If you aren’t a web designer, know nothing about HTML, or just haven’t been using WordPress very long… then it may not be a good idea for you to use a custom WordPress theme. Unless you follow some simple rules:

1. Hire an expert. Ok… I am not trying to promote myself here. But seriously, if you are going to use custom themes, plugins, bells & whistles… but don’t know how to maneuver WordPress CMS… then don’t touch it. Ask an expert to do it. Many experts will let you hire them on retainer so they can this “stuff” for you when you need it.

I get calls all the time… “Help! I broke my site!” 

A lot of you don’t have time to learn to fix it. So hire someone who can do it in a flash. 

2. Learn to use WordPress CMS. CMS means content management system. And really, its easy. You can never be prepared for every emergency that might happen – but if you know the basics, you can save a lot of money on retaining that expert. This means knowing some simple HTML, too. And knowing how to maneuver an FTP program like Dreamweaver or just SmartFTP. 

3. Check your site after every edit. EVERY. EDIT. If you make some changes to the image on your post… save it, then check it before doing any other edits. If you make some edits to a sidebar widget, check it every time you update. If you mess with the plugins, check it after each plugin update.

Some things to watch out for:

• Some plugins don’t work together and can break your site. 
• Some custom themes require a lot of FTP file editing.
• If you change from one theme to another – check all of your pages, some of the code might change. 
• Some themes have special “featured” articles on the homepage that use TimThumb and you will need to learn to use custom fields.

Yesterday I showed Val from Absolute Bridal & Formal this website, Marketing Helper… which is actually my blog. This was his response:

“Remember DOS?” He asked me. “Imagine that I am DOS and you are Windows… that is how beginner I am on this computer stuff. So forgive me for saying this… but your blog looks just like a website.” 

I responded to Val by affirming his correctness. A blog IS a website. 

“Well, then… why do I need a website? If I can just have a blog?”

Good question, Val! Very good question. 

What is the difference between a website and a blog? 

I think it goes back to the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.

The ‘Essential Keystrokes’ blog defined “getting social on the web” as defining the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0: “In the first generation of the web, it was all about providing information to your readers – the web was a one-way street. Web 2.0 is all about the user and giving the user a voice – thus making it a two-way street.”

While a blog is a “species” of website… hehe… it is still very different.

We can say that websites are online brochures that offer information and make people aware of products and services but also create opportunities for customer convergence (signup for a newsletter, buy something, download something, etc), and SHOULD interact with search engines for new customers to get information. The more intractable a website is, the more it is Web 2.0.

Blogs not only have a very specific trend/style to them, but the key to blogs is that every page allows for comments and interaction. It is a journal – not necessarily a personal journal – but a place for information and interaction. 

The ‘Intuitive.com’ blog said it well: “The real value of blogging isn’t the capability of the tool, but the ability for each and every page on the site, each and every article, to invite and display feedback from readers–comments, as they’re called in the blogging world. This is a dramatic difference because it changes a monologue, a “brochure,” into a dialogue with readers or customers.” 

So… there you have it. 

Thoughts?

Remember the term “information superhighway” in the 90’s when the World Wide Web exploded? The Internet was defined as an electronic “cyberspace” of infinite data that could connect the world together. 

It still is. But now it is less of a theory… we are actually doing it. 

The scale is tipping from a place for just information to a world of social interaction and connections. We have a global village at our disposal where 6 degrees of separation is turning into instant connections with new and extended networks. 

And while these infoways (information highways) are being built to connect our infinite cybervillages, average Joe who is still here on earth is left to try and comprehend it all… 

The truth is I can preach social media all day to every business in town… but it comes down to the ultimate question that I get almost daily: 

“Is it worth my time?”

The answer that small business owners want to hear is, “Yes, it will lower your marketing cost and bring you instant new clientele.” 

The answer that I have to give is still “yes” – but I have to add, “If you do it right.” 

The truth is that I know entrepreneurs and small business owners who use social media in a way that it has brought them extensive new business opportunity and continues to do so… but those are the catalysts and pioneers for this new industry called social media. They are the forerunners who spent unlimited hours testing the infoways and finding the right combinations to create cybervillages. 

You aren’t meant to be an expert in the social media field. But you can continue to be an expert in your own field, and use social media experts to make a smooth transition from traditional marketing to the infinite possibilities of publicity that the internet offers. 

Social Media Optimization (SMO) is a defined by Wikipedia as “a set of methods for generating publicity through social media, online communities and community websites.”

Stay tuned for information about Which social media tools are better for small businesses, and why?