If you have been intimidated by the thought of installing a WordPress blog, think again.  WordPress’ new features unleash brand new powers to save your time and effort.

INSTALLING A BLOG

The fist thing you’ll want to do is to go to your site’s control panel, click the Fantastico icon, and let your server set up and install your blog.  Once the blog has been installed, you will want to go into your administrative panel, which is called a dashboard.  The dashboard allows you to update the blog software, add plugins, change the look of your blog and, of course, add content.

UPDATING THE BLOG SOFTWARE

Recent versions of the blogging software have allowed you to update the software with just one click within your dashboard, and to search, review and install plugins that will enhance the power of your WordPress blog.

HOW TO ADJUST THE APPEARANCE OF YOUR BLOG

This plugin capability has been enhanced in the June 2009 WordPress update.  The new WordPress Version 2.8 offers an outstanding and super easy to use theme feature that is similar to the plugin feature.  You simply specify the type of theme that you want; for instance, a 2 column blue and gold theme, click search and then preview the free themes that are available.  Select the theme that you like and WordPress will install it right from your dashboard.  In the old days, you would have to look at different themes from the WordPress or other sites, download the theme, unzip it, then ftp it into your blog’s content area. This time consuming task has been simplified with the new WordPress release.

After your theme has been installed, you can go to the edit page function and modify the php pages if you want.  The process is much easier with WordPress’ new color-coded theme editor.  The code display in the new WordPress platform is now numbered and colored, making editing your PHP and stylesheet pages much, much easier.

There are some awesome free themes available, including the magazine style themes that look like a professional publication. If you use these types of themes, you will be working with a plugin called Timthumb that will display your images as thumbnails on the front page and display larger versions within the blog post.  It is easy to work with this, but sometimes the documentation that comes with the WordPress theme provider is not very good.  At Not Guru, you can find a step-by-step tutorial, replete with screen shots, which show you how to work with magazine style WordPress themes.

WORDPRESS IS NOW FASTER

The new WordPress software gets even sweeter – they’ve tweaked the blogging platform so it runs a lot faster.

BLOGGING WILL IGNITE YOUR STAGNANT SITES

WordPress blogs, when updated frequently, are a fantastic search engine traffic magnet.  If they are updated on a consistent basis, new posts generally show up in the search engines within hours.  There is a way to make your indexing process even faster, and it will not cost you one single penny.  What you do is install what is called the SEO blog plugin.  WordPress’ plugin installation feature makes installing the blog traffic plugin a snap. In just a few minutes and a couple of mouse clicks, the zip file will be uploaded from your computer hard drive, unpacked, and fully installed.  Once installed, the plugin will tweak your blog, have you install other traffic-pulling plugins, and optimize the search engine capabilities of your blog.  It then gives you an SEO grade (like 77% or 80%).  Once you have installed the SEO plugin, you wil see a big difference in your blog’s performance in the search engines.

Blogging is a powerful way to drive traffic to your website and to keep a site up-to-date and indexed.  With the new WordPress platform, it has never been easier to install and maintain a blog.  Blog installation tips, computer help and other practical guides are provided daily at the Not Guru blog.

Tags: blogging, how to install wordpress, how to optimize your blog, how to tweak WordPress, seo, wordpress, WordPress plugins, WordPress themes