If you’re interested in having a WordPress blog installed and customized on your OWN server, you’ve come to the right place!
Why host your own blog you ask? Well the SEO advantage alone is well worth it. If you already have a blog on wordpress.com, Typepad, Blogger, etc… the benefits of all that CONTENT is doing nothing to drive potential clients to your site. If you already have your own web server, hosting a blog extension costs you nothing, but hosting with Typepad is not free, so why not hire someone ONCE to install a blog on your own server and save that monthly fee?
Why hire me if you can install it yourself? If you feel confident enough to install it yourself, by all means go ahead! WordPress is definitely something that can be installed on your own, but for many people, the task can be daunting and challenging. That is why offer my services. And for those who’ve installed it on their own but don’t know how to go about customizing their blog, I’m here for them as well.
Will you lose your old blog entries? WordPress has the ability to import content from most content management systems, so don’t worry about losing your old entries from Typepad or Blogger. Keep in mind though that unless your embedded images are transferred to your server, you may lose them if you cancel your Typepad or Blogger memberships.
Is WordPress easy to post to? If you’d like to try it out as an author, check out the Test Blog.
What kind of customizations are possible with WordPress? You name it, chances are someone has created a plugin or theme for it. I’ve compiled a short list of customizations that are popular with photographer blogs. If there’s a specific task or look you are going for, let me know and I’ll see if it can be done!
Do I customize other CMS (content management systems) like Typepad or Blogger? No, I don’t.
Do I customize wordpress.com blogs? Due to the limitation of FREE wordpress.com blog accounts, I can not. If you upgraded your account and are able to access the source files, I may be willing to help.
Basic customizations ($10 each), ranked by highest recommended:
- Theme (template) installation and integration
- Custom colors (css coding) – $10 for each type of change
- custom comment anti-spam*
- Google sitemaps: (helps with SEO, blog sitemap is updated automatically!
- All-in-one-SEO: (automatically adds meta tags and keywords to every page, add keywords to each post!)
- Static banner integration
- Smoother image pop-ups (i.e. thumbnail is made clickable to open up a larger version)*
- Welcome/Bio section (appears on the front page only)
- subscription form* – (e-mail readers automatically when your blog is updated)
- Blog Polling – fun for blog contests
- right-click disable* (we all know what that’s for)
Deluxe customizations ($25 each):
- Import posts from Typepad, Blogger, etc…a great deal more work goes into making sure images get transferred to your server so that hotlinked images don’t disappear)
- Flash slideshow header
- inline comments* – (comments “slide down” when a link on the index page is clicked on)
- contact form*
- scrolling comment box*
- custom background wallpaper design
- custom graphics
- custom scripting
- custom flash font for post titles
- easy-to-change colors (available with the Ground-Up package only)
- collapsible elements
*as demonstrated in my blog
List of a few WordPress blogs I’ve installed and/or customized:
- http://www.melodyhood.com/
- http://www.proudtointroduce.com/blog
- http://deborahhalverson.com/blog
- http://phrecklesphotography.com/blog
- http://tonyamariephotography.com/blog
- http://darling-art.com/blog
- http://www.staceycrescitelliphotography.com/blog
- http://mariahmphoto.com/blog
- http://jamieschultzphotography.com/blog
- http://pinkletoes.com/blog/
- http://www.elitephotodesign.com/blog/
The following are “Ground Up” custom blogs (designed by the photographer, so the themes can not be duplicated):
- http://youcantbeserious.com.au/blog
- http://purplenickel.com/offthegrid
- http://mcpactions.com/blog
- http://jennymasonphotography.com/blog
One thing to note: Although I offer my services for customization purposes, I am NOT a source for tech support on WordPress. If your intent for contacting me is to get answers on what files to edit or what CSS coding to change, go to http://wordpress.org for your answers. BUT, after I complete your customization and you would like to know where to upload a new banner or how to use a plugin, I am more than happen to pass on that information to make it easier for you to change. All other customizations may/do take up my time, so you WILL be charged a fee per tech support question.
So how much will this cost me? Find out more information and contact me here.