Are you looking for a way to create a customized website easily? The good news is that it is easier than many people realize.

Kyle Zipp wrote a post titled Getting Started With WordPress that serves as a great introduction to WordPress and links to help you start building your website. As Zipp says, “With its user-friendly Dashboard, and fully customizable features, WordPress is one of the greatest tools a website owner could ask for. When planning for user friendly features, a wise colleague of mine once said ‘Think of your Mom, is this something she would be able to use?’ and I know firsthand that when using WordPress, the answer is yes. WordPress was created for anyone and everyone to use.”

Getting Started With WordPress is necessary reading for anyone who is considering building their own website, but isn’t sure how to get started. If you are looking to build an attractive, easy to manage site you should read the article to see if WordPress is the solution you are looking for.

Chris Darling and Methodic Pages works with owners of service based businesses who struggle with getting search engine optimized websites to represent their business online and want to benefit from standing out from their local competition. I bring you a rare talent that integrates overall site layout, presentation, and on-page SEO with every project. In working with me, my clients receive an interactive, highly optimized website that lays the perfect foundation for any online marketing strategy you decide to put into action. If any of this speaks to you or your online business goals contact Chris Darling to get a free project based quote.

Siobhan Ambrose wrote a great post for WPMU.org titled Why You Should Never Search For Free WordPress Themes in Google or Anywhere Else. If you are looking to build a WordPress website, Ambrose provides detailed evidence proving that using themes from websites that you find through search engines is a bad idea.

Armed with the common keywords “free wordpress themes”, Ambrose ran a search through Google and tested free themes from the first 10 listings in Google’s search results. It is worth noting that Ambrose tested these sites locally using a software program called Xampp in order to avoid uploading any malicious code to any of her own sites. Out of the top 10 websites, the only one Ambrose felt 100% secure recommending was WordPress.org.

It is tempting to try to save money by downloading a free WordPress theme instead of purchasing a premium theme. However, before you start searching Google and downloading themes, read Why You Should Never Search For Free WordPress Themes in Google or Anywhere Else to understand why this approach may be a lot more trouble than it’s worth.

Chris Darling and Methodic Pages works with owners of service based businesses who struggle with getting search engine optimized websites to represent their business online and want to benefit from standing out from their local competition. I bring you a rare talent that integrates overall site layout, presentation, and on-page SEO with every project. In working with me, my clients receive an interactive, highly optimized website that lays the perfect foundation for any online marketing strategy you decide to put into action. If any of this speaks to you or your online business goals contact Chris Darling to get a free project based quote.

In October 2009, Larry Herrin wrote a guest post for Website in a Weekend called 10 Reasons why WordPress is the Future of the Internet. Herrin’s guest post is actually more about the power and versatility of WordPress than it is about any predictions of WordPress’s success. However, it is clear that with millions of users and new ones installing the software every day, that WordPress is one of the bigger generators powering the the Internet.

As Herrin points out, WordPress’s theme options are so flexible that many people build websites with WordPress and the end-user doesn’t even know it. WordPress has evolved into far more than a blogging platform. Even major companies like Ford and NASA build websites with WordPress. In many cases, viewers don’t know if the website they’re visiting was built with WordPress because they look like traditionally coded websites; in many cases they look even better.

Even well over a year later, this guest post still provides a great look at why WordPress is key to building great websites. Check out 10 Reasons why WordPress is the Future of the Internet to see what WordPress can do for you.

Chris Darling and Methodic Pages works with owners of service based businesses who struggle with getting search engine optimized websites to represent their business online and want to benefit from standing out from their local competition. I bring you a rare talent that integrates overall site layout, presentation, and on-page SEO with every project. In working with me, my clients receive an interactive, highly optimized website that lays the perfect foundation for any online marketing strategy you decide to put into action. If any of this speaks to you or your online business goals contact Chris Darling to get a free project based quote.

The web is constantly evolving. As new trends emerge, what was a great website design a few years ago may not be now. When it comes time to revamp your business’s website, you need to find a designer with the right skills for your business’s needs. All designers have their own strengths and weaknesses. Make a list of what your business’s website goals and needs are before you start the interview process.

Research/Interview Tips

• Any reputable web designer should be able to provide you with at least a half dozen links to websites they’ve created for clients. Visit the sites and see if they all look similar or if they are tailored to the client’s needs. Good designers have a diverse portfolio.
• Don’t just visit the designer’s personal website and decide to hire him or her because you love their website design. Take an overall look at their work. Sometimes designers design better sites for themselves than they do for their clients.
• If SEO is important to your business, then make sure they’re experienced with SEO. Ask them how they can help your SEO and ask them to show you examples of websites they’ve ranked. If your business depends on local customers, make sure they have local SEO knowledge.
• If you need something specific, like a “Request a Quote” form, verify that the designer has experience creating forms. The same things applies if you want or need an eCommerce site.
• Check for contact information on the designer’s portfolio sites. Contact the small business owner, or whoever worked directly with the designer, and ask them how the experience went. Satisfied clients will be more than happy to give a recommendation. If someone is hesitant to offer a reference, it may be a bad sign.
• Ask them if they have a LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn profiles are great because you can quickly see how many, or how few, recommendations they have.

Finding the right web designer for your business’s website requires time and patience. You may have to interview several designers before you find the right one. However, your business’s website is the linchpin of your online marketing strategy; it’s worth investing your time to insure that you’re putting it in good hands.

Chris Darling and Methodic Pages…I work with owners of service based businesses who struggle with getting search engine optimized websites to represent their business online and want to benefit from standing out from their local competition.   I bring you a rare talent that integrates overall site layout, presentation, and on-page SEO with every project.   In working with me, my clients receive an interactive, highly optimized website that lays the perfect foundation for any online marketing strategy you decide to put into action.   If any of this speaks to you or your online business goals contact Chris Darling to get a free project based quote.

Whether you are starting a new website or modifying an existing one, picking the right WordPress theme is an important decision. There are dozens of existing themes to choose from if you can’t have one custom designed. WordPress offers many free themes and other websites sell reasonably priced premium themes.

SEO Functionality

• Some themes are designed to be visually stunning while others combine both aesthetics and good SEO. An SEO-friendly theme is one that is easy to update with meta tags, header tags, descriptions and other key elements that search engines look for. The best way to find an SEO-friendly theme is to include “SEO” in your search criteria.

Sponsored Themes

• Many themes, especially free ones, are sponsored themes. You can use the theme, even modify it, as long as you do not remove the links the creator has put in the footer. You may want to consider if the link(s) on a free theme will detract from the design of your website or make it seem less professional.

Support

• Free WordPress themes rarely offer support. Premium themes from sites like WooThemes or iThemes often feature tutorials, forums and email support. If you are managing your own website, the availability of support makes a premium theme a wise investment.

Popularity

• Check how often the theme has been downloaded. Not everyone who downloads a theme will ultimately use it, but the number gives you an idea of how popular the theme is. Avoid themes that have hundreds of downloads unless you have the resources to heavily customize it and make your site unique.

Suitability

• Does the theme suit your tastes? While functionality is important, choosing a theme that doesn’t appeal to you just because it has extra features will ultimately make you unhappy. Try to find a theme that has the best combination of the right look and features. You can always have someone customize the code later if you need additional functionality the theme does not support.

You don’t always want to go with the first WordPress theme that catches your eye. There are many things to consider during the selection process. Take your time and weigh the pros and cons of each theme you find to make sure your website will ultimately convey the impression you want and have the features you need.

Chris Darling and Methodic Pages…I work with owners of service based businesses who struggle with getting search engine optimized websites to represent their business online and want to benefit from standing out from their local competition.   I bring you a rare talent that integrates overall site layout, presentation, and on-page SEO with every project.   In working with me, my clients receive an interactive, highly optimized website that lays the perfect foundation for any online marketing strategy you decide to put into action.   If any of this speaks to you or your online business goals contact Chris Darling to get a free project based quote.

One of the best ways to boost your online marketing efforts is to integrate social media with your website or blog. Many site owners have basic Twitter and Facebook buttons, but there are WordPress plug-ins available to help you utilize social media more effectively.

Twitter for WordPress

This plug-in displays an auto-updating stream of your most recent tweets by adding a simple widget to one of your sidebars. By displaying your recent tweets, you not only encourage people to follow you on Twitter, you give them a reason to come back to your website for the latest updates.

Sociable

There are multiple plug-ins to allow site visitors to share posts via Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc. Sociable is one of the most popular ones. You can easily integrate attractive social media buttons on your posts and pages. Sociable supports up to 99 different social media sites. Another key feature is that Sociable allows you to add sharing buttons to your RSS feeds as well. Every time a user shares a post or page, it creates a link for you.

Twitter Tools

Twitter Tools is a necessary plug-in if you want to share your blog posts on Twitter. Twitter Tools provides full integration between WordPress and Twitter. You can set the plug-in to automatically update Twitter every time you add a new blog post, import your tweets as blog posts, or both. Twitter tools saves time by tweeting for you. You may want to avoid linking  your Twitter account with your Facebook account though because the audiences are a little different.

LinkedIn Resume
This plug-in may initially sound like it is just for job searching, but it takes your LinkedIn public profile information and turns into a Curriculum vitae for your blog. If you are a service provider like a message therapist or a writer, this can be a great way to show off your talents and experience on your blog. Include a link back to your LinkedIn profile page and you can build your LinkedIn connections as well.

The ability to add plug-ins to WordPress makes it the ideal platform for adding social media functionality to your blog or website. Your WordPress site is your online hub, so connecting it with your social media accounts, and making it easier for others to share your posts, should be a natural addition to your online marketing strategy.

Chris Darling and Methodic Pages…I work with service based business owners who struggle with getting search engine optimized websites to represent their business online and want to benefit from standing out from their local competition.   I bring you a rare talent that integrates overall site layout, presentation, and on-page SEO with every project.   In working with me, my clients receive an interactive, highly optimized website that lays the perfect foundation for any online marketing strategy you decide to put into action.   If any of this speaks to you or your online business goals contact Chris Darling to get a free project based quote.

WordPress is not just for bloggers. Most people think of WordPress as a tool for building blogs, which it is excellent for, but WordPress also offers features and options that make it an ideal way to build any type of website.

1. Picking WordPress themes is easy. You can literally change your website’s entire design with the click of a button.
2. Even novices can pick up WordPress’s visual editing system. You do not need a thorough understanding of HTML with WordPress. Some knowledge of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a plus, but many WordPress users do well without it.
3. All-In-One SEO Pack and Google XML Sitemaps plug-ins help boot your website’s SEO, but even without them, you can change WordPress’s built-in permalink naming option to a search engine friendly format.
4. There are plugs-in for creating a photo blog, a real estate site, and online invoicing system and many more. WordPress.org offers thousands of plug-ins to increase your website’s functionality, security and more.
5. You can integrate your WordPress site with Facebook, Twitter, and other social media profiles to automatically send site updates to all your accounts.
6. You can have a website and a blog and manage both the same way. WordPress offers both static pages and updatable blog pages. You can even do a dual-install of WordPress to have completely different designs for both.
7. People love visiting WordPress sites. The ability to leave comments naturally draws visitors looking to build links.
8. WordPress and its available plug-ins are constantly evolving. WordPress will keep pace with you as your website grows and even offer options you may not have thought of.
9. Plug-ins like WordPress Firewall alleviate any worry you may have about hackers attacking your website.
10. Website back ups are less complicated with WordPress. Most hosting companies allow you to go online and back up WordPress’s database file. If you want an even better back up, there are plug-ins for that too.

Over the years, WordPress has become a powerful website design and content management tool. A growing number of site owners choose to build their websites with WordPress because of its simplicity, flexibility and supreme online marketing value. Before you start banging your head against the wall trying to learn Adobe Dreamweaver, try WordPress.

Chris Darling and Methodic Pages…

I work with skilled and professional service based businesses who struggle with getting search engine optimized websites to represent their business online and want to benefit from standing out from their local competition.

I bring a rare talent that integrates overall site layout, presentation, and on-page SEO with every project.

In working with me, my clients receive an interactive, highly optimized website that lays the perfect foundation for any online marketing strategy you decide to put into action.

If any of this speaks to you or your online business goals contact Chris Darling to get a free project based quote.

So you are in need of a website or even a make-over of your current dull, static site.  Here are 3 things to consider when evaluating WordPress for your new website solution.

1. Do you want a blog, a website, or both?

WordPress use to be reserved for blogging.  But now, it is commonly used for complete websites.  Some site owners will use it strictly for their site with no intentions to ever blog.  Fortunately, you can blog or just use it as a static site or use it for both.  It is very common now to use WordPress on the same domain for both purposes.

2.  Do you want to always have to wait for your busy webmaster to make changes?

Making changes within your WordPress site is a lot easier than relying on a busy webmaster using a proprietary CMS or web design solution.  With a little training, you can learn to make changes yourself. But if that is not something you desire to ever do, you should be able to find other people well versed in using WordPress to help you out.

The content management system is the very thing making WordPress more popular for use as the main building blocks of many websites.  Content management systems keep the content separate from the main layout and design.  You can change the entire look of your WordPress site on the fly.  If you use certain supporting themes, your users can even change the look they wish to have when visiting your site.

3.   What if you want special functions or features?

Plugins are things that add extra functionality to your WordPress site.  They allow you to add calendars, social media widgets, spam filters, security features, or contact forms.  To date there are over 11,000 official plugins available.

Plugins are what really makes your WordPress site work exactly the way you want it to.  The best part is that most are free.  You just need to find someone that can install and configure them so you can keep moving along with publishing.

If you want a website with a blog that makes updates and edits easy than WordPress may be the way to go.  If you want special functions and features you are likely to find exactly what you need within the growing database of plugins written for WordPress.

Chris Darling and Methodic Pages…

I work with skilled and professional service based businesses who struggle with getting search engine optimized websites to represent their business online and want to benefit from standing out from their local competition.

I am different from other custom built website providers because I bring a rare talent that integrates overall site layout, presentation, and on-page SEO with every project.

In working with me, my clients receive an interactive, highly optimized website that lays the perfect foundation for any online marketing strategy you decide to put into action.

If any of this speaks to you or your online business goals contact Chris Darling to get a free project based quote.

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If you would like to contribute, leave a comment below.

Your problem: Small business with big idea and limited web design budget.

Join the ranks of aspiring entrepreneurs worldwide!  What is the secret?  Shh…. it’s WordPress and premium themes.

WordPress is widely popular and supported.  There are endless resources for finding a theme that will give your small business that big idea image on a limited budget.

While you can find incredibly awesome themes for free, you may still need to hire someone that can adjust it for the main look you are going for and integrating all of the extra functions you need.  But, straight out of the box, you can have a professional looking website quickly.

Even though the popular content management system is free and open source, a person with limited technological ability will run into difficulties.  Attempting to do it all yourself without the proper knowledge will cost you in terms of time and money.

This is the point where you ask yourself what you are truly in the business of.  If you are not in the business of building websites it is most likely a better idea to find someone that is.  Find someone in the business of using WordPress for business websites.

A WordPress website specialist will know best how to work through the whole system, options, and endless resources to get you the results you want. They will know what to look for in a theme that will serve your online business model best.

Chris Darling and Methodic Pages…

I work with skilled and professional service based businesses who struggle with getting search engine optimized websites to represent their business online and want to benefit from standing out from their local competition.

I am different from other custom built website providers because I bring a rare talent that integrates overall site layout, presentation, and on-page SEO with every project.

In working with me, my clients receive an interactive, highly optimized website that lays the perfect foundation for any online marketing strategy you decide to put into action.

If any of this speaks to you or your online business goals contact Chris Darling to get a free project based quote.

If you find this information helpful share it with others! 

If you would like to contribute, leave a comment below.

Getting your website navigation right will help your visitors find what they are looking for and help the search engines understand your overall theme.

Structuring your site navigation and internal linking using particular methods from the first days of development are going to save you future hassles.  Not only will it save you troubles in the long run but it will help your website rank better in the search engines.  You entire website will just make more sense to the search spiders and also to your real human visitors.

Silo navigation and linking is a method many websites use to help their website make sense.  There are 2 ways to use silo navigation and linking.  One is through category specific directories within your website where each relevant page resides in a parent folder.  The other is to just link relevant pages to one another in a daisy chain fashion which does not require them to be in a sub-directory.

Understanding the silo navigation method.
A silo is a tall cylinder shaped object used to store things such as grain.  It is taller than it is wide.  Okay, so I’m describing something you might find on a farm.  What the heck does that have to do with my website?  Well, when it comes to your website it is not so much an object as it is a method that will organize your site content so that it works better for the greater goal.

When you begin your website think about the big picture.  Consider the overall theme.  Once you have the theme, break everything down further into categories.

Using silo navigation and linking for your website comes in very handy when creating content for your blog also.  You can use the different categories and topics to help generate ideas for writing.

Let’s use a tutoring service as an example.  Tutors will provide one on one instruction in several different subjects.   Subjects include: English, math, general homework, science, etc.   Further down the category silo could be Math lessons, worksheets, answers, geometry, and algebra.  English categories could include grammar, spelling, vocabulary, literature, etc.

A silo navigation and linking structure will look a like this:

Silo linking will connect related content and pages to one another under a main umbrella topic through the use of hyperlinks.

A good silo navigation and linking structure for your site keeps content very organized and makes total sense to your visitor.  They can easily find what they are looking for.  The search engines are able to understand the overall theme to your website as well when all pages and posts are organized in a silo structure.

Silo linking will help your site rank for the overall theme as well as industry specific terms that will generate traffic.

If you find this information helpful share it with others!

If you would like to contribute, leave a comment below.