Chris Franklin came up with the great idea of setting up this blog in hopes that we would all share our experiences with blogging and to help others learn. For those that are new and just starting to blog, we hope you will gain valuable information from our trials and tribulations along the way.
In staying with that particular idea and theme, I wanted to share with you why I think WordPress is SO cool! So, let’s get started shall we?
The first blog I ever put up was a Blogger blog. Not knowing back then what I know now, I thought it was manageable and okay looking, and quite honestly, I really did not know much about blogging then and thought it was sufficient for my needs.
However, as I gained experience in blogging and started a business, I quickly learned that a WordPress blog platform offers so much more, plus I could save an enormous amount of money and build a web site for my business.
The following are just a few key elements that a WordPress blog offers based on my experience:
* Set-up and installation is a breeze, it’s quick, no HTML coding needed, easy to maintain and control.
* Ability to customize easily to your hearts desire with photos, images and videos.
* Create categories for efficiency and organization and I certainly needed that.
* Tons of great themes for free along with hundreds of plug-ins available; contact form, search statistics, auto responder, search engine optimization, spam controller and many more. You know us women guys, we like to make changes!
* Built in RSS which I’m sure we all love, need and want.
* Allows pagination so you can use a web site and create as many pages as you like.
* WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) content editor allows you to see your pages as you create them and by just a click of a mouse.
* You can use tags like keywords and drive traffic to your site/blog. This is huge!
* Unique permalinks are created with every blog post.
* When you comment on another WordPress blog, it provides a link back to your blog.
* Great to use with affiliate marketing as you can create as many as you like, it’s free.
* Content management system allows easy online access.
* WordPress is also able to handle a large amount of content, so if you post daily, no worries.
* Awesome support, help, forums and tutorials.
So for those of you new to WordPress, jump in there, get your feet wet, learn as you go and you will truly love it!
(Question to readers: ”Are you using a WordPress blog as your web site? What sort of things have you incorporated into your blog?” Please answer in the comments below or you may even respond in a post if you are a contributor!)
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Deb Lamb is the owner of Your Everything Services-Virtual Assistant Specialists, who specialize in customizing a variety of services for small business owners, entrepreneurs, authors, real estate professional, therapists, medical professionals, consultants, job seekers and staffing companies, just to mention a few. Your time is valuable and we can help you have more of it for those tasks that keep you from your family, social events, or just enjoying life and having fun! Just say Y.E.S to letting go and letting us be your professional partner for your outsourcing tasks and projects.
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I’m going to write a full post in answer to your question above, Deb.
It’ll just outline out how we’re using WordPress; and it’ll also mention what plug-ins we’ve installed thus far. Am sure there are excellent plug-ins with the WordPress service that we don’t know about that’d be worthwhile to install.
I agree. The Automattic guys, the makers of WordPress, are the innovators of the blogging platform. I like their work tremendously, and they seem to do it because they love it, not just because that’s what you do to make more money.
If you like the WordPress.com service, just wait until you get into the deep end pool with the installation of your own WordPress.org package on a private web host. Then you will really fall in love with it, but that is in the future. For now, I am glad you have joined us WP fanatics!
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Justin aka. [Cerebrl]
http://www.cerebralideas.com (Now in Public Beta!)
Hi Deb
I have just started to create my first blog on WordPress ( ThescienceFM.wordpress.com) and yes you are right about the initial set up which was very straightforward. Not being an IT professional but a fast learning female I am still trying to come to terms with all the different facets available and what to do with them and what they can do for me! My blog is still very basic at this time and trying to get my Twitter account to work on it but step by step I will get there.!!!
This is why I joined the blog zone to try and learn from others and articles like yours is very helpful. Many thanks Elizabeth
Thank you Elizabeth for such a nice comment.
It really is a never ending learning experience with WordPress, but one you'll find you pick up rather quickly. Hang in there and keep trying and you will get it.
I'm getting ready to do a complete overhaul on my website, mainly for a new look but also for practice. You know how we women are, always needing to change things and spruce them up a bit.
Let us know if we can be of any assistance and we are glad to have you!
I totally agree, Deb. I was lucky and had asked my a writing group on LinkedIn which blogging platform they preferred. Hands down, it was WordPress. I started with .com and am now using .org with GoDaddy hosting. It is a breeze and so much more functionality and customization! I love it. Now if I could just pick a theme for my new blog!!!
Hi Karen,
Thanks for commenting and I know what you mean about choosing a theme for your word press blog. There are so many out there and I’ve been searching for one too. I’m thinking about changing mine up a bit, sort of tired of it and just want a fresh new look. You know how us women can be, always needing to change things and especially the looks of things….lol….Good luck on finding one that you like!
Deb
http://www.youreverythingservices.com
Deb,
I agree. I have just migrated my blog from Blogger to WordPress (hosted) and it has made a huge difference. People also don’t realise how unfriendly google search is in relation to Blogger – it’s aweful. I have gone from ‘ 5 Pages in ‘ to ‘ 1st Page 3rd Rank ‘ by this one move.
Cheers,
Richard
Hi Richard,
Glad to hear that your page rank has gone up, that is always awesome! Wow, what a difference that made for you and you are so right, most don’t realize how unfriendly Google search is regarding Blogger.
I consistently and constantly tell people about Word Press. You really cannot go wrong whatsoever with WP.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, it is truly appreciated.
Deb
http://www.youreverythingservices.com
Article Marketing Consultant and Writer.