Everything Typepad

Create A Landing Page For Instagram With Pages!

Recently we posted about Linktree, a platform that allows you to link to multiple URLs in Instagram. While writing the post, we got to thinking… You could do the same thing by creating a page in Typepad! 

With a Typepad page, you can create a landing page to use as your Instagram bio link. Creating the page in Typepad allows you to keep your blog branding and you don’t have another account to keep track of. Let’s get started creating your landing page. 

From your Typepad account, click on the Blogs tab, then the name of your blog. Click on the Posts tab, then Pages. Here you will see all the pages for your blog. Click on New Page to create a page. 

Here is where you will design the landing page for Instagram (works exactly like creating a blog post). Once you are done designing your page, click on Publish. Copy the page URL and add that to your Instagram account. 

If you are not sure what to add to your landing page, here are some suggestions: 

• Link to your blog. 
• If your blog doesn't have a navigation bar or home link, make it easy to view your blog quickly from the landing page. 
• Links to recent posts you promoted on Instagram.
• We recommend you have your most recent post and your most popular posts linked on your landing page. Make it easy for readers to find the posts. 
• Social Media Channels.
• When not on Instagram, where are other places your readers can find you? 
• Links to popular categories
• Categories are a great way to expose readers to other parts of your blog. Share links to a few popular categories to encourage them to explore your blog so more. 

We would love to see the landing page you create for Instagram. Share the link in the comments! What tips would you add to encourage readers to explore your blog?

Create User-Friendly Permalink For Better SEO

Did you know when you add a title to your blog post or page that Typepad uses it to make your permalink? While the title may be great for drawing attention to your post, it may not be the best for your URL. Today, we're going to walk through how to change your permalink (AKA slug) and discuss the benefits of changing it. 

Change Your Permalink

On the compose page, you'll see the permalink displayed under the title. The permalink contains your domain, the publish date, and your slug. When you choose to edit the permalink, you are editing the slug. 

Pro Tip: A slug is the part of a permalink that comes after the domain extension.

Why Change Your Permalink

As stated earlier, your title may not make the best permalink. Your permalink should be short, descriptive, and SEO-friendly. Let's review these recommendations together. 

Short 

Your slug should be around three to five keywords. Anything longer and it may become difficult for readers to remember the URL. The full permalink will also look more professional when you sharing it on social sites. 

Here is an example from Everything Typepad:

Post Title: Need New Pinterest Followers? Showcase Pinterest On Your Blog

Original URL: https://everything.typepad.com/blog/2021/03/need-new-pinterest-followers-showcase-pinterest-on-your-blog.html

Edited URL: https://everything.typepad.com/blog/2021/03/add-pinterest-widget.html

You can see that we shorten the slug so it's easier to remember. 

Descriptive

Make sure your slug tells the reader exactly what they'll be reading about. You'll gain their trust when they see your link describes the information in your post.  

SEO Friendly

When thinking of a good slug, make sure to include SEO-friendly keywords. This helps Google and your readers know what the post is about and can approve your rankings. 

Tips For Creating Your Slug

Use A Hyphen Between Words

When you enter the words for your slug, make sure to add a hyphen or underscore between them. If you don’t, Typepad will display an error when you attempt to save your new permalink, reminding you what is allowed in the slug. We advise using hyphens, but underscores work as well. 

Edit Before You Publish

Edit the slug before you publish your post. If you have published your post and shared it with your readers, any edit will break the original post URL. This is a bad experience for your readers. 

Leave Out Function Words

When creating your slug, try to leave out function words as long as the slug still makes sense. Functions words include the, a, an, is, etc.

Don’t Use Punctuation

If you try to use punctuation in your slug, Typepad will give you an error reminding you to only use letters, numbers, hyphens, or underscores. 

Now that you know about editing your permalink, take the time with your next post to create a short, descriptive, SEO-friendly slug to improve reader's engagement and search engine ranking. You can use Google Analytics to help track your posts' views to compare older, unedited permalinks to your new, edited permalinks. 

Do you have any tips you use when customizing your permalinks? Let us know in the comments! 

Featured Category Post: an excellent new way to highlight categorized content!

We're here to announce a brand new feature we're sure everyone will love! Now you can select a featured post for a specific category. 

When readers click to view a category page, they can see the featured post before the other posts in that category. Create an introductory post that explains more about the topic or information from a recent post you want to highlight.

Let's get started

First, make sure the post is added to a category. From the Compose page, under Categories, select the categories for your post. 

Next, scroll down to the Feature Post In Categories section and select the category you want the post to be featured in. 

Pro Tip: You can select more than one category to associate with the featured post.

Once you're done, you can save or publish the post. When you go to the category page, you'll see this post before the others in the category. 

Categories are a great way to help readers find the information they're looking for in one easy place. Don't forget to check back regularly, or keep an eye on our social media, for tips on how to make these featured posts stand out from one category to the next.

Have you created a featured post for your category page? Share it with us in the comments. 

Top 10 Everything Typepad Posts for 2020

2020 has been a memorable year. Some great memories and some not so good memories. The good news is, like you, we blogged our way through it. While looking over our Google Analytics, we have to say, we shared some really great content. Here are our Top 10 Everything Typepad posts from 2020.

 

At the beginning of 2020, we released a new magazine theme called Featured Cards. This new theme is a content-driven layout that focused on the ability to beautifully display text and photos in a way that was clean and organized.

 

With PayPal you can easily accept payment from your readers. Learn how to add buttons to sell products or subscriptions to your blog. Turn your blog into a side hustle and pay them bills! 

 

Did you know we accept guest bloggers? We love to have our Typepad bloggers write about their experience and blogging knowledge. The Book Shopper wrote this great piece about how his blog is his own archive. 

 

Google allows you to create great photo albums to organize your memories. We have a way for you to share those albums with your readers too! Embed your album and show off your adventures. 

 

Pinterest is a popular social media platform that can be a great tool for reaching new readers. Make sure your site is verified with Pinterest so they know the information is from a trusted source. 

 

2020 was the year we rolled out a top request — having a store within your blog! We integrated Ecwid to make it easier to merge your blog and shop content for readers to access.

 

 

We know, you don't want to think about cleaning right now; that's for Spring time! This last Spring we had a great list to help you start cleaning up your blog so it is ready for 2021! 

 

 

Social media is a great place to interact with your readers. Make it easier for readers to find you on social media with buttons that share which services you're active on. We provide 3 different ways to add social media links to your blog. 

 

 

We know it can be stressful when you visit your blog and it doesn't load. The most common mistake for a blog not loading is when your domain is missing a Forward to the non-www domain. In this post we showed you how to set a Forward so it's one less thing to worry about.

 

 

By adding a small bit of CSS, you can add a message over your comment section. Let your readers know about your comment policy or rules for your blog's comment section. 

And there you have it! Our best Typepad posts! If you have Google Analytics you can find your most viewed pages and share with your readers. If you don't have Google Analytics, now is a great time to add it so you can do this for 2021!

 

 

Quickly Create Your Store With Ecwid

We've integrated Ecwid! A popular e-commerce platform, Ecwid offers multiple plans for all sizes of businesses. You can get started with any plan (even free!) to launch your shop and, what's more, we've made it super simple to integrate it into your Typepad blog. Join our Beta team to get early access to Ecwid.

Now, let's go through the process together.

To get started, you'll need to create an Ecwid account, which you can begin by browsing to Blog > Settings > Ecwid. Click on Create your own store at Ecwid to be redirected and start the process.

The Ecwid login page will show in a new browser tab. Select Create new Ecwid account to start your new account. First, you'll be asked to enter your name, email address, and password. Your email address will be used as your username.  Now, there are 4 steps to finish setting up your Ecwid account. 

Step 1: Give your store a name, select your country, and currency. 

Step 2: Enter your business' physical address. If you don't have a company address yet, please enter an address from where you'll be shipping your orders. 

Step 3: Tell Ecwid about yourself. They want to know about your experience selling products, what type of product you're selling, and if you're selling for someone else. 

Step 4: Tell Ecwid about your website. They want to know if you have a website and with which service. Currently, Typepad is not listed. You can select Other, then enter Typepad into the box. 

Congratulations! You've created your Ecwid account. Now you'll need to add your products into Ecwid. 

In Ecwid, you will see a To-Do list. Part of the To-Do list is adding your product to your account. Click on Add your products or services and follow their instructions. Once you are done adding your products you're ready to add your store to your blog.

Click on the Dashboard link of your Ecwid account. At the bottom of the page you'll find your Store ID. Copy this number to be used in Typepad. 

In your Typepad account, go back to the Ecwid section (Blog > Settings > Ecwid). Under Already an Ecwid user? paste in your Store Id and click on Save Changes. 

Next, click on Create Store Page in my Blog. Typepad will create a page for you titled Store. You can add text to tell people more about what you're selling.

NOTE: You won't see the products you added on the Compose Page or Preview, only when you publish the page. 

Share your store on your blog by adding it to your navigation bar or sidebar with a fun image. 

Now that you've created and integrated your store, share the link with us in the comments! We'd love to see (and maybe purchase) what you're selling!

Learn How To Create An Informative 404 Error Page

What do your readers see when they stumble upon a broken link? You can now create a custom 404 error page that will share the fun side of your brand and help readers find the information they need.  Let's get started!

Creating a 404 Error Page

First, you need to create your 404 error page. Click on the Blogs tab, then the name of the blog. Click on Posts tab, then Pages. Click on New Page to create your 404 error page. 

PRO TIP: We recommend you keep the title simple, like "404 Error" or "Sorry, wrong page". You can also edit the post URL to reflect the type of page it is. Click on Edit next to Permalink and update the URL. Keep it short by changing it to "404-error" or "404-error-page",

After you have the perfect 404 page published, click on the Settings tab, then Custom 404. Select the page title from the drop-down menu and click on Save Changes.  

If you no longer want a page to show as the error page, you can remove it. From the Custom 404 tab, select Remove Custom 404, then click on Save Changes.  

Now that you know how to create a 404 error page, let's go over what should go in your error message. We have complied a list of best practices to help you get started. 

Best Practices

 

Branding

When writing an error message or creating an image for your 404 page, keep in mind your brand's look and feel. Write in the same tone you write your blog posts and keep the images similar to ones you have on your blog. 

 

Clear Message

You want to make sure readers can clearly see they arrived at an error page but are on the correct website. Create a short message letting your readers know the URL they went to is not correct. Too much information can be distracting.

 

Entertaining Message

Your 404 page is a great place to use a little humor to engage readers. Add a funny or unique image to show the funnier side of your brand and rally your readers to keep searching your website. There is a thin line when using humor; make sure to not pack in to many jokes.  

 

Call To Action

Now that your reader is on the page, let them know what you want them to do. They can search your site for specific content or contact you with information on where they see the broken URL.

 

Search Your Site

When readers come to an error page, a search bar will encourage readers to stay on your site and find the information they need. You can add a Google Programmable Search Engine on your error page that will search just your website for posts and pages. It's easy to add the code from Google by using the Source Code button (looks like < >) on the Compose page. Keep in mind that you won't see the search box on the Compose page, you will need to preview or publish the page to see the search box. 

 

Contact Information

It's a good idea to know where readers are seeing this broken link. Have an easy way for readers to contact you and provide information on where they came from. Ask the reader to include all the information you believe you will need to investigate and correct the broken link. If you are being linked back to from another blogger, reach out to them with the correct link.

Now, you have everything you need to create a 404 page that will help keep your reader and direct them to the correct information. After you create your 404 page, share it with us. We would love to see what you create.

Add A Drop Down Menu To Your Navigation Bar

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!

Add Meta Keywords and a Description to Your Post

When you need to know something, what's the first thing you do? You Google it! But how does Google know what sites to bring up? Along with a complex algorithm, they use your Metadata. Let's talk about Metadata and how you can add it to your blog.

What Is Metadata 

Metadata is data about your site. Each page and post on your blog has data that tells Search Engines what's on your page. When someone searches, Google uses this data (and much more) to bring up the most reliable pages to answer the search query. You can add Meta Keywords and Meta Description to your post to help Google bring up the right information for the person searching.

Meta Keywords

Google had devalued keywords recently. Some bad apples would stuff their site with valuable keywords to help their site rank higher in search results. It is unclear what weight keywords have in Google’s algorithm but it is still good to have them. We recommend long tail keywords. Long tail keywords are more like sentences about your blog post. They include things like “How to create a get well card” or “How to cook a steak”. Long tail keywords are helpful because more and more people are using Google Voice Search to find information instead of typing it in. (Hey Google!)

Meta Description

This is the description that shows under your post title and URL in Google. It shows a brief description of what the page is about. If the keywords searched for are in the post, Google will highlight it here. This can be generic for you whole blog and detailed for each blog post and page. 

Add Metadata To Your Blog

There are two different places in Typepad you can add Metadata. The first is an overview of the blog itself and the second is for each post or page.

Add To Your Whole Blog 

Search Engines want to know what your blog is about. This Metadata shares with them the keywords and description for your blog on a whole. You can update this as your blog evolves.

From the Settings tab, click on the SEO tab on the left. Here you can add Meta Keywords and Meta Description for your whole blog.

Add To Your Individual Blog Posts and Pages

When you create a post or a page, you can add more customized Metadata that drills down what the particular post or page is about. Make sure to use keywords and phrases that show up in the post.
From the Compose page, scroll down to Keywords. Here you will enter your Keywords for the post. The Excerpt is where you will put a brief description about the post. Make sure to use as many of the keywords you can but sound natural as well.

A Quick Word About Google

You may spend some time crafting the perfect description for your blog, blog post, or page. You use the correct keywords and your readers can easily understand the description. Then you do a quick Google search and that doesn’t come up. Well, Google will do what it wants to sometimes.

First, if you recently published the page, Google may not have crawled it yet. They will use the first paragraph on the post or your blog description. You will need to wait for Google to crawl your page and update their information. If you are updating older posts or pages, you can ask Google to recrawl your page through Google Search Console.

Second, Google wants to showcase the search terms used. If your meta description does't have it, they will use text in the post that does have it. This is to show the searcher your post has the keywords they are looking for.

A great way to view what Google shares is to just search your site. To search just your site add site: before your domain.

Example: site:everything.typepad.com

Tip: You don’t need to add https or www.

Not sure which posts are popular or not? Add Google Analytics to your blog and let them do the tracking.

Here you'll see the description that shows when your post comes up without keywords. If your blog is older, you may have a few pages to review. We recommend starting with your least popular posts. If you add Keywords and a Description does it impove the page views? 

 

Get Your Account In Order!

You set up your account information when you start your Typepad account, that may have been ages ago. Take a few moments to make sure your account information is up-to-date. 

To update your information, click on the Account tab on the top right. 

Name and Email Address

Make sure the correct owner's name is on the account. The name shows up when you create a ticket and helps us know who we're speaking with. 

Your email address is also your username. Your blog may be a personal blog, make sure it uses an email address you will always have access to. Don't use a company email address in case you change jobs and don't have access to that address anymore.  If you are blogging for a company, use a common email address for that company, like [email protected] or [email protected]. This way, if the person who is blogging leaves the company, you can still access the account and get important information. 

If you change the email address on the account, we'll send you an email at the new address. This is to verify the email address is valid. Click on the link in the email to verify the change. If you don't click on the link, the change won't be made. Keep in mind, once you update the email address, your username will change too. 

Don't give your login information to anyone. If someone needs access to the account to blog, create a junior or guest author account for them. 

Password

Only you need to know your password. If at any time you believe your account is compromised in any way, you want to update your password. You can do it here, under the Account tab or if you don't have access to your account, you can use the Forgot Password link from the login page. 

Creating a secure password can be hard. It has to be easy for you to remember, but hard for bad guys to guess. Check out our guide Creating a Secure Password: the Do's and Do Not's to get some great ideas on how to create a secure password. 

Security Questions

Security Questions are very important for account access. If you ever need help getting access to your account, we'll ask you to answer your security questions. If you don't have your security questions set up or don't know the answer, you'll need your billing information to gain access to your account. 

As with your password, you want to make sure your security question answers are something you will think of but bad guys will not. We have a great guide, How To Create Secure Security Questions, to help you come up with great secure question and answer combos.

Language and Timezone

Typepad allows you to pick the language for your account. Select a language that you're most comfortable with. We have a verity of languages for you to choose from. This will make navigating in Typepad easier for those that don't speak English. There will be some areas that have not been translated. If you are having trouble reading areas of Typepad or have questions; you can reach out to us or use Google Translate to decipher the text. This applies to your Typepad account only. You can type in any language for your blog posts. 

When scheduling your posts, it is important to make sure your time zone is correct. 3PM Eastern time is very different than 3PM Pacific time. If the time zone is wrong, the post will not publish as scheduled and the wrong time can show at the bottom of your published posts.

Join our Beta Team

We're continually updating and adding new features to Typepad. Once we're done testing something new, we release it to our beta team for real world testing. If you're part of our beta team you can have access to these features before anyone else. You don't have to use a feature if you don't need it. If you do use a feature, please provide your feedback or any issues you have. We can then look into your experience and make further updates. This testing is important to us because everyone uses their account in a unique way. Having you try out these new features helps us test in ways we may not of thought of. 

Once you're done updating your Typepad account, take a moment and update other programs you use to blog. 

Why You May Want Multiple Domains

A top-level domain (TLD) is what comes after your web address. It is usually .com, .org, or .net. These would be the most common TLD out there. You may not know that there are many others that you can use to explain your blog and add pizzazz to your domain.

For example, you may be a band that runs a blog to keep your fans informed of all your tour dates, new albums and more. It would be fun to have a .fans TLD to help your blog stand out.

Here is a list of all the top-level domains offered by Typepad:

.attorney	.dog	.jobs	.org.uk	.tech
.band	.es	.kitchen	.photo	.tel
.bargains	.eu	.lawyer	.photography	.theatre
.beer	.family	.lgbt	.pictures	.today
.best	.fans	.life	.property	.trade
.biz	.fashion	.live	.review	.tv
.blog	.feedback	.love	.reviews	.us
.business	.futbol	.me	.sale	.us.com
.ca	.game	.mom	.shop	.vet
.co.uk	.games	.name	.shopping	.vote
.com	.garden	.net	.site	.website
.com.au	.group	.news	.social	.wedding
.company	.help	.nl	.software	.wiki
.cooking	.in	.nz	.store	.work
.de	.info	.online	.studio	.world
.desi	.ink	.org	.study

 

Wow! That is a lot of TLD to help you stand out.

Universally when you think of a domain, you automatically think of .com at the end. If you use a different TLD, we recommend you purchase the .com version of the domain and forward it to the main domain.

Forwarding is also handy if you have a commonly misspelled word in your domain, you can purchase the misspelled domain and forward it to the correct spelling of your domain.

Forward Your Domain

Let’s stick with our earlier example of the band. Their blog is at bandrules.fans, but they want fans who go to bandrules.com to land on their bandrules.fans site.

First, you will need to purchase the domain you want to forward (in our case bandrules.com). In Typepad click on the Account tab, then Domain Mapping. Here you can purchase your domain. After the domain is purchased do not map it to your blog. 

Once you have purchased your domain, you will need to log into our domain registrar. This is different than your Typepad account.

https://domains.typepad.com/

Quick Tip: If you are unsure of the login information for the registrar, please contact us and we will be able to get you access to the account.

Once logged in, click on Login (Your Name), then My Account. Under Manage Orders, click on List/Search Orders. Here you will see a list of your domains. Click on the domain you want to forward (bandrules.com). Here you will see an overview of your order.

Scroll down to Domain Forwarding and click on Manage Domain Forwarding.

Add www to the Sub-domain prefix. Under Destination URL, select https:// from the drop down and add the www version of your main domain (in this example www.bandrules.fans).

Click on Advanced Settings to turn off URL Masking. Turn on Sub Domain Forwarding and Path Forwarding. Save your changes.

It may take up to 15 minutes for the forward to start working.

Now you have 2 domains pointing to your blog. You will not miss out on any readers of your blog if they don’t use the correct domain. Share with us what unique TLD you use for your blog in the comments.