Darren Rowse has invited bloggers to a group writing project - writing about our top 5 things within our area of interest. For me, right this minute, I’d have to say that this was blogging, and my favourite blogging platform, WordPress. Here are my Top 5 WordPress tips:
- If you can afford it, go for a hosted solution on your own domain: Apart from increasing your google and technorati rankings, having your own hosted solution means that you can access the full power of WordPress. It is not as easy as the out-of-the-box solution from wordpress.com, but is infinitely more enjoyable.
- Learn to use plugins wisely: You can do a lot with WordPress - I like fooling with tags and tagclouds, and for that there is nothing better I’ve found than K2 and UTW. That said, plugins must be used wisely - some are not that useful, some do not play nicely with one another, and some will make your blog totally unavailable. Research plugins before using them (and/or keep a fairly strict database backup regime).
- Look at what others have done: periodically do a technorati search on tag “wordpress” to see what is happening. There are a lot of really amazing WordPress-driven blogs - there is a list of them at bloghelper. People are using it for eCommerce sites, art galleries, magazine sites, libraries, you name it. Talk to other WordPress users, read the official development blog, and read the support forum.
- Don’t forget the reason you started: Why are you using WordPress? What is it that you are hoping to achieve? While for some people it might be setting up a cool set of functionality, chances are that you are interested in blogging because you have a message that you want to get across. Don’t get caught up in the coolness and forget the reason you started - there are a lot of resources around to help you get the message out there.
- Enjoy it. There is enough scope (and bandwidth) out there for you to be blogging about whatever your heart desires - write about what you can be passionate about. WordPress can help you do that - whether it is supporting a book project, promoting your offline business, or pushing a political point. Enjoy it, and whatever you do, don’t forget to breathe.
Note: if you liked this post, you might like to read about my Top 5 Blogging Gurus.
All great points. I recently bought my own domain and started using K2. I’ve found that the sidebar customization is on of the best parts for me and the AJAX live search is great too. Feel free to check out my setup at http://www.mattjmcd.com
Thanks,
Matt
This makes me feel good for having chosen Wordpress.
Thanks mate. Very usefull for wordpress newbie like me. Plain and simple. thanks for the plugin recommendation.
Wordpress rocks, and the community behind it rocks as well.
Really great advice there, much appreciated.
Ian
Love your last one. It reminds me of Alfred Whitehead’s words that “We have lost the Romance of Learning.” Great post.
I love my wordpress site. I changed over last October (from Blogger) and would never go back.
Thank you all for your kind comments - they are very encouraging
Matt: I like that setup, good luck with the blog
Ellen: without joy there can be no real and lasting inspiration. There can be hate and fear but they are not really sustainable.
Best regards, Andrew
Thanks for the tips. I particularly like #4. There are so many features for wordpress but you must think of what your purpose is first and add extras based on your topic. Yesterday I found a weather plugin which makes no sense for my blog so I helped my friend add to his blog about spending the summer in Hawaii.