One of the things that separates WordPress from other blogging software is the open source.  If you aren’t very good at coding, or good with PHP in particular, then the WordPress community has come to the rescue with WordPress plugins, which will allow just about anyone to easily add additional functionality to their blog.

You may not agree with this list but use my list as a checklist to build your next wordpress site.

Seo Packages:

• Seo all in one
• or Yoast

Cashe your site:

• Quick Cashe – Dramatically improves the performance & speed of your site!

Contact Forms:

• Contact Form 7 or
• Gravity Form

WordPress Subscriptions for datamining email address and then newsletter send out

• Mailchimp – subscriptions and newsletters
• MaxBlogPress Optin Form Adder Plugin – a smart-looking optin subscription form for your blog and customizable.

Backing up Your WordPress:

• W3 Total Cash
• WP Super Cash
• WP DBManager
• Backup Buddy Premium – Fee
• Backup WordPress db by Austin Matzko
• WP Total Cashe – backup

Sitemap:

google xml sitemap – This tool is generally helpful especially when you have updated your blog, your  sitemap will be edited and the search engines will be informed about the change.

Secure your wordpress:

• Login Lockdown – set it up after 3 tries it locks them out for 60 minutes and IP feature to block
• IP Filter to block specific IP addresses
• Bulletproof security – BulletProof Security protects your website against XSS, RFI, CRLF, CSRF, Base64, Code Injection and SQL Injection hacking attempts.

Ping your site to Search Engines:

• Cnet Ping Optimizer – Add pings and also block so that every change you make does not go reported.  It does not posts.

Check for broken links:

• Broken link checker

Analyze your site:

• ultimate google analytics

Autoresponder:

• If you allow folks to make comments, download Thank you later, autoresponder

Allow folks to Download Documents:

• WordPress Download Manager Plugin
• Dirtysuds – download posts as pdf

Social Media:

• Fallow me options – Twitter
• Sharing Social Media Buttons
• Select Addmarx – Bookmark/Share/Email DropdownAddmarx – Bookmark/Share/Email Dropdown

Feedburner:

• FD Feedburner Plugin –  redirect your blogs RSS Feed to Feedburner

Options:

Global Translater:

• WordPress Global Translator Plugin – translates to any language

Do extras to your pictures:

• Fancy Box – for images

Set up polls and surveys:

• Polldaddy

Create presentations, slides, movies, etc.

• Cincopa –  the most popular way to add videos, photo galleries, slideshows, Cooliris gallery, podcast and music to your site.

.

Social media marketing generates connections and growth to others by getting connected, giving advise, shows your expertise = more business.

If you are a small business or just starting out, it is important to connect with similar communities, groups and networks.  Below are steps to look into to be known, others see your expertise through offering advise, etc.  This creates clients through relationships.

Three specific areas to connect.  Online Social Network, Advertising, advertising off the web.

The Benefits of Social Network:

• You can participate in existing conversations
• be authentic and help
• When you have a website and want customers, these are some of the steps to take to be found:

• Blogs (Technorali, Google Blog Search)
• Articles
• Tweets
• Forums
• Facebook
• Linkedin
• Knowem.com

It is important to build relationships with people who are doing similar things as you through Social Network.

For advertising or to draw customers:

1. Use Craigs list

2. Meetups or start a meetup group.  Meetups are groups in your area that meet to network, training, or learn new things in your expertise area, etc.

Off the web advertising depending on your audiance:

1. Neighborhood boards (stores, health food stores)

2. If your audience or customers are in school, write a brochure and take them to the local grade schools, high schools and colleges.

By: Traci Morin
Need a Website for your business but on a budget?  Check out WordPress.

Below are some useful free web tools that can be used for your website.

Analyzing Your Web Site to Improve SEO

SEO: Search Engine Optimization Getting Started

WordPress Blog Certification

WordPress 3 Essential Training

1. Create an eCommerce Website with WordPress in under 5 minutes – A video tutorial from WordPress.tv that teach you about how to create an Ecommerce website with WordPress and the WP e-Commerce plugin.

2. Getting set up with the WP e-Commerce plugin: settings and configuration – Another video tutorial which walks you through the process of getting set up with the WP e-Commerce plugin.

3. How to Build an Online Store With WordPress – A simple tutorial on how to use Ecommerce Themes from iThemes to built your own online store.

4. How To Open An Online Store With WordPress In Less Than 30 Minutes – Shows you how to built and create an online store with WordPress in less than 30 minutes. It is very suitable for beginners.

5. WP e-Commerce SEO Tutorial – This SEO tutorial is designed to show you how to optimize WP e-Commerce for maximum traffic from the search engines.

6. WP e-Commerce Review For WordPress – This article reviews the pros and cons of WP e-Commerce. A must read article for WP e-Commerce users!

If you are wanting google content keywords on your website, this is a very good video to watch.  Also, the instructor recommends seobook.com for researching keywords, SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool.  I recommend joining Seo Book.  Seo Book has a lot of free programs to use and not only that but Over 100 training modules covering topics such as keyword research, link building & many more!

Watch the SEO Optimization Free Video

Free SEO Tools:

SEOToolsCentral.com - get free in-depth SEO analysis reports

Smaller websites have a harder time beating large websites.  So try to pick estimated result count of less than 100,000 that SEOToolsCentral suggest or what SEOBook, depending which seo service you use.  Then choose keywords and phrases that combine enough popularity and relevance.

Identifying Keyword Opportunities

Many people think keywords on the meta tag is what the search engines look first.  In reality, search engines look at good keyword content especially title tags in h1, h2 or h3 and good links.

Search engines extract keywords from your on-page text, headers, page titles, inbound links and other factors. 

Choosing the right keywords is often the difference getting found in search and not getting found. 

There are several variables that impact keyword selecton and are broken in two groups

1.  Primary Selection of Keywords

2.  Prioritizination variables.

It is important to understand that keywords are important to your business.  So, you have to ensure keyword terms/phrases have sufficient search volumes, make sure chosen keyword terms are relevant.

When Priortizination of keywords two things to consider:

Competitive advantage for the product/services and profitability of the products/services associated with the keywords.

 A checklist when determining Keywords:

• List root brands like dog food
• Brainstorming variations of product and brand related keywords.
• Study competitor’s sides
• Adding geographic variations
• Adding descriptive variations
• Taking all the variations and entering them into Google Adwords Keyword Tool which is free to use.

Once it is determined which keyword possibilities have sufficient search volumes, keywords must be filtered for relevancy. 

How to Find the Best Keywords

Google Adwords Keyword Tool – Best For PPC Campaings (Free)

Word Tracker (not free)

Keyword Spy

WordStream (Free)

more coming soon.

If your database gets erased or corrupted, you stand to lose everything you have written.

It is important to set up the plugin and back it up at least weekly unless you update your template or download plugin.  Sometimes the plugin can corrupt your files.

The plugin allows you to backup your WordPress weekly, daily or even monthly automatically.  You can set it up to backup to your desktop.

If you want to back up your WordPress manually, you can do this the following way:

• Make a folder on your hard drive.
• Copy your entire content folder. This will backup my themes and plugins, images, documents, all upgrades
• Also find your wp.config php and back it up into your folder.
•  account info txt

1. Website submissions
2. Video blast
3. Blogs (blogger articles)
4. Write articles on PRWire
5. Social Media
6. Pay Per Click