WordPress - How to Install Plugins Within the Dashboard of WordPress 3.0

This is a short article on WordPress - How to install and activate plugins in WordPress 3.0. After reading this article you will be able to install all your plugins now and in the future. There are two ways in which you can install WordPress Plugins from within the Dashboard of your WordPress blog. One way is to search via the Dashboard and the other way is to download them to your computer and upload your plugin via the Dashboard. I will take you through both ways step by step. If this is the first time you will be installing plugins, it is a simple process so just follow along and carry out each step as needed.

Installing Plugins via the Dashboard Automatically

First you will need to login to the 'Dashboard' of your WordPress blog. If you now look over on the left hand side you will see a list of of menus. Hover over the 'Plugins' Menu and click on the arrow that appears, a drop down menu will now appear.

Now click on 'Add New' and you will now arrive at the 'Install Plugins' page.

As you can see on the screen you are able to type in a word or phrase for what you are searching for, now if you know the name of the plugin you are searching for, enter the name of that plugin. If you are searching to see if there is a plugin to carry out a particular task, enter a relevant phrase. For this example I am going to enter 'database backup' as this is something I need to add to my blog. Now click on 'Search Plugins'.

As you will see, a list of different plugins will appear. Look through the list to see if there is an appropriate plugin for what you are searching for. The plugin 'WP-DB-Backup' is in my list which is perfect for what I was looking for, so I will now click 'Install Now' link. You will now see the plugin you chose being installed and it will tell you when it is complete, you will then be presented with the option to activate the plugin - if you wish to do so, click on the 'Activate Now' link.

All done! Any plugins which have been added to the WordPress.org website can now be installed onto your blog in this way without having to download them and install them manually.

Uploading Plugins From Your Computer to Your WordPress Blog

You may still, from time to time need to install a plugin manually, for example, it may be a newly released plugin that has not yet been added to WordPress.org site or you may have purchased a plugin. I will be showing you how to do this using a plugin called 'RSS Bomber' as I have just purchased it.

Once you have downloaded the plugin to your computer, you need to make sure that the plugin is inside a zip file. Now login to your WordPress Dashboard and click on the 'Plugins' tab and then 'Add New'. Now click on the 'Upload' link near the top of the page. Now click the 'Choose File' button and choose the zip file of your plugin to be uploaded, then click 'Choose' followed by the 'Install Now' button. WordPress will now upload and install your plugin. Once the installation of your plugin has finished it will give you the option to activate your plugin, just click the 'Activate Plugin' link to activate it. All done - you will now see your newly installed plugin in your 'Manage Plugins' page.

You have now learned the two easiest ways to install plugins into WordPress 3.0, you can of course upload your plugins via an FTP client but this is a little more technical and why do things the hard way when they can be done in the simplest ways possible!

Alester:-).

'WordPress How To' is a valuable resource for anyone that wants to get started with WordPress. The tutorials are easy to follow in a step-by-step process. By the time you finish each tutorial you will be able to carry out what you have learned with ease.

Manually Updating a Local WordPress Installation Using Windows XP

Introduction

Just recently, I updated WordPress from 2.8 to 3.0. Most tutorials including WordPress's Codex, tell you how to update for a live blog, which is stored at your web host's server. I could not find any information regarding manually updating an installation on a local computer (such as a testing server for theme development), so I wrote this article.

You may be asking, "Why not just use the auto-update feature?" Well, as documented by typing something like "WordPress 3.0 hangs at Unpacking the Update" into Google without quotes, I ran into the problem of the auto feature halting while updating. I had to install manually.

Manual Installation Basics

It turns out manually updating was pretty easy, but was very difficult at first because of pitfalls I did not pay attention to. Those will be documented in the "pitfalls" section below. Although I won't put together an in depth tutorial, I will tell you how I updated my test blog in a very basic way. This same method is similar to the instructions in the Updating WordPress codex page.

1. First, I backed up the database by going to Tools, then Export in the Admin panel. I then selected Download Export File. This method is documented in the article "How to back up your WordPress blog in 60 seconds" by Christopher S. Penn. Type this article title in Google to find out more.
2. In the Admin panel, there were the buttons Install Automatically or Download [WordPress version number]. I chose the download link for a manual installation
3. I navigated to the folder the file was downloaded to. This may be a My Documents, Documents or Downloads folder. In my case, it was a Downloads folder within My Documents
4. I unzipped the folder (wordpress-3.01.zip) by right-clicking and selecting Extract All
5. Following the Extract All wizard opens up the extracted folder. I double clicked the wordpress folder
6. From here, I opened up a second Explorer window by going to Start menu, My Computer. From there I navigated to my original WordPress installation. I installed mine in Local Disk (C:), Program Files, Apache Software Foundation, Apache 2.2, htdocs, wordpress
7. Once inside my original wordpress folder, I copied (Ctrl-C) the wp-includes and wp-admin files from my WordPress 3.01 folder and pasted (Ctrl-V) to the original (WordPress 2.8) folder
8. Although I did not do the following step during installation, as my folders were already set up this way, it is a good idea to set up your folders in Windows XP so they show the full path in the title bar. To do that, go to the Tools menu item, Folder Options..., View tab, check Display the full path in title bar and Display the full path in address bar. This way, you can know at a glance which folder you are in
9. As mentioned in the Updating WordPress codex page, I did not copy the wp-content folder, as this would overwrite my current themes and plugins. For WordPress 3.0, I copied the twentyten theme folder into the wp-content, themes folder to get 3.0's newest default theme
10. Finally, I copied all of the files from the top level folder, wordpress, including index.php. Then I pasted these into the original (2.8) folder. I did not overwrite the.htaccess file or the wp-config.php file, leaving these as is. Usually, these files are not included in a typical install. I renamed the wp-config-sample.php file in WP 3.0 as wp-config-sample2.php just in case
11. From here, I was asked to login to my Admin panel again and prompted to update the database, following the provided link
12. Installation was successful!

Windows XP Related Pitfalls

Installation was successful after a lot of trial and error and cursing at my computer screen, that is. I was trying to follow the above advice to install manually after the frustrating hang at "Unpacking the update" in the auto install. When trying to manually move the wp-admin and wp-includes folder from the 3.0 folder to the 2.8 folder, I was getting "Cannot create or replace wp-admin: Access is denied" error messages. What was even more frustrating was that I was getting these messages after sending the original file folders to the Recycling Bin via deleting them. I couldn't even Restore the files as access was denied! Surely I thought I scrapped my entire WordPress installation and couldn't upgrade.

Finally I realized what the problem was. I was working in a Limited account in Windows XP. I do this purposefully for safety, because I don't want to be online with an Administrator's account. To follow the above instructions, copying and moving files in the Program Files folder and such, I needed to log in to an account with Administrator's privileges.

I never figured out if the Limited account issue was why the Auto-Upgrade feature didn't work. However, this advice is warranted: if upgrading WordPress manually for a local installation, make sure you are using or have access to an account that has Administrator privileges. I hope this article will be useful for those who may have come across the same problems I did. Thank you for reading.

How to Use WordPress to Automate Your Business

If you haven't heard of WordPress, listen. WordPress is an amazing blogging platform -- but it's so much more than that. In fact, this article will teach you some things as to how to use WordPress to automate your website and therefore your business, leaving you time to do the things you enjoy without having to keep your finger on every little "nook and cranny" job that needs to be done. Here are just some of the things WordPress can do.

AdSense

If you use AdSense to earn extra income on your site, the AdSense Integrator can both dad and then manage the AdSense ads you put on your blog, effortlessly following the last AdSense rules and updates without your having to keep on top of them. This is one way when it comes to how to use WordPress that you can really earn passive income without having to do anything except for adding the initial plug-in.

Google Analytics

When it comes to how to use WordPress to track your customers, Google Analytics will help you keep track of who's visiting your page, where they're from, and a lot more information that's valuable when it comes to knowing your customers. The Google "Analyticater" offered by WordPress makes it very easy to add this to your website.

XML Sitemaps

The XML Sitemaps plug-in will make you much more visible to your customers -- in fact, if your customers can't find you, it's not likely you will have any business at all to speak of. However, Sitemaps easily makes you visible to search engines as they crawl your site, which gets you seen on the web -- and therefore gets you more customers.

AWeber

AWeber is a service that, although not free, can really help you explode your business. Used with WordPress, it's another way you can really automate your business. With this service, you can basically turn autoresponder functions into guaranteed customer draws. You can create website sign-up forms, which will help you attract customers; instead of simply having visitors anonymously visit your site and then go away, you can simply include a sign-up form on your blog using AWeber's simple "point-and-click" interactive functionality.

That's not all, though. While most auto responders will send canned messages to subscribers after sign-up and other functions, AWeber actually provides you the ability to give personalized e-mails to subscribers or customers in an automated sequence that's really going to give you the ability to connect with your customers -- and your potential customers, too. What's more, you can also schedule autoresponder functions so that they'll go up when you know your customers are likely to be thinking about reordering, as applicable. Again, this is all automatic, and he will only rarely have to lift a finger after initial setup.

All of this and more is available if you know how to use WordPress and associated plug-ins and services to fully automate your business. Of course, your business is still going to need you to run it, but automating it as much as possible for the simple day-to-day mundane tasks such as those described above will to free you up to focus on the really important part of your business, which is to provide quality products and/or services.

Internet Marketing Course - 4 Recommended Plugins for WordPress Blogs

WordPress is probably the best interface for anyone who wants to setup a blog style website but has little or no HTML coding knowledge. I had to write HTML codes for websites generation when I was in college. When WordPress was born, it is heaven to many. I personally believe that WordPress was one of the key reasons to an explosion of websites launches over the past decade.

The following are essential WordPress Plugins for anyone who wants to monetize a website, especially one with a blog style.

1. Akismet

Most Blog style websites have a comment box at the bottom of every post that allows the readers to leave their feedback or comments. These comments are great for SEO traffic. However, the comment box is also a magnet for spam.

Akismet is a Plugin that checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam and allows you to review the comments before approving it. To activate Akismet you will need a WordPress.com API key which is free for personal websites use.

Although Akismet is a good tool, you will want to check your comments folder regularly because some good comments may actually get filtered out. This plugin works like a computer anti-spam software that automatically put junk mails into your junk box. If you know how it works, it is not perfect. But this is not to say that you don't need an anti-spam software.

2. Social BookMarking Links Plugin

This plugin automatically add links to your favorite social bookmarking sites on your posts, pages and in your RSS feed. You can choose from 99 different social bookmarking sites! Furthermore, you can also send a link to your post via email, AIM, Facebook, Twitter and more. WordPress version 2.6 or above is required though.

When you integrate social bookmarking with your posts, visitors can bookmark your web page with their social bookmarking accounts and that creates great backlinks for you that are well-liked by Search Engines.

3. Google Sitemaps Plugin

Google sitemaps creates a compliant XML-Sitemap of your WordPress blog. It supports all of the WordPress generated pages as well as custom created ones. What's cool about this plugin is that every time you create or edit a post, your sitemap gets updated automatically and all the major search engines that support the sitemap protocol such as ASK.com, Google, Bing and Yahoo are notified about the update.

This simply means your blog pages will be more SEO friendly.

4. Google Adsense

This plugin provides a very easy way to generate revenue from your blog using Google AdSense. It is a very simple and yet almost maintenance free way of generating passive income from your blog. After you install and activate the plugin, go to the widgets under appearance and then add the AdSense tool to the sidebar or any where you like on your blog.

Before you install this plugin, please ensure that you have an approved AdSense account from Google, which may be a painful process for some because Google mercilessly rejects your application if it thinks you are generating junk sites.

For more WordPress tutorial and SEO tools, check out Adam Short's Niche Profit Programs which offers countless video tutorials for the serious Internet Marketers in mind.

Website Creation - 4 Steps to Setup WordPress After a New Installation

You've got WordPress freshly installed into your hosting account, and you're ready to start posting content to the site and driving traffic to your content. Before you start that, there are 4 steps that you need to take after you install WordPress for the first time in order to extend WordPress' functionality.

These steps help you secure your website against spam comments, Add users and change the look and feel of your website. Here are the changes that you should implement as soon as you install WordPress to your hosting account: 

1. Change the default usernames, if any. If your hosting provider adds a user account named "admin" or any other pre-installed user into your WordPress installation, delete those users by going to the: Users control panel > select the user > click on delete under the user name
2. Configure the author, reader and comments defaults. If you want people to register before they can leave a comment, or if you want people to be able to register themselves to write on your site, you can set this up by going to: "Settings" > Under Membership > put a check mark in "Anyone can register" > Select a user mode for the new registrations. Be aware, that if you allow this functionality, anyone that registers on the site will be able to perform whatever function you allow them to. Be specially careful since people may be able to post spam articles to your site, if you allow them to
3. Configure your plugins. There are 2 plugins that you really want to have, one is akismet which is anti-spam the other plugin is SEO WordPress which will help you with your search engine optimization. There are others, but these 2 should be your primary ones. Before these plugins start working, you need to activate them. To do so, go to "Plugins" then select the plugin you want to install and select "Activate" from the menu on the right. You may need to obtain a WordPress API key, follow the instructions on the screen to obtain a key if you don't already have one.
4. Configure themes. Themes control the look and feel of your blog. There are many free and paid themes to pick from. Figuring out the look and feel of your site can take a lot of time, so make sure that you dedicate some attention to how your site looks. To change themes, go under: Appearance > Themes WordPress has a depository of themes that you can search through, but you can also perform an online search for "WordPress themes" and see if you find some that you like.

Thesis WordPress Theme - Mastering Custom Hooks and Functions in Thesis

Thesis is a very flexible theme. It can be customized very easily using what developers call "Thesis Hooks."

Thesis Hooks can change every part of your WordPress blog. In this WordPress tutorial, I'm going to show you how to modify your Navigation Menu.

You have probably noticed that the default installation always has the Navigation Menu on top of the default screen. You can change the default location by using Thesis hooks. By using Thesis Hooks, you can move the Navigation menu to appear below the blog title and blog description.

So, let's get started with using custom hooks and functions in the Thesis theme for WordPress.

Follow theses steps:

1. Access the User Guide
2. Find the support page
3. Click on Thesis Default Hook Usage
4. Access the Member's Area
5. Find, click, and read the page called "How to Customize Like a Pro with Thesis Hooks"
6. Access the link "Make Your Header Display Above your Navigation Menu"
7. Find the appropriate code, and copy it
8. Return to your WordPress blog
9. Paste the code in the entry box in Custom File Editor

Thesis Default Hook Usage:

Go ahead and access the Thesis Theme Member's Area to get started. On this page, you can access information about Thesis Hooks and which actual hooks are needed to achieve different looks on Thesis. Generally speaking, each function requires a pair of codes. The first code is called the function. The second code is called the hook. You need to enter both of these codes in order to build a custom function in Thesis.

Find the page called "How to Customize Like a Pro with Thesis Hooks." There, you will find a tutorial including real examples. Go ahead and click on the link to access the tutorial. Feel free to read through the entire page.

Next, find the link called "Make Your Header Display Above your Navigation Menu." Find the code, and then copy it. Next, return to your WordPress blog. You will paste this code in your Custom File Editor.

Enable your Thesis hook functions by changing WordPress settings:

1. Find the Thesis Options tab
2. Click on Custom File Editor
3. Select the custom_functions option
4. Click on Edit Selected File
5. Access WordPress using FTP
6. Click on wp-content
7. Click on Themes
8. Click on Thesis
9. Click on Custom
10. Access the custom_functions.php page
11. Right click the link
12. Choose File Permissions
13. Change the permissions to 777
14. Click on OK

The next step is to find the Thesis Options tab. Click on Custom File Editor. Then, from the drop-down menu, you can either select custom.css, layout.css, or custom_functions. For this purpose, you need to select the custom_functions category. Then, click on Edit Selected File. In order to run custom_function, you need to set up the correct file permissions on your WordPress blog.

Access your WordPress site using an FTP application. Then, click on wp-content. Click on Themes. Then, click on Thesis. Next, click on Custom. You will see the custom_functions.php page. Right click this link, and then choose File Permissions. Change the permissions to 777 and then click on OK.

Move the Navigation Menu by using Thesis Hooks

1. Return to Member's Area
2. Remove the Thesis Navigation menu using thesis_hook_before_header
3. Copy the code
4. Go back to Thesis Custom File Editor
5. Find entry box, paste the copied code
6. Click on Save
7. Refresh the page to verify settings

For now, let's return to the Members Area code again. In order to make the Navigation Menu move from the top to the beneath the header, there are two sets of actions that need to be completed. The first is a remove action, which is to remove the Thesis Navigation menu from the current location of thesis_hook_before_header.

The second action is to add the action back into the appropriate area on Thesis Hooks. Copy this code, and then go back to the Thesis Custom File Editor. Once you are on the Thesis Custom File Editor page, you will see comments and notes that appear by default. These comments and notes show you how to add custom hooks, or custom functions. Find the entry box, and paste the copied code exactly as it appeared in the Members Area example. Then, click the Save button.

After you have clicked save, it will confirm the changes. Refresh the page. Now, take a look at the changes. You can see that the Navigation Menu now appears before the header and beneath the blog title and description.

Remove the Thesis Attribution Link using Thesis Hooks

1. Click on the link "Get Smart with the Thesis WordPress Theme from DIY Themes"
2. Return to Member's Area to access the code format to remove a function
3. Find the specific Thesis attribution code link
4. Copy the code
5. Return to File Editor
6. Paste the copied function
7. Go back to Support Area
8. Click on User Guide
9. Find Thesis Default Hook Usage
10. Find and click on the pair of codes called Thesis Attribution
11. Copy the function
12. Paste the function into the entry box
13. Copy the hook
14. Paste the hook into the entry box alongside the function copy
15. Click on Save

In the next example, let's discuss removing the Thesis attribution link. If you want to remove the default Thesis attribution link, click on the link that reads, "Get Smart with the Thesis WordPress Theme from DIY Themes." Go back to the Member's Area to find the code format to remove a function. Find the code for the Thesis attribution link. Copy the code, and then go back to File Editor. Right below the body of text, go ahead and paste the copied function.

Next, find the correct hook name and the correct function to complete the process.

Now, go back to the Support Area. Click on User Guide. Then, look for Thesis Default Hook Usage. Once you have accessed the page, you will find a useful example as to the pair of codes that are needed to make this change work. Click on the codes, and then find the one called Thesis Attribution.

Next, copy the function. Then, paste the function in the entry box. Now, copy the hook. You will paste the hook into the entry box alongside the function copy. Click on Save. Then, you will be prompted with a confirmation message. To confirm the changes, refresh the page and the footer should be gone.

By using Thesis Hooks, you can virtually customize Thesis however you want. If you need additional help, you can use online support forums and the user guide. The forums are active with a lot of advanced WordPress and Thesis users. Using the available resources is helpful if you run into any customization issues using Thesis Hooks for WordPress.

How to Blog Tutorial - How to Write a Money Making Blog

Have you ever built a blog and later found out that everything was a waste of time and your were not pulling any traffic to your blog?

Keyword research is very important

This is how your readers actually find you in search engines. You just can't write the way you want and hope that you will get lots of readers. It doesn't work that way. You need to know what kind of keywords you should use. I get very good results with competition that has less than 20,000 pages. But how do you find low competition keywords. 

You search for your main keyword, then you download all the results and search again, using your first search results. This is how you dig deeper and deeper. Once you have built a huge list, head over to Market Samurai and filter out the best ones. Later I will explain how you can do that exactly, step by step.

Right plugins for your blog

One of the most important plugins for your blog is All in One SEO Pack. This will allow you to change your blog post title and add a description. There's a few more plugins that you can use to improve your blog, but make sure you have this All in One SEO Pack. Also make sure you go to Settings>Permalinks and select the custom option and write %postname%. 

This will change your blog post URL with your blog post title. This is also very important for search engine optimization. You can find more about how to blog successfully in my author bio.

Learn how to blog successfully from start to finish