You Want WordPress Tips? I’ve Got WordPress Tips.

/ Stuart Danker

wordpress-tips-chest-ashin-k-suresh

I think Google is trying to corral the way we think. You wanna know why? Because a search on ‘WordPress tips’ returns results like ‘install Analytics’ or ‘use plug-ins’.

But what about the WordPress.com users among us? What if you’re blogging for fun instead of e-commerce? And do I really need Analytics if I only have 10 visitors a month?

That’s why today I’m presenting you with the old wives’ tales version of WordPress tips. We’re not going to do what big corporations tell us to, no.

Instead, we’ll be covering WordPress tips for personal bloggers, by a personal blogger.

So get your chicken soup and Vicks ready, because we’re about to dive down the WordPress equivalent of sleeping with onions in your socks.

Networking

I’m just going to throw this out first: the successful bloggers here participate in some form of socialising or another. So if you’re going to do the same, you’ll want to streamline your process.

i. Leave your business card

First up, ensure that your Gravatar account is up to date. Why? Because you can’t network if people can’t find your page.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve chatted with great commenters on my blog, only to not be able to return the favour. So do get that checked before you even begin networking.

You can do so by visiting Gravatar.com and logging in with the e-mail you use for WordPress.

And while you’re at it, why not add a profile pic? It increases trust, and it beats having the random pattern image.

ii. Creep on your readers

There’s a reason why I want you to update your details. Because I want to know if you’re legit.

I’m not a fast commenter, so I do take a bit of time to craft replies. And it sucks having spent ten minutes writing only to realise that I’d been replying to a spam account.

So always creep on your readers first. Its other benefit includes the extra context you’d get from visiting their site. It’s nice to know somebody’s name and location, for instance.

iii. Shout out your shoutout

When you backlink, try linking to a post instead of the root domain. I’ve come across quite a few mentions of my blog through sheer coincidence. These were kind posts too. I just wish I knew about them sooner.

So make the person’s day. Link to an article so that they’d get the backlink notification. They wouldn’t know it otherwise (unless you personally message them).

iv. Sift through your spam

Do you get those long-ass spam comments that take you ten rolls of the mouse wheel just to get through one message?

Well, say goodbye to endless scrolling, because I’ve found a way to quickly jump through spam.

Simply search for the term ‘2022/09’, or whatever month it happens to be. Every time you press Enter, you’ll be brought to the start of the next message.

Neat, huh? No more sifting through unending Viagra ads trying to find the human that fell through the cracks!

A screenshot of the Spam folder

The actual two-page-long spam is too vulgar to post here. Photo: Stuart Danker

v. Confirm humanity

I gotta say, the spambots are getting crafty these days. I’ve been convinced that a couple of messages were actually real. And this is made worse by non-binary accounts (quite literally) that could be human or robot.

If you can’t be sure whether a comment is real, just paste it into Google with apostrophes. Example: ‘I would like to give you a huge thumbs up for the great info you have here on this post’.

Sincere readers wouldn’t repeat their comments verbatim. So if you do find similar comments copied word-for-word, then you’ll know they’re spam.

Writing

After networking comes writing. Yes, I’m prioritising admin duties over the actual writing. This is because I’ve seen great talents fade into the background, while the more social bloggers get most of the attention.

But once you’re ready to write, here are some tips to improve the mechanical side of things.

i. Use another editor

Despite being a blogging platform, WordPress’s editor leaves a lot to be desired. For one, the editor lags once we get up to 1,000 words or so. And the quick chopping of multiple blocks is clunky at best.

Which is why I recommend using a separate editor entirely. Plain text works best, but you can use whatever you’re most comfortable with.

I use Vim to whip my posts into shape, then copy-paste the entire thing into WordPress. The only editing I do on WordPress itself is adding images and anonymous elements like drop caps.

ii. Write in Markdown

If you’re going with the plain text method, it’s best to stick with programmes like Notepad or TextEdit.

And it’s even better if you write in Markdown. You can look it up on Google, but it’s basically memorising a few symbols to format your work. Here’s a quick primer: italics would be _italics_, and bold would be **bold**.

And this is where the WordPress editor shines. Copy-pasting Markdown works without a hitch. But do note that only copy-pasting works for me. You can’t write Markdown directly into WordPress.

iii. Use shortcuts

If you’re still inclined to write in WordPress, at least take the time to memorise the shortcuts.

For starters, you can type ‘/’ in the editor to bring up special blocks, or you could use keypress commands. Press Alt + Shift + H (or Option + Control + H for Mac) in the editor to see the full list.

My most-used shortcuts are:

  • /image for images
  • /heading for the subheadings
  • Cmd + K for links
  • '*' for lists
  • /more for the Read More line
WordPress Tips Vim - Stuart Danker

An external editor plus Markdown works surprisingly well with WordPress. Photo: Stuart Danker

Dealing with plagiarism

It doesn’t matter how big or small of a blogger you are. You will fall victim to plagiarism.

I frankly couldn’t be bothered, because my stories are specific to me. After all, how many ex-hairdresser-accountant writers from Malaysia do you know?

That doesn’t mean you can’t make it harder for the plagiarisers though. As long as you remember that there’s very little you can do against pirates who actually put in the effort to copy.

i. Link to yourself

It’s good practice to include at least one link that points to another article of yours. It doesn’t just benefit SEO, but it also includes breadcrumbs that link back to you.

So if a True Reader comes across your plagiarised post, they’ll be able to at least find you.

ii. Include personal images

Who knew that selfies or pics of your dog could prevent plagiarism? There’s no better way to claim ownership over your post than by including digital ephemera.

So let’s say you write about your broken arm and include the sentence: ‘here’s a pic of my broken arm’. It’d be weird not to have pics of said arm, right? Which means that the plagiarisers will have to work harder to pass off your article as theirs.

And while we’re on the subject of photos, you could also opt to watermark them with your brand or URL.

iii. Use unique terms

I learned this one from Chuck Palahniuk. He inserts easily-googleable terms into his stories so that he can look them up online. This allows him to easily find websites using his work without permission, which is pretty nifty. But it also works in reverse.

For instance, I’ve worked the term ‘Malaysia’ into my posts enough that I’m fairly visible through that tag on WordPress. So even if someone were to copy this post and remove my details, a True Reader would still be able to find me by searching a few key terms.

Or let’s say you’re The Travel Architect (who’s a true role model for internal linking and personalised pics). If I were to copy this post and omit the links and pics, there wouldn’t be any hints pointing back to their blog, and I’ll be able to pass off the article as my own.

But if they were to include phrases like ‘Here at The Travel Architect…’ or ‘In true Travel Architect style…’ there’d be an added layer of hard-branding your work.

It’ll also tip off the True Reader that this particular post probably doesn’t belong on cryptoinvestments58627.wordpress.com.

Of course, these are just optional examples though. Because like I said, a true pirate would edit out all the above before stealing, and there’s really nothing you can do about that.

Extras

Finally, we have the odds and ends that don’t fit anywhere else. I don’t have much else to say about this topic, but I’m adding another sentence because I want to pad this part out.

i. Forget the Business plan

There’s no harm in securing your own domain and removing ads for that professional look. But many successful bloggers on WordPress are doing fine on the free plans.

Just check out the ‘book blog’ or ‘travel’ tags and you’ll find tons of blogs thriving without custom domains. So don’t use the lack of the Yoast plug-in as an excuse.

Also, if you can garner a following on the free plan, you’ll definitely kill it once you get that upgrade.

ii. Preview your site on mobile

A quick disclaimer: I browse WordPress fully from my desktop. But many others do so from their mobiles, especially if they don’t blog.

Which is why it’s important to check how your website looks on a phone.

Had I not done so, I wouldn’t have known that only half my header appears on mobile, and that the Subscribe button wouldn’t be visible if I left Endless Scroll on.

You might find other snags that relate to your specific theme, so don’t forget to visit your blog from your phone.

A woman smiling

That smile will fade real quick once you realise how botched your mobile version looks. Photo: Bruce Mars

iii. Show your blog posts first

If I were to land on your homepage, what would I see first? A short About Me page? Or your blog posts?

I ask because in the age of short attention spans, it would be beneficial to show your offerings right away.

So unless you’re challenging Arianna Huffington or Perez Hilton for the Most Famous Blogger title, do save your readers the extra clicks. This is especially true for your returning visitors.

Think about it: Your About page will only be useful once. Your content will be useful regardless. This doesn’t apply if you’re a photographer or an artist and wish to showcase your portfolio first.

Take what’s important, and perhaps leave a pointer too

This brings us to the end of today’s post. Sure, they may not be bleeding-edge tips like ‘customise your permalinks’ or ‘compress your images’, but I suspect they’d be more applicable to you than what you’ll find on Google right now.

And if they aren’t, you probably have a few tricks yourself. In which case, I’d love it if you shared them in the comments.

Just make sure your Gravatar’s updated before you do so.

I have non-WordPress tips too, sent direct to your inbox. You’ll also get a free guide on how to grow your WordPress audience, so do join the community if that’s your cuppa tea!

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109 thoughts on “You Want WordPress Tips? I’ve Got WordPress Tips.”

  1. Great practical tips Stuart. I don’t know if you could help me with an issue I have with gravatar but I’ll give it a try anyway. I have two blogs and if someone clicks on my gravatar, they are taken to the first blog. I wonder how to enable that people see both links, so that they know there are two blogs.

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    • That’s a very good question. Your ‘comments profile’ will only redirect to one site (the first one that you list) upon clicking.

      You can add your other websites to your Gravatar profile, but the only way for people to know that you own both sites is by visiting your Gravatar profile directly (by hovering over your picture and clicking ‘View Profile’ instead of just clicking on your name in the comments).

      Hope this helps!

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      • Ok, thanks Stuart! Actually I changed the order of the sites in my profile but it still connects to the older one. I didn’t find any setting that is titled “comments profile” in gravatr. Could you please let me know what that means? Also, I’ve found that for some people, if I click on their pic from the comments, I get to the profile, instead of to the site. But then I will check when I encounter it the next time, if that’s their gravatar profile or they have linked a profile page as the landing page.

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      • The ‘comments profile’ is my own term, lol. That’s basically the WordPress account you’re using to comment, which displays every time you leave one.

        From here, you can access your separate Gravatar account through the hover method (which is where you can list your other sites).

        And yeah, I think whichever WordPress account you’re logged in to will be the site it’ll forward to every time you comment, so please disregard my comment about rearranging your website order in your Gravatar profile.

        All this doesn’t apply if the blog requires people to key in details to comment (or if anonymous comments are allowed), which is why you may have seen accounts that forward to their Gravatar or custom page.

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  5. Wow Stuart , this is a very engaging and educational blog post. I absolutely agree with all the tips and tricks here💯. I recently saw a spammer comment in one of my blog posts, I sift through the spams as you mentioned here, I quickly deleted the comment and will block any future spams. I like the networking, showing blog posts firsts and avoiding plagiarism , it just weakens your skill as a Blogger, why not paraphrase at least or include a reference of that plagiarised work. Back when I was a student, my first year in class, the Lecturer said “Don’t plagiarise” and he was right, I mean we are not professors yet so why not insert a reference. Anyways, nice post 🔥🔥🔥👏👏

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  7. I was searchinh for this kind of blog for a very long time. Thanks for writing this blog. Really informative and some of the things you talk about.. I never even thought about them… Thanks to you I may be able to improve my blogs ( even a small amount of progress is a success to me).

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    • And thank you for such supportive words! I actually saw your comment earlier, and I see that you’ve updated your Gravatar since. The thing is, you might’ve miskeyed your URL because I can’t visit your site now. Anyway, here’s to constant improvement together, no matter how small!

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  8. True to my word, I’m back. Just reread your article and it’s watermarks that I’m wondering about. I see some bloggers use them but haven’t figured out how to go about doing it. I wonder if it’s cumbersome…

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    • Welcome back! There are websites that allow you to upload photos and watermark them, such as iloveimg (haven’t used it). Those are probably the better option since you have so many photos.

      If you want to really have more control over your designs though, then Canva is the way to go. But that can be cumbersome once you get to multiple photos.

      Barring that, using something simple like MS Paint or Mac’s Previewer to add your URL text into the photo could also work.

      I’m sure someone more familiar with design could have a better solution—and I hope they read this so they can chime in!

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  9. These are useful tips. I’m too anxious to look myself up to see if anyone plagiarized anything from me, but I’m guessing there isn’t much out there since I’m not a big blogger 😂

    I definitely will need to think about how to incorporate unique terms..

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    • If the spam websites are bot-driven, then there’s no method to their madness. They’ll prolly scrape the entire blogosphere for content.

      Still, I think blog plagiarism isn’t that big a deal—since most of us have a personality to go along with our stories, which the plagiarisers won’t be able to imitate.

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  10. Thanks Stuart for another great post! I love all the tips. Some I’m already doing but others I will be trying. I love that you wrote for all us ‘little’ bloggers. I’ve read so many posts on WordPress tips and most are just for those with a paid account which we’re not quite ready for (soon). You also do a great job of affirming the value of hobby blogging – love it!
    Roze
    P.S. going to check on my Gravatar account now lol

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    • Heya Roze! Yeah, I’m on the constant prowl to better my craft, but for the life of me, can’t seem to find any blogging tips that don’t involve money, or the making of it. I just want to blog for fun, yanno?

      I don’t need top copywriting secrets for $49.99 if all I want to do is tell a story, lol. Thanks so much for your kind words!

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  12. So many great hacks in one post, most of which I’ve never even thought or heard off! Haha… thanks for sharing! I will try to remember to embed some of these into my stack! 😊

    On the gravatar note, I always wonder why WP don’t link your website with the gravatar for the commenters?! Every so often, I come across a commenter who I want to check out their blogs, but there’s no link. I feel WP makes it way too hard than it needs to be!! Wouldn’t you agree?

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    • Same here. I’ve always wondered what the purpose of Gravatar was. It’s a totally separate platform just for your blogging identity. Or maybe I just don’t understand the entire ecosystem, lol.

      Thanks so much for your kind words, Janey! I appreciate you stopping by!

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  15. That was a great post, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this! I completely agree with your tips and love the fact that it is destined to those who blog as a hobby more – no talks about SEO and such!

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    • Lol, maybe someday I’ll change my tune once I zone in on my SEO. But yeah, for the time being, we hobbyist bloggers are legion, and there are so many things we can do to optimise our practise without resorting to SEO and paid ads.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  20. Really good resource here, Stuart, thanks for sharing! I used to blog regularly back in the early 2000s on Blogger, but life wound up getting in the way and eventually I just fizzled out and the site wound up in the blog graveyard. Just got back into it after a long sabbatical and chose Word Press because of the community and the ability to connect and network with others. This is exactly what I had hoped to come across and will be a big help in getting me up off the mat. Thanks again for sharing.

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    • I used to use Blogger too! But compared to WordPress, it’s super basic and I’m glad I’m on this platform now. I appreciate your kind words, and I hope you get right back into that blogging groove! Wishing you all the best!

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  21. Good points. The spammers are getting better. I asked you before I created a pingback to your posts. I have to start including the easy to google search phrases. I have a couple website I use. “Cleanpng” for images (95% of images are mine but when you need one), “Coschedule” for post headline reviews and “brokenlinkcheck” for those pesky 404 errors.

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    • Wow, those are some interesting resources that I’ve never heard of before, so thanks for sharing! And yeah, a lot of the spammers sound pretty authentic these days, if not for their spammy accounts themselves. Anyway, thanks as usual for stopping by!

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  22. Fabulous tips! I’ve been on wordpress for awhile but even so I still feel like I could be doing better at formatting my posts & networking. These tips are pretty solid so thanks for taking the time to share them!

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  24. Stuart,
    This post really did contain a lot of helpful information. Navigating all that as a new blogger was so difficult, because every little thing had to be learned from scratch.
    For post editing, I absolutely love Elementor, the free version. You can actually construct a template for posts that guides your writing and images from beginning to end. You set up the arrangement of the blocks for text and images to suit your own style. Also, you can include a standard opening or closing statement or a “subscribe” invitation. The blocks are completely adjustable and moveable, but that was a huge help to keep me “structured.” Once you design and save it, you just insert it for every new post and get to work!
    Thank you again for jumping in to help people with things that just aren’t always easy for less techy people.

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    • Whoa, if you know how to use Elementor, then you’re definitely in the tech-competent group. For me, it adds another layer onto the already-cumbersome block system (or I’m just a klutz with Elementor, lol). But we all have tools that work uniquely for us, and you seem to have found your flow! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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  25. Hey! Thanks for the mention and the compliments – much appreciated. As for your tips, I would add that when people do create internal (or external links), they click the optional button that means they will open in a new tab. It’s annoying when the page I’m on turns into the linked page. I can’t say why – it just is. I actually have more to say about your article, but I have to go to kickboxing class (I know you’ll approve that I leave for that reason) and then head to work, so I’ll comment more soon. Thanks again!

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    • Lol yeah, opening a new link in the same window does kill the browsing experience, doesn’t it? I’ve also experienced the opposite though, where I want to head off to the new link, but then it opens a new window, and I get confused which window I’m supposed to be on.

      Anyway, that’s cool indeed that you’re taking kickboxing classes. Are you gonna blog about that soon?

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  26. Some great tips here, Stuart. Gravatar updated. 😊 I find the block editor better for a bit more creativity, but I do type all my work on Word before transferring it over. If I had read this post ten months ago I think I would have had more hair.

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    • The block editor does allow you to mesh certain elements together, that’s for sure. But when it comes to editing text (especially different paragraphs)? Gah, it’s so clumsy. Lol losing hair is the mark of a great blogger though, so perhaps that’s a good thing! I say this as someone who’s losing hair on the top of his head :P

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  28. I had no idea about the sifting through spam tip. I don’t have any great insights as to what works in blogging other than to encourage people to interact with others and be yourself. I think if people are going to comment (which I’d always encourage), I’d say make sure you actually read the post before commenting or you’ll look like a clown.

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    • Worst is the negative comments without reading. I’ve seen someone correct the grammar of a post titled ‘How To Write Good’, when the post itself was satire. Really did leave the commenter looking like a clown, for sure. I hope the spam tip gets you sifting through the long ones much quicker!

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      • There should be a special dunce category for those who correct someone’s grammar (extremely poor form) by making spelling and language errors in their comments.

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  30. Great post! I’ve been the victim of plagiarism many times. I freelance for other sites and just inform the original site. They take care of it there own way.

    I also wanted to add that I love your writing. You’re always full of practical ideas and you write as if we’re having a conversation one-on-one. Must thought you’d like to know!

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    • Yeah, my main comfort for plagiarism is that the websites that do so are usually pretty shoddy, so both humans and web crawlers will know that whatever’s on that site isn’t legit. No point even caring at that point. I haven’t been plagiarised by a good website to date, so that’s all and well.

      Thanks so much for those kind words, Brad. And great to see you here again!

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  31. Thanks for another great post Stuart, and so many positive comments too. Its been a real pleasure to read and be informed. I believe I have to start using my pc to type up my posts … im discovering the limitations of the block editor (but not sure if it’s my theme). I guess I’ll find out if the structure when on word is copied across.

    I must admit I’m not sure what Markdown is or how to use it. Guess that’s next on my learning list

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  32. Thank you for your very thoughtful comments on MY blog!

    I love this article because I used to blog professionally– run of the mill SEO crap that my employers didn’t care about at all. Instead, I decided to get a “regular” job and blog about stuff I cared about on my own. People can choose to support my Patreon if they want, but I am not farming for clicks!

    Basically, thanks for writing to personal bloggers!

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    • Those are the worst writing gigs, am I right? I had a couple of those in my life. They were soul-sucking, to be sure. Glad that you’ve found your path now. And likewise, I had fun commenting on your blog because your post was interesting! :)

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    • It’s so nice that you have a positive reason for using Word (backups) compared to me having a negative reason using another word processor (hatred for the block editor), lol.

      An easy way to tell is the URL you log-in to handle your WordPress business. It’s either .com or your personal URL. If it’s the latter, then you’re on .org.

      Thanks as always for stopping by, Michelle!

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  35. Great points Stuart! When I first started blogging (10+ years ago), I had no idea what I was doing and more importantly, I did not know any tips, tricks or etiquette! There’s so much that goes into it that people outside the blogosphere even realize! It’s all about growth! This sort of thing would have helped me greatly when I started out but you live and learn!!! :)

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    • The only reason I know about etiquette (not asking other bloggers to visit your site) is because I’ve done that in real life. When I was a hairdresser, I used to tell my customers ‘look for me when you come back, okay?’

      My manager overheard me one day and her jaw hit the floor. She then told me not to do that as it made people uncomfortable.

      So that carried over well into WordPress commenting, lol. Anyway, I hope I won’t have such a wayward tangent the next time you visit, Jen!

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  37. Another Stellar post chock full of information I’ll never remember so I’m cooking my chicken soup and storing up on my vix cough drops for when I can digest it all.

    Wow, Vim and just copy and paste.. I’m using Notes on my Imac but this sounds good. I’ll have to look into it.

    I never get gravatar. I go there and see noting so what’s the point so I move on. Maybe I’m not up to spead either.. I’ll have to go check it out.

    OH I DO LIKE THAT DATE ENTRY OF SPAM BE GONE. The cliff notes are great but I’m just the worst with technology!!
    💗
    Great tips to come back too.. thanks and onions in your socks is a good description of Wp!
    😂

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    • Notes works too, since it’s rich text (which is close to plain text). Also, you get to organise your articles in a way that gives you a history of all you’ve written at a glance.

      I think you already have your Gravatar set up correctly, because you profile in this comment is up to date. That’s all it’s for, actually. As an ‘identity account’ of sorts.

      Anyway, always great to have you here, Cindy!

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      • Oh yay!!!
        Good to know I’m on track and can rest at least on that front Stu!
        😅
        Oh and knowing my Gravatat is up to speed is better than a happiness engineer trying to squeeze more money out of a turnip-:)
        😜
        Thanks a lot 😂💕

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  38. The most important factor in success is the blog. It’s not enough to just have a Facebook page or Twitter account, you need the content to keep people coming back for more. Investing in your blog may seem time-consuming, but it will be worth it when you see traffic and engagement grow steadily over time. Creating quality content on a consistent basis is the key to building an audience that trusts and values what you’re sharing. Social media channels are great for reaching a wider audience, but they cannot and will never replace the blog. I wish that people would stop measuring success by likes, retweets, and metrics on social media.

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    • Those are great points. I think they both work hand in hand, instead of either-or. There’s definitely a lot of content to be consumed on IG and FB too, albeit in different formats.

      Interestingly enough, a video in IG or TikTok can get me more organic views in a day than I can on WordPress in a few months. Also, I know a few entrepreneurs making bank solely off their social media accounts. It’s interesting how the internet works.

      Nevertheless, writing’s my thing, so I stick to places like WordPress :P

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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  39. Love the title. Love the onions in your socks. Love the solid advice. My question is, what’s the point of pirating posts? (And other words that start with p.) What do pirates get out of it? Content so they get ad revenue? It’s bizarre to me. I just like to write stuff and chat with bloggy friends. I don’t put much thought into the rest, but perhaps I should. That “how does your blog look on mobile” has me worried now. I’ll look into that. Thanks, SD!

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  40. I’m not sure what I can do about my avatar, or whether indeed, I have any will to work for it or not. Besides, I do like to think that my comments are sufficiently good enough to recognize that they are not spam, even though some of them do end up in spam sometimes.

    Other thing I’ve noticed is that some one-liner comments do end up in spam, even if they are written by other bloggers.

    I especially like how you covered the free versus paid plan. There is the same thing when it comes to email, people insist that I should buy a new domain for my email. But I’m quite frankly, not interested, since my account is serving me well as it is.

    Thanks for this article, Stuart! Let’s see this article on the top of the search results for word press tips!

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    • Yeah, it’s random how you can end up in spam. I never write one-liners but I’ve also been told that I end up in spam sometimes, lol. So it’s good to have a full profile to show how ‘legit’ I am.

      Yeah, to be frank, having a paid account doesn’t guarantee good content, which a lot of people tend to miss. It’s great that the legion of good creators on the free plans here show how it’s done!

      Thanks as always for stopping by, Tanish.

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  41. Thank you for this. I’m getting ready to start a new site with tips I’ve learned along my WordPress journey. It seems there is always something new to learn. When I finally get the time to do it, I will most definitely link to this specific article.

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  43. Oh man! I really need to bookmark this and then re-read it when the time comes for me to review how I’m running the admin of my blog. Which is when I don’t know LOL! I’ve just been fearful to tweak my site cos there just never seems to be an end to it once I got started. I love too that you talked about spam cos I’ve had one commentator who dropped such weird comments I can only conclude that it was a bot! Thanks again Stu for compiling this and giving us bloggers the help we need to figure out this stuff.

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    • Yeah, spam is one thing that always puzzles me, because it’s not as if the comments themselves are trying to sell all the time. Some of them are just weird words meshed together, lol.

      And I totally understand the tweaking thing. I don’t dare make too many changes too, because one thing affects another, and I won’t be able to rest until I get things to look exactly how I want them to. Anyway, thanks for stopping by as usual, Kelvin!

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  44. This is a great article! You mentioned things I would have never even considered, and got into the nitty gritty details too.

    I too “creep my readers” but I do this within WP. I see who likes blog posts, and I see who likes the blog posts of ppl I follow on WP to get a good idea of who my audience is. Stats alone don’t give me this info (I’m on the premium plan so it’s rather limited). It’s also time consuming so I mostly do this from a desktop computer. The mobile app used to be more user-friendly but WP recently changed that.

    As for editing, I use a writing editor but I keep quiet about it. I feel like if I told ppl what I use for editing, they would start copying me because it’s a productivity godsend. I could do affiliates with it but I don’t because I rather keep it a secret. It’s not cheap and costs more than my blogging hobby BUT I use it for work emails and other things outside of blogging so I can justify the high price.

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    • I do creep social media profiles of regulars, because I treat them as friends at that point. And I do end up interacting with WP peeps more than I do with my real life friends, which is pretty interesting to note.

      Yeah, WP has never been mobile friendly to me. Having said that, the browser version of WP is enough for me to get what I need done, which is replying comments and editing mistakes.

      Lol yeah, we all have our own productivity stack. Do share it with me if you decide to! :P

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      • At this point, I have mostly resorted to the browser version of WP. The mobile app is great for commenting and following new blogs (loading time is super slow though), but that’s where the greatness stops.

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  45. 🙂 I was always one for creating the draft copies of my blog posts on a word processing program on my computer and pasting it afterwards into the Block Editor.

    I have also noticed that a large percentage of the blogging advice that Google highlights are specifically for those who blog professionally.

    Every now and then, I would publish blog posts for the average personal blogger (Someone needs to cater to personal bloggers).

    Do enjoy the rest of your day, Stuart.

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    • It’s so much more reliable to write locally, isn’t it? Writing online just adds another layer of feedback and issues.

      Yeah, the Google tips aren’t just for professional bloggers, but business bloggers. Those who either have a company and want to create content, or those who want to make money from it. Totally discounts the rest of us who do it for its own sake.

      Thanks so much for your nice words, and you have a great day too, Renard!

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