If You Use WordPress, Don't Ignore Your Tag Pages
I'm going to plug (pardon the pun) a few of the plugins I use on my WordPress blogs, as well as an analytics program that runs on the server with my main blog. You see, I just recently noticed that my tag pages are getting hits. I also noticed that I have tag pages with a PR of 2! Considering there's nothing but excerpts on the tag pages, I was flabbergasted when I saw it with my own two eyes.
HeadSpace2
Some people use other meta data plugins for WordPress. I use HeadSpace2. The sheer number of options available is enough to make newbies wince, but it isn't hard to learn.
Once the plugin is installed, the edit page of single posts contains new blocks to use. One of these blocks is "Tags". You can choose from suggested tags you've already used and more importantly, you can choose from Yahoo suggested tags. You may not give Yahoo much credence as opposed to Google, but a third of my search visitor come by way of Yahoo. That in itself should be enough to convince you to use their suggested tags.
Redirection
While it has nothing to do with the topic at hand, I also use Redirection, from the same author. I use this plugin on WordPress blogs instead of messing with the .htaccess files. While either method works, the redirection plugin keeps logs of successful redirections and 404 errors. I view the 404 errors to see what needs to be redirected and then add those URLs to the redirection page. By viewing the date of the last hit for a particular redirection, I can determine whether I need to even use it anymore. I generally delete redirections which haven't received a hit within the last year.
The author updates both of the plugins continuously. This particular plugin, like the other one, can be daunting for beginners, but again it's easy to figure out.
Mint
This is the analytics program I use, along with Google Analytics. Google Analytics is fine, but if I want real-time data, Mint is a crucial program to have. At $30.00 (US) per site, it isn't real expensive. It's easy to install alongside the WordPress database.
The program by itself isn't why I like it. I could do without it if there wasn't one particular add-on (called a "Pepper") that I view all the time. It's the SERPS Pepper. That's how I found out that some of my tag pages ended up on page one of Google.
I only use Mint on my main blog because my main blog is the only blog with advertising on it. Two more blogs are rising in the SERPS and I plan to use Mint with them when they reach more than 100 unique visitors per day every day (including weekends). I'm not sure when I'll put advertising on them, but depending on how they look overall in the SERPS, it could happen within the next month or two.
How to use Tag Pages
Most themes don't have separate tag pages. They use the WordPress template hierarchy and tag pages, as well as category pages, use the index.php template.
To change to using a tag template for tag pages, all you have to do is copy the index.php file for the theme to tag.php and then you can insert ads on it without affecting any other pages.
I am not sure what you mean by a tag page. I fill out tags everytime I write a post to my wordpress.org self-hosted blot. Is there another page I should be working on? Or do you mean all my tags are on a page. This is probably a very basic question but I am confused.
Thank You
The tag page is the page that displays when you click on one of your tags.
I'm sooo confused now. I take it that Tags are different than Categories. I use categories of course on my blog, but since I'm about to be using the upgraded version of WP, I have much to learn. Definitely feeling like a newb right now.
You're right, those tag pages cane be quite useful!
This is a veryyyyy helpful article. I use WordPress frequently, but am a new user and apparently have a lot to learn. You have detailed some almost-necessary plugins to help with the SEO and overall effectiveness of your sites. I plan to use these as you have detailed and hope to increase traffic to my site. Obviously tag pages are something that a lot of people don't know much about, but it is something that I will be researching and implementing in my site.