VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Rognog · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 8:50 am Post subject: Blogging Questions

What do you VO bloggers do to get your message out there? Do you post on multiple sites? Does it matter to you how many readers/followers you have? What keywords do you embed in your blog, if any? How do you encourage comments?

Also, I use Blogger but it has been suggested to me to switch to WordPress. I did a search here and found a few threads, some for WordPress, some against it. What do you guys use?
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ccpetersen · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 9:49 am Post subject:

I use Wordpress. It's relatively easy to set up, but if you get into any kind of "mods" to the php code, be sure you know what you're doing.

You can get a feel for Wordpress's admin panel by going to wordpress.com and setting up a free account (you don't have to publish it) and play with it a bit. The free accounts are hosted on their servers and I think there's some advertising on them, but not sure. I installed it on my own server using the version available through the admin panel of my own ISP (hostgator) and then upgraded it via downloads from Wordpress. Actually, WP will prompt you to update it whenevere's a new stable build available.

Okay, that's probably more detail than you want, but pm me for more detail if you want to know more. I've used WP for a bunch of years now and it's been stable and good.
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cyclometh · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 10:08 am Post subject:

I run my own blog (3, actually) on a hosting site using WordPress. WP is easy to use, simple to manage and has a lot of features making it more of a content management system (CMS) than a blog package, which makes it great for your website as well, with some customization.

My advice with a blog is pretty simple: Have something to say before you set one up. A blog purely for marketing purposes is doable but you generally should have an established product first- i.e., the blog comes after you've got everything else and is more of a news feed than a blog.

In my case I blog about the trials and tribulations of making the transitition to being a voice actor, as well as various technical topics I find interesting.
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Brad Venable · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 10:13 am Post subject:

I use Tumblr, and I like it a lot, especially since I can share things very easily. Once I get my full website up and running, I may want to change, but I will probably graduate to a full-blown CMS like WP, Drupal, or Joomla. I dunno. Maybe I'll just link to my Tumblr account. *shrug*
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Rognog · Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 7:38 am Post subject:

Thanks for the input! A few more questions...

Do you still need a Linux-based server to use WordPress? Do you have to pay to have it hosted?
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Tom Dheere - The "H" is Silent, but I'm Not!
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ccpetersen · Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 10:14 am Post subject:

I use Hostgator; their business accounts are something like $14.00 a month (depending on how long you sign up for). They have hosting rates as low as 4.95 a month.

http://www.hostgator.com/

Even if you don't go with them, reading their help menus and trying a demo is worth the time to learn how to work with their cPanel admin site (where you'd install wp from).

I own my own domain and simply host it there; I noted this morning that they have the latest version of Wordpress for install, which is great.

The servers there run on CentOS Linux x 86.

c
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cyclometh · Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 2:04 pm Post subject:

bobbinbeamo · Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 5:25 pm Post subject:

Does anybody have any info on a tutorial for Wordpress they can recommend?
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cyclometh · Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 5:36 pm Post subject:

I'd start here:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page
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Corey "Vox Man" Snow
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bobbinbeamo · Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 5:39 pm Post subject:

Thanks! I'll check it out. I'm thinking about adding WP to the blogging arsenal.
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cyclometh · Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 5:46 pm Post subject:

If you have questions about it that you can't figure out from the docs, post them here or hit me up via PM. Happy to help if I can.
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ccpetersen · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:44 am Post subject:

Same here, I've been using WP for a few years now.

Cyclo: do you do the automatic updates for your plugins? If so, I have a question for you -- we can chat in PM if you like.

cc
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danbrantley · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:52 pm Post subject:

I'm a Wordpress fan as well. many themes, frequent updates, almost as many options as a Hobo Tounge

s in the a Hobo Tounge

store, and you can have a great looking site with very little actual coding with widgets and plug-ins. I use GoDaddy for my two blogs and they handle a lot of the updates.
And...
I would use Wordpress even if it wasn't invented by a 19 year old kid from Austin, TX. (Why oh why did I pursue a life of fame and glamour when I could have been a filthy rich nerd? (Actually it's my wife who asks me that all the time.))
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I'm still...
Dan Brantley

cyclometh · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 5:20 pm Post subject:

ccpetersen · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 7:15 pm Post subject:

Folder permissions are fine, but the auto-updates have been borked since the latest version of WP was released. I have to resort to the manual method. Otherwise, it's great.
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