Plugin Guide – Step 3 – Essentials
October 25, 2007
The following 2 plugins are included as standard on a free Wordpress blog (that’s how important they are), but need to be uploaded and activated on a Hosted Wordpress blog. Without them, you have no way of stopping your blog being inundated with spam comments and have no idea who is visiting your blog and what they are looking at.
No. 1 Essential Plugin – Akismet Spam Filter
You can download a Spam filter to stop 90% of the comments from spammers coming to your email. Download Spam Filter… Once you have downloaded the files, follow step 2 of my Plugin Guide to activate your new plugin. It will ask you for an API key to complete the process. Find out how to get one below.
No 2 Essential Plugin – Wordpress Stats
You can download Wordpress Stats to view numbers of visitors to your blog on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. This allows you to see which pages they have looked at, which links they have clicked on, where they have come from and what search terms they have used to find you. Download Wordpress Stats… Once you have downloaded the files, follow step 2 of my Plugin Guide to activate your new plugin. It will ask you for an API key to complete the process. Find out how to get one below.
Get a Wordpress API Key
An API key is a unique Wordpress password. You can get one for free by going to www.wordpress.com, click on the big green “Sign Up Now” button, fill in your details and check “Just a username please” at the bottom. Once you have clicked the Next button, you will be emailed your API key.
Additional Info on API keys
- What is an API key?
- If you already have a free wordpress blog, you already have an API key which you can use on your hosted blog. To get it, login to your free blog, go to admin and profile. Copy the key and paste into your hosted blog.
- Once you have an API key, you can put details and a photo into your profile so that when you make comments on other blogs, this info appears.
- Try and use something relevant and not embarrassing for your API key username as it will be visible when you make comments.
Some of my favourite plugins to enhance your blog next…
Plugin Guide – Step 2 – Upload
October 23, 2007
Upload Plugins to Your Blog
Once you have connected to your ftp site, you need to double-click the main blog folder, usually called “wordpress” or “blog”, then “wp_content” folder, then “plugins” folder. This is where you put the unzipped files you downloaded to your computer. Remember when you unzip them, they are usually extracted inside another folder so you need to make sure you are uploading the actual folder containing the plugin files.
Activate Your Plugins
In the admin/dashboard of your blog, go to Plugins, find the one you have uploaded and click on Activate. This usually activates one of the following:
- A new widget appears under Presentation/Widgets. You can drag this onto your sidebar, double-click to customise, then save changes.
- A new panel appears under Options which allows you to customise and manage the new plugin.
- A new button or set of fields appears above or below every post allowing you to add new functionality to each new post you write.
The two most important plugins next…
Plugin Guide – Step 1 – FTP
October 23, 2007
Once you have a hosted Wordpress blog, you can upload your own plugins to add all kinds of exciting widgets and special features to your website.
Plugins can be downloaded to your computer from the Wordpress Plugin Directory at the click of a button. But…to be able to then upload the plugins to your blog, you need an ftp (File Transfer) program on your computer. This allows you to transfer files from your computer to your blog.
Get an FTP Program
The ftp program I use is Globalscape Cute FTP which you can download from the Globalscape website for $39.99. This program is easy to use. Download it to your computer and setup an icon on your desktop. Once you have opened the program, you need to create a “New Ftp Site”, enter your Hostname, Username and Password, then click Connect. These FTP details are provided by the company who hosts your blog.
How to activate and customise your plugins next…
Turn Your Blog into a Widget
October 16, 2007
Did you know that you can turn your blog into a widget to display on your website and make available for others to display on their blog or website. A brilliant way to link your website and blog or to advertise your products/advice on other sites. The widget displays your most recent posts as headlines which people can click on to go straight to your blog.
See a screen shot of my widget below. I have added a link to “My Blog Widget” in my blogroll in case anyone wants to download it and add it to their sidebar.
What is a Widget?
Simply put, a widget is a portable chunk of the web. Ie. A small frame showing content from a website or blog.
- Go to www.widgetbox.com
- Click on Make a Blidget
- Type your blog address including the http://
- Click Continue
- Choose a colour theme
- Display headlines only
- Select Header style ( if you check Title and Image you can select an image from one of your posts which will show up in the box below)
- Enter a title, caption, description and tags (like keywords)
- Choose whether to list in the gallery (so other people can find and download your widget)
- When you are happy with how your blidget looks on the preview, click on the “Publish Widget” button.
- At this point, you need to register (create a free account)
- Once you see the Congratulations page, click the “Get Widget” button
Putting a Widget onto Your Website
To display your widget on your website, click on “Get Widget Code”, copy the javascript and paste into the code of your webpage where you want the widget to appear. For a hosted Wordpress blog, you can paste the code into a text widget. (Widgetbox will send you an email with your unique address) Unfortunately, free Wordpress blogs do not support javascript so you’ll have to make do with a “permalink” to your widget on your blogroll or inside a page or post.
If your posts include photos, you can choose to show the first image in each post on the widget which makes it a lot more visually appealing.
Add a Cool Widgets to Your Blog
If you browse the Gallery on WidgetBox, you can browse widgets by category and pick something relevant to your blog to download and add to your sidebar. My favourite is Jackson Pollock’s Widget which allows you to create your own artwork “Jackson Pollock style” using your mouse.
Have fun and please let me know if you put my widget on your blog so I can link to it in this article.
You can also read this article on the Home Bizz Buzz Website.
Add Video to Your Website or Blog
October 5, 2007
Setting up a free account on www.vodpod.com, allows you to upload digital camera video clips from your home computer to the VodPod website.
You can keep them private and invite friends and family only to view them (see button on vodpod website to do this), or get “widget code” allowing you to display your video collection on your website or blog and on the vodpod website.
Ideas for video to enhance your website/blog
- If you own a b&b, show video clips of the grounds and rooms, a short welcome from the hosts and local attractions
- If you run a tourism business, show clients enjoying the jetboating, dolphin watching, 4wheel driving or whatever it is
- If you own a restaurant, show your meals, your tables etc
- If you sell vacuum cleaners, show them in use, being cleaned etc
- If you sell clothes, show them being worn
- If you sell expertise/advice, show yourself, show presentations, answer questions visually
- If you have kids, invite friends and family overseas to watch them grow up
Here’s how to add your videos to VodPod
(See screen shot sample on right)
- Go to www.vodpod.com
- Click on Start a Pod to setup your account.
- Once you are logged in, click on Add a Video
- Choose Upload video from my computer option
- Select your videos, then click on upload. NOTE: This takes a while even with broadband so you may want to keep the clips to less than 30 seconds, preferably around 10 seconds.
- Once uploaded, click on each video and give it a name, description etc
- Add categories and tick a category for each one
Here’s how to add your videos to your website/blog…
- Once you are happy with the videos in your pod, click on Get a Widget for this pod
- Select the type of media you are publishing to (Wordpress.com is a free wordpress blog)
- Select the name of the pod you want to display (you can have more than one)
- Select a Category or a range of other options (most recently viewed etc)
- Give the Widget a Title (this will show at top of your widget)
- Choose sidebar style for blogs or horizontal style for websites
- Choose skin (sidebar 1 is fine, but check the preview on right to see the difference)
- Change the colour of grey background for a HEX colour of your choice or leave as is.
Adding Code to a free wordpress blog
Free Wordpress blogs include a VodPod widget, so copy the code you are given on right of screen, then go to your blog admin, Presentation, then Widgets. Drag the Vodpod widget onto your sidebar, click on it, then paste the code where you are instructed.
Adding code to a hosted Wordpress blog
Copy the code you are given on right of screen, then go to your blog admin, Presentation, then Widgets. Drag a text widget onto your sidebar, click on it, then paste the code into it, save changes and view your blog.
Adding code to a website
Copy the code you are given on right of screen, then paste this into the code of your website where you want the videos to display. NOTE: You need to be able to make changes to your website’s source code to do this. If you don’t, ask your website designer so add it or contact Creative Ideas for help.
NOTE: Because the videos are hosted on the vodpod website, they wont add size or cost to your website hosting package.
