WordPress is great because it feels like when you are using WordPress you have a website with HTML blog that is still quality and a blog that is easy to set up all at once. Even better, you are creating an amazing destination for your prospects and clients to find out more about your business and you.

With all of these features it makes me want to choose a few features to highlight this week as we delve into blogging this week, because for a number of people looking to do social networking this will be the highlight of their social networking strategy and that makes it crucial that we discuss how to set up a successful blog that your readers will enjoy and come back to see time and time again.

HTML Blog Week

Tuesday: Plugins are amazing and make my site tick. From the backups, All-in-One SEO, and sitemaps widgets that form the backbone, behind the scenes part of my blog to the AWeber, sexy bookmark, and Feedburner widgets that form the core of the page you see every time you come to my HTML blog.

Wednesday: WordPress Themes are amazing. Considering the number of free themes that WordPress has and the variety it is a steal to get a self-hosted site(Check below for definition of self-hosted). Some of the themes are so high quality that I feel like double-checking to make sure they are actually free.

Thursday: The comment section provides an excellent source for a community forum and allows you to block spam easily with the spam features, such as Askimet and the included comments feature where you can accept or deny comments.

Friday: WordPress is a customizable blog that can do practically anything that you want. When I say HTML blog, I mean that you have a blog that looks like it was done through HTML coding but is, in reality, a content management system (CMS) that allows you a high level of customized blogs. It is a great feeling when your blog finally comes together with the way you want it.

As we go through the week, start setting up your own WordPress blog. Remember that the blog listed here is a self-hosted blog(done through Godaddy, 1and1, Hostgator, etc versus a free account-hosted), and some of the features included here, such as some of the widgets do not come up under the free hosted version. My thinking is that it is worth the branding and extra features to pay for a domain name and also pay the $5-10/month for hosting to get the best of your social networking strategy.

I also know that I do not know everything about WordPress, so I am also always looking for new widgets, themes, and other amazing ideas to add to my WordPress blog and share with readers. Please feel free to leave a comment below with your ideas about how to optimize WordPress more.