7 Tips for Effective Blogging

I work with a lot of people just starting to get into the blogging universe, and many of them just don’t know where to start. So I thought I would write a quick post with some tips to get you going.

Blogging Tips

1. Blog about something interesting to you. This one may seem pretty obvious, but the biggest question I get is ‘what should I blog about?’ Write about things that interest you, and your passion and knowledge will shine. That is the only way to get your readers to come back.
2. Your post should be about 1 topic. Don’t start on a subject and then move to something completely different. Keep it focused and tight.
3. Add a picture. This will make your blog more visually appealing, and also break up the text.
4. Use short paragraphs. Nothing is worse than landing on a post and seeing a wall of text. big paragraphs are fine, just make sure you mix it up with plenty of small ones.
5. Use lists. People love lists. Best of lists, top 5 lists, etc.
6. Create a structure using categories. Make sure you create different categories for the different things you blog about. If you are a real estate agent, create home buyer, home seller, foreclosure categories. That way if your reader is interested in a specific subject, they can find all posts on that subject without having to go through all of your posts.
7. Use tags. Google uses tags to help readers find your blog. Essentially, tags are the keywords in your posts. I use a plugin called WP auto tagger. It’s not perfect, but it is a good start. I always add tags after it is done.

Hope this helps!

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Installing Plugins in WordPress

Another in our tutorial series: installing plugins

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Adding a Picture to Your Post or Page

Here’s a great tutorial on how to add an image to your WordPress page or post.

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WordPress Slide Shows

Modern websites should be bold and dynamic, and one way to accomplish that is having a slideshow on you home page. I have built dozens of sites, and have tried many different slideshow plugins, but seem to always go back to these two. Aside from creating a custom slideshow from scratch, these 2 sliders are easy to use, inexpensive (both have free options), and look great.

If you need to show just pictures in your slideshow, Meteor Slides is a great choice. It’s real easy to add and delete slides and you can even change the order of the slides. It offers different transitions, it’s easy to add the slide show to your site, and you can have more than one on your site.

If you need to combine html and graphics, you might want to try Slidedeck. It has a nice free version, and you can upgrade to more options for a reasonable price. It has a slider option, or you can just use it as a regular slide show. And there are more options than I can list here.

Hope this helps!

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Hosting for Your WordPress Website

As a web designer, I have had to work with just about all of the hosting services out there, and I can tell you from experience, that some are great, and some are horrible. I get asked by people all the time to recommend a company to website hosting company for their website, and I ALWAYS recommend the same one, Hostgator! They have affordable packages, they use cpanel for their back end, and you can start a WordPress site in minutes using the Fantastico program.

Have a great Summer, and if you need a new design for your WordPress site, shoot me an email and let’s talk.

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