I hope everyone enjoyed the webinar last night on blogging. I’ve included some notes from the session below.
Getting Started with Blogging
3 Step process:
- Install
- Configure
- Design
Installing your blog
If you don’t have a host like BlueHost that has a simple WordPress installation feature, then you’ll have to follow WordPress’s Famous 5-minute Installation
Configuring your blog
The most important things to remember here is that you want to make your blog “Public” by making the neccessary selection under the Privacy settings. After you’ve done that you’ll want to make sure your Permalinks are set up properly so that the links to your blog posts are keyword rich. To do this, set the “Common Settings” to use a custom structure of “/%category%/%postname%”.
One of the last steps in configuring your blog is to install plug ins. Here is a list of plug-ins that you’ll want to install:
- Akismet – blocks spam comments
- All in one SEO Pack – helps your posts be keyword rich
- Google XML Sitemaps – builds a “map” of your site ans submits to Google and other search engines routinely.
- Subscription Options – or something like it that allows people to subscribe to your blog.
- Yet Another Related Posts Plugin – Shows a list of related posts at the bottom of each post. Great for keywords
- Sociable – or something like it that allows people to book mark your site on social sites.
Designing Your Blog
When it comes to making your blog look pretty you have a few options.
- Free Themes – search within WordPress to find and install free themes
- Premium Theme – use a site like Templatic to find some really nice premium themes
- Custom Theme – use a site like Elance.com to find a WordPress freelancer who can make a theme that matches your website
I’m looking forward to the next webinar where we’ll look at how you can measure website conversion rates using Google Analytics.