Adding a blog to business site...need help!

Well, I'm no blogging professional, but my buddy Dawud Miracle is, as well as a fantastic web designer, and he recommends Wordpress highly. It's free- but to integrate it into your site- to make it look good, you'll probably need to hire a designer to make it look good, and consistent across browsers.

Plus, Wordpress has an ungodly number of plug-ins, to do almost anything you could imagine doing in the future, all free. Gotta love open source.

I run several blogs and I second what Mark says. Wordpress is the platform that seems to me to have the biggest community of people contributing themes and plugins. It's what I use. But you'll need a developer to integrate it seamlessly with your existing site. Depending on your site and how developed it is, you may want to use Wordpress as the platform for the whole thing, using the Pages functionality to build content pages for your site. Wordpress can function pretty well as a general CMS as well as a blog with some tweaking.

I've heard great things about Wordpress. Personally, we went with Typepad after reading about it in Andy Wibbels' book BLOG WILD. We are very happy with it. Like Wordpress, there are different levels, from free on up. The more you pay, the more features you get.

If you are new to blogging, I recommend Andy's book. It's short and easy to understand (and I'm a fairly "low-tech" person!)

Just to clarify, Wordpress is free, there are no "levels". It's Open Source, and the plugins are developed by the community and nearly all are also free. Typepad, in contrast, is a commercial platform.

Which is not to say Typepad might not be a better solution for you, just want to be clear on that distinction.

Thanks, Emma. I didn't realize that Wordpress was totally free.

My husband is the tech side of our business. I should defer to him and not get involved in these discussions!

Oh, I didn't mean to shut you down from contributing! I think all user opinions are important, because different solutions work for different folks.

Three cheers for WordPress! We've used it to power the Biznik Blog for the past couple of years.

Wordpress is what you are looking for...

Shannon~

Let me know how that works out for you. I too am working on a website/blog and was informed wordpress is a great way to go.

Actually Emma, Wordpress does have levels to upgrade memberships which aren't free.

If you want just a basic blog with no real customizing just using the tools they have, it's free but if you want to have a custom blog designed and developed for you, you do have to purchase a membership. You would also need someone to design and develop as it's not easy. But I wanted to clarify that. Wordpress is great though. I've been using them for awhile now.

Hi Nikki,

The difference I think you are suggesting is if Wordpress hosts your blog. If you want the full-featured Wordpress engine, and you host it on your own site, there's no cost whatsoever.

I've been using MovableType for a couple of years at http://www.shaboominc.com/. The entire site is a series of nested blogs, each using a common template. I paid a one-time license fee for MovableType, though I believe you can also get it free. The fee entitles me to tech support.

At the time, my developer was not up to speed with WordPress and Blogger did not offer the functionality I needed.

All of this is to say that using a blog system as the foundation for an entire site is worth a look. There are a zillion things I want to change at www.shaboominc.com/ (my primary site is http://www.authenticpromotion.com), but I do love how easy it is to change content without html.

Also, before you go downloading and uploading, many hosting companies have it pre-installed for you so you can install it in a few clicks. You'll still need to upload plugins and themes that you want to use, but it can save some time.

Hi Shannon

Please let me know if you require any professional assistance incorporating Wordpress into your website.

Have a great day! Shaun

Wordpress: yes.

Seamless move so people don't feel as though they've moved somewhere else: you will need a designer to help you there. Cheapest option will probably be to get someone from elance.com to set it up from you and only use a designer to provide the header and graphics.

And I want to second the recommendation of Andy Wibbels for blogging advice. He really knows his stuff and his courses are terrific.

Oh by the way, if you need another referral for wordpress integration, you can contact Adam Kayce. He's a good friend of mine, and an excellent eye.

I used a "one-click" solution with bluehost.com for my blog, and I've been really happy.

Wordpress is the best option.

To all on this thread,

I just got wind of Wordpress and while I consider myself pretty computer savvy I am no blog pro. I'm curious about how the process works and am wondering what goals you all have for writing your blog. Mine is to stimulate conversation about my field and to drive business my way. How do you get the word out that you have a blog?

Maybe this is the wrong place to post but I am new here as well.

Thanks,

Bob

I'm in the minority here because we use (and are very happy with) Typepad. As far as our blogging goals, we are looking to build credibility by giving our readers useful information. The blog also gives us a chance to put a personal face on our business.

We advertise our blog everywhere we can. In our free weekly e-tips, we include links to our last three blog posts. Links to recent posts are on our biznik profile pages. And I personally spend a lot of time commenting on other people's blogs to drive traffic back to ours.

It's a slow process, building that readership, but I think it will be worth it over the long term.

Shannon- Why do you want to blog? You say you want to be the only contributor- but are you talking about having a singular blog or a community conversation? The beyondmotherhood type of demographic should be talking to each other. Given the target market- you have plenty of job seekers and employers capable of providing information to each other.

Bob- How do you get the word out that you have a blog?

Getting the word out that you have a new blog is a rather basic process at the core

1- register with primary sources of traffic (Google, Technorati, MyBlogLog, Stumbleupon, and blog directories)

2- submit a PR announcement via the web (depending on the service, may get initial traction and readership going)

3- Post 2-5 pieces of content weekly for the first 2-3 months. (It is about quality and consistency, not being perfect.)

4- Converse on other like-minded blogs with intelligent commentary (do a search on topics via Google Blogs or Technorati), or simply search here on Biznik for members who have blogs that touch your topic.

5- Create an email signature via Feedburner (or similar)

6- Use social communities to spread the word about it (either online or offline), print some flyers with your latest articles or forward relevant pieces via your email list.

Judy,

Thanks, that helps a lot.

Bob

Barry,

Thanks for the input. I can see that there is a lot I have to catch up on. I will check out those sources you recommended and take your advice.

Bob

Bob,

I'm so glad Barry jumped in here. We are so lucky to have him here in this community.

I always copy, cut and paste his comments because they are so valuable!

Judy