Today’s post runs the risk of boring those of you who are so awed by the amazing content I send each week that you are oblivious to the technology that makes it all possible. At the same time, many of you are fellow bloggers—bloggers I met on WordPress.COM (or bloggers I introduced to WordPress.COM!)—and you may be quietly wondering if you should make the switch to WordPress.ORG as well.
There are similarities between the two platforms, so if you’ve become comfortable on .COM, you’re probably well-equipped to handle .ORG. However, .ORG does demand a little more tech savvy—and if a phrase like “tech savvy” makes you shudder, then you’re probably not ready to make the switch.
But if you are, you’ll appreciate these benefits…
A benefit for my readers
Type size is the feature most of you will be interested in. WordPress.ORG gives me the ability to choose the specific font and size I want my blogs to appear in. Right now for the body copy I’m using a font that looks very clear on my screen. And I’ve chosen 16pt as my default size, which I believe should be readable even to older eyes and lower-resolution monitors.
But the nice thing is, you can tell me if it’s not! Maybe on your monitor, my blog is showing up GIGANTIC, and you hate the way it looks. Let me know! I can bump the font size down and see if that helps. I can make the headlines bolder, or put them in a different font, or assign a color to them. The defaults I’ve chosen are ones that look good on my screen, but they might look totally different on yours. Let me know.
A benefit for people who want to be my readers (but don’t know it yet)
Improved SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is another serious .ORG benefit. There are dozens of places to add keywords and meta descriptions and tags, all of which will help people arrive at my site when they are Googling the words I’ve chosen to emphasize. I can’t yet testify that my SEO has improved, because all I’ve done so far is begin using tags on my posts. And I’m still in the process of applying these tags to all my past posts. After that, I’ll start working on meta descriptions and meta keywords. Before you know it, I’ll be all over the first page of Google results when you’re looking for a writer!
A benefit for myself
Clarified focus. Making the switch has given me a reason to go through all my old posts and clean them up, making sure each one supports this blog’s purpose— “helping you share your story.” That’s been a good exercise for me, and I feel more mission-focused than I did a year ago. If you are feeling the need to do some spring cleaning on your blog, switching to .ORG might be the catalyst you need. But be warned: It’s a time-consuming project. The switch itself is not time-consuming, but all that clean-up can be.
Need help?
A guy named Jim Lodico of QuickEasyBlog.com helped me with my transition. I met him online at Blogging Success Summit 2011, and he’s been a good resource. Not only is he a copywriter, but he specializes in WordPress blogs. If you don’t have a blog yet, and you want to start, Jim can get you set up and teach you how to publish your first post. If you have a WordPress.COM blog, and you want to switch to WordPress.ORG, Jim can handle all the stuff that has to do with “domain names” and “hosting” and “redirecting,” so that all you have to do is create content. Check out the different services he offers.
Take a look
Take a look around my new blog site. Click on the links, use the Search box, check out the tabs, take it for a test drive!
And then let me know what you think, would you? Is the information easy to find? Do the pictures take a long time to load? Does the layout make sense? How do things look on your screen? Is there anything I need to fix?