Make sure your web property looks and functions professionally.
Whether you outsource to a company like Sharp Biz Image to set up and customize your WordPress site, or you want to do it all yourself, the products listed below are must haves to get you movin’ and groovin’ online.
Step 1 : Set up Your Blog with a Fast and Reliable Web Server
I have been working with clients who have a variety of hosting plans and love the ease and simplicity of Bluehost. They make hosting almost idiot proof. Bluehost gives you unlimited domains on your hosting account, along with unlimited emails and 1 free domain. All for approximately $6.95 per month. (Check to see if they are having a special) Bluehost’s customer service is excellent and their well informed technicians are not outsourced. All the websites that I have set up using Bluehost, have been stable with little to no downtime. Bluehost has a simple WordPress installation using Simple Scripts.
Why not set up an account today by clicking HERE?
Once your blog is set up there are a few settings you will want to optimize, that, unfortunately, often get overlooked by webmasters and DIYers. (this is part of our service)
Step 2 is making sure your blog has a dynamic theme.
There are thousands of free WordPress themes, but a premium theme has many advantages. The most important is support. Studio Press Genesis Framework themes are the choice of many top bloggers. The themes are highly optimized for SEO, are kept updated and are easy to customize. Studio Press themes look like professional expensive websites rather than typical blogs. They have recently introduced several mobile responsive themes such as the one this site is using. Many of my clients have switched over from their static sites, that they have no control over, to WordPress with a Studio Press theme. If you would like to check them out, click HERE.
A Versatile Premium Theme
Thesis is also a very popular theme choice, due to the fact that it’s very flexible. Thesis has a clean and bold look. It is easy to move sections around inside the interface. Thesis is also SEO optimized and has a great support forum. To Purchase Thesis (with a 30 day money back guarantee) click HERE
Another great choice is Woo Themes. They are clean, easy to configure, and have built in functions that do not require plugins. I especially love their video themes such as Premiere and Woo Tube. To view Woo themes, click HERE.
Step 3: Build a list.
Most serious marketers prefer aweber as their email marketing service provider. Most 3rd party addons are designed to work with aweber before all others. You can have multiple lists and auto responders. Offer blog post updates to your readers using the blog broadcast feature. Aweber has very attractive opt in forms, without having to have a designer create them with html code. I have worked with several other email marketing services and aweber is by far the best, in my opinion.
To get an account click HERE.
Free Email Service Option: Mail Chimp Mail Chimp is an awesome service as well and offers multiple lists, a WordPress plugin and blog broadcasts. They have a sense of humor too.
Step 4: Create a strong Call to Action for your products, programs and services
Build an amazing landing page without distractions using Premise. Premise is a WordPress plugin, as opposed to a separate WordPress theme. This is a big advantage as there is no need to create separate sites, or folders to install WordPress on. You can create landing pages with Premise right on your own blog. It is part of Copyblogger Media, (the same folks who market Studio Press themes) and easily integrates with any WordPress them. The beauty of all Copyblogger products is their clean and elegant design. Premise landing pages and graphics are not in your face sales pages. They are for marketers in all niches. They have recently introduced some amazing options. The latest version Premise 2.0 has the ability to:
- Build rock-solid membership sites with WordPress
- Take recurring payments with automated access management
- Automatically drip content out over time
- Securely sell ebooks, software, and other digital downloads
- Confidently create private forum areas with vBulletin
- Quickly set up password-protected content libraries
- Easily build check-out pages for PayPal and Authorize.net
To purchase the Premise plugin click HERE.
Another Landing Page Optin For Serious Marketers
Optimized Press is another alternative for creating a product launch system on WordPress. It can also be used for membership sites. Optimized Press is a separate WordPress theme and not a plugin like Premise. It is highly dynamic for someone who has a product launch as it is an entire sales system all in one. If your niche is in a softer realm and you do not want to create a separate WordPress site to host your sales pages, then Premise may be a better choice. Many top marketers LOVE Optimize Press. It’s attractive, clean and powerful. It interfaces with most of the popular email marketing services, including 1 shopping cart and infusion soft.
To purchase Optimize Press, click HERE.
Buying Multiple Domains?
Consider Godaddy. Godaddy does it all butcan kind of drive you crazy with it’s interface. It’s excellent, however, for purchasing and registering your domains for a very reasonable price. Although you can install WordPress and host your site on Godaddy, I prefer and recommend Bluehost as it is generally faster and more efficient.
Buy domains on Godaddy by clicking HERE
Add Photos
The thing is, it’s illegal to steal photos on the Internet. You want to make sure they are not copyright protected. Big Stock Photo has a huge gallery of images at very low prices. I use it all the time and love the selection. You can either purchase as you go (at $2.99 per shot) or get a package of pics (to download as needed) for as low as .99 per pic.
Click HERE to purchase
Just a tip: For the most part, all you will need is 1 credit which is about 900 x 600. Make sure to re-size your photos so they are not huge and taking up your bandwidth. Some free photo editing programs I love to use are:
Pic Monkey (run by some of the same folks who worked for Picnik – gone now to Google)
Record Some Audio
I’ve been a voice over actor for over 30 years in addition to my career working with WordPress. I love the way Audio Acrobat Works. Even though you can upload audio files on to your blog there is a limit to file size. If it is too large of a file, you need to FTP it into your hosting account.Audio Acrobat will host audio and video files for you and make keep them private. You can also create podcasts that are Itunes ready and they will submit your podcast to multiple sites. There are various options available to record your audio files. You can do it by phone via Audio Acrobat or record the files yourself. I personally prefer to record them using a Audio-Technica AT2020 USB Condenser USB Microphone
Sign up for Audio Acrobat HERE
To edit your audio, use Audacity, which is a free program for PC or Garage Band for Mac.
Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, which means I receive a commission if you choose to purchase them. However, I personally use and recommend these products and believe they will bring great value to your online business. Affiliate marketing one of the ways you can easily monetize your blog without any overhead. I hope you will choose to click on the links above and check them out for yourself.