All Entries Tagged With: "WordPress"
My New Favorite Theme From Solostream
I just purchased a new developer version of Wp-Ellie the latest theme from Solostream. Themes have come a long way recently, but Solostream is still at the top of their game. If you have purchased one of my new sites chances are this is the theme I based it on. Here are some helpful tips in using the new theme and navigating and posting on your site.
Installation and plugins here is a list of the plugins that have built in compatibility with Wp-Ellie.
How to set up the featured content. You can turn featured posts off or on from the theme settings in the WordPress dashboard. If you would like to make a post a featured post all you have to do is add the featured tag to the posts tags. The ideal size for featured images is 500px wide by 220px height.
From a design point of view you should always resize your images properly. I constantly see siteson Flippa with images that have been stretched to fit in the featured windows, when proper resizing will make the difference between an amateur looking site and a professional looking site.
As far as the recommended plugins definitely install Get The Image because once it is activated it will make the first uploaded image automatically become the featured image and the thumbnail image. You don’t even need to put the image in the post just upload the image in the post and click publish and Get The Image will do the rest. If you have more than one image in your post just reorder them by changing the order numbers, the featured and thumbnail images need to be number 1.
The only other recommended plugin that I always use is Yet Another Related Posts Plugin this keeps the content fresh and gives your readers more relevant options to explore, plus when combined with All In One SEO Pack the combination helps with the SEO of the site.
Popularity: 29% [?]
Custom Niche Offers
What is Custom Niche Offers?
Custom Niche Offers is a service that will design a niche blog with 5 original keyword rich SEO articles. The site will feature a premium theme with custom colors and a custom designed header. This service is open to everyone but it is specifically designed for Keyword Academy members.
Why would anyone use this service?
If you are just starting out all of the new information can be overwhelming. The most important aspects of building your niche empire are keyword research and building links. Yet too many people get bogged down with the technical aspects of everything.
In order to have a successful online business, sooner or later everyone needs to learn how to create sites. Including, using WordPress, Hosting, Design, Copy-writing, and the basics of coding. You don’t have to be an expert in everything but a good general knowledge will take you far.
Technical issues often create a bottleneck for new Internet Marketers. Yet, for your sites to be successful they need to age and gain authority. It’s kind of an Internet Marketing Catch 22. With the help of Custom Niche Offers you can get your site up and running right away.
That frees up your time to focus on link building. Once your site is up and you have your beginning links out of the way. Then you are free to focus on learning all of the ins and outs of Internet Marketing.
Now your site is aging and gaining authority and moving up in the SERPS, while you are still learning about all of the technical issues.
This service is also useful for those who just don’t have time for all of the writing and optimizing. But still want a quality site up and running. It’s also great for those who are still struggling with the ins and outs of Photoshop.
What do you get with Custom Niche Offers?
- You will get a custom site designed just for you, with custom colors, a custom header, 5 unique original SEO articles, and a one premium graphic from iStock photo or somewhere similar.
- The theme will be based on a premium theme, that would cost 99$ for a single use license fee, if purchased separately. This theme has been SEOed according to Court’s standards. There will be no hidden links, the sidebar code appears after the posts code, titles will use H2 tags while the sidebar will use H3 tags, and there will be a link to the main keyword on the home page. This theme is also configurable through the WordPress dashboard so you can make changes yourself, with out ever having to touch the code.
- Plugins will be installed and configured for maximum SEO benefits and ease of use. You will get a privacy policy and contact page. All in one SEO will be installed and configured as well as a related posts plugin and an Automatic Links SEO plugin. This will create a properly SEOed internal linking structure on the site. We will also install a Simple AdSense Insertion plugin which will make placing your AdSense code easy from the start.
- You will also get reasonable tech support. I will answer your questions through email or make a video on the site explaining how to use the theme and the plugins. I want to help everyone as much as possible and will do my best to answer your questions. Although the demands do need to be kept reasonable.
Will your niche site make money?
The answer to that is maybe, if you have chosen your keywords well, and you continue to get links and move up in rankings, and have some form of monetization on your site, then the odds of it being profitable are very good. If you haven’t chosen good keywords, or you never build links and promote your site, then the odds of turning a profit are very low. If you are serious about niche marketing then you will have to do the work in order to be successful.
Can I see some examples?
Here are some sites that are similar to how your new niche site will look. Two of these sites are ones I recently sold so I have no control over the current look, but the basic design is still in place. The 3rd site is my writing site and it is also based on the same theme. As you can see the site will be customized according to the type of site and the niche it is focusing on.
How much does it cost?
The current price is 200$ per site. With this you will get a customized site using a premium theme, with a custom header and 5 original SEO articles. You will also get the graphic used for your featured article and the psd file of your header.
What do I need to do?
You need to be the brains behind the site. Figure out what niche you want the site to be about and find a main keyword. Purchase a keyword rich domain if possible.
Also since keyword research is the backbone of Internet Marketing and this quality site will always have the potential to be expanded into a super site you may want to choose a keyword and 3 cousin keywords for each of the SEO articles that will be on your site. There is no need to let that writing go to waste and the more words you can rank for the more traffic you will get.
Once you have your domain and keywords, let me know if there are any other preferences you may have. Often times, I base the site colors on the graphics I use. But if you have a color preference or a certain graphic you would like used, send it to me.
I also need to know if you want the custom header to fill up the entire header or if you may want to add a 468 x 60 banner. If you think you may want to add the banner then I will make sure that any text and graphics will leave room for the banner. If you look at my 3 sample sites you will see what I’m talking about.
Once I know what you want and the keywords then all you have to do is point the dns to my server. I will build the site on a HostGator reseller account so it will have it’s own cPanel account. Once the site is done and you are happy with how it looks. I will give the cPanel username and password to you and you can have HostGator move it to your HostGator account and you will change the DNS back to your server.
We could use other methods for transfer or I could even build the site on your account, but the above mentioned method would be the easiest and most secure. If you are just starting out I recommend GoDaddy for domain registration and HostGator for hosting. These are the services I use. It makes transfers easy and I know how they work so I can assist you if any problems arise.
How Do I Order?
If you would like to order a Custom Niche Offer site or have any questions just use the form below and I will contact you today or tommorrow.
Additional Services Available:
Upon request I can also set up category blocks with Amazon auto poster. This is the free version of Amazon Auto Poster and the plugin devoloper will take the commision of every 15th sale. You can always upgrade to the paid version and this won’t be an issue. You can read my post about WP-Robot to get more info about this plugin. If you would like me to set this up I will need your Amazon affiliate ID.
I can also set up a news page with an auto updating feed and a video page with relevant videos.
Some fees may apply to the above services.
I will also set up a site map page free of charge.
Popularity: 24% [?]
How To FTP Using FileZilla
Most seasoned webmasters are very familiar with FTP, but sometimes people new to the web are a little intimidated by using FTP. After awhile this will become second nature. But for those people just getting started here is a brief tutorial.
First off you need to download an FTP client. I would recommend FileZilla, it is free and works really well. FileZilla has recently come out with a new server edition of FileZilla but the client version is all you really need at this time.
If you want to learn more about using the Server edition of FileZilla you can read this tutorial by LifeHacker, but keep in mind that FTP is not secure so you will want to run your server over a VPN, you can do this with an application like Hamachi.
Once you have FileZilla installed, using it is a breeze. The first thing you do is enter your Host Name which is simply yourdomain.com you can also use your site’s IP address. Then you enter your cPanel user name and your cPanel password. Some people get this mixed up with their WordPress user name and password, but it is your cPanel info.
If you are not using cPanel hosting then it is the ftp user name and password of your site. Usually the port is port 21, so you can just leave that blank and it will default to port 21. Click on Quickconnect and you should be connected to the server where your website is hosted.
Another way to log in to your site is to use the Site Manager. This is my preferred way because the site manager will save your info and automatically log you in to your site just by clicking on the sites name in site manager. When you have multiple domains this is definitely a time saver.
If you would like to save your login info using the site manager, click on the site manager icon. Then click on New Site. Enter the name you want to use to identify your site. Then enter yourdomain.com into the host name, change the logontype to Normal, and enter your cPanel user name and password. Click on connect and you will be connected to the server your website is hosted on, and the info will be saved. So next time you want to access this server just click the scroll down arrow of the Site Manager and click on your sites name.
Once you are logged into the server of your site it is just a matter of finding where you want the file to go on the left side of the screen and finding the file you want to transfer on the right side of the screen. You can just drag and drop the files you want to transfer. Another nice thing about FTP is the files you move are copies so the original file stays intact. You can use this to edit files on your server.
Just drag the file you wish to edit to your desktop, make the necessary changes and then when you drag it back to the right side you will be prompted to overwrite the original file. Just say yes. The dragging and dropping is pretty simple, but I have been experimenting with Jing a little, so I made a quick screen cast.
Hint: For better viewing click on the full screen icon in the bottom right corner of the video. To exit full screen hit the escape key.
>
Popularity: 26% [?]
How To Move A Blog
Moving a WordPress blog, can be a little more complicated than moving a static site, because of the WordPress database.
If your current blog is on cPanel, the easiest way is to use cPanel to create a full backup, and then have the hosting company of the new user install it for you.
You may be able to ftp it to your pc, and then email it to them, or even better remote ftp to a file on their server. Unless you have a dedicated server and shell access, you won’t be able to install the files yourself.
Another easy way is to give your hosting company access to the cPanel of the site you want to move. That way they can download whatever files they need to do the transfer.
Once the site files are transferred then you can change the dns of the domain to point to the new hosting server.
If you are not using cPanel, or want to do the install yourself you can follow these steps:
1. Download the site files (everything in public html)
2. Download database tables using PHPmyadmin http://web.archive.org/web/20080822132551/http://www.clearpointsystems.com/wp04/?page_id=18
3. Create an account on the new host.
4. Create a new database on the new account.
5. Write down the new database name, user name, and password.
6. Import the tables from your backup into your new database.
7. In the site files you downloaded find wp-config.php, edit this file so that the database name, user name, and password are the same as the ones you wrote down for the new database. Also make sure the db host matches with HostGator it will be localhost.
8. Upload these site files to the new server. When the dns changes you will know if it worked.
This will work in most cases. But there is a limitation to the size of the database you can transfer this way. So if it is a very large site you will still have to email your hosting company and have them install the database for you.
I usually use DreamWeaver to edit wp-config.php but you can use a text editor such as notepad, then use ftp to overwrite the old file.
Popularity: 35% [?]
