Blog Me Happy I don't want to be a newbie any longer.

If you have been on the fence about installing a WordPress blog, it’s time to make a decision and start blogging.  Recent upgrades to the WordPress platform have made it super easy to install a beautiful blog and tweak it to your heart’s content.

HOW TO INSTALL YOUR BLOG

The fist thing you’ll want to do is to go to your site’s control panel, click the Fantastico icon, and let your server set up and install your blog.  Once the blog has been installed, you will want to go into your administrative panel, which is called a dashboard.  The dashboard allows you to update the blog software, add plugins, change the look of your blog and, of course, add content.

UPDATING THE BLOG SOFTWARE

Recent updates to the blogging software have allowed you to update the software with just a click within your dashboard, and also to search, review and install plugins directly from the administrative dashboard.  Plugins enhance your blog’s capabilities.

HOW TO WORK WITH BLOG THEMES

In its June 2009 update, WordPress took the plugin capability a step farther by expanding it to include easy theme installation.  The new WordPress Version 2.8 offers an outstanding and super easy to use theme feature that is similar to the plugin feature.  You simply specify the type of theme that you want; for instance, a 2 column blue and gold theme, click search and then preview the free themes that are available.  Select the theme that you like and WordPress will install it right from your dashboard.  The days of unzipping and then FTP’ing your theme to your site are over and you’ll save a heck of a lot of time.

When you have installed a theme, you can change it around to how you want it to appear by editing the php pages.  The page editing process is a lot easier with WordPress’ new color-coded theme editor.  When you review PHP and stylesheet pages in the theme editor, the code is now numbered and colored, making the job thousands of times easier.

If you have installed a more complicated “magazine style” theme, you will be working with Timthumb to create thumbnail images on your front page.  It is easy to work with this, but sometimes the documentation that comes with the WordPress theme provider is not very good.  At Not Guru, you can find a step-by-step tutorial, replete with screen shots, which show you how to work with magazine style WordPress themes.

WORDPRESS IS NOW FASTER

Not only does the new WordPress software make your life easier in adjusting the appearance of your blog, but it runs a lot faster.

REASONS TO BLOG

A frequently updated WordPress blog is an incredible search engine traffic magnet.  If they are updated on a consistent basis, new posts generally show up in the search engines within hours.  There’s a way to make this process even faster and it is free.  What you do is install what is called the SEO blog plugin.  With the new plugin installation platform in WordPress, installing the blog traffic plugin takes only a few minutes and a couple mouse clicks from your dashboard.  Once installed, the plugin will tweak your blog, have you install other traffic-pulling plugins, and optimize the search engine capabilities of your blog.  As you tweak your blog using the SEO blog software, you can see your SEO grade, like 80% or 90% optimized.  You will see a huge difference in your blog’s performance once the SEO plugin is installed.

Because you will keep your web visitors happy with up-to-date content and the search engines constantly visiting your site, adding a blog is a powerful tool to add to your website.  Installing and maintaining a blog has never been easier, thanks to the new WordPress release.  Blog installation tips, computer help and other practical guides are provided daily at the Not Guru blog.

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Technorati Tags: blogging, how to install wordpress, how to optimize your blog, how to tweak WordPress, SEO, wordpress, WordPress plugins, WordPress themes

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Askimet

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So you’ve setup a blog and you’re getting several of those pesky please moderate emails. What do you do now? In this posting we will talk about article publishing tips, comment approval tips and hot to get a wordpress api key, activating your askimet plugin for your wordpress blog .

Every WordPress Blogger gets Askmet as a comment spam plugin on their WordPress installation. The default plugin for comment spam management is Asimet Bloggers should get the Askimet Plugin for WordPress installed to help manage comments. By activating the Askimet plugin for comments, you will save valuable time Bloggers often receive comments on their articles after publishing them.

Activate your  Askimet Plugin. You will need to get the word press api key in order to get the askimet plugin working. Setting up a wordpress account can be done at http://en.wordpress.com/api-keys  and they will email you your wordpress api key, once the plugin is activated you will have three folders for your comments. A pending, approved and spam comments folder. Having Askimet installed on your wordpress blog will make your blogging experience a little bit easier.

Blogger Article Tips:Adding relevant articles to your blog will ge the type of traffic you are looking for. Bloggers from other sites may add your posting to their web site and often send a link back from their page. This will help you to get rank on the search engines for the keyword phrases in the title of your articles

Get quality articles on your blog daily: internet marketing articles

Comment Approval Tips: Not all comments are alike. You get relant comment by a reader, comments by other blogs who have published your article or a snippet with alink back your site, and then theres SPAM. Be sure to look through all the comments as even bloggers comments with a linkback to your blog can get inadvertently added to your spam folder.

Bill Simms MLM Web Marketing Trainer

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Technorati Tags: askimet, askimet plugin, comment plugin, comment spam, WordPress plugins

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When most people think of what it means to make money blogging, two words seem to come up almost automatically: “instant cash”. And yet blogging for money isn’t your ticket to quick wealth as it’s often made out to be. A majority of today’s most lucrative blogs weren’t managed by people who used quick-fix solutions. Instead, these bloggers relied on long-term solutions that would ensure their blog’s place in the online world.

One of the first things that you have to do as a professional blogger is to get ready for all the work that lies ahead of you. Keep in mind that your blog won’t be the only one of its kind that’s already up and running, which means that competition for reader’s attention is much stiffer now. Like every other business enterprise, blogging won’t give you a lot of revenue at the start! When your blog is just starting out, maintaining it will require a lot of your time and energy. Make sure that you plan your schedule wisely, especially if you already have a day job to take care of.

Despite these challenges, professional blogging can prove to be very fulfilling once your site has gained a foothold in its own niche and readership base. It’s like getting your cake and eating it, too: getting paid for writing about the things you love the most! Before beginning, however, consider these basic principles for professional blogging. Follow these principles, and you’ll find that blogging for money can be as enjoyable as it is profitable:

1.  Decide on a niche to specialize in, and plan out your blog accordingly:

Will you be writing about sports? Or will you be running a steady stream of political commentary on your site? Are you considering putting up restaurant reviews? Whatever your chosen niche is, make sure that the rest of your blog fits well with it. Choose a blog template, for example, that matches your overall theme, and keep your blog posts within the bounds of your chosen niche.

You can afford to create an off-topic blog post every so often, but if you want to gain your readers’ trust and establish yourself as an expert, it’s better to be consistent with your blog entries. Let’s say that your blog specializes in making food reviews. If this were the case, you should try sticking to food-related topics and steer clear of those that are drastically out-of-place, such as caring for tarantulas or how to choose a new cell phone.

A cardinal rule concerning this is to pick a topic that you’re really interested in, one that you could write about for a good, long while. In other words, choose a subject that you actually love. It’s hard to fake enthusiasm for a topic that you don’t actually care much about, and it’s a tactic that usually backfires. For instance, don’t create a blog on wedding planning just because it’s a popular niche. Instead, choose a niche that you feel strongly about, whether it’s food, politics, religion, photography, or even something as esoteric as zoology.

Remember, a good blog is one that’s written with obvious zeal and passion, and dealing with a topic you love ensures that you won’t get sick of writing about it year after year.

2.  Update frequently:

Updating your blog regularly can make a big difference in the volume of traffic that your blog receives. Readers will always be looking for fresh content, and if you want your blog to receive daily visits and constant attention, you have to give them a reason to drop by. People don’t want to return to a blog only to find a post that they’d already read before! Make your readers’ visits worth their time by providing them with new content as often as possible.

Frequent updating also ensures that Google and other search engines index your site frequently, making your blog more visible and accessible to others. If you don’t want your blog to fall into obscurity, you have to work at giving your readers a lot of fresh entries.

3.  Take advantage of ad networks and affiliate programs:

Once you’ve got your blog up and running, you can look into more direct ways of earning money from your site. A good way to jumpstart this is by signing up for Google Adsense, which rewards you for each click that an advertising link receives from your site.

You can also sign up for an affiliate program such as Amazon.com Associates, Clickbank, or Azoogle. These programs pay you for every successful purchase/sign up that comes from a link that you put up in your blog.

The truth, however, is that blogging for money will require you to advertise on your blog, since it’s a proven way to jack up your blog’s earnings. But no matter how good your affiliate program is, remember that its success will still depend on the number of people who go to your blog. The heavier your site traffic is, the higher the chance of people clicking on your ad links.

4.  Write quality posts:

No matter how frequently you update your site, and no matter how many ad networks you’re part of, you can’t earn any long-term revenue unless you offer your readers a lot of quality, credible content. Nobody wants to read something that’s poorly or shabbily written, so do your best to write as well and as accurately as you can.

When your readers realize that they can rely on you to give them solid advice and credible information regarding your niche, they’re bound to return to your blog, as well as create backlinks to your site that will boost your search engine ranking. Once you earn a reputation as an expert with credible opinions and insight about your niche, your readers will come back to your site again and again, generating traffic that spells into profit for you and your blog.

Although there are different ways through which people make money blogging, the best tactic is still to provide quality content to your readers. Remember that people aren’t attracted to your site just because it has a pretty template. While a good template can make a good impression, your visitors are there for the information you can provide! Remember, too, that you have to make prudent use of all the elements in your blog, especially when it comes to your affiliate programs and advertising strategies. Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, you’re sure to be blogging your way towards a real and sustainable profit!

 

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Technorati Tags: blogging for money, make money blogging, wordpress, WordPress blog, WordPress plugins, WordPress theme

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