subject: Top 5 Reasons To Use Wordpress As Your Blog. [print this page] If you're anything like me, when I first set up my blog about a year ago, I had NO CLUE where to start. Should I use Blogger, Blog spot, WordPress, or any of the 100's of other blog platforms that are out there?
I assumed a blog was just a blog. Boy, did I learn otherwise!
After a lot of research, recommendations, and help from others I realized that I better go with installing WordPress for my blog.
For those of you that aren't familiar with WordPress, it's a blog platform that gives you a pre-built blog site for free. But if you REALLY want to boost up your blog marketing - you really need to get a self-hosted WordPress blog and your own personal domain. And I'm going to go into more details why here in the list.
As any smart marketer realizes - leave the hard stuff to the professionals. So that is why I outsourced my blog set-up to the professionals.
Here are my Top 5 Reasons to Use WordPress for your blog:
1. Google Loves WordPress - If you're using a blog for your marketing strategies, you're probably interested in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - at least a little bit. If you're into SEO, then you want and need Google giving your site "some love." Now, I could go on and on and on and on and ON about SEO, but the idea is that you want Google ranking your site higher than your competition for any given keyword. Well, for whatever reason, Google loves WordPress. Period. Game, set, match! You need a WordPress blog if you are in SEO strategies.
2. Self hosted - I have this in my top 5 reasons, well, for a good reason. You can use the free version of WordPress and have no problems and make that work for you just fine. But you could run into a few problems, the biggest of which is that your blog could be here one day, and gone the next. If you have a self hosted WordPress blog, no one can touch it. It's yours. Yes, you're paying a small monthly hosting fee but it's WELL worth its value considering the thought that you might lose your blog otherwise.
3. WordPress Design Themes - Now, do you want the generic WordPress Theme that comes with WordPress, or a custom designed one that is specific only to you? The default WordPress theme is perfect if you're just setting up a blog to have a blog. BUT, since you're in this industry to make money and brand you, I suggest a designed custom theme. There are tons of people who design custom WordPress Themes that you can easily upload to your domain, to change the appearance and feel of your WordPress website. Some of the WP Themes are paid versions, but most of them are free.
4. Plug-ins - This is my favorite. Plugins are what soups-up your blog and converts it from a 1992 Ford Taurus, into a 2010 Chevy Camaro. The right plug-in can save you time, make you money, and make your job a WHOLE lot easier. In fact, I think I'll make my next post on specific plug-ins just so you can see some of the money making ones you NEED to have on your blog.
Just like with the WordPress Themes, if there is a specific function you want your blog to perform, there are programmers out there who have created WordPress Plugins that will make your job A LOT easier. There are 1000's of WordPress Plugins on the WordPress.org website, which are free and an ever growing amount that are not in the WordPress database. You just have to go looking for them.
5. WordPress functionality - Now, I don't want to lose you here on this one, so I'll keep it simple. WordPress is an HTML based blog platform. The reason I love that is that it allows you to do SOOOOOOO much more to your blog. When you're creating a post - you have the ability to add videos, pics, graphics, links, and audio all in HTML format. The cool thing is, when you create posts, you can create them in a What You See Is What You Get design - meaning that what you see on the screen is what your readers will see. Or you can do HTML formatting - all with a click of the mouse and flip-flop back and forth.
