WordPress – Get it right
In case you don’t know, I LOVE WordPress (for weblog). I recently moved Cool Site of the Day over to WordPress and it’s changed everything about the direction of the site. A couple of things you need to know:
- There are many plugins that you can add to make your site better for you and your visitors (these are the most popular)
- There are many excellent FREE themes (templates) to choose from when starting out with WordPress. You may prefer a premium theme (usually costing $100 or less). For premium themes, I recommend three providers: PageLines (very nice stuff), Woo Themes and Thesis Themes (great for SEO–currently used by Cool Site of the Day)….AND we just ordered the Gourmet Theme from Templatic (order 1, get 2 free).
- Sometimes all you want to do is simply create a ‘squeeze’ page to gather names and email addresses of your fans and customers. If that’s you, then order Squeeze Theme (check out their Squeeze Plugin – excellent tool)
- Signup with a hosting service that makes WordPress installation a snap. For most of my sites, I use and highly recommend Bluehost.
- VERY IMPORTANT: Backing up your WordPress site is extremely important…there is no easier way to make a safe clone of your site than with WP Twin. Don’t even think twice about getting this essential backup tool–it also makes it simple to clone your site for when you need to create a similar site but don’t want to go through the hassle of configuring all the settings again (themes, plugins, etc.)
I’ll followup with some video demos to get you started but the links above should put you on the right path to WordPress blogging bliss.
Mike
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What's the name of the plugin?
Yea, i just want to know.. whats the name of the plugin?
Which plugin are you referring to?
Here is another site for some wordpress themes.
http://wp.cincyplanet.com/
I use a free theme with an inexpensive font upgrade. Happy with the results:
http://sawyerspeaks.wordpress.com/
I like the WP site I run http://www.polosport.org but would like to know about some font packages. Any of them specifically easy on the eyes?
Just go with a web safe font like Verdana, Arial, or Calibri and you should be OK. Also, learn a little CSS so you can style your font style and size in one file that will affect the entire site.
Mike
Hi Mike, I have been involved in web design for about 16 years. We have a great team of web designers, but I have to say I have only being using Wordpress on and off for the last 2-3 years and have come back to use it with one of our main company websites. It has been fantastic and makes life so much easier for updates etc. “Like a machanics car”……… we do not have that much time for updates but Wordpress and its great range of plugins has made our life much more productive.
Like you I use wordpress for all my blogs.
It does take some getting use to and with frequent updates
the look of the admin page changes.
However, I find with each update, it is easier to move widgets about !
WordPress is one of the best blogging platforms on the internet.
I love the The Plugin Functionality – there are so many plugins and it is so easy to install plugins, many of which are free.
I love the themes – there are thousands of unique themes, one, two or three collumns, different colours, graphics etc.
Auto ping- wordpress automatically pings so saves time.
Love Wordpress! I hadn’t used it until about 2 months ago, now I’m addicted
SO many great plugins and themes to choose from.
Mike
Hust wanted to let you know that not all, but most of your links are broken. Seems to be just your affiliate links. This is the error Im getting.
Fatal error: Call to undefined function add_action() in /www/coolsiteoftheday.com/web/wp-content/plugins/wp-auto-affiliate-links/WP-auto-affiliate-links.php on line 11
AAA!
Thanks for the heads up! Send me your address and I’ll mail you a Cool Site of the Day tshirt and hat.
Have a great weekend,
Mike
Great post! Thanks for sharing.
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