Everybody knows about life hacks. You know they’re supposed to make your life easier. Work smarter, not harder. Get more done in less time…whatever.
Well, if you’re a blogger, hacks can be a BIG help. We discovered this recently when our site crashed and our wonderful tech guy worked hard to get us up and running. One of the things he pointed out to us was that we had “a large amount” of plug-ins on our site. Of course, we had beautiful visions of what we wanted, and having become more familiar with the extensive array of plug-ins (think: “there’s an app for that!”), I do have to admit we went through a season that could only be described as a plug-fest.
Until our site went down 🙁
Then we learned some valuable lessons.
You might know this already, but it was news to me! I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version of our schoolin’:
- Plug-ins add code to your site.
- Code creates baggage.
- Baggage slows you down.
- Too much baggage stops you cold.
So we deleted our inactive plug-ins, and thought long and hard about those we had left.
One of the things we enjoy creating on our site is/are series posts: a bunch of related posts that are concretely related to each other. We’re in the middle of one right now: 30 Days of Praying for Your Husband. In order to bundle them in a way that is easy for our readers to access and follow, we came up with our own “Series Hack”. It’s really so easy – and I was kicking myself that I hadn’t figured this out sooner.
Like before our site crashed…
Here’s what you do
Create a specific tag for your series. You can use the title or something shorter and sweeter 😉 At the end of each post, add something like: You can read the whole series here. Or Access All 30 Days (of 6 parts or 8 steps…) here. The link that you will use is this: YourSite.com/tag/Your-Specific-Tag-Word-or-Phrase-Here/
Voila!
Copy and paste this link on a notepad or sticky on your desktop, and at the end of each post add that sucker in and you’re good to go!!
Can you believe it?!
Bonus tip: Create a smaller graphic, paste it on your sidebar and link it to the same URL. That will keep it evergreen, keep your current readers coming back for more, and introduce new visitors to that content long after the series is over!
One less plug-in…one more site-hack!
What hacks do YOU use?
Share in the comments below.
Pat Fenner is a Yankee city-girl who has been adopted by the sleepy, sunny south. Celebrating 30 years of marriage this year, and the mother of 5, she woke up one day recently to discover she reached the stage of life where she is the “older woman” described in Titus 2:3-5. As a coffee lover, the purchase of a coffee shop a few years ago was her personal foray into the small, family-owned business arena. Today, Mom’s Morning Coffee and Help4YourHomeschool
Great info. I am still working on my blog set up and the plug-ins are like shiny diamonds waiting for placement.
haha Love that!! Good luck with the set-up, Balie!
That is a really cool idea. Thank you for sharing. Unfortunately I have no hacks to offer you.
I will say though, from a security stand point, it is indeed a good idea to get rid of the unused plugins. Hackers like to try to access through old non-updated plugin. Sadly I found this out the hard way as they gained access to my database and did damage to four different websites of mine. Yikes!
Troy S. recently posted..What is a real woman?
That sounds awful, Troy! Hopefully you’ve gotten everything straightened out.
nice post, thank you for sharing.
Our pleasure!
Interesting article. I like this article, above all points are useful for me.
Now I’ll try to write series of blog.!!
Thanks for sharing this with us.
Red Rock recently posted..Hello world!
This is a great tip. I’ve been looking for a way to link all the posts in a series together without having to do them separately. Only problem is I use blogger. Do you know of this will work on that platform?
Katie Nystuen recently posted..Silver Nail Polish Stamping Comparison
Katie – I’m not sure if this would work with Blogger, unfortunately. Let me know if you try it and it works!
Thanks for this great idea! I’m already using it!
Beth McIntire recently posted..Father’s Day gifts for men: 10 Next Issue magazines your dad will love
So glad it was helpful, Beth!
You made an excellent post on it. Your presentation style is very good. Its contain lots of information and tips I need. As a newer its very helpful for me to understand and work with it. I specially say one thing , I had fun reading this and many great insights here. I will share this information with my friends and they will certainly love to read this. Very informative, I’ll definitely give these 5 stars.
Thanks for sharing this great article.
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Jeff Marsh recently posted..Visualizing and Demonstrating the Architectural Concepts and Designs in 3D
This was all new to me, and very helpful. I would like to ask, how many plugins is too many?!
Gwen recently posted..Beginner’s Sewing Project – Wash Bag
Gwen, it’s going to depend on a bit on what kind of hosting you have. You should be able to use quite a few, though – I would just be sure to delete the ones that you don’t end up using. That will make more room for the ones that you actually want to use!
Thanks Tanya. I am using Go Daddy for hosting. I have already deleted a few plugins due to the advice in this post, so thank you!
Gwen recently posted..Friday Night Chicken Curry with Onion Bhajis Recipe
Our pleasure, Gwen!! Glad it was so helpful!
What a great tip! I plan to implement this in my next series. Thanks for the advice.
Mr. LC recently posted..LCL Garden Series Episode #1 Introduction
You are SO welcome!