A few weeks ago, I started using Evernote as my primary “blogging workbench.” It is where I store blog post ideas, collect various post components, and then write the post itself. This has proven to be a robust solution that enables me to be working on several posts simultaneously.

I thought I would share my workflow with you. Yours will be different, I’m sure. But, hopefully, this will provide you with a few ideas.

Since converting my blog to Standard Theme a few weeks ago (read about why here), several people have written me to ask, “What WordPress Plugins are you now using?” Rather than answer these people individually, I thought I would post my current list in the hopes of stimulating your thinking plus getting a few ideas from you.

One of my favorite things about WordPress as a blogging platform is the ability to extend its features through plugins. Unfortunately, the more plugins you use, the more it slows down your blog. As a result, features have to be balanced with speed.

If the mid-term elections in the U.S. are any indication, the lack of civility in public discourse has sunk to a new level. No one seems to listen to their opponents. Pundits (and politicians) routinely talk over one another. Volume appears to be more important than logic.

You might not be able to solve this cultural problem, but you don’t have to put up with it on your blog. Yesterday, Publishers Lunch Deluxe, commented on my blog post, “Why Do eBooks Cost So Much? (A Publisher’s Perspective).” After noting the high number of comments, the editor said,

One week ago today, I converted my blog to Standard Theme 2. You probably haven’t noticed much difference, because all the changes have been “under the hood.” I kept the design the same.

When I had John Saddington redesign my blog last year, he started with the “Daily Edition” theme from WooThemes. It was a great theme and has served me well. But, frankly, the “backend” or administrative side had become a jumbled mess. (This wasn’t WooThemes fault or John’s; it was due to my own constant tweaking.) So I wanted to start fresh.

About three weeks ago, my blog was dropped from Google’s search index. It had a significant negative impact on my site’s traffic and on my Google PageRank. I thought it might be helpful to document what I have learned so far in case this ever happens to you.

About ten months ago, my pastor asked me to chair the Evangelism Committee at my church. He also appointed several committee members to serve with me. We started by asking what was the single most important thing we could do to raise the visibility of our church in our local community.

A successful blog is more than just design. But you knew that already, right? As someone who’s not only been blogging since 2001 but who’s also been designing/developing blogs for nearly just as long, it’s been fascinating to observe how unbalanced blogging strategies can be when it comes to being successful.

This last August I visited Atlanta to interview Andy Stanley about his new book. While I was on the North Point Community Church campus, I called John Saddington, who is on Andy’s staff, and invited him to a spur-of-the-moment lunch. To my delight he was available.

One of my favorite bloggers is Tim Ferriss, the author of The 4-Hour Workweek. His book has been on the New York Times Bestsellers list for almost two years. His blog is one of the most-read on the Internet. Tim has become famous for challenging the status quo.

Recently, he posted a video of his presentation at WordCamp San Francisco, a conference for WordPress bloggers. Though I don’t endorse everything he recommends—and am still mulling some of it over—I found his blog tips compelling and stimulating.

This WordPress plugin generates static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog. After a html file is generated your blog will serve that file instead of running the WordPress PHP scripts. The bottom line is that your pages will load faster and your users will be happier.

Knowing that I had recently upgraded my blog, one of my readers wrote to ask, “You wrote a post a year ago or so, providing an overview of your then-current blogging tools. Has anything changed in the last year? What tools are you using now?” Rather than replying to him individually, I thought I would post my answer here.

The biggest change is that I have converted from TypePad to WordPress. I faithfully used TypePad for a number of years. It served me well. But several friends had converted to WordPress and encouraged me to consider it. I researched it over the Christmas holidays and then started searching for someone to help me with the conversion. I eventually stumbled upon John Saddington, who is both a web designer and programmer. He proved to be a God-send.

This past weekend, I passed a major milestone on my blog. I received my five thousandth comment. When John Saddington, my blog designer and developer pointed that out, I was blown away. I had no idea.

Of course, this is the essence of Web 2.0 or, as it is sometimes called, the “read/write” web. People are not content to let authors pontificate. They, too, want to participate in the conversation. Blogging is no longer a monologue (if it ever was); it’s a dialogue.

Making the change from TypePad over to WordPress has not been without its challenges. The biggest issue has been subscriptions. Before the change-over, I had more than 5,000 RSS subscriptions and more than 1,600 e-mail subscriptions. If you were one of these, please keep reading.

I am working with the TypePad tech support team to try and resolve the RSS problem. So far, they have been very responsive. In fact, Mark Simmons, the head of Marketing and Customer Satisfaction, wrote to me personally to express his disappointment over my decision to move to WordPress. He was gracious and offered to help in the transition. You can’t ask for more than that. I am still hopeful they can help me resolve this issue. We’re now going back and forth with their tech support.

My web designer, John Saddington (a.k.a. @human3rror), has spent the last week porting my blog from TypePad (my previous blogging platform) to WordPress. This has been a big project—much bigger than I expected. I only wished I had started with WordPress when I began blogging several years ago.

You’ll notice several changes:

I haven’t changed my blog design in about three years. I kept thinking that it needs a refresh, but I dreaded the chaos that I knew would ensue once I flipped the switch.

Well, that day has come. I have taken the plunge. Things will not likely be back to normal for several days, so please be patient. I think you are going to like the new design. It will make it much easier for you to navigate the site and find your favorite posts.

After reading my new blog, a number of our Thomas Nelson employees have told me they intend to start their own blog. Several have written to me, asking how to get started. So, rather than continuing to repeat myself, I will outline the process here. It’s actually easier than you may think.

1. Determine a theme. Most bloggers take one of three approaches. Some write on whatever happens to interest them at the moment. In this sense, their blog is truly a “web journal.” Others, select a single theme and stick to it. Frankly, this takes a lot of discipline. Still others, like me, focus on a primary theme but occasionally deviate from it. If you want to develop a following of loyal readers, I think the latter two approaches are best. People who have similar interests will keep coming back for more.
2. Select a service. I use WordPress.org (self hosted). However, there are scores of services available. If you are just starting out, I recommend (in my order of preference), WordPress.com (the hosted version), TypePad.com, or Blogger.com. If you attain some success and want the ability to customize nearly everything, I recommend WordPress.org. However, you will have to select a hosting service (I use Media Temple) and then install WordPress on it.