0303 – Using a Blog as Your Home Base

WordPress is the best blog platform for you to use for your site. It allows you to have pages where you sell products and blog posts where you give on-going tips and advice or make recommendations.

When you log into your hosting account via cpanel, you’ll see the option for a QuickInstall of WordPress. Just follow the directions and it will deliver the login URL (usually yourdomain.com/wp-admin) and you can get started blogging!

There are step-by-step videos online that you can watch if you need some hand holding, but the system walks you through it easily. When your blog is live, go through the settings and choose how you want your blog to perform.

For example, you’ll choose how many posts you want it to show on the main page, whether or not people can leave comments, and even how you want each post to look in the URL (the web address) of your site!

You can select from a wide array of free WordPress themes, and each one has a unique layout of text and images. You can also find paid themes online if you prefer to buy something specific.

You can create a nice header yourself or, if you don’t have any graphic experience, hire someone to make a header for your niche that includes images that reflect your topic as well as the name of your site.

Don’t make the mistake of trying to set up the perfect blog right off the bat. Keep it simple, not overloaded with plugins or other bells and whistles. As you learn the ropes of how to run a WordPress blog, you can implement more advanced strategies over time.