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Installing WordPress Plugins – A Little Goes A Long Way

By on August 20, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, wordpress, Wp Headers, Wp Themes

Installing WordPress Plugins – A Little Goes A Long Way

WordPress is the most popular blogging and CMS (content management system) platform used by inexperienced webmasters. The reason it is so popular is because you can add plugins to increase the functionality of the site without having to have any kind of technical knowledge. However, there are some very important factors you should know about before adding plugins to your WordPress website.

What is WordPress and What is a Plugin?

WordPress, on its own, is a very powerful and stable program. It is an OpenSource (free) program that is installed on a database and is designed to manage the content that you input into it. It is updated regularly to correct any known issues or to add more features to the core program. You should always make sure you are running the newest version on your website. Upgrading to the newest version is as easy as the click of a button in your user dashboard.

Plugins are scripts that are developed as add-ons to the existing program. These give you the ability to add new features to the program to help customize the site to your needs. Because WordPress is OpenSource, it means that any web developer can use the source code or API to create new scripts for the program.

Caution is Needed When Adding Plugins

Because plugins are created by all different developers, they are not always compatible with each other. When compatibility issues arise, it can make the database unstable. In other words, the engine driving your website will begin to fail. This can result in your site crashing.

Another reason to exercise caution when installing plugins is because every one you add on to your site adds more code to the core program. Adding too many will bloat the code and make your website slow and sluggish. It can also hamper the ability of search engine bots from crawling your website effectively.

Which WordPress plugins should you install?

I cannot give you a definite answer to this since every webmaster and every website has different needs and functions. What I can advise is this; only install the plugins you really need. Typically this would be an SEO plugin such as All In One SEO, a database backup plugin such as WP Database Backup, a contact form plugin such as Easy Contact, and a social plugin such as Sociable or Share This. These are the plugins I consider to be essential.

Any other plugins you should only install one at a time and tested for compatibility before adding any more. Always do a database backup before adding new plugins as a safety net in case any issues arise and you need to restore your website.

WordPress plugins are wonderful inventions and can help you create the website of your dreams, but before you go on a wholesale plugin installation spree, be aware of the consequences.

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How to Make WordPress Themes

By on August 16, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, wordpress, Wp Headers, Wp Themes

How to Make WordPress Themes

Many blogger swear by WordPress as the best platform for blogs, websites and content platforms to publish content, pictures, videos etc. Though popular for blog, people are using WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS). WordPress is open source and the best thing that makes it an absolute favorite with web developers and bloggers is that you can incorporate plugins effortlessly from your WordPress admin panel. You can get these plugins by doing a simple Google search or through the official WordPress site.

You may have seen several WordPress themes and may feel that even you can develop such theme. For those who want to know how to make a WordPress theme, here are some pointers:

1. Designing a theme does require hard work and patience. It is always better to know html or php and the good thing is there are many resources online that can tell you how to learn them.

2. Go to an html and php tutorial website online and find how to use tags, codes and plug-ins. If you are a novice, go to a tutorial site that shows you to build a WP theme right from the beginning teaching you the basics of html and CSS. For those who already know these, you can also go to tutorial sites that show you how to build themes assuming you know these two programming languages.

3. HTML is the most important language, which is absolutely necessary needed to make WordPress theme. So make sure you learn those basic HTML commands and coding. You can make use of Microsoft Frontpage or even Dreamweaver to experiment with HTML codes.

4. Styling a webpage and jazzing it up is the next thing to do after you become familiar with html functionalities. This is where your CSS(Cascading Style Sheets) knowledge come in. When you know CSS, you will know how to make a stylish WordPress theme with colors, fonts, pictures etc.

To sum up, in order to know how to make a WordPress theme, you have to know to create the CSS template which is nothing but HTML and CSS combined. In other words, this is an HTML page stylishly done with CSS. So learn the four following things to make an attractive WordPress theme, yourself:

1. Gain knowledge about using HTML codes and tags2. Learn CSS3. Use the above two to create the CSS layout.4. Convert this CSS layout to form an attractive WordPress theme.

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6 Reasons Why You Should Use a Premium WordPress Theme

By on August 14, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, wordpress, Wp Headers, Wp Themes

6 Reasons Why You Should Use a Premium WordPress Theme

WordPress is one of the most popular open source blogging platforms available on the web, giving you complete creative freedom and the ability to design the perfect website with minimum effort.

The WordPress directory contains thousands of great plugins whilst the web is abundant with thousands of free themes, all to give your blog project that unique personal touch.

Whilst there are many great free WordPress themes available on the web, only a very few of them have the security and custom ability of a professionally designed premium WordPress theme. And this is the subject matter of this article, where I’d like to share with you 6 valid reasons as to why you should use a premium WordPress theme for your web project, as apposed to one of the readily available free themes on the market.

Design Quality

The design quality often found in free WordPress themes cannot be merely matched to those found in premium themes, and this is down to several reasons; for example, the attention to detail is often reflected on how well the theme’s code was originally written.

A good example of this would suggest; a quality premium theme will rarely ever load with any concerning glitches, the layout of the theme itself will always load cleanly and smoothly with all the qualities found in a premium theme, whilst these qualities can sometimes be of poor forthcoming in the vastly freely available themes.

Features

Many free themes also lack of the essential features whilst premium themes often offer you many useful features such as featured posts plugin, dynamic content gallery, Twitter and RSS integration and a contact us form just name a few.

Customization

When it comes to customization free themes offer almost nothing in return, as many of these free themes are designed for one thing only, and that’s for gaining a free backlink to an external site used by the theme designer normally. However, many if not all premium themes available offer full custom ability with easy customisation of CSS, headers and footers amongst many others.

Security

One of the biggest reasons why many serious bloggers or webmasters tend to use a reputable premium theme is for its impeccable security features.

The guys over at WordPress work their hardest to keep us updated with the latest security releases for their platform, and many of the premium themes are designed to cater and reinforce these security updates to make your blog project as secure as possible. No body likes the thought of waking up to find out their blog or website has been hacked into or sabotaged.

Updates

With a premium WordPress theme you also receive the latest updates that are available for your theme; if a new version of your theme is available you’ll be offered the chance to upgrade with normally no extra cost.

Even with the safe knowledge of being able to get the latest version of your theme as and when available should be enough to make you want to invest in a premium theme.

Technical Support & Documentation

Finally many if not all premium theme services now come with full online technical support as well as documentation with clear instructions on how to use your theme, giving you even greater peace of mind.

If you’re as passionate about your blog or web project as you think you are and are currently using a free WordPress theme for your blog, consider upgrading to a premium theme. For the sake of a few dollars it could mean the difference between your blog or website being safe and secure or being hacked into even without your knowledge.

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How to Install and Activate a WordPress Theme1

By on August 12, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, wordpress, Wp Headers, Wp Themes

How to Install and Activate a WordPress Theme

[This tutorial applies to WordPress blogs running in a self-hosted environment, meaning that you’ve installed WordPress on a web host of your own. It doesn’t apply to blogs hosted on free WordPress.com accounts.]

Installing a WordPress theme is very straightforward. WordPress themes available for download from various places on the Internet are typically packaged in .zip files (i.e. theme-name.zip). Installing a WordPress theme involves nothing more than unzipping the .zip file into the appropriate directory of your WordPress installation, and activating the theme from your WordPress administration console.

Structure of a WordPress Theme

In order for you to install your new WordPress theme correctly, you need to understand the basics of how the WordPress system interacts with themes. A WordPress theme needs three essential files in order to work correctly with the WordPress administration:

o An index.php file: This file is the controller of a WordPress blog. Most WordPress themes also have other PHP files that represent various sections of a WordPress page, but index.php is the only truly necessary PHP file.

o A style.css file: This file controls the look and layout of the WordPress-based website using style definitions. It also contains the information that is used in the Manage Themes section of WordPress to display the theme name, version, author, and description

o A “”screenshot”” image: This image is used to create preview of the corresponding theme in the Manage Themes section of the WordPress administration. It can be any of the common web graphics files (png, jpg, gif), but it needs to be named screenshot. For instance, screenshot.png, screenshot.jpg, or screenshot.gif.

If you’ve gotten your theme from a designer who knows what he’s doing, you don’t really need to worry about making sure the theme is set up correctly. If you’re not sure, you might just want to double-check that you’ve got the basic files needed to install your theme.

WordPress Directory Structure

The WordPress directory structure contains three folders in the root directory:

o wp-admino wp-contento wp-includes

Under the wp-content folder there is a folder called themes. Inside this folder is where you need to deposit the folder that contains your theme. Here’s an example. Say I’m installing a theme for a recipe blog. The theme is called Recipe, and its folder structure looks like this:

recipe-blog/ index.phpstyle.cssscreenshot.png

This theme would normally be packaged in a .zip file. To use the theme, I would need to unpackage the file, then upload it (probably using FTP) into my WordPress themes folder. If I have WordPress installed on my web server under a directory called blog, my directory structure would look like this:

/WordPress/wp-content/themes/recipe-blog/

index.php

style.css

screenshot.png

Activating a WordPress Theme

After I upload the theme to the correct directory, I can now go to my WordPress administration to activate it. After logging in to the WordPress admin section, I go to Appearances->Themes. I can see that my new theme is installed correctly and ready to be activated, because I can see it in under Available Themes on the Manage Themes page.

At this point, all I have to do is click on the Activate link associated with my new theme. My new theme is now active on my WordPress blog.

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What Do I Need to Start Building a WordPress Website- WordPress Website Builder

By on August 10, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, wordpress, Wp Headers, Wp Themes

What Do I Need to Start Building a WordPress Website? WordPress Website Builder

Building a WordPress website seems easy for some people, however I have showed various students how to do this and it takes everyone at least 3 lessons to get it down pat. That’s not bad either. We are talking about creating a website, much like building a house, it can become a cyber property with true value.

When you start using WordPress you will be amazed at how fast you can have a website (or blog) up and running. After learning a few simple tricks you could probably get a WordPress website built in less than five minutes. The thing is, I believe that anyone can do this and that practice makes perfect.

What do I need to be a WordPress Website Builder?

1. Web hosting that has Cpanel and Fantastico so it is easy for you to install websites. I use HostGator but there are heaps of website hosting companies that compete with each other. They all are trying to give good service to their customers so they can stay in this highly competitive field.

2. You will also need to buy a domain name. There are plenty of places to buy a domain name. I use Namecheap but you can use any name reseller or if you have a spare domain name lying around you can use that. LOL Am I the only person who has 37 spare domain names lying around?

3. You will need self discipline and determination. You also have to be an action taker!

Please note if you are not willing to pay for hosting and a domain name then you are not serious about building websites. I suggest you start a blog at blogger.com until you prove to yourself that this is for you.

Steps to building a WordPress website:

1. Buy WordPress website hosting if you do not have it.2. Do keyword research and find a niche.3. Buy a domain name with your niche keywords in it.4. Point your domain name to your hosting account.5. Go to your cpanel to add on a domain. See how to add a domain in your hosting.6. Go to the Fantastico icon in Cpanel and press on the WordPress link.7. Install a WordPress website/blog.

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How To Create Your Own WordPress Plugin And Distribute It Online

By on August 8, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, wordpress, Wp Headers, Wp Themes

How To Create Your Own WordPress Plugin And Distribute It Online

Creating your own WordPress plugin takes a little bit of programming background, though nothing that you really have to pay an arm and a leg for. Most of the how to can be found online. But once you create your WordPress plugin, you’ve got to get it out there, so that it starts to bring out the results you are looking for. For that you will need to focus on distribution, but let’s take it one step at a time.

First, you must determine what it is about your WordPress blog that is lacking. Brainstorm a list of functions that you would like to be able to include on your blog. Once you have the concrete details in place, it is time to learn the PHP language for creating a WordPress plugin. What you will want to do is create one or several files that bear the commands you have given to your plugin in the PHP language. In order to teach yourself PHP, it will take a considerable amount more time and space than can be provided here, but it is recommended that you run Google searches for “”learn PHP”” or “”understand PHP language.”” Once you’ve read up on how the formatting operates, you should be prepared to write the code for the plugin itself.

Taking your ideas, and the PHP translation of those ideas, you can easily and effectively incorporate them into the blog by a simple copy and paste into the body of the code. If you are not creating the plugin for yourself but for other WordPress users, then you may want to create an additional txt file and submit to the plugin directory. Getting the word out on your plugin creation will generate more interest, and if it is something that you charge for, it will lead to more money as well.

But exposure is key and to do that you will have to not only get your WordPress plugin seen, but also promoted. Promoting your plugin is simple, but work intensive. There are a number of traditional marketing tactics that you may wish to use, but one of the most dynamic is social media, because things have the potential to go viral much more quickly. If you have a product that is viable and that others find of interest, it could be that you attract thousands of users without ever spending one dime on marketing promotion.

Learning the tools of the WordPress trade will give you more power for functionality on your own blog, and it could help you generate interest in your site or products increasing their earning potential in the process. If you’re ready to take your plugin to the next level, then create and distribute wisely.

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