WordPress – Jean's Writing

WordPress top 7 blogs for Jean's Writing

Most popular posts of the past 7 years

Published on January 25, 2019January 24, 2019 by Jean M. Cogdell5 Comments

My how time flies-7 years and counting.

Some days I find it hard to believe I’ve been on WordPress that long.

Other days, I feel as though I’ve been writing blog posts for a zillion years. LOL

Over time, my blog has evolved and changed several times. I’ve written 3 books for children, dabbled with coloring books and journals. I’ve had several flash fiction stories published and entered a few contests. (Placed but never brought the top trophy home.)

So, in honor of me sticking with one thing for 7 years, I’m sharing 7 popular posts. One for each year. Please don’t be too critical of the really old ones.

It’s been a wonderful, maddening journey where I’ve met great writers who have encouraged and helped me improve my craft. Thanks, to everyone for hanging in there with me.

I hope you enjoy my walk down memory lane.

I love reading your comments and feedback. Please share your thoughts. Thanks!

PLEASE TAKE ANOTHER MINUTE AND LOOK ME UP ON SOCIAL MEDIA BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS BELOW.

AND STOP BY JEAN’S WRITING ANYTIME, I’LL LEAVE A LIGHT ON.

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Love or hate, you don’t have to be stuck with Gutenberg

Published on January 21, 2019January 20, 2019 by Jean M. Cogdell28 Comments

That’s the name of the WordPress new block editor, Gutenberg.

Here is what happened to me.

I was writing a new post and noticed at the top of the page was this…

Unfortunately, I clicked.

I think I’ve mentioned before how click-happy I get at the sight of a button. I’ve set off alarms and disabled gadgets just because I couldn’t resist a button. Just ask my daughters. LOL

But, back to this mess. I spent an entire day researching how to get back to the Classic Editor. Plugins are not an option because my blog is not self-hosted. Using the Gutenberg Block Editor made me feel as if I’d stepped back in time, not moved forward. WordPress really needs to rethink this option.

After wasting hours, I finally went to the Chat feature. Yay! Success. Within seconds, customer service reverted my blog editor back to Classic. A friend did show me there are 3 dots on the top right corner that will give you a choice to switch back to Classic Editor. Guess I should’ve just called her. LOL

So if any of Y’all end up with this horrible block editor, don’t sweat it. Just go to HELP and then CONTACT US to chat with someone. They were great.

Tell me…

Have you switched to the Gutenberg Block Editor yet? Love or hate?

More info…

Is Gutenberg the End or a New Beginning for WordPress?

PLEASE TAKE ANOTHER MINUTE AND LOOK ME UP ON SOCIAL MEDIA BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS BELOW.

AND STOP BY JEAN’S WRITING ANYTIME, I’LL LEAVE A LIGHT ON.

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Be smart, and avoid my mistake

Published on June 19, 2018June 14, 2018 by Jean M. Cogdell16 Comments

Just before I went on a three-week holiday, I thought I’d change my plan with WordPress.

Big mistake.

With three weeks of sporadic internet service, I was unable to check-in with my blog on a regular basis. But on one of the few days I was able to connect, my favorite ape let me know the Reblog & Press This buttons had vanished from my blog. Thanks Chris!

Holy crap!

Now that I’m back home and done a little research, I discovered those buttons aren’t part of the plan I’d selected. Seems that WP assumes if you are a business blog, readers will not be interested in sharing your posts.

How to know which WordPress plan is right for you

When the new GDPR requirements came out, I thought upgrading to Business Plan would avail me of more automated information for my readers. Wrong!

I don’t know about you, but complying to this new law was a bit confusing. Sigh…

I contacted WordPress through the live chat/help link and was able to cancel the business plan and back down to the premium. Took a lot of patience on my part and most of the day, but success. Well, sort of. Unfortunately, when they republished my blog under the Premium Plan WP also doubled several of my blog posts. More work to delete the duplicates.

So which WordPress plan is right for you?

That depends on what you hope to accomplish with your blog. However, here are a few things to think about…

Cost doesn’t equate with better. Unless we’re talking shoes.
More “Plugins” aren’t helpful if you don’t need them. Just adds more clutter.
Each plan is different. What you gain with one you may loose with another.
Make a mistake? WP will help you change your plan.

Now that the Reblog and Press This buttons are back, don’t forget to share!

I do get tired of learning stuff the hard way. LOL

Please Take another minute and LOOK ME UP ON SOCIAL MEDIA BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS BELOW.

AND STOP BY JEAN’S WRITING ANYTIME, I’LL LEAVE A LIGHT ON.

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How to prevent social media ignoring your images

Published on May 1, 2018May 1, 2018 by Jean M. Cogdell11 Comments

Remember the devil is in the details.

Size and description do matter.

If the dimensions are under 250 x 250, some social media sites won’t pick it up off of your website. So don’t make them too small. And if you fail to add information about the image, search engines can’t determine what your image is about.

Google, Yahoo, Bing or any of the search engines can’t “read” the image itself, so ALT TEXT is important for ranking your images in the search results!

The image title can be helpful to the viewer as it could increase the understanding the image. It can also be beneficial to those who use screen-reading software such as those with vision impairments.

When a reader hovers over the image, the IMAGE TITLE pops up. This can be a great tool. You could put “Click for info” or “Click to buy.” Get the idea.

Here is a short video to help.