Benefits of Wordpress and SEO - Cultural Sponge

Benefits of Wordpress and SEO

By Heather Brown Cultural Sponge

WordPress: Let’s see what you already know…

• TRUE OR FALSE 1. WordPress is a free platform ___ 2. WordPress was initially made for musicians___ 3. Many professional companies like Fedex and Ebay

are using WordPress ___ 4. You can use WordPress with different hosting

companies like GoDaddy and Bluehost ___ 5. You need to know HTML to work wordpress___ 6. Using Flash on your website is a good idea ___

© Cultural Sponge, LLC

What is Wordpress?

• WordPress is a free CMS (Content Management System) website tool

• Introduced in 2003 for the purpose of blogging

• Currently powering over 60 million websites


Wordpress Examples

• Wordpress isn’t just for blogging, many professional organizations are using wordpress.


Getting Started • You can get a free hosted

site at wordpress.com


TIP: Advantage: It’s FREE

Disadvantages: Limited themes (templates), ads and ownership of domain. Your domain will end in wordpress.com

For example: www.culturalsponge.wordpress.com

Suggestion: Sign up for a free account for practice.

http://www.culturalsponge.wordpress.com/

Getting Started • Install wordpress on existing host account


TIPS: • Most host companies like

GoDaddy and Bluehost offer Wordpress, but some smaller hosting companies do not. Make sure before signing up for a domain and hosting company, that they offer wordpress installation.

• We recommend blue host because of the simple backend and no hidden charges.

Benefits of Wordpress • Easy to use backend. No HTML experience needed!


TIP: • Check out our blog at

culturalsponge.com for detailed instructional slides on the backend of wordpress

Benefits of Wordpress • Viewable on all devices.


TIP: • Flash elements can not

be seen on iphones and ipads.

• Wordpress uses programming called jQuery. jQuery produces movement similar to flash and can be viewable on all devices.

Benefits of Wordpress • Inexpensive templates


TIP: • Try to find a theme that is

RESPONSIVE. Responsive means that the website is programmed to provide the optimal viewing experience—easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling—across a wide range of devices.

• If you can’t find a theme you like, companies like Cultural Sponge designs custom designs from scratch.

• If installing a theme is overwhelming to you, Cultural Sponge can install it for you or do a goto meeting consultation to get you started!

Benefits of Wordpress • Plugins and Widgets: Widgets and plugins are used

to customize your website. – Plugins – add special features to your website without

you doing any programming! Examples: Forms, appointment setting, almost anything!

– Widgets -Widgets are sort of like plugins, but they provide a way to arrange your sidebar content without having to alter your actual code of your website. Widgets can be a calendar, search bar…


TIP: • Before installing a plugin

on your site, look at the rating, comments and instructions.

SEO: Let’s see what you already know…

• TRUE OR FALSE 1. You can get on the first page of Google by paying money___ 2. Copying content from industry related blogs on your website

is a good idea to increase SEO___ 3. Creating a Google Plus account helps your google ranking ___ 4. WordPress has a tool to help you input keywords___ 5. Type your keywords as many times as you can into your

content___ 6. Google will blacklist your website if you try to “cheat” at

optimizing your website site ___


SEO – Search Engine Optimization


• Process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines like google.

Paid advertising

Organic

Google Plus


SEO Advantages • Get in front of the your target audience • Increase traffic to your site • Be known for quality and frequent content • Build brand credibility • In some cases, less cost then traditional print

advertising • Be ahead of your competitors • Users click on one of the top three results 68

percent of the time

Paid Advertising


TIP: • Don’t forget Yahoo and

Bing! You may get keywords and phrases for a lesser rate than google!

• Google Adwords – google sets the price you pay for each click.

Paid advertising

Organic


• Manually adding, titles, keywords, descriptions and updating your website. – Google sends out webcrawlers/spiders to

crawl your site and notice, titles, keywords, descriptions and updates

TIPS: • Wordpress has an SEO Pack plugin that

makes organic SEO easier

• Research keywords by using google key word tool:

• https://adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool

https://adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool

https://adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool


Organic - Quality Content • Well written • Easy to read and use • Unique • Fresh, timely, and up-to-date. BLOG!! • Do not forget Social Media!

TIPS: • The more you update your site, the better!

• Sign up for google alerts to get fresh, up to date information to blog about, but DO NOT copy articles and other blogs word for word. You will get blacklisted!

Google Plus For Business


TIP: • Think it’s a hassle to

update all your social media accounts? Check out Hootsuite to schedule out posts to multiple accounts

• In most cases, you will appear on first page of google

• FREE • Automatically adds you in Google Places


SEO Do’s • Think like the person you’re creating for • Install an SEO Pack on your wordpress site • Do some keyword research • Create blogs often • Create a google plus page • Don’t forget about Bing and Yahoo • Download our SEO 101 slides from our blog at

culturalsponge.com


SEO Don’ts • Don’t stuff your keywords into places they

don’t make sense. • Don’t just change a few things and expect a

dramatic result, this takes time and effort. • Don’t obsess over it, gradual growth is ok. • Don’t copy other people’s content.


Stay in Touch!

• Heather Brown [email protected] @culturalsponge

• www.culturalsponge.com • facebook.com/culturalsponge

mailto:[email protected]





Benefits of Wordpress and SEO - Cultural Sponge

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