To Add an Album Link or Slideshow

You will need to be logged into Google. You will need to be able to add HTML to site. In WordPress go to the upper right of where you are writing your posts and click HTML. Find where you are going to want the slideshow and go to Picasa in another tab.

If you are on the page that shows all of your albums over on the right you should see two words “Embed Slideshow.” That will show pictures from all your albums. You can copy the code you see there and paste it on your HTML page of your post.

If you want just one album, click the album name. This time you will see “Link to this album” on the right. While this will give you a code to link to the album, it will show just one picture. This may be fine in some cases. But when you clicked that link, “Embed Slideshow” appeared as well. Click that to get the HTML code you need for the slideshow you want. Now you have a slideshow.

There are too many variable

If you have WordPress there are over 11,000 plugins and over 1000 themes. Any person can have any number of plugins. There are dozens of themes with options to modify their appearance. Thereby we are talking probably millions of possible combinations.

However there are more variables, in addition to themes and plugins there are web host services. There are hundreds of different hosting options available. They can add in another variable that can mean something can work on one web host and not another.

Add into this equation that people have different browsers and what may work on one will not work on another. All of my sites are built with me using Firefox. I have tested most of them in Chrome and Opera. There are also Internet Explorer, Safari and other lesser known browsers. These read themes differently so the curved corners on Firefox 50WomenProject.com do not show up on Internet Explorer and actually mess up a bit in Opera.  Addons, plugins and other features can make their browser more unique and add more variables.

Let’s also add into the equation that some people are on PCs and others are on Mac. Then there is Linux which is a another operating system. These read and respond differently to different plugins, themes and such.

Oh, and since we do not have enough variables… let’s add in the fact that a regular monitor and a widescreen monitor pick up things differently. So when you visit one website with a regular monitor, that was designed on a widescreen, it may appear that things on the sidebar are cut in half.

What are you trying to say?

All of this is to say that you can not please everyone and take every possible variable into account. You can take most of them into account. You can make it work for the majority of the people who visit your website. You cannot make it work for every single person who comes to your website.

Someone is liable to tell you that you have the wrong plugins, theme or combinations because your website made their browser crash. Maybe, maybe not. It may be the cookies from a site they visited earlier disagrees with your site. It may be a random variable. It may not, but if your site works for most people then be happy!

Check your site on a couple different browsers. Ask friends who use different browsers or computer types to check your website. If there are problems turn off all your plugins and turn the back on one by one testing as you go. Try a different theme. Try http://IsMyBlogWorking.com. Once you are confident your website works for most people, do not worry about people who say your website crashes or does not work.  You have a great website!

Live, Laugh, Love

MJ Schrader

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

Free Web Hosting

There are free web hosts that are available and it may seem like a way to save. The biggest problem with free web hosts is that they must make their money somewhere. Their course of action is to add advertisements to your website. While you may think it is worth it to get free web hosting, it is not that expensive.

Web hosting is cheap.

Quality web hosting can be had for under $8 a month. You can put your own advertisements, banner ads and products on your website. Some of the free web hosts do not allow you to run any ads, some may not allow you to sell products on your website.

But in any case their ads can pull people off your website and send them elsewhere. You want your readers to stay on your website or visit the places you want them to visit. This helps you build the reputation of your website or helps you make money by getting your readers to buy things you suggest.

~ MJ Schrader

Flash Intro

That “cool” introduction flash, movie or other introduction can make readers mad. It may not load. It may take too long to load. It can be flashy and glitzy enough to cause problems with the browser the reader is using. It could cause problems with the operating system.

LOUD COLORS

This is a surprisingly common mistake. That brightly colored website may look great to you, but what about to your readers. Your readers also want to be able to see different parts of your website. If they can not tell the sidebar from the header, or the body the side becomes hard to understand.

Font Color Vs Background Color

The light pink font on your light blue background is very hard to read. So is the pale gray on your white. A high contrast between the background color and the font is very important.  That is why so many blogs have either a black background with white writing or white background with black writing.

Hopefully this will explain some very important reasons people leave websites in a hurry!

~ MJ Schrader

This is an easy to use control panel that most hosts use.  This allows you easy access to you website files and other functions.

Do not get free!

Free web hosts will place ads on your site and also be worth every cent you pay.  A quality web host should run $5 to $15 a month. There are more expensive ones if you are expecting a massive website or multiple websites. For most companies starting online, all you need is the standard company.

What do they have?

If you want a WordPress website, you want them to mention installation, either free, easy, scripts or something. Should you want to build a website, look for a free website builder. Again you want the cPanel. They should allow you to add 100s if not unlimited web domains. Email should be offered as well.

Customer service

Is their contact information readily available?  Will they speak your language?  When are they available? Will they offer you a refund if you do not like their service? Will they help you if you have problems?

Reviews

The best web site hosting services are going to have very vocal fans and very vocal enemies.  It is like cell phone service where people love the company or hate them.  So it is personal choice.

FREE DOMAIN NAME WARNING

The best web hosts offer a free domain name.  You should always get your first choice domain name from someone other than your web host.  You can always get a variation, a dot net or something with the free domain name.  The reason is, if you and your web host have a falling out, it may take a week or longer for them to give your domain name to you.  Even worse, they could decide not to give it back at all.  You can find stories about this with EVERY web hosting service.

Below are two hosts images here I recommend and I have worked with both.

~ MJ Schrader

Please note those are both affiliate links, which is what helps me provide valuable information to you.

It is actually surprisingly simple to change your WordPress Blog into a WordPress website. The benefit is that you wind up with a static web page as your home page and you have a blog, or update page as well. This means you keep the blog and you can change the name of it to updates, news, latest, etc…

Visit Pages.

Pages is a tab on your dashboard. Under pages you want add new. Here you are going to create a home page. You can call it anything you like, but you probably want to use a name that lets people know it is the home page. This is the page people will land on when they visit your website.

Next you will need to create a page that will be the new name for your blog. You can use blog, updates, news or anything you like. This name needs to reflect that this is where people can find the latest information.

Visit Settings

After you have created the pages you are going to scroll down on the dashboard to settings. Beneath settings is a tab called reading. On the right you are going to change the radio box from “Your Latest posts” to “A static page.” Now you are going to select your front page, which is the page people will land on when they visit your website.

Next you will need to select the page you named for your posts. Once you have done this you will have what looks like a regular website. You will also have the ability to share latest information with your readers!

If you are watching #Blog30 by Dr Jeanette Cates, you are likely either a blogger or a want to be blogger. Jeanette recommended that all the bloggers use self-hosted WordPress. If you want a blog or even a website, this is the way to go. WordPress is an impressive application for personal use.

NO PROGRAMMING!

When the Internet first became popular, websites requires extensive use of HTML and other programming knowledge. Many beginners would take a look at the long lengths of code and quickly turn away deciding this was not for them. Things have changed a lot.

Many people now use WordPress because programming knowledge is not required. There are people who have no programming education yet they use this program daily. The most “programming” is in the installation. You can easily add, subtract pages. You can change text and more.

Is it just for bloggers?

To say WordPress is versatile is an understatement. People have used it as a blog format for years. Yet people are starting to move their websites to this easy to use program. Others are finding that for Content Management Systems, this is the new way to go.

Sites that have forums have already found it is now a good format to use. With recent developments of powerful new membership plugins, even Membership sites are starting to switch. Both forums and membership sites have found the easy of use is great for both the owners and the visitors.

What are Plugins?

Speaking of Plugins, these handy micro programs can be uploaded and added to your WordPress site to create even more diversity and adapt it even further. There are plugins that help your website do even more, or bring in more visitors. Add plugins into your sidebar and your visitors can see an event calendar, archive list, connect with your other readers and follow recent comments.

Is it easy to use?

Perhaps this should have been the first thing mentioned, but you already realized that by all the above advantages. WordPress has taken away the fear and hesitancy felt by many, and turned it into joy. This simple blog format has changed the way websites around the world are run with its low learning curve.  If you are still hesitating about getting WordPress ask other Blog Challenge Members.  And I offer a book, a course and an installation service should you need it.

~ MJ Schrader

Does your website have a flash or movie intro?

Flash or Movies may not load on different browsers. Some people are still on dial up. Even if that seems dark ages to you, think about dial up, think about people who are in remote areas who do not have fast internet. Your flash movie will keep them from going to your site.

Is your website an eye sore?

This is a surprisingly common mistake. I visited a site that was bright green with hot pink and yellow swirls on it. Unless that site was giving away money, I was not about to stay.

Did you forget to sell to your readers?

Most every website involves selling something. That something may be a product or service, but it involves selling. Even a personal website involves selling yourself, so let the readers know how you can make them laugh, cry or otherwise bring emotion.

Are you talking features or benefits?

On your pages you want to talk about benefits. Stir emotion in your readers, get them involved. The soft light from this lamp will make you look younger. Getting laser hair removal will mean smooth sexy legs all summer. These are benefits that keep your visitors on your business website.

Did you write for online reading?

Most websites have short paragraphs. Lists and highlighted text are common. There are spaces between paragraphs. What you will notice is that most of the writing can be scanned. Reading long paragraphs online is hard on the eyes.

How can you avoid these mistakes?

The common website mistakes are problems with not thinking about how other people see your website. While you may have a certain vision for your site and think everyone wants what you want, think about others. Ask people you know for honest opinions on your website. Ask them to use different browsers. When you stay focused on the reader your site will grow.