Project Description:
Hi! I started a self-hosted blog in wordpress thinking I could figure some things out on my own and get all creative but I've hit a wall...
1) I discovered I don't have the patience or technical range or wordpress savvy/experience to know what the right plug-ins are to accomplish what I want to do
2) Creatively, I thought I could design/develop something simple and stylish but the limitations of templates are completely greek to me. And my logo bothers me. I bought what I thought was a flexible/customizable theme but now I am wondering if that was the right call.
This is my list of things I am seeking freelance help on for my blog:
1) ensure site is secure - I added a plug-in and then got stuck when it said I need to update some rules and php code (ummm what?? I don't know how to do that but it seems important??)
2) help me block spam - I added another plug-in for this but not sure it's a good one to use and would value an opinion on this
3) help me get started with SEO - have no idea which plug-in can assist or even if a plug-in is necessary? I've been reading suggestions online and am overwhelmed
4) help me design a better logo or header that doesn't have to be tiny (template restriction?). I wanted a logo plus a tagline but with my template, I had to smush them together to get it included
5) need help setting up basics - like good comment fields that don't require captcha and are easy to use with instant posting, rss feed icon etc.
6) need help with image gallery - new 3.5 wordpress.org update doesn't include the cool feature I want that wordpress.com has (the ability to change the the images beyond a tile format and have captions overlaid on the image instead of listed below the image)
7) evaluate/recommend what other basic plug-ins that should be added