Common tips and tricks for running a Wordpress blog in 2015

1. Project Brief
Prepared and Delivered on
Design and Development Overview
01
05 / 07 / 16
1.1VWrangling Wordpress To Make
Your Blog Do What You Want
by Tate Lucas 09 / 29 / 15
Cincinnati Blogging Meetup

2. Wordpress.org vs. Wordpress.com

3. Plugins
• Community is what makes Wordpress
great!
• Plugins: Less is more
• Plugins come at a cost.

4. How to choose plugins
• Look for good reviews
• Look for a large number of active installs

5. How to choose plugins
• Don’t use outdated plugins

6. Take an inventory of your plugins
• Review the plugins you have installed
• Not sure why you have something activated?
• Deactivate one plugin at a time
• Backup your site before deleting or adding
plugins

7. Helpful Plugins
• Akismet or Antispam by CleanTalk

8. Helpful Plugins
• Jetpack

9. Helpful Plugins
• Yoast SEO

10. Plugins to avoid
• YARPP (Yet Another Related Posts Plugin)
Instead: Jetpack Related Posts
• WP Postviews
Instead: Google Analytics, Jetpack Site
Stats
• Broken Link Checker
Instead: brokenlinkcheck.com

11. Updates & Security
• Wordpress is more vulnerable now than
ever
• Keep your Wordpress core, plugins and
themes updated
• Use a security plugin such as Wordfence,
Sucuri or VaultPress Security Bundle

12. Backup Your Site
• Your site is a combination of files on a
server and a database.
• VaultPress, Backup Buddy

13. Make Sure Your Site Is Mobile
• Google wants you to be mobile friendly
• Use a responsive theme OR have a mobile
version of your website

14. Thank You
Tate Lucas
tate@dotdash.net
D E V E L O P M E N T
S T U D I O
D E S I G N A N D
Q & A