You should be using WordPress
After my most recent nagging about how you should be blogging, a few folks have asked what platform I recommend.
For those of you wanting to start a blog quickly, cheaply and on completely on your own, hop over to WordPress.com or Blogger. Sign up, find an available name, choose a theme and get crankin’. I think WordPress.com is better, but there are many who would disagree. They would be wrong. You’ll then have something like www.blogname.wordpress.com or www.blogname.blogspot.com, which is what I use for my Picalicious blog.
If you have a domain name (FlackRabbit.com, etc.) and want it turned into a blog, I recommend self hosted WordPress. I’ve used self hosted WordPress since 2006. FlackRabbit has known three different looks during this time. The most recent was unveiled a few weeks ago when hubby installed a new theme for me.
Not everyone is married to a Web designer, I understand that. The good news: once your theme is installed by a Web dude/gal, there are thousands of free plug-ins and widgets that give you every tool needed to customize the site yourself. Of course, I do seek out hubby’s guidance and troubleshooting from time-to-time, but a fair amount of FlackRabbit’s new look is a result of my tinkering. I’m so proud of me!
With WordPress, if you have one ounce of tech savvy you’ll be able to make your site interactive and attractive. Not to mention search engine relevant. Some helpful WordPress plug-ins and widgets I’m fond of include Tweetable (syncs my Twitter feed, allows me to update Twitter from my WordPress dashboard, installs TweetMeme), Social Media Page (lets me choose which social media icons to show/link to up there on the right), KB Advanced RSS (to pull in my Her Nashville blog posts) and the All in One SEO Pack.
Zemanta is also fabulous, but I’m having a hard time getting the plug-in to work, so I uninstalled it and am just using the Firefox extension. You’ll also notice that I’m running a few ads–by the way, what do you guys think about that?–I use Amazon Affiliate widgets (that’s the recommended reading box on the right) and LinkShare.com (iTunes) for those.
Fellow WordPress-ers, if you’ve got favorite plug-ins and widgets, share the luv in the comments. And happy blogging!
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I agree – we integrated a wordpress blog into our site recently.
How about the plugins that sync comments between facebook / twitter / wordpress so they all appear on your blog? I fiddled with those but haven’t had success yet – seems like it might be a cool tool.
Hey man! Nice seeing you here
I haven’t used that kind of widget, but I’ll go check it out. It does sound cool.
Sometimes, I find plug-ins and widgets I dig, but they mess up the dashboard and/or break my plug-ins page. Did the syncing comments do that to you? Or did it just not work?
.-= Margie´s last blog ..Digital flacks get more PR practice than you =-.
Hey Margie… my MindCartel site is in WordPress, and while it may be great for blogs, it kinda blows as a way to manage a general web site. I got talked into it by a WordPress junkie. Have you worked with Joomla? I’m kinda diggin’ that for some of my clients and want to convert my own site to it.
Hope all is well in DC… love ya!
TBONE! I miss you! Thanks for the comment here. I haven’t worked with Joomla myself, but I’ve worked with DruPal before and HATED that. Sure miss you and hope you are well! Love you, too, friend!