If the content writing strategy for SEO is the way to promote your blog on the web, how can any person continuously create new valuable content that will help readers with their lives?  Interesting and active content  writing is the real trick of Wordpress SEO in my opinion. How do you do it?

Writing content for your blog comes from within

Content should always come ninety percent from within. If you can create one hundred percent of your content from within all the better. What do I mean by the mantra that content for your Wordpress blog come from within?

Three ways blog content writing comes from within

• Platonic view on content
• Unique physical brain
• Unique experience

Platonist view on content – I am a sort of Platonist in that I think the answers in life you already know. Your brain as been exposed to almost an infinite amount of information and stimulation in your lifetime.  Everyone’s brain has scanned millions of web pages, talked to millions of people, read countless books and newspapers and most important observed their environment with almost a photographic memory. This is the way your brain works and what it means to be living in our time.

I also believe that we are all sparks of the divine flame and each person is unique and sacred.  Just look within yourself and you will find you connection to the infinite and conntion to the creator of all that is seen and unseen.

To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour. – William Blake

If you think this is too abstract and no applicable to blog writing content and Wordpress SEO, think again.

Why your content is the best – You are smarter than you think. Your brain can process this information and extrapolate and put seemingly unrelated ideas together into a new order to create a new understanding. This is what it means to be unique, everyone’s physical brain is different and the connections and extrapolations your brain will put together will be different from someone else’s, therefore, your brain will have something unique to offer.

Experiences are stories for content – Everyone loves a story. If you are a story teller and can weave your own personal experiences into story that illustrates a point, then your content will not be some generic recycled information you see all over the web.

For example, one of my language learning blogs features someone’s personal experience with how they learned the Polish language.  This was a real life story, rather than abstract theory. Unless someone has the exact experience you have, which would be a story in itself, than you can be confident that your content writing will have a unique spin.

There are no experts in life.  Everyone will have an infinite number of things to offer to an infinite number of people.  You just need to have the courage and confidence to trust your own:

1. inner vision
2. brain’s insights
3. personal experiences

As a guide to writing content for your blog.

What does this have to do with blogging and Wordpress SEO?  A lot.  Blogging today is about creating something interesting.  If you are stuck and do not know what do write about day after day, week after week, it is because you are looking too much on the web for inspiration.

Rather your real gift to others should be yourself and your life experiences, write about this and and you will find the infinite source for writing content for your blog (and maybe some other revelations in the process) from within you. If you have read this post to the end, my question to you, is what are your thoughts about my view on blogging and content writing?

Most of this post will be a visual comparison.  I think this makes the point clearer and I will let the facts speak for themselves.

All in One SEO Pack vs Platinum SEO Pack compared visually

Here are the screen options for the All in One SEO Pack.  The options are the functionality of these plugins, therefore, you can do the comparison yourself, as it will be more convincing.

All in One SEO pack set up

All in One SEO Pack plugin title options

All in One SEO Pack descriptions and other functionality

All in One SEO Pack header options

Now lets look at the Platinum SEO Pack I will let you see the options with out much comment and again let you decide.

Platinum SEO Pack set up

Platinum SEO Pack title set up

Platinum SEO Pack comment options

Platinum SEO Pack tags set up

Platinum SEO Pack descriptions

Analysis of Platinum SEO Pack plugin compared to One SEO Pack

What the Platinum SEO plugin has and the One SEO does not:

• more sophisticated use of comment no index
• automatic 301 redirection when you change your permalink structure
• comment and RSS no follow options
• external link no follows
• category and listing page no follows
• no index search, sub and author pages
• no follow of registration and log-in pages
• additional pages and post headers
• a few more

I think it is not about the current options that the  Platinum SEO has that All in One SEO Pack, it is more about the fact that the Platinum pack developers are more progressive in their updates and more in touch with what is going on with regards to search engine optimization. This is why I prefer and trust the platinum plugin

I think generally both are pretty good plugins, and can be used if you want a basic SEO set up on your blog and then forget about it.  That is, not focus too much on optimization and focus more on content.

Themes not plugins for Search engine optimization

I think a better option than these plugins are actually a well developed theme made for search engine optimization.  If you get a good theme there is less chance for it breaking when used with other WP gadget widgets, plugins etc. If your theme if really good you do not need an optimization plugin at all.

Therefore, if I am going to pay for something connected to Wordpress an opens ource free platform, I would rather get the SEO built into the theme, therefore, there is less chance of conflicts. However, I would not pay more than 30 dollars for a theme.  If you want a good theme recommendation write me.

Therefore, as long as the theme does not cost over 30 dollars.  I have seen SEO companies charging 300 dollars for a theme, which is ridiculous because you can buy something better cheaper or just use WP right out of the box with the Platinum SEO Pack for search engines and it will do basically the same thing.

In fact, WP out of the box with the plugin I recommend here pretty much does it for on site optimization.  After that focus on content.

Which is better All in One SEO Pack or Platinum SEO Pack

• The All in One SEO Pack is ok and does have a pay for version, which is their professional version. This includes extended functionality.
• I actually prefer and use the Platinum SEO Pack as it has a few more options, such as an automatic redirect and is totally without cost.

Did this help make a decision between which plugin to use? Leave a comment and let me know what you think about my plugin analysis for Wordpress.

I have a bbPress forum.  It is a small little forum, however right out of the box without doing any special modifications I have noticed and then many of my posts rank very high in search engine results.

This is because bbPress was written with search engine optimization in mind.  Maybe not directly, but rather it was written in a format which would promote user friendly, that is the reader, navigation and usability.

It is the newest kid on the block so it only uses new ideas and understanding of semantic code and how semantic content should look to be user friendly.

Let’s look at specifically why bbPress is good for SEO

• Pretty Permalinks
• The title of the each thread is both a link and an H1
• Semantic HTML code no layout-tables
• very fast loading
• good tagging
• Pinging and playback trace back

Other factors besides SEO

There are a lot of nice little plugins and features in the forum software that other forum software does not have.  Further, bbPress is so easy to use and set up, that with the time saved on set up and learning time (it took me about 1/2 hour A to Z ), the time saved you can actually get going on marketing your forum, and therefore, indirectly the ease of use mean better results in search engines.

Automattic.com has a pretty active open source development team committed to continuing the development of their projects in the right direction. Anything they have produced has really taken off.  I believe in open source as a solutions.

Therefore, there is no way I would consider anything but bbPress for running even a large forum, it is the future and has many SEO benefits.

Matt Wordpress Google

In fact, Matt the guy who is behind Wordpress has a good relationship with Matt the guy who is behind Google’s quality control. I think Matt Mullenweg takes hints from Matt Cutts. Nothing that Matt Cutts does not tell the rest of the world, but Matt Mullenweg simply looks to the future when it comes to the functionality of Wordpress.  Therefore, the functionality or WP, right out of the box is pretty up to date.

Both Matt’s have a similar philosophy that content is king.  That people should not focus on optimization, but rather good writing.  At least this is my interpretation of their philosophy.  I agree. SEO is about good writing.  You can focus a lot of energy on finding that right Wordpress extends in terms of themes and plugins, but every minute you do takes one minute away from you building content for your blog.

Further, when functionality of a plugin becomes noted and important, Automattic integrates it into core system of WP and the plugins becomes obsolete.  An example is the automatic updates plugin, it was once a plugin now comes with the system.

Too many Wordpress plugins is not good

However, whatever your strategy for Wordpress SEO is, my recommendation is do not overload your blog with every plugin under the sun.  What might happen is errors or conflicts or sluggish functioning from bloated code.  I try to limit my plugins to less then ten.

If you can find the top ten best plugins for you then this is all you need for SEO.  The best plugins in the Platinum all in one SEO pack.  After that you might use some sitemap plugin and related post type plugin for better navigation.

Avoid the best Wordpress plugin lists that are dated

Another thing to avoid is reading an outdated list of the best plugins.  This list is dated I would say about a year after publication because Wordpress is evolving.

Therefore, in  conclusion, your strategy for Wordpress plugins should be less is more. Let me know what you think about this Wordpress plugin strategy or which are the best for Wordpress SEO.

Typepad has very poor SEO functions.  Unless and even if you pay for the full premium service, you get poor perma links, a limited a selection of themes and hard to modify css, limited widgets and plugins. Further, in Typepad images look horrible.

In my personal opinion, I highly recommend Wordpress and not Typepad for SEO. Also I have herd custmer support is almost non existant and to move your domain, if you do not own it is very hard. You are basically locked into a platform with little flexibility. Therefore my advice about Typepad SEO is move your blog to WP.

If you have Typepad blog, why not just move into Wordpress with a 301 redirect.  I created a Typepad to Wordpress guide which you can reference.

Search engine optimization advice for Typepad users

In my opinion, moving your blog from Typepad is the best search engine optimization for Typepad.  Then once you get your blog safely over to Wordpress you can use plugins, theme modification, a proper permit link and category structure in a much more user friendly blog platform.  Basically with Wordpress you get more options.

Perhaps when you’re starting out with your blog you think I don’t need all those options.  However, let one or two years pass and if you want to take your blog to the next level, you have to move it from Typepad to Wordpress.

But Seth Godin uses Typepad and SEO right?

I do not mean to poke a little fun at a great marketer and no disrespect intended as he is a master, however, I want to be honest so you can benefit and learn from where others have made mistakes.

However it is interesting to note he started his own domain that does not have the Typepad after he had been using sethgodin.typepad.com that is Typepad in the name of the url, perhaps he regrets starting with this hosting service.

How did he become famous with Typepad and marketing?  He did not. He was known before Typepad.  Seth is basically he’s an old fashion marketing guy.  He doesn’t  need search engine optimization because his blog is promoted entirely through networking and now his reputation.  Once he did enough networking his blog got a reputation.

However this does you absolutely no good if you’re not him.  If you have a large book of clients and connections in the old school marketing world, that you can worked and one day one, hit the ground running, good for you.

But most people start a blog with only a passion for what they write about.  If you want to succed you do not need a Tyepad SEO guide, you need good content and Wordpress. Why? You’re not part of this old boys network.

He is the quintessential networking guy who was smart enough (and he is a very smart guy) to go on the web early. Therefore, he does not need to give respect to search engine optimization and doesn’t care that his platform is Typepad.

I use to read his blog but it got me nowhere, except fired up about marketing and a desire to succeed.  But then what?  Then I read about SEO and more important how to write for the web and my blogs took off.

Therefore, you need a combination of Seth and good SEO and not on Typepad.

Typepad SEO blog advice

My recommendation, is classic valuable content in and highly optimized blog platform, Wordpress. This means Typepad SEO is an oxymoron.  And you should move to Wordpress, set it up beautifully with SEO in mind, then forget about SEO and focus on quality content.

The actual process of moving your blog is very easy.  In fact, Typepad help outlines the whole process here move Typepad to Wordpress. As stated in the sixapart help there is a simple export function.  It is pretty nice of them to make a simple guide for you.  I poke fun at Typepad but if you upgrade its not that bad. However, I like Wordpress for SEO reasons.

The one part of the process that might take you 1/2 hour is the redirection from Typepad to Wordpress. With this one exception.  That is the 301 redirect from your TP blog to WP.  That will be explained last, but that is easy too.  The rest of the post is more about setting up Wordpress and the redirection.  If you know about the Wordpress five minute install than skip to the redirection.

Typepad to Wordpress

In seven easy steps here is the Sixapart to Wordpress blog move:

1. Download Wordpress – Go to Wordpress.org and download the latest version of Wordpress.
2. Wordpress set up – Set this up on your own domain with the basic install and any template or customization you like.  You can use the default template if you like.  Ask me if you have questions on this but here is their 5 minute install Wordpress guide.
3. Install the following plugins – Platinum all in one as SEO,  a redirection plugins (this is only needed if you do not use the Platinum all in one – because this plugin comes with a 301 redirection),
   

   Takes care of Wordpress internal redirection that might result after a move from Typepad

   a Google site map plugin, a normal simple site map plugin, a related post plugin. That is all you really need, you don’t want to overwhelm you Wordpress blog with too many plugins because things could stop working if you have the top 50 plugins installed. You can do this right in the Wordpress control panel under automatic plugin install.

   

   Add plugins to Wordpress to improve your Typepad blog

4. Set Wordpress permalinks – Go to general settings in your control panel, permalinks and set up your permalink structure of the way you want.  By recommend either /%postname%/ or %category%/%postname%/  – no if you have a small blog go with the flat structure.  If you have a large blog I recommend a hierarchical structure. I recommend using a plugin called ‘top level categories’ if you have a hierarchical structure.
   

   Permalinks Typepad to Wordpress - I like using categories as it brings more keywords in the url

5. Get images from Typepad – Go do download.com and download a program called HTTrack, with this you can download your entire site for backup or at least the images from Typepad before you make your move.
6. Set up an images directory – on your server where you will keep all you iamges that you bring to Wordpress from Typepad.  Therefore, mydomain.com/images/ might be your directory. I recommend doing your images by hand. I know people will complain – but most people do not have SEO images.  Your images – including the file-name-of-the-image.jpg the ‘alt tag’ and the Caption shoud be SEOed – that is make is user or reader valuable.  Chances are if you stated on Typepad you did not do this as it was your first real blog.  Here if golden opportunity to make this right. I also resizes all my images before I move it to Wordpress from Typepad.  I use paint.net
7. Move from a Typepad  blog to Wordpress – Next export all your Typepad posts. Go to your Wordpress control panel under ‘tools’ – ‘import’ you can import your Typepad blog. You can glance at this documentation for movable type import
   

   Typepad to Wordpress conversion import function

That is it.  Now there will be a  lot of clean up and testing of course. However, all the functionality is built into Wordpress already.  The only real issue is the Typepad redirect. Nothing complicated.  I could do it in less then an hour.

If your Typepad blog is small I recommend you simply copy and paste it over to Wordpress.  I would say this is try for anything less then 200 posts. This is because you get to fix everything in your old posts.

Tyepad redirect to your Wordpress blog

This is the only trick.  It is the only thing that counts.  The above is basically setting up a Wordpress blog.  You will need to redirect with a 301 your juice to your new Wordpress blog.

How to redirect to Wordpress from Typepad.  The trick is this, you have to upgrade to the premium typepad service, then you can redirect with a simple ftp file.

This should take no time at all.    Even if you go to some moving service they will make you upgrade.

Next write all the people who link to you and change the links. Over time the Google juice will go to your new domain.  Eventually you can cancel your Typepad account once your new domain is aged and the links are changed.

Rather than repeat what others have written here are some external guides for the move that describe the redirection.

Redirection from Typepad to Wordpress and other issues:

Typepad to Wordpress redirection solved

Migration to Wordpress from Typepad

Great detail in this Move Typepad to Wordpress guide

Let me know if you have any question on your conversion.

Lastly somewhere in this post is the big secret to SEO and how to write for your blog.

A well written Wordpress post will help SEO

What is the point of writing a Wordpress post? To give answers to user questions. Answers can be explicit or implicit, however, always clear and structured so the user can find the answer with the least pain.

Answers are what a search engine will reward.  Why? Because the humans that design the search algorithms want the search to be helpful for humans searching. That is Wordpress SEO in a nutshell, good writing. Do not focus on, links and one site factors too much. Think of your self as a writer.

Writing on your blog is the most important thing you can do for SEO.  The creativity side is another discussion, and is the most important part of writing. Writing something that is unique and valuable.

However, the structure of writing is the purpose of this post on how to write for  Wordpress. Perhaps if you have a structure then the idea can just flow onto the page.

If you have read my blog you know that Wordpress SEO is mostly about writing.  The on site and off site stuff will take care of itself with a standard Wordpress install and perhaps one or two plugins.

Anatomy of a Wordpress post

I think the best blogs have posts that are varied in length and structure  according to what you are trying t convey. They do not obey the rules, even this post. However, you need a starting point. If you were to have a conceptual framework about how write a Wordpress post, this could help. I will give you one.

This might help not only beginners, but more experienced bloggers who have a mess in their head because they have read too much wrong information about how to write for the web.

Therefore, lets get to work.

Writing a page title

Should be pretty close to what someone might type into a search box. – Why? Because your title is trying to answer a question.  If your title is jammed with keywords it is not exactly answering the question what people are looking for and can be confusing.  However if it is short and close to the exact phrase what someone might type into a Bing or Google search box then you know its a good blog post title.

Write Wordpress post headers like the Times or the Post

Writing a Wordpress post should be like writing a news story in an old time newspaper. Think of the London Times or the Washington Post.  Your most important information should go up top.  You should be have the headers almost tell the story. Your readers should be able to scan your Wordpress post and be able to tell if the story will be of value to them. I do not like the idea of tricking people to read my post with some misleading headline.

How to write a wordpress post - Study how old time newspapers wrote headers - this is the secret to good writing and Wordpress SEO.

I personally believe the headers should be more accurate descriptions rather than sensational attention grabbers. Why? You should be writing for the long term, not for ten minutes of fame. If you are concerned about traffic to your blog then a long term content strategy is the best.

Your Wordpress post headers should read like the index of a book.  That is your H1 should be your title and H2 the chapter titles.  H3s could be used to give more detail, almost chapter descriptions.  They can be more long winded and metaphorical. On the other hand your h2s should be right on accurate, less is more.  Each header should neither spam keywords not be too cutesy.  They should be clear, crisp concise information about what the next idea is.

Keywords in your post headers

Headers are the heart of your Wordpress SEO efforts and writing good content for your blog.   If you know nothing about SEO but just do a standard Wordpress install (and forget about link building and social media) and write  creatively, then go back and add well written headers with SEO and your readers in  mind you will win.  That is the secret to SEO, in my opinion. Well written headers for your Wordpress posts.

Why is this true? Think of newspapers.  It worked for newspapers for hundreds of years, why not apply what worked.  Header help the readers navigate the article and search engines know this.

You do not want to spam your post with keywords in the headers, or over use headers.  However, if your post is focused I think having a keyword or synonym in each one of your H2s could help your ranking.  If you use synonyms then this will reduce your chances of being spammy.

Why academic writing is good for your Wordpress blog

Many people criticize academic writing. Now the trend is to write a Wordpress post almost in chat style. For me as reader this like junk food.  I like to read some junky posts now and then, but if I want a serious answer to my question that I am looking for, I want substance.  Therefore, perhaps the one thing you can learn from academic writing is use a thesis statement, and defend it (the actual writing style of academics of course is too dry for the web). However, ever post should have a thesis statement.  That is one sentence what you are trying to convey or argue or show. What is wrong with that? This introductory paragraph should contain your thesis statement

Long posts for better ranking

Optimal length for me is about 1000 words.  I know this is a lot but I would prefer to go into detail. If people want to skip the detail they can and just read the summary.  However, long post not only serve the reader better but is better for long tail optimization.

Further, my long post seem to attract more visits.  People tend to link to them more and readers stay on the page longer.  All good for search engine rankings in my opinion.  The web is filled with cute 250 word posts, why not be different and write about something with authority and back it up with detail.

Lists in your post

For some reason my post with summary lists seem to rank better.  I use an Unordered list usually to summarizes the arguments in my post.

At the end of my post I use a list for external links that might be of value. This is done to help reader experience. Many people say I will lose page rank. I do not care, if it helps the read it helps your blog. Just make sure that you link out to quality trusted sites.

Wordpress posts tags, categories and keywords

I only use one tag which is the exact keyword phrase I am targeting.  I also use only one category for each blog post. Not only does this reduce duplicate content issues, I think it makes it look less spammy and more focused.  I know many people write a Wordpress post and want to add everything including the kitchen sick in terms of tags and categories.  I do not like it.  It to me makes it cluttered.

HTML framework for writing your Wordpress blog

Here is an example structure for you to use if you want to write a good Wordpress post. How to write a Wordpress post

Summary of a good SEOed post written in Wordpress

The purpose of writing for the web is to help people answer questions they are looking for, you know the things they type in the search box.   Like the Matrix, they are searching for answers.  Your post should be written to help them in a clear way, not a cutesy, sensational way, but a valuable way.  If you write posts like this search engines will reward you. It is a long run content strategy and this is what you should focus on, the long term when you are writing your WP posts.

It is very simple, the more you write on your Wordpress blog the more search engine traffic you will get.  That is if your content is half way decent. That is what you need to know. Do not over analyse this search engine marketing stuff.  Write on your Wordpress blog.

One of the most important parts about writing a blog, is actually sitting down and writing it, Wordpress makes everything easy.  The hard part is to sit and write.

Do not be shackled by the bonds of excess thought. People spend a lot of time thinking abstractly. They think about how to make money online, how to write their blog or how to do best and do something with regards to SEO.  However, the truth it is the best way to do it is just to sit down and start writing.  You will struggle, you will be frustrated, but you will make progress.

Inspiration for your Wordpress content writing

Walking is the best way to start the ideas coming for Wordpress blog content writing. If you need inspiration, take a walk, talk to your friend or your spouse. When you’re sitting on the couch with your eyes closed come up with ideas and perhaps jot them down on a notepad.  You can do your conceptualizing during your off hours when you’re walking and relaxing, even in the bath tube.  Many writers say walking is the best time for them to become inspired with new ideas.  I agree.

However, when it comes to writing many people are great procrastinators.  They don’t know what to do or how to start. It is mostly fear that prevents them from moving forward. This is the way you should approach it, you should you start writing whenever comes to  your mind and later go back and organizes and improve it.  The key thing is to start writing so the ideas start to flow.

I think ideas are like water, once they flow, they keep coming, but if they are stagnant and there is not action, they become muddy.

CW on how to write content for a Wordpress blog

I know my advice goes against a lot of conventional wisdom about writing. Conventional wisdom says you should map it out, plan out, organize a road map.  I think this is all very time consuming. Often my best posts are those where the words just start to appear on the screen without me thinking about it.

The next step is to go back and you can arranger ideas.  Too much time is often wasted thinking about or planning about instead of actually writing and doing. Remember ‘he who hesitates is lost’.

Again I know this is sacrilege to many writers who say stop and think. But the best ideas come naturally from within you rather than trying to structure them in an artificial way. This is because you already know the answer in your subconscious, it is more about pulling it out.

I guess I am a Platonist in this regard.  All the answers in life are within, getting them out is the problem. This applies to Wordpress blog writing.

Write first ask questions latter

Wisdom follows action, not the other way around.

Therefore, the most important thing to write good content for your Wordpress blog is to actually type and write.  You can put on classical music, you can open the window.  Remember only actually doing the writing will allow your blog will start to take off.  You don’t need to read to many books on how to write, just write.

Then later add headers and give it a little bit more keyword focus so its search engines can understand what you actually writing about.  Use a lot of white space and formatting so it’s easier for a blog reader to understand your post.  This is because blog writing is different than writing an academic paper. Make your ideas clear and easy to understand with headers and white spaces.  That is all you have to know about Wordpress blog writing.  The rest is an expression of what is inside of you.

Let me know about your thoughts about how you get inspired to write content for your Wordpress blog and how you approach writing.

A method to keep ideas stimulated for your blog and creative content

Use Google reader or an series of RSS subscriptions you can help your brain stay stimulated so you can come up with new ideas for your blog.  Every morning when you wake up you will have about 30 new headlines from other blogs or stories for you to check out.

I subscribe also to Google news with specific keyword targets.

Try not to subscribe to everything, rather just very high level intelligent feeds.  The best are academic or in depth type reporting,  as most blogs and new stories are spin offs of those and never as good.

Subscribe to things that are even outside your focus as it can stimulate cross disciple writing.  For example if you write about math also subscribe to a brain learning blog and see if you can write something that some how connects these two.

Go to the source and examine these academic journals and form your own ideas about these things.

Filter out non productive sources for ideas for your blog to help creativity

There are many great writer on the web and some that create  new novel ideas and points.  But your objective is not to get information and recycle it but rather to find people who challenge your way of thinking and stimulate creative ideas.

It will be your reaction to these ideas that need to be creative.  Your brain will be responsible for creating something new from this base.

If you can get it to say 30 high quality RSS feeds in the morning with say 50 % directly from your focus and the other 50% are more for stimulating your creatively this is a good base for you to start writing from.

Block quotes and invoke reaction for controversy and stimulation of ideas

Sometimes I will start a post with an original source quote.  The state my reaction to this post and then ask for readers reaction.

This way quoting someone like Freud directly in a block quote it  makes your blog much more interesting than restating someone else’s opinion on Freud.

Platonist way to stimulate creative ideas for your blog

I am sort of a Platonist in that I think all the information of the universe is within each of us, only needed to be brought out. Perhaps not literally but there is some truth to this.  This is the point of subscribing to RSS feeds, they simply stimulate thought, but are not meant to be an end in itself.

Your creative writing and ideas for blogging?

What are your methods for stimulating creativity and ideas for writing for your blog? I am asking you what methods you use to develop new content.

Content is king and the only way you can get respect on the web is develop new unique content.  That is content that is informative, original, educational or entertaining. This requires not only writing skills but creative ideas.

Again let me know creative ways you generate ideas for your blog.

Wordpress forum software is called bbPress. The reason I use bbPress with my forum is it is light, fast, simple and easy to use, as well as free.  At this juncture there is no way I would use any other forum software other than bbPress the official Wordpress forum software.

I know there is VBulletin, phpBB, and other platforms. but why not keep all the engines for your website the same, that is Wordpress.  Further, I know a lot of people like Simple:Press which I think is quite good also. However, again why not just go with an Automattic platform for your Wordpress forum.

Why have a Wordpress forum?

What is web 2.0?  It is an interactive, conversational web.  Where in web 1.0 people would make a website and read it and go away.  People in web 2.o participate in your website.  This is a very basic but radical concept. I also believe Google ranks website on observed user behavior on your website.

Therefore, why would you not have a bbPress Wordpress forum. Forums are very interactive and search engines like them because of fresh new content being posted daily.  Some forums have ten thousand posts a year.  Think, how long would it take for you to post ten thousand posts on your blog. Think how much it would cost you to pay someone to write ten thousand posts.

Of course forum posts are not as focused, nevertheless they have significant value.

Do not take the above comments in the wrong way.  Having a Wordpress forum is not about getting people to write for you, it is about creating a fun community on something that interests you.  I have a forum about and I love it.  It is fun to interact with people there.

My Wordpress forum wth bbPress

The hard part about a Wordpress forum

Everyone I know has an idea about some web 2.0 community.  Since Facebook and Twitter, everyone has an idea, even me. However, the hardest part about these types of sites is to get them going. People think just because you have a forum set up people will go rushing to it.

Setting up a forum or social networking site ( see Buddypress, that is Wordpress MU) is easy, getting people to come is the real trick.

How to get your bbPress forum to rock

The way you get traffic to your forum is invite everyone you know to your forum.  Post actively and reply to every post.  Once you have about one thousand relevant, interesting useful posts, search engines will start to give it some respect with time. Does this sound like hard work? Well each form post is easier than a blog post, you will see.  Further, few things in life come easy if you want it to be good.

Therefore, organic search will start to pick up. Organic search is the way you start it and direct traffic is the way you keep your Wordpress forum going.

Value of a bbPress as the Wordpress forum

• Can be integrated with your WP blog
• If you know Wordpress then to work bbPress is very easy.
• bbPress is not bad with Search engine optimization right out of the box.
• Many nice bbPress plugins
• Many nice bbPress  themes
• Active community.
• Matt Mullenweg from Wordpress has said bbPress is here to stay.
• It is simple and fast and tested.

If you have any questions about bbPress I can help.  Just drop a comment. However, I think if you are serious about your website,  every WP blog or site owner should use bbPress the Wordpress forum platform.