Blogger vs WordPress Blog

There are times you will decide that a blog post should be updated. It may be as simple as a couple of small changes, or it may be a bigger update. In either case, it's good to do it.

Why Should You Republish Your WordPress Blog Posts?

Let's hit up the why first because your motives matter.

There are two really good reasons to do this.

When people are searching for a solution, the last thing you want is for them to find your post—and your blog— for the very first time and discover that it has outdated information.

Google likes updated content if it's done right.

Did a mention that there is a third reason?

With a little extra work, you are not only helping your readers and the search engines, but you will in turn have a new post.

An Example of a Post I Am Going to Republish

I do this on the blog here for the very reasons I have mentioned. Now I'm not talking here about finding a way to save yourself some time and energy by not having to create new content. Because should be done just to older posts, not something you did six months ago.

I'll show you an example of one of my posts that I'm going republish. When I do a search for how to set up variable products in WooCommerce, you will see that one of my posts ranks pretty high on that. In fact, according to my Google Analytics,  it attracts pretty good traffic.

But I want to update this post for two reasons:

As you can see, this older post is about 2.5 years old.

Since recent updates of WooCommerce have been released since then, some changes have been made in how you set these up.

Both good reasons in my eyes.

How to Republish Your WordPress Post without Causing Any Problems

You will want to open the old post and make your changes. Again, if you are doing very slight modifications, you will simply update the post. But as I mentioned, there isa distinct benefit to republishing it as brand new content.

Now you will want to:

Click on the edit date.

Choose a new date and time for posting (this needs to be after the current day and time).

Click schedule.

If you want, you can also change the status back to draft, but it's best to get it scheduled so it's not offline for very long especially, if it's a high-ranking link.

Now, two more things to be careful about.

Your Permalink

Don't change this, especially if your page is already ranking in the search engines. Not even with a redirect.

And if you are using Yoast SEO, again, I highly recommend not changing any of your meta data down there. Now I have done some minor tweaks but if at all possible, I figure part of my high ranking is due to the content here, as is, and it's better left untouched in most cases.

Comments

The last piece , which wasn't mentioned in the video was the comments section. Your best bet will be to delete those, for a couple of reasons:

Comments dated before the post date will not only look weird, but will confuse your readers.

Your readers may also be confused if they read through the comments and something is referred to in the post that is no longer in it.

Depending on what you need to do to update a post, it may be take you 15-20 minutes, or a lot longer. In any case, update the small tweaks and republish. In the end, it will be good for everyone.

Source: How to Republish Your WordPress Blog Posts—and Why You Should

You must act as we cannot do this for you.

re: deleting sites

All sites are independent. What you do on one or to one has no impact on any other site. To delete a WordPress.COM hosted site you must be logged in as Admin under the exact same username account that registered the blog to navigate to Dashboard > Tools > Delete Site. The guide is here http://en.support.wordpress.com/delete-site/ note the alternatives provided there.

Prior to deletion warnings are issued. Deleted wordpress.COM blog URLs are not recycled, regardless of who registered and deleted them and the only exceptions are made are for URLs that were deleted 2 or more years ago. http://en.support.wordpress.com/recycling-blog-names/

https://wordpress.com/settings/delete-site/NAME_OF_BLOG.wordpress.com

*Replace "NAME_OF_BLOG" with the actual name of the blog in the URL above.

If you are not logged in under the correct WordPress.COM username account then clear your browser cache https://en.support.wordpress.com/browser-issues/#clearing-your-browser-cache and cookies https://en.support.wordpress.com/browser-issues/#clearing-wordpress-com-cookies prior to logging into another account

Source: Remove blog

When you want a CMS-powered website that's easy to work with, looks exactly the way you want, and with all the functionality you need, you've probably considered WordPress. Even amidst a crowded market of drag-and-drop site builders, WordPress remains a powerful option for more medium to large businesses that need more flexibility and functionality from their sites than Wix or Squarespace can offer.

Whether you're brand new to WordPress, updating an existing WordPress site, or simply engaging a WordPress developer to refresh your theme or add some extra functionality, going into it prepared is the best way to prevent scope creep and save everyone a lot of time. Doing your homework up front will also help you create a thorough brief so things go smoothly from start to finish.

To help you kick off your WordPress project, here are 10 things to nail down before you get started. Some will be helpful items to include in your brief while others are good for an initial discussion with a developer.

1. Determine your core goals for your site.

The first step to defining your project is to figure out what you need from your WordPress site. Is your WordPress site going to be a simple, responsive one-pager about your business? Is it going to be an online ecommerce store? A restaurant that needs reservations and menu pages? A blog site? Be sure you can easily summarize your business goals and objectives for your site.

The more you can provide up front, the less likely you are to run into roadblocks and go over time and budget. Establish what you are looking for the site to do then sketch out a sitemap—it will likely change, but it's a good starting point for the developer to flesh out your ideas and the functionality you need.

2. What specific, next-level functionality (if any) is mandatory to your site?

Be specific about the more complex things you want from your site, then let the developer make tech-related decisions about how to bring it to life. Being too vague about what you have in mind can result in functionality that doesn't meet your MVP or the decision to use custom coding or plugins that might not suit your needs and require revision.

Be prepared for the developer to come back with plenty of questions about functionality before things get kicked off. Also mention what pages and content you want to be able to update on your own. This could require extra custom coding like Advanced Custom Fields or the use of a visual editor like Beaver Builder.

3. Do you already have your hosting and domain name set up?

It's important to have your ducks in a row before launching your site. If you don't, be sure to include this requirement in your brief or job post. This will let the developer know that there will be some additional time required to acquire hosting, a domain name, and associated things like SSL certificates.

Research hosting providers ahead of time so you know what solution works best for you. Web hosting services will different features at different rates. Do you need a dedicated server or a shared server? How much file storage is needed? Do you need email through your hosting service? How much bandwidth will your site need? These are just a few things to consider. And remember: Choose both wisely. Your domain name is how all your customers and visitors will find you, and your hosting service will be what you rely on for a fast, reliable website.

4. Write a creative brief.

Beyond that simple sitemap, a good way to house all your assets and requirements is with a thorough creative brief. Your document may include:

Background about you, your company, or your products and services.

Deliverables the project will create like custom plugins or integrations.

Technical specs the developer should know.

A bit of context around your competitors—including sites that you like or don't like.

The target audience(s)

The project timeline—do you have a goal for launch?

The project budget—which will be shaped by the information included in the rest of this article. See How Much Does it Cost to Hire a WordPress Developer? for more help.

5. Prepare any related materials (copy, images, logos) ahead of time, if possible.

It can be difficult to start writing copy before the site is laid out, but waiting on site copy down the road can be a major bottleneck that holds up your launch. Write and edit site copy, menus, and page titles as soon as you have a wireframe for the pages within your site.

If you're not writing the copy yourself, connect your developer and your copywriter early on so they can collaborate to get it written asap.

Will you be providing an existing logo, imager, or illustrations, or does the developer need to work with your graphic designer? If you're including photos or other images, check to ensure they are the right size and resolution.

6. Start reviewing themes to narrow down what you like and what you need.

There are thousands upon thousands of themes to choose from—many of which have everything you want right out of the box. Browse by category and bookmark the ones you like best. Do you need responsive design? A mobile-first theme?

Remember: You can change almost anything about a theme, so if you like specific things about one and not about another, know it's possible to change things around—even fonts and colors.

7. Create a brand style guide.

Do you use a certain font, color scheme, or imagery in your marketing materials? If you don't have a brand style guide, this is a great way to ensure consistency across all your touch points, whether those are printed materials like menus and brochures, advertising, or the voice of your social channels.

Once you've picked a theme, you're going to want to make it look like your own. This is where providing style guide will make things much easier for the developer, giving them the color palette, design parameters, and logo use guidelines they'll need.

8. Consider analytics and SEO support.

Many developers build this into their WordPress development, but it's something worth explicitly mentioning up front if you need it. Setting up Google Analytics tools, creating an XML sitemap, adding in Open Graph data, and any additional SEO support (e.g., the Yoast plugin) can be on your to-do list.

9. Get familiar with plugins and API integrations.

If you're new to plugins, take a spin around the WordPress plugins directory. There are some basics you should definitely install on your site—JetPack, Yoast SEO, WP SuperCache, and the Akismet spam filter—as well as more specific, tailored plugins. Search by category and get familiar with what's out there.

10. Do you need any training on how to use WordPress?

This might seem obvious, but it's a big one. If you've never used WordPress, while the dashboard is very intuitive, many users have difficulty updating content, "breaking" themes or inadvertently changing formatting that causes the design to look different than it was delivered. See about setting up a video call to have the developer walk you through the back-end of your site so you know how to work within your own build once they're finished.

If you've added more complex customization, your developer might opt to use Custom Fields or Advanced Custom Fields to give you an easier way to add or edit content.

Ready to get started?

Now that you've laid out all the above, it's time to engage a skilled WordPress developer to kick off your project. Remember, to maximize the amazing customizability you can get from WordPress, it's important to set expectations up front, ask your developer plenty of questions, and be open to new ideas.

Author: Carey Wodehouse

Carey Wodehouse is an IT/development content writer at Upwork who is dedicated to making the complex world of web development a little easier to navigate.  Residing in Richmond, VA, Carey has worked for clients ranging from online retailers and global market research firms to financial corporations.… View full profile ›

Source: 10 Things to Do Before Kicking Off Your WordPress Project

When it comes to content management system or CMS incorporated with ecommerce website, it does has many benefits  for the users. Using CMS, the user can control the site's content quite easily and fast, and can also update the inventory on the fly as well as can do basic administrative tasks like optimizing SEO. The user can also integrate payment options which can be handled without having extensive knowledge of programming.

Magento is better than WordPress

Here, we will discuss two platforms on the complex side of CMS spectrum, i.e., Magento and WordPress

Here, we will discuss two important platforms on CMS spectrum: WordPress and Magento. However, these two platforms are in separate leagues. In case of WordPress, plugins like Woo Commerce and EasyCart are lightweight which can be added on a WordPress site, while Magento is a completely stand-alone platform comprised of complex architecture. So, for most Magento development services, these characteristics make it ideal for a complex e-commerce website development with CMS.

Mentioned below are the main advantages of Magento and WordPress along with their differences.

Advantages of Magento

It provides great experience for users during browsing by the means of reviews and many other features. It also comes with great feature of product filtering.

With discounts and promotions on the table, Magento provides impeccable services with its Marketing add-ons. It also provides good SEO support which improves the searchability of the store.

The customers can also go through review section, track their orders as well as shipments, and check order history too.

Advantages of WordPress

Almost all third-party add-on which you require can be found in a plugin of WordPress. Few of them are the best SEO present in the market. WordPress is well crafted which in turn makes its SEO plugins perform well whenever they are used in conjunction.

When it comes to the upgrading of the code and databases, they can be done seamlessly in the background. It is quite easier and cheaper than Magento which is both costlier and problematic. This can be quite tricky for any Magento development company which wishes to bring down the project cost as well as the complexity of it.

Magento vs. WordPress

Whenever you start the development process, the obvious contrast between Magento and WordPress will appear. Those who have worked on WordPress will find Magentocomplex to learn owing to terminology used and the applications.

Few of these differences are mentioned below

Intuitive Dashboard –

Magento's UI/UX remains to be the major source of client complaints and some have found that it requires constant help from the developer. However, in the case of WordPress, it is quite user-friendly, and the user will hardly require any support. It is important for magento ecommerce developer to get used to of this dashboard in order to create custom applications for better visibility and usability for the client.

Templates –

When we talk about WordPress, it is formed of multiple pages as well as posts. With the use of a fixed set of functions coupled with loops, the template files can be developed in order to call upon both the post as well as page content.

Magento does have similar hand functions, but where actions can be taken via few clicks in WordPress, the same actions can be performed in better programmatic fashion with the help of Magento best practices. Magento development services can base their applications on these templates for creating better applications.

CMS Static Blocks

When it comes to Magneto, in terms of CMS Static Blocks, they function similar toamalgation of both posts as well as widgets present in WordPress. They are quite an important requirement for placing text and images on any CMS page or a template. It is in tandem with widgets present WordPress, managing both the structural elements as well as design in any template.

The important distinction is that the programming within WordPress is entirely structured on a group of PHP scripts whereas Magento is based on an object-oriented concept which involves numerous files as well as folders. In Magento, several files, as well as folders, have a similar name while in WordPress, it has a unique naming convention and almost all files are contained in the same folder. So, it is easier for Magento ecommerce developer to organize the files and folders when compared to the developer using WordPress.

Conclusion –

So, when it comes to drawing comparison between these two platforms, it comes down to two important aspects: the skill level of the user and the size and complexity of the store. WordPress is easier to technologically easy to learn and use. Magento does have a learning curve which is relatively steep. However, it comes with amazing features in order to handle more complex stores.

Endive Software

An innovative, quick-witted and humble professional with rigorous experience of 19 years in development and execution of market hunting strategies and globally leading operations, that have steered the organisation from a startup to the credible IT business partner. The exposure to the vast scale of industries has leveraged the understanding of diverse needs of non-IT businesses and the role of IT solutions in boosting sales and revenue, grasping new opportunities, meeting the client's demands, working over operational metrics and adaptation with technical progression.

Latest posts by Endive Software (see all)
Source: Magento vs. WordPress: Difference between two CMS

This is wordpress.COM support. We do not provide support for local installs of wordpress.ORG software, or for wordpress.ORG software installs on paid hosting, linked to wordpress.COM accounts with the Jetpack plugin so they display on the My Sites wordpress.com account page.

WordPress.COM and WordPress.ORG are completely separate and have different username accounts, logins, features, run different versions of some themes with the same names, and have separate support documentation and separate support forums. Read the differences here http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

wordpress.org supportThe wordpress.ORG support forum is at http://wordpress.org/support. The wordpress.ORG login link is here https://login.wordpress.org/ If you do not have an account yet then click Create an account https://login.wordpress.org/register/ and if you have lost an account password click Lost password? https://login.wordpress.org/lostpassword/WordPress.org support docs are at https://codex.wordpress.org/Main_PageSee also https://apps.wordpress.org/support/ for app support.

Jetpack supportSome Jetpack solutions are here http://jetpack.com/support/Others are in the Jetpack support forum at WordPress.orghttp://wordpress.org/support/plugin/jetpackHowever, if help cannot be found at either one then they can file a Jetpack support ticket here > http://en.support.wordpress.com/contact/?jetpack=needs-service

Source: accessing the back end of blog

Today, I'm continuing my series about reviving your old blog posts. In the first two steps, we took a look at your stats and chose the five most popular with your audience to revive. Now, it is time to work on those posts

Remember, there are two different ways you can tackle this. You can work in batches, doing step one for a couple of blog posts, then move on to step two etc. Or you can start with one old post and work on it from start to finish. Pick whichever method works best for you. Make a plan and then work your plan.

Step 3 – Update Your Content

We've done the planning and figured out what blog posts need updating. Now it's time to get to work. The first thing we'll focus on is the content. Start by reading through your blog post.

Is the content still valid?

Have some things changed?

Make note of any major changes you need to make to what you've written in the past.

I find it helpful to grab a notebook and pen or open a word document and jot down what changes I need to make. You can also use the spreadsheet you downloaded in the introduction.

You may find the content is pretty evergreen and not many needs to be fixed. And other times, there's a lot of rewriting to do. The key is to have a plan and then just sit down and rework the post.

Something else worth thinking about is if you have learned something new to share since you first wrote the post. If so, you can either just rewrite the post, or write an update section to the post. Depending on what makes the most sense, you can add it to the top or the bottom of the post.

Look at the comments the post has gotten since you first published it.

Last but not least, take a look at the comments the post has gotten since you first published it. Be sure to look at comments posted not only on your website but on your social media platforms. Are there any great tips or questions your readers have shared? If so, you may want to highlight them within the updated post. (Be sure to credit any direct quotes you use.)

Recommended for You

Webcast, August 29th: How to 8x Your SEO Traffic With These 3 Power Hacks

Make your changes, do your re-writing and save your work.

Go get some coffee, go for a walk or work on something else for a little while. Then come back and read over your rewritten post. It's time to do a little editing to make sure no spelling errors snuck in and that everything makes sense and flows well.

I highly recommend letting someone else proofread your content as well. If you're like me, your brain sometimes reads what it THINKS is there whether or not it's actually on the page. My proofreader saves me every day! Don't use the excuse, "I'm a human, my readers will understand." They might, however, typos in your content result in reduced credibility, unsubscribes and lost revenue. If you absolutely cannot get someone else to proofread your work, read to yourself out loud and use Grammerly.

A Word of Caution about Saving Changes

Before we move on, let's talk about saving the changes you are making. If you are working in WordPress or other blogging software, once you hit save, the changes will go live on your website.

If you want a chance to go back and edit first or finish making all the changes we will talk about in the next few steps, do your rewriting in a word document or a new WordPress draft and paste it in when you're ready to publish. Or set the post to "Draft" and then Publish it after all updating is complete.

However, you choose to do this, be sure to save frequently so you don't lose any of your hard work.

In the next part of this series, you will learn how you can monetize your blog posts. Even if the primary goal of your blog is not to provide income, don't miss part 4. You may find some ways to make a few dollars that you can implement easily without looking like a billboard.

Author: Karen Repoli

Karen Repoli, is a successful entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in office management, internet marketing, and business systems. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of NC, Greensboro and is VACertified. Karen launched her company, HIT Virtual Assistants in 2007. As a professional team including… View full profile ›

Source: Reviving Your Old Blog Posts (Part 3) – Update Your Content

Blogging is fun and fulfilling as it's not only a good hobby, but also a good source of income. If you are a serious blogger, you will need a platform of your own. You will also need a website, a host, and a domain name. In designing your own website or blog, you should use a WordPress CMS platform because it can help you create a site with lots of features to choose from, depending on your preferences.

Moreover, WordPress has a very large community in which you can find lots of tips and tricks about blogging. Although beginners may find it too technical to deal with, the knowledge base is always available online for free. If you want to build a better blog, here are five WordPress plugins and technical tips you should try.

1. Akismet

Akismet is one of the most popular plugins WordPress bloggers use. In fact, most blogs internet users read online use this plugin. Every blog usually has a comments section. What Akismet does is scan and filter all comments. It will tell you whether or not a comment is a spam.

What's the issue with spam comments? To give you an idea, spam comments can ruin the ranking of your blog. Algorithms can detect spam comments, which can make your blog be interpreted by a search algorithm to be of low quality. You are probably well aware of the fact that low-quality blogs are not good for SEO and are not well-seen by Google.

This is why some bloggers manually remove every spam comment they see. However, this task is daunting, so they resort to using a plugin that will do the job. Akismet is one of the best plugins you can use for that purpose. Bloggers can try this tool for free or purchase the premium version.

2. Yoast SEO

Since SEO is crucial in getting more traffic to a blog, bloggers apply SEO strategies to help them rank in the search engine ranking page (SERP). Some strategies include creating high-quality content, on-page SEO, and keyword optimization. The problem is that it's difficult to determine how effective such strategies are. Although analytics may tell you whether or not your SEO campaign is gaining momentum, you need to have a microscopic method to see if your blog is SEO-friendly.

If you are looking for the ultimate WordPress plugins and technical-tips about SEO, you might be thinking of technical hacks that can get you to the top of SERP. Yoast SEO will allow you to reach the top of the list by telling you if your content needs improvement or if some of the components are bad for SEO. It will guide you through the entire process of getting the attention of the internet.

However, using Yoast SEO doesn't mean your blog will automatically be at the top of SERP. You will still have to work hard for it. What this tool will do is serve as your mentor and tell whether or not your blog is on the right track. By using Yoast SEO, you will no longer be clueless about your optimization efforts.

3. Google XML Sitemaps

Just because you launch a site or a blog doesn't mean it will be seen in search results. Keep in mind that your site is still invisible to the eyes of Google's search unless it is indexed. Therefore, your blog must be indexed first before you work hard to make it rank.

In some free blogging platforms like Blogger and Weebly, you will have to register your blog to Google search by sending your own sitemap. You can generate it by using your site's URL plus the required XML URL. This can be done by opening a Google Webmaster account. After signing up, you should add a site and verify it. After verification, you can send your XML sitemap.

This process is not actually difficult, but it consumes a lot of time. Sometimes, you need to repeat the process if you make some mistakes during the process. The good news is that WordPress users don't have to do this. With the help of Google XML Sitemaps plugin, your blog will automatically be indexed by Google search.

4. BJ Lazy Load

You have most likely encountered blogs with various types of images that take too long to load. As a user, this is pretty annoying, especially if you are performing a time-sensitive search. From the standpoint of a blogger, a blog that loads very slowly can increase its bounce rate, which may reduce the rank of your blog.

However, images are sometimes very important for a blog. To solve the problem of slow loading, WordPress bloggers use BJ Lazy Load. This tool enables every blog to load faster without having to remove the (high-resolution) images on it.

5. WP-Optimize

Your WordPress database needs to be cleaned to get rid of bugs and malware. There are several ways to clean your WordPress database, but some of them are too technical and require too much effort and time to be performed by novice users.

Bloggers can clean their WordPress database with ease and convenience using the WP-Optimize plugin. This tool can also be used to secure a website, as optimization also refers to security. It can even be adapted to secure a login process such as a Disney hub login.

Nowadays, blogging is no longer limited to hobbyists. Companies and digital marketers invest huge amounts of money into running their own blogs. Apparently, the competition among bloggers is getting tougher. This is why every blogger strives to build a better blog by using various notable WordPress plugins. The above plugins are some of the most popular and useful ones, so do not hesitate to use them accordingly if you are ever in need of help with getting your blog recognized by hundreds of internet searchers.

Topics:

wordpress ,writers zone ,blogging ,plugins

Source: Five WordPress Plugins and Technical Tips to Build a Better Blog

In the Hemingway description it shows that on regular text posts that have images within them, on the front page the image shows up in the truncated excerpt, but it won't work on mine. Help?

The blog I need help with is jowithemillenial.wordpress.com.

Source: Blog post images don't appear on Hemingway front page?

A list of considerations you should make before you start a blog in 2017.

A website without a blog is essentially a home without windows. At the minimum, it is an under-lit home that allows very little light in. It's a simple analogy, really.

People have questions regarding your industry, whether it's b2b or b2c. They search for answers. Your blog post may just be what they find – your window. You have the ability to lure customers in with a limitless amount of valuable content.

This creates an audience for your business you otherwise would never have. This allows you to publish work that establishes you as an expert, and works to build trust between you and your reader.

I still see businesses that haven't yet started blogging. While the competition is a little more fierce now, it's not too late. Below are some considerations you should make before you start a blog.

Before You Start a Blog, Platform Strategies All That Hype About WordPress, That's Real

A self-hosted WordPress.org platform is really the way to go for your blog in 2017. With this set up, you will have complete branding control and design flexibility. You will have the ability to create a search (SEO) strategy that can truly benefit your business.

Other blog platforms like Blogger and Tumblr, or web-building platforms like Wix, limit your ability to market your own website or blog – making it virtually impossible to see the full benefit of your efforts.

More than a quarter of the web is built using WordPress, and that number continues to grow. That's because of the freedom and flexibility that comes with having full control over your marketing.

On-Site Blogging

As blogging came into form, many businesses used their static websites to link out to their off-site blog. The problem with this strategy is they didn't really reap the benefits of their strategy. It becomes harder to draw readers from their blog into their website, and have full control over the experience they created for their audience.

The alternative to that is the creation of an on-site blog. This allows you to see the full benefits from your search and marketing strategies. If you are attracting new readers through your posts, those readers will be spending time directly on your website.

Make it Mobile Friendly

There are plenty of mobile friendly, or responsive, blog themes available through WordPress. Mobile traffic is rivaling desktop traffic. There can also be search engine penalties at play for blogs that aren't mobile friendly. A mobile friendly site makes consuming content easier for your audience.

A Measured Effort

Your blog should be full of experiments. It should be a series of trial and error efforts to reach the largest number of people possible. So, the question becomes, how do you know it's working? The answer: Google Analytics.

Analytics will show you how many visitors and page views you've had on your site. It will show you what posts are the most popular, and what sites your traffic came from. It'll show you what pages traffic drops off from, as well.

Google Analytics can give you a roadmap for improvement if you know how to use it right. It's hard to know what to improve if you're not measuring the results of your efforts.

Ah, the Search Engines

When you use WordPress, you can combine it with a plugin such as Yoast to help your search engine efforts. Yoast will tell you all the places that your content needs to be tweaked or improved in order to curry favor with the search engines.

Even if you know what you're doing when it comes to optimization, Yoast can help make sure you're not leaving items off your checklist before you hit publish. It's a good tool to add to your platform.

Those are some of the platform strategies to consider before you start a blog in 2017. Incorporating these tools and resources can help you succeed in growing your platform. But there is a considerable amount of competition out there these days. What you publish matters just as much as how you publish it.

Before You Start a Blog, Editorial Strategies Knowing What You Want to Say

Having a key message is important to consider before you start a blog. Do a quick Google search. There's probably someone out there writing within your industry. The competition is likely fairly steep.

Here are a few questions to consider:

What makes you different?

Why should people read your blog and not someone else's?

Why should people buy from you?

These questions are better to consider now, than as you sit down and begin staring at a blank computer screen. Write about what makes you different. As an example, I've written about what business owners, marketers or bloggers can learn from journalists.

As you write your content, try to find your unique angle and run with it. This unique angle will provide clarity to the above questions and help drive the direction of your content.

Finding Your Voice

In a similar manner, it's always good to define your voice, and the voice of your business. This isn't something that will emerge as you first start writing. It can take several posts before it begins to emerge.

Recommended for You

Webcast, August 29th: How to 8x Your SEO Traffic With These 3 Power Hacks

Consider your industry. Someone in corporate accounting will likely use a different voice than someone trying to sell surfboards. However, it's also important to remain authentic. Talk to a reader of your blog the same way you would address a potential customer that you were drinking coffee with.

There is a significant difference between formal and professional. Most businesses don't have to be formal, but they all need to be professional.

Incorporating Your Personal Brand

I'm a freelance copywriter, but I'm a lot more than that. I'm a parent. I'm a former journalist. I love playing with our dog, and I am developing a growing obsession with all things technology.

These things creep into my writing. My son and our dog were featured in my book. I'm reading books that range from industry-specific non-fiction, to novels to collections of essays. I've tinkered with ideas on how to incorporate these widespread ideas into my writing.

Social media can always use a bit more of a human touch. Your blog can always use a bit more of a human touch. To be honest, this is a crucial area of blogging, and one that I've struggled to master. We are all complex individuals that are more than the individual roles we play. The more we are able to let our worlds collide, the better.

When perspective clients know you're obsessed with Cubs baseball, it can make for fun small talk. Or maybe they've seen pictures of my adorable dog. That's fun to talk about too. These are the things that make your post different than the previous search results your reader has been through.

Developing Blog Ideas

Ideas come from everywhere. Simply thinking about what makes you different can drive ideas. But also, what are you passionate about? What do you want people to know about your industry?

These are important questions, too. It's important to read and consume as much information as you can, both inside and outside your industry. This gathering of information can help drive your ideas. Your blogging efforts will only be as strong as the ideas that you develop.

Before you start a blog, try writing down 10 post ideas. This can start as a guiding list, but it will also serve as an indication of how much material there is for you to go on. Maybe you need to broaden the scope of your content. As you start to publish more posts, it's always good to have an organized, running list of ideas. Speaking of…

Using an Editorial Calendar

Did you ever wonder how newspapers, magazines and websites keep their projects straight? Some of these organizations are publishing dozens of stories on a daily basis. The effort is staggering. They use an editorial calendar.

It's simply a list of which posts go on what days. That's it. But it can help you coordinate your blogging efforts with your larger marketing efforts. It can help you align your blogging with seasonal marketing.

On the most practical level, it helps you organize, and it helps as a layer of accountability by incorporating deadlines.

Frequency, Length

Blogging is about finding your delicate balance, and executing on what works for you. The frequency should be a balance between the need to stay top of mind with your audience, and producing quality material that enriches your relationship with your audience. Some mixture between once a month and once a week can be right for most businesses.

I had an editor one time who told me that the story should dictate the length. This is excellent advice. It's much easier to read a thousand-word post discussing what type of car you should buy, than what type of bubble gum. So the nature of your business and your content should come into play.

That being said, the minimum length for Google to index your content is around 300 words. Google is also putting a premium on longer content at the moment. You may also want to use your analytics package to determine whether longer posts or shorter posts are driving more traffic or sales for you, and adjust accordingly.

Visual Content

Blog posts need compelling pictures. People are more likely to read online content that is visually friendly. Finding these pictures is probably more complicated than it should be.

There are plenty of free stock photo sites such as freeimages.com, Unsplash, or Pixabay. You'll want to research the licensing before using a photo to make sure that they are free for your usage, and don't require attribution.

Laying your post out in a visually friendly manner helps readers more easily consume your content:

Shorter paragraphs

Subheads

Lists

Multiple image

Conclusion

Keep at it. Keep writing. Keep trying. The competition is steep, and it can take a little while to figure out what works, as you continue with the writing process.

Keep these considerations in mind before you start a blog. You can do things to write and promote your blog more efficiently. Of course, hiring a freelance marketing writer is always an option as well.

Source: Before You Start a Blog (The 2017 Edition)

Hi,

I have added this plugin (https://businessdirectoryplugin.com/) to the Sela theme on wordpress.com that I have designed my whole site around and there is a theme conflict. I have spent all day looking for other themes that will work, but the same problem happens on many other themes (Goran, Forefront, Dara, Edin etc) that suit what I need otherwise.Is there any code that might get around this as it must be the design of these themes? Or is there a way that I can contact the designers of the theme (Automattic) to see f they can fix it. I have contacted the plug-in support and they say to contact the theme developer, although I have just sent a further e-mail explaining that it is happening with many themes.Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.Thank you in advance.

The blog I need help with is horsleyhub.com.

Source: Business directory plug-in not compatible with themes on wordpress.com

Hi there,

I will try to help you with this. I see you wish to display all the posts under sub-headers of Blog menu and not on Home Page. You can achieve this by setting a static front page.

- Create new page for Home- Go to My Sites > Themes > Customise > Static Front Page- Select A static page radio button- From Front page dropdown select the homepage- Click Save&PublishThis will set newly created page as static page for Home.

Follow this tutorial for better understandinghttps://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/front-page/

I want the 'blog' header in the menu, but not have it be a live page

You can do this by adding a custom link for Blog and then pointing it nowhere.

- Go to My Site > Themes > Customize > Menus- Select the Primary Menu- Click on Add Items- Select Custom Links- Enter '#' for URL- Enter 'Blog' for Link Text- Click on Reorder (or Drag and Drop)- Reorder Blog above sub-header menus- Click Save&PublishThis will add Blog menu with sub-menus linked to posts. Also, your Blog won't point to any page.

Also, watch the tutorial for more clarity on custom menus:https://en.support.wordpress.com/menus/

Hope this helps!

Source: Blog page

Being a business owner, you only want the best for your site. However, if there's one thing you should expect from transitioning your business online, it's that you are sure to make mistakes along the way. Errors aren't necessarily bad – it's how you recover from those mistakes that separate the great from the rest.

That's why we at Bloggingpro provide you the best possible resources on how you can build a winning blog that will put your business at the top. One of the many tips we've shared over the years is to launch your website or blog on WordPress.It's one of the most robust and flexible website platforms out there to help you supercharge your online business.

But like I said, even if you do your research, you can't help but still make errors when developing and building your WordPress site. Despite their inevitability, mistakes will help you become better at managing your business online. After all, if building a website is easy, then everybody would be doing it.

At the same time, there are mistakes that you can easily side-step so you don't have to worry about the long-term problems they will cause. This said, below are the mistakes you should avoid at all cost:

1. Choosing the wrong hosting platform

Depending on your goal, you need to be able to determine which hosting platform will work for you best. The foundation of your site equals to your platform, meaning, what platform you will choose will be how your website is going to be for the rest of its time.

Apart from your site, you need to avail hosting services so that other users will be able to view your site smoothly. There have been issues about using free hosts, that's why it's always better to use WordPress hosting providers that have already been tagged as one of the best.

2. Not updating WordPress

The team behind WordPress constantly try to develop an even better version of it everytime. This means that ignoring WordPress updates can lead to your site to be vulnerable to hackers that are always on the loose. People think that new versions of their WordPress can break their site, however, if your plugins and themes are coded the right way, your WordPress site will never break.

3. Forgetting to install Google Analytics

Tracking the visitors on your site using Google Analytics is a must especially if you want to view the insights about where they are coming from, what do they visit, and for how long are they staying on your site. Without these stats, you are clueless on determining whether or not your efforts in building and promoting your blog are already enough. Pair it up with Google Adwords, and you'll be taking your traffic stats up in no time!

If you're unsure, have a look at Google Adwords helpline to get you started.

4. Using an inappropriate theme

Obviously, not all themes are the same. Some are for business, some are for freelancers' portfolios, and others are for photographers who only want to showcase their photos. Meaning, what industry you are in should define what would be the best theme to use. Your theme is going to be the face of your brand. You wouldn't want to be seen as an ugly, cluttered, and a mess of a website.

5. Not having a contact form

With a contact form already on your site, your visitors won't have to open their email software. You want your them to be able to contact you quickly. Install a plugin like Contact Form 7 where you can customize the form to your liking.

6.  Not installing a caching plug-in

Make sure that your site speed is up to the best standard. Take your site speed seriously because even a more than a loading time of 7 seconds is a chance for your visitor to bounce. Not only does a slow site hinders a good user experience, but it also pushes your rank on Google down. While there are many ways to speed up your website, installing a caching plugin is still more efficient. Two of the most powerful and free plugins that you can choose from are W3 Total Cache and WP Rocket.

7. Forgetting to create a backup

When something goes wrong, having a backup could save you loads of headaches. Blogs, especially new ones, may be prone to hackers and security attackers. You'd be happy that you created a backup in case something went wrong down the line. In most primary cases, accidentally deleting a post won't be such a heartache because of you backing up your files regularly.

These given mistakes can cost you to make or break or your site even at the start of its creation. Not only an enormous amount of your time and effort is wasted, but there's also money involved. What we mentioned are mistakes that can be prevented when taken into consideration carefully.

Related posts:

5 WordPress-Friendly Internet Marketing Tools You Need

Best Email Subscription Plugins for WordPress

Author: Christopher Jan Benitez

Content marketer during the day. Heavy sleeper at night. Dreams of non-existent brass rings. Writer by trade. Pro wrestling fan by choice (It's still real to me, damnit!). Family man all the time.

Source: 7 WordPress Mistakes that You Can't Afford for Your Blog

You are welcome. I am visually challenged but I did not want to suggest that you get an upgrade just to get live chat support, because it still comes down to the fact that there are fewer Staff working on weekends. Staff will definitely help you when they can, as well as, every time you post a thread if you state you are blind in the thread.

Source: Help setting up page for blog!

Ink Drop is a fresh and responsive WordPress minimal portfolio design Theme from OboxThemes developer club. This theme would be great to fit for freelancer designers/blog / portfolio/business hybrid. It can be used for all kind of small and large-scale industry web designs. Ink Drop WordPress Theme is fully designed with OCMX framework Gallery functionality, to multiple page templates and different home page layouts have been thrown into this theme.

Unique Portfolio / Gallery Section:

Ink Drop WordPress Theme is specially designed for portfolio lovers to showcase their personal work, arts, photography or travel photos, so it has been particularly built-in with portfolio section with upload multiple images to one portfolio item, 8 different portfolio page layouts to suit designs of any shape and size that will help you to create different type of portfolio galleries, add a title, descriptions and external links.

Portfolio & Blogging Integration:

Even you can create a perfect blogging environment to update daily news about your businesses, add videos or images to posts, included social sharing buttons to Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Also, you will see the default WordPress commenting system or a popular plugin integration features. It will help you to built portfolio section & showcase, categorize and share your best work.

The homepage is full and fully customized with widgets and element section to display desired information. Check out the additional features and demo screen shot below:

Features of Ink Drop WordPress Theme:

Responsive and mobile ready!

SEO optimised

Best suit for freelancers, portfolio workers, pro bloggers & small business websites!

OCMX Theme Settings panel

Video & image resizing

oEmbed functionality

Self-hosted videos

Google fonts collection

Translate it into any language

Widgets pre-built – Blog list, Popular posts, Search, Facebook Like Box, Recent comments, Twitter stream

Ajax Comments

Automatic Image Resizing

Cross Browser Compatible

Layered image files (Fireworks & Photoshop)

Editable CSS files

Friendly Support

And much more…

You May Also Like!

Source: Ink Drop WordPress Theme for Freelance Designers

Even the best content runs into trouble when the blog it's on is so ugly that readers leave before giving it a chance.

The good news is that there are lots of ways we can spruce up our blogs in order to make them more appealing, effective and engaging by taking advantage of plugins, tools and some little tricks of the trade.

It's amazing what a few cosmetic changes can do for your blog's performance and your readers' satisfaction.

Oh, and make sure you read to the end if you're feeling really brave!

If your blog is hosted on WordPress you'll probably find this list is a bit more tailored to you.

That being said, I've tried to include some other more general tips that apply to any blog, regardless of where it is hosted.

1. Change your font to a deliberate typographical style

I'm always a little bit surprised at how many bloggers use ugly fonts that are difficult to read. After all, the point of a blog is its content and, as such, we should make sure at least that looks good.

While I regularly fluctuate between loving and hating the font here on Blog Tyrant, I do try to listen to feedback and observe trends about the size and style of the text to ensure that it is something readers enjoy and find easy to look at.

Typography is more than just the font – it's the way you match it to other colors and styles on your site, and how all of those things relate to your brand as a whole.

My friends over at Reliable PSD put together an amazing collection of Google Font pairings that let you look at how certain fonts match with each other to create a different look and vibe.

I highly recommend spending some time scrolling through them and seeing whether your font needs to be change in order to make your content more readable, and to make your brand more memorable. This is a very basic but often overlook part of a beautiful blog.

2. Find or make consistent images and photos

If you've been reading Blog Tyrant for a while you'll know that we've been transitioning to a little character that finds himself in certain situations.

While the evolution of that style hasn't been 100% deliberate, the goal was to move away from the "couch photo" that used to be on the homepage – it was effective as a branding tool but difficult to incorporate into the graphics of each week's post.

The images that you use on your blog are so important – using the wrong style or type can have bad consequences for readership and, in some cases, even cause you legal issues if you use a photo that you're not supposed to.

As we talked about in our guide on finding images for your blog a few times, the best thing to do is create your own images or take your own photos because it is original content that is appreciated by Google from an SEO point of view, and readers from an engagement point of view.

It's important that your images and photos all have a consistent feel to them – it's not just about having great quality ones. The idea is that it enhances your text, but also helps people to recognize your brand as soon as they see it.

Head over to a site like 99Designs and hold a contest to see if you can find a visual artists or graphic designer that might be able to help you come up with something that you use again and again.

Or, if you're a D-I-Y kind of a person, consider learning a bit of Photoshop or at least get an app like Word Swag that lets you do something interesting things with text and images.

3. Hire a designer to bring it all together

If you want to take the second point a little bit further, you can hire a designer to help you create a look and brand that brings all of your goals together.

One of my favorite stories about this process was written up by Pat Flynn when he redesigned his already very popular blog – always a nerve-wracking event because you don't want to ruin anything.

I really love this post because it shows you how much time and care he and his designer put into figuring out what would work. It was clear he didn't just want a nice design, he wanted something that looked good and also functioned effectively as a marketing tool, hence the heat map image above.

This process would not have been cheap. That being said, the potential money your blog could make by having a more effective design could make the costs worthwhile in no time at all. As always, weigh it up with your accountant (or spouse!) and make a plan.

4. Embed content to make it more interactive

Another simple tip to make your blog more beautiful and effective is to find ways to embed content into your posts as opposed to just taking screen shots or using some other lower quality solution.

For example, Twitter allows you to embed Tweets so as to have it appear in your post but also still function as it would on Twitter in terms of getting likes, retweets, etc.

This is often a good idea because it makes your blog more interactive and engaging, and also is usually optimized by the original site for all different devices.

You'll find this type of function on Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, and many more sites, and often you can change the size and a lot of the settings that you blog uses. You can also use plugins like Code Embed which allows you to put different snippets of code in your WordPress posts.

5. Remove as much stuff as is possible and effective

We talk about this quite a lot, but so many bloggers clog up their sidebars and footers and headers with stuff that doesn't need to be there and only detracts from the main event – the content.

For example, in this post on building a user friendly blog and this one on not using ads on your blog we talk about how too much clutter can actually prevent people from taking an action. Too much choice can be paralyzing.

This all comes back to your blogging strategy and the goals you have for your blog. There really is no need to have more than one or two things in your sidebar and footer. That is, your blog should really only have a single call to action.

Here on Blog Tyrant I've tried to keep it ultra-simple by having one call to action at the bottom of each post and on the homepage. While it's not the most beautiful design in the world, it seems to work well partly because it is a single offer and the process is very simple to follow and it also helps with load time.

6. Take an honest look at your theme

While this may seem obvious for some, it's really important that you choose the right theme for your blog.

In fact, if you take a look at the majority of new blogs on the market you'll notice that they have very out of date templates. This is a real shame because it sets you off on a very bad foot.

So how do you know if your theme is probably not the best choice? Well, to understand better I did something really embarrassing and looked up the Blog Tyrant theme from 2011…

We can see something that is present on a lot of blogs, space that is blank but not deliberately. For example, the image is not as wide as the content, the sidebar has no real function, and there are a multitude of borders around things that serve no real purpose.

You'll also note the exceedingly small font (make yours at least 16px) and font pairing that doesn't really match or have anything to do with the branding at the time. It's all a bit grim.

You'll also want to look at things like Google's mobile friendly test and other sites that let you see how your blog looks on mobile devices. Sometimes there's only so much you can do by yourself, which leads us nicely on to the conclusion of this article.

So, what can we do about it?

Instead of going over all the aspects that can go wrong with a blog's theme or template, I thought it might be useful to open up the blog comments to a good old community critique session!

If you're brave, leave a comment below and let us know your concerns about your theme and let's see if anyone out there (myself included) can give you some helpful feedback. We've done this before and it resulted in some really productive conversations.

So, please leave a comment below if you'd like to ask a question or get someone from the community to potentially take a look at your blog's design and give feedback.

Top image © Daniel Villeneuve.

Source: 6 Ways to Make Your Blog More Beautiful (and Effective)

Introduction

Nowadays, there are many tools, services and softwares in general that help websites to improve their performance, security and availability; CloudFlare just helps us to accomplish in the right way these three aspects, all in one tool. The purpose of this blog is to lear how to set up CloudFlare with WordPress on AWS.

To start, let's say that it is true that CloudFlare has gained popularity in recent years, especially because of its function as CDN (Content Delivery Network) and certainly when we ask someone who has heard of this tool the first thing he does is to think of it as another CDN. But CloudFlare is much more than that. It has even more services that help us improve our site, and at the same time, to make it faster and safer for both, visitors and administrators of the site.

Before listing the services and benefits of using this tool, there is an important question that needs to be answered:

What is CloudFlare?

CloudFlare is a service that sits between the client's browser and your host. It acts as a reverse proxy, which means that every request from your site will arrive first to CloudFlare, which redirects them to your host, receives the requested content and sends it to the client.

This feature along with other services offered by CloudFlare bring different benefits to your site, here I mention you some of them.

Benefits of using CloudFlare on your site

Security:

As CloudFlare receives all the traffic directed to your website, including regular visitors, attackers and malicious bots, it plays a very important role in security. It identifies and stops any attack before they reach your site.

By attacks I mean something like DDoS, SQL injection and any malicious attempt capable of penetrating the infrastructure where your application lives. CloudFlare also gives us the option to add an SSL certificate to increase the security and reliability of every user that visits your website.

If you want to learn more about "How to secure your website with CloudFlare" visit this link.

Performance:

This is one of the main reasons behind why people use CloudFlare. It works as a CDN, whose main objective is to serve your site's content to the visitor from a closer location. Since the latency that exists between your host and the client, it has an impact on the speed with which the content loads. CloudFlare helps to minimize this latency through its several data centers located in different parts of the world. This eliminates high request time as instead the requests going all the way to your server, the content is automatically sent to the user from the nearest CloudFlare data center.

To all of the above, it is also important to say that CloudFlare caches much of your web page, to be exact, it caches the static content (images, styles, text). This means that CloudFlare doesn't have to be constantly requesting the content to your server, only for the dynamic content and the content that is not yet cached by CloudFlare.

As everyone loves the websites to load faster, this tool has a great relevance as a must have rather than another layer. For our server, it reduces the load time and the traffic it receives.

Another option that CloudFlare offers to improve the performance is the optimization of static content such as resizing images for mobile or web applications, compressing and minifying files to reduce the load on the site.

At last, remember that your site and servers are not exempt from having a failure and instability, so CloudFlare gives us the option to deliver the content from the cache it keeps, just in case that something bad happens and until the site returns to be available.

CloudFlare + WordPress + AWS:

Let's start setting up CloudFlare with WordPress on AWS.

CloudFlare is free and can be implemented anywhere, no matter where your host is you can get the most of it thanks to the power of cloud computing. Taking this into account, we will take AWS (Amazon Web Services), one of the most used cloud service providers currently and WordPress to setup CloudFlare in a web page.

For this, we'll be using the following services and technologies:

Within an EC2 instance we will have a WordPress which domain will be www.example.com managed by Route53.

1.- The first thing is to create an account on CloudFlare at www.cloudflare.com

2.- Now that we have our account, we'll add our domain (www.example.com) to CloudFlare, then the records that we have associated with that domain, as well as the records that we have to change where our DNS will appear.

3.- In this case we are using Route53 as our DNS service so we have to go to our Amazon console on the Route53 dashboard to add the records given by CloudFlare.

4.- Back on CloudFlare we recheck the DNS and wait for the records to be updated.

5.- Once this process is completed CloudFlare will be working on our site and receiving the incoming traffic.

With this, we will have the service activated for our site and we will be able to configure CloudFlare services at our convenience; The next step is to integrate it with our WordPress,for this we will use the official CloudFlare plugin:

1.- First we have to enter into the administration panel of our WordPress as administrators: www.example.com/wp-admin.2.-Once inside we go to the plugins dashboard and look for "CloudFlare"3.- We install the plugin and activate it by entering the data of our CloudFlare account.

Having the plugin active, CloudFlare will start scanning each of the WordPress pages to identify the content that can be cached. With this plugin, we will also have the basic options such as being able to purge the CDN cache so that when a site change is made, it can be shown.

Conclusion

This way we will take full advantage of the services offered by CloudFlare thanks to the power of the cloud and the WordPress integration we can keep our site safe, fast and available at any time.

A website must be always optimized, secured and well performing, that's why I truly recommend you to use CloudFlare. It will help you improve the basics of every site and satisfy the expectative of your users. In ClickIT we have a team of experts that can help you implement CloudFlare with WordPress on your AWS.

Source: How to set up CloudFlare with WordPress on AWS

If You are thinking about purchasing drugs online, now may be the time to start. What follows are commentaries by experts in the field of remedies that are available over the counter for sexual disorders. There were only some examples. If you are considering when does cialis go generic, you perhaps want to know about buy generic cialis online. What is the most significant data you would like to keep in mind view about this? What scientists talk about "generic cialis reviews"? Different companies describe it as "undefined". In effect, a medical reviews found that up to three quarters of men on these remedy experiment side effects. What must patients discuss with a physician before ordering Viagra? Discuss with your doctor if you are grab any other medications.

Source: TumblrWall For WordPress Version 2

There are so many options when it comes to starting a blog.  Should you go with WordPress or something else?

Since I just redesigned my own blog it seemed like a good time to cover this. I debated for a long time about switching my site over to Squarespace but in the end I chose to stick with WordPress.  I'll cover those reasons below.  I did a lot of research looking for comparisons on the two platforms so maybe you will find this helpful.

I stuck with my self hosted WordPress site and switched to a brand new theme instead! I was using a photography theme which worked out fine but is meant for photography sites, not this craft space.

This time around, I switched to the popular Genesis framework and I'm so glad I did!

WordPress vs. Squarespace

So the question might come up on how to decide on a theme!?Or how to decide on self hosting or an all in one option like Squarespace!?

I'm a long time WordPress user and have been happy with it. My site is hosted through Dreamhost.

Lately I have been hearing a lot of buzz around Squarespace. I've seen plenty of pretty Squarespace sites to be intrigued. It looked like a really good option. Since I was due for a major over haul I decided to check it out.

Sign up for the free trial

I signed up for the free trial and started designing.In the end it just did not have all the bells and whistles of WordPress and was not as user friendly as I was imagining it to be.

There is no coding so that's a plus but the interface took some time for me to figure out.  It wasn't very intuitive, or at least not as much as I hoped it would be.

Which one should you choose?

If you are just starting a blog or website and have limited website experience, Squarespace may be a good option.

If you are already on WordPress, you may notice the limitations of Squarespace.  If you are in the business of using your blog to make an income I think WordPress is the way to go.

I noticed a huge jump in my SEO when I switched to a self hosted wordpress site years and years ago and worried about Squarespace's limitations in that area. From my research, SEO seems strong on Squarespace so that shouldn't be a factor in deciding.

I'll outline some of the pros and cons of the two options I feel are best for the creative business… Squarespace vs. WordPress.

Squarespace Pros and Cons

Pros

Pretty templates

Very clean modern templates

All in one site – They host for you

No coding necessary

Cons

More expensive

Not as user friendly as I expected

Customizing beyond the templates seems more difficult

Since it's not open source there are fewer add on or plugin options

If you have multiple websites, you pay for each separately so double (triple, quadruple) the costs.

WordPress Pros and Cons

Pros

Very widespread so lots of themes, plugins, etc..

Can host multiple websites with the same hosting company saving $$$

Very Robust

Endless theme options

Cons

Steep learning curve

Setting up is not as easy

Endless theme options…lol.  (seriously, it's can be hard to decide!)

You have to pick a host site from the endless options

WordPress + Genesis + Foodie Pro child theme

So back to my new site!

As I said before I was using a photography theme and making it work. I thought it was very user friendly and easy to customize. And then I switched to Genesis and it is EVEN EASIER to customize! I went with the Genesis framework + a child theme right out of the gate. They are bundled together and super easy to install if you are familiar with WordPress.

I expected it to take several days to transition my site over but the theme is so good that I had it done in an afternoon! Still a few tweaks to make here and there but seriously, couldn't believe how easy it was!

I chose Genesis because it kept coming up in my searches while researching a new theme.   If you are trying to decide on a theme, check out the bottom of the websites you love.  See what others are using and do some research on that theme.

Not all themes are created equal

I think the biggest struggle with WordPress for most people is customizing it.   It is CONFUSING without a good theme.   A good theme will give you a very user friendly interface that does not involve coding.   I can't stress the importance of a good theme enough if you are tackling this on your own.  Cheap and free themes are just not worth it because they don't provide the user friendly interfaces.

Here's a look at the Genesis interface to give you an idea.

In the end WordPress is my choice

I'm glad I decided to stick with WordPress and invest in a new theme.  I wasn't impressed enough with Squarespace to justify switching two websites over.   I can host both of my websites with Dreamhost and it doesn't cost extra but Squarespace required me to purchase twice.  So for me, the cost alone was motivating enough to stick with WordPress.

If you are looking for a really good user friendly theme, I highly recommend Genesis + one of their child themes.

If you have experience with either Squarespace or WordPress I would love to hear your thoughts on the two!  If you are still using a free site, what's holding you back from making the switch?

You might also like

Grow your Instagram following and grow your Creati... 10 Steps to take today to get started on your Crea...
Source: WordPress vs. Squarespace and why I chose to stick with WordPress

HELP!!! I activated a theme in WordPress and what came up is the following error. The problem is that now I can't get back in. Help!!! ERROR: Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_FUNCTION in /home/content/71/8527371/html/ramali/wp-content/themes/newsmag/inc/libraries/class-newsmag-lazyload.php on line 18

The blog I need help with is webfusiongraphics.com.

Source: Wordpress crash when uploading theme

Updated: August 13, 2017 / Home » Web Hosting and Wordpress » Web Hosting and Services

Website speed is part and parcel for a good ranking in Google, and one of the biggest bottleneck are images due to the size. If you own a small site with average traffics, you should give these free CDN a try. For those in the dark, a CDN is a service where they deliver your images via their network of servers around the world closes to the visitors.

Related ➤ 5 CDN Comparison MaxCDN, Amazon CloudFront, CloudFlare, CacheFly and EdgeCast

I highly recommend Cloudflare, it is perhaps one of the very best CDN service providers that offer all round robust free CDN service and security. It is free irrespective of how much traffic your site's generating, the only million dollar question is, how do they make money when their pro and enterprise plan is equally cheap?

↓ 01 – Cloudinary | 5GB Bandwidth | Images and Videos

Still Managing Your Images In-House? Use Cloudinary's image service instead. With simple integration that developers will love you'll get immediate access to cutting-edge image capabilities. Save R&D time, get to market faster, reduce your IT costs and improve your viewers experience. Get your images delivered lightning-fast, responsive and highly optimized for any device in any location. Images are served via Akamai's worldwide CDN.

75,000 total Images & Videos

Upload images to a cloud-based storage – Fast image uploads: secure upload API, version management, remote upload from public URLs, direct uploading from the browser, image transformation on upload, private images support.

Fast CDN delivery with advanced caching – High performance delivery through CDN. Multiple CDN support – Amazon CloudFront and Akamai. Virtually limitless scale. Public HTTP and secure HTTPS access to resources, multiple CDN sub-domains support and smart cache settings.

Safe high-end storage, leveraging Amazon S3.

5 Free Web Hosting Sites For eCommerce And Personal Website ↓ 02 – Cloudflare | 5GB Bandwidth + Security

They offer a Free plan for small personal websites, blogs, and anyone who wants to evaluate Cloudflare. Our mission is to build a better Internet. We believe every website should have free access to foundational security and performance. Cloudflare's Free plan has no limit on the amount of bandwidth your visitors use or websites you add. If you want to make your site even faster and more resilient, you can easily upgrade to one of our higher tier plans.

Globally load balanced content delivery network (CDN)

Asynchronous Javascript Loading Rocket Loader

HTTP/2 and SPDY

Smart Routing

↓ 03 – Incapsula | Unknown Bandwidth + Security

The Incapsula Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a global network that uses intelligent caching and cache control options, as well as high-speed storage and optimization tools to improve your website performance while lowering bandwidth costs. On average, websites using the Incapsula CDN are 50% faster and consume up to 70% less bandwidth, benefiting from our:

Dynamic caching technology based on machine learning

Reliable, self-healing mesh network topology

Peered, Tier 1 transit system for optimal coverage

Extensive cache control options

Instant cache purge and cache rule propagation

Security and bot management features

↓ 04 – Jetpack Photon | Unlimited / Images Only

Photon by WordPress is an image acceleration and editing service for sites hosted on WordPress.com or on Jetpack-connected WordPress sites. That means less load on your host and faster images for your readers. The drawback with Photon is images are hosted on their domain, meaning to say the URL of your images cannot be customized to match your domain.

5 CDN Comparison MaxCDN, Amazon CloudFront, CloudFlare, CacheFly and EdgeCast ↓ 05 – Swarmify | 10GB Bandwidth | Image and Videos

To date, over 5300 WordPress site owners have deployed Swarmify's image acceleration plugin and generated scores of 5-star reviews in the process. Simple to install and configure, our WordPress plugin powers image delivery for some of the busiest WordPress sites around. Between Hyperlocal geo-serving and lazy loading, images load swiftly and bandwidth is saved.

Conclusion

If you are serious in growing your website, always go for paid plans. Free services like these then to allocate minimal resources such as slower bandwidth. Cloudflare is the best in term of pricing, speed and performance. It is more than a CDN, it provides security protection and more. Amazon CloudFront is another good option, so is MaxCDN.

Source: 5 Free CDN For WordPress – Speed Up And Improve Blog SEO