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I have recently moved off the online wordpress platform to the .org platform. Even though everything remains the same, interface wise, there are just so many options available here, which I had not explored when I was using the online platform. They range from plugins, widgets, analytics and search engine optimization programs. This last week has been a crash course in learning about html, permalinks, bounce rates, ftp transfers and a whole range of other topics. It is like being in an accelerated learning module, with just a week to digest everything. A lot of thanks go to a friend, Faizan Laghari who has really helped me with this transition and has probably just about had it with me and my never ending set of questions and requests. I sincerely appreciate everything that you have done Faizan and apologize for all the inconvenience.
Some major points I want to highlight are:
1. Switch Early: I should have made this migration a long time ago as using the wordpress.org platform gives you much more flexibility and opens up a host of options to help your blog grow faster. I took the approach of building content first, looking back, I would do it again, the only thing I would change would be, to do it on the .org platform. A major inconvenience has been fixing permalinks, adjusting categories, optimizing each post etc. If you are planning to blog seriously, I definitely recommend switching earlier.
2. Design: I finally decided on thesis and am really happy with my choice. Choosing a theme that fits your style is really important and I recommend taking serious time out to think about what works for you. Thesis has a lot of functionalities that make modifying the theme relatively easy. It has been designed really well and the typography stands out clearly. The following links helped me make my decision a lot easier.
- 10 of the Best WordPress 2.7 Compatible Themes
- Best Premium WordPress Themes
- 20 Great Free WordPress 2.7 Themes
3. Search Engine Optimization: Being a completely newbie to this field I have quickly learnt about the importance of permalinks, crawlers and meta tags. I downloaded the All in One SEO plugin from the wordpress plugin site and it has been working really well so far. All my old posts are associated with a different address so I guess it will take some time for my blogs to get indexed again. This is yet again another reason to switch early. I recommend reading through the links below, they helped me greatly in getting started.
- 9 SEO Plugins Every Wordpress Blog Should Have
- How to Survive a Category and Permalink Overhaul on your Wordpress Blog
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Usman – I am always open to helping out fellow entrepreneurs. I wrote a 5 part blog post about setting up a wordpress blog along with useful plugins, traffic and monetization. Check it out and it may be of some use to you. http://barfieldmanagement.com/2008/10/10/get-started-blogging-part-1-setup/
Chase
Thank you for the link Chase. I will get in touch with you regarding some other issues I am having regarding my blog migration. Regards, Usman.