Previous: Choosing Blog Hosting
After selecting your blog platform and blog hosting, your next move is to handle necessary Wordpress settings and determine your blog structure – before you actually start to build the look and functions of your blog. A few of these settings will determine your URL structure (important for many reasons) and much more. I recommend taking care of these settings immediately after your installation is complete.
Determine the Set-Up of Your Blog
Seems pretty straight forward right? Not exactly. Whatever your blog setup, it needs to fit your goals, short-term and long-term. It can be costly and time-consuming to make major structure changes to any blog. I’m not talking design and layout, I’m talking structure. Here are some examples of blog structure setups that were driven by the goals and needs of each owner:
Standard Blog With Company Pages (most common)
Viva Visibility Blog: A standard blog, with “pages” holding company information.
Couples Transformations: The same, standard blog, with “pages” holding company information.
Custom Page Templates for Landing Pages
Couples Transformations also needed custom “landing pages” that did not include other blog/2.0 technology, but could easily be integrated into the blog using custom page templates. (They needed to be able to use Wordpress as a CMS for landing pages.) Another example would be a custom page template I use for listing my online hang-outs.
The Hybrid Website/Blog (Wordpress as CMS)
Sometimes you’ll need to setup Wordpress to have a virtual directory like /blog/ so that you can use Wordpress as a CMS (content management system). This allows you to have a higher level of hybrid website/blog and be able to add in a custom home page template that is separate from your blog’s main template/design coding.
The CEO Factor: An example of Wordpress as a CMS creating a hybrid website/blog
Why Does Structure Matter?
Besides planning your blog structure and setup around what you’re actually going to use the blog/website for — your structure and set-up should help you determine your permalink structure, category use, and tags use. Indirectly, your blog structure should also help you determine the “dofollow/nofollow” sections of the blog and “index/noindex” when it comes to categories, tags, and linking structure (all of the above for link structure and SEO).
It sounds complicated. My general advice is always to think of your visitors before search engines and consider some SEO basics — that will get you started. Learning the ins and outs of your blog SEO can come later.
Additionally, planning and defining your blog structure will also help you plan your design and layout, as well as content structure. Overall, it’s one of the most important steps you can take.
Too often people slap up a template and wrap their blog and goals around it, when it should be the other way around. Plan for your goals first, then build.
Determining Your Permalink Structure
** Please note: Do NOT change your permalink structure if it is already set. This has HUGE ramifications for your blog and links to your blog – without understanding the other factors that have to be handled (like redirects, etc). Consider this only in building a new blog.
[Access permalink settings by clicking "Settings" and "Permalinks" on your dashboard]
Permalink structure is the permanent link that will be created for each and every piece of content you publish on your blog. Whether you’re publishing a post or page, a permalink will be created. Setting your permalink sets your URL link structure and does have implications in SEO and site structure.
Examples
The standard blog example, using only posts and pages in a non-custom way — you’re permalinks structure is pretty straight foward. You will want to set them up to be as SEO and user friendly as possible, meaning use the custom setting and keep them relative to post titles only (short, sweet, and keyword rich URLs):
Once you select a custom permalink structure, any custom, you can then customize each post/page permalink individually…
Using Wordpress as a CMS tool, with a custom home template and virtual directory, your permalink settings might need to look like this…
Remember
Most importantly, choose a custom permalinks structure that makes sense for your blog and SEO, by keeping them short, sweet (user friendly), and keyword rich.
Structure Questions You Might Ask Yourself
Are you creating a simple blog, or hybrid website/blog hub? This will take you in the right direction. Why would you or would you not use each? How does the structure your considering affect you on the long-term side, with flexibility and expandability? Don’t get too caught up, just make sure you consider this stuff.
How will you handle pages and why would you create custom pages, in the future? One consideration to make here is if you’re going to need cusotm landing pages and if you want those pages to be less “blog-like” for conversions. Examples would include for sales landing pages (like above with Couples Transformations workshops page). You might even consider placing company pages, optin redirect pages or other administration type pages on custom landing pages.
Is this a product or book launch blog? You might want to consider setting it up as a website/blog with a virtual directory for the blog and a custom home page template. Add additional plugins that enable you to manage your page menu on a per post basis, you’ve got a pretty impressive launch website.
Who Cares, Someone Is Building My Blog for Me
Good to know. But, it still matters. You need to have a good understanding of the link between your goals for the blog, the content you’re publishing now and in the future — and how all that ties into how your developer is building your blog. Whoever is marketing your blog and whoever is designing it, need to be in communication with each other, if not through you. It all ties together.
Newsflash: Chances are your blog developer is not a blog marketer or has any clue about the long-term implications of how your blog is built and how you’re able to achieve your business goals.
You also need to understand the basics of how your blog is setup, for when you are posting to your blog. The tags you choose, how you structure your categories, and even customize your permalinks can mean the difference between rapid, long-term blog success or taking-forever-mediocre success. This all holds especially true for the coveted search engine traffic you want your blog to get.
Setting Your Blog Structure Walk-Through Video
These videos will walk you through goals and considerations I would make choosing a blog structure, as well as how to do that individual structure example. Plus, we’ll go through the setting your permalinks up for the first time.
I’m also going to cover other settings you’ll want to have completed before you (or someone else) starts to build your blog.
Member content for this post coming 2/2/2009… |
… looking forward to connecting with you!
Maria 
Blog Structure and Layout Resources
7 Tips for Choosing a Business Blog Templates from The Virtual Peach
How I Used a Custom Page Template to ReDesign Blog from Theme Shaper
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