Click here to visit wordpress.com
Blogging, tweeting, facebook’ing… which social networking tool is best for networking you and your business? There are 1001 different social media platforms and the best one for you is….<drumroll> ….YOUR BLOG. Everything should revolve around your blog. It is the center-point. If people like what you have to say they MAY want to read more and they’ll need somewhere to go…. That place will be your blog, based on WordPress. Why WordPress? Because it’s the best blogging application out there. More on how to get WordPress later. When setup properly, your WordPress blog will show all relevant information regarding you and your business. More importantly, it will give visitors access to ALL your content. How so you say? One word… widgets. Widgets can display your latest Twitter tweets, facebook info, and the myriad of other resources you use. So if someone REALLY likes you, they can see all you have to offer in one place.
Think of an octopus. Your blog is the head of the octopus and the various social media platforms you use are the tentacles. The tentacles all lead back the the source of the operation, your blog.
What should you put on your blog?
Honest valuable content. Period. Your blog is your altruistic donation to the good of mankind. It will offer users a place to contact you if they would like to enlist your services or point them to your online store, BUT the “meat” and that means 99% is content, not fluff.
We are all savvy to people who try to blow smoke these days. We can see it from a mile away. Give people what they want, useful information.
<stepping down from soap box>
How do I hookup to this WordPress business?
There 2 ways, Free and not free. I prefer free (as usual) but if you want your own website name (like www.bloggingunleashed.com) then you’ll have to pay. If you want free, then head over to WordPress.com (but not yet!) for a free blog. At WordPress your blog will get a name like http://davidsblog.wordpress.com which is not my preference for a business but works great for an individual. Let’s look at both options:
Free Blog (at WordPress.com)
Signing up takes about 1 minute, literally. You’ll be asked for your name, email, name for your blog, and to pick a password. That’s it! At the end you’ll be able to go to your LIVE blog (yes, it’s that fast) and your dashboard, where you can control everything such as posts and options.
Pay Version (your own installation)
WordPress itself is FREE, but you’ll need to purchase a domain name (website name) and a hosting service to run your personalized WordPress blog.
To pickup a domain name you’ll need to purchase one from a domain registrar. A domain registrar is a company that sells domain names (and usually other sevices too). Domain Names are cheap, usually under $10/yr for a .com, and about $15 for a newer type like .mobi or .me. We have domain names at Lambros Hosting. (Click “Domain Names” on the blue toolbar).
Next you’ll need a hosting service. Hosting typically ranges from $5-$20 per month depending on options such as “unlimited traffic”. Go for the lower end on your first blog, you can always upgrade your hosting package later without taking your site offline (as long as you stick with the same company). Expect 24/7 technical support and 99.9% uptime on any hosting package. Want a reliable option? Lambros Hosting has an affordable $9.99/mo option which includes a quick setup of WordPress so you can be blogging the same day. Purchase monthly hosting here. Save 10% on orders of $50 or more with coupon code 50CN10. (Shameless, I know)
Click here to learn how to install WordPress to your hosting package.
T-Mobile G1
T-Mobile G1
Mobile Blogging
With the development of the iPhone and other mobile devices you can blog from your phone. I’m currently writing this post on my mobile phone (T-mobile G1 aka Google Android) using an app called WpToGo. Pretty neat. To enable this feature in WordPress I went to the General > Writing Settings menu and checked “Enable the WordPress, Movable Type, MetaWeblog and Blogger XML-RPC publishing protocols.”. Now my WordPress blog can accept posts from my phone.