What is RSS??

[TristanJ]

Ok because it hasn't been asked I'll go ahead and feel stupid.

What is RSS and how do I get started without spending any money???

I understand I have to write some code or something, but I have no idea where to start??

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Tristan,

No need to feel studid, no need to spend money and no need to code!!!

RSS is ALL good news. I don't have time to explain what it is, you can Google and find out all about it. But in short, simple Linda form - it's an easier way to build web pages - once set up it kinda like writing an email. Search engines love blogs and your visitors can syndicate the content through RSS.

WordPress is free and sits on your server which is a good way to go if you want a blog to increase your traffic. Many others like blogger.com are hosted at their server but are super easy to set up.

 

[TristanJ]

OH now I have a better idea!

Did you use word press for this site?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Tristan,

No I used it for my blog, here: http://affiliate-blogs.5staraffiliateprograms.com/

 

[TristanJ]

Ok......

So I think I'm starting to see what?s up......

Ok so if you run wordpress on your own server you can add your own graphics and such....... Right?

Then, for the sole reason that you are using wordpress, they help out a tad with advertising......right?

Also using wordpress lets you oraganize....right?

Sounds like a sweet deal if I got this right?!?!


Right right right???

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Tristan,

Yes I think you got it. There's a LOT more to it. I have an awesome designer that can set up and design the blog for you. He did mine and also just did one for one of my clients AffiliateClassroom. See it here: http://blog.affiliateclassroom.com/

 

[TristanJ]

sooooo

Sooooo what's the advantage to haveing someone else set it up???

Do they do some added meta data or somthing? Do they do the graphics and such? I am starting to do my own graphics so that is out of the question.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Well only if you arent technical enough to do it yourself. There are lots of options and plug-ins and CSS design issues that I didn't either know how to deal with or have the time to deal with. I had him use my graphics and just told him how I wanted everything customized.

But you can install WP yourself and use one of the many existing blog templates if you don't need a customized blog.

 

[Teli]

Ok so if you run wordpress on your own server you can add your own graphics and such....... Right?

That is right. You can customize WordPress to look just about any way you want.

Some designs are more complicated that others, and if you don't want your blog to look like a blog (example: Actors Info Booth), then it would require a bit more planning and may have a learning curve if you're not comfortable with PHP/CSS/XHTML and WordPress.

But for the most part, have a custom looking blog can be as simple as finding a similar template to what you want, creating your own header graphic and replacing it in the template.

Then, for the sole reason that you are using wordpress, they help out a tad with advertising......right?

It may be me, but this question seems a bit confusing.

WordPress (the group) doesn't help with advertising. WordPress (i.e. what's powering your blog) doesn't really help with advertising. However, the end result (i.e. your blog itself) can definitely help with advertising.

That can be accomplished with just about any blogging software/service, but WordPress offers a few extra features that make it easier to do.

For instance, WordPress offers a number of different feeds by default (RDF, RSS2, and Atom) and you can include your adverts in the RSS feeds (I know Y!PN is testing feed ads right now), you can even publish your adverts within the blog posts itself, and/or modify the blog templates to include your advertising fairly easily.

Also using wordpress lets you organize....right?

That is most certainly right, however, it's a good idea not to start a blog on a very broad topic unless it's like a personal journal.

If the purpose is to advertise, it's a good idea to go the niche route and keep the number of categories to a minimum as not to overwhelm your visitors with too many choices.

The newest version of WordPress also allows you to create categories directly from the post, and the pages feature allows for another dimension of organizing.

My belated 2 cents worth

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thank you Teli for the great info and reply.

I am trying to build up the blogging part of the forum since I launched the 5 Star Blogs Directory at www.5starblogs.com - so feel free to start threads or reply anytime. You are a pro that I would like to have on my team!