WordPress for Birding Blogs, Part 1: Introduction

As you might have noticed, I changed the design of my site recently. I had a couple of people asking me about it. Mostly, they wanted to know how much work it was to create the new site and how much did it cost. Well… I have a little secret:

It hardly took any time at all.

Now, I’m sure you’re thinking, “But J.J., you’re a web designer, of course it took no time at all because you actually know what you are doing!” Well, that might be partly true, but really the reason that my switch was so easy is that I’m using WordPress. With WordPress, all my content is already there, all I had to do was switch the “theme” which changed the whole look and feel of my site. In just a couple of clicks, your whole site can look completely different but all your content still be the same.

Now, you might have heard of WordPress but never really used it. I know lots of people use sites like Blogger, Tumblr, or (haha) Google+, but hands down, WordPress is the best and most flexible blogging platform out there. I use WordPress exclusively for my clients, that’s how much I believe in it as a product.

Switching to a more complex platform like WordPress can be daunting, so I want to do a multi-part series of how to use it and show you how to tap into its potential. If you ever have any questions, please feel comment below.

WordPress Multi-part Series

What is WordPress? Explaining WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.

Organizing Content: How to use WP features to schedule posts in the past, present, and future. How to use Categories and Tags to help visitors navigate your site.

All the Birdies: How to create cool galleries, display videos, and audio on your site.

I’m Going to Be Famous: How to use WordPress to push your content automatically to different social media outlets and how to manage the comments on your site.

Makin’ It Pretty: How to use WordPress themes to completely change the look of your site in just a few clicks. How to use Widgets to add auto-generated content to your site.

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen: How to add multiple content contributors to your blog and set their access level so they don’t go changing everything on your site.