Web Marketing HowTo

WordPress is a free, open source software program that is used to run blogs. It's very flexible and easy to use, freeing you to concentrate on the writing, but allows you to delve deeper if you so choose. It's flexible enough to be used on non-blog sites, though that can be pushing it. The pace of development and improvements is continuous, so you constantly get new features.

It is easy to install and use. The wide variety of themes, beyond the two included (which are getting somewhat long in the tooth, to be sure) ensures that you can find something you like if you aren't up to creating your own. My first WordPress site was a modification of the Kubrick default. I learned a lot picking through it, figuring out how to make it do what I wanted, but depending on your needs you may never have to do this.

WordPress has a well established community for both support and plugins. It's easy to get help since it's a widely used platform, and developers have come up with an incredible array of plugins to extend WordPress and create new functionality.

WordPress comes in a few different flavors :

• as individual user blogs on WordPress.com where all you need to do is sign up and start a blog, though at the expense of some customization;
• individually installed software on your own host, giving you ultimate flexibility in how to use WordPress, like I am using here;
• and WordPress MU, which is the multi-user version, where you can set up your own version of WordPress.com however you choose.

There are several other well known and established blogging packages out there of course, but while I'm focusing the initial phases of the website on building a WordPress blog, the strategies themselves will be applicable to any software you choose to use. Only the specifics of implementation will change.

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