Drum roll pa-leeeeeze!

I finally finished the FAQ page for my site AND an additional page with all sorts of info about WordPress -  explaining the difference between wordpress.com & wordpress.org

Whoo-hoo!

Check ‘em out:

FAQ

WordPress.com & WordPress.org

This article is also on my FAQ page – but posting it here as a lot of people check out my blog for WordPress info.

WordPress.COM & WordPress.ORG

WordPress made its name as a blogging software. But WordPress has morphed into much more than that and along the way it has created some confusion as to what sort of features it offers and which WordPress is for the casual user and which WordPress  is for the web developer. Hopefully this article will help explain the differences between these two WordPress options.

With WordPress, you can just have a blog, or a web site, or, you have a WEB SITE with a BLOG on it, like my site does.

Since I don’t have all day to go into the difference betwixt a blog and a web site, go to these sites for further illumination if you desire:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_site

True fact: a blog IS a web site – as it is a site on the web, see? But a blog is usually set up so the owner can update the content themselves on a frequent basis.

Having a blog on your web site will help keep the content fresh – notice how I post new info on mine every week or so? And Search Engines like seeing fresh content and will give your web site higher placement if you keep your blog updated, which will make it easier to find you on the internet.

Read the rest of this entry »

Totally enjoyed the day at WordCamp Seattle. It was a good event, got to see the Adobe complex, and it was a brilliantly beautiful day as well.

There were some great speakers there, check out the list here and visit their sites:
http://www.wordcampseattle.com/speakers/

I especially liked these folks:

Chris Pirillo – and not just because he told us about the Bebot app for my iPhone!

Jane Wells - Jane works with the WordPress core development team, I liked her happy attitude and general joie de vivre – she loves her job and it shows.

Ian Lurie – good ideas on web page set up for better SEO

George Plumley – I really enjoyed  Georges talk on videos for your web site.
I especially like George’s site http://seehowtwo.com/
Its a FANTASTIC RESOURCE for WordPress Tutorials – absolutely check it out.

George is publishing a book that should be coming out in November, a guide for our CLIENTS on how to update just the basic features for their WP web site.

There are books out there – like WordPress for Dummies – but there is too much info in there for the casual user. So I am looking forward to this book as something I can give my clients when we finish their WordPress site. Sign up for his newsletter to get updated on the launch date.

Also, Mark McLaren has a lot of WP resources on his site :
http://www.mcbuzz.com/wordpress/

Scott Porad – Saw Scott at WordCamp San Francisco, he’s an engaging and thoughtful speaker. Lots of info and and insights on how his company tests out different web sites to see what flies and what doesn’t. Great for modeling.
http://icanhascheezburger.com/ and the other sites in the LOL umbrella attract millions of visitors and participants a day. They duin’ it rite!

Ignite:
Fast paced and great info – funny too!
Participants had 5 minutes to share a slide presentation (15 seconds per slide) about what they are doing with WordPress.

Next WordCamp? I’d love to go to one in Spain, or Brazil, or Australia…Thailand….

WordCamp Seattle is this Saturday the 26th in the Fremont District at Adobe.

I’m excited – wonderful line-up and totally SOLD OUT.

Hope you got your tickets!

Will let you know how it goes.

www.wordcampseattle.com

You can now embed the SoundCloud player in your WordPress site!

http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/soundcloud/

We are big fans of SoundCloud, a really useful service that is part Flickr for music, part professional music collaboration hub. Artists such as Beck, Moby and Sonic Youth now use the service to distribute tracks through their blogs and connect with their fans….go to the link to read more and get the embed code.

I recommend WordPress to a lot of people – the free blog site.

This is a pretty good step-by-step tutorial to get you up and running if you are unsure of how to get started. Go to wordpress.com and set up a blog while watching the video. This video is NOT put out by WordPress, just an avid user.

The guy, Chris Abraham, that does the video is kidding around when he acts like he doesn’t know what he’s doing! He’s a geekasaurious.

OR, Click HERE to watch it on YouTube

WordPress does recommend some tutorial books, http://wordpress.org/about/books/

I have WordPress for Dummies (doh!) and it’s quite good. More info than the casual user needs, but should cover everything for the novice and anyone interested in venturing into the .ORG side of WordPress.

Also, lynda.com has an on-line training library you can subscribe to – but that might be an overkill commitment for the casual user. However, if you are web inclined and want to learn about WordPress and other programs, it’s a great resource for a few bucks a month.

Something that has confused many people is the distinction between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. Let’s clear it up. WordPress.com is brought to you by some of the same folks who work on WordPress, the open source blogging software. In addition, WordPress.com utilizes the same WordPress software which you can download at WordPress.org. With WordPress.com the hosting and managing of the software is taken care of by the team here at Automattic. With WordPress.org you need to install the software on your own server or with a 3rd party provider.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE ON THE WORDPRESS SITE

WordCamp is coming to Seattle! If it’s anything like the WordCamp I went to in San Francisco in May, it’ll be fantastic. Seriously. Fantastic.

Check out their web site, sign up for Twitter and Facebook, and go!

www.wordcampseattle.com

central.wordcamp.org/

WordCamp is a conference type of event that focuses squarely on everything WordPress. Everyone from casual end users all the way up to core developers show up to these events. These events are highlighted by speeches or keynotes by various people.

Click here to read my post about the San Francisco WordCamp in May, and here for my illustrious meeting with Tim Ferriss.

I was in San Francisco June 29th & 30th for WordCamp, the event for all things WordPress. It was fantastic! I will share some more about the event and speakers soon. For now, this is all I am making time to post:

One of the highlights at WordCamp was getting to meet Tim Ferriss – of 4 Hour Work Week Fame. Ok, it wasn’t really much of a meeting – it was an oh, look, there he is in the hallway in front of the door to the conference room, I will have to pass him on the way in kind of meeting. I had just a few seconds to prepare something witty and intelligent to say to him, something that perhaps no one else had ever said to him, something to ensure that I, out of all the hundreds of people there would be, at the very least, memorable, and perhaps, dare I say, captivating with my candor and sharp mind.

Here is what I said:

“I really loved your book.”

Brilliant ‘eh? Oh, yeah, in a pinch I totally come through with prose that would make a nightingale sing.

He said Thanks! Then asked my name (I had to look at my WordCamp name tag to remember) and shook my hand. Woo-Hoo!

Let me know if you want me to write your next big speech. I can probably come up with something like: Thanks for the Nobel Prize. I’d really like to thank my mom & dad, my great partner and all my friends. Gee, this sure is swell! Thanks again!