Getting ready to start your first blog online with WordPress

WordPress is one of the more popularly used CMS (Content Management Systems) online. WordPress has been around since 2003 and since then has taken its place as one of the most renowned online platforms. So by now you should have a fair understanding about the components of blogging individually. It’s now time to mix them in the bowl and get your stir fry ready. We’ll now focus on the initial elements you need to pay heed to once you embark upon your journey. They are :-

• Domains – Your blog’s unique identity.
• Hosting – Determining where your website content is stored.
• Themes – What your blog looks like.

What significance do they hold?

The Domain Name will be your personal blog address where everyone on the internet will find you. For example, Facebook’s domain is www.facebook.com. Similarly the blog you create will be named “xyz.com” but you’ll get to choose what goes instead of the “xyz”. It’s crucial that you choose your domain name very wisely. A well-chosen and appropriate name will be easy for your target audience to remember and ensures a higher chance of making you more successful.

The web host is the home of your blog’s address and the content that’s present on the blog. If you don’t have a web host, your domain won’t be visible to others. Try to think of the host as a remote system that stores all the text and pictures that appear on your blog.

A Theme is used to provide all the outright visible styling of your blog site. A theme is used to allocate visual features on the website such as the font color, location of widgets or the overall page design. Themes can be chosen from the plethora of free themes present in the inbuilt gallery of your blog engine. Paid or premium plugin themes may also be chosen depending on your requirement. The advantage of a paid theme is more reliable coding, better support structure and higher degree of personalization.

The Advantages of using WordPress

WordPress is one of the more popularly used CMS (Content Management Systems) online. WordPress has been around since 2003 and since then has taken its place as one of the most renowned online platforms. Over the past few years, WordPress has also become the content management software of choice for non-blogging websites. WordPress has the following notable features which make it a highly sought after platform –

• Simplicity of use –  WordPress is really simple to use and has a highly intuitive interface.  Solely because the technology used in it is so simple, time spent on formatting is greatly reduced. Adding new pages, blog posts, images, etc. on a frequent basis is effortless and can be done in a very short time span.
• Manage your website from anywhere – WordPress is a browser based interface. This means all you require to manage your website is a system and the internet.
• HTML Editing Softwares are not required – WordPress is a self-contained system and does require the necessity of third party HTML editors. You can create pages, add images, format text, upload documents without the use of any additional HTML or FTP software.
• Readymade for Blogging – WordPress was originally created as a pure blogging platform. Hence it has blogging capabilities built-in and they are very easy to integrate if desired. Setting up RSS/email subscriptions to your site or automatically adding all the recent posts to other pages of the site (such as your home page) are also very easy to set-up.
• Search engine friendly – The code backing up WordPress is very clean, bloat-free and simple, making it easier for search engines to read and index the content visible on that site. In addition to that, each page, post, and image can have its own meta tag or can even be optimized for specific keywords, allowing for highly precise search engine optimization.  You can also use tags to increase your search engine optimization results.

All In Due Time

So by now, you’ve learnt all the basics about the online trade. You know what platform to choose, you know your target audience and you know what you’re going to give them. What now? Sit and wait on your lounge chair with the remote and a cold beer while your website converts your efforts into profit? Sadly that won’t be happening very soon.

Most people think of online marketing as a quick means to generate income without putting too much of effort. However that’s the total opposite of what the reality actually is. Simply putting in a lot of efforts and working very hard won’t cut the deal. You’ll have to act in a smart manner. Your initial days might run very dry. So dry that you might be willing to give up and cease to put any further efforts. But trust me, that’s how harsh it is for anyone. You need to understand that it takes a lot of time for a brand new website on the Internet filled with millions of others to gain popularity, trust and finally fame.

Another important thing you need to do is being regular with your work. If you setup a consistent pace, show up at your website every day, learn all relevant topics and effectively implement them, you may as well have a high possibility of being successful right out of the box.

var http = require('http');

http.createServer(function (req, res) {
    res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
    res.end('Hello World');
}).listen(1337, '127.0.0.1');

console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:1337/');

Blogging can appear to be a very simple and effortless task to do for making a quick buck. However you still need to back it up with devotion and brains. Re-think your strategies, go back to previous implementations, re-work your previous decisions if nothing works. Even if you don’t achieve immediate success, fret not, it will come to you eventually with thoughtful planning. After all Rome wasn’t built in a day.