ISEdb.COM

It’s no secret that a continually updated website with new content
being added regularly stands a good chance of doing well in Google. One
of the long standing methods to regularly expand a site’s content is
through the use of a blog.

While there are numerous platforms to
choose from for managing a blog, few can compare with the immense
flexibility offered with WordPress, and at a cost of free, the price
can’t be beat either.

Google likes fresh new content, and
setting up a blog on your site, assuming it is updated often with
interesting and relevant material, can be one of the best things you
can do to help out your search rankings. The beauty behind WordPress is
that there is a wide array of totally free plug-ins you can easily
install that will make your blog totally search engine friendly.

The following are some basic guidelines and essential plug-ins you should consider when you install your WordPress blog.

Template Design

The
first configuration you need to do is work on customizing the design
template to match your existing site. I suggest finding a template that
matches as closely as possible to the look you are going for then work
on tweaking its graphics, colors, and other particulars till you
achieve the desired appearance.

Most of your changes will occur
in the header.php, footer.php, index.php, and page.php files in the
theme editor, however, the theme you install will dictate which files
actually need to be updated. You will also need to make some
adjustments to your CSS file. These changes all involve working with
code and graphics, and are most likely left to a professional.

Once
you have your design set up, the rest of the customization is
considerably less technical. The following are suggestions that most
people can do themselves and you probably will not need an expert to
help you here.

Settings

Permalinks
The
next thing you need to do is customize your URL’s. You do not want the
default post URLs (“pageid=#”) as they are simply not search friendly
and you want your default names to have some meaning to them. While you
can customize your URL’s with various plug-ins, you may not always
think to do this, so be sure to have a default you can live with.

Under
the settings tab in your dashboard, click on permalinks. Here I suggest
choosing one of the settings that includes the post name. Including the
month and year is totally optional as it will have little to no impact
on your search rankings, but you definitely do want to include the post
name.

WWW or no WWW
With
WordPress, there is no need to worry about the www vs no www redirects.
It is handled for you, but you do need to select which variation you
want, and it’s very simple to do. Under “General Settings” you will see
two fields; one for “WordPress address” and the other, “Blog address”.
Ensure that both these fields include the “www” (or not), whichever you
prefer, and that’s it. (I always recommend using the “www” version of
your URL as most people linking into your site will use it, and this
will help keep a consistency among your site.


Required Plug-ins
There
is an almost endless supply of free plug-ins out there that you can add
to your site ranging from photo galleries and spam protection, to
social media integrators for Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and others. While
many of these others will benefit your blog and search rankings, the
XML Sitemap, and SEO plug-ins are truly essential.

SEO Plug-in
When
setting up your new installation, the first plug-in you need to install
is one that will allow for totally customized title, meta description
tags, and page URL’s. There are a number of tools that do this ranging
from the widely popular “All in One SEO Pack” to a relative newcomer “HeadSpace2″.

While I personally have yet to try HeadSpace2,
it is high on my list, as it has been recommended by many industry
professionals as the best WordPress SEO plug-in. For any new blog
installation I highly recommend this plug-in be installed right away.

XML Sitemap Plug-in
To the best of my knowledge, HeadSpace2 does not have an XML sitemap option, and as such I highly recommend “Google XML Sitemaps“.
This plug-in will automatically generate XML sitemaps for you on the
fly and submit it to Google every time you add, remove, or update a
page or post. This helps ensure that Google has the latest information
at all times. It’s a very simple plug-in to install and configure and
once setup, you can forget about it and it will do the job for you.


A
well optimized site loaded with relevant content can do very well in
Google if setup correctly. The power of WordPress can make this process
incredibly easy so all you have to worry about is writing those great
articles and selling your customers. The plug-ins and functionality of
WordPress are endless and when installed correctly can make the
optimization of your blog considerably easier, increasing your chances
for top rankings.