You see, noone talks the basics any more. Everyone writing in this space is so focused on how to get to B, they’ve forgotten the majority of us are still crowding round A, looking for answers how to step off the kerb.
[audio: http://www.davethackeray.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/how_to_blog-300310.mp3]
Welcome to the latest in a highly sporadic series of burstcasts based on business ballistics.
Today you’ll discover a bit about how to go about creating a blog, assuming you haven’t. Or if you have, how to do it properly.
Now, there are two lanes you can drive on this motorway to success – assuming you’re travelling in a WordPressmobile:
- Go to WordPress.com – sign up for a free blog, start tapping away. Warning: while you can do STUFF, there’s no real flexibility here, so only go down this route to test out blogging if you’re not ready for the big time.
- If you want flexibility you need to go down the WordPress.org route. This involves downloading some files, tinkering with some code in wp-config.php and then uploading the whole shebang to a web host. My tip for a great host is clook.us (no affiliation).
Once you’re out there and Hello World is showing proudly on your site (I’m guessing here you’ve bought a domain name? If not, check out godaddy.com and find a name that matches your personality. I can tell you now that kingdong.com is taken, so think again) you need to think of a style that best reflects who you are, and what you do.
The temptation is to go flash, whizz, bang – I want EVERYTHING. I want Flash on my site, I want videos oozing from every pore.
But do you? Do you REALLY?
It depends on the image you want to convey. Do you want people to see you as the jaunty gentleman type who is a little bit wahay? Is that really the impression you want to leave on your customers who rely on you as their independent financial advisor?
And if you’re a butcher – maybe the sight of that lamb dripping with blood isn’t the best way of encouraging families to come and buy their barbecue packs from your shop.
UK kids: do you remember The House Doctor? Creased little woman who peers into the homes of desperate sellers, says GET RID OF ALL ESSENCE OF PERSONALITY and heavy on the magnolia paint, if you please?
Well, mad as she was, it makes sense. To sell, you have to appeal to your market. As a house seller, you don’t know who wants to buy your house, so you have to go as neutral as possible. Those Devilian worshipping prongs in the back garden? Get em in the skip.
As a business you have the absolute advantage over your average house seller. You know your customers like you know your favourite sports team. You zig, they zag.
So you gotta find a style for your blog that best reflects your customer. It needs to be like looking in a mirror – or mirr if the customer is American.
Since I’m a communicator, I want everything I say to be centre stage, rather than my atrocious attempts at design. People aren’t going to come to me to design their wedding dress, unless it’s a severely handicapped person who couldn’t find their way to the greengrocers.
So I’ll go for minimalistic – heavy on the focus on typography, little to weigh down the speed of the site, since in my line of work, I can really make swift sites my forte.
A designer may want to adorn their website will all manner of personal work. To create a portfolio.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. You need inspiration.
Fortunately, my friends, I have assembled a list of incredible sites that will set you on course to find a WordPress blog theme that will match almost perfectly your needs. A starting point. I say ‘almost perfectly’ because your next step is to start learning a little about styling the theme you download, to make it your own.
- New WordPress Themes
- Best WordPress Themes of 2010 (updated monthly)
- Smashing Magazine’s 100 Amazing WordPress Themes
If you don’t find at least three themes that make you go BOOM, then call a shrink.
Heard of Cascading Style Sheets? Oh, but you will! And it doesn’t harm to have a bit of savvy when it comes to PHP – which is geek for ‘oxygen’. But oh so much more if you need it. Which means ask me.
For a full rundown on what you can do with WordPress, I’d recommend you go check out my good buddy Dave’s site called Website in a Weekend.
That’s all from me for now. I hope you feel ready to grasp the bull by the horns and shake out a cracking WordPress-powered website.
[audio: http://www.davethackeray.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/how_to_blog-300310.mp3]
Until next time – have it large!
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