Top 15 Resources For Starting A WordPress Blog

There are many resources out there that offer best practices, tips, instructions and plug-in advice for WordPress. When I relaunched this blog, I had a chance to take a closer look at a lot of those resources and apply some of them to this blog.  Here are the top resources I used/consulted when building this blog:

Security / Administration

Performance

Plug-Ins

I’d also like to share some of the additional plug-ins I use to run this blog:

I hope these resources will be as helpful to you as they’ve been to me. Feel free to share any other resources that you think are handy!

Photo credit: Mike Kemp

Real-Time Search

The real-time stream is consistently bringing new content onto the Web every second, like news updates, status updates, photo and video uploads et cetera. In an effort to keep up, search engines also need to step up their game and provide real-time search solutions. Google is planning in that direction by actively monitoring services like Twitter and its recent introduction of Wave.

However, the need for real-time discovery has opened up the marketplace for new players who can specialize in this field. The best will be able to provide search feedback, keyword monitoring and intelligent recommendations.

  • Search feedback will give you the real-time results for a certain query, which is particularly useful with current events or trending topics.
  • Keyword monitoring allows you to monitor real-time activity on the words that are relevant to you. This will also be helpful in your search engine optimization efforts. This could also be a premium option that service providers can monetize on.
  • Intelligent recommendations help you filter out the clutter by bringing you only the best and most relevant search results. This increases usability by decreasing overload. Furthermore, it’s a monetization opportunity for service providers to offer premium advertising space.

The key will be to find a tool that works for your search needs but prevents you from becoming overloaded.

Consolidation Is The New Distribution

New social media tools seem to be launching every day. There are different tools that do different things. There are also different tools that do the same thing. It’s difficult to keep an overview of what’s new and what’s useful. The downside of spreading activities over multiple platforms is that you risk losing control of your content. Moreover, people won’t know where to find you and your content.

However, the importance is focus. By focusing your content on a handful of platforms that meet your content distribution criteria, you take (back) control of your content. Understand how each platform contributes to your social media goals and objectives and select the appropriate ones. The power of social media is that your users will spread your content to other platforms for you.

Focus on the most valuable tools. Take control of your content. Let social media do your work.

Protect The Future

Last month I had the opportunity to visit a presentation and Q&A session with Jeff Immelt. Jeff talked about numerous subjects such as the presidential elections, the economic downturn, corporate social responsibility, and—of course—life as the CEO of General Electric (GE).

He also mentioned “protecting the future”. Every major business decision and business activity was made based on the protecting the future. Many companies capitalize on opportunities in the here and now, generate massive amounts of buzz for a certain (short) period of time, or are focused on quick wins. The question remains, however, whether these initiatives contribute to setting a company up for long-term success.

Using the “protect the future” mantra helps you analyze opportunities and make conscious decisions.

Are your initiatives focused on protecting the future?

Social Media Is The MMA Of Technology

I like Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). While some people see MMA bouts as glorified cock fights, I can appreciate the idea behind it. MMA is what it says it is: a blend of various martial arts.

In the same way, social media can be seen as a blend of various diverse technologies, such as publishing platforms, social networks, web applications and search. Being a proficient social media practitioner requires mastery of multiple disciplines.

Are you a black belt? Go through the various social media disciplines. See where you can sharpen your skills to improve overall performance.