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Blogging, WordPress

Tips and Tricks

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I always appreciate authors and bloggers sharing
information that makes my blogging life a little easier. Over this past year, I’ve picked up several tips and tricks that I’d like to share with you.

WordPress

1. Check comments regularly for Spam and Pending.

Many of us have experienced our comments on other blogs being relegated to spam. This is disconcerting, as the blogger might think we’re not visiting their blog; and we may have no way of
letting them know we are. Check spam first, because when a
comment is marked Not Spam, it will be moved to Pending. Then go to Pending and marked Approved.

2. Close comments when appropriate.

We might choose to close comments on our posts for several
reasons: e.g., we’re going on a blogging break; we’re reblogging and want readers to leave comments on the original post.

Comments can be closed in a draft by unchecking Allow comments in the Discussion section below the post box. To close comments after publication, go to your dashboard and click on Posts. Find the appropriate post, click on Quick Edit, uncheck the box next to Allow Comments, then click on Update.

3. Click on the Reply button when responding to
comments, in order for them to show in notifications.

When replying to a comment, the commenter won’t be notified
unless we click on Reply. This sounds like common sense, yet I’ve discovered ~ quite by accident ~ many a reply entered as a
comment to my comment.

Pixabay CCO
Image courtesy of Pixabay CCO
4. Make post links open in new tabs.

This is especially helpful when on a blog that loads slowly. Having a link open in a new tab allows the slow-loading blog to remain in place while we investigate the link.

To create a clickable link in a post, click on the ‘paper clip’ icon in the toolbar. Enter the URL, and then click on the cogwheel to the far right. A window will open. Under the URL, check the box next to Open link in a new tab. You can do this with any link, even those in a reblog if you use Press This. Just place your cursor next to or anywhere within the link, and a small box will open. Click on the pencil icon (edit), then click on the cogwheel to open the window.

You can also have a clickable image open in a new tab, but you must do this after the image is entered into the post.

To create a clickable image, copy the designated URL and paste it into the Attachment Details when entering the image into your post. Scroll down to Attachment Display Settings → Link to and choose Custom URL. Then paste the link into the box below this.

NOTE: https:// is already entered into this box. Delete it before you paste in the custom URL, because it doesn’t disappear on its own.

To have the image open in a new tab, click on it, and then click on the pencil icon. A large window will open. Scroll down to Display Settings → Advanced Options, and check the box next to Open link in a new tab. Notice that you can also enter the custom URL within this function. Under Display Settings → Link To, click on the down arrow and select Custom URL. A box will open into which you can paste the URL.

If you’re on a blog that doesn’t have dedicated link tabs, you can open any link in a new tab by right-clicking on it, and then left-clicking on Open Link in New Tab.

5. Calendar

It’s helpful to have a calendar on your blog if (1) your home page isn’t your blogroll, (2) you don’t have a designated blog page, or (3) your most recent posts aren’t listed in a sidebar. Clicking on a specific date in the calendar will pull up all posts for that day.

6. Link your blog to Twitter

When your blog is linked to Twitter, Twitter will notify you when someone shares your post. This also makes it easy for the sharer to follow you on Twitter, because your @username will appear at the end of the tweet, and Twitter will ask them if they want to follow yiou.

Go to Settings → Sharing, and scroll down to Twitter username to include in tweets when people share using the Twitter
button. Type your Twitter username in the box.

7. Single space when creating posts.

If you have a free WP site, single-spacing isn’t an option in the tool bar. But you can single space by clicking Shift and Enter simultaneously. This works in (most) emails and word processing software as well.

Pixabay CCO
Image courtesy of Pixabay CCO

Gravatar


Be sure to add your website and social network links to your Gravatar page. Also, if your name isn’t identifiable by gravatar or website, and if you’re not purposely maintaining anonymity, state your name in your gravatar profile.

Facebook

1. Open a notification or link in a new tab

This can be done by either tapping on the wheel of your mouse, or right-clicking on the link/notification and checking Open Link in New Tab. This is especially helpful with notifications, because it
allows you to hold your place in your notifications list.

2. Use See First (a News Feed function) and Close Friends (a profile function) to easily keep up with those you are close to. You won’t receive post notifications with See First, but you will with Close Friends.

See First

Click on the down arrow in the upper right corner of your FB page. Click on News Feed Preferences → Prioritize who to see first. FB will pull up images of your friends. You can select up to 30
people or pages. Selections aren’t ranked (the first selection isn’t seen first, the second selection isn’t seen second, etc.).

You can also use this function on profiles and pages after you friend or follow someone. Locate the Following button (bottom right of cover image) and hover your mouse over Following (or click on the down arrow), then select See First.

Close Friends

To select s person as a close friend, go to their profile page,
locate the Friends button (bottom right of cover image) and hover your mouse over Friends (or click the down arrow), then select Close Friends.

Add friends to your Close Friends list if you’d like to receive a
notification each time they post. You can turn these notifications off at any time. You can also add friends to more than one list or remove friends from a list.

Pixabay CCO
Image courtesy of Pixabay CCO

News Feed preferences

You can view and adjust your News Feed preferences by following the instructions in the above link. By default, we’re taken to our News Feed when we log on to Facebook. To return to it after
navigating to your profile page, click on the f in the upper left
corner of your page (next to your name in the FB search bar).

Amazon Author Services

When encountering a problem with Kindle or CreateSpace, I’ve found it helpful to speak first with Author Services, and have them transfer me to Kindle or CreateSpace if needed. Issues
regarding manuscript upload will most likely be directed to the
appropriate department. But issues such as what appears on your author page will be handled more efficiently and effectively by
Author Services.

Bookmarks

All browsers save bookmarks in different ways. Some browsers call them favorites. Some allow you to choose the category in which to add them, while others do not.

If you want to insert a bookmark into a specific place, first copy the URL, then right click where you want to add it in your bookmarks list. Select New Bookmark from the menu. In the box that opens, type the name of the bookmark and paste the location of the URL.

When bookmarks are imported from a different browser, they tend to get listed under several other headings and are pushed to the right. If you’re like me, you prefer to have your bookmarks open in a sidebar while you’re online. But the farther right they’re pushed, the less screen space you’ll have. You can solve this to a certain
degree by adding bookmark icons to your browser’s toolbar.

First open the page you want to add, click on the icon to the left of the URL, and drag it to your toolbar.

NOTE: The above bookmark tips work in the Firefox and IE browsers. I don’t know if they’ll work in other browsers, but dare to try!

I hope you’ve found this information helpful. If any of it is incorrect, feel free to note this in the comments. And please share the tips and tricks you might have up your sleeve 🙂
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Namaste, my friends ❤ 

 ©Tina Frisco 2018

Featured Image is courtesy of Pixabay CCO

110 thoughts on “Tips and Tricks”

  4. Great tips. I just started using the ‘comments closed’ option. You can close them on WP.com before publication with a check box at the bottom of the ‘edit’ page (says ‘allow comments’). It’s easier on WP.org–I can do it right from the Posts page.

    Thanks, Tina!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Welcome, Jacqui, and thanks for that tip. I’ve not been able to find where to close comments before publishing. I have a free WP site, and they keep removing functions, e.g., we no longer can underline 😦 ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  6. What a fabulous post, Tina. Thank you. I think I’m pretty good with the WP stuff, though I didn’t know about shift+enter. I’ll have to try to remember that. I’m pretty hopeless with FB so appreciate what you’ve shared there, though I’ll have to come back to it another day when I’m not so tired – so much to take in! Therefore, I am acknowledging the effort and energy you expended in putting this useful resource together. Thank you.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. Pingback: Tips and Tricks from Tina Frisco | Sue Vincent's Daily Echo

  12. Very helpful, Tina. I have the WordPress stuff down fairly well, but not Facebook at all, and you had some good “how-to’s” in your list. I find FB so overwhelming that I tend to ignore it. This may help. Now, if you would just help me figure out Twitter! Ha ha. Thanks for the great info. ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

          1. I get email notifications and I used to be able to go through and reply to tweets, retweets and messages and visit new followers. Now I get one email a day with everything bundled. And I don’t know how to bust it up I will admit that I generally am terrible at technology and twitter is so non-stop rapid-fire busy I get intimidated.

            Liked by 1 person

            Reply

            1. Try checking notifications from your Twitter page instead. I used to get email notifications for WP & all social networks, filling my mailbox to 200+/day. I stopped all of them and now check notifications directly from my pages. It saves a lot of time and is easier to manage ❤

              Liked by 1 person

              Reply

  18. Thank you so much for this post dear Tina, I did indeed find it most helpful, particulary the FB notification info, as I have been having some issues. Firstly, I’ve got a FB author page where I generally link to my blog posts (the page is linked to my blog), but I get so views now, unless I pay to boost, which I don’t do. Secondly, I’m not getting a lot of friend’s posts in my feed on my personal FB, so now I know how to correct that. Very helpful about the open a new link for WP too. Have bookmarked…I do know how to that at least, lol!!! Love & hugs lovely one 🙂 ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Most welcome, Sher. So glad you found helpful. The tips are simple to utilize and make life much easier. See First and Close Friends will put a lot more friends’ posts in your News Feed. Love and hugs back to you, sweet friend ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
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  27. This is a great list, Tina. I especially think #4 is important. As a visitor, it’s nice to click on a link without leaving the site you haven’t finished reading yet. The plug in for opening links in a new window is free, easy to add and allows all your site visitors to keep your site open for further perusal. Overall, awesome tips. Thanks for sharing!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  29. A most excellent post T. Glad I’m on top of them all, and thanks to you for the tip you already shared about opening links on a new page. You rock girlfriend!!!!! Hugssssss ❤ xxxxxxx

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  31. Pingback: Great tips for bloggers, Facebook users, and most everybody from Tina Frisco! (@TinaFrisco) | Just Olga

  39. Thanks for all of these, Tina. I see Jacquie already answered the question about closing comments before publishing a post. I’m not sure how it works on a self-hosted site, but the hosting company should be able to help to answer that question.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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