Tag: blog

Tips to Using WordPress to Create a Website

Your website a key piece to your communications strategy
Your website a key piece to your communications strategy

Your website a key piece to your communications strategy.  Designing your website, getting it setup and then managing updates all need to be considered when planning how to create and manage this key piece to your communications strategy.

You can use WordPress to create your website.

Here are a few tips to do this:

  1. First – plan your website.  What is the outline of main sections that you need?
  2. Select a THEME that includes MENUS.  The Twenty Ten / 11 / 12
  3. Use PAGES for content that is relatively static.  For example your ABOUT page, Contact page, services.
  4. Use POSTS for sections that you want to have as blog posts.  Assign a category to similar posts and you can select to show those posts on a menu item
  5. Add widgets to add functionality to the structure
  6. Research, select and register your domain name  e.g. www.yourdomain.com
  7. Register your blog/website with Google webmaster, Bing, Networked Blogs and other search engines
  8. Add tags, categories and SEO meta tags to increase your search engine visibility.

Advantages of using a blog for your website:

  • Flexibility – you can add new pages, rearrange your menu, create sub pages to build sections, use posts for updates.
  • Blogs are search engine friendly
  • Add photos and videos for interest
  • Create links and resources for your readers
  • Build an audience and add subscribers
  • Build and manage content on your website

More information

Have you created a website using WordPress or other blogging platforms?  What pros and cons do you see?

 

Your Internet Strategies

 

The WEB of website + Social Media

I have now moved the blog http://alephconsulting.word.press.com to new hosting and using WordPress.COM and using the domain name www.yourinternetstrategies.com

 

If you have been following previous posts about comparing the 2 versions of WordPress you will see the pros and cons of this.  The WordPress.ORG is giving me some additional programming functions that make it possible to display some types of materials not possible before.

I hope that those who were following the Internet Strategies blog before will continue to follow and re subscribe.  I have been able to change the URL on Networked Blogs (on Facebook) so followers from that stream should continue to receive notice of new postings.

I am interested to receive your comments and if you are seeing anything that isn’t working on this new format – images, links or anything else that doesn’t look like it is displaying correctly.  If you do see an error could you please send me the URL of the page, the problem and what browser you are using.

Thanks and I hope to continue posting on ideas, tips and strategies for nonprofits and organizations that are looking for methods to use the many facets of the Internet to grow your organizations.   The new domain name for the blog reflects this   “YOUR INTERNET STRATEGIES”    www.yourinternetstrategies.com

 

Denise Davies is an Internet and media consultant.  She works with nonprofit organizations and small businesses to maximize their effective use of the Internet to build their organization and achieve their objectives.  If you have questions or would like to learn more contact through the contact form

Website + Social Media for Building Traffic

Your own WEB consists of multiple internet based tools and publishing areas. Each contributes to building traffic, interactivity, collaboration and network building. See diagram and explanation

I often get asked about the advantages of having both a website AND using online social networking – Facebook, LinkedIN, and other social media.

Also – is an email newsletter effective in building traffic.

The way that i visualize it is with this diagram:

The WEB of website + Social Media

Your own WEB consists of multiple internet based tools and publishing areas.  Each contributes to building traffic, interactivity, collaboration and network building.

Having a Facebook Page (your business page), articles, blog, listings and postings on professional portals, a YouTube channel for video, FLICKR area for photos, postings from press releases and news sites all potentially bring traffic to your website and also give people the opportunity to “like”, post comments and questions and interact with you.  All these activities help you in building your network and list of interested contacts.

An email newsletter similarly is a simple “call to action” that people can sign up for on your website or from other entry points. People who sign up are interested in continuing to receive information from you.  Constant Contact provides social networking links from the emails that you send out – and also you can publish an archive on your website.

Develop a plan and strategy on how to use Social Media. Include a timeline and also a plan on how to reuse / republish information in different formats so that you get multiple uses without a lot of extra work.

Your Social Networking sites can all be integrated with your website.  You or your web developer gets the code and adds the code to one or more places on the website.

Examples:

  • http://www.eckova.ca – the home page integrates the Eckova Facebook page and blog.  Various other locations on the website include integrations e.g. in the sidebar area and inside pages.
  • http://antigonishfilmfest.org – the home page integrates the Facebook Page

Denise Davies is an Internet and media consultant with Eckova.  She works with nonprofit organizations and small businesses to maximize their effective use of the Internet to build their organization and achieve their objectives.  If you have questions or would like to learn more contact by email at davies@eckova.ca