by Mike Bullock

Welcome to a glimpse of the monthly WordPress meetups in Dallas. Even if you're a closet tech nerd, there's something here for you.

Flickr user juanpol

DALLAS — Haven't heard of WordPress? WordPress is a free open source blog application. Bloggers from all over the world create their own themes (also called website templates) and share them with others. WordPress is simple to use and free. (Disclosure: You need to find a web hosting service that you can install WordPress on, which isn't free. WordPress hosting pricing begins around $8 and can go up to $25.)

After about a year of listening to a friend boast about how easy it is to use WordPress and create a site by adding plugins and widgets, I got over the fear of learning something new and tried it. From the start, I was shocked at how easy it was to build one. Through it all, I learned how to install free plugins, such as posting Twitter updates, Flickr photos, and YouTube videos to the site. It really is a contagious hobby!

For WordPress aficionados and novices, there is a monthly WordPress meetup in Dallas -- a gathering to share ideas, marketing tips and what they've learned. This month's meetup was hosted at the Art Institute of Dallas and organized by Tony Cecala. The speakers in attendance were Paula Hill who her and her husband Sam, who spoke on the topic of how WordPress transformed their business and their marriage (go figure!). Bruce Avellanet's topic included how to obtain top Google rankings using WordPress -- plus an "adult" discussion that got a chuckle out of everyone in the room. You can see that at the end of clip two. Then, Kat Rice (who was supposed to speak on online marketing tips) ended up giving an improv style talk (clip three).

And here's something to be proud about: Dallas has the largest WordPress meetup group, beating New York City by 2 or 3 people. This month's meetup had close to 100 people out of the 488 registered members on Meetup.com. To follow the buzz about the meetups, go to twitter.com/dfwwp. The Dallas meetup tends to be the last week of the month.

In this clip, Bruce shares tips on how to obtain top Google rankings by using keywords, zip codes, and using Google Analytics.

Sam and Paula Hill talk about how they first got started. Paula was able to save her client money and quickly set up a WordPress site.

Kat Rice talks about her background in web development and marketing. She also fields a question on the integration of Flash and WordPress.

In this last clip, Tony discusses email marketing campaigns using Mail Chimps Analytics 360 plugin.