8 Tools to Strengthen Your Blog’s Reach and Credibility

A quality blog should be displayed with pride on any business website, but maximizing the value and reach of your blog requires effort and a lot of know-how. Fortunately, there is no shortage of tools available to assist in the process.

WordPress has emerged as the most popular CMS on which to blog and manage content – it is consider by many to be the easiest, most effective, and most efficient CMS available. Furthermore, it’s completely free, and when paired with hosting designed for WordPress, can be incredibly fast, which offers an excellent user experience as well as better search engine rankings.

Once you have your blog running on WordPress, consider the following 8 tools to expand its reach and credibility.

1.     Google’s Keyword Planner

Keyword research is integral to SEO, which directly relates to reach and credibility. Google Keyword Planner can assist with gathering the best and most useful search terms. It can build base keyword lists for both organic searches and PPC campaigns, and is also proficient in delivering of ad group ideas, historical statistics, and multiplying lists by combining keywords and phrases.

2.     WordPress SEO by Yoast

Keywords are pivotal to SEO success, but high-quality, relevant content is just as important. WordPress SEO by Yoast is a plugin designed specifically for enabling better content writing. It encourages focus on keywords while developing XML site maps, developing Meta and title elements, undergoing RASS optimization, and even social integration. This tool is multi-site compatible and has import and export functionality, which means that plugin settings can be transferred to and from different blogs.

3.     iThemes Security

Formerly known as Better WP Security, iThemes Security is the premier WordPress security plugin. WordPress sites can be vulnerable to hacking and other security threats due to plugin vulnerabilities, which was the basis for the development of this tool. It provides more than 30 means of securing and protecting a site while hiding common vulnerabilities and preventing attackers from collecting information. This plugin is also capable of monitoring the site and reporting changes to databases. In the unlikely event of a security threat, it can expedite the process of returning to normal function.

4.     Photo Pin

Images are integral to engaging content, and all blogs usually benefit from using them. Photo Pin can collect a wide range of free, high-quality photos, which enables bloggers to efficiently locate and upload images relevant to their posts using Creative Commons licensing. Photo Pin is equipped with a simple intuitive interface, allowing users to search for images by topic, then preview and download them along with appropriate attributions.

5.     WP-Optimize

WP-Optimize is an extensive WordPress database optimization and cleanup tool. It optimizes database tables, and removes old post revisions as well as unapproved, spam, and deleted comments. With mobile-friendly capabilities, users can optimize from their mobile devices. Additional features include the ability to remove pingbacks, trackbacks, and transient options, the automatic cleanup of all integrated options, and to keep a selected number of weeks of data.

6.     Grammarly Check

A writing-enhancement platform developed by Grammarly Inc., Grammarly Check is the most accurate tool in the marketplace for grammar checking. It is capable of carrying out over 250 types of grammar checks, and proofreads and detects plagiarism during the process. Afterwards, Grammarly Check provides a list of errors in need of review and correction – as well as explanations to support them. Furthermore, it can enhance vocabulary usage with context-optimized suggestions. This tool can be set to analyze different genres of writing, such as business, technical, general, academic, and creative.

7.     Google Analyticator

This is another helpful WordPress plugin. Google Analyticator adds necessary JavaScript code for Google Analytics to function on any WordPress blog. It supports both traditional and universal analytics and includes multiple widgets that showcase analytical data in the WordPress admin panel. Features include the abilities to support outbound link tracking, download link tracking, and site speed tracking. Also, it installs easily, supports localization, and enables complete control over the options it provides.

8.     WPtouch Mobile Plugin

WPtouch Mobile Plugin is specialized for WordPress, and can automatically facilitate basic but attractive themes for mobile visitors. The plugin is accompanied by a user-friendly interface that enables users to customize various aspects of their blog’s appearances. Visitors can also switch between the theme on mobile WordPress websites and the site’s standard design.

Conclusion

Many factors can contribute to the reach and credibility of a blog. A crisp and professional design can add significant credibility for a website or brand. Purpose-driven content can do so as well, as long as it is genuine and reflects relevant expertise.

Guest blogging is a credibility-booster, too – any thought leaders or authority figures in a given industry able and willing to participate in a blog can make a drastic impact. When credible, high-quality blogs are posted on or linked to social media profiles, they are apt to be shared.

Any combination of these efforts can effectively and efficiently drive a blog toward the goal of greater credibility and reach – especially when used in conjunction with a web host that offers WordPress and any (or all) of the useful tools mentioned above.

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