It’s Independence Day here where I am, on American soil. Beer, potato salad, strawberry shortcake and sparkling fireworks. It’s about freedom, man.
Used in the right way, WordPress is all about freedom, too. The beauty of it is the control you have over your own blog—not only in the content, but in the design and the variety of plugins you can install.
And yet with all these wonderful options, you can find yourself spending hours tweaking your site, or just adding that one last feature. These are hours you probably should be spending on what you do best. That’s your business, right?
So on this Independence Day, let me tell you. You were born to run, born to be free. In the words of Bruce Springsteen:
Together we could break this trap
We’ll run till we drop, baby, we’ll never go back.
Claim Your Four WordPress Freedoms Now
1. Freedom from Perfectionism
This one is particularly tough for the designer or the perfectionist. You still don’t quite like the color of your header. It’s just a bit off. Are those rounded corners just a bit too round? Should the font in the blog titles be a couple of points smaller? You can spend a lot of time with this. But I say, let it go. Set yourself free. Ask yourself, do my readers really freakin’ care about the rounded corners? Probably not.
2. Freedom from Plugin Addiction
New plugins are coming out all the time. Facebook just did their own plugin for WordPress. It’s like a new car. You’re thinking, everyone on the block has the newest one, so I should, too. But before you make that change, ask yourself two questions. Does this plugin really add more features that my readers will find useful, compared to what I am using now? And does this plugin add a benefit to your blog, not just another toy? It’s that old adage: If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.
3. Freedom from SEO Fixation
Search engine optimization is a necessary evil when it comes to blogging. But at times, I feel it’s overrated. Or. more simply, too many people focus way too much time on it. You install plugins and constantly tweak and test. You are told repeatedly about the search engine ‘rules’ for headlines and images. What I’m saying is this: don’t focus your life around it. Learn the basics and implement them on your blog. And, of course, provide useful content. But don’t let it consume you. If done right (and consistently), you will make the search engines happy.
4. Freedom from I-Can-Do-It-All Syndrome
Yes, you can continue to tweak your design. You can find those amazing new plugins that do a better job for you. And yes, you can fill your brain with SEO tips until your head explodes. But find your limits. Put your energies where they do the best good—for yourself and your business. Find the people out there who can take a load off your shoulders so you can focus on producing all that great content. Remember: just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should.
Now get on that motorcycle. Because you were born to be free
4 WordPress Freedoms: How Many Have You Claimed? originally appeared on For Bloggers By Bloggers - Blogging Tips | Blog Design | Blog Themes | Grow Your Blog under a Creative Commons license.