Understanding the WordPress App (Jetpack): Tips and Tricks

I use the WordPress app mainly to read, like, and comment on people’s posts. It’s the easy option when I’m on the go.

Another part of the app is designed to create brand-new content from scratch. It’s a bit clumsy to use, but I’ll return to say why in a second.

The INSIGHTS section is brilliant. It shows the traffic moving about a site in (*almost) real time. It provides site authors with some guidance as to when people are accessing their site by displaying the stats down to the busiest day and hour. There are records of the links visitors used to find the site, as well as the links they used when navigating the site. It’s not everything, but it’s a good, brief snapshot of the commonly used bits of data most site authors want to see and know about their site.

I’ve found that the information I receive to my INSIGHTS is *delayed, most notably the number of visitors (as opposed to views) to the site. It’s no big deal because the numbers settle when the 24-hour cycle closes. It’s just that, during the day, the discrepancy between them is vast — but a couple of hours later, the visitors metric finally catches up to where it should be for views.

Okay, let’s go back to content creating via the WP app:

I’ve found it has limitations when composing posts and pages. Personally, I find it easier to write new posts on a computer via the wp-admin dashboard because the app is cumbersome and slow. Maybe it’s because I’ve been using WP since before there was an app to compose posts, or perhaps it’s because I’m perfectly correct, and others are finding it cumbersome, too. Let’s face it: a small screen has limitations. There’s much work to do in a workspace with too little space.

I don’t mind editing a fully formatted, almost finished page via the app. It’s easier than constructing a new one from scratch.

Drop me a note and let me know if you feel/felt/experienced the same.

–Michael