s dashboard, click on Posts and then Categories. (Click on Tags to manage Tags).
How to manage categories and tags on your WordPress blog
A list of all your categories will show how many posts you have under each category.
To delete a category, click on the meatball menu next to the number and click on ‘delete.’
How to delete categories on your WordPress blog
Follow the same process for managing the Tags on your blog.
4. Menu Bar
I also took the opportunity to tidy up the menubar on my blog. Although it was not what I considered ‘top heavy’, I moved some items to sub-categories.
Here’s an example. I moved some fictional stuff to sub-categories under ‘Fiction.’ When you hover over ‘Fiction‘ on the menu, you’ll see the sub-categories pop up.
Blogs with top-heavy menus can look overwhelming and messy to visitors.
For more information about menus on your blog, see ‘Menus‘ by WordPress.
Once you start housekeeping your blog, it will make you feel much more positive about blogging.
Try and get into the habit of housekeeping your blog at least once every six months, although I’d recommend running a broken links report at least once a month.
Let’s wrap it up
Performing housekeeping on your blog is something every blogger should perform at least once every six months.
A well-kept blog is one that old and new visitors will want to keep returning to.
Fixing broken links on your blog will improve your blog’s SEO rating.
Run a broken link report for your blog once a month. Fix any broken links.
Delete categories and tags that are no longer being used on your blog. Too many categories and tags can confuse readers.
Delete old out-of-date blog posts, especially if all they are doing is attracting lots of spam.
Try and keep the menu of your blog to a minimum. Top-heavy menus can look messy and overwhelming.
How often do you perform blog housekeeping? What do those jobs involve? Do you have any simple tips for housekeeping your blog? Share them in the comments.
Remember that a well-kept blog is a positive and friendly place for your visitors and readers.
Follow Hugh on social media. Click on the links below.
Have you come across any of these 7 simple blogging mistakes I’ve recently come across? Or are you making any of these mistakes? If so, they’re simple to fix.
Are you making any of these 7 simple blogging mistakes?
1. Not giving readers enough ‘white’ space.
What is ‘white’ space? It’s the break between paragraphs that helps give the eyes a bit of a rest, making reading your blog post more comfortable.
Opening a blog post and being faced with vast blocks of paragraphs isn’t an attractive look unless you enjoy looking at brick walls that have no top or bottom.
How to fix the problem.
Split your paragraphs up, so they contain no more than four sentences. This gives visitors a more comfortable read.
Inserting images between paragraphs is also considered ‘white’ space. Your blog post will look more inviting to read.
2. Not adding a link to the next part of a post/story.
Have you ever wondered why some parts of a blog post don’t do as well as previous parts?
I recently read the first part of a short story split up into several parts because of its length. However, there was no link to part two, so I had to hunt the post down. I had to do the same for the next four parts.
Given that many readers have limited time, not all of them will be like me and hunt down the next part of a blog post.
How to fix the problem
When you publish a blog post you’re splitting into parts, go back to the last part and, at the bottom of the post, add a pingback to the next part. Then, readers can click through to the next part after finishing reading the part they’ve just read.
You can also add pingbacks to previous parts at the beginning of a post.
3. Creating pingbacks to the ‘home’ page of a blog
Have you ever wondered why somebody has not thanked you for linking to one of their blog posts? It’s probably because you’ve linked to the ‘home’ page of their blog.
When creating a pingback to the ‘home’ page of a WordPress blog, no notification is sent. Therefore, the owner of the blog may be unaware that you’ve linked to their blog.
How to fix the problem
Don’t create pingbacks or links to the ‘home’ page of any blog. Always create them to a blog post (unless it’s the home page).
Not sure what the ‘home’ page of a blog is? Most bloggers have a link to their ‘home’ page on the menubar of their blog. Click on mine and, in the comments, tell me what the ‘home’ page of my blog is.
4. Allowing WordPress to close down your blog post when clicking on pingbacks.
Do you get frustrated when you click on a pingback, and the new page opens in the same window as the post you’re reading?
Okay, you could click the back button to go back to the post you were reading, but how many of us do that?
If the pingbacks you have created open in the same window as the blog post they’re on, you could be missing out on people sharing or leaving a comment on your post. And how many of those people will click on any more pingbacks on your posts, knowing they’re going to lose the page they’re reading?
How to fix the problem
Ensure you tick the ‘open in new tab‘ box when creating pingbacks.
5. Inserting full HTTP addresses in the body of blog posts
We’ve all seen them, haven’t we? And we probably have all inserted them in blog posts or on websites before learning about pingbacks.
Not only do full HTTP addresses make blog posts look untidy, but they also make blog posts uninviting to read, especially if there are lots of them.
How to fix the problem
Create a pingback to the page or website you’re linking to instead of inserting the full HTTP address. The pingback can be one word in your post or even a whole sentence and looks much better than seeing the full HTTP address.
Imagine going into a library and finding none of the books are categorised. Instead of going to the history section to find a book on the six wives of Henry VIII, you have to hunt through all the books in the library to find it.
Now imagine somebody coming to your blog to find a recipe for chocolate chip cookies, only to find there are no categories. You’ve filed every blog post under ‘uncategorised,’ and there are hundreds of posts to look through.
A blog with no categorised posts looks messy. It gives the impression that the owner doesn’t care about it or anyone who visits looking for information.
According to Janice Wald of MostlyBlogging.Com, you should always categorise blog posts. Janice says, ‘Too many bloggers overlook this simple tip that can result in benefits for both you and your readers. Picking a category results in more traffic for you and a boost in readability for your blog visitors.’
Hugh’s blog post shows how to categorise your blog posts
7. Using incorrect colour combinations
I recently came across some blog posts where the owners had made it difficult for visitors to read all or parts of their posts.
One blogger had a dark green background and was using black font. I could hardly read any of their posts.
Another blogger had coloured the blocks on their post dark blue and changed the colour of the font to dark green. While the rest of the post was easy to read, the colour combination they’d used in the blocks spoilt my enjoyment of the post because I couldn’t read them.
Which one of these is more easy to read?
Can you read this?
Can you read this?
How to fix the problem
The best colour combination is a white background with black font.
If you want to change the background and font colour in your blog posts (or in blocks), make sure the colour combinations are suitable for visitors to read. Preview the post first before publishing it. If you can’t read it, then nobody can.
If you’re unsure which colour combinations to use, stick to using a white background with black font.
What are the most common simple blogging mistakes you keep coming across? Join the discussion and leave details in the comments.
Layout, content, and format might differ on self-hosted blogs.
Looking for more blogging tips from Hugh? Check these out.
Do you know how many more people read the titles of your blog posts than read the contents of your posts? Once you know, you’ll want to write better titles for all your blog posts. Let me show you how.
Hugh's Views & News 