The Beginners Guide to WordPress

26 May

SuperPhil |  May 26th,2011 | Blogging, Wordpress |  No Comments »

WordPress is an extremely versatile open source website building platform.  It was originally created as a blogging platform but because it is open source (meaning that anyone can write programming for it) an army of web developers, coders and tinkerers have created a vast library of both free and paid tools.  The many tools (Themes, Plugins, Widgets, etc.) which allow you to turn a wordpress based blog into virtually any kind of website you want, from a blog top a, all out e-store.

 

Getting Started:

If you are ready to get started with WordPress the first thing you need to do is get a domain name and hosting account (We recommend BlueHost for both).  Once you have created your account you will get access to a c-panel (control panel) which is where you install wordpress, WordPress Install Guide.  Be sure to install WordPress on your main Domain (www.yourdomain.com) not a sub page like (www.yourdomain.com/blog).  Once you have installed wordpress you can always access the Admin area of your site by going to: www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin.

 

The WordPress Admin Panel:

Once you log into your new site, you will be directed to the Admin Panel where you will be able to manage all aspects of your new site.  By default the admin panel divided into two main sections, The admin navigation (Left side) and the admin content (Middle and Right side).  Each of the navigation tabs on the left side will lead you to different sections and functions of the admin panel.  Here is a screenshot as well as a description of each of the main navigation tabs.

Dashboard:

This is simply a quick admin overview of your site it shows some stats, wordpress news, etc.

 

Posts:

A post is a big part of what makes a blog a blog and this is where you add the majority of your site’s content.  Think of your blog like a newspaper, very time you add a new post it is displayed at the top of the list on your blog like the latest news story.  The post editing page allows you to add a title, post content, categories, tags (kinda like categories), etc.  Once you have created a post you can save it as a draft(not visible on your site) or you can publish it for all to see.

 

Media:

Here you can upload images, video, audio and more to your media library for use on your site.

 

Links:

This section will edit a widget (which we will discuss later) called Blogrole which is simply a list of links to various websites, it is often used promote other useful and related websites.

 

Pages:

While your posts and pages can be used in many ways, it is usually best to think of your pages as top level navigation (Home, Blog, About, Contact, Shop, etc.).

 

Comments:

This is the second “blog specific” aspect of your site.  When you publish a post or a page your readers can leave comments.  By default you will need to approve any comments before they are published on your site. (Be sure to read “Comment Spam”)

 

Appearance:

Ok now we are getting into the look and feel of your site, there are several sub-sections under appearance

  • Themes: The theme you choose determines the appearance and layout of your site, some themes will add additional theme specific option the left navigation.  When you click on themes there will be an option the “install themes” where you can search for and install new themes.
  • Widgets: Widgets are what shows up in your site’s sidebars, some themes have more sidebars than others and some will add additional widgets to your list of available widgets.  Widgets include things such as:
    • Categories: A list of your blog posts by category.
    • Pages: A list of your pages
    • Text: A widget that allows you to insert pretty much anything you want such as text, affiliate links, images, etc.
    • Blogrole: A list of the links you add to the “Links” tab.
    • And many more.
  • Menus: WordPress allows you to create custom navigation menus for your users.  These menu can be set as your themes main and or secondary navigation (if the theme has enabled custom menus).  Custom menus can also be added to your sidebars using the “Custom Menu” widget.
  • Background: If the theme has enabled this option it allows you to choose a custom site background color and / or image.
  • Header: If the theme has enabled this option it allows you to choose a custom site header image for your blog.
  • Editor: The editor allows you to access your theme’s files, don’t mess with this unless you know what you are doing.

Plugins:

If you want add just about anything to your blog, from a local weather widget to a complete shopping cart, there is a plugin for that.  Plugins are able to add a wide variety of functionality to your site.  Most plugins will also add additional tabs to the left side navigation where you can change the settings, many will also add editing and options to post and page editing, new widgets and more.  If you add a plugin and need help figuring out how to use it be sure to chack the publishers website (usually listed in the description on the plugins page).

 

Users:

Here you can add, remove and edit your site administrators, contributors, and users.

 

Tools:

Some plugins will add some options to the tools page but it is mostly just used to import and export data.  For example if you have a different blog that you want to switch to your current site.

 

Settings:

This is where you can enter various site settings, also many plugins will add their main option to the settings tab.  Here is a brief description of what you can do in the settings.

  • General: Blog title and tagline, primary contact email, new subscriber options, etc.
  • Writing: Posting and comment options.
  • Reading: Front page display options, number of posts displayed per page, etc.
  • Discussion: Various options regarding comments, notification, moderation, etc.
  • Media: Options regarding images, videos, etc.
  • Privacy: Search engine visibility of your site.
  • Permalinks: URL options.

 

And that’s WordPress in a nut shell, obviously there is a lot more to it so be sure to continue reading and researching the many things you can do with a simple wordpress blog.

Backlinks & Search Engine Optimization

19 May

SuperPhil |  May 19th,2011 | Search Optimization |  No Comments »

Backlinks are widely known as a significant part of Search
Engine Optimization (SEO) however, not all backlinks are created equal. This
guide will help you understand how to evaluate the effectiveness of various
backlinks and how to get the best backlinks for your time and effort.

 

What is relevancy? This first thing to keep
in mind when looking for backlinks is the relevancy which is closely related is
your site and the site your backlink is coming from. In other words; if your
website is www.naturalvitamins.com a backlink from a site like www.naturalhealthdirectory.com
will be far more relevant and much more valuable than a backlink form
something like www.joesgenericdirectory.com. If you would like to learn more about
link relevancy (recommended) please check out the guide: Relevance,
authorities of information, and linking. (a fantastic guide put
together by our friend Shayne Fisher)

 

So are general directories worth submitting to?
Well, yes and no. Some certainly are, others, not so much. To determine which
directories are worth while there are a couple things you can look for:

  • If a directory promotes links specifically meant to build
    “SEO Value” they probably have been or will be devalued by Google.
  • Does the directory rank for it’s own name? (not
    joesgenericdirectory.com but “Joe’s generic directory”) if they do not
    then you can be pretty sure that they are not going to provide any value
    with a link to your site.
  • Remember, a niche specific directory is pretty much always
    going to be a lot more valuable to your rankings and traffic volume than a
    general directory.

So how do I get better backlinks?

There are many strategies in building better backlinks and
there are few right and wrong answers. Basically any link from a related
website is almost certainly going benefit your website. Here are some
strategies you can use:

  • Blog Comments: People write blogs on just about
    ever topic known to man and many and search engines usually like blogs
    because of the frequently updated and fresh content. In addition there
    are some great tools that can help you find niche related blogs such as
    Google’s Blog Search and Google’s Search Operators. (be sure to leave
    meaningful comments or you will just be considered a spammer)
  • Forum Comments: A forum is a discussion based site
    usually dedicated to a specific topic, when you join a forum you need to
    create a signature which can include a link to your website and anytime
    you comment a link to your site will be added. (be sure to leave
    meaningful comments or you will just be considered a spammer)
  • Reciprocal Links: While many search engine
    optimization markets have said that such links cancel each other out, I
    have come to the conclusion that that is not entirely the case. If you
    are able to build several reciprocal links with various niche related
    sites you become part of a network of related sites which can certainly
    help your rankings (see Shayne’s Guide mentioned above to learn more.)
  • High Quality Directories: Yes some directories are
    valuable such as DMOZ and the Yahoo Directory.
  • Create & Share some Link Bait: if you have
    something interesting and unique that you can share on your site many
    website owners will be interested in linking to it. Some examples: Funny
    Videos, Interesting Articles, Free Graphics, etc.
  • Be Creative: These are just a few ways to build
    links, there are many other ways

How to use Google Search Operators

12 May

SuperPhil |  May 12th,2011 | Guides by Topic, Search Optimization |  No Comments »

Your first question may be what is a search operator? Well
if you have done your keyword research you have already used one, the
“allintitle” operator. As you hopefully learned the allintitle operator allows
you to refine your Google search results. Well guess what, Google has a bunch
more operators you can use to help you find exactly what you are looking for.
Here is some info that will help you use these operators to make your search
engine marketing much easier.

 

A few Great Operators: Here a few operators and how
to use them.

·
inurl: This operator will return search results that
contain the search term in the URL of the site. This can help you find sites
that are more likely to help you build quality backlinks and here is how:

o
Search for ( inurl:blog photography
) this will return results for sites that have the word blog in the url, and
are related to Photography. Which will be great place to leave comments if
your site is related to photography.

o
Other Terms to Use when looking for sites on which to
build backlinks using the inurl: operator with terms such as forum, submit,
subit-link, submit-url, submitsite, etc. and remember to also include a keyword
related to your niche so that your links will be more relevant.

·
site: We can use this operator to find a specific kind of
website. This is important because links from educational and government site
may often receive more credit from search engines and thus better rankings.
Here is how it works:

o
Search for ( site:.edu
photography ) this will return results for sites that have the
extension .edu, and are related to Photography. Which will be great place to
leave comments if your site is related to photography. It is also great to use
this operator to find extensions like .gov and .org

·
intext: This will show results that contain the search
term in text on the website. This can help you find sites that are looking for
links, comments, etc.

o
Search for ( intext:.”submit
url” photography ) this will return results for sites that have the
text “submit url” on the page, and are related to Photography. Which means
that they most likely have an option that allows you to submit a url.

Combining Operators: Obviously there is some useful
stuff you can do with operators but what if you could use them together? Well,
you can and here is how.

  • Search for: ( inurl:blog
    site:.edu intext:”post a comment” photography     )

    • This will return results for educational websites that
      have a blog and contain the phrase “post a comment” on the page. which
      would be a fantastic place to start building backlinks if your website is
      related to photography.

 

Additional Operator: There are several other
operators you can use, check out this link for a listing of these operators,
what they do and how to use them.

Writing Better Meta Titles, Descriptions and Keywords

12 May

SuperPhil |  May 12th,2011 | Meta Tags, Search Optimization |  No Comments »

There are many important factors to consider when writing your Page titles and Meta descriptions. Review the following information to gain a better understanding of what the meta information is, how it works and how it will affect your website.

Page Title: This is often referred to as the meta title. The page title is one of the few tags that is visible to your readers so it is important to consider that fact when creating your page title. The Page Title is visible to your readers in two places as shown here.

  • The first place readers will see the title is in your search engine listing.

Meta Title Explained

  • The Second location where readers can see your title tag is on the top of the web browser when they are on your website.

The Meta Titile Tag

Title Creation Guidelines: follow these guidelines to make your title effective for both your readers and search engine optimization.

  • 65 Characters long: most search engine only recognize the first 65 characters in your title so try to keep it as close as possible.
  • Unique for each page: while you can repeat some information found in the title on different pages (such as a keyword) it is important that each page of your website has a unique title that describes the content found on that page.
  • Write for People: because this is the very first thing people see in the search engine results it is important that it is written with people in mind and not just a list keywords for search engines.
  • Call to Action: when an internet user first sees your listing they are usually looking for something and you want to encourage them to click on your ad to find what they need. Thus you should include such an invitation for them in your title, use words like “buy”, “get”, “learn”, etc.
  • Include Keywords: the title is one of the first things that search engines look at to help them decide what keywords your website will rank for in their listings, thus it is important to include your most valuable keywords in the title tag. As previously mentioned you want to consider the reader first because search engine rankings are useless if you don’t get any clicks, so you should include one or two keywords strategically in your title tag.
  • Example Page Title:
  • “Looking to start a business? Click here for free guides, tutorials and more.”

Meta Description: This is a brief description of your page, it also visible to your reader in the search engine listings as shown below.
Meta Description Tag

Meta Description Guidelines: follow these guidelines to create Search engine and internet user friendly descriptions.

  • 165 Characters long: most search engines only recognize the first 165 or so characters, so be sure to keep your description about this length.
  • Unique for each page: as with the title your description should each be unique and based on the content found on the page on which they are located.

Write for People: since this tag is visible to internet users it should also be written with them in mind just as the title is.Call to Action: this tag is also visible before the user has been to your site so you want to do your best to encourage them to click on your ad. Be sure to include another call to action in the description.

  • Include Keywords: yes the search engines also see this tag so be sure to include some keywords. Two to five keywords in the description is a good amount to shoot for but remember not to sacrifice readability for keywords.
  • Example Meta Description:

o “Whether you want to be your own boss or just make more money, starting a business can be very rewarding. Learn the steps to success today.”

 

Meta Keywords: Due to abuse in the early days of search engine marketing, meta keywords are no longer used by search engines to determine your rankings. They are also not visible to readers so for the most part meta keywords are pretty much useless. There may be a few small obscure search engines that still use meta keywords and they can serve a a reminder of exactly which keywords you are targeting on a specific page so if you wish to include them it wont hurt anything.

Meta Keyword Guidelines: follow these guidelines when adding meta keywords.

  • Target 3 – 10 keywords: you don’t want to try to optimize any one page for too many different keywords.
  • Keywords should be comma separated: below is an example of how your keywords should be added.
  • “start a business, home business, how to start a home business”

Choosing your online business direction

11 May

SuperPhil |  May 11th,2011 | Affiliate Marketing, e-Stores, Guides by Topic, Uncategorized |  No Comments »

With the current wide spread use of the internet people have come up with many new and creative ways to make money online.  One of the first things you need to do if you want to get in on this opportunity is to decide what money making strategy you are going to use.  Here are some basic types of business models that you can start with, be sure to take the time to learn the pros and cons of each business type and choose the one that best fits your goals.

 

E-Store – This is a pretty simple concept to understand, basically it is any website on which you are collecting payments from customers for physical or digital products.  While this is a simple concept there is a lot that goes into creating such a website.  Here are some details about requirements that go into creating an e-store.

Requirements –

  • A business License (LLC, Sole Proprietorship, etc.)
  • A product Supply (Drop-shipper, wholesaler, re-sellable digital product, etc)
  • A professional looking website with a Shopping cart and/or payment options.

Pros –

  • Simple Concept.
  • It is often easier to get people to pay for a products.
  • Less dependant of overall traffic volume and more on targeted traffic.

Cons –

  • Business license and tax requirements can be complicated.
  • Finding quality product suppliers can be challenging.
  • Customer service issues such as returns, complaints, etc.
  • It can be complicated to set up a website with a shopping cart and payment processors or expensive to have someone do it for you. (We can help you with this but it will still require a good amount of time and effort on your part.)
  • Start up costs for such a website can range from $25 + Business License to a few thousand dollars.

Affiliate Marketing – This is basically just advertising for other websites.  There are several different forms of affiliate marketing but the most common is commission based which means you collect a commission on sales you send to your affiliates.  You can also sell ad space on an affiliate based website.

Requirements –

  • A basic website, usually a wordpress based blog but can be set up on most web builders.
  • You need to sign up with and be accepted into one or more affiliate programs.
  • A good useful website idea to generate lots of traffic.

Pros –

  • Easy to set up.
  • Affiliates are usually easy to find
  • Does not require a lot of technical work with payments, shopping carts, etc.
  • Does not require a business license to get started.
  • No Customer service issues to deal with
  • Very little start up cost, can even be done for free if necessary.

Cons –

  • Commissions are usually fairly low (around 5%)
  • Usually requires a large amount of traffic to get enough conversions (Sales) to make a decent amount of income.
  • Usually very dependent on new and useful content being added on a regular basis.

E-books – Can be a great way to make money online and they have low start up and maintenance costs and the entire process of selling your products can be highly automated.

Requirements –

  • A business License (LLC, Sole Proprietorship, etc.)
  • An e-Book, whether you write it your self, pay someone else to write it for you or buy re-sale rights is up to you.
  • A professional looking website with a Shopping cart and/or payment options.

Pros –

  • Website can be very simple and highly automated.
  • Once set up there are very few expenses
  • Can be a great way to create and email marketing campaign.

Cons –

  • Can be a bit challenging to sell since there are a lot of options on the internet for peop-le looking for information.
  • If you write it yourself it may require a significant amount of time to complete depending on your skill dedication.

eBay – This is a great way of getting started in e-commerce.  You can start bringing in an income very quickly and you don’t need to build a website, you also quickly reach a huge market to sell your products to.  Of course all of the great benefits of  eBay come at a price, as listed below.

Requirements –

  • You need products to sell.
  • PayPal and EBay Accounts.
  • EBay market research tool such as Terapeak.com
  • A good auction listing tool or some basic html knowledge.

Pros –

  • No website needed
  • Very quick income.

Cons –

  • Finding products to sell at a competitive price can be very challenging.
  • The convenience of  eBay come at a cost expect to pay around 10% to 15% for eBay and PayPal fees combined.
  • EBay is a very competitive market and profit margins may prove to be very low.

Craigslist – This can be a great alternative to eBay.  The big benefit to craigslist is that it allows you to reach a lot of people but it is also not very well regulated and doesn’t offer many features, which means you have to get a little more creative to really make good money here.  You can reach a local or global market which can be a pro or con depending on your products

Requirements –

  • You need products to sell.
  • Craigslist account.
  • Some basic technical and html knowledge is helpful.

Pros –

  • No website needed
  • Very quick income.
  • Free! Need I say more.

Cons –

  • Finding products to sell can be a challenge.
  • This is a classified marketplace to everyone is looking to buy cheap.
  • There is a lot of fraud going on which means you need to be careful to avoid it.
  • Usually not a great long term solution.
« Older Entries

Phil

Great easy to understand ecommerce guides