ColinAke.com…until I write a book.

I recently joined a starting meetup group of bloggers in Atlanta - the Atlanta Bloggers Meetup… It’s an interesting group with a wide range of bloggers, from beginners to people who have been blogging a while, to people like me who start and stop without notice.  Last time we were given homework - write a post about our blogging platform.  So, for those of you who either blog or want to blog, here’s my plug of WordPress and why I like it.

WordPress makes it easy to start blogging.  Whether you’re using WordPress.com - hosted blog solutions (yourblog.wordpress.com) or WordPress.org if you’re hosting it on your own server, WordPress is easy to use. WordPress.org is VERY easy to install (famous for the 5 minute install) and it’s quite the platform beyond that.

WordPress has TONS of plugins. From comment systems (IntenseDebate is the way to go) to stat counters to SEO optimization to spam filters, WordPress has got it going on. Frankly, you can find almost any plugin to modify your WordPress install into a photoblog, podcast, or any other popular blog format.  I think you should have the following plugins, at least… StatCounter, IntenseDebate (currently in private beta), FeedBurner (RSS feed tracker), Akismet (spam killer), and MyPageOrder (lets you order which pages show up in navigation where). Beyond that, make your own stuff up - but if you need it, it’s probably out there.

I think WordPress makes it easy to blog. Easy to write. Auto saved drafts. Always updating, always purchasing new technologies that make blogging easier. And it’s not THAT incredibly hard to modify themes, which, by the way, are readily available… There are billions of free varations out there.  Ok, maybe not billions, but a bunch.

So go start a blog. The trick is consistency, something you should know by now that I’m not good at.

Let me know if you need WP help.

Colin