How to make SEO friendly WordPress websites?

One of the most incredible feature of WordPress is that this comprehensive CMS comes with no installation charges as it is a an open source platform. You do not have to invest time as well as money to acquire the key and within matter of few minutes your dashboard is ready for work.

To add icing on this incredible platform we have curated steps to make it SEO friendly. Let's find out:

Step 1: Ensure to add Privacy Settings

Privacy setting is one of the last configuration setting in the infamous installation process which takes 5 minutes to install. However, it is advised to better uncheck the box while developing. This block website to get indexed by all the well known search engines.

Step 2: SEO Friendly URLs

There in no big deal in configuring URLs that are search engine friendly (SEF URLs) and for that you can select the option for Custom Structure and then add the parameter in to your text box.

Step 3: Do not keep post in Uncategorized Category

When we go on internet we come across ample lot of blogs that are marked under the heading of Uncategorized. You need to correct that. For that you need to go to the setting page from where you can access categorize settings from the menu of the posts. Find out where you can get the Category and then go to the Quick Edit.

Step 4: All in One SEO Pack Plugin



It is the default property of WordPress that uses page or post title as the title tag value for an HTML page and there is no need of including the for meta description tag or meta keywords tag . Along with that we have several plugins that allow you to customize the tags as per ones requirement, for instance the Yoast plugin, despite of that we have simple plugins such as All in One SEO Pack. Once completing the installation process of All in One SEO Pack move towards the admin page. The best part is that they remind you about those parts that are yet to be configured for your settings.

Step 5: Plugin to remove 404 errors

This is one of the bug in WordPress where we will come across 404 errors while accessing a Category page that goes beyond the first page. For those who include the plugin call Category Pagination Fix for your instillation process, then one can ignore web master tools for search engines Google & Bing for not showing 404 errors.

Step 6:Unburden your Images from unnecessary links

It is a default property of WordPress that links images that one uploads or inserts in the blog posts to themselves. This is something which is not required and all the efforts go in vain if the user clicks the image. This will pop open the image where the user gets blocked with no navigation and this forces them to click on the back button of the browser.

Step 7: HTML & XML Sitemaps auto-generate

With WordPress we can get web pages where we can have posts of the blogs that incorporate pages of better quality that can have search index that run quite faster if there we can have access to bots and crawlers access on our XML and HTML Sitemaps.

Apart from this we have Simple Sitemap plugin that can generate the HTML and Google XML Sitemaps plugin that can generate XML Sitemap.

All you need is to make use of the basic version of these plugins, and it does not requires anything fancy if you do have a great knowledge of XML Sitemap.

After completing the installation plugin of Sitemap and officially launching your website, you need to register your XML Sitemap to search engines like Google, Yahoo & Bing.

Step 8: Make of Google Analytics

There are ample lot of methods in which one can add tracking code of Google Analytics into your website; we generally like Google Analytics for developing plugins that are based on WordPress and the main reason behind this is that they give you the the leverage where Administrators can be ignored. If you will configure this option you will see administrators will work fairly without altering the your reports.

Step 9: Adopt Responsiveness

There are umpteen number of directories such as ElegantThemes.com, ThemeForest.net, TemplateMonster.com, to name a few that offers “responsive” design themes to developers. A responsive theme has the ability to fit to the layout, images, and menu items so that they can be easily displayed on all kinds of devices be it regular personal computers , laptops, mobile devices such as tablets, phablets or smartphones.

Google has launched an algorithm that suggest the developers to design responsive websites as they render quite an incredible user experience and they have also considerable paved a way to increase SERPs if carried out with utmost care. Along with that Google has also been testing additional SERPs that will help website owners to develop niche products. Google have introduced an icon to indicate users working on mobile devices that whether that particular website is mobile friendly or not. This is the reason you need to make sure that your website is quite accessible or not.

Step 10: Rectify errors in your Theme Code

Now that you have selected your WordPress theme, the next step is to optimize the code of the theme in order to optimize all the technical errors. For this there are several add-ons available on net and one of them is SEO Doctor Firefox to get a glance on the web pages.

Using this Firefox tool, one can easily get review website for figuring out opportunities for optimization. It is but expected that there is no need for incredible web designers who can develop brilliant SEO friendly themes.

Author bio: Samuel Dawson eats, drinks and breathes WordPress, as he works as developer in a leading IT firm that renders top notch PSD to HTML conversion services. Apart from this he likes to strum the guitar and explore creative side of programming.  He is also indulged in html to WordPress conversion process.

When Does a Design Qualify as "Good"

There are a lot of things which come to our mind whenever we are encountered with questions like- what are the basic principles of an effective web design? What really makes a design good? And so on. Website designing is a vast concept and can be deceptively complicated. It involves creating a design that is usable as well as satisfying, delivers correct information, increase brand value, and at the same time help the user achieve their goals with ease. It is also true that when anyone wants to convert Photoshop to HTML CSS the good quality design matters a lot.

There are a variety of factors which affect the usability and utility of a website, and they are not only about how it looks, but how it functions, attracts traffic, and let the visitors stick around it for a considerable amount of time. A good web design doesn't come handy, but a deeper understanding of some basic rules and experimentation can create wonders.

In this post, we are going to reveal some handy tips and designing principles that help you design professional websites to make a good impression in front of your visitors. So, take pleasure reading this as it is going to be really helpful for you.

1. Display of Clear Information Should Be The Priority

A pleasing web design is all about displaying an information in a clear and presentable manner. A good web design clearly communicates and emphasizes the message and make it easy to read and digest. Some of the most effective tactics for designing an information include- organization of information, using correct headings and sub-headings, using bullet points, and steer clearing anything that makes a content vague.

2. Following the Principle of Precedence

For a design to be a success, it is extremely important to instill a sense of direction and precedence on it. While navigating the design, the visitor should be led around the screen by the designer. It is important the direct the user's eye by providing a sequence of steps that help them explore the website in the best possible manner. When all the essential components are placed in a sequential order such as logo, punchy image, main body text, sidebar and so on, this help the user to develop focus and provide emphasis on your design.

3. Colors

A well thought out color scheme can truly enhance the overall personality of your website. A logically adopted color palette creates a perfect balance between the design as well as usability. Using subtle and attractive color contrast increases the readability of your website and makes it attractive for the users. Furthermore, vibrant colors stimulate action and therefore should be used prudently in areas like buttons, call to action or anything like that. Lastly, an effective use of white space should be there to give a website clean and clutter-free look.

4. Spacing

Space makes things clean and clear. It's a crucial component and therefore shouldn't be underestimated. Not only does it is helpful in reducing the cognitive load, but also helps users consume the information easily presented on a web page. Whenever the user lands on a website, the first thing they do scan and analyze the web page. If designers face situations for separating two designs by either through a visible line or white space, then it is better to go with the white space. This is something that reduces complexity and your content would be better perceived.

5. Navigation

Navigation is all about how people find your website easy to take action and explore further. A well-designed navigation helps people find out where to go and where are they exactly. There are few principles that one should take a note of while designing navigation. Buttons to travel around your website should be easy to find and identify. Their design should match the look of navigation buttons and they must be clearly defined. Apart from this, it is also crucial to focus on the usability of the navigation. For example- if you have designed a rollover sub-menu, you need to ensure that the user easily gets the sub-menu items without actually losing the control over the rollover.

Similarly, designing a logical page hierarchy, using bread crumbs, designing easy to click buttons, will help users find the information seamlessly they are looking on your website.

6. Grid Based Layout

Placing the content in a non-linear or an unorganized way can end up giving your website a messy look. Using a grid-based layout can help you arrange the content in a presentable manner. Grid design makes use of boxes, sections, and columns that line up together and give websites a well balanced look.

7. Loading Time

Patients is a virtue that web users hardly boast off. Visitors hate websites which take years to load. Therefore, it is important to take effective measures to reduce page load time and thus generate leads. Steps like image optimization processes, combining code into central CSS or JavaScript file, or minify HTML, CSS and JavaScript could be taken to give your website a performance boost.

Wrapping Up

Creating a beautiful and usable website is not an uphill battle. All you need to do is just follow some relevant tips and tricks to create an engaging, pleasing, and user-friendly website.

A Noteworthy Guide Highlighting the Growing Need For Cross Device Usage

We are living in an era, wherein people are increasingly switching to Smartphones and tablets to access the content on the Internet. What's more, most of the people today are using multiple devices to consume the web content, viewing a certain part of the content from their Smartphone and the other part on their tablet or may be desktop. Performing an operation on one device and completing it on the other has become a common practice for most of the people today. This clearly suggests the critical about designing cross-device user interfaces.

Understanding the Cross-Device Reality

How we access the Internet, connect to people and access the web has significantly changed. Lots of marketers are worried about the fact that as people increasingly access the content on Smartphones and tablets rather than the personal computers, because of the personal nature of mobile devices they can't possibly determine the kind of advertising that will work best on those devices.

However that might not be the only problem, according to a new research authorized by Google has been observed that: People are not only going mobile, but also are using multiple devices to access the content on the web at the same time. As per the research, we're now living in the “New Multi-screen World” and thus need to understand consumer behavior towards cross-platform device usage. Below are a few highlights from the research:

• Around 90% of people juggle various device screens for completing a task.

• 67% of people shop online using one device and continue the task on another device.

• Majority of people make use of multiple device screens sequentially, where the main operation is performed first using the Smartphone and completed on some other device, particularly a PC.

Moreover, research also show that apart from using the multiple screens sequentially, a few others use the device screens simultaneously including watching TV and browsing on another device.

Looking at all the data, you'll certainly understand the growing need to develop applications that could communicate across several devices.

Luke Wroblewski's Explanation to Designing For Cross-Device Usage – An Insight

Luke Wroblewski one of the leading UI experts cites that when designing for cross device usage we'll need to examine four components such as access, flow, push, and control. This means that processes that move ensures their continuation across multiple screens.

For example, when looking for a place in Google Maps via your Smartphone, you can easily found a great place. You'll most likely want to read the complete address details about the place and maybe customer reviews regarding the place. Chances are that you would find accessing the content difficult on your Smartphone screen and will require a wider screen such as the likes of tablet to view things clearer.

If you want to offer a better cross device usage experience to your users, a viable solution is to create an “automatic saving system”. This will help to synchronize your data without requiring users to carry out an action explicitly. For example, as soon as a user fills out some fields or selects any option in the check box, a request is sent to the server by the system and the data is saved. This is a good solution but has a downside to it, the device where the change was not made to view the change, users will have to “refresh” or “reload” the page.

In order to implement the above discussed solution you'll need to develop a system that not only sends updates but also receives them the server. This can be accomplished with the help of “Long polling”, “Server-side events” and “Web sockets”. As a result, you'll get a fluid experience and can view content that remains consistent across devices. Now as your able to access the content that freely flows between different screens, make sure that the push and control cross-device usage works for users.

With better control, one device handles the functions for the other. For example your Smartphone can work as your TV's remote control. But for this purpose, you'll have to allow one device to push content or information to the other device, or make one device control the operations of another device.

Conclusion

The purpose of this post is to make you understand the growing importance of making your content accessible to cross-device consumers. Reading this post will help you better understand about how cross-device usage has become a reality, and so, you should design and develop user interfaces keeping cross-device usage in mind. It's obvious, for any developer the first and foremost aim is to achieve user satisfaction. Since, consumers today are using multiple device screens to consume the content, it becomes essential to design an interface that supports cross-device usage to meet consumers needs. As Designs2html Ltd also follows the usage of cross appliance. They also use this in their services. Designs2html a PSD to HTML conversion service company has supported the mobile responsive cross device usage.