How to Choose a WordPress Theme (and Why I Still Heart Thesis)

August 26, 2010 By 6 Comments

If you know anything about me, you know I always recommend the WordPress platform to people looking to get their own website or blog up and running fast.  You also may know that I use and highly recommend the Thesis theme.  What’s a theme? A theme with regard to WordPress is just a way to alter and customize the design, look and presentation of your WordPress site.

Once you’ve installed WordPress, by default you will have one of WordPress’ own standard, pretty ho-hum themes out of the box.  In most cases, you’ll want to find something a bit more unique beyond just sticking with the default.

Luckily, you have tons of choices, and you can go with a free theme or pay for a premium one.  There are countless free themes available and you are likely to find one that fits the vision you have of the way your site should look.

So, why would anyone ever pay for a theme when there are so many free themes available?  A big reason is that you may find yourself wanting to customize your site down the road and it can be time-consuming and frustrating to try and “hack” your theme in order to do so.

The alternative is to purchase a premium theme, which is usually priced in the $30-100 range for a single-use license.   Premium themes often include lots of options making it easy to customize, plus available support and documentation if you end up with questions or issues.

Thesis Theme for WordPress: Options Galore and a Helpful Support Community

When I first started using WordPress I created a few sites using free themes but decided to go premium when I launched my current site for the very reasons I listed above.  The theme I chose is the Thesis theme for its clean, professional look, strong, built-in SEO and active and helpful support forum. (Full disclosure: yes, that is an affiliate link.)

The cost for the one-site personal option is $87.  I have been extremely happy with Thesis and countless other business owners have been as well—it has an absolutely stellar reputation.

Of course this is just a tiny sampling, but some examples of other popular and well-regarded premium themes include:

The Station
WordPress Remix
Essence
Over Easy

It will really come down to what type of business you have, what image you are trying to project and how much you are willing to spend—however, there is definitely no shortage of choices.

Even if you have found a free or premium theme that you love, there may still be some customized details you would like to have added. If graphic design isn’t your strong suit, there are plenty of talented people out there who can create exactly what it is you need to enhance the look of your blog—and make your vision a reality.  I went this route myself, having a header and some buttons designed to “dress up” my theme.

Ready to pick yours? WordPress has their own free theme directory and it’s a great place to start.  If none of those strike your fancy you can browse a list of premium themes here.  Be prepared to spend some time going through the myriad choices…or, you can just make it easy on yourself and start rocking Thesis and be on your way (hint, hint).  :)

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An Affordable Way to Learn WordPress—We Start Wednesday!

June 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I was thrilled with the big turnout we had last week for my complimentary teleseminar “Wild About WordPress: 7 Reasons Why it’s Now Super Simple to Create Your Own Customer and Client-Attracting Website—FAST, Without HEADACHES, and for FREE!” We had several hundred people registered!

If you missed out, don’t worry—you can still get the audio:

http://shesgotclients.com/postwordpresscalloptin

I’m also offering you $50.00 off towards my BRAND NEW course “Website Without Worry: Step-by-Step Strategies to Using WordPress, the Number One FREE Web Platform to Gain Clients and Customers FAST!”

Created especially for solopreneurs and small business owners, this 4-part webinar series will walk you through EXACTLY how to use WordPress to create an effective and affordable website of your own.

And I also threw in some pretty sweet bonuses as well. :)

You can learn all about it now at http://websitewithoutworry.com

But don’t wait—we start this Wednesday, June 16. You won’t want to miss out on this info-rich, step-by-step course.

Hope to “see” you in class!

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Free Teleseminar on WordPress: Wednesday June 9th, 2010

June 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

It’s a fact. To succeed at marketing your business online you need a website. (And no, a Facebook Page is not an acceptable substitute! ;) )

You can be out using every social media site under the sun, but if you have nowhere to send your friends, fans and followers outside of them…well, then you’re probably just wasting your time.

You don’t have to stress though, because you’re invited to a special complimentary call with me!

“Wild About WordPress: 7 Reasons Why it’s Now Super Simple to Create Your Own Customer and Client-Attracting Website—FAST, Without HEADACHES, and for FREE!”

By now, everyone knows you need a website if you are going to succeed at marketing online.  Heck, you may even have one already…but you’re just tired of the time, cost and aggravation associated with it.

That’s why I’ve put together this special call to share with you some of my top tips, strategies and information on how the WordPress web platform can save you time, money and frustration…so you can concentrate on what you do best—running your business!

You’ll want to join me on this complimentary teleseminar where I reveal exactly how you can have this simple, zero-cost platform working for you—in no time.

This free call is being held Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 8PM Eastern and I’d love to have you on the line with me.

Click here to learn more and register now.

Hope to hear you on the call. :)

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Top WordPress Plugins YOU Should be Using Right Now

April 15, 2010 By 7 Comments

Plugins are one of the reasons WordPress is so popular as a blog platform.  Plugins add functionality to your site and allow it to do almost anything you can imagine.

WordPress itself was built to be very “lean” and simple—and plugins exist so that each user can tailor their site exactly the way that they would like.  They can be installed easily too—right from within the dashboard of your blog.

Basic Plugins

There are over 9000 plugins, but here are a few “non-negotiable” ones I feel that every WordPress user should add:

Akismet: This is a filter that catches spam comments for your review.

Google XML Sitemaps: Sitemaps are an XML file that include all of the pages of a website in order for the search engines to index and reference them.  It is thought that using them helps search engines find your content quicker, therefore allowing your site to enter the rankings sooner.

All in One SEO Pack: What this plugin does is allow you to easily control and edit the Title, Meta description, and meta tags for each post you write and your entire blog.  Translation? This plugin helps optimize your site so that it ranks higher in the search engine results when someone searches for what you offer.

Advanced Plugins

As I mentioned, there are a ton of plugins available out there to enhance your WordPress blog.  The few I just went over are what I consider the minimum to have to get started.  The most important thing to focus on once you have those installed is getting content onto your blog and getting traffic to it.  However, for future reference, here are some of the other plugins I use and find helpful that you may want to add down the line:

WordPress Gravatars: This uses the emails of people who comment on your blog to display their Gravatar.   What’s a Gravatar?  It’s a small photo that accompanies your comments or posts on blogs around the web.  Be sure to sign up for yours free here.

What Would Seth Godin Do: It has a funny name, but this is a pretty clever and useful plugin. I use this so that new visitors to my blog see a small box above each post that says “If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my blog posts or request my free E-course. Thanks for visiting!” After 5 visits the message goes away—it’s great for encouraging new readers to subscribe.

Subscribe to Comments: This allows the readers of your blog to be notified by email when new comments are posted to an entry.  This is usually used when someone wants to see the follow-up comments on a post that they themselves have commented on.

As you can probably tell from this small sampling, with the help of plugins, there’s no limit to what your WordPress blog can do.  If you want to see just how big a selection of choices you have, check out this plugin directory and start exploring for yourself.

Let me know in the comments if this has been helpful to you and whether you have any favorites you’d also add to this list!

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WordPress Rocks! Have Your Own Website Up and Running in Just a Few Short Hours

April 1, 2010 By 12 Comments

Want your own website or blog for your business without having to be at the mercy of a Webmaster? (With all due respect to those Webmasters out there!)

If so, there is no better choice than WordPress.  In fact, I believe it is the best out there, and many others would agree.

There are actually two versions available: one at WordPress.org and one at WordPress.com.  The main distinctions are that with WordPress.com you don’t have to download software, purchase hosting or manage a server.  However, when you sign up for a WordPress.com blog, you will receive a URL like “mysite.WordPress.com” as opposed to “mysite.com” unless you map a domain—at an added cost.  You also do not control the database or the software with the WordPress.com version.  Because of these distinctions I always recommend the WordPress.org version, which is also known as the “self-hosted” version.

WordPress is a very powerful platform for several reasons.  It has a huge community of developers behind it who are constantly creating new plugins and themes, which give WordPress lots of useful functionality.  This community involvement has also led to an enormous amount of documentation, which is readily available to users.  Additionally, its rapid development cycle means features are cutting edge and security and bug issues are quickly taken care of.

Add to that the fact that it’s super simple to use, it’s free and inherently search engine optimization friendly and you’ve got a fantastic way to begin building that all-important web presence for yourself.

WordPress is especially known for being a powerful blogging platform—and just a reminder about why blogging is great if you are in business—because solid, regular content is king! The more quality content you create on the web, the more you are seen as an expert in your particular niche and the more you improve your search engine rankings.

Not looking to blog? You can still use WordPress as a traditional website, and many people do. This is because it functions as a “content management system,” allowing you to set a static front page, add new pages easily, use it as a portfolio, gallery or e-commerce site and more.  The best part?  If you don’t want to wait for (or pay for!) a Webmaster to make changes and adjustments to your site, you don’t have to.  WordPress makes it easy for anyone to administer his or her own site without needing heavy technical knowledge or coding ability. Definitely something worth celebrating!

So don’t wait any longer—check out WordPress today and begin enjoying your very own home on the web in just a few short hours.

Do you use and love WordPress?  If so, let me know what you like best about it in the comments.

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Why Integrating Blogging with Social Media is a Great Combination

March 8, 2009 By 4 Comments

BloggingHaving a blog is not only a great way to create community through the comments, but it’s made up of dynamic content that is always changing which Google of course loves.  I happen to prefer WordPress, which is a very powerful platform for several reasons.

WordPress has a huge community of developers behind it who are constantly creating new plugins and themes which gives WordPress tons of functionality.  This community involvement has also led to an enormous amount of documentation which is readily available to users.  Additionally, its rapid development cycle means features are cutting edge and security and bug issues are quickly taken care of.

Add to that the fact that it’s super simple to use, it’s free and inherently SEO-friendly and you’ve got a great way to get your writing out there.  And why do you want it “out there” if you are in business?  Because solid, regular content is king.  The more quality content you create on the web, the more you are seen as an expert in your particular niche and the more you improve your search engine rankings.  In terms of rankings, you also want to get lots of links coming to your site but that is another post entirely.

So how does social media play into this?

There are some great ways to integrate your blogging activities with your social media activities, kind of like a one-two punch for upping your visibility. Here are a couple of my favorites:

The Notes feature within Facebook. This application allows you to import the RSS feed of your blog. Every time you post to your blog, the post will pop up automatically as a Facebook note.

The Facebook Networked Blogs application. Once you haved “claimed your blog” this is an easy way to promote and invite your friends to become readers.  I like to think of it as a “fan page” for your blog.  This application organizes blogs by utilizing geographical locations retrieved from Facebook’s demographics.  Your blog is also listed in a directory where it is organized by tags and popularity.  This is a nice way for others to discover your blog. Many people still do not use or understand RSS Feeds for receiving content, so Networked Blogs is a good alternative for encouraging blog reading within the Facebook community.

Twitter of course is a great way to (sparingly) let others know about new blog posts. If you blog a few times a week I’d suggest you not tweet about every single one, but rather the posts you feel have the most value.  This way you are not seen as being overly promotional.  There are also several WordPress plugins which feed your latest Tweets into the sidebar of your blog.  One of the better ones is called Twitter Tools.

Lastly, FriendFeed is really useful and I don’t think a lot of people realize its power yet. I like to share my blog posts using the “Share” feature of Google Reader which feeds them into my FriendFeed stream.  I plan on writing another post all about why I think FriendFeed is an underrated killer marketing tool in the near future.

Let me know your thoughts.  Are you using both blogging and social media in your business?  Have any tools to suggest?

Also, if you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for my free social media e-course.

Photo Credit: Foxtongue

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