This week on The Bella Buzz podcast, we discuss a publishing platform that provides site owners an easy to use tool for managing content, WordPress. The platform is expected to be releasing its version 3.0 in the very near future according to information that Desiree received at the WordCamp Atlanta that took place this past January.
Desiree points out that one of the major upgrades to the platform will be the ability to manage multiple users across multiple web sites. Currently this would require individual logins for each user on each site. This is just one of the many additional features expected with the launch. According to this post at Mashable, the Beta of 3.0 is now available for testing.
One of the misunderstandings about using WordPress is that it is only a "blogging" platform, when in fact it can be a wonderful way to set up a site with static pages that only need infrequent updates. Bella Web Design recently built a new site launched on this platform at BrightClaim.com. Looking at this site, you will see a very fresh well laid-out site that does not have the appearance of a WordPress format.
A key aspect to the use of WordPress is the open source nature of the platform. Since the code is easily accessible many plugins have been created to expand the functionality of a WordPress site beyond its strong baseline features. As a service to Bella Buzz listeners we have made a list of suggested plugins that you should consider, in no particular order:
Google XML Sitemaps - This plugin generates a XML-Sitemap
compliant sitemap for stronger SEO
Share This - Let your visitors share a post/page with others
Twitter Tools - A complete integration between your WordPress and Twitter, passing links to posts via your tweet stream.
Wordpress Database Backup - On-demand backup of your WordPress database.
Powerpress - The plugin gives you everything you need in one easy plugin to
use WordPress for Podcasting.
Akismet - Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if
they look like spam or not (Comes pre-populated in Wordpress & is a valuable tool).
Dagon Form Mailer - easily customizable contact form
All In One SEO - this plugin helps you to optimize all of the critical aspects of site design to achieve better ranking results.
WP Super Cache - this is a very efficient way for a site to load faster. Indications are that Google is looking a site load time as a factor in ranking, and this should help that requirement.
We should note that there are other options to consider when deciding on a content management system and we would at least call attention to Typepad and Squarespace, Joomla and Tumblr as other potential platforms.
As a guide for learning how to use WordPress, there are great resources that you can Google, but there is a site called WP Beginner that can be a big help.
There is also an iPhone app that allows easy access to the platform for managing posts.
Theme
music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for
download at the Podsafe Music Network.
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