WordPress Tutorials about Blogging
Guides and ideas for writing more effective blog posts on your Wordpress website. You should also read ‘What to do with Your List of Keywords’.
Facebook Like Box on Your Website
October 19, 2011
It is important that visitors to your website see or learn something new when they visit your website so they know you’ve got your finger on the pulse so to speak.
Blog posts and optimised photo galleries are a great way to keep your website fresh and interesting but for something even quicker why not add your Facebook updates to your homepage or sidebar. If you feel like some of your most useful tips and conversations happen on facebook, then this is a good way to ensure that they reach a wider audience and turn website visitors into Facebook followers.
Keep reading to find out how to customise and add a Facebook Like Box to your website and see examples of sites using this concept. Also find out how to show Facebook updates in your MailChimp email newsletter.
You need to be a member to view this tutorial. Membership options below…
One Month | 3 Months | Lifetime |
| Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website |
| 1 month | 3 months | Forever |
| US$10 | US$30 | US$100 |
| More info... | More info... | More info... |
Already a Member?
Send Posts to Multiple Twitter Accounts
June 27, 2011
As well as sending your WordPress posts to your company twitter account automatically, the Wordtwit Pro plugin allows your blog authors to also send their posts to their own twitter accounts so you can tweet one post many times.
WordTwit Pro also lets you customise the wording on your tweet, add hashtags and even schedule when the tweet should send. This means you can publish your post at anytime but make sure the tweet linking to your post doesn’t go out until first thing in the morning when your followers are checking their accounts. You can publish as many times as you like and even tweet old posts.
NOTE: Only the paid version ($39) lets you publish to multiple accounts.
Keep reading to find out how to setup WordTwit Pro to send to one or multiple Twitter Accounts.
You need to be a member to view the rest of this page. Membership Options below:
One Month | 3 Months | Lifetime |
| Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website |
| 1 month | 3 months | Forever |
| US$10 | US$30 | US$100 |
| More info... | More info... | More info... |
Member Login
If you are already a member, please login below to view this page.
Linking Your Posts the Easy Way
March 19, 2011
It’s important when you are adding content to your website to include click-able links whenever you reference another post you’ve written or refer to a service you offer.
The latest version of WordPress has greatly improved linking functionality so you can easily place links to any of your posts and pages from within the page you are editing. If you write a lot of blog posts or subtly promote your services (website pages) within your posts, this is going to save you a huge amount of time as well as making it easy for you to add links to keep your audience reading.
Find out how to add internal links in WordPress and how to use them to make your website better for both people and search engines to navigate.
You need to be a member to view the rest of this page. Membership options below…
One Month | 3 Months | Lifetime |
| Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website |
| 1 month | 3 months | Forever |
| US$10 | US$30 | US$100 |
| More info... | More info... | More info... |
Member Login
If you are already a member, please login below to view this page.
Notes from WordCamp New Zealand 2011
February 19, 2011
I spent today at WordCamp New Zealand at Te Papa in Wellington listening to a diverse range of speakers all connected by WordPress. Here are a few of my notes, useful links and highlights…
#1 Speaker – Vaughn Davis from The Goat Farm
Wrote and published an e-book called Tweet this Book – added each chapter as a blog post on his website and used ‘Pay with a Tweet‘ enabling people who tweeted a link to his book to download a copy of the book from DropBox.
#2 Speaker – Gwen from Minimonos
Minimonos is an online game for kids focused on green living – kids can create their own monkey character. Talking about blogging for kids – lots of graphics to break up text, positive tone, use the comments section for feedback and competitions. Many kids (aged 8 onwards) create their own fan blogs often using WordPress. Polls are a useful tool plus a weekly video with contributions from the kids.
#3 Speaker John Ford from Automattic
Talking about WordPress security and VaultPress (as well as people forgetting the capital ‘P’ in WordPress). Fun presentation with the usual suspects such as easy to guess passwords and not updating your wp version or plugins. Also covered file permissions, what hackers do and what to do if your website is hacked. Mentioned some useful links below…
- Changing file permissions
- Hardening WordPress
- Exploit Scanner Plugin – Check for bad code to see if your site has been hacked
#4 Speaker Michael Brandon from Search Masters
Talking about search engine optimisation for WordPress. Search Phrase selection important (use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool). I took lots of notes at Michael’s SEO talk last year so notes below are just a few extras…
- Think about categorisation as well as regionalisation in your search terms
- Your meta description is all about getting people to click through to your website so should include your unique selling point
- Each word from meta title should also be included in description
- Your opening paragraph should also include your title search phrase
- use bold and italics to emphasise first 2 instances of search phrase
- Don’t make the first paragraph on your homepage a list of links or Google will think its a menu
Michael also talked about the impact of Facebook on inbound links. More people using Facebook rather than blogs for commenting so links are not visible to search engines. Try writing articles for other websites with a link back to your own site. His WordCamp presentation has been posted here.
#5 Speaker – Julie Star from the Evolving Newsroom
Spoke about her new project AllAbouttheStory.com. People post their blog posts and stories and publishers can login to the site and purchase them. They take both exclusive and syndicated content, much of it purchased by smaller publications. Trying to help journalists, writers and bloggers get paid in the changing world of media.
#6 Speaker – Paul Gibbs from BuddyPress
Talked about BuddyPress (a plugin which adds a social networking component to your WordPress website). Members component lets you extend user/member profiles – you can add your own fields for users to fill in to create their profile. Groups can be public (anyone can see and participate), private (participation is invite only) or hidden (administrator discussions, intranet etc).
To test drive BuddyPress , go to www.testbp.org and create your profile. Slides from Paul’s presentation available here…
Some useful BuddyPress plugins…
- Buddy Stream – links your BuddyPress, Twitter and Facebook updates
- BP GTM (Group Task Management) – use BuddyPress for project management
- Group Documents – upload documents to groups for members of that group only to access
- Achievements – lets you set tasks and rewards for members
#7 Speaker – David Farrar from Kiwi Blog
Talked about building and day to day running of a large and popular blog. Tips included: write for yourself, not your audience; inject personal stuff and personality into your posts; respond to comments. Covered some of his solutions for dealing with large numbers of comments – check his blog for a list of best plugins to use for improved comment moderation etc.
#8 Speaker Ryan Allen from Envato
Talking about scaling WordPress for performance. Some important stuff especially if your website/blog gets a lot of traffic. More info here.
#9 Speaker Justin Sainton from Zao Web Design
Talking about the new Group Deals plugin, an add on for wp e-commerce plugin. Adds Groupon style functionality to your online shop.
Here a quick summary of Day 2 at WordCamp…
#1 Speaker Dan from Instinct
Talked about using the wp e-commerce plugin for selling music downloads. New features include mass upload capability, preview of music and downloads box. Store music on Amazon S3. Manage music on several platforms – own website plus iTunes, bandcamp etc. Buy audio player premium plugins here.
#2 Speaker Stacey from E2 Digital
Talked about custom theme design. Showed a few websites and talked about theme features and plugins used to create them. Stacey also designed the WordCampNZ website and used TikiPress plugin for event management. TikiPress works in conjunction with BuddyPress and wp E-Commerce plugin.
#3 Speaker Ryan from PixoPoint
Ryan talked about a new system he’s developing to allow editing of WordPress templates using shortcodes. This would avoid security issues plus negate the need for ftp software or knowledge of php. Option for multi-site installation (for designers and developers managing multiple WordPress websites) a bit like WordPress.com and better than shared hosting.
#4 Speaker Paul Gibbs from BuddyPress
Talking about the new Achievements Plugin for BuddyPress. A system of rewarding your members for types of action within BuddyPress such as posting comments, creating groups etc. Example of website using this at www.operationhq.com
Keep Them Reading – Related Posts
November 25, 2010
Adding a related posts plugin to your WordPress blog adds a list of similar posts underneath each post which readers can click on to read more of your fascinating insights.
Customising the text which appears above the list to something inviting like “You Might Also Like…” is a simple way to keep people reading your blog. The more of your posts they read, the more likely they are to make a comment, return regularly to read more, subscribe to your rss feed or signup to your newsletter. Example of related posts with images below.
There are a few different types of related posts plugin so keep reading to decide which one most suits your blog and how to implement it. Options for displaying related posts are:
- by category or tag (with thumbnails)
- by category (a list of other posts in the same category)
- by author (other posts by the same blog author)
You need to be a member to view the rest of this page.
One Month | 3 Months | Lifetime |
| Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website |
| 1 month | 3 months | Forever |
| US$10 | US$30 | US$100 |
| More info... | More info... | More info... |
Member Login
If you are already a member, please login below to view this page.
RSS Email Newsletter Feed Options
November 13, 2010
If you use WordPress and publish blog posts of any sort, whether they are events, recipes, tutorials, news or new products, your email newsletter is already taken care of. That is, as long as you have an RSS campaign setup with MailChimp to automatically send your posts to people who subscribe to your newsletter.
This post focuses on options for
- which blog content you send in your newsletter
- what the content looks like
- how to customise each newsletter before it goes out to your subscribers
You need to be a member to view the rest of this page. Membership options below…
One Month | 3 Months | Lifetime |
| Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website |
| 1 month | 3 months | Forever |
| US$10 | US$30 | US$100 |
| More info... | More info... | More info... |
Member Login
If you are already a member, please login below to view this page.
Find out how to create your RSS Campaign in my previous post. [Read more]
Creating a Post via a Gravity Form
September 9, 2010
Gravity forms can be used to automatically create WordPress blog posts? You set up a form with special post fields for title, content, images etc, add the form to your website and the form entries are turned into blog posts waiting for you to approve and publish them.
Ideas for using this functionality on your website:
- Have users, staff or guest bloggers submit articles without having to login or have access to WordPress administration
- Collect listings for online directories (include a variety of categories)
- Collect and publish testimonials and feedback
- Create a Guestbook page and collect comments
- Users submit Real Estate listings
- Users Submit Job Listings or resumes
First of all you need to purchase a copy of Gravity Forms. Very reasonably priced at only US$39 and by far the best product on the market.
You need to be a member to view the rest of this page. Membership options below…
One Month | 3 Months | Lifetime |
| Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website |
| 1 month | 3 months | Forever |
| US$10 | US$30 | US$100 |
| More info... | More info... | More info... |
Member Login
If you are already a member, please login below to view this page.
Watchlist of Favourite Posts/Properties
July 19, 2010
The ‘My Favourite Posts’ plugin lets your audience save a list of their favourite posts with one click. They can then login at any time and view their list as well as add/delete items.
Download ‘My Favorite Posts’ Plugin…
When you have hundreds of tutorials, property listings, shopping cart items and other types of blog posts on your website, it becomes more and more difficult to ensure that your readers can find the post they need quickly and easily. This way people can save relevant posts and listings as they browse, then review and link to them again whenever they choose.
You need to be a member to view the rest of this page. Membership options below…
One Month | 3 Months | Lifetime |
| Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website |
| 1 month | 3 months | Forever |
| US$10 | US$30 | US$100 |
| More info... | More info... | More info... |
Member Login
If you are already a member, please login below to view this page.
WordPress Theme for Real Estate
June 23, 2010
WordPress and real estate are a match made in heaven especially when you start with a WordPress theme made especially for Real Estate like the AgentPress Theme from StudioPress.
View the new goodGround Real Estate website…
Multiple Categories
You can write property listings (blog posts) under as many different categories and sub categories as you like. They all fit seamlessly into the website’s navigation and can then be searched or viewed by category, sub-category or keyword. Adding the Multiple category selection widget means many categories can be searched at once. Eg. Price, Location, No. Bedrooms etc. The Agent Press theme lets you show an image and content summary for each category. Click on photo below right.
Easy Photo Uploading
Upload multiple photos to a property listing all at once and click ‘Insert Gallery’ button to add them to the post. Sizes are setup in your administration so resizing is automatic and you get a professional looking gallery on each listing in minutes. With one click you select a main photo to represent each listing and this appears on your homepage and category pages. Click on photo right.
Multiple Authors & Access Levels
WordPress can handle any number of different users with varying levels of access creating and/or publishing new listings. By adding an author box (see image below), you add an agent’s photo and details to every property listing. You can also separate each author’s feed to show properties by agent. Access levels can allow users to publish new posts, only write new posts or only edit their own posts – the combinations are endless.
Superior Search Engine Optimisation
WordPress publishes blog content as a feed so search engines can easily index any new listings as they appear. Each post allows you to add custom titles, permalinks, meta descriptions, keywords and tags pertaining that listing. Pretty permalinks mean that the website address of each and every page/post consists of keywords (not random letters & numbers).
Automatic Promotion of your Listings
Adding plugins such as Sociable, Twitter Tools and Other Category Posts let you and your readers easily promote each and every listing. Your feed can be linked to an email newsletter to automatically send new listings to your subscribers once a day, once a week or once a month. Setup one newsletter or one for each category or agent.
Why Use AgentPress?
Here are just a few of the things which make AgentPress the best choice:
- Set any number special fields to appear on every post (see image below)
- Show special properties in slideshow on homepage (make this part of a promotional package)
- Promote more special properties on the homepage
- Write a blog with tips and news for sellers and buyers
- include a second navigation bar showing main categories
Purchase the AgentPress theme here.
Other Plugins Used to Enhance Agent Press
- Multiple Category Search Widget
- My Favourite Posts plugin
- List posts by author
- Genesis Simple Sidebars
- Gravity Forms on sidebars
WordPress to MailChimp E-Newsletter
May 10, 2010
MailChimp lets you send daily, weekly or monthly e-newsletters containing your blog posts. It is all done using their ‘RSS to Email’ function (Translation: Blog Posts to Email Newsletter).
Email Newsletters with MailChimp
Once you have setup your free MailChimp account and customised an email template with your logo etc, just create an rss campaign. Enter your website’s feed address (if you use WordPress you have one), decide whether you want to show entire posts or just summaries of each, then select how often you want your newsletter to send. Any fresh content/blog posts you’ve published since the last newsletter will slot into your branded template and send automatically every day, week or month. If there is no new content, the newsletter wont send.
How to Create an RSS to Email Campaign
Unless you want to change the frequency of your newsletter or layout at some stage, this is the one and only time you will need to do the steps below. Everything after your rss campaign is scheduled is automatic.
You need to be a member to view the rest of this page. Membership options below…
One Month | 3 Months | Lifetime |
| Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website | Unlimited Access to ALL 100+ Tutorials on this website |
| 1 month | 3 months | Forever |
| US$10 | US$30 | US$100 |
| More info... | More info... | More info... |
Member Login
If you are already a member, please login below to view this page.
- Get a free MailChimp account.
- Click on Campaigns tab, then on the big orange Add Campaign button
- Select RSS Campaign from the drop down list
- Add your RSS Feed address and choose how often your newsletter will send
- Design/customise an email template – Before you create your campaign, you’ll want to customise one of MailChimp’s email templates with your colours, logo, links to your website, images etc. This is all done on site and is easy to use.
- Add Your content Edit the content section of your template and insert an rss merge tag (this will be already there if you choose rss campaign) to display either post excerpts or full posts. You can also insert your Twitter feed, add images, special greeting etc.
- Send Yourself a Test .
- Add a Subscriber List - Add any email subscribers you already have by importing the entire list or adding them one at a time.
- Schedule Your Campaign – Select the date you want the first one to send. Eg. Mine is monthly and sends on the 2nd of every month. [Read more]
