Switching to WordPress? 7 Top Questions Answered

I have some old websites that were created in other online software besides the popular wordpress content managment system. I’ve been procrastinating about changing them over because I dread the amount of work it might take to get it done. So I tapped into my friend Lynette Chandler (top geek over at Tech Based Training) and asked her about it.

She gets lots of questions about wordpress, so I figured you might want some answers to the most common questions she gets. So without further ado, here’s Lynette’s “Top 7.”

If you’ve decided to take the leap and convert your entire site to WordPress yet worried about the process, these will help. No matter where you’re coming from, the process can be a intimidating and I bet you’ll have some nagging questions about it all. Hopefully, this post will help answer some of those questions and put you at ease.

#1 Can I keep my domain name?

Absolutely. Domain names (if registered under your name) can follow you through any web host, site publishing tool or content management system. The only time a domain cannot be transferred is when the original web host or web design person/company plays dirty and holds your domain hostage by refusing to change where it points to or refusing to transfer to another registrar without payment. Most of the time, this is not an issue and you will be able to keep your domain.

 #2 What will it cost? What kind of investments would I have to make?

WordPress (.org) is open source software which means you won’t have any licensing fees. That does not mean there are no costs. If you’re coming from a platform like Blogger where you’ve never paid for hosting or in some cases don’t even have a domain name, then those are the two costs that cannot be avoided.

Beyond that, additional costs only come in if you decide to purchase a premium theme, hire a designer, buy premium plugins or purchase books and informational guides. If you think you might need or want these, it would be wise to set aside some money so you have room to play.

#3 Can I set up a test site while I move?

If you are starting fresh with a brand new domain the answer is yes. If your domain is currently going to the old site, most web hosts can provide you with a temporary URL where you can access and work on the site before flipping the switch.

#4 My pages are static HTML. Is there an easy way to transfer them into WordPress?

Alas, you may be disappointed here. While there is a plugin that could help, what you have to keep in mind is that static HTML importers require your pages to be uniform and well formed. Hopefully yours are. Plan on spending some time to clean up the imported pages as some may look a little strange after importing. If you only have a handful of pages it’s probably simpler to just copy and paste.

#5 Will I lose my readers or content?

WordPress has many importers and converters to help you move your content. Chances are, there will be no loss. You’re more likely to lose some formatting than entire pages and posts.

As for losing readers, followers and traffic, if you were operating on your own domain before and keeping that domain, they will still find you on your new site. In that sense, you won’t lose your traffic nor links pointing to your posts. If you were using someone else’s domain like yourblogname.blogspot.com and now are getting your own, you can’t have them follow you automatically. However, you can and should modify your old site to display a prominent banner to announce and advertise your new site.

#6 What will happen to the URLs of my old pages? How do I redirect them?

If you try to keep your page and post names as similar as possible, WordPress can attempt to guess and redirect people to the right place. Sometimes the automatic redirect doesn’t work as it should. You can help it along by using a plugin called Redirection to specify exactly which pages direct where.

You should also make sure you have the ’404 Not Found’ error page set up properly to catch the pages that fall between the cracks.

#7 Can I handle this by myself?

That answer lies in what you know and how determined you are. If you know even a little bit of HTML or HTML/CSS, you’re in a better position. If you know a tad of PHP you’re head and shoulders ahead. If you know none of that but are very determined and motivated, yes you can, but be well prepared to face major frustration. Getting a guide, set of tutorials or connecting to a group of WordPress knowledgeable people will go a long, long way.

A blogger who attempted the switch all by themselves had this to say, “The problem is not the lack of free tutorials but too many of them! It takes huge amounts of time to separate the good and bad ones, and on top of it all, I didn’t even know what I was looking for. Save your sanity, get help.”

Great advice from someone who’s been there.

Lynette Chandler has been the web tech go-to-gal to marketers and bloggers online since 2004. She teaches them about WordPress, related web technologies and invites you to grab free training by clicking here. 

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Develop Lasting Customer Relationships By Making It Personal

I wrote a note to my sister a few weeks back. No, I mean I wrote it – with pen and paper. All by myself. Not an e-mail. I do admit that after years of tapping away at the keyboard my writing looked as though a drunken spider with ink on it’s legs had crawled all over the page.

Guess what? She called me – said it was really nice to get real mail and hand written at that! She said that she really enjoyed the tactility of the process – and to tell you the truth, so did I.

This got me to thinking. If my sister reacted in that manner then how would my clients and prospects respond? I went out and bought some inexpensive notelets and sat down one evening for an hour or so and wrote personal notes to those on a list I had made up.

  • I wrote “Thank you for choosing me to work with you” notes to clients.
  • I wrote “Thank you for considering me to help build your business” notes to prospects.
  • I wrote “Congratulations on (insert event here)” notes to others on my list.

About a week after I mailed off the notelets a very cool thing happened. I received four calls from my mail out thanking me for thanking them, along with positive comments about the notelets being a nice personal touch.

I got to thinking again (it’s been a heavy thinking kind of month). The art of developing winning and long lasting customer relationships is about making it personal. It’s about demonstrating on a constant and consistent basis that you really do care about a customers business, their well being and that you value them a your customers and, of course, appreciate their business.

In a society that is reliant on digital devices, that has so many ways to communicate electronically, you can make a distinct impression by taking the time to communicate with your customers, prospects and others by using the “old fashioned” power of the personal note.

Remember that the medium is the message. So put down your Blackberry and pick up your pen. What have you got to lose? What have you got to gain? Increased cash flow perhaps?

This guest post is by Martin Povey a business and marketing coach who helps entrepreneurs and small businesses that need focus direction and creative solutions to build their business and achieve their goals. He can be contacted at http://www.buildingyourbusiness.ca/

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3 Thrifty Ways To Reach Business Prospects Offline

Nowadays all the rage is reaching prospects online via your website or blog and social media, however face to face contact is still a no brainer especially in certain industries and niches, which brings us to consider marketing offline for once instead.

If you wish to inexpensively promote your small business offline in addition to your online marketing efforts, give the three simple and thrifty ideas below a try. These ideas can be tried by anyone in any field and if handled properly should yield good results.

1. Joint Promotion With Other Businesses

One of the best ways to reach offline prospects is to create a joint partnership with another business owner. You can complement each other in different ways and in the process drive business to and from your respective companies. This could take the form of a sale, a contest, a drive for charity, local press releases and so on. The point is to do it with someone else so that each party benefits from each other’s client base and traffic.

2. Business Cards

The business card is often overlooked as a marketing tool and I’m not sure why. With a well designed and well crafted business card, you can accomplish a number of things, most important of which is to leave your prospect with a small token to remember you. If you make it a wacky and or funny business card, this will work like a charm — but make sure that approach fits with your brand. So get creative and dazzle ‘em with this tiny but (most useful) card.

3. Local Paper Write Up/Column

Your local paper is a fantastic resource of potential offline prospects for just about any business. The trick is to become a columnist for your paper and or submit news worthy pieces that the editor can write about. Get to know the editor and let them know about your awesome business and how it can help the community at large. One approach is to participate in community events and this will surely make it into the “local events” section of the paper. Remember the old adage “give them something to talk about” and they will.

You’re only limited by imagination on how and where to reach prospects, get those creative caps on and brainstorm some good ideas and you’ll soon have more clients than you can handle.

What ways do you prefer to reach prospects whether offline or online? Let me know by leaving a comment below.

This guest post was written by Missy Diaz a writer for Reputation Management Agency, a web property that wholeheartedly embraces both online and offline marketing methods, and practices all of the above with remarkable results.

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