Disclaimer: This is how I did it… it’s definitely not the only way, nor is it likely the perfect setup, but I like it. If you have suggestions for improvements, I’d gladly take them.
Tool 1: The Right Host.
Bluehost is my personal favorite. I’ve hosted on and off with them for 10 years now, and have never been let down. The prices are good, uptime is solid, and customer service is great. I have helped several friends transfer their sites from hosts such as GoDaddy, and every time customer service staff at Bluehost has been exception. Single IP addresses, SSL certificates, and other premiums are reasonably priced. Give them a call, and check yourself. They’re legit.
Tool 2: The Right Blog Software
WordPress is capable of operating truly global websites, due to its scalability and plethora of add-ons. a WordPress.com blog is free, but it’s limited. A self-hosted WordPress installation allows full control of the system, its structure, and what you can do with it. If you’re on a budget from $10 a month to $10,000 a month for your website, this is great. For a blog, it is everything you’ll likely need.
Tool 3: The Right Template (Framework)
Studiopress is the creator of what Mashable calls the “best of the best of premium WordPress frameworks.” It’s framework, Genesis, is a template system that offers responsive design, HTML 5 code system, and a set of SEO tools that could be all you need to keep your blog search-friendly (although this particular feature I prefer to run via the Yoast WordPress SEO plugin, below.) Genesis uses a set of child themes that can be completely customized for a very unique personal theme. I’m using the News Pro theme without any significant mods… it’s pretty sweet as is.
Tool 4: The Right SEO toolset
The Genesis framework’s built-in SEO capabilities are pretty good, but they require using an external toolset like those from Moz to gauge how well you do with metatags, descriptions, etc. Instead, I really like the WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast. This tool offers everything that Genesis does, but also includes a set of built-in guides that let you “greenlight” a post for its search-engine-friendliness. This is a great tool, if you haven’t tried, it’s lots of fun… in a geeky sort of way.
Tool 5: The Right Social Sharing Tools
There are a metric tonne of social sharing tools on the market. But why not take it a step further? Super Socializer is a plugin that allows social sharing, social commenting, and the creation of social feeds. When people sign in to comment with their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google+ accounts, you will get their email, and their information. Your commenters can also add themselves to a mailing list with a single click. It’s a win-win. Readers can comment easily, and you get a streamlined way to gather a mailing list, increase social shares, and get your information directly into social media timelines and inboxes everywhere. I’m fairly new to this tool, but so far it’s quite promising. There will be a follow-on in a couple months to keep you updated on this one.
Tool 6: The Right Time
Professional journalists and bloggers often write posts based on annual events. Whether it’s New Year’s Resolutions, Tax Season, a trade show, or Black Friday, there are certain events that come every single year. Editorial calendars help a writer to plan their seasonal content, intermixed with perennial offerings, to keep information flowing to the reader year round.
Editorial Calendar is a WordPress plugin that lets you write blog posts as drafts, and drag-n-drop them around on a calendar for publishing at a later date. If you need to submit a weekly blog update every Tuesday, this plugin makes it easy to ensure you have content ready for rollout. You’ll see each draft’s title on a calendar, so you can be confident something is coming out on a regular basis. Add time-sensitive blog posts and your multimedia offerings on top of that, and your content stream is full. Scheduling seasonal posting months in advance becomes child’s play. Write it, get the editor’s approval, set, and forget.
Conclusion
There are (as of January 2015) 13.4 bazillion WordPress installations on this planet (that may be a stretch). As of 2014, 48 of Technorati’s “Top 100 blogs” ran on WordPress, and 19% of the world’s websites are self-installed WordPress sites (even more astounding, 70% of the websites do not use a CMS at all, so the 11% left covers all other content management systems, combined, according to managewp.com )
If you’re going to go at it on your own terms, this is, by far, my favorite.
Question for all of you… What are your Favorite WordPress Plugins for Building your Audience?
