I get a lot of questions from business owners about how to set up a website or blog. Good news – you don’t have to be a techie to set up and manage your own website these days! The format I recommend for most of my clients is what’s called a “blog-site” using WordPress. WordPress.org is a blogging platform and content management system that can be customized with graphic elements and design to match your branding.
Here are just a few of the benefits of a blog-site using WordPress:
- Easy to Use. With a blog as your website, you don’t have to be held hostage by your webmaster every time you need to make a change to your site. You can easily update your site yourself using the WordPress platform dashboard. You don’t need to have any special technical knowledge. Using WordPress is no more complicated than writing a document in Microsoft Word.
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Blogs are very search engine friendly. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo! like blogs because they are dynamic sites in which the content is updated regularly. That means that users are getting new information from your site all the time.
- Creating Community. Because users of blogs have the ability to post comments to blog posts, it’s easy to build a community of followers. Rich discussions can take place through blog comments.
- Easy Web Stats. You can easily add Google Analytics to your WordPress blog, which provides detailed statistics on how many people are visiting your blog, what links they click on and more.
- Sharing Posts. WordPress provides widgets that will give readers the ability to share your posts on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. Your content gets shared and a viral effect is created from people sharing your posts with others in their networks.
Getting Started With WordPress
WordPress is free for you to download at http://WordPress.org/download. You can choose a free “theme” (the graphic element) from WordPress for the look and feel of your blog or purchase a premium theme from a service like WooThemes.com. You can also have a graphic designer create a customized theme that matches the look of your website or brand.
For an example of theme ideas, WordPress has a free themes directory (http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/), or you can check out these popular theme sites:
You will also need a hosting service to host your site. The service I use is Blue Host (bluehost.com). Some of my colleagues use Host Gator and say that it’s pretty good as well. Both hosting companies have easy WordPress installation in one-click. See http://www.WordPress.org/hosting for more information.
If you are uncomfortable using this technology, then I suggest hiring a virtual assistant who is familiar with WordPress or a marketing tspecialist who can set it up for you. Once WordPress is set up, then you can take over and run with it!