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Where to start with a WordPress site?

May 20, 2010 By 1 Comment
wordle website confusion

Everyone is telling you to get online, start promoting yourself, get into social media, write a blog, use WordPress, make a movie …

So where do you logically start?

Here’s a quick step-by-step process to getting yourself online now with WordPress.

1. Domain Name

Brainstorm potential names for your site. If you are already in business check the availability of a relevant domain name, if you are providing a service or are an author check if your own name is available.

Make sure you have plenty of ideas ready as your chosen domain name may not be available. If you want to get ‘yourname.com’ you may have to consider alternatives, like adding your middle initial.

TIPS: Don’t make your domain name too long or use words that are easily misspelled. Also consider how the words look together as a domain name not just individually.

2. Hosting

Since it’s your first site you can probably go for a cheap package not a full-on business package, unless you are planning on building a large site straight up and expecting to generate a lot of traffic.

TIPS: If finance is tight search for a hosting provider that allows monthly payments. If you intend to use WordPress (for a blog or to manage a website) find a host that includes an easy install process for WordPress.

I personally recommend Bluehost.com as it is a reasonable price and does a super fast and simple WordPress install. They also include the cost of your domain name in your package and there are no extra setup fees. On the downside you do have to pay for 12 months of hosting in advance. (For alternative hosts, see the hosting ads below.)

3. WordPress Install

I recommend WordPress (the self-hosted version) for blogs and websites alike. It is an excellent Content Management System (CMS) which enables you to easily manage your own website and/or blog.

There are two version of WordPress and people often get confused by them. You can create your own blog site at www.wordpress.com for free and your site will be named www.yourname.wordpress.com. The benefits are that it is completely free, a great way to try out blogging and WordPress, and, you can even purchase an add-on to use your own domain name. On the downside you can’t have ads on your site and your theme choices are limited. This is great for a beginner or ‘hobby blogger’.

If you are planning to be a ‘pro blogger’ or wish to use WordPress as your website CMS I recommend purchasing hosting and installing WordPress (the version you can download from www.wordpress.org and install on your site or install via your control panel).

This version is also free, you just need to have your own hosting package. The benefits are that your content is all hosted on your own webspace, you can basically do anything you want with it since WordPress is incredibly customisable, you can place ads on your site (not allowed at www.yourname.wordpress.com) and you can install any one of the thousands of themes available for WordPress.

TIP: To install WordPress with Bluehost login and click on the cPanel tab. Scroll down to the Services / Software section and click on the WordPress icon, then follow the prompts. Note: They have a video on how to install WordPress in the Help section.

4. Theme / Design

“Content is King!” they say and it’s true. If you have nothing worth reading people won’t visit or stay long on your site, but it’s also true that some people will be immediately turned off by your website design.

No matter what your aim is with your website it needs to look professionally designed and the great thing about WordPress is that there are thousands of professional looking themes (designs) out there that you can apply to your site in seconds.

You can opt for one of the free themes or pay for a premium theme. Again, if funds are limited, take the freebie now and upgrade to a pro theme later if you wish.

The important thing to consider when looking at themes is not just the overall look but the functionality as well. If you want to display info or a menu on the left, the theme you choose must incorporate or allow this option.

TIP: Don’t get too bogged down looking for the perfect theme for your site at this stage. You can spend literally hours or even days checking out themes (I know, I have!). Pick something that looks OK for now and you can always change it later after you have the basics in place.

5. Plugins

WordPress is infinitely customisable. Plugins are fabulous (and fun too!)

You can use plugins for practical things like contact forms, and for fun things like the Cumulus animated tag cloud I have used on my site (well, I think it adds a fun element!).

Search for plugins on the WordPress site or from the WordPress admin area > Plugins > Add New. Arrange where the plugins will be displayed on your site via > Appearance > Widgets

TIP: I suggest installing your theme before plugins because some themes include functionality that overlaps with plugins, eg. the theme I am using includes a contact form so I do not need to add one via a plugin.

6. Content

You can add your content now (or you may have chosen to do so prior to playing around with themes and plugins).

The key things to understand when you are adding content is the difference between Pages and Posts and how to use Categories and Tags.

Pages are generally used for static content, like the pages of a website. If you are using WordPress as CMS for your website and don’t want to include a blog section, use only pages. Note that pages can be designated as Parents (the default) and Children (hierarchical pages beneath the parent page). Parent pages will appear in your top level navigation and the hierarchical pages will appear below them.

Posts are generally used for blog posts. On this site I tend to think of my blog posts as ‘articles’, but you may choose to write more informal style blog posts or use them in a different way on your site.

Categories are generally used as the broad topics of your blog posts. This article (blog post) fits into several of my categories: How to, WordPress, Social Media. Categories help people find content on your site that is of interest to them, for example if someone clicked on the WordPress category they would see all the articles here on WordPress.

Tags are similar to categories and may also be used to find content of interest to your reader. Tags can be used like sub-topics or keywords in your posts. For example, this article is about WordPress (category) and I also talk about getting your domain name and hosting, using cumulus, themes, plugins, categories and tags (tags).

TIP: Categories and tags can be used in different ways to organise your blog and make your content more searchable. There’s a great article on Categories vs. Tags over at UsabilityPost.com

7. Social Media

And now to promote your site and interact with your audience you need to ‘get into’ social media!

“But it’s all so confusing” you say. Check out this list of social networks on Wikipedia – you will see there are a LOT and the list will continue to grow.

At this point in time it’s almost a given that you will be using Facebook and Twitter but they are not necessarily the right ones for you. You need to try to identify which networks your target audience is using and which ones you resonate with. Talk to your friends, family and associates and find out what their favourite social network is and why. Ask your clients what social networks they use. Check out the sites yourself and decide which ones resonate with you.

TIP: You don’t have to to do this right now. You can take time to concentrate on developing your site first and come back to social media later.

I hope something here has proved useful for you. Feel free to add questions or comments below.

wordle website confusion

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15 eBook Design Tips

May 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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The design of your eBook is equally as important as the content. A poorly designed eBook can result in a frustrated or disinterested reader so make sure you put as much thought and effort into the look of your eBook as the actual content.

Note: The following tips are arranged alphabetically, not in order of importance.

1. Bold

Use bold formatting to make phrases stand out – people scan online documents and if you want to make sure they read a specific section make sure you direct their attention to it in some way.

Beware of the overuse of bold though – if used too often it ceases to be a highlight and becomes commonplace.

2. Branding

If your eBook is produced for your company than it should include the company logo, contact information and other brand elements.

Don’t overlook the fact that you, as the author, are also a brand. Make sure you include an about the author section, with a portrait image and information about how to contact you, read more about you, purchase more of your books and how to connect with you on social networking sites.

3. Chapters

Unless your eBook is very short, break it up into sections, chapters and subsections if necessary.

See ‘chunking’ for more suggestions on breaking up your content.

4. Chunking

Just as on web pages it is important to chunk your information – break it up into easy to understand pieces. This means breaking up your paragraphs, using bullet points and number lists, subheadings, etc.

Make sure you chunk logically though – don’t just break a paragraph because it looks too long, only break it up at an appropriate point.

5. Colours

Use a colour scheme throughout your eBook.

Remember that eBooks are read on screen so they will be displayed in colour – use colour to make your headlines, pull quotes and features stand out but don’t get carried away and create a rainbow book (unless you are writing for children!).

6. Columns

Don’t use a DTP program newsletter layout for your eBook. Newsletter templates  usually have multiple columns and your reader will have to scroll down then back up to read your content. This is not appropriate for an eBook – think of it as more of a static webpage which will be read from top to bottom.

7. Contents List

If you are creating a PDF eBook a page numbered content list is appropriate. Using links to the chapters can also be useful.

If you are creating a publication for eBook reading devices such as the Kindle, page numbers should not be used as pages will be fluid.

8. Cover

This is the most important element of your eBook design and it usually isn’t actually part of the eBook at all!

The old maxim that ‘you can’t judge a book by it’s cover’ may be true, but when buying books people often do judge them by their cover and this is particularly so for eBooks.

You can create a simple 2D image with any image editing software, or you can create a 3D style image to represent your book. Beware of using an image that does not appropriately represent your eBook, eg. a short eBook with a cover image that makes it appear like a bulky tome.

Since the cover image can play quite a large role in influencing whether a reader will purchase your eBook or not, this may be the one area where you really should invest in a professional design if you want to get the best return on your investment.

9. Fonts

Use standard fonts available on both Mac and PC for the most reader friendly eBook.

Make sure you choose a font that does have italic and bold options for your body content, otherwise you will not be able to highlight words or phrases within the body text.

For the main body content choose a sans-serif font. San serif fonts are easier to read on screen – both on websites and in eBooks.

Serif fonts have been considered best for reading in print but you will find san serif fonts being used more and more in print publications now. You can still use serif fonts in your eBook if you wish but try to use them only for headings and pull quotes.

10. Images

Carefully consider each image you wish to use in your eBook:

Does it serve a purpose?

Does it help get your message across?

Is it an essential design element?

If the image has no purpose – delete it. You don’t want to distract your reader with extraneous information.

11. Italics

Italics are good for highlighting phrases or words; they are more subtle than bold

Use italics sparingly – don’t italicise whole paragraphs as this can make reading more difficult.

12. Links

Because eBooks are read online or on screen you can insert clickable links which can take your reader to other relevant websites or resources, or other pages in your eBook.

Be wary of how and where you insert external links. If you have them scattered throughout your content you risk distracting your readers – if you send them off to check something else out they may not come back to finish your eBook. Consider adding the links at the end of your book in a resource section.

When adding website links make sure you include the full URL in the text as well as the link – it may not look as neat as ‘see the Microsoft website for more details’, but it ensures that if your reader prints the eBook they can still use the link if they wish.

13. Themes

If you are creating your eBook with Microsoft Word or Publisher, or a similar product, don’t be tempted to use the in built generic page borders or themes. You don’t want someone to be able to look at your original eBook and immediately know exactly which software product you used to create it.

Your eBook is an original work and it should look original too. If you don’t have the skill or experience to create a unique design, contract out this part of your eBook production. It will be worth it to have a professionally designed eBook.

14. Underline

Do not use underline for anything except links!

You don’t want to confuse or frustrate your readers in any way.

15. White Space

Don’t be afraid of white space. A cluttered eBook will make reading difficult and may not hold the attention of your reader.



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