Since I stopped writing daily posts here, I have been working on building three websites at once.   One is the project page and two are replacement sites for 2 I have currently.  They need updating, changes to reflect some changes.  During this time I am also working on 3 others’ sites.  My mom’s and 2 friends.

When I started doing sites, I didn’t know what I was doing, so there was no pattern.  After dozens of sites, there is a specific pattern that I have never written down.  At least until now.  Someone asked me how do I recall and what was my list.  After some thought; here it is, of course this depends on if it is my site or for someone else, or the particular needs of the site.  The things marked with * are what I do for my site.

* Get Domain Name
Transfer Domain Name to Web Host
Addon Domain Name at host
Install WordPress via Fantastico
Use File manager to copy standard plugins (8 to 10) to the new site.
Go to site, make necessary WP upgrades and plugin upgrades.
Activate current plugins
Go to site, install site particular plugins, activate, check working status.
Set up plugins.
Check working status again, adjust settings as necessary.
Go to appearance, install themes, select “Theme options.”  Then choose theme that matches theme of the site. My list of favorite themes is below.
Customize the theme ~ Colors and fonts  (according to their requests or my “vision”)
* Make adjustments to colors, make more adjustments to colors
Create a header graphic.  Check it on the site.  Modify as necessary.
* Get site appearance checks (ask at Social Networking site where you have a small following if they like the way it looks) Modify based on their comments.
Customize the theme further in the code editor 
Create a favicon.   (Free tool)
Add and move widgets to appropriate places
Check the website appearance and correct
Add autoresponder ($1 trial)
* Write About page
* Write necessary beginning posts
* Write necessary pages 
Check website details and correct

You will notice I correct quite often.  But when you add plugins, and widgets, and add components you may see things are not working out quite right.  And with appearance, you may notice the big things the first times, and see other details while working on set up.  Some details will only show up on rare occasion.  Very weird to have a red and white set up and suddenly a purple line show up. But those details give the site a complete look.  Such as the favicon.  (that little icon right beside my site name up in your address bar.

Now you know what I have been up to since I stopped daily posting at Rockstar Guide Books.

Live ♥ Laugh ♥ Love

MJ Schrader

Good Customizable themes

1. GoodTheme
2. Themes by itxitx
   1. Bombax
   2. Albizia
   3. Calotropis
3. SWIFT 5.29 by Satish Gandham
4. Techozoic Fluid by Jeremy Clark
5. Feed Me, Seymour 1.1.2 by c.bavota
6. Magazine Basic
7. Twenty Ten (New WordPress 3.0 theme)
8. Weaver (works on the TwentyTen Framework)

EXTREMELY Customizable, to the point they have too many details for me.

1. Twordder
2. Lead Producer

The advantage is this gives you more exposure which can increase your blog followers

Today is going to cover some steps to implement.

Add the NetworkedBlogs app to your Facebook.

From the new page, click the Add a new blog.

You will need to verify your blog. There are 2 ways to verify your blog. One get friends to say you are the blog author, which has the advantage of getting friends to subscribe and get you started towards the 20 followers. When you have 20 followers you will be listed as blog on networked blogs.

The alternative is that you copy the html code they give you and paste it somewhere on your blog. You can paste in a text widget on your blog.

If you have a fan page, visit your fan page and click the + sign. This will allow you to add a new tab, from the drop down select Networked blogs.

You can also repeat the above step on your profile.

Now your blogs will automatically post to your wall.

If you want to add a specific post to your wall click the Networked Blogs button under the status box. Then select the post you want.

To add the widget, just click widget on your blog profile page.  Select the widget you want, you have two choices.  Then select all of the code in the box.  Then go back your blog and choose widgets under appearance.    Then pull a text box over to your sidebar and paste the code into the text box.  Your widget should appear.

This will help you get more website traffic which will help grow your business.

Live ♥ Laugh ♥ Love

MJ Schrader

Today’s video is how to install Platinum SEO plugin. It also covers how to upgrade your WordPress website.  While you technically do not have to upgrade every time WP says, regular updating it helps prevent problems and hackers.  Also if you wait several upgrades before upgrading your site is more likely to CRASH.  Note the capital letters because unfortunately it can be a major crash.

Unfortunately after the video ended I realized I assumed you knew why SEO plugins are important.  Fortunately I have written a few posts to explain 7 Easy SEO Tips for More Blog Traffic, and why I switched to Platinum SEO.  All in One SEO vs Platinum SEO, SEO Plugin Battle

But here is a quick summary.  Look at the image for some references.  SEO plugins allow you to create a title and description and keywords for a blog post. You may see these mentioned as meta title, meta description, meta tags, these denote what the search engine uses.

301 redirect means that should you change a permalink your website does not give the viewer an error, rather it sends them to a similar one.

The video is below.  This was filmed off 365OnlineTip.com where I am partners with Kelly Maria Clark.    (You’ll find out why this is important when you see the video.)

Live ♥ Laugh ♥ Love

MJ Schrader

Tomorrow: Nofollow Blog Comments Myth Busted

Friday: Freebie Friday (what freebie would you like?)

What is the difference between a theme and a template?

Your theme may have templates included.  Many WordPress themes include an “archive template” and the template is different from the standard theme used on most pages.  You can see if you have a template by reading Creating Sales Letters in WordPress.   The theme on 365 Online Tips has different templates, the theme here has a separate box that allows me to turn features on and off.  Yet templates offered the look I wanted for my sales letters.

Where do I install it?

The video below will show you but, it may be hard to catch it.  You want to visit your File manager in your cpanel.  Then public_html.  Find the website you want to add the templates to, then look for wp_content.  Open your themes and find the theme you are currently using.   Open the theme upload your templates there.  Then find the templates you want to use and pull the contents, all of them, from the folder and put them into your theme.

And now time for your video!!

Hope you enjoy and hope it helps!

~ MJ Schrader

PS Get your templates at  Templates.LoveRockstar.com

Yesterday I discussed changing to Disqus. (unintended pun) Today is going to be how to switch to Disqus.

Set up Disqus

Visit Disqus.com You will need to register your site. You will be given a short name which you can edit but is unique to your blog. Now, since you probably want to manage your comments you will need to create your profile.

Settings

You can set up optional features for the way people can log in to comment on your blog. Media Attachment is automatically checked. Options are Facebook, OpenID, Twitter and Yahoo. These options also allow your commentators to display their comment on those sites. This allows for greater traffic. Checking the Akismet link will reduce spam. Reactions will add links to people recommending your post on Twitter, Friendfeed, Digg and many other sites. You can change these options later so do not worry.

Installation

Login to your WordPress. Scroll down to Plugins. Choose Add New and then type Disqus in your search. You want the Disqus Comment System. Click Install, again in the pop up and activate. You will see a must configure warning at the top of the page. Click the link. Use your Disqus login and then choose your short name you registered at Disqus. Now you have it installed.

Sync Comments

After installation it will take you to the Disqus comment page within your blog. This is the manage page, while is shows, you must manage at Disqus. This is a fault in Disqus, but it is still worth using. Click Advanced Options. You should have some long code in your API. Scroll down and export comments. This will sync your current comments with Disqus.

Back to Disqus.com

Choose overview from the link on the box on the right where your avatar image is. Next click comments. If you have more than one blog you will want to go to the right again and a little lower you will see “All Sites” choose which site on which you want to work. Here you can moderate comments, approve, delete etc. You could moderate all sites at once, but I prefer to know which comments are to which blog.

More Settings

Now choose the Settings tab in the left. If there is more than one blogger you will want to add them to the Moderator list. Next click to customization sub tab to change the appearance and layout. The general sub-tab will let you change the settings you used during the blog set up. Tools allows you to create a widget.

How is this easier?

While the initial set up is more work, after that you can just visit Disqus.com when you want. You can see comments on all blogs or one by one. You moderate your comments there, and with Disqus you have less moderation work to do. In addition with all the back traffic systems it helps build traffic to your website.

~ MJ Schrader