Wordpress

WordPress Blogging Tips to Help You Get Started

WordPress is probably the easiest and most user-friendly application to start a blog. There are even simpler options -such as using a free online blogging service such as Blogger.com, but you don’t have much control over your site. With WordPress, you get the best of both worlds -an easy-to-understand platform and unlimited features that enable you to grow your blog and add bells and whistles as you learn.

WordPress Blogging Tips to Help You Get Started 1

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WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com

First, I should point out that there are two WordPress. The same company runs them, but WordPress.com is a service that hosts your blog for you -like Blogger, Tumblr, and other third-party sites. These are often called Web 2.0 sites. There’s nothing wrong with creating your blog this way, but it does limit you in some ways. You don’t own the blog when you use WordPress.com or any Web 2.0 site. You are simply renting space on it. This means that the host can delete your blog at any time. This happens if you are deemed in violation of any TOS (terms of service). It’s surprisingly easy to do this, even without meaning to.

For example, WordPress.com does not allow you to make your blog commercial in any way. So, this is not the way to go if you want to start a business or even make a few extra dollars every month. Another reason why WordPress.com and other such sites are not ideal is that you will have a harder time with SEO and generating traffic than if you owned the blog. That’s because most of your article’s “link juice” will go to the host rather than your specific site. That’s why WordPress.org is what I’m going to focus on here. This is when you buy a domain, get hosting, and start your blog.

Choosing a Domain and Web Host

Your domain is your URL -the address of your website or blog. If you haven’t chosen one yet, you must do this first. You will need this if you don’t have web hosting either. You can combine these if you want. Many web hosting companies offer a free domain when you sign up for hosting. When choosing a web hosting company, it’s good to pick one with a lot of WordPress experience. If you want to be sure of this, you might go with WP Engine, which specializes in WordPress.

They are, however, a little more expensive than most web hosts. If you want to save money, you can still find a good web host to support your WordPress site. Bluehost, for example, is highly recommended for this. WordPress itself even recommends them. One suggestion I will make here is that, whatever web host you choose, try to pick a plan that gives you unlimited domains/websites. Sometimes, one host will offer several different methods. The price difference is usually only a few dollars per month.

The point is that creating WordPress blogs can be addictive! You will probably not want to stop with one. So, you may as well have a hosting plan to create as many as you want. When choosing a domain, try to keep it short and simple. If you wish your blog to rank well in the search engines, choose some good keywords in the title. These are words that people will search for when looking for information. If your domain is something like Bobsblog.com or Marysblog.com, you will have a personalized name but not one likely to help you with SEO (search engine optimization). This is of particular importance if you intend to sell something. If you only want a blog to share with your friends, family members, co-workers, etc., then it’s not important.

How to Install WordPress

Installing WordPress is quite easy with most major web hosting companies. You usually use a script installer such as Fantastico or Softaculous (your web host probably has one of these -looks on your control panel). You can then install WordPress with a few clicks. I don’t want to waste too much space describing the steps of installing WordPress because you can find this at your web hosting company. There are also numerous articles and videos on this topic.

What Should You Blog About?

This doesn’t seem like it should be a problem, but many people experience “blogger’s block” after writing a post or two. I’m assuming that you’ve already chosen your topic. After all, if you can’t even think of a topic, it’s not a good time to start a blog! But even when you have a topic that interests you, it can be challenging to think of actual posts to write. For this, you may need to do some research for inspiration. Here are some ideas. Set Google Alerts -You can get emails from Google that will deliver news to your inbox based on some keywords you choose.

Amazon -Check out what books are popular. Also, check out their magazine section!

Other Blogs -check out Google Blogs and see what others in your niche are writing about. You don’t want to copy them, but you may get ideas to put your spin on. Offline Books and Magazines -Go to the library, bookstore, and magazine section at Barnes & Noble (or wherever magazines are sold). Read newspapers. These are all great sources of ideas.

Consistency is the Key to Success

If you have a blog, you have to write blog posts! Believe it or not, this is the most important “secret” to having a successful blog. You hear a lot today about “quality content,” which is, of course, important. If you are populating your blog with auto-generated or spun content (if you don’t know what that is, don’t worry about it -you’re better off!), you won’t get very far. The search engines are quick to recognize this as low-quality content. However, you do have to generate posts regularly.

Forgetting about the search engines for a moment, when visitors see that a blog hasn’t been updated in months, they will likely conclude that it isn’t very active or relevant. You probably do the same when you are looking up new sites online. Search engines also love blogs that are frequently updated. It also gives you more content for them to index. Let’s say a few words about SEO, as long as we’re on that topic.

The Vast Universe of WordPress Plugins

Once you become more familiar with WordPress, you may want to look into more advanced features. This often means adding plugins. These are tools that you upload to your WordPress site to perform a variety of functions. Plugins can be used for security, SEO, to create forums or membership sites, to place contact forms on your site, or hundreds of other things. Plugins allow you to accomplish many tasks that would otherwise require advanced coding knowledge. There are so many plugins for WordPress it would be impossible to keep up with them all. At first, you may not think you need any plugins -and this is true. Yet it’s so easy to use them that you may as well get your feet wet and install some basic ones.

Roberto Brock
the authorRoberto Brock
Snowboarder, traveler, DJ, Swiss design-head and HTML & CSS lover. Doing at the nexus of art and purpose to develop visual solutions that inform and persuade. I'm a designer and this is my work. Introvert. Coffee evangelist. Web buff. Extreme twitter advocate. Avid reader. Troublemaker.