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10 Essential First Steps When Starting A WordPress Blog

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<img alt="how to start your own blog" class="aligncenter" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/54ed8ba65eatured.jpg.jpg" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/54ed8ba65eatured.jpg.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" />Having created quite a few blogs, I’d like to think that I have a good system down for those essential first steps, and I hope it can be of use to you too. By following these you’ll get a good head start in the world of blogging and hopefully an influx of traffic to give you the motivation to carry on. If you’ve already started, think of this as a checklist as I’m sure there’s a few you haven’t done yet. 
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1. Good Quality Content Is Always The Best Tactic</h2>
I can’t tell you how sick I am of hearing people announce their blog when it has less than 5 posts on it and/or consists of nothing more than YouTube videos and re-posted pictures with a one-sentence commentary. If that’s all you have to say, get a Twitter account or use Tumblr. 
Make sure you have, at the very least, 10 quality posts, but aim for around 30 ideally. By “quality“, I mean 400 words or more of your own original content. Never copy content from elsewhere, like these mountains of autoblogs do with our MakeUseOf content… 
<img alt="how to start your own blog" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ced5871aaflogged.png.png" height="460" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ced5871aaflogged.png.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="500" /> 
Keep your articles focused, grammatically correct and spell checked. If you speak like a valley-girl or have a tendency to write in txtspk, do your best to hide it and take remedial English classes – no one wants to read that, even your best friends. 
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2. Get A Domain</h2>
Spend a whole $10 on a unique, short as you can, relevant domain name – even if you’re hosting your blog on a free WordPress.com or Blogger account. Get this right from the beginning and you will save yourself a world of hurt later. 
Don’t be tempted to make up a “cool” domain unless you have a rock-solid web service and a VC investment to the tune of a million dollars to market it; and absolutely don’t get a free domain like .cc 
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3. Establish A Good Permalink Structure</h2>
Don’t promote your blog if your URLs still look like mydomain.com/blog?id=1324. Take a minute to go the permalink options in your WordPress settings. Something like mydomain.com/my-article is great. 
You might also want to consider installing an SEO slugs type plugin, which reduces the length of your permalink URLs by removing common words such as a, the, or. Shorter URLs are better. 
<img alt="start a blog" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/c0d7e7767aalinks.png.png" height="231" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/c0d7e7767aalinks.png.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="580" /> 
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4. Change The Tagline</h2>
It’s just embarrassing to find a blog that still has “Just another WordPress blog” in the title or on the theme. You can change it from Settings -> General to something more relevant to your site. Apart from the fact that many themes feature the tagline prominently in the header, it’s also often used in the meta-titles of your homepage and therefore shown to everyone who finds your site through Google. 
<img alt="start a blog" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/c422416685nother.png.png" height="211" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/c422416685nother.png.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="580" /> 
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5. Set Up Google Analytics</h2>
Google Analytics is a free traffic report for your website. But what’s the point of installing Analytics if you don’t actually have any traffic yet? 
Well firstly, motivation. If you have accurate feedback that shows a clear, progressive growth in traffic then you are far less likely to give up. Don’t wait until you think you have some traffic – get real feedback, right now. 
<img alt="start a blog" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/f8ff9d5c40lytics.png.png" height="374" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/f8ff9d5c40lytics.png.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="486" /> 
The second reason – to find out exactly what’s popular on your blog; exactly which keywords bring in the most traffic; and make adjustments based on this. Try not to get too caught up in the numbers game yet, but if you find people are coming to your page for a particular topic and leaving quickly, perhaps try to write another post on that topic that’s more in-depth or targeted more specifically. 
My favourite plugin in this area is Analyticator, as it connects to your Analytics account and lets you choose the profile from a drop down list, avoiding the need to copy and paste any fiddly codes. If you have no idea how to read all your Analytics data yet, just start collecting it anyway and I’ll go over the major features in a later article. 
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6. Google Sitemaps Plugin</h2>
This isn’t essential, but as far I’m concerned any helping hand you can give Google to index your blog is a good thing. Get a sitemap generator such as this, set it up correctly to automatically generate whenever you post something, and you’re halfway sorted. 
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7. Webmaster Tools</h2>
This is a useful, free set of tools from Google. It has a number of functions, one of which involves submitting sitemaps to be indexed. It also keeps a track of 404 errors, and alerts you to malware security issues and even if WordPress updates are available. You could get by without it, but it’s a nice tool to have under your belt. 
<img alt="start a wordpress blog" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/7857408ccdtools.png.png" height="259" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/7857408ccdtools.png.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="580" /> 
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8. SEO Friendly Images</h2>
The power of image search should absolutely not be underestimated. Put simply, this plugin will add ALT and TITLE tags to your images. You can do this using the WordPress image uploader, but I don’t know many people who actually bother to do that – so this plugin does it automatically. By adding these to your image tags, you may find a huge influx of traffic from Google Image search. 
<img alt="how to start your own blog" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/62003af077plugin.png.png" height="435" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/62003af077plugin.png.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="446" /> 
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9. Join A Forum</h2>
Find a forum related to your particular topic and establish a presence there. Introduce yourself, make some good quality comments or advice on other threads, help some people out. After that, change your signature to include a link to your website, and repeat. This should give you a small trickle of visitors. 
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10. Social Networks</h2>
Be sure to announce your articles on your own social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and StumbleUpon – but don’t fall into the trap of promoting absolutely everything you write. Pick one or two of your best posts to promote, and you’ll be far more likely to get a good response and not piss people off in the process. 
Done all that? Awesome, you should start seeing results soon. Got any other essential first steps orWordPress plugins you always install? Let us know in the comments! 
Image credit: Shutterstock 
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10 Essential First Steps When Starting A WordPress Blog

Having created quite a few blogs, I’d like to think that I have a good system down for those essential first steps, and I hope it can be o...

Silicon Valley Special Sauce - Key Ingredients For a Tech Hub

It started out with a bang. The great tech boom swept into San Francisco and Silicon Valley with a massive wave of investment and talented engineers. If a company could throw together a sock puppet and an HTML website they were sure to get millions. Unfortunately, the art of due diligence was tossed out the window like a soggy fast food carton as investment firms began to resemble forty-niners flocking to the gold rush more than prudent businessmen. Inevitably the bubble popped and the tech industry deflated. Fortunately, the foundation that was laid during the early days of the PC and throughout the tech boom left Silicon Valley uniquely capable of fostering innovation and supporting technology companies. Given the high growth associated with technology, other regions have begun to produce and foster high tech sectors. From New York media startups to Chicago's recent tech revival, what are the critical elements to supporting a vibrant technology industry? Here is an examination of some key characteristics that make Silicon Valley such a powerhouse. Legal Foundation One of the primary reasons that the Valley is such a tech magnet has to do with its legal environment. During the early sputtering days of innovation before the web 2.0 bubble, certain engineers in the valley decided to take chances. The area was known for research into early computing technology and certain employees developed innovative ideas that the larger companies were not completely willing to back. Shockley Semi Conductor laboratory offer a solid example. Initially founded to research the possibility of replacing germanium with silicon as the best material to build semiconductors, the company eventually gave up research due to assumed difficulties with manufacturing. As the company scaled back their efforts, several key engineers decided to take a risk and form their own company, Fairchild Semiconductor. That day Silicon Valley became Silicon Valley. The brazen risk taking approach has permeated the business culture of the area ever since. Given the increasing level of spin-offs and new ventures, legal firms in the area gained a wealth of expertise in forming, fostering and protecting new ventures. This legal expertise represents a key component to fostering the formation of new technology companies in the area to this day. Venture Investment The end of 1980 marked the beginning of the venture investment boom in Silicon Valley. As the local semiconductor industry took off, many players in the Sand Hill road area of Menlo Park began to look for opportunities to invest their new wealth. A couple of upstart entrepreneurs including Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had a little idea about selling kits for personal household computers. Despite the inherent risk of trying to sell computers for individual use, some investors took a chance on the nascent company called Apple. In 1980, Apple issued an initial public offering of 1.8 billion dollars. In the aftermath of this unprecedented success story both individuals and investment firms began to flock to the investment opportunities in the area. Over the years, these investment firms worked to develop a unique understanding of the needs and risks associated with financially fostering technology companies. A dynamic venture capital environment is a critical element for any would be technology hub. Without investment, tech sectors are almost guaranteed to fall behind other regions with more active investment firms. Human Capital As the chapter of the Great War closed, a ground swell of troops returned home with dreams of peace, families and success. Education was a primary focus. The GI bill provided an educational stimulus the likes of which had never existed before. Certain universities placed greater emphasis on their specialties to help provide a more useful education to the great numbers of applicants. Stanford, a school with a long history of computer science and engineering, began to buckle down and look for ways to enhance their stature in these fields. The Stanford Industrial park was an early attempt to bolster the technology prowess of the school. In a move to make use of available university owed land, Stanford decided to lease the land to local companies. One of the requirements set forth in the leasing decision was that each company must be in the technology industry. Companies from Hewlett-Packard to General Electric moved into the newly available space and began offering subsidies for their employees to attend graduate school at Stanford while they were working. This combination of educational and employment opportunities began to draw engineers to the region from all over the world. The web 2.0 bubble of the 1990's accelerated the pilgrimage of technology expertise to San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. Any ambitious engineer with an idea and a will could try their hand. Even after the boom, the sheer number of computer engineers in the greater Silicon Valley area is unrivaled. This wealth of available engineers represents the full spectrum of talent from 3rd rate hacks to world leading geniuses. For technology hubs, being able to effectively access your talent pool is almost as important as the availability of the talent itself. Given the supply of engineers, Silicon Valley and San Francisco technical recruiting firms have sprung up to help match startups with the technical expertise required to realize their big ideas. Needless to say, human capital is probably the most critical factor for any region to become a center for technology companies. Clout The most intangible attribute, and probably the most universally acknowledged one, is the clout of Silicon Valley. Companies with roots in the area are actively competing with organizations on the cutting edge of technology. A corporate address in the Valley is almost like a stamp of approval. Between the venture firms priding themselves on due diligence and the top notch engineers, Silicon Valley has curb appeal. Clout is possibly the most difficult characteristic to achieve. For any aspiring technology hub, establishing legal protections, developing a venture friendly environment and courting engineering talent are the first major steps. With perseverance and a continued commitment to supporting the local technology industry a region can only hope to develop a level of clout capable of inspiring tech entrepreneurs for years to come. After all, inspiration is what puts the twinkle in the eyes of the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates to grace us with their grand ideas. Regardless of where the next big ideas spring up the characteristics the define Silicon Valley are sure to resonate in the next great technology Mecca. I am an aspiring writer who enjoys sharing helpful information with people. My three favorite topics are business, technology and travel. I hope my readers enjoy the articles.

Silicon Valley Special Sauce - Key Ingredients For a Tech Hub

It started out with a bang. The great tech boom swept into San Francisco and Silicon Valley with a massive wave of investment and talented e...

PM outlines vision for hi-tech valley in east end

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/computing/internet-and-broadband/images/google-crop-200-200.jpg"> Prime Minister David Cameron wants to create a hi-tech rival to Silicon Valley in London's east end. Cameron wants the area around London's Olympic Park to attract cutting edge technology innovation and investment to this formerly run-down area of London. Google and Facebook are already lined up as investors backing the PM's new vision of the east end. Cameron is set to announce a new entrepreneurial visa, in order for innovators that want to work and invest in the area to move to the UK without facing too many bureaucratic barriers. The PM is also looking to change the UK's laws surrounding intellectual property, following lobbying from Google, with the company claiming that UK laws are far more restrictive than the US. Google and 'fair use' "The service they provide depends on taking a snapshot of all the content on the internet at any one time and they feel our copyright system is not as friendly to this sort of innovation as it is in the United States," is in the PM's speech. "Over there, they have what are called 'fair-use' provisions, which some people believe gives companies more breathing space to create new products and services." Cameron is also set to note that there is already a flourishing tech start-up scene in and around London's Old Street and Shoreditch areas. "Silicon Valley is the leading place in the world for hi-tech growth and innovation. But there's no reason why it has to be so predominant," the PM will say in his speech today. "Our ambition is to bring together the creativity and energy of Shoreditch and the incredible possibilities of the Olympic Park to help make east London one of the world's great technology centres." Google, Facebook, Intel and McKinsey & Co are some of the investors already lined up to invest in the new hi-tech east end Innovation Hube..

PM outlines vision for hi-tech valley in east end

Prime Minister David Cameron wants to create a hi-tech rival to Silicon Valley in London's east end. Cameron wants the area around Londo...

PM outlines vision for hi-tech valley in east end

PM outlines vision for hi-tech valley in east end

Prime Minister David Cameron wants to create a hi-tech rival to Silicon Valley in London's east end. Cameron wants the area around Londo...