15 Most Annoying Things about WordPress and How to Fix Them

Like most things in life, WordPress also has it’s fair share of annoying things. Dealing with these annoyances is very easy with the right system and processes. In this article, we will show you the 15 most annoying things about WordPress and how to fix them.

1. Setting up WordPress Backup

WordPress does not come with a built-in backup system. You are supposed to create your own backups instead of relying on your WordPress hosting company.

Having a regular backup saves you the frustration when something bad happens to your website.

There are plenty of free and paid backup solutions available for WordPress. See our comparison of the 7 best WordPress backup plugins.

2. Deleting the Uncategorized Category

WordPress comes with two built in taxonomies, they are called categories and tags. By default, each new post you create is filed into a built-in category titled Uncategorized.

If you forget to assign the post to a category, then it will be filed under Uncategorized. This looks unprofessional, but you can easily fix it.

See our guide on how to change the default Uncategorized category in WordPress.

3. Changing The Username

During WordPress installation or at the time of user creation, you can choose a username for the account.

However the problem is that there’s no easy way to change the username once it’s created. This can be extremely annoying.

Thankfully, we have a tutorial that shows you the easy way to change your WordPress username.

4. Adding More Formatting Options to the Post Editor

By default, WordPress comes with two types of writing areas in the post editor. The Visual Editor, which is a WYSIWYG editor, and Text Editor which is a plain text editor.

Switching from Visual to Text and then Back to Visual editor will ruin your formatting. But you need to switch to the text editor if you want to add custom HTML formatting in WordPress.

One easy solution is to stick with the Text editor and learn some basic HTML formatting. However if you want to use Visual editor, then you can use TinyMCE advanced plugin. It extends the default WordPress Visual editor with more formatting options.

See: 14 Tips to Master the WordPress Visual Editor

5. Enabling Shortcodes for WordPress Widgets

Shortcodes allow you to add functionality into WordPress text areas without writing any code. However, shortcodes do not work in WordPress text widgets by default.

Thankfully, there’s an easy fix for that.

Simply add this code to your theme’s functions.php file or in a site-specific plugin.

add_filter('widget_text','do_shortcode');

If you don’t want to add the code manually, then you can install and activate the Shortcode Widget plugin. It adds a shortcode widget in your WordPress widgets, which is exactly like a text widget but allows you to add shortcodes.

6. Getting Locked Out of WordPress

Sometimes you may end up locking yourself out of the WordPress admin area. Either you forgot your password and unable to recover it, or something broke when you were adding code or a plugin.

We have created a handy guide on what to do when you are locked out of the WordPress admin area. It will help you learn how to fix this in different scenarios.

7. Deactivating All WordPress Plugins

When troubleshooting some problem on your WordPress site, you will be advised to deactivate all WordPress plugins. You can just go to plugins page and deactivate all plugins.

But what if you don’t have access to the WordPress admin area? Here is how you can deactivate all WordPress plugins using FTP.

8. Fixing Common WordPress Errors

WordPress comes with a slight learning curve, and you get to learn things as you go along. Somethings are easier to learn than others.

The most frustrating and annoying thing for beginners are the common WordPress errors.

That’s why we have compiled a list of 14 common WordPress errors and how to fix them.

9. Setting up Automatic Updates for WordPress Plugins

All good WordPress plugins are regularly updated. If you are using the best WordPress plugins on your website, then chances are that you will be installing updates quite often.

Installing updates take only a few seconds, but it can be distracting to login and find new updates. See our guide on how to automatically install updates for WordPress plugins.

10. Creating Better Image Galleries

While you can create galleries in the default WordPress installation, it’s not as useful because it lacks features like Albums, tagging, lightboxes, and more.

Thankfully there’s a plugin like Envira Gallery available which allows you to create beautiful image galleries in WordPress without compromising speed.

You can add Albums, watermarks, sell your photos, and more.

11. Delete Hello Dolly Plugin

Each WordPress site comes with two default plugins pre-installed. Hello Dolly is one of them. This plugin doesn’t receive any updates and does nothing useful for your site.

Learn more about Hello Dolly plugin and why you should delete it.

12. Customizing WordPress Excerpts

By default, WordPress displays full posts on homepage, archives, and category pages. This not only creates duplicate content on your site, but it also discourages users from viewing the full post and leaving comments. See our guide on full post vs excerpt in your WordPress archive pages

By displaying excerpts on these pages, you can increase your pageviews and user engagement. See our guide on how to customize WordPress excerpts without any coding.

13. Showing Excerpts in RSS Feeds

WordPress also shows your full articles in the RSS Feed. This means users reading your posts in a feed reader will have no reason to visit your website.

You can easily change this from WordPress admin area. Go to Settings » Reading page and scroll down to ‘For each article in a feed, show’ option and select Summary. Click on the save changes button to store your settings.

14. Dealing with Comment Spam

Spam comments are one of the most annoying things. WordPress comes with built-in comment moderation to deal with spam comments. However comment spam can quickly grow, and before you know it you will be spending more time moderating comments.

First thing you need to do is start using Akismet. It will catch most spam comments and keep them away from your moderation queue.

You may also want to check out these 12 vital tips and tools to combat comment spam in WordPress.

15. Improving WordPress Search

WordPress comes with a built-in search feature, but it’s not very good. If search is important for your website, then you will need to replace the default search with something better.

Thankfully, there are some great alternatives to improve WordPress search. Check out our list of 12 WordPress search plugins to improve your site search.

We hope this article helped you fix some of the most annoying things about WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on 19 Actionable Tips to Drive Traffic to Your New WordPress Site.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 15 Most Annoying Things about WordPress and How to Fix Them appeared first on WPBeginner.

25 Most Common WordPress Errors and How to Fix Them

While WordPress is really easy to use, there are some common WordPress errors that can make you panic. The good thing is that the WordPress error you are seeing on your site is most likely been reported and resolved by someone before you. At WPBeginner, we have written tutorials on how to fix several popular WordPress errors. In this article, we will cover the 25 most common WordPress errors along with showing you how to fix all of these common WordPress errors.

Important: Before trying to fix any WordPress error, make sure that you have a complete WordPress backup. You can use BackupBuddy or use this tutorial to manually create a WordPress backup.

In case you are unable to resolve your issue from the steps mentioned in this article, then please contact your WordPress hosting company.

Since this is a lengthy article, we have created a table of contents below for easy navigation.

Table of Contents

1. How to fix internal server error


2. How to fix syntax error in WordPress


3. How to fix the error establishing database connection in WordPress


4. How to fix WordPress white screen of death


5. How to fix WordPress posts returning 404 error


6. How to fix sidebar below content error in WordPress


7. How to fix white text and missing buttons in WordPress visual editor


8. How to fix WordPress memory exhausted error by increasing PHP memory limit


9. What to do when you are locked out of WordPress admin area


10. How to fix WordPress login page refreshing/redirecting issue


11. How to fix image upload issue in WordPress


12. How to fix common image issues in WordPress


13. How to fix “Are you sure you want to do this” error in WordPress


14. How to fix briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance error in WordPress


15. How to fix WordPress not sending email issue


16. How to fix WordPress RSS feed errors


17. How to fix 403 forbidden error in WordPress


18. How to fix error too many redirects issue in WordPress


19. How to fix “Upload: failed to write file to disk” error in WordPress


20. How to fix “This site ahead contains harmful programs” error in WordPress


21. How to fix missed scheduled post error in WordPress


22. How to fix fatal error: Maximum execution time exceeded in WordPress


23. How to fix Facebook incorrect thumbnail issue in WordPress


24. How to fix WordPress keeps logging out problem


25. Troubleshooting WordPress errors on your own




Let’s take a look at how to solve the most common WordPress errors (one by one).




1. How to Fix Internal Server Error









Perhaps the most confusing WordPress error that a beginner may come across is “Internal Server Error”, or sometimes “500 Internal Server Error”.




This error usually appears when there is something wrong, but the server is unable to identify where the problem is. Since the error message does not indicate where you should look for the error, it is pretty much up to you to figure this out.




We have compiled a list of solutions that you can try and one of them will help you resolve it. [Fix internal server error]




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2. How to Fix Syntax Error in WordPress









This error usually occurs when you are trying to add code snippets into WordPress and have accidentally missed something or the code has incorrect syntax. This will result into a PHP parse error and you will see a notice like:




Parse error- syntax error, unexpected $end in /public_html/site1/wp-content/themes/my-theme/functions.php on line 278




The error message would indicate the unexpected thing found in the code and the location of the script where the error occurred with line number. To fix this issue you will have to correct the syntax. Most of the time it is a missing bracket, or some unexpected character in the code. [Fix syntax error in WordPress]




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3. How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress









This error message is clear that your website is unable to connect to the database. However solving this error can be tricky for beginners.




Usually this occurs when a user has entered or modified their database credentials (database host, database username, and database password) incorrectly. Sometimes your database server could be unresponsive, or your database may have corrupted.




However, mostly it is incorrect database login credentials. Take a look at common solutions for this problem. [Fix error establishing database connection in WordPress]




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4. How to Fix the WordPress White Screen of Death









This error usually results into a plain white screen with no error message. This makes it the most puzzling because you have no clue where to look and what to fix.




Most of the time it is caused when a script exhausts PHP memory limit. It can also happen due to a configuration on the server. It is also possible that a user would only see white screen of death on certain sections of their site. [See how to fix WordPress white screen of death]




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5. How to Fix WordPress Posts Returning 404 Error









The symptoms of this error is that when a user visits a single post on their site they get a 404 page – not found error.




The user can browse all other sections of their site including the admin area. The most common cause of this issue is permalink settings in WordPress. To solve this issue a user would need to reconfigure their permalinks settings or manually update their rewrite rules. [Fix WordPress posts returning 404 error]




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6. How to Fix the Sidebar Below Content Error in WordPress









Another common issue beginners face is when the sidebar appears below the content when it is supposed to appear next to the content. This issue is mostly caused by WordPress themes.




Sometimes when users are adding code snippets to their site, they may accidentally forget to close an html div tag or add an extra closing div which may result into breaking the theme layout. Another common cause is using disproportionate width in CSS or not clearing float properly. [Fix sidebar appearing below content error in WordPress]




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7. How to Fix White Text and Missing Buttons in WordPress Visual Editor









Sometimes buttons from WordPress visual editor may disappear or start showing blank white spaces instead of buttons.




This problem may occur when concatenated JavaScript is not working. It may also caused by missing or corrupt TinyMCE files, or conflict with some other plugin that modifies or extends the TinyMCE shipped with WordPress. [Fix white text and missing buttons in WordPress visual editor]




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8. Fix: WordPress Memory Exhausted Error – Increase PHP Memory









Indications of this error could be a white screen of death, or an error message like this one:




Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 33554432 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 2348617 bytes) in /home/username/public_html/site1/wp-includes/plugin.php on line xxx




This error occurs when a WordPress script or a plugin exhausts the default allocated memory size limit. [Fix WordPress memory exhausted error]




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9. What To Do When You Are Locked Out of WordPress Admin (wp-admin)









Sometimes you may find yourself locked out of the WordPress admin area. This could happen if you forgot your password and don’t have to access to password recovery email.




A plugin or code that incorrectly tries to make some changes into admin section can also lock you out. You may also lose access to admin area due to a hacked WordPress site. [Fix locked out of WordPress admin issue]




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10. How to Fix WordPress Login Page Refreshing and Redirecting Issue









Symptoms of this issue are that when a user attempts to login to the WordPress dashboard, they are redirected by WordPress back to the login page.




Most of the time it happens due to incorrect values for site url and home url fields in WordPress options table. It can also be caused by poorly configured permalink settings or redirects setup in the .htaccess file. [Fix WordPress login page refreshing and redirecting issue]




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11. How to Fix Image Upload Issue in WordPress









Sometimes a user would suddenly notice that all the images from their site are gone and are showing broken image placeholders. When the user tries to upload an image to a post using the media uploader, it results into an error.




All these files in the media library will appear as broken. This error occurs due to incorrect file and directory permissions in a WordPress installation. A number of factors may cause this issue. [Fix image upload issues in WordPress]




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12. How to Fix Common Image Issues in WordPress









Uploading images to a WordPress site can be confusing for someone new to WordPress. A user may be unable to find out how to align images, resize or crop them, or display them in a gallery format.




This is not an error or issue in WordPress. You just need to familiarize yourself with how WordPress handles media. [Fix common image issues in WordPress]




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13. How to Fix “Are You Sure You Want to Do This” Error in WordPress









Users may come across this error in WordPress admin area. The most common cause of this error is a plugin or theme failing to use Nonce properly.




Nonce are special security keys which may be appended to URLs when performing an admin action in WordPress. Sometimes a plugin or theme may use it incorrectly which may result into users seeing this error. [Fix are you sure you want to do this error in WordPress]




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14. How to Fix Briefly Unavailable for Scheduled Maintenance Error in WordPress









Sometimes due to an unfinished or interrupted WordPress update, you might see “Briefly Unavailable for Scheduled Maintenance” error in WordPress.




What happens there is that WordPress puts your site in maintenance mode during an update. If for some reason the update is interrupted, then WordPress does not get the chance to put your site out of the maintenance mode. This error would lock down your entire site and make it unavailable for admins as well as visitors. [Fix briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance error]




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15. How to Fix WordPress Not Sending Email Issue









The most common symptom of this problem is not receiving any contact form or WordPress notification emails from your site.




This issue is usually caused because most shared hosting providers disable or limit the module used for sending emails to prevent their servers from abuse. [Fix WordPress not sending email issue]




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16. How to Fix WordPress RSS Feed Errors









Most WordPress RSS feed errors are caused by poor formatting. You may see errors like these:




XML Parsing Error: XML or text declaration not at start of entity
Location: http://example.com/feed
Line Number 2, Column 1:




Depending on what browser you are using, your RSS feed error message may vary. You can also see this error message when visiting your feed in a browser.




Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/username/example.com/wp-content/themes/twentysixteen/functions.php:433) in /home/username/example.com/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 1228




WordPress outputs RSS feeds in XML which is a strict markup language. A missing line break or an extra tab can break your RSS feed. [Fix WordPress RSS feed errors]




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17. How to Fix 403 Forbidden Error in WordPress









403 Forbidden error code is shown when your server permissions don’t allow access to a specific page. This is why the error is usually accompanied by the text:




403 Forbidden – You don’t have permission to access ‘/’ on this server.
Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.




There are different scenarios when you can see this error. Incorrect file permissions, poorly coded security plugins, or server configuration are the most common culprits. [Fix 403 Forbidden error in WordPress]




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18. How to Fix Error Too Many Redirects Issue in WordPress









This error usually occurs due to a misconfigured redirection issue. As you know that WordPress has SEO friendly URL Structure which uses the redirect function. Several other popular WordPress plugins also use the redirect functionality as well.




Due to a misconfiguration in any of these redirection tools, your site may end up redirecting users to a URL that is actually redirecting them back to the referring URL. In that case the user’s browser is trapped between two pages causing a redirect loop. [Fix too many redirects issue in WordPress]




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19. How to Fix “Upload: Failed to Write File to Disk” Error in WordPress









This error can occur due to a number of reasons. However, the most common one is incorrect folder permissions.




Each file and folder on your website has a set of permissions. Your web server controls access to the files based on these permissions. Incorrect permissions to a folder can take away your ability to write files on server. This means your web server cannot create or add new files to that particular folder. [Fix Upload: Failed to write file to disk error]




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20. How to Fix “This site ahead contains harmful programs” Error in WordPress









Google marks a website with this warning if they find any suspicious code that could be a malware or trojan. Sometimes the reason for this is that your website is hacked and is now used to distribute malicious code.




Another common reason for this error is showing ads from low quality advertising networks. These networks may sometime display ads linking to websites distributing malicious code. [Fix site ahead contains harmful programs error in WordPress]




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21. How to Fix the Missed Schedule Post Error in WordPress









WordPress has this wonderful feature that allows you to schedule posts to be automatically published at a specified time. Most bloggers rely on the future to manage their publishing schedule.




However, sometimes WordPress can miss scheduled posts due to a number of reasons. If this has happened to you more than a few times then you need to address this issue. [Fix missed schedule post error in WordPress]




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22. How to Fix Fatal Error: Maximum Execution Time Exceeded in WordPress









WordPress is coded mainly in PHP programming language. To protect web servers from abuse, there is a time limit set for how long a PHP script can run.




Some WordPress hosting providers have set this value to a higher level while others may have set it to a lower level. When a script reaches the maximum execution time limit, it results into maximum execution time exceeded error. [Fix maximum execution time exceeded error in WordPress]




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23. How to Fix Facebook Incorrect Thumbnail Issue in WordPress









There are many reasons that can prevent Facebook from correctly guessing the right thumbnail image. One of the most common reason is having multiple images set in the og:image tag where your featured image is smaller than rest of the images.




Facebook uses Open Graph (og) tags, and plugins like Yoast SEO automatically adds them to your site to prevent missing thumbnail issue. [Fix Facebook incorrect thumbnail issue in WordPress]




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24. How to Fix WordPress Keeps Logging Out Problem









WordPress sets a cookie in your browser to authenticate a login session. This cookie is set for the WordPress URL stored in your settings section. If you are accessing from a URL that does not match the one in your WordPress settings, then WordPress will not be able to authenticate your session. [Fix WordPress keeps logging out problem]




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25. Troubleshooting WordPress Errors on Your Own




We have covered some of the most common WordPress errors in this article. However, the real power of WordPress comes from thousands of plugins and themes that you can use on your site. Any plugin or theme installed on your site can cause errors.




It could become really hard for beginners to find out what is causing the problem on their site and how they can fix it.




We have compiled complete step by step guide on troubleshooting WordPress errors for beginners. It will help you learn how to diagnose WordPress issues and how to fix them like a pro.




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That’s all, we hope that this guide helped you find and fix the WordPress error that you were encountering.




If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.




The post 25 Most Common WordPress Errors and How to Fix Them appeared first on WPBeginner.

How to Convert Facebook into Your Most Powerful Advertising Tool

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Traditional marketers and sellers often see themselves going to a place where most people hang out, and that is a shopping mall. They would set up attractive display booths and will try every strategy in the book to lure prospective buyers to listen to their demonstrations, try their products and eventually buy their products. But with the popularity of different social networking sites like Facebook, I am not surprised that marketers and sellers will also exert their efforts in Facebook advertising. If the shopping mall is a place where people go, Facebook on the other hand is where close to 500 million people meet, socialize, buy and sell.

You read it right. This popular social network site is not only the ‘in’ online place where you can update your social calendar, tag friends, post comments and click the Like or Unlike icon. But it is also a place where buyers and sellers congregate online simply because of the reason that it is where roughly 500 million people are registered. So, just like other online marketers and sellers, you also want to try your hand in Facebook advertising and attract even just a fraction of the staggering millions of Facebook users.

Also, with the continuous increasing popularity of Facebook, I am pretty sure that the number of registered users will further escalate in the coming years. So, if you will go for Facebook advertising, an increase in the number of Facebook users is a great reason for you to celebrate—it is an opportunity for you to enjoy higher sales and increased profit. But before you can reap Facebook advertising success, first you need to learn the ways on how to convert Facebook into your most powerful advertising tool like:

Facebook Advertising Increases Your Business Exposure

One way to attain satisfying marketing and advertising exposure to your targeted market is by utilizing Facebook’s advertising tool. Facebook advertising is a recent development in this popular social media site wherein you and other Facebook users will still enjoy the same real-time social updates but you are also presented with different advertisements that cater to your likes or interests.

So, if you will use Facebook to advertise your products or services, your ads will also find its place among other ads placed vertically in the right hand corner of your Facebook account. If you’ll notice in your account, you will see on the right side area a pixel box approximately 110 x 80 in size. It is in the small box where basic information like title of your ads, URL link, image and a brief description for about 135 characters of your advertisement will be located.

Another great thing about it is that the ads you see are not just placed there randomly. Just like I mentioned before, the ads cater to your likes or interests since Facebook take into consideration the pages you visited, the pages you ‘Like’, the groups you belong to, and your interests. So, the ads that you see might be different from the ads that other Facebook users see. Let’s say most of your likes are about pets or travel, then it is most likely that the ads you will see in your account are also connected to pets or travel.

So, as an online marketer, you will want to take advantage of this great advertising tool especially that Facebook advertising is an opportunity for you to advertise your products to your targeted market. However, to effectively create compelling Facebook ads, it is crucial that you spend time to craft a unique and eye catching ad content and design.

Furthermore, the mobile features of Facebook enable your advertisement to be seen by Facebook mobile phone users. This is a powerful feature wherein your targeted market can be reminded about your ads wherever they are. Also, aside from being an efficient and powerful advertising tool, Facebook Advertising is more affordable to use than the usual pay per click advertisements. It is also way affordable that other traditional online marketing schemes.

Increase Advertising and Marketing Exposure through Fan Page

Aside from Facebook Advertising, there is also another way on how you can convert Facebook into your most powerful advertising tool. You can increase your exposure to your targeted market by creating a Fan Page in Facebook. The number of Facebook users who clicked the Like or Unlike icon will help you gauge the level of exposure of your products or services.

But as a rule of thumb, regardless of how many advertisements or fan pages you intend to create, catching the attention of your targeted market should be your first priority. To do this, write compelling and exciting information about your company. Aside from the basic information like business name or contact details, the brief description about what your company offers should be interesting enough to entice Facebook users to visit your site. In short, don’t write boring ads. While interesting images also attracts attention but lastly, once you started your advertising efforts, don’t juts be contented with it. Follow it through and look for other advertising opportunities and possibilities you can explore in Facebook.

Page 27 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

25 Most Wanted WordPress Tips, Tricks, and Hacks

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In this post, I’ll show you some of the best WordPress tricks href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/wp-engine/">I have learned along the way. These are very useful for beginners, but I find some seasoned bloggers saying some of them have been helpful to them as well.

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Must-Know WordPress Tips, Tricks, and Hacks

1. Make a custom page as your home page. Copy the original page.php file or make a new file and add this code at the top: <?php /* Template Name: Template1 */ ?>. You can use your own template name then publish it. Now, go to Settings > Reading then select the new page as your home page.

2. Create dynamic sidebars. Make different sidebars for different pages. The home page uses the index.php file, a single page uses single.php, and several pages use page.php. To create a different side bar for the home page, simply create a new sidebar file and name it l_sidebar2.php.

3. Let your readers submit their own posts. Install the TDO Mini Forms plug-in to enable other users to write their own posts and submit it you. All user posts are placed in “draft” status so you can check them before being published.

4. Break down your comments into pages.  Install Paginated Comments, a WordPress plug-in designed to optimize your blogs for the search engines. You can choose to break down pages according to comment size or number of comments.

5. Display captions for your blog’s images. Use the Image Caption plug-in to obtain the alt or extract attributes in images that have these attributes and place a caption right under the images.

6. Create a Random Page button. Random Redirect is a cool plug-in for this. You can create a link on your home page. When someone clicks on that link, they are redirected to a random page on your blog.

7.Enhance your blog’s display quality by converting text into images. Use the FLIR (FaceLift Image Replacement) plug-in to convert text into images without changing your HTML codes. This is only useful for browsers that have JavaScript enabled.

8. Display relative dates. Relative dates look like this: posted on November 2, 2010 (20 minutes ago). If you want to use this, install the WP-Relative Date plug-in and look for the code <?php the_date(); ?> and replace it with <? php relative_post_the_date(); ?>.

9. Show people your latest del.icio.us bookmarks. Upload the del.icio.us-for-wordpress folder into the /wp-contents/plugins directory and activate.

10. Separate content from certain categories. Install the Advanced Category Excluder plug-in into /wp-content/plugins/advanced-category-excluder/. This will enable you to hide certain categories from other parts of your blog.

11. Prevent duplicate posts. Add a posts_where tag then start the first loop. Next, add the posts_where filter using the posts_where tag you made for the first loop. Start the second loop then remove the filter.

12. Make a Redirect Page template. Upload the templates.redirect.php file to wp-content/themes/theme_name/ and go to your Page Content panel then enter the URL of the page you want to redirect to. Then choose Page Redirect on the dropdown menu.

13. Add a StumbleUpon badge to your blog so users can share it with everyone else. Go to href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/badges">www.stumbleupon.com/badges and copy the code displayed in the box on the page. Next, open your single.php file and look for the following code: <?php the_content (“<p class=serif>Read the rest of the entry</p>”); ?>. Immediately after this, paste the code you copied from the StumbleUpon website.

14. Inform your readers of blog updates via IM. Use the Notifixious plug-in to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory activate it through the Plugins menu. This allows you to tip off your readers of new posts via their chosen IM platform.

15. Filter spam comments out of your blog. Use Akismet, short for Automatic Kismet, which administers several tests on each new comment and decides whether it is in shape for publication or not. Simply upload the Akismet file into the Plugins directory and activate it using the Plugins menu.

16. Make your pages load faster by caching. Disable to PHP safe mode in your blog and install the Apache mod mime and mod rewrite modules. Next, enable WordPress Custom Permalinks then upload the wp-content/plugins/wp-super-cache/ folder into the directory. Activate this plug-in from the Menu. WP Super Cache works by creating static .html files from your heavier .php scripts. Your server will then respond to the .html files afterwards. More on href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/wordpress-blog/10-non-technical-ways-to-boost-site-speed-for-wordpress/">optimizing WordPress site speeds.

17. Create page buttons. Throw out the Older Posts and Newer Posts button and install the PageNavi plugin automatically from your admin page.

18. Remove unnecessary words and enhance your blog’s SEO using slugs. Install the SEO Slugs plugin so you can automatically generate more optimized slugs for your headlines.

19. Link keywords to other related posts, pages, tags, and categories. Put the SEO Smart Links folder in your plug-in directory and activate it from the Plugins menu. This automatically links keywords to other parts of the blog.

20. Display list of related posts after each post. Install the WP Related Posts plug-in and place the following code in your templates: <?php wp_related_posts(); ?>. Then go to Manage > Option > WordPress Related Posts and choose your settings.

21. Allow your readers to subscribe to comments. Install the Subscribe to Comments plug-in. You can let your readers subscribe to the comments even if they have not yet posted a comment by placing the following: <?php show_subscription_checkbox(); ?> outside the comments form.

22. Copyright your posts. Install the Simple Feed Copyright plugin by uploading the folder into your plug-ins directory and activating it from the menu. This displays a copyright notice at the end of each post.

23. Style up your archives. Use the Snazzy Archives plug-in to provide a visual archives page to your blog. Upload the folder to your plug-ins directory and activate it from the Plugins menu.

24. Create a page where you can store all ideas for your subsequent posts. Use the Post Ideas plug-in for this. Upload only the postideas.php file into your plug-ins directory and install it. You can then write post ideas, sort them by name, date, or priority, research keywords, and edit or delete them.

25. Add Gravatars to your posts. Place the following code in the theme: <?php echo get_avatar( get_the_author_email(), ’80’. You can also add a get_the_author_email tag and customize the size of the Gravatar.

Page 28 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

6 Tools to Make the Most out of Facebook Timeline

alt="6 Tools to Make the Most out of Facebook Timeline" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2-500x224_c.jpg" />

Love it or hate it, the Facebook Timeline is here to stay. The majority of brand pages and personal profiles have now converted, and despite widespread initial criticism, many people are starting to embrace the concept.  In an earlier article, we gave you the official walkthrough on how to set up the individual components of your page.

Proponents of the Timeline appreciate that it allows them to create chronological representations of their company and a much richer visual experience for their users, but some are still in mourning over the death of the custom landing page. Regardless of your opinion on Timeline, there are a number of useful tools available to help you maximize the format and minimize the effort that you have to put in.

Here’s the best way to think of it: A title="Facebook Timeline Designs That Rocks! " href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/featured-articles/inspiring-roundup-best-facebook-timelines/">compelling and high converting Facebook Timeline page is a must-have for any brand or individual public figure active on Facebook. A number of apps are available to help solve common problems or make it much easier to achieve specific goals.

Problem: Choosing the perfect cover photo.

Solution: Coverphotofinder.com

class="border" alt="Facebook Timeline Tips" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2013/0503-1.jpg" width="750px" />

The importance of your cover photo is undeniable.  It’s the single biggest visual element of your Timeline. As the first thing people see and the most significant contrasting element, it’s also important to recognize that this space must be used to convey as much about your brand as possible. Yet sometimes you don’t have a photo at the ready that you want to use, or you’re waiting until a certain piece of creative is finished before you update it. When you’re looking for very high quality photos that are perfectly sized to Facebook’s pre-existing limits, we recommend going straight to the experts.

If you are looking for a perfect cover photo, or simply need some inspiration, you can check out Cover Photo Finder (href="http://coverphotofinder.com/">http://coverphotofinder.com/). They offer thousands of free pre-sized cover photos for your Timeline, from beautiful vistas to memorable movie scenes.  Using the app is simple; just download the photograph you want to your desktop and then upload it straight to Facebook. No finagling or further steps are needed.

Can’t find what you’re looking for there? Two other options include facebooktimelinebanner.com and fcoverphotos.com.

Problem: Resizing and editing your cover photo

Solution: Aviaryeditor

class="border" alt="Facebook Timeline Tips" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2013/0503-2.jpg" width="750px" />

If you’ve already got a cover photo of your own in mind, but if you need to resize it or edit the photo attributes, you may want to check out the Aviary Photo Editor app for Timeline (href="https://apps.facebook.com/aviaryeditor">https://apps.facebook.com/aviaryeditor).

The Aviary app lets you change many different attributes of your photos, including warmth, brightness, saturation, etc. You can also sharpen and resize your pictures to create an optimal cover photo.  The app is quite simple to use. Once you download it, you simply upload the photograph you want to alter. A simple navigation system appears when you select the photo, and you choose the image you want to edit. The app uses sliders to change things like brightness, etc. When the edits are finished, simply export the file and upload to Facebook. The interface is only slightly more complex than Paint, but with many more options.

Problem: Creating Beautiful Icons

Solution: Timeline Image Tool

class="border" alt="Facebook Timeline Tips" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2013/0503-3.jpg" width="750px" />

You’ve got your cover photo all ready to go, but what about your icons? With Timeline Image Tool (href="http://timelineimagetool.com/">http://timelineimagetool.com/), you can easily create or upload your own icon photos and post them on your page. You have the option of using the tool to create customized icons with different colors and text, uploading your own photos to use as icons, or choosing from a selection of pre-made icon photos.

This great product by Roeder Studios is true to the Laura Roeder brand: a totally classy product, and simple to use. To get started, go to your Facebook page and select the item that you want edit. In this instance, choose your icon photos. It allows you to select a background color, as well as type text, modify the text, and upload your own images. You can also move around text within the box to make it fit with whatever you have it mind.

Problem: Customized landing pages may be dead, but customized apps are alive and well.

Solution: Lujure.com

You may not be able to direct users to a custom landing page anymore, but you can create calls to action using custom apps. There are a number of tools you can use to create custom apps for your Facebook Timeline, but first we want to show you an example of how you can create effective custom apps with calls to action. Facebook expert Amy Porterfield (href="https://www.facebook.com/AmyPorterfield">https://www.facebook.com/AmyPorterfield) has developed customized apps for her Timeline that direct you to sign up to receive social media updates, watch her video series, etc.

class="border" alt="Facebook Timeline Tips" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2013/0503-4.jpg" width="750px" />

If you click through on the Social Media Updates app, you are directed to the following page which allows you to enter your email to receive updates from Amy.

class="border" alt="Facebook Timeline Tips" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2013/0503-5.jpg" width="750px" />

A great tool for creating custom apps is Lujure (https://lujure.com/). Here you can create custom apps without the hassle of writing the code. You can either use their templates or upload your own design. They offer three tiers of plans for users: the free plan, which allows you to create one custom app; will buy you a ‘Build your Brand’ package, which gets you unlimited custom apps and access to all of their premade templates; and 0 gets you a ‘Build a Business’ package, which allows you full access to all of their features.

To use Lujure, start by visiting the website and setting up an account. Then you can use the custom app creator and in Facebook editor to create custom applications. Because a Lujure tutorial is its own article, we recommend you check out this excellent introduction to href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MHW1KckOk0&feature=relmfu">Lujure video here.

Problem: Not understanding how your page is performing or what content is effective

Solution: Facebook Insights

class="border" alt="Facebook Timeline Tips" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2013/0503-6.jpg" width="750px" />

Now that you’ve created your page, how do you know whether it’s effective? Facebook Insights allows you to track a variety of data, from page likes to user engagement on your updates and photos.

These insights are extremely valuable – you can decode details ranging from what types of content are effective to what time of day your audience is most active.

There are a number of ways to use this data in order to improve your page. For example, you can track user engagement on posts to determine which posts are driving the most traffic to your page and reaching a broad audience. Facebook Insights provides a valuable way for you to constantly refine and integrate real time feedback from your audience into your content creation strategy.

Problem: You want to showcase your interests more

Solution: href="https://www.facebook.com/about/timeline/apps">https://www.facebook.com/about/timeline/apps

class="border" alt="Facebook Timeline Tips" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2013/0503-7.jpg" width="750px" />

This page provided by Facebook features a range of apps that you can install and feature on your Timeline. These apps are a little different that the custom ones you’re creating with Lujure, which are geared much more toward your specific customers and visitors. These instead are specific apps that are created by other companies. Do you want to highlight useful travel items like AirBnB or Tripadvisor? Or maybe you want to feature music via Pandora or Spotify?  Search for your favorite today and add a splash of flavor to personalize your timeline.

Whether you’ve embraced the Timeline or are still feeling lukewarm about the concept, there are a number of great tools out there to help you create a visually appealing, professional page for your brand. Facebook Timeline for pages appears to be here to stay, and with a little exploration and customization, you may just grow to love it.

Page 21 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed