2. Who is Wordpress Direct NOT for?
Wordpress Direct is not for anyone who is creating one or two personal/business blogs
that they want full control over and intend to write for and build-up over time. While it
would still work for setting-up your blog quickly and provides a good optimisation
structure, it probably wouldn’t be an effective use of your money. You would be better to
pay to have someone create a blog that is unique to you.
Can I Create Multiple Wordpress Blogs like these without
WPD?
Yes, these are essentially Wordpress blogs with a number of carefully selected plugins. If
you know how to set up a Wordpress blog then you could create multiple blogs yourself
(there is even software to enable you to clone previous blogs so you can do it quicker).
The automated content is drawn from different places online (Youtube, Yahoo Answers
etc.), which you can do yourself or pay someone else to do. You will also need to re-
create the linking and blog structure for optimisation.
What Can I do with Wordpress Direct?
Wordpress Direct is perfect for: creating multiple Wordpress sites if you don’t know how
and don’t have the time to learn; reviving old websites and/or domains that have been
sitting gathering dust but which you don’t have the time or interest to build-up; creating
blog networks each focused on a different microniche to build traffic and authority to a
niche blog/website/ecommerce/service site. If you
You can then sell the individual blogs or networks based on traffic and/or PR, or use
them to bolster your main business.
And, as the Thirty Day Challenge has shown, the system can be used to test microniche
keywords quickly for traffic and commercial potential, without needing to invest too
much time or money.
What are the Wordpress Direct Membership Levels and
are there any other expenses?
The current offer is:
$1 trial for 45 days leading to the Bronze package at $37 per month (up to 10 blogs)
Silver is $97 per month for up to 20 blogs
Gold is $127 per month for 100 blogs
Platinum (currently unavailable)
As well as these subscriptions you will need to pay for domain names and hosting with
one of the accepted cpanel hosts (I use Hostgator and Bluehost).
Pros of Wordpress Direct
* Wordpress Direct is quick and easy to set up. Doing this yourself will take a lot of time
and continuous effort.
* There is no need to create new, original content all the time (those worried about
duplicate content should know that the content is presented in such a way that doesn’t
appear to receive any penalty – even if duplicate content is a true issue, which is
another blog post in itself)
* Blogs are optimised for you
* You can add banner ads, one-off offers and adsense
3. * You can still monitor and select the auto content you like (and set it to supervised
content)
* There are a number of useful videos that show you exactly how to set-up your blogs
and automated content.
* You can easily install Google analytics and track your ranking within the dashboard.
Negatives of Wordpress Direct
* Some monitoring of auto content is needed to prevent odd stuff appearing or suddenly
seeing 15 posts appearing all at the same time
* Wordpress Direct can only work with a limited number of hosting companies
* My own support issues were answered relatively quickly and satisfactorily, but I know
others that have had genuine problems with the support system.
* There are still quirks in the system that need ironing out, such as multiple themes not
working well with the system and/or having funky code in them (Wordpress Direct is
working at pulling out or amending the dodgy themes)
* You cannot set up posting to go out at specific times or days like you can with
Wordpress blogs (Wordpress Direct have said this feature will be implemented within the
next few months)
* Images do not always format properly (I usually have to login to my main Wordpress
admin to re-format the pictures).
* This is not a blogging panacea. While I had one blog rank well for a phrase match
keyword phrase just from sitting there minus content, this is not to be expected in every
case. You still need to implement a backlink strategy.
Would I Recommend Wordpress Direct?
A number of people have asked me this question and I find it difficult to answer, because
it really depends on you and how you will use it.
Yes, I recommend Wordpress Direct if you are keen to build your own network of
multiple Wordpress microniche blogs and/or revive old sites/domains with minimal effort
(both of which I am doing). If your business model require blog clusters and siloing
techniques then this is ideal for you.
You still need to monitor the sites and content and you still need to be prepared to build
up backlinks and authority in order to rank well for your keywords. You will also need to
be prepared to work with the quirks and not expect great things when you require
support (that’s not to be unkind to WPD, just to point out that customer service has not
been an overall strength so far).
I wouldn’t recommend Wordpress Direct if you don’t have a strategy in place to use the
software to its full potential. If you only want a few blogs or hate the idea of allowing
automated content onto your sites, then you have probably not grasped the concept and
value of the system. These are not the sort of blogs that will gain you problogger status.
The blogs are not “pretty” – you are not going to win any design awards for them, and
some people can’t bear creating unremarkable websites. That said, they are not “ugly”
but the themes are all fairly standard.*
Many people are going to hate the notion of Wordpress Direct because the blogs it
creates are not personal, unique blogs like this one. There is no (or should be no)
emotional attachment. This is another tool to test niches, build traffic and PR, and assist
your linking strategies.
I am happy to recommend Wordpress Direct as a system for creating and maintaining
multiple Wordpress blogs if you are going to use the system to its fullest, but if you
simply want one or two blogs then I would suggest finding a good Wordpress course
(there are some excellent free and paid tutorials available) and/or spending the money
to have someone create a blog for you that you can update yourself on a regular basis.
4. There is a 45 day $1 trial, so if you are still undecided you can trial the system before
you make your final decision.
*Since writing this, a number of people have pointed out that Wordpress Direct blogs
can be personalised and made to look more ‘pretty’ and have even shown me evidence
of this. So, I back down on this one and agree that there is scope for making your WPD
blogs unique and personal. This involves logging into your admin panel and playing with
the theme design, which will depend on your experience level with Wordpress blogs. I
haven’t done much to mine as that isn’t the object of my use of Wordpress Direct.
That’s it for now and I wish you the best in your affiliate marketing efforts!
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