WordPress Consultant: Judith Kallos, At Your Service... » wordpress tips

WordPress How To: Make a Blog

Judith — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:42:26 +0000

While Blogging is something many folks are doing and many more would like to do, for those just investigating starting a Blog, where do you start?

Based on the number of inquiries I get every day asking that very question it is clear that inquiring minds want to know! Even though there are various blogging platforms that are available for you to make a Blog, being a WordPress Consultant means that’s the platform I recommend you use.

Many hosting companies offer automated installation of WordPress in their control panels for those not into FTP and configuration details. I use HostGator because of their ease of use in this regard and their unparallelled support for all my sites — including this one. (I never recommend a product or service unless I am using it on my own sites.)

Blogging is popular because all the Blog owner really has to do is type about their interests, passion, products or services. Once you have WordPress installed and your chosen Premium Theme in place and tweaked to your liking, the technical aspect of making your Blog is pretty much on auto pilot leaving the Blogger to only have to worry about what they want to write about.

So, how do you make a Blog?

Here are some considerations and links to resources here on my site and elsewhere to show you how to make a Blog:

If you already have a Web site, you can easily add a Blog by installing WordPress on your established server. Or check your Web host’s control panel (cPanel) for a WordPress installation tool.
If Blogging for fun or a hobby, you can setup a free blog @ Google’s Blogger.com or WordPress.com. While these services are not as flexible (you do get what you pay for) if you want to Blog purely for hobby (non-commercial) reasons, and don’t want anything too fancy, either of these services will do.
If Blogging for business, you need to get your own HostGator Hosting Account ($4-$12 a month) so you can have your own domain and use your domain e-mail address. Free services won’t do in this case. In addition, Premium WordPress themes are now designed to be a CMS (Content Management System) that includes a Blog. So you can manage your entire site and Blog at the same time.
WordPress Themes: There are a ton of free theme archives out there but you have to be careful because free themes generally include not only the author’s link in the footer, but links to sometimes questionable sites and affiliate programs as well.
I have no problem linking to the developer who offers free themes however including additional promo links that many times are encrypted and cannot be removed, is going a bit too far. You also have to hope that when WordPress updates that those free theme developers will offer an updated version of their theme on a timely basis if necessary (otherwise your site may break when you update WordPress).
Check that the free theme developer also offers pay-for Premium Themes in addition to their free offerings as this reflects they do understand the importance of supporting their themes as WordPress evolves.
WordPress Theme Resources:
WordPress.org Resources:

Once you have WordPress installed you are then armed with the above resources so you can start dancing at the keyboard! Want to learn more? I have a bunch of articles on Blogging, Social Media, and WordPress Tips and How Tos on this site for you to refer to at your convenience.

Have Fun!

At your service,

Your WordPress Consultant

WordPress How To: Make a Blog is a post from: WordPress Consultant: Judith Kallos, At Your Service...

Listen, Surprise and Delight Your Customers

Judith — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:56:52 +0000

You can have the most well developed WordPress site in your market with the best product at the lowest price and if you don’t have your Customer Service methodology firmly intact — you’ve got nothing!

This means everyone in your organization is on the same page when it comes to how to communicate and assist your potential and current customers. Excellent customer service naturally should transfer to your supplier and vendor relationships as well. Solid customer service practices must permeate everything to do with running your business if you are serious about long term success.

I can tell you emphatically that the key to my success has had at its core my personalized service and support. Not just when I am wearing my WordPress Consultant hat but with my other sites as well. I respond promptly, professionally, personally and in detail to all requests I receive. I manage my ability to do this by making it a priority to organize my responsibilities to allow for the necessary time I need to provide the level of service I am known for and that clients rely on.

The infographic below gives you a view into the benefits that all the data available to you offer and how you can translate that into the heart and soul of your business — Your Customer Service.

Monetate Marketing Infographics

Look at your available data, develop policies, have a meeting with your staff and find ways to “Listen, Surprise and Delight” your customers!

At your service,

Your WordPress Consultant

Listen, Surprise and Delight Your Customers is a post from: WordPress Consultant: Judith Kallos, At Your Service...

How to Update to WordPress 3.3.2

Judith — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:09:17 +0000

April 20, 2012: 3.3.2 The latest stable release of WordPress (Version 3.3.2) is available now and is a security update for all previous versions.

Three external libraries included in WordPress received security updates:

=> Plupload (version 1.5.4), which WordPress uses for uploading media.
=> SWFUpload, which WordPress previously used for uploading media, and may still be in use by plugins.
=> SWFObject, which WordPress previously used to embed Flash content, and may still be in use by plugins and themes.

As always, when updating WordPress, themes or plugins, it doesn’t hurt to get in the habit of following the simple steps below…

Step-by-step instructions to help you safely and easily update to the most recent version of WordPress.

Before you update we need to do a little housekeeping:

Save a copy of all your WordPress files, pages and posts to your hard drive. You do this by clicking on the Tools icon in the left sidebar and then Export. On the next screen click on Download Export File. You might want to create a new Folder on your hard drive where you keep all you Web site files. Name it WP Backup so you know to save all backup files for WP there (and you’ll know where to find them if you need them). It is a good idea to back up this file once a month anyway regardless if an update is needed.
Backup your WordPress database. There is a nifty plugin that makes this process a no brainer, WP-DBManager. This plugin is also a must have for repairing and optimizing your database (which you should be doing minimally monthly to keep things running smoothly).
Do a quick double-check with your framework/theme developer to see if there are an issues with their themes and the most recent WordPress update. The last thing you want to do is update WordPress to find out after the fact it breaks your theme…
To be safe, deactivate all plugins before upgrading.

[ It is a good idea to Review my article: WordPress How To: Do the Mother of All Backups ]

Once you get the above tasks accomplished, follow the links in the nag bar (it’s called a nag because that yellow bar will be up there nagging you until you take care of the important issue noted) and update your site to the latest version of WordPress.

Then, don’t forget to reactivate and update your plugins. You’ll see with each WordPress update that plugin developers also update their plugins which you can also do with one click. You’ll see the now familiar yellow nag bar under the plugin name in the plugins area with a link to “upgrade automatically.”

If you find after an update that something is not working as it was, go through the systematic process of deactivating your plugins one at a time until you find the culprit. If the developer has not updated his/her plugin to work with the lasted update, find another plugin whose developer is on top of these things.

Updating should not be ignored or put off. When you keep up with WordPress, have a Premium Theme and Plugin updates, you are not only keeping up with technology, but you ensure your site is secure and functioning error free.

At your service,

Your WordPress Consultant

How to Update to WordPress 3.3.2 is a post from: WordPress Consultant: Judith Kallos, At Your Service...