Need Help with Wordpress!

PAOK11 on 02/11/2017 - 11:29

Hey Ozbargain,

I'm reaching out for assistance with my wordpress blog. Hopefully one the IT guys know a thing or two about Wordpress or anyone with some knowledge who can help me.

I just started writing and admittedly I've only posted two pages and only started my blog two days ago but I literally have 0 views.

I'm writing this blog for myself as much as for the readers (although I have 0 lol) but I do expect other people to at least read what I'm writing.
In true Ozbargain fashion I have selected the free version, I assume this is my first mistake?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Internet

closed Comments

  • malich on 02/11/2017 - 11:47
    +3

    I'm confused by what your question is. Are you looking to get more traffic / views to your blog?

    If so, you can't just expect that people will find your blog. You need to make efforts to promote it.

    Check out Neil Patel if you're looking for ideas on how to get traffic to your page. He has plenty of content on how you can get both free and paid traffic.

  • Andym on 02/11/2017 - 11:54
    +1

    Having a Wordpress blog is like having a Webpage, if no one knows about it you will get no views. Now everyone has a voice with such blog services it is easy to get lost in a choir of millions of voices. You have to either learn or employ someone to promote it in conjunction with other social media based services. There is a huge amount of free material available on self promotion with social media but it is a whole art in itself now and can take a while to learn.

    Another option is to use services such as fiverr.com where you will find people who can help you create, proofread and promote such a blog for minimal cost.

  • Baebs on 02/11/2017 - 11:59
    +2

    Had to publish a wordpress blog with the free version for an assignment. It wasn't intended to be for the public but fellow bloggers were viewing/liking/commenting on it from the moment it was published.

    Different topics have varying traffic (topic was the influence of European cuisine on our national identity - food is always interesting to read about).

  • Marrk on 02/11/2017 - 11:59

    First things first, it sounds like you are using Wordpress.com over the self hosted version?

    https://wordpress.com/pricing/

    If you are serious about starting a blog, I would get a cheap hosting plan and install the open source version. From what I can see, the hosted version doesn't even let you install custom plugins unless you sign up to the $33 plan.

    In regards to website traffic, it is often harder getting traffic than it is building a website. You need to write good quality blog posts that will get picked up by Google, share articles online in a non spamming fashion etc.

    Some info from a Whirlpool response I did the other week:

    WordPress + a good paid theme from Envato Market – these usually cost around $60 USD. I would recommend getting a theme that has a page builder plugin called Visual Composer, it has a lot of good functionality and will make it easy for you to build pages yourself.

    When looking for a theme, run their demos through the below tools to make sure that they aren't too bloated, keeping in mind that it may take a bit of work to achieve the same scores in your hosting environment:

    https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/
    https://gtmetrix.com/

    Other essential plugins are Yoast SEO (to help you SEO optimise your written content and pages) and Contact Form 7, to create forms for the contact us page etc. I also like Contact Form DB, which will save a copy of all form submissions in WordPress, in case enquiry emails don't reach you for any reason.

    Other good plugins for caching your website and making it a bit faster are:

    https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-super-cache/
    https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/autoptimize/

    In terms of hosting, I recommend VentraIP. It is a good balance of reasonably cheap + good customer service and infrastructure. They have a 30% off coupon code for new customers, which you can use to prepay up to 3 years.

    https://ventraip.com.au/web-hosting/shared

    • ItsMeAgro on 02/11/2017 - 12:36
      -1

      This is all good advice that's completely inappropriate until he has views (probably thousands a week).

      He doesn't sound technical enough to make self-hosted wordpress a good idea even then, and you sound suspiciously like an ad…

      • Marrk on 02/11/2017 - 12:53
        +2

        My advice is hardly inappropriate, you can get hosting plans for a few dollars a month, and will have far greater control with the open source version of WordPress. The paid theme is completely optional, though many of them are well worth the money, including dozens of good paid plugins like Visual Composer and Revolution Slider.

        Once WordPress is installed, it is not that much harder to use than the hosted version, and many hosting companies would install it for you, as it literally takes 2 minutes to do.

        Nope, I am not offering my services. Just trying to help someone, people like you make me question why I bother.

    • FrugalFrella on 02/11/2017 - 13:05
      +1

      Yeah I would go with a Self-hosted option over Wordpress.com

      You'll learn a few things along the way and you'll end up with a better site

      • PAOK11 on 02/11/2017 - 13:22

        Whats the cheapest self hosted option and how much technical stuff do I need to learn ?

        • malich on 02/11/2017 - 16:02
          +1

          There's not a whole lot of tech stuff that you need to learn.

          Here's what you need to do:
          Buy a domain - crazydomains.com.au is what I use

          Get hosting - crazydomains also offer hosting. Otherwise, ventraip / zuver are popular choices.

          Set your DNS settings in your domain provider - just google search 'dns settings for (hosting companies name here)'

          Log in to your hosting provider & install wordpress using their inbuilt app installer.

          WP is now installed on your hosting. You can log in through www.(yourdomain).com.au/wp-admin

          After this, refer back to Mark's post on how to optimise WP.

  • qwerty on 02/11/2017 - 12:37
    +1

    https://pingomatic.com/

  • [Deactivated] on 02/11/2017 - 15:48

    but I do expect other people to at least read what I'm writing.

    Why should we?

    I don't know you from a bar of soap, and frankly couldn't care less about what you write. I'd rather watch a duck chase its tail.

    • PAOK11 on 02/11/2017 - 15:53

      just don't drop that soap there buddy

      • [Deactivated] on 02/11/2017 - 15:54

        I'm sure that will entice people to read your drivel.

        • PAOK11 on 02/11/2017 - 15:57

          different if I was promoting and begging people to read my blog which i'm not.. I haven't even got a link to it

        • [Deactivated] on 02/11/2017 - 15:58

          @PAOK11:

          Yet you still expect people to read it….

  • onetwothreefour on 02/11/2017 - 16:01

    Post a link here

    • PAOK11 on 02/11/2017 - 16:04

      okay but not this second. I have to add a page so the troll ^ doesn't say I can find out all that stuff on the internet without your blog

      • [Deactivated] on 02/11/2017 - 16:12

        You don't have to worry about that as someone would have to view your blog to do that…

      • onetwothreefour on 02/11/2017 - 16:19

        If it wasn't ready to be read by everyone on the internet, including trolls, why did you post it?

        • PAOK11 on 02/11/2017 - 16:23

          We might disagree on this but i don't think it needs to be finished or ready for people to read it. It's a blog so I can add to it at any time

        • [Deactivated] on 02/11/2017 - 16:52

          @PAOK11:

          Maybe you're wrong, because you know…. no one is reading it.

  • Moderatorhamza23 on 02/11/2017 - 17:19

    Thread is closed.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join