June 4, 2008
How to Set Up a Blog with Wordpress
Most entrepreneurs need to set up a blog to get traffic for their particular niche or business. Internet marketing folks generally know this, however many entrepreneurs and small businesses are lacking the know-how in setting up a blog that will result in more traffic and profits for their business.
I've set up Blogger, Movable Type and Wordpress blogs, and Wordpress wins the race by a mile. It's easy to set up a Wordpress blog… even if you're not technically minded. And it's easy to add content to a Wordrpress blog too.
This article is about how to set up a basic Wordpress blog to get you traffic and customers for your business. Even if you have a website already, consider including a blog in your site too. The search engines love blogs and generally index the new information faster than website pages.
9 Basic Steps You Need To Set up Your Wordpress Blog
1. Find a Domain Name and Register It
I use Moniker.com. It's an excellent domain company. Use them to register your domain names and keep them locked up safely. Next, setup your blog web hosting. Find a reliable web host make your blog available 24 hours a day, all year round. Here I use iweb.ca. They have the best support I've ever experienced with web hosts,
2. Install Wordpress
The easiest way to install Wordpress is to make sure your web host offers a cPanel and Fantastico with its hosting. Wordpress can be installed automatically with a click or two.
If you can't get hold of a web host with the above features, you can go to Wordpress' website to download and install the blog manually.
3. Find And Install A New Wordpress Theme
Once you install Wordpress, it looks very basic. You then need to go to a website on the internet to find a theme to make it look like a nice looking blog. A theme essentially adds colors, and graphical elements to your blog. Many themes are free and some websites offer professional-looking paid ones. For free themes, check out http://themes.wordpress.net/ and http://www.wpthemesfree.com.
If you intend to make money with your blog consider purchasing the semiologic wordpress software. It has many great looking themes and it takes only a few clicks until your theme is up-and-running.
4. Install Widgets On Your Blog
Once you've installed a theme, install what's called widgets. These are simply additional functions to make your blog more useful to your visitors. For example, you can add a "Recent comments" widget which will enable your blog to display the recent comments of your visitors. Or you can add a "Links" widget which enables you to add links in the sidebar of your blog. Once you've added your widgets, add Plug-ins to your blog.
5. Find and Activate Plug-ins For Your Blog
Plug-ins are amazing, as they add very helpful capabilities to your blog. For example, you can download and SEO plugin which will optimize your blog for the search engines. Or you could install a plug-in which would help you to manage the comments your visitors leave on your blog. These plug-ins automate a lot of functions and saves you loads of time. If you choose to get the Semiologic software, a lot of these plug-ins are already set up and you're ready to start working immediately.
6. Add Your Personal Details to Your Blog
Remember to add your name, your physical address, your email address and your disclaimers. If you're setting up a blog for lots of readers, this information is essential.
7. Write Your First Post and Add Your Categories
Now you can start writing information, tips or articles. In blog terms, this is called a post. If you're not used to writing, you may find it tough at first. Simply keep your posts short. And keep going. Thanks to the internet, you can get a lot of information and advice from other websites, so it's easy to do research and develop more content to write about.
Also tell your story about how you got started in blogging. You don't have write a big manual, simply have fun and share your ideas with your readers.
After writing your first post, you'll see you can then add different categories. Add relevant categories to the topic of your blog. If your blog is about marketing, you may have categories such as "Online marketing", "Postcard Marketing" etc.
8. Write At Least 2 Posts per Week
People look on the internet primarily to find information. Update your blog often and your readers will read your posts regularly. Don't worry if you only have a couple of readers in the beginning. Keep going. Create more content and you'll get more traffic from your articles in time.
Also don't worry if you don't understand all the terminology such as Digg, RSS Feed etc. you hear in the blogging world. Plod along and you'll grasp their menaing at a later stage.
9. Use A Step-by-Step Wordpress Training to Get Up to Speed Fast
I'm in the process of setting up a video course called "How to Setup A Wordpress Blog", to help you create a professional Wordpress blog quickly. The videos are kept online and are always updated with the latest information. It will be available on the 1st July. Click here to pre-order it at a reduced price now.
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Responses to How to Set Up a Blog with Wordpress »
Fantastic post Riggie! Thanks for looking out for your readers.. Very helpful information.. I really appreciate it!
Great post… I am also a new fan of wordpress. It's almost idiot proof and I love that!
Wow, that is a very nice breakdown of install wordpress…. I think i should show that to my mom and have her do it herself instead of just setting it up for her.
Wow! very informative post! I should share this to all my friends.
Thanks Jim… please do
Wordpress is indeed a great platform for blogging. Hopefully your article will help those new to this free programming.
Hope your video course helps a lot of your visitors. I am giving computer classes and I've been focussing on the aspects of blogging and getting a mailing list up and running. I made me realise again the amount of stuff one learns from being involved on the net.I never could decide which is best: a static page or a blog. Finally I decided it should be a combination but the main thing is, as you said, that it is best to start with building up a blog.To tell someone that it is really easy to accomplish, is quite correct. But I have now seen just how difficult it is for a newbie to start online, even with the help of videos. Tip to Riggie: Remember to keep it real simple
Blogs are a very good way to update content on a site and keep a business site fresh
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Thanks for the great post! Priceless info.!
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Every other person talk about how to maintain a blog. This is the only place where i see some one discibing beautifully that how to start a blog - Great job Done KUDOS
Thank you so much for the awesome post. very interesting.
Thank you so much Jim. Your post is very interesting.
Thanks for the tip Gert… you're so right, for newbies learning all about blogs, marketing etc. is tough. I'll keep things simple
-Riggie
Thanks for this steps. I will set up one now.
This is a great guide, but you should add a step. You should add a step about getting traffic to the blog by submitting to online bookmarking websites and by leaving comments on other blogs and forums. It may seem like a no-brainer, but so many blogs are abandoned because of a lack of traffic.
In my opinion, every blog should move over to Wordpress. It loads fast, there are tons of templates for it, and you can do almost anything with them. Nice post, by the way.
The installing part can be the most difficult for people who arn't used to that sort of thing. However, many hosts now have wordpress as a one click install. Handy for the newbies
Thank you so much for a very useful information.
I have 7 blogs and wordpress is my ultimate choice. i know how to install wordpress but link from your article to free wordpress themes is the best thing which i gained from this article. Thanks for sharing that. I have visited official wordprese theme gallery for several hours a day but couldn't find any suitable theme. I hope this link in your post will help me a lot.
All I can say is thank you so much for the information and for sharing different steps.
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing. I am also a big fan of Wordpress.
There's also another great place to get themes called New Wordpress Themes dot net.
Susans last blog post..Signs of a Good Mortgage Broker
Now that WordPress 2.6 is out, WordPress works even better.
I recommend the WordPress Automatic Update plugin be used. It makes updates nearly painless.
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I have a lot of plug-ins and themes but I was wondering to see such plug-ins(Which shows recent comments etc). Thanks for letting me know that I can do so via widgets. I am sorry if am a dumb.
Thank you so much for the priceless information. Good job.
Amazing article! Detailed and very interested. I am going to recommend this blog to my friends.
Great post! I am going to print this out and give it to some people who need help maintaining/starting their blogs. Once you get started its easy and wordpress offers a lot of functions in a user-friendly manner. Thanks!
Wordpress is definitely the easiest blogging platform around. My webhost offers one-click Wordpress installation as well. Why everyone doesn't have a blog yet is beyond me!
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Wordpress is the best tool for blogging - the hard part is writing a few articles every day!
Thanks for a very clear explanation on setting up wordpress. I will follow your advice and hopefully get it done easily.Cheers
Nice tips specially for new bloggers who want to start a blog on wordpress.________________
Thank you very much. I have read your article and from which I have created a new wordpress blog which i was trying for ages..thanks again
I have always wondered how wordpress works but have not really had the time to research into the details. This article has really summarized it all up and it seems wordpress gives a very professional edge to the blogging phenomenon. It even seems like a full scale cms to me
I think the most easy thing to install in life is wordpress. It is even easy to manage it and to use it so it is the big thing.
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There is of course a big debate on how many posts one should write per week. 2 looks indeed reasonable if you want to build a readership that comes back. I used to do this, but now I focus more on promotion that on writing, and so the loyal readership goes down.
Wordpress is the most idiot proof blog ever & it takes about 2 minutes to install. thanks for the info
I Love Wordpress so much..
I would also add rss to feed sites and blog to directories after i make 5 to 10 posts. This way they start to pick up next posts.
I love WordPress and how customizable it is. It is not only the best blogging platform, but it is the best CMS as well.
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I use wordpress almost exclusively for all of my sites. It really helps to know it inside and out so you can build sites quickly.
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Thanks for the guide, is your video course out now?
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The video course is in the making…
coming soon in about 21 days.
after i follow your tips riggie, i'll have more chances of doubling up my business' profit. LOLz. really, this is a great advice, especially for newbies like me.