Content has always been king when it comes to helping a website increase in rankings. And with the release of Google’s Panda and Penguin updates over the last 2 years, unique content on a site is even more important.

Having a blog, either as part of your current site or as an entity all by itself, is a great way to regularly update content on a site. There are a handful of content management systems available but using WordPress is both user friendly and able to incorporate SEO best practices easily, even for beginners. If starting a blog has been a goal of yours but you haven’t been sure where to start, then read on.

Finding a Domain for Your WordPress Site

First you will need a domain and hosting. I typically use GoDaddy.com to research and purchase available domains. Your first choice may not be available, but the best thing to remember when choosing a domain is to pick one that reflects your site, includes a targeted keyword or two, and is easy for users to remember.

Once you have a domain you will need somewhere to host your site. WordPress offers two options for publishing a blog. The first can be found at WordPress.com and is hosted by WordPress. With this option you don’t have much control when it comes to customizing your site. The second, and the option that is recommended and offers you 100% control, is to self host your blog. There are plenty of hosting providers to help you with this step, but be sure to shop around as some cost more than others. Keep in mind that a more expensive hosting cost may be due to extra services offered. Once hosting is set up you will want to install WordPress. Many of the hosting providers include this as an option but if for some reason yours doesn’t, you can find some helpful tips here. If your current website is already set up and self hosted with WordPress installed, then adding a blog to your site should be fairly simple depending on the theme you are using. Which brings us to our next step – customizing your WordPress blog.

Customizing Your WordPress Blog

One of the first things I always do is change the theme. WordPress themes come in all varieties, from your very basic customizing options to those that include all the bells and whistles. Many are free and others will cost you an annual fee to use. Options for customizing your site can include uploading a customized logo or picture, changing the colors for the site, adding a sidebar or two, having a blog only site, or a site with static pages in addition to your blog. You could spend hours perusing WordPress themes online, but to speed up the process take note of other WordPress sites you like. Find out which theme they are using and if it fits within your budget, use the same one.

If your blog is for a corporate business or an institution of higher learning you will want to choose a theme that looks professional and reflects your company’s culture. You might even want to hire a developer to help you achieve the desired look if your technical skills aren’t up for the task. If you are a small business you may have a bit more flexibility with the style and tone of your blog depending on the products and services you offer. You might be surprised just how many business websites use WordPress blogs, including our very own SEO.com. Here are a few other examples of sites using WordPress:

• http://www.butterfield.com/
• http://fourhourchef.com/
• http://www.boardshorts.com/
• http://www.boisestate.edu/
• http://www.bbcamerica.com/
• http://www.bonnaroo.com/

WordPress Plugins

Once your blog looks the way you want it to, the next step is to install your plugins. Simply put, plugins are components that add specific functions and abilities to your site. There are literally hundreds to choose from and they can all be installed and utilized through your WordPress dashboard or the back end of your site. (If you will be the one managing updates to your site you will want to become very familiar with the dashboard and all of its functions).

As I stated above, there are hundreds of WordPress plugins available. To help you get started you might do a search for “best WordPress plugins” and get an idea of the general consensus among WordPress enthusiasts. My own essential list includes the following:

• FD Feedburner Plugin
• Google Analytics for WordPress
• Related Posts Thumbnails
• Twitter Facebook Social Share
• WordPress SEO by Yoast
• Akismet
• Enhanced Linking

Now, Get to Work!

A WordPress blog is not just for the casual blogger. Companies big and small, as well as individuals are utilizing WordPress blogs to add value and unique content to their sites. Much of your knowledge with WordPress will grow the more you use it, but WordPress does host conferences all over the world for those looking to increase their knowledge. Check their schedule to find a local WordCamp in your area, but most importantly get started on your WordPress blog today.

How To Set Up A WordPress Blog In 30 Minutes Or Less is a post by SEO expert Robyn Storms. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

As the new year begins and the economy continues its slump, we at SEO.com are grateful for the growth we experienced in 2011. Our growth is measured in various ways -revenue, client base, customer satisfaction, etc – but what really sets us apart are the awesome employees that contribute to our success.

Having jobs we love (heck, having jobs at all) makes it that much easier to work hard and provide our clients with the best in search engine optimization, technology and customer service. It also makes it possible to recognize those that are struggling and find ways to give back to our communities.

We are always looking for ways to help out those who have been hit hard by the economic downturn. Two years ago we held a contest for companies affected the most from the recession and were able to provide the winner with a 6-month contract of free SEO services to help them get back on their feet. This year we enlisted the help of our employees to provide new socks and underwear to needy children, collect food for the Utah Food Bank, and gather coats and other winter wear to donate at local shelters.

My favorite experience happened last month with our own version of an Angel Tree. I wasn’t sure if we would be able to pull it off since the needs of the family we were helping were so great, but when I saw all the gifts wrapped and ready for delivery my expectations were exceeded. I also may have shed a tear or two. As I said before, really awesome people work at SEO.com.

Individually, we can’t help everyone but together we can fight disease, homelessness, addiction, political issues, humanitarian relief and more. Make Change! Trust, an affiliated organization, uses the power of technology to help nonprofits market their charities online and create sustainable social advancement for those in need. Efforts like these help nonprofits reach more potential donors, which in turn allows others to feel the joy of giving.

Here’s wishing you all a Happy New Year from SEO.com!

Make Change: The Joy Of Giving is a post by SEO expert Robyn Storms. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

You may be just getting used to the new black menu bar that Google launched in June, but don’t get attached. According to Google, the menu bar is going through another redesign and the black bar you have been seeing for the past few months is about to disappear, and it could happen at any time.

I’m not seeing it yet, but Google was nice enough to include a picture of what the new bar will look like in their blog post.

The new Google bar will sit in the same place as the black bar did but links to various services will appear in a new drop-down menu. If the service you need does not appear in the menu, simply hover over the “More” link at the bottom of the list.

What do you think about Google's latest rounds of design changes? Are they an improvement over the way Google products used to look?

To learn more about the new menu, Google has released the following video or visit their Help Center.

Google's Updated Menu Bar is a post by SEO expert Robyn Storms. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

Privacy and SSL encryption are important to a lot of internet users. Google recognizes this and is always looking for ways to improve online security for its users. A major announcement was published yesterday on the Google Blog, touting enhanced search privacy for signed-in users.

Last year, Google introduced an encrypted search service for those who opted to use it. Now that same service will be the default search experience for users signed-in to their Google Accounts, redirecting them to https://www.google.com. According to Evelyn Kao, Product Manager at Google, the change will encrypt search queries and the results page. “As search becomes an increasingly customized experience, we recognize the growing importance of protecting the personalized search results we deliver,” wrote Kao. For those not signed in or for those who don’t have a Google account the secure site can still be accessed by navigating directly to https://www.google.com.

What does this mean for Analytics?

Currently webmasters are able to see when a visitor arrives via Google, complete with the query. Once this change rolls out, that search query will no longer be available. Those visits will still be attributed to organic search, but webmasters will see “not provided” in place of the actual search query.

Search query data will still be available in an aggregated list through Google Webmaster Tools and will show the top 1000 search queries bringing in traffic over the past 30 days.

Several Googlers estimate this change to impact a minor amount of website visits, and Matt Cutts estimates the impact to be as small as a single-digit percentage.

What are your thoughts? Is this a good or bad change for webmasters, business owners, and search marketers? For searchers?

Google Search Becomes More Secure is a post by SEO expert Robyn Storms. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

It was only a matter of time but in less than 90 days Google+ has gone from being invite-only to available to everyone! The announcement made today on the Google blog also includes announcements for expanded Hangout features and search options.

In nearly 3 months, the Google+ project has seen 91 different improvements, which according to Google’s Vic Gundotra is a result of user feedback. “For the past 12 weeks we’ve been in field trial, and during that time we’ve listened and learned a great deal,” wrote Gundotra.

The changes, which include Hangouts on your phone and live broadcasts for Hangouts, brings the total number of improvements to Google+ to 100 and will roll out over the next day. But they are not stopping there. Get a sneak peak of what’s next for Google+. And if there’s something you missed, previous updates can be found here.

Google+ Introduces Open Signups is a post by SEO expert Robyn Storms. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

Last week Google announced a change to the way they classify internal and external links in Webmaster Tools. The update shouldn’t change the number of links, but should report your links in a more accurate way in regards to where they are coming from.

In the past, links from subdomains (ie: example.seo.com) were classified as external links. Even a link from the non www version of your site was classified as external. With the changes, links from these types of domains will now be considered internal links, as long as you also own the root domain.

With this change you may notice your total number of external links go down, but this is only because some of your links that were previously classified as external are now being classified as internal. Your total number of links should remain the same.

image by TechWyse

Google Announces Reclassification Of Backlinks is a post by SEO expert Robyn Storms. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

In another improvement to snippets, Google is rolling out list snippets over the next few days. Typically snippets contain a couple lines of text under the search results to give users an idea how relevant a page is in regards to their query. List snippets will differ by reflecting “the structure of the page, rather than just showing two lines of text.”

For example, if a result’s page consists mostly of a structured list, Google will show “a list of three relevant rows or items underneath the result in a bulleted format.” Google also plans to include an approximate count of the total items listed on the page.

In the past week, Google has launched rich snippets for music and +snippets for those using Google+ and the +1 button. Keep an eye out as Google plans to make more improvements to snippets in the future.

List Pages To Appear With Snippets In Search Results is a post by SEO expert Robyn Storms. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

In just a short time, the Google +1 button has reached over 4 billion daily views. That number will most likely continue to rise with the announcement of 2 new features.

Share directly with Google+ circles
As of yesterday Google+ users can easily share a webpage with a designated circle by using the +1 button. Simply click on the +1 button as usual and look for the “Share on Google+” option. From there leave a comment, specify a circle and share your link.

+Snippets
Snippets have also been added and “automatically include a link, an image, and a description in the sharebox.” Google is calling these “+snippets.” Seeing a snippet along with a link makes the content more engaging when a link is shared. Along with this change Google is giving publishers the opportunity to customize their snippets, giving them the ability to determine what is displayed.

Both of these changes are rolling out over the next week and should encourage the sharing of more content via Google+. And as daily views increase and Google receives more feedback, I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of the changes to Google+ and the +1 button. Stay tuned.

New Share Feature on Google+ Using +1 Button is a post by SEO expert Robyn Storms. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

Earlier this week Google launched an update to sitelinks. The changes include an improvement to how the links are displayed, and further enhances the quality of results when a particular word or phrase is searched for.

Fundamentally, sitelinks haven’t changed and will still only appear if Google considers them useful for a specific search. But visually there are a few changes:

• Full-size text links with a URL and a line of text, making the sitelinks easier to see.
• Maximum number of links that appear has been raised from eight to 12.
• The separation of the top domain and other domains is clearer. If sitelinks do appear for the top result then all other results will be other domains, with the exception of links for subdomains of the top result.

This week’s launch also includes a change in which sitelinks will appear. According to Google, “sitelink selection and ranking can change from query to query, allowing more optimized results.” Also through the use of a Webmaster Tools account, users can suggest a demotion for a particular sitelink if they don’t feel it is appropriate or if they feel it is incorrect. Removal is not guaranteed but it never hurts to make a suggestion to Google to enhance the way your own site and its corresponding sitelinks are viewed.

New Google Sitelink Improvements is a post by SEO expert Robyn Storms. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

Google launched Social Search in 2009 and since then we have seen results from Twitter, Flickr, Quora and other social media sites appear along with Google’s standard search results. In the latest improvement to Social Search, Google is now including Google+ posts.

Social Search features links shared by your friends on the web based on the relevancy to your search. An annotation will show up under the link stating where the link appears and which of your friends shared it.

In order to see Google+ posts in your search results you must be signed into a Google account and the posts must be public.

Google+ Now A Part Of Social Search Results is a post by SEO expert Robyn Storms. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.