A lot of people get confused between wordpress.com and wordpress.org so lets clear it up so you can make a decision on which to use for your business.

WordPress.com

PROS

• It’s free and very easy to set up.
• It’s hosted for you
• Your posts are automatically backed up
• Do well in search engines
• There are about 70 themes (designs) to choose from but they are very basic
• Setup, upgrades, spam, backups, security, etc are taken care of automatically
• You can add pages

CONS

• Your domain name will be something like www.yourname.wordpress.com – you can pay to upgrade to use a normal URL you purchase from places like godaddy.com
• You can’t simply FTP (upload) stuff to the server because you don’t control the hosting.
• You can’t add plug-ins that make your site do cool and useful stuff that automates your site, makes it more flexible and easier to do things like easily add videos and audios etc.
• You will need an experienced CSS web design to customise the look
• You have to pay a small annual fee to be able to do ANY customization
• There are limitations to the customisation
• You can’t automate it with all the bells and whistles
• You can’t upgrade it to a membership site or full ecommerce site

WordPress.org (Recommended)

PROS

• Free to download and use
• You can use your normal domain name eg: wwwyourname.com as opposed to www.yourname.wordpress.com but don’t have to pay for the upgrade
• You can use this option for website, even without a blog and you can have unlimited pages.
• You can have unlimited pages that don’t show on the navigation, which means you can set up SALE LETTER pages within the same site and just point a domain there. No need for lots of different websites. Needs a plug in to do this.
• You just add it to your normal hosting which sh0uld be about $7 a month which gives you full control over the site
• Ability to upload completely custom themes or use one of the millions of free (and very cool) themes on the net
• You can upload unlimited plug-ins (there are plug-ins for EVERYTHING you can think of) which automates your online business, makes the site easier to use and so many excellent business and brand building tools
• You can upgrade to a Membership Site or Full ecommerce site
• There is complete flexibility to customize code in both look and feel and functions
• Even though wordpress.org do WAY more than the .com there is loads of video and online support on how to run your site

CONS

• You’ll need a web designer to set up up your site on your host but its SUPER fast and easy so wont take long and therefore shouldn’t cost you much.
• You’re responsible for backups and spam but there are plug-ins we always add to do all this automatically for you.

CHECK OUT THE ULTIMATE PLUG-IN LIST

These are the types of plug-ins we include in all our Big Fish Website Design Packages. [view packages]

Wordpress.org sites allow you to add unlimited amounts of the millions of cool plug-ins out there on the web. Most are free.  When our Big Fish clients get a website with us we build it in Wordpress.org and as part of the package we add these plug-ins:

• SEO plug-in – to boost you in the search engines and allow you to control your keywords and titles etc for every page and every post. Search Engines LOVE this!!
• Advanced editing – this allows you to do way more than the standard Wordpress functions. You can control fonts more yourself, add tables, and lots more cool formatting that is really important.
• Auto backup – we set up a plug-in to automatically take a back up of your database every day, week or month and email it to you.
• Social Media Automation – we set up your site to automatically post to your Facebook, Twitter etc when you add a blog post. This is extremely valuable! For me it is where over half my traffic comes from.
• Sidebar controller – this allows you to say which pages you want each item on the sidebar to show. e.g you may only want the RECENT POSTS sidebar widget to show in the blog and not on the pages. This plug in lets you control that.
• Post Expiration date setting – don’t you hate websites that show things like event that have past? This allows you to set the date the post will STOP showing on your site. So if you’[re marketing events it will automatically be taken off your site on the date you specify.
• Broken link checker – this will automatically notify you when you sign in if there are broken links on your website. It will even let you click on them to fix them throughout the whole site in one click. Search engines don’t like broken links so this is a super important plug-in
• Navigation control – a plug in that allows you to simply tick a box to say whether you want the page to show on the navigation or not. (This would usually mean special coding that you can’t control without a web designer but this plug-in allows you to do it easily yourself).
• Form plug in – this allows us to easy add forms with all the fields you want without needing to pay for a form capturing system. When someone fills out the form they can be emailed right to your inbox or saved to a database (or both).
• Simple video insert - with one simple click you can insert videos into your pages and posts from loads of well known websites without having to do any fancy pants embed code stuff that is way too technical for most.
• Google Analytics – lets us simple add in the code for the URL so all your stats are tracked through Google Analytics. These are VERY detailed stats so you can see how your website is doing at any time.
• Page order drag n drop – you can simple drag and drop the pages to the order you want and save and you’re done. Can so the same with posts as well.
• Link navigation to anywhere – if you want to link to a URL that is not within your site or is to something specific this plug-in lets you simple paste the URL in and it will add a button to the navigation that will link there

We are always adding to this list of important plug-ins and we set them all up for you so you don’t have to worry about the technical side We also have how to videos showing you how to use anything that you may want to control in these plug-ins.

Phewl! That was a technical one! Add a comment with any questions you might have!

Most people need to add a PDF to their Wordpress site at some point. It’s actually SUPER EASY!!

This video show you how.

Sorry the audio is a bit crap… but you’ll still get the jist of it all

To view more HOW TO Videos just visit our website How To Videos and Guides Section. We add stuff all the time

CLICK HERE TO VIEW A MUCH LARGER / CLOSE UP VIDEO

Insert video with just a simple URL link from websites such as youtube, viddler, google video etc…

It’s so easy! You just click on the video type you want to insert and you’ll get this pop up window:

Then when you click OK it’s in! That easy!

IMPORTANT: If you have videos but need somewhere to store them I highly recommend www.viddler.com - Viddler lets up upload your logo so when you add videos they are automatically

This plug in currently supports these video sites:

YouTube (including playlists)
Google Video
DailyMotion
Vimeo
Veoh
Viddler
Metacafe
Blip.tv
VideoPress aka WordPress.com Video NEW!
Flickr videos
Spike.com/IFILM
MySpaceTV

As well as these file types:

Flash Video Files (FLV)
QuickTime (MOV, etc.)
Generic video files (AVI, MPEG, WMV, etc.)

How awesome is that?!

This icon here will let you highlight some text and click it to display the text in a funky box.

I get this question from my clients all the time, asking how I do this on my site. So here it is!

It’s great for quotes but also if you just want to highlight a part of your content

It’s so very simple. It’s not included in all themes so if you get a site with us and your theme doesn’t have it we’d have to do some customization. Most of our designs we do include it in the customized theme design.

1. Firstly you need to highlight the text in your blog post you want to quote
2. Then you hit the quote button (shown above)
3. You’re done

Your quoted text when previewed will look like this!

Simple as that!

Editing a Wordpress is the easiest update-your-site-yourself (CMS) system I’ve come across in my 12 years of web design. There are so many cool icons, tools, formating” thingees” but some people over look them. Usually because they don’t realise they are available.

What I’m about to show you is the available editing icons we offer our clients. These are not all “stock-standard”. Most of them are extra bells and whistles we add to our Wordpress site, BUT they are available out there and couple ARE standard.

Rather than bombard you with all 3 of these functions I am going to give you one per post over the next 3 days so keep checking back or subscribe by email to the blog posts up in the top right corner here.

More often than not our clients are happy to choose a theme from our library of have seen one of the millions of free wordpress themes available on the web and get us to apply that design to their site.

That way they get a hot looking wordpress site but don’t have to pay the extra to build a fully customized design.

We are more than happy to do that. My goal is to help my clients get active online and start making money, so we think its great that they know what they want before they get to us.

MY OPINION ON TEMPLATE DESIGNS

Using themes that someone else could potentially have as well is fine I think… AS LONG AS  you have your logo or brand at the top (which we include for free with our sites) then go for it!

If you have a site that is adding value to your followers, automated, has great content and stats that PROVE that its a successful site, then that is what REALLY matters.

I’m not saying a crappy looking site is cool. Hell no! First impressions matter. An ugly hard to navigate site will put people off before they look to see your content. The themes available today for free look super hot so why reinvent the wheel! Just use a free theme and get some tweaking done to customize it slightly.

Having said that – we do offer fully customized design options too

BEFORE YOU START SEARCHIN’: Don’t get overwhelmed by the number of choices or you’ll end up in helicopter mode, spinning round and round but not actually getting anywhere. Before you look have an idea in mind of what your target market would be attracted too and what doesn’t over power your website goals. In fact, write down what you want from your website before you search, then check back to make sure you’re on par.

So here is the juice of this post:

FREE THEMES

• http://www.antsmagazine.com/2009/02/35-best-wordpress-themes-for-free/
• http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/05/18/100-amazing-free-wordpress-themes-for-2009/
• http://www.bestwpthemez.com/top/wordpress-templates/
• http://www.freewpthemes.net/wordpress-themes/
• http://www.wordpressthemesbase.com/
• http://www.elegantthemes.com/ – these ones are not free but are with one of our packages.
• http://www.themes2wp.com/

NOT FREE BUT VERY CHEAP AND VERY COOL THEMES

• http://www.templatemonster.com/category/wordpress-themes/ – this one is not free but they are still cheap and REALLY good looking
• http://ithemes.com/ – architect theme is pretty cool in this one

There are loads more and I’ll keep adding them in blog posts but for now… have a surf at these! There are plenty.

Over and out!

There is one icon that EVERYONE editing a website in Wordpress MUST know… yet its the most overlooked and most crucial of all.

It’s the KITCHEN SINK icon. It sits on the top row of icons when editing a page or post.

By default Wordpress usually only shows you the basic editing icons.

It usually shows something like this below:

(As you can see I have highlighted the kitchen sink icon for you:) )

I have had a few clients say to me that they don’t have many editing options. e.g. can’t change font size etc. 99% of the time this is because they don’t know the kitchen sink icon expands thier options.

This is what it expands to AFTER you click the Kitchen Sink icon:

We (Big Fish Website Design) add some awesome bells and whistles that are not standard in Wordpress so this example shows a lot more than most Wordpress sites will give you. However the expanding KITCHEN SINK icon still is important no matter how many or few icons and functions your have.

My next post:

Next will be the top 3 key icons that will help you with your Wordpress editing, inserting videos with 1 simple link and adding in cool quotation boxes like this one

Catch you next post!

Website design is not just about sticking pretty pictures up on the net with some text and hoping someone will magically discover you. Your website is a powerful marketing tool that, if set up right, will be your most cost effective strategy ever.

It’s all very well to have a site but just EXISTING on the web is not enough. You’ve got to make that website work for you! Get your money’s worth!

The more your website can help you in getting top results the better! I don’t just mean selling your products (which is obviously awesome!).

If you had a powerful Ferrari you wouldn’t park it in the garage, throw away the keys and not put gas in it right? Your website is the same! You need to get it out there, tell the world, show it off and get the immense thrill when your website is a  money making machine!

Here are a few other ideas for when you’re trying to think of your websites purpose:

ONE

Add to your site HOW TO videos showing off your product in action or, if you promote something like speaking services or consulting, show videos of YOU in action. This will give them a taste of your product or service so they see what they are getting before they buy. They’ll be far more likely to trust you and make that purchase.

TWO

Gather a following by blogging valuable tips and advice regularly. Podcasting works well for this too. Make sure the tips you give are of real value. It will give you credibility, show you know your topic and show your consistent dedication to your business.

THREE

Promoting affiliate products that you make a cut on. There are many websites out the e.g. clickbank.com that are a database of affiliate products that you can sell for other people. Go research some that are relevant to your business and sell them on your site. Make sure you keep good stats because this will also give you excellent feedback on what people are searching for and actually buying in your industry.

FOUR

Create some eProducts and sell them online. eBooks, audios or videos and add workbooks too so they are more interactive. Again, don’t just waffle. Make them valuable so the reader/listener walks away thinking “Wow – I want more from this guy/girl”. Look on websites like http://www.cbengine.com/ and see what products are doing really well. Check them out to give you an idea of what your product and topic should be.

FIVE

Add an FAQs page to answer common questions. This will free you up from hours on the phone answering the same questions over and over. Then you can spend your time focusing on growing your business, not the mundane boring stuff.

SIX

Building your list by giving valuable freebees so you can market to them. Create one of the freebees I mentioned before and give it away on your site for free in exchange for visitors joining your database. Then you’ll end up with a targeted list of potential prospects.

SEVEN

Convert your site to a membership site. Then you can charge an ongoing access fee for members to view useful information (videos, audios, PDFs). If you’re updating it constantly then this is a fantastic way it get on-going income for very little cost.

These are just SOME of the simple ideas to make your website work for you. Saving you money, saving you time, making you money, building your brand… whatever your goal is… make that puppy WORK baby!

Over and out!

J