Wordpress Custom Permalinks Structure

Wordpress custom permalinks structure settings default to using the blog post ID number, not the post title.  This means there’s an absence of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of the primary keywords you’ll have ingeniously woven into your post title!

Search Engines attach greater importance to keywords in blog post titles when your site’s permalinks structure positions the post title as close as possible to your domain’s root directory.  The closer something is to the root directory, the more important it’s considered by the search engine algorithm.

For example, Search Engines will rank the second example below more favourably than the first, simply because the custom permalinks structure positions the post title - and therefore the primary keyword(s) - immediately after the root directory, which is usually the domain name, e.g. yourdomain.com.

1.    yourdomain.com/2008/10/28/how-to-make-money-online
2.    yourdomain.com/how-to-make-money-online

However, the default permalinks structure on Wordpress looks like this:

You’ll notice that this site’s root directory is rewardrebel.com/blog but the same rule applies.

If you’re not too confident with this area of blogging, there is one simple and straightforward amendment you can implement that will greatly improve the effectiveness of the keywords in your post titles when they are indexed by the search engines.

Open your blog’s Wordpress Admin Panel and go to ‘Settings’, ‘Permalinks’; click ‘Custom Structure’ and in the box, type: /%postname%/ so that it looks like this:

I’ve noticed a number of Wordpress blogs that have retained the default permalinks structure, and I’ve wondered whether this is so because the blog author is unaware of this simple SEO edit, and how beneficial it could be.

So, I decided to show you this, because it’s so simple, and I’m good at doing ‘simple’…..

Layne | Reward Rebel

NOTE:
I apologise for having overlooked a very important point mentioned in the Comments here by Dennis Edell of Direct Sales Web Marketing.

If you customise the permalinks settings on an established blog that has pre-existing links to specific posts, those links will cease to function.  Google and other search engine links will also cease to function until they index the site again.

You have now been warned!

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Working From Home Sucks!

Working from home sucks!  I’m experiencing the most exasperating, downright piss-me-off-why-doncha kind of week and I still haven’t resolved all the Wordpress upgrade / downgrade issues on all three of my sites.

I’d planned to be promoting my new personal journal now, but I haven’t even posted any new content to Crete Delights for days, nor here.

All I seem to be doing is poring over theme templates trying to figure out which one to edit for the desired result,  scrutinising forum posts to try and ascertain the last stable release of Wordpress that will allow me to format images properly, and rejigging the content in the new blog in an attempt to beat it into compliance!

If I haven’t posted again… somewhere… real soon, please despatch a search party!

Layne | Reward Rebel

Bit Of A Wordpress Freakout

On my other blogs, Crete Delights and my personal journal, which is still under wraps and yet to be launched, I’ve installed Wordpress 2.6.1 – not 2.6.2 because for some reason my web host is slightly behind with the upgrades.

Last night I was preparing to install an upgrade here on Reward Rebel – I’d never installed an upgrade before because I was terrified of screwing it up, so it was with some trepidation that I embarked on the task at hand.

I downloaded copies of all Reward Rebel’s files and MySQL databases, and uploaded the new version of Wordpress, except like a twit I uploaded the entire folder instead of the files within the folder, so this created a brand spanking new instance of Wordpress within the site’s root folder!

No biggie, thinks I, I’ll just delete it, except after about half an hour I was still receiving messages that the server was working, so eventually I clicked on Abort.  Ooops.   From the folders and files listed on the FTP display, everything had vanished into thin air! I waited and waited, rebooted the FTP…. no change.  I rebooted the computer…. still no change.  I tried logging onto the server’s control panel to ascertain from there what was happening to the folders, but by an unhappy coincidence - and for the first time ever - I couldn’t access the site, never mind the control panel.

After about half an hour (just as I was knotting the noose in the rope, and securing the other end to the light fitting), I rechecked the FTP and EUREKA! the original main folder containing all the site’s files had reappeared….. but without the little + to click for access to subfolders…. um, oooh er.

Anyway, it was late (or early, depending on your point of view) and I was tired, so I wimped out and went to bed, deciding that perhaps the server just needed a rest, too!

Thankfully, today when I logged onto the server, everything was just fine, but I still haven’t upgraded Reward Rebel’s version of Wordpress, and for the time being, I think I can live with that.  Yeah, no biggie!

Layne | Reward Rebel

P.S. Hoo-bloody-ray, finally upgraded Reward Rebel to Wordpress 2.6.2 - it’s the control freak in me that did it in the end!

SezWho Says Sayonara

I have removed SezWho and reactivated 4Avatars, although I still believe that Entrecard’s partnership with a comments platform has tremendous potential. It is an invaluable service for new blogs that need to pull out all the stops to attract both traffic and comments, but I don’t think it’s right for Reward Rebel.

Curiously, there don’t appear to be as many MyBlogLog avatars as I recall prior to SezWho being activated. Could this be nostalgia playing tricks on my senses? LOL!

I’m delighted to have also installed the plugin Wordpress Thread Comment, so that comments and their replies are aligned for easy perusal. Sometimes I’d edit the date and/or time of my response to a comment, so that there was a clear flow to the conversations, although I didn’t like creating inaccuracies, and now I won’t have to!

While you’re here, take a look at Reward Rebel’s favourite plugins.

Reward Rebel

Build A Custom Wordpress Theme

What do you think of Reward Rebel’s new interim header? ‘Interim’ because the entire theme is being rebuilt. The most exciting aspect of this piece of news is that it’s being rebuilt by me!

In case you’ve not visited this website previously, this is Reward Rebel prior to the revamp.

Click the image to ENLARGE

There’s still a long way to go - the first thing I have to do is reduce the depth of the header graphic*, but at last my website now has a unique appearance.

[* I've reduced the depth of the header graphic from 343px to 275px, which is more balanced.]

I’m working hard learning CSS, PHP and all routes in between. However, I have a particular debt of gratitude to John Pratt on whose blog, JT Pratt’s Blogging Mistakes reside the most awesome tutorials, in particular, tutorials covering various elements of Wordpress.

John also introduced me to Theme Test Drive, an empowering Wordpress plug-in that enables you to play with a new theme, whilst your readers still see the regular theme!

As long as you’re logged into your Wordpress Dashboard as Administrator, you’ll see the new ‘test’ theme and its changes on your website. Log out as Administrator, and you’ll see your blog just as the rest of the blogosphere sees it. Cool, huh? I think so, and I’m sure you’ll agree.

Check out John’s tutorial on Theme Test Drive for yourself. It’ll help you achieve your own unique blog theme, and if you also study John’s articles, you’ll avoid blogging mistakes of your own!

Have fun building your unique custom Wordpress theme… and don’t forget to let me know how you get on!

Reward Rebel