1. Installing Wordpress
   1. Creating a database, username and password
   2. Downloading the latest version of wordpress and uploading the files to your webhost
   3. Installing the software
2. First tasks
   1. Changing the admin password from the autogenerated password
   2. Setting the name you want displayed on your posts instead of “admin”
   3. Setting the date and time to your zone
   4. Changing permalinks from landscapestartup.com/?p=1 to landscapestartup.com/about
   5. Deleting the “Hello World” post
   6. Deleting default blogroll
3. Pages
   1. Standard pages that every landscaping blog should have
   2. Answer questionnaire  to make the best copywriting possible for each page
4. Setting up the posts
   1. Add general categories for organizing blog posts
   2. Talk about tags
   3. Demonstrate uploading and inserting images, video and audio to a blog post
   4. Formatting blog posts. What do all these buttons do?
5. Adding new themes
   1. Where to get themes
   2. Free vs Premium
   3. Tweaking a theme
6. Adding plugins
   1. What is a plugin?
   2. Essential plugins
   3. Can you really have too many plugins?
7. Search Engine Optimization
8. Lead Generation
   1. Landing pages
   2. Contact forms
   3. Email subscriptions
   4. Phone calls
9. Advertising online
   1. Search engine marketing
   2. Facebook
   3. Local blogs and websites
   4. Craigslist
   5. Forums

Please leave a comment with any suggestions or topics you’d like to see. Videos will start uploading on Monday.

1. If you don’t already have a website, get a domain name and web hosting.
2. Submit your business listing to directories such as google.com/local and Yahoo! Sponsored Search.
3. Print up new business cards and flyers with a seasonal gardening tip on the back. Use this link for discounted business cards. 75% Off Premium “Custom” Business Cards at VistaPrint.com!
4. Start a blog and write a complete gardening guide for your area including information about botanical gardens, parks, nurseries and plants that thrive in your climate.
5. Drive people to your landscaping website by advertising on search engines. Yahoo! Sponsored Search connects businesses and customers online. Sign up and get a $25 credit.

What’s your favorite way to advertise?

My challenge to you is to start with a blog and write something on a regular basis. Each week, I’ll have a link roundup of all the best landscaping blog posts of the week. There’s nothing like a little competition to help get you motivated.

Also, I’ll be listing blog post ideas each week to give you guidance on what you should be writing about. I’ll even include links to resources such as places to get great pictures you can legally use for your site if you don’t already have a professional photographer and a portfolio of work ready to publish.

If you already have a blog that’s awesome. Email me your link so I can add it to my feed reader and include you in the contest.

Otherwise, I’ll help you get started for a reasonable fee or you can do it yourself following my instructions.

Finally, I’m working on a series of videos demonstrating exactly how blogging and Wordpress works. Checkout the first video now!

Enjoy!

While Yahoo! and others do offer free site design tools to make plain html web pages, I’m going to recommend you use a blog to manage your content. But you ask, “I don’t want a funny looking site with blog posts all over the front page?” Both Wordpress (which powers this site and millions others) and MovableType allow you to have a static, non changing home page. Both programs are easy to install with Yahoo!. All you have to do is click on the link, give it a name and Yahoo! takes care of the rest. There are literally 1000’s of theme templates available for free and many excellent designers out there if you need a custom design. Take a look at http://themes.wordpress.net/ to see some.

Once you’ve installed the software, all you have to do is add in your content. On your home page, you’ll want to have a clear sales message. If someone has found you through a google search odds are they already know you’re a landscaper and provide all the services they need. I’d bet that they’ve even checked out several of your competitors sites. It is extremely important to make sure you clearly distinguish yourself and have a call to action so they will contact your. You should have your phone number clearly listed on all the pages, an email address, a page with all your contact information AND and contact form so they don’t have to leave your site or pick up a phone to call you. Your “about page” should have a little biography of yourself and the companies history along with a photo of yourself and staff to personalize the visit.

Showing off photos of your work will help separate you from the crowd and there are several ways to do that easily. More on photos in another article. Why do I recommend using a blog? Isn’t it enough to have 5 or 6 static pages with your basic information? Blogs are really just articles arranged in chronological order with the latest ones showing up first. What’s great is that you don’t need to pay a webmaster or deal with html code to update your site. Also, blogs are easy for your clients to subscribe to by email or within most browsers. Search engines love blogs because they are constantly being updated with new information and you’ll end up with a higher ranking the more you write not to mention being about to show off your knowledge to clients. It’s a cinch for visitors to email a page to a friend. Don’t you love getting work from word of mouth advertising?

What are you waiting for? Get started now! I’ll even help get you started by email/phone.