Get Known and Get Your Business Rocking with a WordPress Website

Submitted by John.Tabellione on Mon, 2011-11-07 20:44

Judi Knight, who made the transition from the world of architecture and building design to software architecture and graphic design, spoke to the Atlanta Freelance Forum on Thursday, November 3, 2011.

The game-changer and game-saver for her after the building and housing industry collapse was WordPress, with which she first became involved back in 2005. Over the next few years, she parlayed her blog site into a Social Media juggernaut, launching her New Tricks (http://www.newtricks.me) business for the purpose of designing WordPress websites in 2009.

She told the freelancers that the old paradigm for an Internet presence was a static website, kind of an electronic business card that tells audiences very little about what is happening at a company. The new standard for attracting the right clients involves what she called an “on-line makeover.” Knight stated that the new key to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is organic updating of WordPress sites leveraging Social Media. Specifically, she encouraged “compelling…frequent, great, relevant, searchable, shared, visited, linked” content.

Knight addressed www.wordpress.com, which only takes about 10 minutes to set up. Typically, hosting is free, and there is no need for a domain name. The user, however, is limited by the number of themes, plugins and lack of customization.

On the other hand, www.wordpress.org can be self-hosted on your account. You own the domain name. The site can be fully customized with a plethora of themes and multiple plugins, while  also allowing e-commerce functionality.

Knight provided a few tips for the audience as she addressed their questions:

  • She recommended http://www.bluehost.com as her preference for web hosting solutions
  • Knight added a plugin suggestion: http://akismet.com/wordpress for blocking spam
  • She referenced Twitter Blackbird Pie, which calls itself the “quick and easy way to reproduce fully-functioning tweets — not just static screenshots of tweets — in posts, pages, and even comments.”

At the conclusion of the meeting, Freelance Forum members were invited to register on New Tricks to receive Knight’s newsletter, “Just a Digital Minute,” which offers a weekly Social Media tip every Wednesday morning.