So you have learnt about setting up WordPress, now how to start!

In my last post I have talked about the importance of wordpress and its elements now its about time you start it the right way.

First choose a nice and relevant theme. You can find tons of free themes online and you can start with one if you are new to blogging. As you grow I would suggest that you go for a premium one if you are serious about taking your blog to the higher level. I use Thesis in most of my blogs since its one of my favorite. Thesis gives you the power to control your layout without knowing much of coding. Beside Thesis, you can try woothemes and also Unique Blog Designs. They are the best so far. So get the best one out there whichever suits your niche, work on the layout and then move to the plugins.

The plugins you wish to use highly depend on the topic you chose to write about. Few essential plugins include seo optimization, related posts widget, google analytics, visitor poll, social bookmarking plugins and many more. To check out my favorite wordpress plugins, refer to Top 29 WordPress Plugins .

After you have activated the plugins you wish to use in your blog, go to the widget section and arrange them the way they suit your blog.

NOTE: All plugins do not fall under widget section since some of them will be under Settings where you need to configure them for your blog.

After installing wordpress, choosing the right theme and plugins, the next step is to write your first post. Now remember, this is your first post and it will show the importance of your blog and how you will move forward from that. Whatever be the topic you chose, the content has to be relevant to it. Write yourself, now why do I say this? Because a lot of bloggers just copy and paste content from other blogs without knowing the facts that it can kill your blog and reputation. Write about what you know and show the importance of it. It should be unique and authentic. If people like what you write, they subscribe to your posts, social bookmark it and spread the word which brings in good traffic, readership and ultimately money.

Think of what the readers are looking for and why they visit your blog. Use good keywords and search engine optimization tips if you want to get well ranked in search engines. Now this is important because major traffic comes from search engines.