Creating your own Website or Blog – Using WordPress

Recently some clients and students have expressed interest in creating their own blogs. They’ve asked me how they should go about it. It seems I often start with a recommendation to consider using WordPress. It’s the most common blog software and it can also be used to host a static traditional website. I’ll run through my experience and then share some resources, including a brief comment on “WordPress for Dummies,” a book I recently picked up at the library.

Like others, I first got started around 1996 building websites with the first WYSIWYG editor from Microsoft called FrontPage. I built crude websites with simple graphics. It felt great to pay for my hosting with a small Toronto company and have my first site live 24 hours later. I used websites to promote myself and my businesses, which included a skateboarding magazine and a streetwear clothing line.

A few years later I got my hands on a popular tool called Dreamweaver. It’s still in use, having been absorbed into the Adobe product lines. I was able to dabble in cool web design techniques including show/hide layers and javascript rollovers. When used in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop I had everything I needed to create nice graphics, edit photos, and design stylish web pages.

I was never much for Flash – as an Internet enthusiast I hardly ever remember being impressed with that many animations or uses in areas such as gaming. But I always had an idea that I wanted my websites to be engaging and where possible, interactive. Early on, being a musician in addition to a designer, I would post mp3 or wav files and I experimented with animated GIFS which showed skateboarders executing tricks over loops of 10-12 frames.

And then I found blogs! Of course blogs exploded a few years ago, and it wasn’t until last summer that I really started down the blogging road. I love the ability to publish quickly, and web, unlike print, allows for your articles/mistakes to be corrected, revised, and improved or expanded upon later. Often I write a post, and within an hour or three I revise the post 3-4 times. WordPress.com, where this blog has been hosted, is an easy way to get started. I found a theme I liked and learned how to customize the header image – I even requested an image from Toronto photoblog hero Sam Javanrouh (a nice shot of Museum Station).

As I got more serious about my blog I decided I would eventually migrate it from WordPress.com to my own host. I’m using Bluehost, and with a couple simple clicks I can install the WordPress.org software and get started on a completely customizable blog within minutes. The range of plugins which extend the functionality is dizzying. Perhaps the one I’m most in love with at the moment is called “FLV embed.” It allows me to easily post my own flash videos in my website pages. (To visit my site and see these videos click “SAF Design” in my links or go to http://strongandfree.ca).

For a final jumping off point, let me expand on the virtues of your own hosting solution. WordPress for Dummies doesn’t go into the benefits as thoroughly as it might, but let me outline a couple. WordPress.com occasionally serves ads on your posts. Your own hosted version can use an infinite range of themes, and plugins and the css style and page code can be modified (if you like getting your hands a bit dirty and are willing to explore and learn). You definitely are better off with your own solution than paying WordPress.com for “upgrades.” I have recently learned how to build two websites using WordPress as a CMS, which stands for Content Management System. I’m still tinkering with the content in the sidebars and playing with things like photogallery plugins, but I’ve got it pretty much figured out. The potential is amazing. And best, of all, a static traditional site can easily be combined with a blog, and you can easily post a photo gallery, and audio/video clips. Your readers comments are perhaps the coolest element of Web 2.0 interactivity, and the ability to spread the word via RSS feeds and grow your professional profile or promote your business are two more pluses. I’m happy to report, after searching, that Google really likes the projects I’ve been working on, and my clients are seeing new customers “surfing in” and dropping them comments or emails after checking out their websites. You can do it too. WordPress and books like “WordPress for Dummies” are a great starting point.