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If you want more traffic to your blog from Google, you need to learn some basic SEO. You can create a search engine optimized blog post by following the five easy steps listed below and outlined in this video.
Here is the Blog post SEO checklist:
This video will show you step by step how to create a search engine optimized blog post in WordPress:
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How on god’s green earth do those bloggers keep all that fresh content coming?
One way — create lots and lots of draft post ideas in your blogging platform so that you don’t have to rack your brain for a new idea on the day that you MUST publish a post. Learn more about creating blog post drafts here.
A second way — go on a “blogging spree” and schedule out as many posts as you can into the future.
That’s right — grab a cup of coffee or your favorite energy drink and put your creative hat on (that’s the hat with the propeller on top) and start putting the nails in some of those great blog post ideas you have.
Now, schedule those puppies to go live in the future and grab a Mai Tai. Your blog is taken care of.
Watch this 6 minute video to learn how to schedule blog posts into the future in WordPress. Click to continue…
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Have you ever wondered how to find free images for your blog?
Flickr is an outstanding source of images that have the Creative Commons license. The Creative Commons license gives you the ability to use the image (for free) as long as you give attribution and don’t alter the image.
Here is a link to some more information about Creative Commons.
I sound a little out of it in this video — I shot it at like 6 am and I don’t think I was in a real chipper mood. 
Here is the five minute video:
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TweetIt’s important to keep your WordPress website up to date with the latest version of WordPress.
This is a security issue as well as a functionality issue. The new WordPress 3.0 has some additional functionality but for the most part, the administration panel will look and feel as it did before.
More importantly, upgrading your WordPress website is important because it will have the most up to date security features, keeping your WordPress website safe from hackers and viruses.
Watch this video that shows you exactly how to upgrade your WordPress website to WordPress 3.0.
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TweetLog in to your WordPress admin panel.
Under the “Appearance” menu (along the left side of the admin panel), click on “Widgets
Every WordPress theme has a slightly different set of “widgetized” sections. Your “widgets” will likely be named differently than what you see in my screenshot below. Nevertheless, they all function the same.
Click to open up the widgetized section where you will be placing the RSS feed. If your theme is like mine, you will have multiple places to choose. You will need to experiment by running through this process and then checking the look on the website until you have your RSS widget in the right place.
Now, drag and drop the “RSS” widget from the left side of your screen to the “widgetized” section where you would like the RSS widget to reside.
For the next step you will need the RSS feed URL. Find the RSS feed URL of a website by clicking on the RSS icon on that website. Click here to see what an RSS icon looks like. The URL that you are taken to after clicking on an RSS icon will be the Feed URL for that page.
Copy and paste the feed URL into the first field of the widget and click “Save”
Go back to your website’s “front end” and click “Refresh” to ensure that your RSS feed is functioning properly and is in the location that you like.
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Hmmm... which web host should I choose?
If you just want the quick version of this — I have used and highly recommend either Bluehost or Hostgator hosting.
If you read this blog regularly (actually — if you read nearly any bloggers blog regularly) you know that WordPress is the most powerful blogging platform available.
You also know that in order to execute an effective Content Marketing strategy you will need to set up a blog and begin adding relevant, valuable and consistent content to your blog.
Setting up a WordPress blog is not difficult — in fact I have created step by step video on setting up a blog that will walk you through the process — it is painless. In order to set up your own blog you will need web hosting.
Think of your web host as another computer somewhere else in the world that is housing the files for your website. When someone types in your domain name (example: russhenneberry.com) your files will be fetched from your web host and returned to the searchers Internet browser.
Be sure to verify that your web host has the following attributes before purchasing:
First things first, you will want to find a web host that provides LAMP servers. This is a Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP server. Since WordPress runs on PHP and MySQL you will need to ensure that this is the type of server space that you purchase.
Secondly, I would not even consider getting hosting that doesn’t include either Fantastico or Simple Scripts. These two applications allow you to install your WordPress blog with a couple of clicks of a button — no technical stuff.
If you have even the slightest inkling that you may eventually start another website, you should ensure that your web host allows “add-on domains.” This means that you will be able to host multiple websites on the same hosting package while still retaining separate domains in the eyes of search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.
My hosting providers of choice for a beginning blogger have been Bluehost and Hostgator. Both provide all of the above and then some. I have had good experiences with both customer support and product quality.
Leave a comment! What questions do you have about setting up your WordPress hosting?
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TweetThis may be the most important plug-in (besides the life-saving Akismet spam blocker) that you install on your WordPress blog.
It will back up and email your WordPress database to you at a scheduled time each week. If your database becomes corrupt, your site is deleted or is otherwise attacked by Internet gremlins you will be able to restore your site to the last back-up.
Here is how to do it.
1. Log-In to your WordPress Admin Panel.
2. Click on “Plug-Ins” and then “Add New”
3. Type “WP-DB Backup” into the search bar.
4. Find the “WP-DB Backup” plug-in and click “Install”
5. Click on “Install Now”
6. Click on “Activate Plug-in”
7. Find the “WordPress Database Backup” Plugin in your list of Plug-Ins and Click on “Tools –> Backup’
8. Set the timing of your back up — I do once a week. Add your email address to the “Scheduled Back-Up section and click on “Schedule Back-Up button”
Voila… your WordPress MySQL database will be emailed to you on the schedule that you specified in Step 8.
Take that Internet gremlins!
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At the center of my tiny business marketing strategy is the content “hub” that resides on a business blog. I recommend using a WordPress blog over all other blogging platforms because WordPress is:
Designing a WordPress site is very easy. You will find a theme and upload it into your ‘wp-content’ -> ‘themes’ folder on your server. Watch this video on uploading a WordPress theme for the full details.
I almost always recommend purchasing a premium WordPress theme because:
I say “usually” because there are times when I have bought themes from developers and didn’t get the above benefits.
Use one of these premium WordPress theme developers to ensure that you are getting a high quality theme with all of the above perks:
iThemes - I use iThemes when I need a non-blog website but I want the ease-of-use and SEO benefits of WordPress. These themes are extremely easy to use with great functionality in the admin panel. In other words, you won’t need to know code or FTP to make many of the changes you will want to make.
Solostream - Solostream has an arsenal of outstanding WordPress blog themes. The layouts are very clean and they have some extremely cool features. The support forums are a little quiet for my taste but I haven’t needed them as the themes are very well developed. These Solostream blog themes are second to none in the area of allowing changes to be made without messing with code and FTP.
Woothemes - Woothemes has several very nice blog themes and a couple of good non-blog themes. The support forums are very active and I have been able to get quick responses to my questions from other members or moderators. The themes themselves are not the best in terms of allowing changes to be made within WordPress itself, but if you like the look of the theme out of the box or if you are not afraid of getting your hands dirty in the code from time to time — Woothemes is a great choice.
Image Credit: Kristina
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Tweet1. Type in www.yoursite.com/wp-admin in the address bar of Internet Explorer.
2. Log in to your WordPress “back-end”
4. Open a new tab by pressing Ctrl+T on a Windows maching or Command+T on a Mac.
5. There will now be a second tab available within your web browser.
6. Type in www.yoursite.com in the address bar of the new tab.
7. You now have two tabs open, one with your “front-end” and the other with your “back-end.”
Having two tabs open will allow you to make changes in your “back-end” tab and view the changes live on your site in the “front-end” tab.
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Tweet1. In your “back-end” Click on “Pages” in the left sidebar
2. Click on “Pages” in the sub-menu.
3. Find the page to edit
4. Click on “Edit”
5. Make the necessary changes
6. Click “Update Page”
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