One of the major benefits of using WordPress is that it allows you to maintain complete control of the appearance of your blog. Although templates make it easy for you to change your blog’s look, they don’t always have all of the features you need. Customizing a theme allows you to change your blog’s background, experiment with new text and background colors, easily add photos and videos, and improve your search engine rankings. Customization even makes it possible to change the way your pages display advertisements, which could help you make more sales or earn more money via pay-per-click advertising programs. These are just some of the ways you can control the look and behavior of your blog by using built-in tools and WordPress widgets and plugins.
Rotating Advertisements
The best way to make money with advertising programs is to ensure that you display relevant ads on every page. If you have a page devoted to one type of product, but you display ads for unrelated products, the user is not likely to click the advertisement. This is especially important for those who belong to affiliate programs and use banner ads, skyscrapers, and other types of graphics to sell products. Fortunately, there is a WordPress plugin called “Widget Logic” that lets you place different ads on every page or post. This is a useful tool for those who want the ease of using a template without having to give up potential revenue.
Customized Header Images
The default WordPress theme comes with a generic header image that is not very relevant to a business promoting a product or service, Luckily, WordPress allows you to change your header image whenever you want. You can create a simple header in Adobe Photoshop, or you can hire a designer to create a professional header image. Once the image is ready, you can use the WordPress software to replace the default image with the new image. If you are not sure what dimensions to use for your header, a WordPress blog consultant can help you.
Improved Search Engine Optimization
When people search for information, they typically visit the websites listed at the top of the search results page. Not many venture beyond the first page of results, so you want to do everything you can to get your site listed in the top 10 results for keywords related to your business. A plugin called WordPress SEO makes it easy to change your page titles and page descriptions. Not only does this help with SEO, it can also help you entice more users into visiting your blog. The page description is what appears under your blog’s name in the search results. If you write an eye-catching description, people will be more likely to click the link and visit your page.
Advertising Program Compliance
If you use Google AdSense to earn money, you know that there are very strict rules for how many ads you can display on a page. There are also rules forbidding publishers from tricking people to click ads or offering incentives to convince people to click on ads. It can be difficult to keep up with the rules and make sure you are in compliance. The Easy AdSense plugin makes it possible to limit the number of posts on a page, easily change the position of each ad, and control the types of ads that show up on your pages. This will help you ensure that you are in compliance with all of the program’s rules.
Social Media
Social media makes it easier for small business owners to spread the word about their products and services, but getting other people to share your content can be difficult. Several plugins allow you to add Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest buttons to every post. When people visit your blog, all they have to do is click one of these buttons to “like” your post or share the content with their friends. The more opportunities you provide for people to share your content, the better your social media campaign results will be.
Although these tools make it possible for anyone to customize a WordPress blog, it can be an overwhelming task if you have never customized a template or made changes to your own blog. A WordPress blogging consultant can make these changes for you, giving you more time to work on promoting your products or services.
