Posts Tagged ‘WordPress’

Question:
… can I have a site that is a content portal but also have a blog format on the front page? For instance, iPage has WordPress. Does that mean that I could easily put a blog format on my site? Thanks!

Answer:

iPage is a good choice for web hosting and the SimpleScripts script installer in the iPage control panel will let you easily install both. However, you can’t have both on the front page because they are two different things and they can’t share the same page.  The index.php file from either installation will load that ONE thing. Just pick which one you want. I say go with the CMS and then place a link to the WordPress blog in the menu. You’ll need to install WordPress in another folder on your domain. Logically, it makes sense to install it in a folder called blog.

WebHostingHub is another excellent web host. It’s my preferred WordPress host because their servers are optimized to run WordPress and other database intensive apps like a CMS.

Question from :
Even when I use advanced Google techniques, still get advertising and sites focused on one product. Or they recommend to ” use WordPress with an outside host” . I don’t get it, at all. I just want to put up a website that will promote my small business and have a blog. I don’t know where to even start the learning process. I’d be perfectly happy using a template since I know nothing about web design or how to get ” hosted” . I really don’t even understand at all, is there a site, anything?

Answer:

That recommendation to “use WordPress with an outside host” means to buy web hosting and install a WordPress blog. It’s commonly referred to as a self-hosted WordPress blog because it’s not the free version at WordPress.com. (You can’t use that free option for business purposes. They’ll suspended your account.)  Getting a self-hosted blog is sound advice because using WordPress as a foundation for your site is probably one of the easiest and least expensive ways to get your small business online. Here’s what you need to to…

Get Reliable Web Hosting

I’m going to recommend using WebHostingHub for a web hosting company. I have a Hub account and they are VERY reasonably priced. In fact, lower than many of the other popular hosts. Out of all the hosting companies that I’ve used over the years, my WordPress blogs run the best on my Hub account.

Getting a Domain Name

To make this drop dead simple, when you sign up for a web hosting account at WebHostingHub, you’ll get a free domain name. So before you sign up, take a few minutes to think up a good one and be prepared for other options just in case it’s already taken. Your domain name will be free for the life of your hosting account.

Install WordPress

• After you get the hosting account, login to your cPanel control panel so you can install the WordPress software. Do it like this… In the browser address bar, type in your new domain name followed by a /cpanel like this: http://YourDomainName.com/cpanel  
• Once you’re logged into cPanel, scroll down to the Software / Services section and click on Fantastico De Luxe
   
• When Fantastico opens up, click on the WordPress link in the left menu. Then just follow the easy steps to install it. 

Start Blogging

Once WordPress is installed, you can access the WordPress Dashboard to begin setting up your blog. Delete the sample post and page it created. 

Here’s the biggest stumbling block for new WordPress users… the confusion over posts and pages. WordPress pages do not equal website pages. People start creating pages and then wonder why nothing shows up when they go to their site. Pages are for static content like About Us, Contact Us, Terms of Service, Privacy Policy. Posts are for everything else. So if you’re running a sale or need to talk about something new and exciting, you create a post. Then when you go to your website, the most recent posts will appear with the older ones underneath it.

The site you’re on right now is a WordPress blog. Once you get the hang of it, you can install cool plugins for specific tasks.

 

Easy Website Builder

Question:

I am trying to build a website but am looking for the easiest website builder?  I am somewhat familiar with GO-DADDY and that’s about it! I purchase HOST-GATOR but its too complicated for me using CPANEL. Any suggestions or HELP! PLEASE!!

Thank you

Answer:

cPanel is the primo defacto control panel of web hosting.  It’s really not complicated at all.  Everything is organized into categories.  I have a WebHostingHub account and they use cPanel, too.  The only sitebuilder they offer is found in Fantastico.  It’s called SohoLaunch Pro.  It’s a paid service, but it’s geared towards businesses.  Other than that, in my opinion, using WordPress for your site is the way to go.  I build all of my sites with WordPress.  You can use any theme you want, plus plugins.  Plugins are the bomb.  You can make WordPress do so many things.  They’re sorta like apps for your cell phone.

If you don’t want to use cPanel, then I suggest using vDeck.  iPage uses the vDeck control panel and it’s less complicated than cpanel.  If you don’t want all that “geek”, then you’ll probably like vDeck.  Plus, you’ll find more website builders in the SimpleScripts software installer in vDeck than what Fantastico has.  They also have WordPress in there.

You can also buy a program called Artisteer to build your site.  It can create webpage templates, WordPress themes and more.  I use it, too.

 

Uploading a Theme to WordPress.com

Question from Jesse:
It’s very confusing!! I am currently paid to Godaddy.com for the domain name, then WordPress.com to host the blog site. I want to change the theme on the blog site, so I just downloaded FTP from filezilla.com. Here is the question: after I opened filezilla, I need to put in “Host”, “Username”, “Password”, and “port”..I tried every one of them, but didn’t work. So do I enter Godaddy.com or WordPress.com on “Host” section? and how about username, password and port? Please help. Thanks

Answer:

As long as your blog is hosted by WordPress.com, you can upload jack, so FTP isn’t going to help you.  WordPress doesn’t want anything uploaded to their servers. 

If you want to be able to upload a theme or add plugins, you’ll need to get yourself a web hosting account and Lord God Almighty, don’t get one from godaddy.  It’s bad enough you bought your name from them.  Next time, use NameCheap.

Self-Hosting WordPress Blog

I highly recommend getting a WebHostingHub account for WordPress.  They’re serious about WordPress from the highly tuned and “optimized for WordPress” equipment they run right down to their tech support team.  You’ll find the WordPress software already available and ready to install in the control panel, Software, Fantastico De Luxe and find WordPress in the list.

iPage and BlueHost are a couple of other really good WordPress hosts.

10 Reasons Why I Love WordPress

It took me a couple of years to figure out why blogging was so important.  I guess that’s because I didn’t fully understand how blogs can be used.  Back then I thought, “Why would I want to publicly discuss what I did from day to day?”  But blogs (web logs) are so much more than a journaling tool.  Blogs, especially WordPress, can be powerful content management systems capable of replacing old school HTML websites. 

I had always built traditional HTML sites and they were a lot of work maintaining the same look and feel throughout the site.  I’m the kind of person who gets an idea and whips out a standalone web page without linking it to the rest of the site.  Before I know it, there is no visual or contextual continuity.  Search engines don’t like that.

I started out playing around with the free version of WordPress.com.  Once I got the hang of it and how easy it was to publish content, I soon understood the power of WordPress.  But, I also saw how limiting the free version of WordPress.com was.  No selling was allowed and you can’t upload themes or plugins. 

I already had my own web hosting, so I installed WordPress on my own account.  I was hooked and haven’t built an HTML site since.

1. WordPress software is already free on your web hosting account.  If it’s not, you need a new web host, or you can install it the hard way by downloading it from WordPress.org.
2. Installing WordPress is easy from your hosting account’s control panel.  Just fill out a handful of fields and click the install button. 
3. Fire your expensive webmaster because WordPress doesn’t require a webmaster to install or run it.  If you can use a word processor, you can use WordPress.
4. Traditional HTML websites require expensive design software.  Plus, your source files are stored locally on someone’s PC and need to be uploaded to the server when edited or new web pages are added.  WordPress uses already developed themes, many of them are free.  And since your blog’s content is stored in a database on the web server and not in local source files, you can modify your blog from any computer with internet access. 
5. WordPress was designed to be loved by the search engines because WordPress developers consulted with search engine providers to ensure it would be search engine friendly.
6. Blogging is the easiest way to update customers with news about new products or how to use them. 
7. WordPress makes a great showcase for photographers, hobbyists, crafters, gardeners and more.
8. You can easily create tutorials.  Teachers can even post homework assignments online with ease.
9. It’s easy to find and install free plugins to perform specific tasks without having to touch any programming code.  If you need to perform a specific task with your blog, chances are pretty good there’s a plugin for it.  If not, WordPress is open source which means there are thousands of programmers capable of writing just what you need.
10. Create new users with only Author access and allow them to contribute posts to your site.

Question: I have a wordpress site that is just a plain blog. I created it from wordpress.com and then i was looking at a way to make my site look cooler. I found some good themes, but i dont know how to install them. They say i have to install wordpress and then compile themes. I dont want to do all this! Is there a way where i can install my themes directly from the user interface website on wordpress.com?  Please help.

Answer:  No, you cannot install any themes on WordPress.com that are not already found in the Theme installer page.  WordPress.com does not allow you to upload your own themes or plugins.

No, you do NOT compile WordPress themes.  Themes are text files – CSS, HTML and PHP.  There is no binary compiling.

Get your own WordPress hosting.  I suggest getting a WebHostingHub account because their servers are optimized to run WordPress.  I have an account with the Hub and to be truthful, it’s the fastest WordPress hosting I’ve ever had.  The cPanel control panel is easy to use and you’ll find the WordPress installer in cPanel, Software and Services, Fantastico Deluxe.  Installing WP is easy and you’ll be able to upload your own theme then.  The hardest part is coming up with a domain name.  You can buy your own name at NameCheap or get a free domain name with your new WebHostingHub account.

A Reader Would Like To Know:

I am learning to design web sites using CSS, HTML ect. But i am not the great to be honest. My first attempt at our band website was reasonable, but i made the mistake of black background, red highlights and white writing which looks really “noobie”.

I have recently been impressed by the WordPress blog platform, and i have considered making my own custom theme for it and using that as the basis for my entire band site. It is so easy to use that any of my band members could use it effectively. All i need to do is get a really good layout and theme and i’ll be sorted.

I will need a:
-Home page with a music player embedded, playing our demos
-Bio page with our story
-Blog page which will be easy
-Merchandise page

Will wordpress be effective? Or will it just look terrible?

Any input from people would be great.

Answer:  WordPress is an excellent platform for a website.  I’ve been using it for several years now and no longer build regular html sites. 

They easiest way to make your own WordPress theme WITHOUT ANY CODING is to use a program called Artisteer.  Click here to download Artisteer for free and try it out.

Question:  I am making our school NASA club website and I’m using WordPress. Everything is working really well, but I want a specific theme for our site. I have looked all over the internet for a FREE theme that suits my needs. What I basically want is this:

- A featured post slider (better if customizable)
- Three columns right below it (ability to put posts from different categories would be really epic)
- A sidebar only on the non-homepage pages
- Preferably a dark the (black)
- Free only (for now)

Any help is extremely appreciated.

Answer:  It’s not the theme that does all of that, but rather specialized features.  Sometimes a programmer will include it within a theme and then sell the theme at a premium price, but then you’re stuck with their idea of “good functionality”.  You can do all of that special functionality for free with plugins by searching the WordPress.org plugin site.  Plugins are your best friend.

Post Slider – You’ll find several sliders for images, but some with with posts, too.  Posts are usually included in a slider by using either custom field values or by placing them in their own category.  Smooth Slider will do posts, pages, and images.  That one requires you to insert a tag in the page.php or single.php templates.  Personally, being a former programmer, that sucks.  See if you can find one that uses shortcode.  OR, you could insert the php code right into the page with another plugin that allow for the insertion of raw HTML/PHP.  There are many more slide plugins.

Multiple Columns – You can use a magazine-style plugin to create multiple columns, but those usually only work for continual text that flows from one column to the next.  There is a plugin called WP Easy Columns that will allow you to create multiple columns.  Then within each column you can use another plugin that utilizes short code to display posts from specific categories.  It’s called List Category Posts.  You can control how many posts to display, from which category, title, how much text from the post or no text at all, lots of parameters.  I use it a lot on my blogs. 

No Sidebar On Home Page – This one is a little trickier and it depends on your theme and the page templates available within it.  I use Artisteer to create all of my WordPress themes and by default, Artisteer automatically creates a no-sidepage page template that can be selected from the page editor page so you can make a page with or without a sidebar.  It’s really slick.  However, you can roll your own page with no sidebar by following these instructions to create a no-sidebar page.

Change WordPress Theme Colors – This would require changing the CSS and Lord God Almighty, make a backup of your CSS files before you begin tweaking.  In the WordPress Dashboard, go to Appearance, Editor then in the right sidebar you’ll find the Stylesheets on the bottom of the list.  I would comment out (NOT delete) the lines of code for the color settings, and the insert the code with the new colors.  This is a complex thing to do because there are color settings for the background, borders, shadows, widget boxes, titles, post body, text, etc.  It’s a gigantic undertaking.  I suggest making your own theme with Artisteer.  There’s no code to write or jack up.  The program does it all for you.  You don’t need the Standard version.  Just get the Home & Academic version for $49.95.  Have a bake sale or car wash or something to raise the cash. 

WordPress Web Hosting – Be sure to get some decent WordPress web hosting.  On most web servers, WordPress is pretty slow.  However, I recently tested a new web hosting account of mine at WebHostingHub to see how WordPress performs over there.  Their servers are optimized for the demands of WordPress.  You can read WebHostingHub WordPress Hosting here, but long story short, there was a significant increase speed in loadtime.

 

Question:  Hello, and thanks for trying to help!

I have a website that I’ve been using for a while. I designed it myself in HTML with CSS in Dreamweaver. I’ve decided that it would be a great idea to have a blog on it too, so my viewers can get more information. So, I looked into blog software. The only problem is that they give me no control over the way my entire site looks!

I tried WordPress, but word press made my whole site look dumb, and blank, and I didn’t want to sit and spend hours learning how to make a “WordPress Theme” that looked similar my website. What I’d like to do is use my current website, but have the blog in my content area (I have links and a header above it, and a footer below). A blog would be great so that the Devs and I could each log in, post a blog that would display who posted it and when, and would allow comments. I don’t really want/need much more than that.

Answer:  What you need is a program called Artisteer to make a WordPress theme look just like your website.  You can match your existing header graphics and colors.  You can control the sidebar columns and more.  If you want to build a site without sidebars, I suggest leaving the normal posts with sidebars, but then write your content on Pages instead of posts.  On the right side of the page editor in WordPress on an Artisteer theme, you’ll find in the Page Attributes a Template selector.  The Default Template is the standard one with sidebars that looks just like your posts.  Or you can select the Page No Sidebar.  It’s hella slick. 

If you build pages, then I suggest you get a plugin called RSS Includes Pages so your pages will also go into RSS feeds, not just the posts.

You can make a WordPress blog look just like a website which is what I did with my Resistance Bands Reviews site.  It was created with Artisteer and some pretty slick plugins.

Click here to download Artisteer for free and try it out.

 

Question:  Hello, I was modifying my home.php page by using the contents in the index.php (in the sanbox theme). I don’t have any experience with php.

I need to do several things

1. Limit the number of post display on the home page: I want only 3 or 4 articles displaying at a time, not ALL of them

2. Confine the space the each sample of each post takes: For example, I want to confined the sample of the post to only 300px in height, and then the “read more” link. This way I have control over my layout. Hope that makes sense.

3. The sample of the posts flows to the next column: So say I have 2 columns, and each sample shown in sequence, 3 posts in column 1 and 3 posts in column 2. Too vague, I know, but I can’t really explain it better.

Any tricks or help would be much appreciated.

Answer:  You don’t have to modify ANY theme code to get all the effects you want.  Use these two plugins:

• Homepage Excerpts – Control both the number of posts to display on the homepage and how many characters of text for each of those posts.
• Magazine Columns – Divides your posts into 2 or more columns.  Really slick.

Get the best blog hosting from HostGator.