Posts Tagged ‘WordPress’
Question Asked: How Can I See What People Are Searching For On My WordPress Site?
The most simple option is by using a plugin. There’s a number of plugins that do some better things with search, since the WordPress search leaves something to be desired.
“Search Meter” (link) is the plugin you want.
Once installed, it keeps a record of everything people search for, how many search results there were (if any), and creates a separate section for searches with no results.
The “no results” section is very helpful for site owners. If you see an item that a lot of people are searching for that you don’t have, you can then take a cue to write about it. (Assuming it’s something related to your site.)
Question Asked: How Do I Change My WordPress Theme?
Assuming you’ve already got a new theme uploaded, activating it is simple.
- Make sure you’re logged into your Admin Panel.
- Click “Appearance” to expand the menu.
- Click “Themes”
- Click the thumbnail image of the one you want to activate to preview the site, and make sure things look correct.
- Click “Activate” in the top right corner of the preview window.
Alternately, if you’ve already previewed the theme, you can simply click “Activate” below that theme on the Themes page, without previewing it.
It’s that simple. If your theme doesn’t look right in the preview mode, it’s possible that it was designed for an older version of WordPress and is missing a lot of the code that’s necessary to make things look and work correctly. If you’ve got an issue, feel free to post a comment and I’ll do my best to help you out.
Question Asked: How Do I Upgrade WordPress?
Since around version 2.5 or so, WordPress is easily updated from within the Admin panel.
When there’s a new version available, you’ll see a message along the top of all your admin pages saying something to the effect of:
WordPress 2.8.3 is available! Please upgrade now.
If you click on the “upgrade now” link, you’ll be be taken to the “Upgrade” section, within “Tools.” You there have the option to “Upgrade Automatically” or “Download 2.8.3″ (or whatever version is next, 2.8.3 is the current one.)
99% of the time, clicking the “Upgrade Automatically” will work fine. Just be sure to backup your database, and files first, in case something goes wrong. Chances are, it won’t, but you should still heed the warning and make a backup.
If you don’t know how to do a backup of your database, check out How Do I Backup My Website?
Question Asked: How Do I Install a Plugin In WordPress?
It depends on which version of WordPress you’re using. But if you’re using a version that’s been released recently (within the last year or so), you can add new plugins directly from your Admin Panel.
Once logged in, click on “Plugins”, in the left hand navigation menu. Then select the “Add New” option.
This will allow you to look through, and search the available plugins in the WordPress Plugin directory. The majority of plugins are going to be stored there. However, there are some that are not, for various reasons.
When you’ve found one that you want to install, it’s as simple as clicking the “Install” button. WordPress does the rest.
If you’re having any trouble following the instructions, feel free to comment, and I’ll be glad to help you out.
Question Asked: Should I Use a Caching Plugin For My WordPress Site?
It’s definitely not a requirement, but it’s also not a bad idea.
Even if your site doesn’t get a lot of traffic, it’s a good idea to build the site with a caching plugin. Generally people areusing Wp-SuperCache. It’s by far the best, and easiest to use.
This will create HTML pages for your site’s content, rather than querying the database for all of the information WordPress needs to display your content. This saves not only time in loading the page, but also resources on the server. If you’re on a shared server, this is the way to go. Your webhost will thank you for it.