Integration

[Burty]

Hi, excuse my ignorance but I'm looking at getting into Wordpress. In terms of benefiting my websites presence using its content, what is the best set up solution?

What I'd like to know is;

Is it possible to integrate it straight into my current home page, or do I need to have a standalone page which I theme to my site. I cant see the later being of much use in terms of benefits?

Cheers

[thersey]

Yes, you can integrate your blog into your website. This link has the necessary information: Integrating wordpress with Your Website wordpress Codex (http://codex.wordpress.org/Integrating_wordpress_with_Your_Website)

[Burty]

Hi,

Thanks for the link, I read it in depth later when I have more time.

I still like an opinion on the best place to utilise Wordpress in terms of SEO? As I'd asked above, building it into an existing index.htm or using a fresh page?

Cheers...

[mjtaylor]

You'll find these threads helpful:
http://www.webproworld.com/search-engine-optimization-forum/93012-blog-site-vs-off-site-search-engine-optimization-advantages.html

http://www.webproworld.com/seo-101/69436-better-blog-site-off-site.html

And it's also helpful to know that the best way to search WPW is to use the site: operator in Google.

So, I knew there were threads on this topic so I Googled blog off site site:webproworld.com.

[claybutler]

My design blog (Beats Digging Ditches - My Life as a Professional Graphic Designer (http://www.claytowne.com/beats-digging-ditches/)) is a subdirectory of my main design business site (Claytowne Graphic Design, Illustration, Web Design and Logo Design - Santa Cruz Graphic and Web Designer (http://www.claytowne.com/))

I did this for branding purposes and to expand the content on my current site. I also registered wwww.beatsdiggingditches.com and I 301'd that to my blog. If at some time down the line I wanted to host it on it's own domain I'm already prepared for that.

Other blogs I brand as separate entities with their own URLs.
My blog about domain names (How To Pick a Good Domain Name That Doesn't Suck - Choosing a Good Domain Name (http://the-name-i-wanted-was-already-taken-so-i-used-a-lot-of-dashes.com/)) is separate. The reason is simple. I wanted to create a clear disticntion between my design business and the more snarky domain blog.

Same with my spam site (Spam Diary | A Collection of the Funniest, Weirdest, Most Bizarre, Email Spam Ever. (http://www.spamdiary.com/)) and my fatherhood blog (Straight Dope Dad | A Father's View on Parenting (http://www.straightdopedad.com/)) These I absolutely wanted to keep away form my business. Not that I'm embarrassed by them. I'm actually quite proud. It would just make no sense to host them on my design business website. They needed their own brands.

However, all my blogs link to each other in one form or another.

Depends on what your long term branding and SEO goals are. For my design blog, putting it in a subdirectory made the most sense from an SEO, traffic and branding point of view.