WordPress: Tips on Writing Posts

Introduction

The purpose of writing posts are to express yourself by saying or showing anything you want on your WordPress site. Here are some tips you need to know to help you write your posts in WordPress.

 

Practice Accessibility

Be sure to include ALT and TITLE descriptions on links and images to help your users. This also helps increase SEO (search engine optimization).

• For example: <a title="Centennial Arts Website" href="http://www.centennialarts.com">Centennial Arts Website</a>.

Use Paragraphs

Use double spaces between your paragraphs and make new paragraphs often. You don’t want long paragraphs that lose the reader’s interest or has too much information overload.
Using smaller paragraphs, with around 3 to 4 sentences each, will help readers to absorb more information when reading your post. WordPress will automatically detect these and insert <p> HTML paragraph tags into your writing.

Use Headings

If you are writing long posts, break up the sections by using headings or small titles to highlight a change of subject.
In HTML, headings are set by the use of h1, h2, h3, h4 (which means heading 1, heading 2,…), and so on. By default, most WordPress Themes use the first, second, and sometimes third heading levels within the site.

Use HTML

You don’t have to use HTML when writing your posts. WordPress will automatically configure it to your site, but if you want to control different elements like boxes, headings, and other additional containers or elements, use HTML.
Refer to our Tips on Visual/HTML article or How to Edit Visual/HTML article to learn more.

Spell Check and Proof

There are spell check Plugins available, but sometimes these plugins do not catch everything. Some bloggers write their posts in a text editor with spell check. Check all the spelling and proof read your article thoroughly before copy-and-pasting it into WordPress.

Think Before You Post

Even though ranting on blogs is common today, take a moment and think about what you are writing. Don’t forget, once something is published to the internet, it’s practically on there forever–even if you try to delete it. It could be seen by many and crawled by search engines. Take a moment to read what you’ve written before hitting the Publish button.
Also consider getting a friend or family member to read your post before publishing, but if you want it to be anonymous, read it aloud to yourself and you may catch simple grammar mistakes that you didn’t notice before. When you are ready to share it with the public, click Publish.

Write About What You Like

If you force yourself to write something that you don’t really enjoy, it will show in your work. You don’t have to have a specific theme to start writing, just enjoy the experience and write what you like.

Write Frequently

Write as frequently as you can, but don’t let quantity get in the way of quality. Readers come to your blog/article for it’s content, so don’t write useless stuff.
If you can’t think of anything to write about, explore other blogs to spark an idea for your blog. You can write about your friends, complain about your boss, or simply discuss about what’s gone wrong. Yet if nothing else works, just write a review on the latest movie, book, or product.

Don’t Use Too Much Slang

Although some slang might help you connect better with readers, there are still many readers that may not understand the lingo in your region or may even be from a different country. You want readers to understand the general idea of what your saying without having to look it up or be confused.

Don’t Hide Your Emotions

The purpose of a blog is to show the real you and your true emotions. If you want, you can stay anonymous and voice your feelings on whatever you are passionate about. You might have strong views on various subjects but let your readers know your passion. What is passion worth if you can’t even share it? The discussions that readers post on your blog will broaden your own thinking and you might end up making some really good friends.

Consider Your Readers

Consider who needs to know about your blog before you tell them about your new blogging hobby. Will you be able to write freely if you tell them? How much should you let your readers know about you? Is it okay if your boss, mother, or boyfriend reads your posts? If you don’t want them to read it, publish your posts as anonymous.

Make Use of Comments

Comments let people share their ideas. Some comments might not be positive feedback, but if you want them to stop posting negative things, tell them to stop. If they don’t stop, you can always delete their comments.
Also, give your people a place to contact you in private if they want to write to you.

Worry About Blog Design Later

Blog design matters, but isn’t the most important thing about your blog. Don’t stop blogging just because the design isn’t what you want it to look like. Content is what attracts readers, not just the appearance of your blog. Whenever you are ready to design your blog, go to WordPress Lessons.

Reveal Your True Self

Readers don’t care about how big your house is, how many points your child scored at his/her basketball game, or what the weather is like in your hometown.
Readers don’t care about braggers or useless information, they care about the real you–how you feel, what gets you excited, why you are the person you are. It’s not Facebook with status updates; it’s a blogging site that engages readers in your life and thoughts, so consider your audience when writing a post.

Use Pictures and Videos

Colors, pictures, videos, and even an easy-to-read format will help engage readers in your post and make them feel more connected to what you have to say.

Save Your Posts

Save your posts often before you press the publish button. Anything can happen with your computer or with an internet connection. You don’t want to lose your post and have to start over again with your thought process.

Enhancing posts with hyperlinks

One of the most commonly used features of the editor is the link button, which you can use to transform text into links to other webpages, without displaying any long, ugly URLs.

• Instead of posting this:

• “I found all the answers to my blogging questions at http://www.centennialarts.com“

• You can post something like this:

• “I found all the answers to my blogging questions in the awesome Centennial Arts Website!”

How to do this:

Go to the “Insert/Edit Link” button circled in blue on the image above. In the URL section, type in the site URL that you want the readers to go to (for example: http://www.centennial arts.com). In the Title section, type in what you want the link to say in the post (for example: Centennial Arts Website). Click the box that says “Open link in a new window/tab” so that the readers won’t be taken away from your post when clicking on the link.