Dashboard Access

Creating a basic website with WordPress does not require you to know any coding or programming. If you want a simple website that people can read and navigate, all you need to do is use the default templates and tools available. When you create a website with this platform, you do everything through the administrator dashboard. This dashboard lets you add new posts and pages to the site, change font colors, add graphics and videos, and even change the appearance of your site. The availability of the dashboard is one of the things that make WordPress so easy to use.

Widgets and Plugins

If you have a traditional website, you probably have to hire someone every time you want to make a small change. If you don’t have the budget to hire someone, you have to try to change the code yourself, which takes a lot of time and can create a lot of frustration. WordPress users have access to thousands of plugins, which are tools that help you add features to your site. If you want to add a newsletter sign-up form in the sidebar of your site, you can easily do so by adding a widget. Widgets also make it easier to manage ad units from affiliate programs and direct advertisers.

Flexibility

When you pay someone to design a site for you, you typically have to use that design until you are ready to pay for a redesign. This may not happen for several years. When you use WordPress, you can change the look of your site at any time with just a few clicks. There are thousands of free and paid themes available for this platform, making it easy for users to change the appearance of their websites. Even changing the layout of a site is easy when you use WordPress.

Search Engine Optimization

WordPress makes it easy to optimize each post and page for the search engines. There are dozens of tools available to help you assign content to categories, assign tags to each post, create meta titles and descriptions and add keywords to your pages. All you have to do is fill in the settings for each post and WordPress takes care of the rest. There are a number of plugins available to help you link from one related post to another, which can also help you improve SEO for your site.

Easy Ad Management

If you want to make money with Google Adsense or with one of the many affiliate programs available, you have to display the ads on your site. If you have a traditional website, getting the ad code to work with your website code can be a nightmare. WordPress has plugins available to help users manage AdSense units, Amazon affiliate products and other affiliate program ad units. There is even a widget available that allows you to rotate which ads appear on the sidebar of your blog posts. Instead of showing the same ad on every page, you can customize your ad placement to generate more revenue.

Security

One of the biggest benefits of WordPress is the added security. When you run a traditional website, there is always the risk that you will not immediately identify a security breach, allowing unscrupulous people to steal your information and even disable your website. WordPress regularly updates its software and keeps security in mind when doing so. If a new version of WordPress is available, you will get a notification at the top of your dashboard. Installing new versions not only improves security, it also expands the functionality of your site.

Due to its ease of use and availability of thousands of customization tools, WordPress is ideal for personal websites or small business websites. With just a little time and some clicking, you can create a website that gives visitors a great first impression.

Password Creation

One of the first steps you should take when creating your blog is making sure your password is not something that another person can guess easily. Avoid using common passwords like “1234″ and “abc123,” as this make it easy for someone to log in to your blog and delete your content or make malicious changes to the site. Use a combination of symbols, numbers, capital letters and lowercase letters to make your password as strong as possible.

Regular Software Updates

If you use blogging software such as WordPress, make sure you download and apply updates regularly, or hire a consultant that will do that for you automatically. When you use outdated versions of a piece of software, your blog is more vulnerable to malicious attacks, viruses and worms. If a security issue exists when a new version of the software is not ready, some software developers will release security patches that can reduce the risk of infection.

Plugin Installation

Plugins help bloggers maintain better control of their blogs and make it less cumbersome to make changes. There are plugins for managing ad placement, optimizing each blog post for search engine placement, getting rid of spam and managing comments. Despite their usefulness, plugins can also be a security risk. Before you download a plugin, make sure you know where it is coming from and who developed it. If the developer does not have a good reputation, avoid downloading the plugin. If you receive any kind of security notification after downloading the plugin, do not install it. Ignoring these warnings increases the risk that you will end up with a virus, worm or other malicious file.

Font

You might love Lucida Handwriting, but your blog readers may have a hard time reading a script font. Unless you blog only for yourself, the needs of your readers should be your top priority. Use a non-script font in a size large enough to see at several different screen resolutions. You do not want to force your blog readers to change their browser settings just to see what you have written.

Colors

Color can add a little personality to your blog, but it can also hurt people’s eyes and make them never want to come back. If you add color to your blog template, make sure it does not clash with other colors on the site. Avoid using neon colors, as these are often difficult to see. Do not use dark text colors on a dark background or light text on a light background. Before your blog goes live, ask a few people to look at it and let you know if the colors you used make the site difficult to read.

White Space

Text, video and pictures are important components of every blog. However, you also need some white space. Do not cram text together without using paragraph breaks or post dozens of pictures side-by-side. White space makes it easier to read your text and look at any photos or videos you post on your site.

Theme

Your blog’s design should match the theme of your content. If your blog is about marketing and you use a template covered with sports pennants, people who find your blog might get confused and leave without reading anything. Use colors, text and pictures that relate to your theme. If you use your blog for business, make sure the theme is professional and portrays your business in a positive light.

Customization

If you do not have the funds to hire someone to design a theme just for your blog, make some changes to an existing template to create something that is entirely your own. Most blog templates come with certain fonts, colors or widgets. Move the widgets around, change the colors or try new fonts. Making these changes will set your blog apart from other sites using the same template right out of the box.

Information Placement

Online readers do not have time to search your entire site for important information. You need to put it where they will see it as soon as they land on your blog. This means putting the most information at the top of the page so readers do not have to scroll down to see it. If you have an important announcement about your blog, you can create a static post that stays at the top of the page. This will help ensure that all of your readers see this important information.

Browser Checks

Unfortunately, your blog might not look the same in every browser. If it looks fine in Chrome, it might look buggy in Internet Explorer. As you make changes to the design of your blog, check the site in several browsers to make sure it displays correctly. You may have to make some slight adjustments so that the blog displays properly in all of the major browsers.

Usability Review

It’s difficult to determine how a reader will react to your blog if you don’t get feedback from other people before you go live. This is why you should conduct a usability review. Sit down with a few of your friends and ask them to visit your blog, click on all the links and use all of the features. Your friends should then give you their honest feedback about what works and what doesn’t. Making changes based on these suggestions will make your blog easier for readers to use.

Contests

If you’re having trouble thinking of post ideas, ask your readers for help. Offer to give away something for free to the person who comes up with the best idea. You might even want to offer several prizes so that you get several weeks’ worth of ideas. If you run a service-based business, you may want to offer a free consultation to the winners.

Surveys

Since your blog exists to provide information for your readers, the best way to generate new post ideas is by asking readers what they want. Conduct a reader survey that asks readers what topics they are interested in and how they want to see them covered. If you get a good response to this survey, you will be able to generate plenty of ideas. For surveys we recommend going with PollDaddy.com

Interviews

If you run a blog for business reasons, interview other professionals in your field. Ask them about recent trends, best practices in your industry and other related topics. The answers they gave you may spark several ideas for blog posts.

Blog Carnivals

Instead of thinking up every idea on your own, participate in a blog carnival. Blog carnivals have several benefits, especially for those looking to increase traffic. Instead of coming up with your own idea, you will blog about an assigned topic. Other people in your niche will blog about the same topic, but they’ll do so from their own unique perspectives. Blog carnivals are advertised on several websites, so you have a good chance of picking up new readers by participating in this type of event.

Auto-Complete Searches

If you’re really struggling to come up with ideas, use Google’s auto-complete feature to find out what people are searching for online. If you type in a word or two, auto-complete will bring up some of the most recent searches related to that phrase. This is a great way to find ideas for timely content that will attract reader interest.

Keyword Stuffing

Many blog owners make the mistake of stuffing their text with keywords, thinking that if one or two keywords are good, then a lot of keywords must be better. This is a mistake for two main reasons. One is that keyword stuffing makes the content nearly unreadable, which causes blog owners to lose their readers. The second is that search engines constantly change the way they index content. Many major search engines actually penalize blogs that have the same keywords too many times on the same post. This can cause your rankings to drop, reducing the number of people that visit your blog and leading to lost traffic.

Picking the Wrong Keywords

You need to pick your keywords carefully, as choosing the wrong keywords can leave you with low traffic numbers and lagging sales – if that’s what you’re after. The key to picking good keywords is finding out what people are searching for when they want information on your niche. There are many keyword research tools that can help you determine what keywords people use to find information. If you have a traditional brick-and-mortar business, you should also keep your location in mind when determining which keywords to use. “San Diego graphic designer” will help you get more customers than “graphic designer” since many people look for businesses near their homes or places of business.

Failing to Update Content

You need to update your blog regularly so that the search engine spiders have more opportunities to crawl your posts. Google, one of the most popular search engines in the world, places particular importance on regularly updating content. One of the best ways to keep your content fresh is by writing more posts to your blog. Every time you publish a new post, you are updating your blog’s content.

Picking the Wrong URLs

Many blog owners make the mistake of allowing their blog publishing platforms to generate random URLs every time a new post is created. It is better to create URLs that contain keywords related to each page, as the use of these keywords can help the search engines decide what your page is about. Instead of http://www.site.com/post82814, create a URL such as www.site.com/types-of-widgets. That’s why we strongly recommend WordPress which does it automatically.

Too Many Backlinks

Any time another site links to one of your pages, the link counts as a “vote” for that page. Unfortunately, many site owners buy and trade links from sites that are considered spam. When a spam site links to your site, you can be penalized just for being associated with that site. If you ask another site owner for a backlink, make sure his site is relevant to yours. If you own a computer repair shop, a backlink from an antique clock website won’t do you much good. If you get a backlink from a computer parts manufacturer, however, the link might help you improve your search engine rankings.

Failing to Hire a Professional

Cutting costs is important to most business owners, but it’s important that you do not sacrifice results when you reduce your expenses. If you do not know how to properly optimize your blog, it is best to hire a professional who can get results. A search engine optimization professional knows how to improve your search engine rankings without resorting to amateur mistakes and unethical tactics. The money you spend on an SEO professional is money well-spent if your rankings improve enough to attract more traffic and generate more sales. Look for an SEO consultant who has several years of experience and a portfolio that demonstrates extensive experience in the field. Once you hire a consultant, request regular updates so you know how the SEO work on your site is progressing.

#1: Always post quality content.

When you start a blog, it’s tempting to cut corners by posting anything off the top of your head. Once your blog has been up and running for a while, you might even consider cutting production costs by outsourcing the content writing to an inexperienced writer. Avoid this temptation at all costs. Since your blog represents your brand, the content you post should always be of the highest quality. If you do need to hire a writer to help with content production, hire someone who has extensive experience writing about your niche.

#2: Always blog with readers in mind.

While generating advertising revenue might be one of the goals for your blog, you should never write posts with just advertisers in mind. Your readers are the people who visit your blog and give you the traffic numbers needed to attract advertisers in the first place. Always give your readers content they can use or enjoy, or else you will find yourself with declining traffic.

#3: Blog consistently, but not too often.

The key to successful blogging is publishing the right number of posts each week. You want to give your readers new content on a regular basis, but you don’t want to overwhelm them with too much information. How often you post depends on the topic of your blog. If you write about a niche such as marketing, once or twice a week is enough to keep your readers interested without them getting overwhelmed. If you write about celebrity gossip, however, posting only once or twice a week means your readers will miss out on the latest developments. Posting once or twice per day is more appropriate for this topic.

#4: Always respond to reader comments.

Done right, your blog can become a true community for your readers. If you want to build a community, you need to interact with readers. This means responding to their comments, even when they are criticizing your work. Keep your comments professional to keep your reputation in good shape.

#5: Avoid copying from other blogs.

Your blog should represent you and your business, so don’t copy the look and feel of other sites. Use a design that reflects your tastes and personality. Don’t copy post ideas from other bloggers, as you should be writing posts based on your interests and what your visitors want to read. Never copy content directly from another blog, as this is a type of plagiarism.

Creativity

Personal blogs provide an outlet for personal creativity and expression. You can blog about anything, from what happened at work on a particular day to how much fun you had spending the holidays with your family. Personal blogs are also a great way to stay in touch with family and friends when you can’t visit them in person.

Enhanced Credibility

Customers like to do business with trustworthy, credible people. Writing a business blog helps demonstrate your expertise to current customers and potential clients, as you can post tips, tricks, and warnings about your industry. It is also easier for people to trust someone who has a regular online presence and posts free information.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization refers to a set of techniques that help improve your website’s ranking in search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. When someone searches for a word or phrase related to your business, you want your website to show up on the very first page of results. Blogging can help you achieve this, as the search engines look favorably upon sites that publish content on a regular basis.

Community Creation

Some blogs turn into vibrant communities where people exchange ideas and advice. Having a business blog is a great way to create a community around your brand. Users can comment on new products and services, share their experiences with your company, offer each other tips and advice, and get in touch with your staff members directly.

Competitive Advantage

Starting a business blog helps you compete effectively against other companies in your industry. Customers do not want to work with companies that do not respond to their concerns or suggestions. Giving your customers a way to interact with your staff members sets you apart from companies that do not take customer service seriously.

Generation of Referrals

Once you have an established community that sets you apart from other businesses in your niche, you can generate referrals from your happy customers. Personal referrals are very valuable, as they cost you nothing.

Reputation Control

Unfortunately, dissatisfied customers are more likely to share their experiences with others than satisfied customers. However, blogging gives you a way to respond to negative comments and show customers that you value their business. When you resolve a problem or answer a question in a public forum like a blog, people will see that you respond to concerns and may be persuaded to do business with your company.

Public Relations

Your business is competing with all of the other businesses in your area for good publicity. Ideally, you want to capture the attention of local, regional and national journalists and convince them to write about your company. One of the best ways to get good publicity is to make it easy for reporters to learn about your products and services. Maintaining a blog allows you to publish information about what you offer.

Additional Income

Once you have an established blog, you have the opportunity to make extra income in several ways. Other blog owners might approach you and ask you to write guest posts for their blogs. If your blog receives a lot of traffic, you can offer advertising space to related companies. A furniture company owner, for example, might sell ad space to companies that sell lamps, rugs and other decorative items.

Reduced Marketing Expense

Some forms of marketing are very expensive, such as purchasing ad space in magazines or buying commercial air time from a local television station. Blogging allows you to market your business at a very low cost, which reduces your expenses and helps you increase profits.

Social Media

Many people use sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to network, find product vendors and connect with service providers. When you have a blog, you can use these social media tools to even greater advantage. Tweet about your recent post to drive visitors to your site. Let your Facebook friends know when you have new content on your blog. Share your blog address with LinkedIn contacts so they can follow your business.

What I find truly fascinating is social ad campaigns and viral videos are more prevalent in the strategies for big spending brands. So you do not have the $2.8 million to $3 million for each 30 seconds of commercial time in Super Bowl XLV. The low cost social media used by these same companies are a best practice that merit attention.

I am looking forward to watching the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers fight for the Lombardi Trophy, but I am more excited to see how these social media campaigns evolve:

• E*Trade is using the talking baby again.  This year they have an online App featuring a Packers and Steelers theme.  The intent is to let users “trash talk” friends with a neat little talking baby via email. There is an upload feature to add a picture of your baby and add text to the message. Fun!
• The NFL brand is heavily marketing Super Bowl XLV with targeted Facebook ads. Players in the league are using Twitter, YouTube and blogs for fan meet-ups, contests and Super Bowl party plans.
• Mercedes-Benz USA has launched a Twitter “race” to Dallas. Teams will need Twitter followers to fuel their vehicles.
• Coca-Cola has pledged to donate $1 to charity for every Coca-Cola-related picture that users submit in “Coke Cheers.”
• Papa Johns is sponsoring an elaborate pizza give away during the game, promising free pizzas every 45 seconds.
• Visa’s  “Go Inside Super Bowl XLV with Visa” campaign included a big spend for the popular hashtag on Twitter: #SuperBowl.
• Groupon is launching their first Super Bowl ad to promote digital coupons.

Check out this Super Bowl Ads Guide to se how other advertisers are using elements of social media for their 2011 campaigns.

These Super Bowl Ad buying companies, and many more are using social media to engage potential customers in online conversations. With a blog and some creativity any company is a player in the Super Bowl ad game.

Take Our Poll

My first recommendation to anyone with intentions for creating a blog, is to start slow and build up. Launching a site with all the bells and whistles on day one doesn’t happen. You have to start somewhere and build.

Blogs are supposed to be dynamic. They need to be updated frequently, building momentum like a freight train working up to full speed. Inevitably, all blog hubs with social media platforms will begin with incomplete components of design, content and infrastructure.

• Design: No matter how many goals, objectives, or strategies your site may have, they can’t all be presented in the first public view of your site.
• Content: No matter how much wisdom or experience you wish to share with your readers, it can’t all be included in one blog post.
• Infrastructure: No matter how many social networks you built for extending your reach with your messages of wisdom, they won’t all have a legion of followers during start-up.

Oh, by the way, this is good news because:

• No student can earn an “A” for a course just by showing up to class on the first day
• Rome wasn’t built in a day.
• There would be no Cowboys if there weren’t any horses to ride.

A blog has to walk before it can run, and must crawl before it walks.  Be patient, and take your first steps into social media & blogging sooner rather than later.

Take Our Poll

Use a secure password and change it often

I bet your password is your last name and some characters? Your dogs name? Your favorite flower? If your password is even remotely as easy to guess as my examples then you should consider using a different password. Ideally it will be at least 8 characters long and include letters and numbers, both lower case and upper case.

Don’t use “admin” as a username

This is obvious to hackers. This is setup by WordPress as the default login name and many people don’t change it. Login and change your username.

Hide your WordPress version

WordPress automatically shows what version you have in your meta tags. Anyone looking at your page source can see it, then exploit potential security bugs your version may have. Instead, hide it.

Go to Appearance then click Editor. Make sure your theme is the one selected and click header.php

Look for:

Change it to something like:

Protect your directories

Some directories may not have an index file. This leaves them open to anyone viewing them. Just add the following to your .htaccess file:

This will return a 403 error when someone looks at a directory that doesn’t have an index.

Use your Security Keys!

Open wp-config.php in your favorite text editor (i.e. notepad) and locate the following:

A Security Key makes your site harder to hack and access harder to crack by adding random elements to the password

You can use online code generator, then simply copy and paste into your wp-config.php file.
The four keys are essential for enhanced security. The four salts are recommended, but are not required, because WordPress will generate salts for you if none are provided.

Happy Blogging!