Archive for WordPress Tips
Where do you Install WordPress?
Posted by: | CommentsWhen I teach the Website Creation Workshop, I often get the question: “Where do I install WordPress?”
and the answer is: “Wherever you want it!”
You see, you can install WordPress at the root of your domain name, as in www.thebestthemes.com, or you can install it in a folder as in www.WebsiteCreationWorkshop.com/blog
Here is a YouTube video I did that explains this:
If you already have a website, and you want to add a blog to it, you can put it in a folder on your hosting company servers as /blog or /articles or /news or whatever you want to call it.
Or if you want you can install the WordPress site at the root of your domain, and that is the site.
(I prefer this method, since the URL links are shorter)
(Hey, if any of this seems too techy, just put your question about it in the box below)
When WordPress Updates to the Newest Version
Posted by: | CommentsA new version of the WordPress software came out last week: WordPress 3.2 dedicated to the Jazz pianist George Gershwin. (all major releases get a name from a famous Jazz composer). Here is a video from the WordPress.org folks with some of the highlights of the new release:
Here is what I do when I want to update to the latest version of WordPress:
1) I backup my WordPress Website with The Backup Plugin (http://www.thebackupplugin.com my link for Backup Buddy)
This is the fastest, easiest way to backup your WordPress sites, because it’ backs up everything! and makes it easy to restore,l or move your site to another location.
2) I update my WordPress Software
3) I check to see if any plugins can be updated. i.e. are they compatible with the latest version. If so I update those.
4) I click around my site in the admin to check out the new features, and then I click around on the outside of my site.
It’s important to have a good hosting company that knows how to handle WordPress, and has customer support who understand what you are doing. I have found Blue Host (http://www.bluehostnow.com my link) to be the best at this! They know a lot about WordPress, and can explain things to you on the phone.
You’ll notice that WordPress tends to come out with major releases in the summer. Good time to play around with it!
Real People and Their Membership Sites
Posted by: | CommentsIf you are interested in creating a membership site, WordPress is an excellent platform to do that. Every time I teach the Website Creation Workshop, I use WordPress to create my membership site. The tool that I use is Wishlist Member. This is a plugin that you add to WordPress to turn your website into a membership site.
Now the guys at Wishlist have put together a video series to show you how you can create membership sites.
From big businesses to everyday people, you can create a membership site around your passion, and you can create a community doing it.
Go here to enter your email and to see those videos
What kind of membership site are you creating (or do you want to create?)
What is a ‘Sticky’ Post in WordPress?
Posted by: | CommentsWhen you create a WordPress Website that has a blog posts on it, sometimes you want those blog posts to stick at the top of the page. Well this is called a ‘sticky post‘, and I have created a video to explain how it works.
To make a post ‘Sticky’, all you need to do is check a little box in the WordPress editor, and it will stick the post to the front page .
Then at any time you can uncheck that box, and the post will go back to being listed in the reverse chronological order that all blog posts are. With the most recent at the top of the blog.
Some people consider their blog a newsletter. That is a very popular application of a blog. So if you have a news item that you want to remain at the top, just make it sticky!
Have fun with making your WordPress posts sticky!
What is a ‘File Extension’ ?
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the things a business owner needs to be able to know (and see) on your computer are your file extensions. File extensions are the little appendages .xxx that go at the end of your filenames. For example ‘myreport.doc’ could be the name of your report, with .doc being the extension.
Now this may seem simple and obvious to some, but to others this will be an eye opener. See the illustration below:
Some examples of file extensions are:
- photo.jpg
- icon.gif
- mytheme.zip
- report.doc
- report.pdf
- spreadsheet.xls
- presentation.ppt
- audio.mp3
It’s very Important to be able to see your file extensions
For example:
a Microsoft Word file has an extension of .doc as in ‘myessay.doc’.
An image file has an extension of .jpg for photos and .gif for graphics as in ‘myphoto.jpg’ or ‘mylogo.gif’
A PDF file has the extension .pdf
When using the program Notepad to write up small text files, it makes files called .txt
An Excel file has the extension .xls
An Audio file has the extension .mp3
And on and on….
When you buy a Windows Machine (PC) it comes, by default, with file extensions turned off.
If your file extensions view is turned off, much of Internet Marketing and creating your website with WordPress will not make sense to you!
So it’s important that when you go into one of your folders on your computer you see the little .doc, .jpg, .gif, .txt
Each computer may be different in how you set that. Here is how I set mine:
On your PC desktop you go to a folder and open it.
Then you go to Tools –> Folder Options
Then you click on the ‘View’ Tab
Then you UNCHECK ‘Hide File Extensions for Known File Types’
See image below to show you how to do this on a PC
So look on your computer, and see if you can see your file extensions. If you don’t then change them so you can see.
New Features of WordPress 3.0
Posted by: | CommentsThe new version of WordPress is finally out!
Here is a short video to show you some of the new features of WP 3.0.
I’m excited to be teaching this new version this summer in my WordPress summer program
Here are some of the highlights of the new version of WordPress:
- New default theme “2010″ which is much more advanced than the default “Kubrick” theme
- New easy way to get your header graphics uploaded and graphics included
- More security with your admin login, and easier updating of the software and plugins
- Custom post types
- Easier way to manage your navigation menus
and more!
Just watch the video at the top and leave a comment with your thoughts
Adding a ‘Read More’ Link to Your Blog
Posted by: | CommentsWith WordPress, you have a lot of flexibility on how your site looks. And as you work with WordPress, you learn different ways to customize your website so that it presents to your audience in the best way. Well today’s blog post is about using the ‘Read More’ link for your long blog posts. This makes your homepage of your blog more readable, because you can break up long blog posts into 2 parts.
Video explain it the best, so just watch this video as I demonstrate what the ‘More Tag’ is and how you would use it on your homepage/category pages to shorten long blog posts
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