February 2011 Archives

Tutorial: Logging on to WordPress

by Kenneth Byrd | Follow Him on Twitter Here

Logging on to WordPress Type in the blog name, followed by a forward slash and then type 'wp-admin'. So on this blog I would type in - blog basics.com/wp-admin The WordPress login form will be displayed. Enter your username and password. Remember Me Box DO: If the computer you're working on is safe then click 'Remember Me'. You will then be automatically logged in whenever you are using this computer. DON'T: If lots of people have access to the computer don't tick this box as anyone could login to your blog and could write posts, delete posts, change the user permissions and lock you out, play around with the layout and do lots of other damage. . Click the 'Log In' and you should be in WordPress and see a screen similar to the one below. You can then add and edit posts and pages, change the layout, add new plug-ins or change the theme. My Links Coming soon tutorials on writing a post, writing a page, working with the widgets, working with plug-ins, developing a contact page, changing the theme and much, much more. … [Read more...]

Tutorial: Installing WordPress using Fantastico

by Kenneth Byrd | Follow Him on Twitter Here

If you took my advice and your hosting company offers Fantastico then installing WordPress is extremely easy. Just follow these instructions. 1 - Login to cPanel On most websites you would type in the domain name, followed by a forward slash which is followed by the word cpanel. So on this site you would type -- blogbasics.com/cpanel. You would enter the domain's username and password. Click 'Log In' button and a screen similar to the one below will be displayed. 2 - Select Fantastico Scroll down the screen until you find section which contains Fantastico button. This is usually found in this section marked software. Click the Fantastico button. 3 - Select WordPress On the left-hand side of the Fantastico screen click on the WordPress to start the installation process. 4 - Install WordPress Press 'New Installation'. The form below will be displayed. This is reasonably straightforward to fill in. Install in domain -- should always include your domain. Install in directory -- if the only thing on the website will be the blog then leave blank. If, however, we plan to run other things on the site then I suggest you place the blog in its own directory, (being unoriginal I usually need this directory 'blog'). Admin access data -- enter a username and password that you will remember. These you will use to log into the blog. It will probably be wise to write these down and store them somewhere very … [Read more...]

Five reasons why bloggers must use a cPanel Hosting Company

by Kenneth Byrd | Follow Him on Twitter Here

OK let's get a bit geeky: the vast majority of companies that host WordPress use LAMP technology, (see below). But don't panic -- as a blogging beginner you do not need to know very much. 1 - cPanel is the market leader It is the market leader by far. Most LINUX based hosting businesses, big and small, use cPanel to allow their customers to control their websites. 2 -- cPane has a host of features cPane allows the user to control e-mails, databases, accessed the website, check statistics and do a remarkable number of technical things that the majority of us do not need to do. However, as you develop your online career you will find that some of these features are useful when you load more complex packages. Cpanel also allows the hosting company to add extras. So some hosts will give you links to programs that will let you build a website, give you access to clip art images or website templates. However, I find that most of these features are not very useful. 3 - cPanel makes it very easy to change host Once you know your way around one cPanel host you know your way around them all. Therefore it is very easy to transfer to another host and know your way around the new system in minutes. 4 -- The fantastic Fantastico Fantastico it's an add-on to cPanel. It allows the automatic installation of around forty different open source programs: these include blogging packages, mailing lists,discussion boards, e-commerce, customer relations software and many many more … [Read more...]

Ten reasons why bloggers MUST use WordPress

by Kenneth Byrd | Follow Him on Twitter Here

Woman eating chocolate instead of blogging

WordPress is the leading blogging software. It has gained popularity because it was free, was well-designed and had a very active bunch of volunteers helping develop the package. Rapidly it has become the most popular blogging package on the Internet. This has led to tens of thousands of developers producing thousands of plug-ins and themes, enhancing the package and the look of blogs in general. Below are 10 reasons why you must use WordPress 1 - It is the most widely used blogging software around WordPress is now the market leader in both blogging and content management, open source, free software packages. Its popularity is growing and for the majority of bloggers it is the obvious choice to use. 2 - WordPress is free Because of its popularity WordPress has a great deal of support in this has enabled it to develop fast. The package is now very sophisticated and has the appearance of a commercial product. The fact that it is free is a great bonus -- and makes it a program that you can afford, no, it is a program that you cannot afford NOT to use. 3 - It's incredibly well supported Google 'wp' and then add any problem that you might be having with WordPress and I will be very surprised if you cannot find ten, twenty or more websites with the solution. I admit that the WordPress support itself can be a bit intimidating for newcomers. But hey there are thousands of other places to get support -- you are visiting one now. 4 -- WordPress is designed to work we've … [Read more...]

Three reasons to use tags in your blog

by Kenneth Byrd | Follow Him on Twitter Here

[toc] Three benefits of using tags Tags, the keywords you can use to categorise the content of your blog post, are extremely useful for the blogger. They are usually displayed at the bottom of a post and when clicked will provide a list of blog posts with the same tag. Your blog benefits from tags in the following ways: it helps your visitors find their way around your blog it helps search engines classify your content it boosts your blog in Technorati Difference between a category and a tag Categories and tags are both very useful in organising your content. It helps your visitor find their way around your blog. They help search engines categorise and understand your content. Logically you should break down the main subject areas of your niche into categories and then use the tags to highlight the sub-categories or topics. This is also useful if a topic crosses more than one category. I have decided to re-organise this blog. I'm going to set up ten major categories - one for each of my seven stages of blogging, plus a category for each of business blogging, personal blogging and one for campaigning blogs. My tags would then cover topics, such as writing content, web site promotion and specific posts on say a WordPress plugin, a review of a website, an introduction to a new theme or productivity. This gives the site a navigation grid allowing the visitor or search engine spider, (the clever software that indexes the internet), find your post through both … [Read more...]

Blogging: Sidebar and Widgets

by Kenneth Byrd | Follow Him on Twitter Here

The sidebar, the column that runs, beside the content area of most blogs has become increasing useful to bloggers. In early blogs the sidebar will probably only contain a list of blog entries and a search box. Programmers quickly developed other features such as a display of important posts, a blogroll, (useful links outside the blog), a link to the login page and increasingly important the display of small advertisements. Nowadays a new feature has been added to most blogging systems which is the development of widgets. These are are effectively small add-ons that can be quickly added, removed or have their position changed by the non-technical user. There are now widgets allow you to sign up to an e-mail letter, use Twitter, Facebook, display video, automatically list the most popular posts and allow advertising systems, such as Google Adsense, display advertisements will link to to content. Sidebars today It used to be that the sidebar was displayed on the left-hand side of the content. This sidebar will contain an important navigation aid listing sections, topics and categories. However, most blogs nowadays display their sidebars on the right-hand side of the screen. I believe that scientists have demonstrated that this is the best way of getting the visitors to interact with the website. In particular the top of the right-hand sidebar is the best place to put a sign-up form for newsletters. Widgets today On a blogging pack each, such as WordPress, there … [Read more...]