Last week we were talking about how to build your web presence using HTML.  This week we're going to talk about Wordpress – so pay attention.

Wordpress For Your Website. Good, Bad or Ugly?

Wordpress is a free program/platform/system (use whichever word you are most comfortable with), written in … (not interested because it doesn't matter). What matters is that it doesn't cost you anything and it is available to download from Wordpress.org or, if you are really lazy, they will host your site for you on Wordpress.com.

Wordpress is a content management system (CMS) which is where it differs greatly from HTML. Wordpress is about your published content – not about what it looks like. Yes, you can make it look good too. But it's focus is on what you publish – and that's really important for SEO purposes these days.

You can install Wordpress yourself in about 10 minutes (we'll show you how). The whole point about Wordpress is that you can access your own Wordpress site, publish new content and edit what you have already published – with virtually no prior experience.

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There's a basic editor installed to start with and everything about your Wordpress site can be changed and improved according to your own taste and preferences.

So what't the result? You can publish what you want, when you want and without having to learn any fancy code or paying someone else's mortgage to do it for you.

The most powerful way to use Wordpress is from your own hosting which will cost you just a few dollars per month. Because Wordpress is a content management system it needs a database and the simplest way to achieve this is to find a hosting package that runs on Linux and also provides a service called Fantastico which will actually install Wordpress for you in just seconds.

So before you commit to any hosting simply pick up the phone, tell them you want to self install Wordpress and do they provide Fantastico? You don't need to understand any of the technicalities on the hosting company website – just ask them the plain english question. And don't fall for any of the 'unlimited bandwidth/disk space' blarney either. You're unlikely to need more than 100-200 Mb of diskspace as you get started. 

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OK, so now you're up and running. Got your first few posts made and you've already decided you don't like the appearance of your website. HORRORS! Need a webmaster! Got to pay for new coding!!

No, no and no. Just Google for 'free Wordpress themes' and spend the next 3 days trawling through the thousands of alternative wordpress themes that are available – and all for free! You can change the whole appearance of your site in moments.

You want your website to do something new? Just search on Wordpress.org for a 'plugin' that does what you want. Install the plugin – that's automatic too from within your Wordpress dashboard. (dashboard – like a car – it's where all the switches and buttons live where you control everything)

So, if you want a membership site or a shopping cart then simply download and install the relevant plug-in.

Want to see how to change the functionality of your site.

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It's true that you may need to pay for some themes and plug-ins.

But it's like the rest of life – you get what you pay for. Until now Wordpress has sounded perfect, so whats the catch?

Well, software acronym-1, another acronym (remember we don't care what they are in Wordpress) and Wordpress and many plug-ins and themes are open source. That means that a core structure and format has been agreed and everything written for the product whether it be further developments of Wordpress itself, themes or plugins all have to conform to the standard.

This is supposed to ensure conformity and high standards of compatibility. Unfortunately, there are good geeks and bad geeks, just as there are good lollipop ladies and bad lollipop ladies. So you do need to keep an eye open to avoid the rubbish that can trip you up.

One easy way to overcome this issue is to have two installations and use one as a test system to check plug-ins and themes before installing on the live site.

I read an article recently which advised against using Wordpress in favour of other Content Managed Systems (CMS)

Part of the argument was that because Wordpress is so easy to use, spammers use it and this might lead to Google downgrading Wordpress sites. There are 3 important facts you need to be aware of:

1 – Google uses around 200 metrics in its algorithm to rate each site and they do not say what they are and they change from time to time.

2 – Matt Cutts had a responsibility for blogging at Google and used Wordpress NOT Google Blogger. He still works at Google but has now moved to the Web Spam team. He still uses Wordpress.

3 – Probably the most important factor is that Google loves new content. Yes, the way that Wordpress works means it is not entirely search engine optimised. But do you really think that Google doesn't know about Wordpress? All the evidence is that Google loves Wordpress. It loves how easy it is for new publishers to get online and provide new, fresh content and opinions, it loves the way it makes it easy for non-techies to manage their own site, to respond quickly to events and to integrate social media into their Wordpress website.

There seems to be little evidence of Google downgrading Wordpress and at the time of writing the opposite appears to be true.

So Wordpress is the answer to a maiden's prayer? Well almost.

Naturally, there are all sorts of pros and cons. To get your own personal questions answered then come along to our next meeting for a live demo and discussion on how to make the most of your Wordpress website. 

Smart Marketing Warriors.

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