If you have been on the fence about installing a WordPress blog, it’s time to make a decision and start blogging.  With the recent upgrades to WordPress, it has never been easier to install a nice looking blog and tweak it to your heart’s desire.

INSTALLING A BLOG

If you do not have a blog yet, simply go to the control panel at your site – generally www.YourSite.com/cpanel – click the Fantastico icon, and then click the option to install WordPress in a directory of your choice.  Once the blog has been installed, you will want to go into your administrative panel, which is called a dashboard.  The dashboard allows you to update the blog software, add plugins, change the look of your blog and, of course, add content.

HOW TO UPDATE YOUR BLOG SOFTWARE

Recent updates to the blogging software have allowed you to update the software with just a click within your dashboard, and also to search, review and install plugins directly from the administrative dashboard.  Plugins enhance your blog’s capabilities.

HOW TO WORK WITH BLOG THEMES

The plugin installation capability has been expanded to include themes in the June 2009 WordPress update.  The new WordPress Version 2.8 offers an outstanding and super easy to use theme feature that is similar to the plugin feature.  You simply specify the type of theme that you want; for instance, a 2 column blue and gold theme, click search and then preview the free themes that are available.  Select the theme that appeals to you and WordPress will install it from the dashboard.  The days of unzipping and then FTP’ing your theme to your site are over and you’ll save a heck of a lot of time.

Once your theme is installed, you can edit the php pages if you want.  The page editing process is a lot easier with WordPress’ new color-coded theme editor.  The code display in the new WordPress platform is now numbered and colored, making editing your PHP and stylesheet pages much, much easier.

There are some awesome free themes available, including the magazine style themes that look like a professional publication. If you use these types of themes, you will be working with a plugin called Timthumb that will display your images as thumbnails on the front page and display larger versions within the blog post.  Timthumb and magazine style WordPress themes are pretty easy to work with, but sometimes the documentation is not entirely clear because it assumes that you know things that you actually are not aware of.  At Not Guru, you can find a step-by-step tutorial, replete with screen shots, which show you how to work with magazine style WordPress themes.

WORDPRESS IS NOW FASTER

The new WordPress software gets even sweeter – they’ve tweaked the blogging platform so it runs a lot faster.

BLOGGING WILL IGNITE YOUR STAGNANT SITES

A frequently updated WordPress blog is an incredible search engine traffic magnet.  The key is that the blog should be updated consistently. When it is, new posts generally show up in the search engines on the same day and often within hours.  There is an easy way to get your blog posts indexed even faster, and it will not cost you a cent to do.  What you do is install what is called the SEO blog plugin.  With the new plugin installation platform in WordPress, installing the blog traffic plugin takes only a few minutes and a couple mouse clicks from your dashboard.  Once installed, the plugin will tweak your blog, have you install other traffic-pulling plugins, and optimize the search engine capabilities of your blog.  As you tweak your blog using the SEO blog software, you can see your SEO grade, like 80% or 90% optimized.  Once you have installed the SEO plugin, you wil see a big difference in your blog’s performance in the search engines.

Because you will keep your web visitors happy with up-to-date content and the search engines constantly visiting your site, adding a blog is a powerful tool to add to your website.  Installing and maintaining a blog has never been easier, thanks to the new WordPress release.  Blog installation tips, computer help and other practical guides are provided daily at the Not Guru blog.

Creating a Wordpress blog is perhaps one of the easiest things you can do.Through Fantastico anyone can install Wordpress in just two clicks of a mouse.

It is the best and most flexible piece of software you can use to make money blogging.There are many free blog platforms you could use, but you have no control at all over your data. You never know when or if they are going to delete your account for some perceived infringement of  their terms of service.

If you are creating a Wordpress blog on your own webspace then you are building virtual real estate that may have value in the future.You may even be able to sell your blog in the future for quite a lot of money.

You can buy some Wordpress Tutorials to help you understand the inner workings of Wordpress.The Wordpress Demystified program is an excellent resource, being the most comprehensive guide to Wordpress on the market.

it is very simple to monetize your blog with Adsense, affiliate links and other streams of income.There are other contextual advertising services, not just Adsense.

Remember to test your ad units to maximize your click through rate and your earnings per click!The more you test and learn, the more you can potentially earn.  The correct placement of ads can double or even triple your income!

When you have done this, then you focus on getting eyeballs on your website.When you have got your blog earning you can move on the next, and then the next, and so on.

With a bit of practise you can create a Wordpress blog in under half an hour.Then by regularly adding unique content and driving traffic, you will be well on your way to creating your own profitable empire.

Blogs are one of the simplest ways for you to join the Internet Marketing revolution.Once you have your blog set up and indexed you can turn your focus to traffic generation.

Whenever you use a free blog host your data and business is effectively in the hands of corporate giant …

Whereas it may never happen to you, it has happened to other people.If the free blog company even thinks you are violating their terms of serivce in any way, they will delete your blog.

This could be a major catastrophe when you wake up one morning to find your data deleted and your earnings gone.

You can easily avoid this problem by hosting your Wordpress blog on your own webspace.The cost is tiny compared to the potential risk to your business and earnings.It will cost you less than $140 to have your own domain name and webspace for an entire year.

This is a business investment which increases your professionalism and gives you absolute control over your blog.  You can extend the functionality of your Wordpress blog very easily and create additional streams of income.Your cutomization will make your bog unique for you.You won't have any corporations watching your every move.

For some reason, free blogs aren't perceived to have as valuable information on as hosted blogs.A self hosted Wordpress blog and domain name is much more professional and assumed to be more valuable.

Being perceived as an authority in your field obviously will help your business and increase your earnings.

Once you have created one Wordpress blog that is earning you money, it is very quick and easy for you to create more - you have the domain name and webhosting so you can start creating an empire of money making blogs.  A good Wordpress tutorial will help you to create this network of blogs that earn for you.  Wordpress Training will shorten the learning curve and get you to your goals so much quicker.

This puts financial freedom that much closer to you.