Design

The first stage of the makeover will be to implement an appropriate design. To achieve this, we will look at some of the principles of good design and how they should be applied to WPBizGuru. We will look at issues related to color schemes, layout, and typography. We will also be paying careful attention to usability and accessibility.

You will be introduced to advanced techniques for editing WordPress themes that will involve manipulating the source code. The following screenshot shows the finished design for WPBizGuru:

Content

Chapter 4, Images and Videos and Chapter 5, Content is King, deal with all aspects of creating content and content management. Images and videos will be an important feature in the WPBizGuru blog and we will also be looking at a range of tools and techniques available in WordPress, which help us to manage this type of content.

We will learn how to present content, easily and efficiently, from a third-party website, such as YouTube. WPBizGuru will also feature a photo gallery, as you can see in the following screenshot. This will be achieved by the use of a powerful third-party plugin that makes managing an image gallery a breeze.

General content issues such as copywriting techniques and how to manage tags and categories will also be examined in detail. We will discuss the use of static pages within WordPress and the kinds of static content that might be required in the WPBizGuru blog. The importance of safeguarding content with appropriate back-up procedures will also be demonstrated.

Promotion and analysis

A key element in the success of WPBizGuru, and indeed any blog, will be effective promotion. This subject will be looked at in detail in Chapter 6, Search Engine Optimization and Chapter 7, Supercharged Promotion. There is a wide range of techniques and tools to be employed to ensure WPBizGuru's promotional activity is as effective as possible.

We will examine the principles of effective SEO, including how to submit WPBizGuru to the search engines and directories. Understanding keywords and how they relate to SEO will be a fundamental lesson, as will the use of sitemaps and implementing a good permalink structure.

The importance of social networks and other social media will also be examined. We will see how the AddThis plugin can be used to promote the blog via social bookmaking sites.

One of the goals laid out in the blog plan is to effectively measure the popularity of WPBizGuru. We will be looking at the tools that enable us to achieve this, including a comparison between WordPress.com Stats and Google Analytics, in Chapter 9,Analyzing your Blog Stats.

Generating revenue

Another goal in the WPBizGuru blog plan is to earn some revenue directly from the blog. We will be looking at some methods to achieve this. These include introducing a banner rotation system so that WPBizGuru can sell advertising and sponsorship banners directly. Revenue will also be generated by using advertising networks, such as Google AdSense.

Enabling growth

We will be looking at how to effectively manage the growth of the WPBizGuru blog. This includes practical considerations such as how to ensure smooth server operation when faced with high traffic. We will also examine options for expanding WPBizGuru's blogging activities. For example, we will see how the WordPress Multisite feature can be used as a tool for developing a network of linked blogs.