Everyone knows that WordPress is a mega-platform when it comes to blogging. It is an open-source blogging platform who believes in democratizing publishing. They have free personalization, free blog support, built-in SEO tools; blogging newbies turn to them, experienced hobbyists trust them, and even huge corporations use them to utilize their sites (see: https://wordpress.org/showcase/). It’s probably safe to say that expert bloggers have started from creating a small blog on WordPress, then learned how to handle the ropes, and evolved to the names we all know by now. Publishers have mass conferences called the WordCamp, it’s a community-organized event and is organized by bloggers like you. These meetings are always happening across the USA and even in other countries.
The company also believes in having creative freedom, that’s why their ‘bill of rights’ are:
To run the program for any purpose.
To study how the program works and change it to make it do what you wish.
To redistribute.
To distribute copies of your modified versions to others.
WordPress is a simple, straight-forward software and it’s not rocket science to start a blog but running a one will be a bit tricky if you don’t have any idea on how to maintain a blog other than you have to churn out new and engaging content for your audience. Below are some of the Do's and Don’ts of WordPress blogging, consider these as a benchmark of running a successful blog.
| DO's | DON'Ts |
|---|---|
| Be Consistent with your tone, writing style, and schedule. You would want people (potential clients, audience, etc.) to have an easy time following your content. | Publish posts intermittently. Set a schedule if you can. This way, you can control when your content comes out and if it's relevant to recent trends. |
| Stay Connected. Socialize with other people with the same hobby or passion as you. Network with people if possible, get your name out there. Use social media to promote your name. | Kick other names/brands down. Sure, maybe it will become viral but you don't want to be known as that kind of person. |
| Utilize WordPress plugins. Use them to your advantage, it is there to help you maintain your blog/website. | Mess with your schedule. Once you have a routine, don't deviate from it. Having a routine will be helpful to your patrons or your audience. |
| Use SEO tools. SEO tools can get your blog or website out there. Use it to garner more traffic into your site or to improve your search engine results. | Plagiarize. Give where the credit is due. Should you use other people's work, make sure to link the original source. |
| Make sure your blog is accessible and readable. Use an appropriate theme for your blog. If your content is text heavy, use a theme that can accommodate large amounts of text-based posts. | Use flashy templates. It will be hard for your readers to navigate your blog if you use flashy templates or have too many unnecessary additions. |
This article is here just to give you guidance on how you can start and adjust smoothly and without any fuss. Everyone has their own style and flow, use that to your advantage. Be unique and outstanding, but make sure that people can see that you are still a real person behind your blog or website. WordPress is a wonderful platform where you can share and connect with other people, their platform allows creative freedom and lets people use it to conjure up their own possibilities.
