What started as "The 70-Something Blog" is now The 80-Something Blog by author Judy Kugel. Judy gives you a peek into her life by sharing her thoughts on current events, family, and life experiences. She writes her blog posts like she's chatting with a good friend playing catch-up. Stay tuned in ten years for The 90-Something Blog!
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You're excited for your new blog and its new, custom domain name! You tell all your friends that they can check it out at "myblog.com" only when they do the browser says it's not found. Why? It works if you type "www.myblog.com". Why is that www even necessary? The "www" part of your domain name is called the subdomain. The subdomain is critical when setting up Domain Mapping with your Typepad blog. In your domain registry, the CNAME Record is set for the WWW alias, and is where we recommend adding your Typepad domain name (ie: example.typepad.com) so your domain name points to your blog.
It can! There are browsers that will allow readers to enter your domain name without the "www" and your blog will load. This is because those browsers are set up to automatically redirect example.com to www.example.com. Not all browsers do this, such as Google Chrome. If you want to be sure your readers can get to your blog on any browser by just typing "example.com" without the "www", you will need to set up a Forward within your domain name registry account. Below are ways you can do this if you purchased your domain name through Typepad or got it through third-party, like GoDaddy.
When you purchase your name through Typepad, it's easy to set up a forward for your domain name. All you need to do is check off the box at Account > Domain Mapping when you are setting up your new blog name:
If you purchased a name from a third-party, you will need to refer to their instructions for Forwarding. Not all registries provide this service so check with them first. If they do, what you are doing is forwarding example.com to www.example.com - NOT to your Typepad blog URL. Here is an example from GoDaddy's Forward feature:
If you use GoDaddy, we have instructions on how to set up a forward for your name in our Knowledge Base.
If you can't locate the Forward settings on their own, it may be located in the DNS Management section. Forwards can take a few hours before it starts working, sometimes it takes longer than the mapping itself!
If you have Domain Mapping set up for your blog, now would be a good time to check if it works without typing "www."
Every blog on Typepad has an SSL certificate included upon setup, even if you are utilizing Domain Mapping, you do not need to buy an additional SSL certificate through a third-party in order for your blog to load securely.
However, just because the certificate is included, does not mean that all of your content is loading securely. Visitors may still encounter a security warning when visiting your blog. There is no need to panic. There are a number of reasons why your blog may still be loading with a broken padlock showing in your browser. The culprit is usually just as simple as updating the prefix of your URL from http to https.
When was the last time you checked your sidebar for outdated or broken links and images? Links to a non-secure third-party can trigger a security warning. If you go to that third-party's website, you may find an updated code to add to your blog which will load securely.
Most Typepad URLs automatically redirect from the http version to the https equivalent link. Image URLs that get uploaded directly into a blog post, page, or sidebar may not always work and the URL's need to manually be updated. You did not lose your image - simply change the the image link from http to https.
If you uploaded a file like a mp3, pdf, .doc prior to when the certificate is received, like images, the URL that was generated and shared may need to have the URL updated.
Domain Mapping is available for all Pro plans and your blog will remain secure when the new name is applied to it. The domain name needs to be set up securely with the CNAME pointing to your Typepad domain name (example.typepad.com). If the CNAME is not set up correctly, it may display as not secure. If you set up Domain Masking instead of Mapping, this will also disrupt the security certificate from working as expected.
A great, free, resources to use to find out what is causing the break is www.whynopadlock.com.
If you have followed all of these steps and your blog is still displaying as not secure, you can reach out to the Typepad Support Team by opening a Help Ticket and we'll be happy to further assist you.
Who doesn't appreciate the beauty of a bouquet of roses? Carolyn Parker and her blog, Rose Notes, explores the wonderful world of roses - from growing and pruning to floral arrangements. She shares inspiring photos of her home collection, "More than three hundred roses and a luxury of plant companions provide endless inspiration."
After pouring your heart out into a blog post, coming up with a post title to reflect what you've written about can be a challenge. First impressions are so important; you have milliseconds to grab someone's attention and keep it for a bit.
When a reader shares a post to social media, browses your blog's newsletter, or searches your blog for a specific topic, the headline is what they see first. Don't skimp on coming up with an effective title.
Now, there's help! Check out Headline Analyzer from CoSchedule.
Enter your title and click the "Analyze Now" button. You will see a pop-up asking for your name, email, and website but we promise it's free.
We'll use this article as an example. Originally, the title of this post was going to be "Grab Your Readers With A Captivating Post Title." How did it work out? Not so well.
We can do better than that. This headline type is classified as "Generic" with not enough action involved to make readers want to share this headline with others. You want to trigger an emotional response and curiosity which makes the person to want to click your headline to read more. Using effective keywords can help rank your post in search results.
At the same time, don't overshare and make your title too long as that is not effective for SEO purposes either. Remember, milliseconds! Headlines 55 characters, or 6 words, long tend to earn the highest number of click-throughs but there is a little room for leeway.
Consider the types of words you're including in your title. Common words take up 20-30% of a headline while Uncommon take up 10-20% and Emotional 10-15%. There should be at least one Power word in your headline.
Following the recommendations, and some trial and error, the headline changed to "How To Build Stronger Titles For Improved Retention, Better Results". How did this work out?
Better! We now have a clear intention with a "How To" headline where the reader will gain a better understanding of what they'll read from the title alone. We don't have "uncommon" words in the title due to length but some examples of uncommon words include "more, actually, right, awesome, actually."
What have you found is most effective in creating a strong post title?
To learn more about your SEO options in your Typepad account, click here.
Everyone loves new features and we have a great one for all our bloggers. You can now a add drop down menu to your navigation bar in all Design Lab themes. Easily group together topics or ideas for your readers to browse through.
This new feature is currently only available to our Beta Team. Learn how to join our Beta Team to be the first to test out new features.
Let’s get started!
From the Design tab, click on Content. Here you'll see all the modules for your blog. Click on the pencil to edit the Navigation Module.
In the pop up, select Use Drop Down. Now you will see folders at the end of every link. Click on the folder to open the menu.
Add the title you want readers to see and the URL readers will go to. Once you are done, close the file by clicking on the open file. Now you'll see the file has turned dark to indicate there are sublinks under it.
Click on OK, then Save Changes. Now go see your blog! There will be an arrow next to the main link to indicate a drop down. When readers click on it, they'll see your sublinks.
We hope you love this new feature and would love to see it in action on your blog! Put a link to your blog in the comments and share!