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WordPress Blogging The Proper Setup And Use

When it comes to WordPress blogging and getting natural search engine traffic there are a few important factors; the way the blog is setup, the plugins used and most importantly the content.

First are the permalinks or the URL of the actual blog post. Using the category and the post title (or at least one) in the URL adds keywords to the URL.

Second is an SEO plugin that automatically adds your META title, keywords (or tags) and description to the post, and also rewrites the title of the post to add your post title BEFORE the site title. Having the site title first is important for the Google bots to see so each post looks different. If the title of the blog or site was first the Google bots think each post is very similar. The title is in the browser title bar on the very top of your browser above the address. Look at your Blogger blog individual posts to see the wrong way to do it!

Adding a good list of sites to ping in a plugin like Smart Update Pinger is also another aspect of creating backlinks that the search engines like to see. Just pinging these site doesn’t necessarily create the backlinks but it does get your posts noticed on these sites and if someone is looking for content (or blog posts) tagged as yours is tagged they may like your post enough to do a trackback of it or link to it on their blog.

OK so now what is a “tag” right? A tag is like a keyword for your blog post. Adding two or three good, short but descriptive tags to your blog posts is important so the sites that your blog pings know what your last post was about. These tags are attached to the post automatically now in WordPress but using a WordPress tagging plugin called Simple Tags makes it easier to do when creating a new post.

And you probably want to know what a trackback is too right? Man you people want it all!!! A trackback is a link to a post on your on another blog. With WordPress these links or trackbacks automatically show up on your post as a comment. The trackback can be a made by the other blogger by placing a link to your blog post directly into the post he/she writes or in a special trackback area when creating the post.

Lastly and probably most importantly are your blog post titles. Make them short, descriptive and to the point. Think of how someone will be using Google to search for what they want and title your posts accordingly. Here is an example of a recent post I made on WordPressMax.com: Lets say Joe Blogger wants to learn how to Create A Custom WordPress Static Front Page and types that phrase into Google. Well about a week ago I did a post titled that and guess what? That blog post is currently second only to the main WordPress.org website. Even a little more broad search for just Create A Custom WordPress Page has that post above the fold on the first page of results.

There are other factors to consider like social bookmarking, becoming an “Authority Site”, and creating interactivity for repeat traffic and more…But the whole point is that if there is only one thing you want to concentrate on for traffic it is blogging and blogging the right way can bring quick results, but you must post good content on a regular basis to keep your posts near the top of the search engines.

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Flash Slideshow On WordPress Theme Header

Every so often I get contacted for WordPress theme customization and the client wants a Flash slideshow somewhere on the site usually the header. I have never incorporated that into a WordPress theme before mainly because I didn’t know how. There is a plugin that that is designed to place a Flash slideshow in a sidebar widget but it can also be used to place it anywhere on the theme. I will warn you that it can be a pain to get everything setup correctly to work on your WordPress header.

The Flashfader Plugin plugin is needed to do this and as I said if you just want to use it in the sidebar there isn’t much to it. But if you want to incorporate Flash into your header then you will need to know a bit about the code on your WordPress theme as well as some graphic editing knowledge. The plugin was brought to my attention by a friend of mine who does graphic design and who I refer people to for custom WordPress and website headers. You can contact Yvonne on her site here: Nightingale Design and check out her blog: Nightingale Design Blog and this one: SheSue Experience to see examples of the Flash WordPress header.


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WordPress Automatic Upgrade Coming In Next Version

If you are like me and dread upgrading WordPress to the latest version, then version 2.7 may be the last one that you need to update manually. I usually put off the upgrades mostly because of all the plugin issues that can arise. I guess I just don’t want to spend hours tracking down the fixes for plugin compatibility issues. Even though that can happen with an automated upgrade, once you get everything stabilized in the latest version small incremental upgrades should be easier to deal with.

Here are a few of the highlights for the release of WordPress version 2.7.

  • Reply to comments from the admin
  • Automatic plugin install and integrated plugin browser
  • Automatic upgrade of WordPress

Although I do make some money upgrading WordPress blogs I find the task at times very frustrating with all the different issues that can arise. When I upgrade WordPress for clients now I first install the automatic upgrade plugin, and try to upgrade the blog with it. It works on some hosting accounts and not on others, in fact I moved my sites off a hosting account that it will not work on. The funny thing about this is the hosting account contacted everyone asking them to upgrade WordPress to the more secure version but blocked the access on the server to allow the automatic upgrade plugin to work! I think the US congress must be running that hosting business! Hopefully the integrated version will not have those limitations.

This is not a complete list by any means but these are great features for those that are “Geek Impaired”. Read more over at Hack WordPress: WordPress 2.7 Features List Finalized


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Create A Custom WordPress Static Front Page

With the growing popularity of blogs everyday more people are getting familiar with, and comfortable using the various blogging platforms. With that webmasters are turning to content management systems like WordPress to power entire websites.

One of the options of WordPress is to choose a static front page, creating a page that shows the same content instead of the the blog loop. Most WordPress bloggers are familiar with this option, however a few things should be considered beforehand.

The steps to use a static front page are quite simple: first two pages (not posts) need to be created, one for the static front page and another for the blog loop. The static front page can have whatever title you want but I suggest you call it the title of your website. Add all the content on this page that you want to show on the front page. Title the blog page “Blog” with the same page slug. Add no content to the blog page.

Go to Settings, then the reading subpanel, select the static front page option and choose the respective pages to use from the drop down box. Now here is where your blog theme comes into play. If your theme has a navigation bar in the header, things can get a bit messy here and my require you to customize the theme.

The navigation bar on most WordPress themes have a Home or Blog link that point to the main URL and also show links to any additional pages created. So adding a Home page or Blog page to use the static front page option my show these links twice in the navigation bar. So you may want consider learning how to change this by hard coding the navigation bar in the themes header.php file.

Another thing to consider is the static front page itself and what you want it to look like. While you probably want it to have the same look as the rest of the site you may not want it to show the same sidebar items or the title of the page just above the content.

One thing I suggest changing, or actually removing, is the title of the the page that appears right above the content on the page. If you want the site to look like a static or “regular” website then you may want to remove this, especially if the title of the page is generic like “Home”.

You have two options for removing the title on the front page, one is to edit the page.php template to remove the title on all pages or create a custom page template to use for the static front page. The code to be removed from the page.php file should look something like this:

<h2 id=”post-<?php the_ID(); ?>”><a href=”<?php the_permalink() ?>” rel=”bookmark” title=’Permanent Link to “<?php the_title(); ?>”‘><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>

You may also want to create a different sidebar for the static front page and this option would definitely require a different custom page template, another sidebar file and possibly some additional code added to the functions.php file.

As you can see using a static front page to run your website can be as easy as creating a few pages and changing a few options or you could get into some custom coding to really make it stand out and be different. All of the information you need to customize your WordPress powered site can be found online and I suggest starting at wordpress.org. One of the steps is covered here: How To Create A Custom WordPress Page Template


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You Can Put Lipstick On A Static HTML Site But It Will Still Not Be A WordPRess Site

Alright this is not a political rant, just stealing the headlines of the day. I don’t expect you to come to my site to read about WordPress and instead get my political views crammed down your throat. Believe me I have them but that is not what this site is about so I will leave that for the correct time and place, something a few celebrities should figure out. No this is about the old static HTML websites and why I see very little need for them.

I get the same request at least once a week; someone has just learned how to use Dreamweaver or paid big money to create a static HTML site and then want a WordPress blog to match. There are multiple images used for the header and background images, fancy drop-down navigation bars and the list goes on and on. Then reality hits, they want to change a few items on the sidebar or header and guess what? Every stinking page on the site needs to be edited manually, one at a time. Then I tell them how much work is involved in matching the existing site and most will run away. Sorry but it takes time to do all that.

The solution I often give is to find a nice inexpensive or free WordPress theme, and pay a fraction of the cost to have it customized a bit. Then use WordPress to power the entire site. Why WordPress for an entire site? Well first it can be setup to show a static front page instead of the blog loop. Multiple pages can be made instead of posts if you don’t want some content in the blog loop. Then there are sidebar widgets to add, remove or edit items on the sidebar from one location, one time, that will show throughout the site. You can change the look of the entire site just by uploading and activating a new theme. And any edits you make to the theme one time in one location will again show throughout the entire site. No more editing one page at a time.

Then there are the other things to consider like built-in SEO. Pinging multiple sites when you publish a new post will spread backlinks around the internet with a push of the Publish button. The Google bots will come in no time to a good WordPress site that is setup correctly with an automatic Google sitemap that notifies Google of all new posts and pages. Then there is the added functionality of plugins, chances are if you want your WordPress site to do something there is a plugin for it.

So stop dressing up that static HTML website and consider WordPress for your next website. You won’t need any lipstick for it or any fancy bling bling, just good solid content and the visitors will come, no matter how well dressed up it is.


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How To Add WordPress Themes From The Dashboard

The first thing many new WordPress bloggers want to do is change the theme of their new WordPress blog. Heck some even ask me how it is going to look before I even install WordPress for them and some even want it customized before getting started. But before you start trying to “pimp your blog” I suggest you try several different themes and see how they work and look for a while. Once you are settled on a theme then get that custom header made and installed, and learn how to tweak it over time.

This guide will show you how to use the One Click Plugin Updater to upload new WordPress themes right from the WordPress dashboard. To get started you will need to have the plugin installed and activated, if I setup your blog for you it should be ready to go. If not it will need installed via FTP. It is very important that you do not unzip or decompress any theme files you download. After the plugin is activated click Design in the WordPress dashboard, and then click the browse button to upload a zipped or compressed WordPress theme file from your computer. Make sure that Theme is selected in the Type drop-down box and simply click Install.

If all goes well you will get a Theme Installed message, then you can click Design, Themes again and activate your new theme.

The One Click Plugin Updater also does other things as well; you can upload new plugins the same as themes from with in the Plugins menu. Just click Plugins, Install a Plugin and follow the same steps as explained for themes.

Finally there is one last thing the One Click Plugin Updater plugin does and that is automatically update every outdated plugin with one click. When a plugin has a new version available there will be a notice in the dashboard to update all of them. Just click the notice and follow the directions.


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