WordPress

It has to be said: I’m in love with WordPress.org! And that’s despite the arguments you can have with plug-ins and code – well, no partner’s perfect now, are they?

WordPress.org is great because it gives you control of your site so you be creative and inventive with how you want your site to look and function. The plug-ins are great – but watch out for memory issues and other bugs that can happen when you install them. Best to install one at a time to see if everything is ok, since if you add several at once and something goes wrong, it can take time to find the culprit plug-in.

BTW, in case you’re wondering, wordpress.com is much easier but you can’t have a commercial site on that platform. With WordPress.org you can sell, sell, sell, but you must self-host. I use and highly recommend Hostnine to host your websites – great support, unlimited domains and for UK folk, servers in Berkshire. So WordPress.org is more challenging if you are not so technically savvy, but no worries there, it’s all easy enough with a bit of common sense and resourcefulness, and the satisfaction you’ll feel when you see things take shape on your screen is tremendous (wow, I sound nerdy!).

There are many themes you can get for free and great premium ones. The free ones are limited in functionality and flexibility and often quite a bit of custom coding is required. So if you can afford it a premium theme is definitely worth it, but check there is a good (ie active) support forum for any issues you may have.

This site uses the DIY Thesis theme.



I love this theme, it is versatile, easy enough to use and nice-looking. The support is great. If you need some tweaks to your Thesis website I highly recommend Ashwin, a great Thesis programmer. His fees are very reasonable and he delivers on time, and is very professional. Just mention my name when emailing him (no affiliate just a recommend!).

For resources that will help you make your WordPress SEO optimized, monetized and providing great content and value take a look at my Resources page.

Here are some simple, yet key, blogging tips:

- Backup your blog regularly! Install a plug-in to help.

- Make sure you have SEO’d your blog. A plug-in will sort you out on this score, nicely, plus if you use the Thesis theme, this is already very well optimized for search engines.

- Add a new blog post at least once a week. Google ranks sites that are constantly updated. So will your visitors! If you neglect your blog, your traffic will fall.

- Ensure you provide VALUE for your loyal visitors. Offer something free, or at least provide lots of useful information and help. As we give, we likewise receive…

- Make sure to respond to comments promptly.

- Show something of your personality and interests, make it fun and relevant to the reader, no one wants to read a boring ‘me-me’ blog!

- Don’t add your personal address for obvious reasons.

- Add videos. Your visitors want to get to know you. And don’t worry about it being perfect, just have fun, and let the ego stay in bed. Besides people don’t want others to be perfect, they want to know that you and they are just the same. Remember IMPERFECT means I M Perfect

- Monetize your blog with related affiliate programs.

Lastly, enjoy blogging! If you are blogging about something that speaks from the heart the visitors will come. Authenticity is the ticket, and the relationships you build the journey. For internet marketing purposes, your Blog is your HUB. All roads should lead to your Blog. This is where you share yourself, your interests, your passions and your opportunities. It’s continuous work – but if you’re like me, it is not so much work, as a labour of love.

Got a great blog? Add it below in the Comments. The more we share the merrier!