Such is the case with Homespun Quilts. When we first built Lydia and Thor’s site in the spring of 2007, we included a blog as a standalone application. While it was integrated into the site, it wasn’t the backbone. Lydia has been editing their site using Contribute , a great choice for editing html-driven websites without having to learn, well, html.

Recently, Karl and Sabrina converted the site to being completely built with WordPress. Now Lydia can manage both her blog and her website using the same online interface. Updates are simple and in real-time, making editing the site even easier for her–and no more costs in updating editing software.

Better still, there is some search engine advantage to having her site built using a social networking tool like WordPress, if she uses it well. Regular posts, attention to key words and a few other tips will undoubtedly increase the presence of Homespun Quilts on Google, MSN, Yahoo! and the like.

The fun part of this upgrade is the variety of plug-ins available for WordPress 2.7.  Take Lydia’s New Year’s Survey and notice her whirling
tag cloud. These are just a couple of the new ‘toys’ she has in store for her customers. Stay tuned!