You may or may not know that you really don’t need a home page per se. With WordPress you can set any page or your blog to be the landing page of your site.
But if you want a special page as a home page then don’t name the home page home. Why? Because home really isn’t a searchable term unless you’re looking for home page icons or pictures of houses.
So what do you name your homepage?
Why not take this opportunity to apply a little SEO (search engine optimization) to your site. It is especially important to do so on your homepage, after all that’s where search engines go first to index your site.
TIP: By default WordPress will use the actual name of the page when you add it to the menu. Once it’s in the menu open the menu item for editing and change the label to “Home” but leave the title attribute as the full-page name. NOTE: This will only work if your theme works with WordPress Menus
By putting some thought into what you name your homepage you will also have the start of a meta description unique to that page.
So what do you name your homepage? Provide us a link to see it in the comments below.
I have been asked about SEO and to do it for clients, which I am happy to do, but before I take your hard earned dollars I would like to show you this example.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is not that complicated. It involves focusing on one search term per page or post. Google wants to know that you are an expert on the topic you are writing about. To do that all you have to do is repeat your search term in key areas. But be careful; you still need to write with a natural voice so it doesn’t sound like you are stuffing in the search term too much.
Here’s an example…
Text that talks about this work. An internal or external link for more info on Blue Rhino Paintings. More text about why you do what you do. Ask yourself why do you like rhino’s? Tell us about your experiences with blue rhinos that lead to creating a series of paintings.
Where would you like people to go next? Your contact page, a detailed blog post about one specific blue rhino. Provide a link to make it easy for people to move around your site.
If you have a gallery of this work, tag each image blue rhino paintings
The screenshot below is of the WordPress editor with the keyword phrase highlighted.
Below is the report from WordPress SEO by Yoast for the above texts and images.
You will find many uses for it so I am going to show you How to Copy and Paste a Link URL.
First it would be handy to know some internet lingo, specifically URL. URL is an acronym for uniform resource locator which is basically a web address. So when I say copy and paste the URL you now know it’s the web address.
Where to find the URL
All pages on the internet have a unique URL which can be found in the address bar of the web browser.
Browser Address Bar in Chrome
How to copy a URL
1. Navigate to the page you want and copy the URL by highlighting it all with your mouse, right-click and copy. It is now copied to your clipboard.
2. Now navigate to where you want to paste the URL and right-click and paste.
It is important to know that pasting a URL does not automatically add a hyperlink to it. Nor should you be using a URL as the link text for a hyperlink. This is because most URL’s are not pretty and don’t have meaning. Read more about meaningful hyperlinks here.
Pasting a URL on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter will dynamically turn the URL into a hyperlink. That’s unique to them.
Now that you know where and what a URL is you’ll be able to copy and paste it in all sorts of places. I’m now going to copy the URL of this page and paste it into Facebook, you can too.
Best practices to create meaningful hyperlinks and links to PDFs
By using appropriate link text you will create meaningful hyperlinks to internal and external web pages. Use these guidelines for linking to non-web documents such as PDF’s and email addresses.
Create meaningful hyperlinks
This is NOT a meaningful hyperlink
Links should describe what users can expect to find when they click on the link.
Use short, concise link titles. Links should not exceed 60 characters.
Avoid using “click here.” Visually impaired visitors often use auditory browsers, which will read the text aloud rather than display it visually so the link should have meaning when read out of context.
Do not use URLs as link text. Not only can URL’s from other sites be long, they can be difficult to read.
Text you can use to create a link title:
The name of the site the link leads to (if different from the current site).
Details about the information on the linked page and how it relates to the context of the current page. For example: to view the tutorial on creating links, see Artbiz’s WordPress tutorials.
A specific action, such as “Sign up for my newsletter”
Internal and external links
An internal link is any page that exists on your website.
An external link is any web page that exists outside of your website.
Open web pages in the same browser window. Most people rely on their Back button to go back to where they were, they can become confused when it appears grayed out, so they close the browser entirely. For this reason, open web pages in same browser window.
PDFs and non-web documents – open in a new window
Visitors can become confused when links to non-web documents offer a different user experience than that of standard web pages.
Usability studies find that when people are finished viewing PDF files or other non-web documents, they clicked the window’s close box instead of the Back button. If the document wasn’t launched in a new window, they have left the site completely.
Guidelines for linking to non-web documents:
Open non-web documents in a new browser window.
Warn users in advance that a new window will appear.
Use the following format, only linking the document title to the file:
Sample Guideline Document (PDF – 16 kB) opens in new window
Application Form (DOC – 3 MB) opens in new window
To open files in a new window, select the ‘Open in new window’ option in the WordPress hyperlink dialogue box.
Keep file names under 20 characters
Email links
Email addresses should be spelled out and hyperlinked when they are to open an email client. Clicking an email link and having a new page open with a form is misleading. Make it clear the link is an email link.For example:
If you want to direct people to your contact information contained on a contact page, tell them so. For example:
View our contact information and hours
In conclusion: By using the appropriate text to create meaningful hyperlinks visitors will understand what information the hyperlink may contain. Links that do what visitors expect them to do will increase the usability of your website.
Draw in visitors using web page titles and headings
Titles and headings are important; they provide users a glimpse of your content and organize your content into readable “chunks.”
Your WordPress theme has styling tags that can be applied to your web page heading titles and headlines in the visual editor.
Page titles
Clearly describe what information a visitor can expect to find on the page
The H1- style tag is used for page title and is automatically applied by WordPress when the page is published
Capitalize the first letter of each word in the page title
Fit titles onone line. Avoid titles flowing over to a second line
Headlines
Headlines should be brief and informative
The H2 – style tag is used for the headline and is typically at the top of the page
Make sure your headline is understandable out of context. Headlines are often the only line people see in an RSS feed or in a mobile phone browser so avoid using creative puns or clever headlines.
Headings
Clearly label each section with a heading. Headings organize your content into readable “chunks.”
Tip: Scan your page by reading only the headings. If you can understand the flow and content, your headings are well-constructed. If it’s confusing, try rewriting your headlines and adjusting the order of your paragraphs.
The H3 style tags are used for headings in the body of the content
Capitalize only the first word without a period at the end
Subheadings
Subheadings provide an extra level of organization within a section. For example, if your heading is “Workshops,” you may need subheadings to group the various workshops by interest.
Use the H4 to H6 style tag for subheadings
Capitalize only the first word without a period at the end
Following these tips on formatting website titles and headings will organized your content allowing readers to understand what you are writing about.
To view what headings would look like with your Artbiz theme please view the style sheet.
Eye tracking studies show people read the first full paragraph of the page but their attention wanes as they continue down the page. It is therefore important to tell your readers what the article is about by putting the summary at the top of the page.
Reading and scanning behaviors when reading web pages
Attention span is short on the internet, we want to complete tasks fast. Breaking up large blocks of text as you go down the page with meaningful subheadings, bold or italics textand bullet lists makes the page scannable.
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