Why Erin Blaskie Recommends WordPress

I had first heard Erin Blaskie speak at WordCamp Chicago 2009. She spoke a lot on how blogging and social media worked for her and how to harness that power for your own blog. (I still have the notes taken for WordCamp Chicago.) I thought it would be nice to allow her to speak on why she likes and recommends WordPress. This is no traditional interview, but more like a guest post. Here are some of the guidelines I gave to her (it was not much):

1. What or who brought you to using WordPress?
2. What you like about and/or recommend WordPress?

I hope you enjoy her response that she sent me as much as I did.

—

Let me first start by saying that no matter what you hear, I don’t love WordPress solely because of Matt Mullenweg and my publicly known “professional crush” on the man. In fact, I fell in love with WordPress as a platform long before I met the geeky entrepreneur.

It was a New Year’s Eve and the weather was awful so I retired to my home office after a very delicious New Year’s Eve dinner. Sitting in front of my website, a plain HTML install at the time, I felt this longing in my heart. I knew that I wanted something more. So, I went to Google and began my search.

I like to think WordPress found me that night. Although, admittedly, it probably was my search term of “blogging platform” that brought us together. In any case, on that New Year’s Eve in 2005, I installed my first WordPress install and “customized” the Kubrick theme. It was love at first one-click-install.

Over the next four years, WordPress and I had a love / hate relationship. It was mostly love however and I was willing to share the secrets of our relationship with a lot of other people. Together, we helped other entrepreneurs get themselves up on WordPress and ditch their own HTML crutches.

The beauty of WordPress, for me, is the instant search engine optimization, ability to easily customize and change the look and feel of the platform and the ease of use. There is nothing simpler and more powerful for websites at the moment and with instant communication becoming so prevalent, it fits the bill perfectly.

WordPress and I will have a long and happy relationship – of that I am sure.

Erin Blaskie (@ErinBlaskie on Twitter) is a girl involved in a passionate love affair with the Internet. When she isn’t entertaining people via her video podcast, eThusiasm, she can be found managing a team of twenty-one in her creative outsourcing firm, BSETC. Featured in three print books and her own published book due out in early 2010, Erin has an unstoppable desire to put her hands on all things entrepreneurial.