Site start up
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New to WP. I am seeking for orientation and support to start up building site.
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Hi there,
Your detailed theme description page with set up instructions is at https://wordpress.com/themes/penscratch/ and it the live demo site is here https://penscratch.wordpress.com/
re: the front page error message found on every new .wordpress.com blog
There is nothing wrong with your blog.
By default, the front page of the blog is the only page that will display all published posts on it. As soon as you publish a post, not a page, the error message will be gone. http://en.support.wordpress.com/post-vs-page/
For creating a post in the New editor see here http://en.support.wordpress.com/posts/#publish-a-new-post
For creating a page in the new editor see here
http://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/#create-a-new-pageFor editing in the new editor see:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/posts/edit-posts-screen/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/edit-pages-screen/On the bottom of your Admin page you will find a link to the step by step Learn WordPress.com blogging Tutorial prepared by Staff. http://learn.wordpress.com/
See also the “Video Quick Start” tutorial http://en.support.wordpress.com/video-quick-start/
The support documentation is all found at the Support link http://en.support.wordpress.com which is also on the bottom of your Admin page.
A blog is a website. The difference between blog and website is simply structure and semantics.
A blog is a post based website designed for interactive communication. As the posts are frequently updated and appear on the front page of the site it’s very attractive to search engines.
What most people call a website is merely a page based site that functions as a one-way noticeboard. As the structure is page based and as pages are for static content that rarely changes, and as pages do not have RSS feeds, and as others do not backlink to pages, it is not as attractive to search engines as a post based blog structured site is.
Any WordPress blog can be restructured from being post based to being page based – no upgrade required. For greater clarity read > http://en.support.wordpress.com/using-wordpress-to-create-a-website/
See also:
https://en.support.wordpress.com/five-step-blog-setup/
https://en.support.wordpress.com/five-step-website-setup/
and my post at https://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2013/07/25/create-a-wordpress-website-step-by-step/ -
Here at wordpress.COM subscribers control their own subscriptions. They also control how frequently they receive posts from sites they subscribe to. We cannot subscribe for them.
See here for installing the follow blog widget https://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/follow-blog-widget/
You can also use the Blog Subscription Shortcode https://en.support.wordpress.com/blog-subscription-shortcode/
re: search engine discoverability
It can take weeks for search engines to index your site content. Please read this support doc https://en.support.wordpress.com/search-engines/ so you know we have no control over search engines positioning or appearance in the SERPs (search engine page results).
To verify blog ownership of a WordPress.com hosted blog with the major search engines you must use this process > http://en.support.wordpress.com/webmaster-tools/
Note: Even if you do not verify the blog the content will be indexed by search engines so don’t feel panicky about this please.WordPress.com automatically supplies sitemaps for our blogs to search engines – we do nothing. http://en.support.wordpress.com/sitemaps/#xml-sitemaps-for-search-engines
To gain search engine attention, I recommend that you start publishing posts (not pages) https://en.support.wordpress.com/post-vs-page/ frequently. That’s because it can take weeks for search engines to index content in a new blog and/or to re-index content under a new URL.
For more information on expediting search engine indexing of your site read > http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/omg-i-cant-find-my-blog-on-google
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Here are some tips re: increasing traffic.
If you want to increase traffic then don’t listen to anyone who professes there are passive ways of doing that. Increasing traffic to a blog is hard work. If you want your blog to rank well in search engine results and secure a traffic flow from the SERPs (search engine page results) then that begins with creating and publishing original content posts (not pages) ie. unique content that cannot be found anywhere else on the internet. See How to Identify Your Blog’s Target Audience http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/how-to-identify-your-blogs-target-audience/
It is commenting on other blogs with similar content that encourages traffic to flow to your own blog. If you are a WordPress.com blogger there are onsite tools you can use to find blogs by subject matter that are hosted on this multiuser blogging platform http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/finding-blogs-with-similar-content/ However, do NOT stop there because the classic error new bloggers tend to make here is focusing only on gaining traffic from this site alone.
These 5 videos introduce how Google discovers, crawls, indexes your site’s pages, and how Google displays them in search results. It also touches lightly upon challenges webmasters and search engines face, such as duplicate content http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/5google-webmasters-video-tutorials/
If you are using a WordPress.com theme good SEO is a given.
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/seo-and-your-blog/
http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/seo-on-wordpress-com/However, going beyond the theme what the blogger has done within that structure is worth evaluating. Whether you write informative, persuasive or controversial content learning how search engines work, and how to apply basic SEO to you content will benefit your blog as it will increase traffic from targeted readers. http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/two-seo-videos-for-bloggers/
Successful blogs draw between 30 – 60 % of their incoming targeted readers from search engine referrals. That’s because targeted readers use search engines to do keyword searches to locate information of topical interest to them. Quick Blog Post Tagging Tips https://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/quick-blog-post-tagging-tips/
6 Ways to Make Google Your Blog’s Best Friend > http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/6-ways-to-make-google-your-blogs-best-friend/
12 Tips for Improving Search Queries Ranking Position. If you want people to find your site through the use of keywords, then from the readers perspective, keep it natural and use key words or keyword phrases only if they are a natural “fit”.
http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/12-tips-for-improving-search-queries-ranking-position/7 Common Sense Social Networking Tips
http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2013/12/07/7-common-sense-social-networking-tips/Social Networking Blunders. Despite the ubiquitous statements to the opposite effect, auto posting to social networks, rather than manual posting results in fewer people reading your full posts on your site.
http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/social-networking-blunders/Are you looking for feedback on your blog? This could range from the design of the site to the actual content of a post. You can get feedback from our Community Pool:
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/category/community-pool/Also, if you just want to connect with other bloggers, get inspired, build your brand, and get inside tips from the folks who bring you WordPress.com, take a look at our Blogging University here:
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/blogging-university/Read also:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/getting-more-views-and-traffic/
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