Getting started in Wordpress

This blog is actually the third or fourth incarnation of getting started in this particular universe. The first few got bogged down in waves of technical issues and walking the line between writing about a topic while not divulging too much – employers who can charge an awful lot for knowledge tend to frown on it being given away via mass media. That’s the bummer of a belonging to an industry that’s based in consulting, and perhaps one of the few ways lawyers get my sympathy: Constantly having to watch out for surrendering to much, and / or wondering if someone is asking you questions out of interest or greed.

But, given that the joy skull-rending frustration of setting up a Wordpress blog for the first second third time – especially one that has a snowball’s chance of ranking – is well away from my day-to-day, let’s run through some of the things I’ve learned in the process.

1. Forget the templates. While you’re screwing around with thirty shades of aubergine, what you’re probably doing is putting off actually writing. Lazy bastard. Write three posts before you even think about the appearance to make sure that the backend stuff that is about to make you consider how nice a brick might feel slamming against your forehead will be worth it.When you do, look for something that fits what you want to do. If you want to fill up your sidebar with bullshit (or if you think you’ll be able to sell ads, you smug bastard), for example, make sure to get three columns worth of control. Also, I won’t go into what makes an SEO friendly template but if you can avoid one that wraps an H1 tag around the name of your blog on every goddamn page you’re on the right track.

 

2. Forget the plugins. While you’re screwing around with thirty different ways to show off pictures of your dog, what you’re probably doing is putting off actually writing. Lazy bastard. Ditto the three post thing – and no, ‘Hello World!’ doesn’t count, smartass, unless you wrote the program.When you do, be sure to include Akismet (PS get a WordPress.com account for a user key), Google Analytics for WordPress (PS get a Google Analytics account for, well, analytics stupid) and Google XML sitemaps (and get webmaster accounts at the major engines to make this more useful). Consider Sociable, All-in-One SEO Pack, Enforce WWW Preference, etc. depending on your goals. But not until you start getting some damn content on the site!

 

3. No, seriously, get to writing.
   

 

4. Forget the widgets. I think you’re starting to get the idea. Actually, there’s not a lot that can be done with this, so waste five minutes on this if you’d like. Make sure there’s a search bar, beyond that it’s just a question of what form your blog’s going to take. Add recent comments and most commented posts to engage an audience, categories to add navigation capabilities, tag clouds for search value, etc.

 

5. Set up a Feedburner account.You should be up to 74 logins to operate your blog by now, keep up. Make it shareable straight from the post. Replace the lame feed icon with, well, the same icon with your feedburner URL attached.

 

6. Write, dammit!

Unless you’re a sad sap who just wants a blog to vent from time to time (in which case, get a free account somewhere and save your hosting money for tissues and gallons of ice cream to go along with it), your blog is first and foremost about content. Whether you’re getting your name out there or looking to ply some affiliate links (gratuitous example here), anything that’s about dressing up content is not about content. It doesn’t have to be constantly divinely inspired, just commit to a writing schedule and hold to it.

And that’s all it takes to get started!

Mom says there are no posts that are like me. I am unique.

Tags:   software · wordpress · wordpress optimization · wordpress seo Share on Twitter

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