22 Cool WordPress Tools ~ How to Blog

Hey Ladies!  It’s Laurie {the Tip Junkie} and today Pepper is sharing with us several WordPress Tools to help you learn more about WordPress blogs.  Tip Junkie runs on a WordPress version and I would highly recommend it if you are blogging to sell a product, become an expert in your field, or make your impossible dream come true.  However, if you’re just doing it for fun – you’re good with Blogger.com. {promise}

These are great WordPress tools but please don’t get overwhelmed!  If you aren’t tech savvy but really want the power of a WordPress blog and the cool Plugins and Widgets that come with it, just hire a graphic designer like I did!  I took take baby steps and taught myself the rest and asked for a lot of help along the way.  So a huge thanks to Pepper for giving you guys the heads up that I wish I had with these informative WordPress Tools.

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As you have been following me through the How To Blog series you may be ready to either jump into a new blog or you may be ready to do some more research. Either way let’s start building a tool box for you.

WordPress Tools

You do not have to read all of these but keep these bookmarked for reference.

7 Articles to Read

• How to Research Web Hosting
• Blogger to WordPress: 10 common mistakes people make when they move
• How to Find WordPress Themes Quickly and Easily (my favorite: Woothemes)
• WordPress Theme Anatomy
• Beauty vs Budget Investing in your Design (Comparing Free & Premium Themes)
• WordPress Plugins for 2011
• WordPress Upgrade

2 Beginner Blogs to Follow

• WpBeginner.com
• WP101.com

5 Books to Read

• WordPress 3 Complete by April Hodge Silver
• Teach Yourself Visually WordPress by Janet Jane Majure
• WordPress For Dummies, 3rd Edition by Lisa Sabin-Wilson (new version just about to come out)
• How to Move from Blogger to WordPress (E-Book)
• Digging Into WordPress 3 (E-Book)

6 Articles to Read in the WordPress Codex

• WordPress Lessons
• Introduction to Blogging
• First Steps With WordPress
• New To WordPress – Where to Start
• Installing WordPress

2 Video Series to Watch

• WordPressTutor.tv
• WordPress 3.0 Video Tutorials

One of the things that you do have to remember is that WordPress is an ever changing and ever upgrading. Some of these articles may become outdated, but another great tool you can always use is Google.

The Ultimate Tool

To this day I still use Google when I have a question about something that is happening on my wordpress site.

If you receive an error on your site copy it and place it in the Google search engine. When you are needing a plug-in Google “Top ______ Plug-ins”. Not sure how to change something on your site Google “________ Tutorials”. Sometimes I do add the year in these searches to make sure that I get the newest information.

In Conclusion

I hope that you had fun learning more about WordPress with me. I also hope that this has helped you either in starting a blog, upgrading your blog, or learning more about your current blog. I am always happy to answer questions so feel free and leave them in the comments or email me at unicornbeauty(@)gmail.com.

What kind of blog do you have? Have you considered a WordPress Blog? What has stopped you from getting a WordPress Blog?

My name is Pepper, I’m a mom, blogger, and graphic designer. I have been blogging and designing websites since 1997. In 2010 I started my own graphic design business, Uniquehorn Designs, to pursue my dreams of staying home with my boys. At my blog, Pepper Scraps, I help mom’s learn more about blogging, how to improve their websites and enjoy the everyday moments of life. To learn more about me, please visit my blog Pepper Scraps or follow me on Twitter.