Building Websites with WordPress is the Future of  Website Creation in the small business and Internet marketing community.

Blogs are increasingly popular to those that just want to put a lot of content on the internet.  There are sports blogs, political blogs, community blogs, etc., and this trend will continue to grow.  If you read any popular blogging tips online, you will find that there are a number of free blogging services such as Google’s Blogger or MSN’s Live Search.  WordPress.com also offers a very popular free service.  This trend started around 2002. Today, blogs are becoming increasingly popular among the Internet marketing community, and I would venture… to just about anyone who has a product or service to market on the Internet.

If you are in business, I’m sure you are familiar with the importance of building your reputation through the myriad of Social Networking sites (also known lovingly as Web 2.0) that are available.  Many tend to overlook the fact that the same is true of blogging.  Commenting on someone else’s blog and allowing people to make comments on yours is a very powerful way to build an Internet marketing business.  These are THOSE backlinks or one-way links that score points with search engines (Google, Yahoo Search Marketing, MSN/Bing, ASK, etc.)  And, the higher your rankings, the more free traffic the search engines send your way.

WordPress is often positioned as a tool that well, creates a blog. But an increasing number of  business entrepreneurs and Internet marketers are finding that they can also use it as their most important tool in building an Internet marketing business; i.e., creating a website. Plus:

1. Remember those Web 2.0 sites.  Creative  marketers are now using these as mini-sites and linking back to their primary WordPress site, further improving their search engine rankings.
2. Methods exist to publish an article, spin it, and send it for publication to 30 different quality blogs.  When it’s published, you have more backlinks to your site. Plus, others will be falling all over themselves trying to publish posts on your site. This adds content to your site!  I prefer to read and edit these posts. Some are pretty tough to justify publishing.  Check out www.freetrafficsystem.com.
3. Thousands of themes or templates have been developed for WordPress.  Business owners and affiliate marketers simply need to pick their theme, and then start branding their own unique business website.
4. The Sidebar and Widget structure allows Internet marketers to quickly add HTML by simple cut-and-paste.  This is an excellent way to drop a sign-in form and offer on your blog that feeds to your Auto-Responder.  This is a great way to build your LIST and to start developing your reputation as a serious business owner who know how to treat one’s customers.

One of the more powerful capabilities of WordPress lies in its ability to manage large amounts of text, audio and video content. After 10-15 pages it becomes difficult to manage a static HTML site. Although you can use template-driven software as well like DreamWeaver, nothing beats the ease of WordPress.

Since most Internet marketers are inclined to advertise their affiliate relationships on their blog, a word of caution here.  WordPress has banned the use of affiliate links on its free WordPress.com blogs.  If you are just getting started in affiliate marketing and want to use a free blogging service, you are better off using Google’s Blogger which is much less restrictive.

If you are willing to pay a modest HostGator membership fee and enroll in their “Baby” plan, you can host an unlimited number of WordPress blogs on this account (currently only $9.95 monthly).  Plus, you will not have problem with size limitation on pages, pictures, or videos.  I’ve had sites on GoDaddy.com where I was always running into this problem.  Furthermore, if you have a HostGator account, you an do a 1-step installation of WordPress on your domain/URL.  This is done through C-Panel using Fantastico Deluxe.

Using premium blogging tools, you can easily build static website, an article directory, a WordPress based membership site system, a complete e-commerce site, an auction site, a portfolio site and so much more. As a matter of fact you can use it for just about anything.  This falls a little outside of what we are trying to accomplish here at the Forum, but it shows the huge potential afforded to you as your business grows.

A second very powerful capability of WordPress is its ability to handle the thousands different plugins that are free to install.  In fact, the possibilities are virtually unlimited. These plugins help you manage and take your Internet marketing business to the next level.

Here are just a few as examples:

1. Easy Adsense:  Allows you to monetize you site with Google adsense ads
2. Google SML Settings: Generates a sitemap compatible with Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Ask search.
3. Platinum SEO Pack: Complete Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your blog.
4. Follow Me: Allow you to add a Twitter follow-me badge.
5. Pretty Link: Shrink and manage your own affiliate links.
6. WordPress.com Stats: Tracks view, post/page views, referrers and clicks.

So, what has my WordPress site done for my business?  I use all of the techniques that I describe above.  And, I try to make a new post at least every other day.  I measure my progress with the Alexa toolbar that I have installed on my browser.  I started tracking my progress in early November 2009.  At that time, my Alexa rating was in the low 900,000 range word wide.  Today, it is in the high 300,000.  My goal is to get it below 100,000.  I’ll get there in late February or March.

As I mentioned, I use the WordPress.com Stats plugin.  This tells me exactly where my visits are coming from and what links are clicked, and what search terms people are using to arrive at my site.  That information is extremely valuable.  Let me put it to you this way… I am getting more free visits to my site than I am paid visits using Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.  It takes a little longer growing my business this way, but I’m confident it is well worth my effort.

I mean really… I could go completely broke and find myself homeless and living on the streets of DC!  (Actually, I think I’d run for public office if that every happened) But, if I have this structure set-up, can get to a computer and a cup of coffee, I will be putting bucks on my PayPal debit card. This business is simply fantastic once you get it figured out a bit!

If you aren’t using WordPress you should. The learning curve on building websites has reduced substantially in the past 3 years.  It’s so easy to use that my 16-yr old daughter became an accomplished blogger in just two short weeks. To power your online business, go ahead and start using WordPress!  It’s here to stay!

Rick Samara,

Super Sponsor and Gator-Aid Team Member.

Retired Air Force Intelligence Officer, owner of a lucrative Financial Services business, and student and participant in Internet Marketing.  Mr. Samara is a valued contributor on all topics relating to Internet marketing.