Here goes … Five Essential Tweaks For Your WordPress Blog Install

1. Install the Google Sitemap Plugin – and link to it in my footer. If I could only do one tweak, this would be it.

2. Activate the Askimet Plugin – If you don’t, plan to be wading in comment spam. Somehow the spammers REALLY know how to find a way to get that spam junk into your blog.

3. Burn the Feed – with Feedburner of course. I failed to do this with my very first blog, then I ended up moving blog platforms and lost some readers and momentum in the process. With Feedburner, if you ever move, it’s a quick tweak in one place and everybody gets updated to the new feed automatically.

4. Change the Permalinks Structure – I use this format … /%postname%/ … I use the category slug so I can optimize my post titles with keywords that I won’t or don’t include in post titles. My friend Brian Gardner puts a .htm also at the end, which I’m experimenting with as well. My theory is that in search results some people might see the .htm and think there’s actual content in that link. Jury’s still out on that one. Update: I initially included the Category in the permalink structure, but have now switched my thinking on that … I only use the PostName in the Permalink Structure. Putting the Category in the Permalink causes some headaches and makes for longer URLs.

5. Use a Contact Form Prominently – I’ve seen it dramatically increase my correspondence with both my customers and readers. See mine in action here. I use this Contact Form plugin and it’s been extremely reliable. Some of my friends use this one.

OK, that’s it … at least the first essential tweaks and changes I do for a new WordPress blog.

For other posts like this, see the Advice I Give My Clients category.

Here’s what I mean by that statement: Simply, your blog should convert your site guests to accomplish your goals, whatever those are.

As a blog designer, one of the first questions I ask clients is “What do you want your blog to do for you/your business?”

It’s not about fancy design, or advanced plugins … it’s about forcing your blog (and your blog design) to work for you and your goals.

For instance, if you want to get a job, your blog should be your resume. If you want to demonstrate your expertise in your field or industry, your blog should give you that exposure. If you want to get a book deal, start an email newsletter, build a platform to show an agent or publisher, and blog your content chapter by chapter.

So whatever your goal is … it should make conversions … or help give you the results you require.

Here are three articles on landing pages I’ve been studying … maybe there’s some tips or strategies you can draw from them to help you get those results:

• 11 Ways to Improve Your Landing Pages
• Creating Landing Pages that Convert
• 10 Factors to Test Your Landing Pages

By the way, I think it’s fascinating to take successful concepts or principles from other items … and use them in other fields or ways.

But whatever you say about “content” …. text-based, practical, highly-readable, linkbait-able writing … it’s worth more than people suspect.

After more than four months of advertising online and two years of blogging personally, I’ve realized our advertising money would be better spent developing our own content, on our own sites.

Here’s my rational for why I believe content is priceless … or pretty darn valuable anyway:

1. Content is a one-time investment with long-term residual payoff

This is what I was getting at in my post on the Long Tail of Blogging.

On the web, there is really no expiration date for great content. Well, I guess content can grow old, or stale, or go out of date for some subjects. But as long as it resides somewhere on a server and is accessible from the web, you can reap the rewards — in terms of readers — forever.

That’s what I love about well-written, indexable content.

And the beauty is … you pay for it once — in dollars or time.

2. Search engines are content banks

Often, I search for various niche keywords on Google and regularly find articles that were written 2 or 3 years ago ranking at the top, coveted spot.

The bulk of this content is still great, timeless writing …

This makes the search engines a 24/7 vault for great content, accessible to anyone with a web browser and keyword phrase.

Again, for a one-time time or monetary investment.

3. Content is still a bargain.

Because great content isn’t valued, in some marketing circles, as much as advertising, it means good writing is a bargain. There is a bunch of blogging job boards out there ripe for getting good content written for you and your company.

I’m starting that search now myself.

I was at one time a newspaper journalist, then later transitioned to be a part-time freelance writer. The numbers I hear for blog-type writing are quite lower than what I was paid to write.

But unlike others, I still value good writing. And I’ll pay for it too. Especially if the writer is an authority in their field.

Now, if you’ve followed my thought here, and agree … the million-dollar question becomes …

How do you as a small business owner leverage content for marketing?

I’ll talk more about that in the future, but I’m eager to see how you’re doing that now … leave a comment on this post and let us all know.

I’ve been reading Chris Anderson’s excellent book The Long Tail. (Yes, I know, I’m arriving late to this party!)

There are so many implications to what I’m doing online with The Long Tail.

But the immediate one that occurred to me was the Long Tail of Blogging.

Here’s my personal experience with this …

On my main blog, I have written more than 600 posts to date. Only half of those posts were written with search engine traffic in mind. (I learned from trial and error.)

After one year of blogging, those 600 posts, along with WordPress and some of these essential blog tweaks, I now get 60% of my traffic from Google alone.

The bulk of that 60% traffic is going to older posts, single posts — those on the Long Tail of my blogging trail.

Although some of those posts account for maybe one unique visitor a day at best … but group them together and it eventually will add up to some really great traffic and momentum.

And here’s the kicker … I wrote those posts once … and I’m still reaping the Long Tail benefits of them months later.

Moral of the story: Post good, broad content in your topic niche consistently, with search engine traffic in mind (i.e. writing titles with phrases that people are searching for) … and ride your own little wave.

I sure do love the Long Tail …

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