No matter what type of WordPress site you are setting up, every WordPress blog has some structural things in common. One of those is the way the pages/posts are set up visually. WordPress has the main part of the content on every page or post in the main part of the page, while there is also a sidebar on the right or left of the page with standard inserts.
Before I go on, let me preface my information by saying although this is the usual way a WordPress site is set up, with some themes, you can do away with the sidebar completely, have more than one sidebar, or have the sidebar on the bottom. However the jist of the information that I will give you here will not change.
To understand how a WordPress page or post is set up visually, here is a post from Writing Online:
For this website, we have chosen to put the main content on the left of each page. For English readers, or readers from any language that is read from left to right, it is natural to start on the left side of the page. That means that you should put your most important content, pictures or information on the top left side of a page. (For this discussion pages and posts are the same because they appear the same visually to the public.) For Writing Online the most important information is the page content, which might not be true on another site.
Our sidebar is on the right side of the page which lists the search bar, login space, ads, and feed from our other sites. This set up was a deliberate choice for our readers made by us taking into consideration the data of how people view a page on the internet.
So what do you want to include in your content which will appear on the main part of the page?
Content should be what includes your keywords, your main topic, what the search engines will find and what your readers will read. If you have Adsense on your site, Adsense will also put ads on that match the content on your page.
What goes in the sidebar?
The sidebar on a WordPress site is populated by widgets. Widgets can be may different things, but I usually include featured posts, ads, and a search bar, and sometimes a directory of how the site is set up. While you do not want to overwhelm your pages with ads, remember that ads near the top will get clicked on the most.
Over time, I have found that the simplest looking WordPress sites are usually the best, because people do not get distracted by anything that will stop them from reading, clicking and buying from you. My best sites are the ones with either a black, gray, or white background, and very little distractions from the content. As I update my sites, that is what I am changing them all to, because they load faster, and they get a better response from readers.
Spam Comments on a WordPress Blog
Super Spam Fighters
Just like junk mail in your mailbox, and spam emails in your email box, spam comments are a fact of life if you run a website or blog that allows comments. Spamming is just the way unethical people think that they can get us to buy their product or services, and if it didn’t work some of the time, they wouldn’t bother doing it. That means that as the author or administrator of a website, you need to decide how you want to handle spam comments.
There are really only two options available when handling spam. The rest are variations of the two options.
Since most of us are trying to interact with other people through our blogs, posts, and websites, then Option 1–not allowing any comments is not a viable option. So that means we need to pick Option 2–allowing comments and filtering the spam comments.
One of the basic things that you have to understand about spam comments is that most spam comments are written by machines, or at least distributed by machines. That means that they are easily spotted the majority of the time. However, since they are so very insistently present, no one wants to spend time fighting spam. So the thing to do is fight it the best way you can using functions that can be added through plugins.
Another point is that no matter how good your spam fighting plugins are, some spam will sneak through the filters that you set up. It may be a new form of spam, or a real person spamming your comments. You will have to check your comments every few days to keep up with the real people who comment, and you can delete the spam as you go. Your blog will learn from what you delete by pressing the spam button, and keep similar items out after you reject ones that got through. From time to time, even a human filter gets fooled though, so make sure you know what comments are being allowed through by the filters.
Pingbacks:
Pingbacks are when your site or blog is mentioned by another site, and there is a link placed there that refers people back to your site. This kind of link is also called a backlink from your perspective. The pingback shows up in your comments as a comment, but says that it is a pingback. There is really no reason to keep these comments. I usually trash them, but it is nice to see that the links are there.
Adding Plugins:
These are the two plugins that I routinely add to any website that allows comments. There are many others to choose from that also will help filter out comment spam. Some blogs get way more spam than others, and you have to determine how hard you want to make it for real people to add their comments. You can require a free membership, and only allow members in that you have vetted personally before they can comment. Fighting comment spam is an ongoing process that is just part of working online, and as you get more familiar with different plugins and what kind of spam you are getting, you can adjust your settings on your own site.
Realize that spamming techniques are always being updated, and improved, so that what works for you now, may not work a year from now. But this is a good beginning, and should help you get a handle on any spam that is reaching your comments section.
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