What does it take to get someone to return to your Website after they have seen it once or twice? Fresh content!

A recent Forrester report states that nearly a quarter of American adults who use the Internet are now described as active ‘creators.’ They “write blogs, upload original audio or video, or post stories online.”

In September, 2009 I shifted my entire DesignWise theory to reflect this change… and began using WordPress as a platform for Website design – one that would empower my clients and enable them to become creators. The following is a work-in-progress, much like WordPress itself (currently at version 2.9.2 as of this update). My intent is to provide you and more specifically, my clients with a handy set of reference page that will make it easy to go from ‘know-nothing-beginner’ to experienced ‘creator’ in a graceful, step-by-step manner.

Starting with the WordPress dashboard itself, ihelpbloggers provides the following Wordpress Tutorial:

I like visual tools, so you will find a growing collection embedded videos like the one above, as well as a collection of links to informative coaching blogs and other WordPress resources. I am assembling an ever-changing set of my favorite WordPress Plugins. And I am adding and expanding this resource in a set of “child pages.”

It’s important to start by understanding why WordPress is a superior content management system and this relates to the fact that it is created, organized and assembled from component parts that are all stored in a database. One of these elements  allows you (and search engines) to call up your content by specific key words called tags, that you can designate…

Tags and why they are important

“A tag is a keyword which describes all or part of a Post. Think of it like a Category, but smaller in scope. A post may have several tags, many of which relate to it only peripherally. Like Categories, Tags are usually linked to a page which shows all posts having the same tag. Unlike Categories, Tags can be created on-the-fly, by simply typing them into the tag field.

“Tags can also be displayed in “clouds” which show large numbers of Tags in various sizes, colors, etc. This allows for a sort of total perspective on the blog, allowing people to see the sort of things your blog is about most.

“Many people confuse Tags and Categories, but the difference is easy: Categories generally don’t change often, while your Tags usually change with every Post.

MORE…

The WordPress Codex provides a great step-by-step guide to getting started called First Steps With WordPress.

What’s the difference between a post and a page?

Where can I learn more about SEO (search engine optimization) for WordPress?