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Benefit: Search engines love it when you write often.
Problem: Creating daily (or more) articles – ex nihilo – for your blog can become overwhelming.
Practical WordPress Tip: Create templates for common article styles to make it a real snap to pound out blog posts.
Here’s how:
- Find a group of articles with a common theme. You should have at least 3; 5 to 10 would be better.
- Analyze the structure of each article, and see where they overlap and where they differ
- Write a short description for each part that overlaps. Use this Practical WordPress Tip as an example: Benefit, Problem, Practical WordPress Tip and Here’s how are descriptions for overlapping parts.
- The parts the don’t overlap have in common… the property of not overlapping! This is the “Why” description below.
- Create a Draft or private template page you can copy each time you’re inspired to write an article using the template.
Why:
This tip is a little more advanced than most. You will need a fair bit of writing experience to exploit it correctly. But, following this procedure, you can cut the learning curve to shreds. There is even a WordPress Post Template plugin you can use to help you get started. I don’t actually care for this plugin myself, I tried and didn’t like it. But Extreme John likes it, so it can’t be all bad.
Long time readers can see other article templates evolving here on Website In A Weekend, for example, the WIAW Week in Review.
Previous Practical WordPress Tip: Practical WordPress Tip #15: Adjust Image Size to Theme Width
Next Practical WordPress Tip: Practical WordPress Tip #17: Use the tail of your Drafts queue for “notes”
Do you have a Tip? Would you like to write a Practical WordPress Tip? Each Tip is very short, and focuses on a single action that anyone can use right away, no programming required! If you have a Tip that fits into this series, and you’d like to publish it here on Website In A Weekend, send it on!
