Optimize Your Business Blog with WordPress SEO Tools

Web 2.0 and Social Media
Business in a Connected World
© McHaney and Sachs 2016
Applications of WordPress

 Powerful tool
 Helps a business get its message into the world
 Allows business to provide news to its stakeholders
 Material accessible to everyone immediately
 Material remains in original words of the writer
 Some organizations use blogs to communicate press releases,
others use blogs for voice of internal entities such as marketing,
research and development, production, or upper management
WordPress Blogs

• Wide variety of blog uses has resulted in the deployment of
numerous options and tools
• Community of WordPress users has provided many ways of
customizing and organizing blogs
• Because of parallels to traditional press releases and a desire to
promote a wider content distribution, a system for blog
syndication has been developed
WordPress Blogs (Continued)

Press the ‘Create Website’ button to begin the process.
Visit WordPress.com and Get Started!
It is also possible to develop a blog directly on the WordPress
website. This example installation takes that approach.

General Purpose of WordPress Site
WordPress works in a variety of application areas for your blog.

More WordPress Site Creation
WordPress drills down into more specifics for your application.

Some are free and others must be purchased. We will add one to the blog later.
Explore Over 200 Themes

Some are free and others must be purchased (or you can use an existing one you own).
Obtain Domain Name

Purchase through WordPress if desired.
Obtain Domain Name (Continued)

Purchase or use a free option.
Obtain Pricing Plan

We have covered basics for obtaining a WordPress blog account, starting a
blog, and selecting a theme. The blog can be further customized with
options and features specific to the needs of a business.
Customization

Enter WordPress Content Management Area

Prior to customization
Customizing WordPress Blog

Configure WordPress Reader to view other blogs and their updates
Tabs on this page provide tools for reading posts written by other WordPress bloggers (e.g.
Read Blogs, Freshly Pressed, and Topics). Also, a tab for New Post provides links to information
about WordPress and its community of users

Go to My Site to customize your blog! Then visit Themes.

Default Appearance

Start to modify page.

Getting a nice, free theme that matches your site strategy.

Selection of Argent Theme and how it looks on the site initially.

Most themes have customization options after being selected. Make your blog unique!
Most themes provide options for customization including selection of a header
image, font and style choices, and different ways of arranging the widgets.

Blog header image can be changed and modified.
Customizing has the direct benefit of making a business site unique. Each WordPress
theme may have thousands of adopters. Adding features that further business goals
is crucial in creating a unique sense of identity
The Connections theme allows a user to customize the blog header, image, and
style. Some themes permit this and others do not. Additional theme customization
options may include: background image, background color, header text, font color,
and other style choices.

Theme may have pre-installed images. However, for a truly custom appearance,
upload a unique image. Investigate a site of open content images (such as
CreativeCommons.org or appropriately licensed material at Flickr.com). Or, photos
can be taken with a digital camera.
Customize theme header

http://search.creativecommons.org/
Get Images from Creative Commons

A photo can be added to the blog to create a custom header
Adding Custom Image to Header

The uploaded image is
larger than the header size.
WordPress provides a tool
to crop it. After selecting
the desired portion, click
Crop Header to ensure
selected part is displayed on
the blog.
Crop Header Image in WordPress

After Cropping Image

The wrong font color can result in words that are not visible on the image
Carefully Choose Header Font Color

MS-Paint or other
graphic editor can be
used to add desired text
with more visibility.
Alternate: Edit Image Outside of WordPress

Review Finished Graphic Header in Blog

Disable ‘Display Text’ option to Stop WordPress from Overlaying Header Text

Header Image Can Also Be From Local Hard Drive (Your Own Photo)

Header Font Customized

Image Background and Other Options Set

WordPress Provides Background Image Options
Image can be uploaded and used for
background. Settings permit it to be tiled or
displayed according to particular criteria.

Alternate way to
customize page
background:
Selecting hex color value
for solid background.
Navigate to: Select a
Color which opens a
color wheel with a large
number of choices.
WordPress Permits Background To Be Set As A Color

To access these
settings from a theme
perspective, navigate
from the Customize
Theme Dashboard to
‘Site Identity’
WordPress General Settings Customization

General settings
include site title, tag
line (the subheading
found under the
title), language, time
zone, date format and
more.
WordPress General Settings Customization

An icon to represent
your blog in people’s
browsers and on other
Web sites.
Creating a Blog Icon or Blog Avatar (Blavatar)

• Small add-ons used to interact with
other applications and provide
features that help build an audience
for a blog
• Can show recent Tweets, provide Flickr
pictures, show Facebook wall entries,
link to articles, and many other things
• Often provided by third-party
developers
Widgets

Widgets usually require
configuration. Clicking
the down arrow beside
the Widget’s name
causes a configuration
dialog box to
appear. This slide shows
a Twitter Widget on the
sidebar
Twitter Widget
Widget Configuration

Another widget example
Goodreads Widget Selected and Configured

Text, images, and other items can be added to a post.
Blog Post

Tags and Categories Added.
Blog Post Published After Tagging

Blog tracks them.
More Posts Added

Look under appearances.
Configure Mobile Options

An ‘About’ page added.
Adding Pages Like A Web Site

For a blog to be
successful, it must
connect with its
intended audience
In business this
means potential
customers, clients,
and other
stakeholders
Connecting with search engines and potential viewers.
Sharing Settings

Having social media, news services, and other re-broadcasters pick up your blog
feeds is desirable.
Broadcasting to the World

Register with WordPress’s Webmaster tools to ensure posts are indexed by
major search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
Notice links under
the ‘Webmaster
Tools Verification’
header.
Webmaster Tools

Blog owner must have account with a UserID and Password for the service. After
clicking on the ‘Google Webmaster Tools’ and logging in with GoogleID and password,
Press ‘Add a Site’ then copy Blog Address into textbox prompt. This tells Google’s
search engine to index the site.
Example: Registering with Google Webmaster Tools

Search engine will require user to add code to Web site to prove ownership
Proof of Ownership

Copy and paste the tag as shown above
Proof of Ownership (Continued)

Paste text into the appropriate textbox.
This will ensure Google recognizes the
blog and will give owner the ability to
review statistics related to the Website.
Proof of Ownership (Continued)

Publicity for a blog should extend beyond search engines. Social media has
become an important venue for businesses to meet, connect with, and retain
customers. WordPress provides a set of tools for exposing its blogs to social media.
From the
Dashboard,
navigate to
‘Tools’ and
‘Settings’.
Connecting With Customers

WordPress asks that you authorize connection and then log into Twitter. Once you
have supplied a Twitter UserID and Password, the blog will be connected. This
means posts on your blog are automatically sent to anyone in your network. In
Twitter, Tweets inviting Followers to read the newest blog entries are sent.
Example: Connecting to Twitter

Another WordPress Dashboard section is called ‘Sharing Buttons’. For
instance, providing a ‘Facebook’ button will automate the process of sharing a
specific blog post with Facebook friends.
Adding Sharing Buttons to Blog

The ‘Theme Options’ selection can be found under appearance on the dashboard menu or
by using the buttons under ‘managing themes’.
Share Buttons More Share Buttons
Blog Entry with Share Buttons Enabled

Services Behind the ‘More’ Button

The bottom of the ‘Sharing Settings’ page provides a few more options. Button
Style, Sharing Label, whether links open in a New Window and where to show the
Share Buttons can all be set
Formatting Share Buttons

Connecting with search engines and social media will help build traffic. To
monitor traffic, WordPress provides a “My Stats” tab on the WordPress
Login Page.
View Traffic Stats

Configuring a WordPress business blog is
very important
An eye-catching Web site is only part of the
story
Perhaps the most important task is
configuring the site to connect with search
engines and customers through social
media.
Without the tools provided by a modern
tool such as WordPress, a business puts
itself at a disadvantage and fails to utilize all
the free resources at its disposal.
Appendix B Summary

Contact: Roger McHaney, Kansas State University, mchaney@ksu.edu

Optimize Your Business Blog with WordPress SEO Tools

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