Previously I talked a bit about How To: Add Widget Support To Your WordPress Theme.  Since WordPress 2.2 was released, offering widget support has become a basic requirement for any WordPress theme to become successfully received by the WordPress community. 

Recently I ran across a great post by Quick Online Tips which also does a great job of showing you how to widget-enable WordPress themes in 3 easy steps.  They’ve taken the time to break it down so anyone can easily update their theme to include widgets.  I recommend checking it out if you’d like to update your theme to support widgets.

If you aren’t a person that is fairly concious of Search Engine Optimization when blogging, you probably having given much thought to the Post Slug field in your WordPress write panel. 

Creating a post slug basically allows you to create the post URL of your choice after your blog’s name, depending on the permalink structure that your blog uses.     By default, the post slug will be the blog post’s title.  For example, by default, this would post having the following URL:

http://hackwordpress.com/wordpress-tip-use-the-wordpress-post-slug

Unfortunately, this is not a very search engine friendly URL, as many of the keywords are at the end of the URL.   By setting my own custom post slug, I am able to create a better URL for my post:

http://hackwordpress.com/wordpress-post-slug

In this case, my post title focuses on the keywords for this post, creating more emphasis on them.  The great thing about this tip is it takes a very minimal amount of time to do and will become second nature once you’ve turned it into a habit. 

When it comes to Search Engine Optimization, most everything is speculation and theories, but there are a few things that we know for sure.  One of the things that Matt Cutts, who works for Google’s search team, has confirmed is how to best optimize your blog’s permalink structure for Google’s search engine. 

In a statement he made at WordCamp 2007, Matt made two points that apply to permalink structure:

1. In URLs, no spaces are worst, underscore are better, dashes or hyphens are best.
2. Do not include the post date in your URL.

As you can see, for WordPress users, your best bet is to use /%postname%/ as your custom permalink structure.  This way the search engines can properly recognize your keywords and it avoids using the month/day/year or category in your post.   

If you already have an established blog and permalink structure, but want to make the switch, you can make the switch then use a 301 redirect to point to your older posts to avoid broken links.  For more information on how to switch your permalink structure within WordPress, you can check out my post titled How to: Update Your Post’s Permalink Structure in WordPress.

If you have set up more than a few WordPress blogs in your day, you have probably noticed that there is a lot of stuff to do to get your blog ready for the world once you’ve gotten your WordPress software installed. I’ve found that the easiest thing to do is to keep a checklist handy to guide yourself through the post-install process.

It looks like Download Squad has actually taken this process to a new level when they published an actual WordPress post-install checklist for any WordPress users to use in these situations. Here are the 23 steps included in the post:

1. Create blog title, add email address
2. Change your password
3. Disable visual rich editor
4. Add users
5. Change the tagline
6. Edit Membership permissions
7. Set a date and time format
8. Modify Reading and Writing settings
9. Edit Discussion settings
10. Modify Permalinks structure
11. Pick a theme
12. Customize your theme
13. Write down CSS info
14. Change title format
15. Edit blogroll
16. Edit the About page
17. Add some categories
18. Edit the example post for testing
19. Install plugins
20. Check blog and test plugins
21. Create a favicon.ico
22. Create a shortcut to the Dashboard / setup WordPress client
23. Start posting

You can click over to Download Squad’s post to see detailed descriptions for each step. Enjoy!

One of the best and most appealing parts of using WordPress is the various WordPress themes and WordPress plugins available. The plugins are easy to add, and the themes allow users to switch their blog’s theme with the click of a button.

If you have made a habit of regularly switching WordPress themes, you’ve probably noticed that there is a lot of stuff that needs to be done each time you make the switch. Here is a list of 8 reminders for you to follow each time you switch your WordPress theme:

1. Transfer your metrics code - The most common thing people forget to do is transfer over their metrics scripts. These are usually found in the footer of your theme and can easily be transfered with a simple copy and paste.
2. Transfer plugin calls - Remember all those plugins you installed that required calls to be placed in the theme? Those will each need to be transfered over to your new theme for your plugins to continue to function properly.
3. Transfer sidebar stuff - If you are using widgets, this stuff will transfer over to new your widget-ready theme automatically. If you aren’t, you will need to transfer this stuff over manually.
4. Verify your feeds work properly - Offering a valid feed to subscribers is crucial to a blogs success. You’ll want to make sure your feed is working properly, and if you use Feedburner, you will want to make sure your redirect is working properly.
5. Update your advertising code - When you switch themes, you first need to transfer over your advertising code, then update the colors in the code to match your new theme.
6. Test your theme for errors - Verify your menu is working properly, your tags, categories, and archives pages all work. You’ll also want to do a test search using the blog’s search engine.
7. Test in all web browsers - You can either manually download and open your site in multiple web browsers (IE7, IE6, Firefox, and Opera), or try a service like Browsershots.
8. Announce your theme change - Make a post that explains the change and ask readers to let you know if they encounter any problems. This way you can get feedback from people using a variety of browsers and resolutions.

That covers everything I typically do when setting up or switching WordPress themes. Miss any? Sound off in the comments below!

Have you ever seen a blogger mention how important it is to schedule posts ahead? It is generally a good idea to have a few posts set aside for a rainy day, or scheduled ahead in case something comes up.  If you are a Wordpress user, you might not know that you have the ability to schedule posts ahead.  It is actually quite easy!  In addition to scheduling posts ahead, you can use old dates if you want your post to be dated sometime in the past.

Here is how to schedule your WordPress posts to be published at a different time and/or date:

1. Write your post.
2. Go to where it says Post Timestamp on the right side of your Write panel and adjust the time/date to reflect when you would like your post to be published. You will want to verify that your blog’s time is set up correctly to ensure the post appears when you want it to.
3. Publish the post.
4. The post will now appear in the Manage posts tab, but will not show on your site until the designated date/time. If you date it into the past, it will post right away and show the designated date/time.

This is a useful way to keep a few posts saved for a rainy day or to keep content showing up if an illness puts you out of commission for awhile. You can also experiment with posting times to see what works best for you and your readers. For example, I’ve found publishing posts early in the morning seems to help Google AdSense payouts per click. It also allows readers overseas to see my stuff during their evening hours, before they go to bed.