PRE-SETUP

• Setup Database Access
  • link to WordPress, How To Set Up a Database using CPanel
  • Create a database and a database user, and give the user full permissions to the database
  • The database name and user name usually ends up being two part names
  • first part is beginning of domain name, also usually the master-username
  • such as ‘username_dbname’ and ‘username_dbuser’ (EX. thegadgi_blog and thegadgi_blogusr)
  • first part is forced by web host
• Setup a domain email account
  • I suggest also having a gmail account (gmail is free and can share login with adsense/adwords/etc.)
  • forward domain email to gmail for easy viewing (domain email programs suck)
  • also could use Outlook/Windows Mail/etc.
  • you will register for several sites in the near future
  • hence, you will be getting lots of email soon
• Copy Files
  • link to How To Copy Files using CPanel FileManager, also can use FTP like FileZilla, etc.
  • Upload all files inside the WebGurusBlog folder to your web sites root folder, usually public_html
    • all files here can be found elsewhere, but they are gathered here for ease
    • WebGurusBlog contains all files referred to in these steps
    • cPanel/smartscripts/fantastico can install WordPress, be sure of database settings
    • most WordPress plugins can also be found at wordpress.org
    • Infinite Responder and plugins can all be found for free
    • link to webgurusblog.zip and link to individual downloads and plugins homepage
  • some of these steps WILL NOT work for installing into a subfolder, but as always, it can be done, link to price

INSTALL WORDPRESS AND CONFIGURE BASIC SETTINGS

• start here: http://www.yoursite.com/
  • its even better now, just documentation is outdated
  • famous one-minute install, just fill out the fields
  • if you have any problems, refer to 5-min Install
• Configure Basic WordPress Settings
  • First thing to do is login and change admin password
  • since admin account can not have nick name changed
    • add new user – make a user name – give full admin rights
    • then log out of admin and log in as new user
    • fill out profile
• a few settings, Going down the menus on the side
  • posts -> categories – add categories, use keywords
    • we will delete uncategorized after changing the defaults settings
  • Links -> edit -> delete all, add other links to favorite related sites
  • appearance -> themes -> pick a theme
  • Settings – more settings, if not specified, leave it alone
  • Settings -> General
    • optimize title and tagline with keywords
    • add ‘www.’ to both urls, nothing more or you could break it
    • anyone can register
    • set timezone
  • Settings -> Writing
    • pick a default category, you never want uncategorized showing as a category
    • go back and delete the ‘uncategorized’ category, now that its not the default category
    • update services – replace the default with the update service list below
  • Settings -> Discussion
    • most of these settings are a matter of preference
    • trackbacks being the exception
    • for a more naturally ordered comments
      • "first" "page displayed by default"
      • "newer" "comments at the top"
  • Settings -> Permalinks
    • set to custom structure, copy and paste the following format
    • %category%/%title%-%year%%month%%day%.html
      • some argue to not include the numbered ending, relates to WordPress archives, unknown if still a problem

MORE WORDPRESS BASIC SETUP

• Register 3rd Party services
  • get an Adsense account – unless your already into affiliate marketing, we’ll start with just Adsense ads
    • video tutorial on creating Adsense ads
    • make a sidebar add, a header ad, a footer ad, and a single line link block for secondary navigation
    • you may like to copy the ad codes into a text file somewhere
      • another tidbit, you may want to start a folder for all the website work coming soon
  • get a wordpress.com account – will be using the API key for some plugins
    • later, we will feed the wordpress.com blog, along with Blogger, Bloglines, and many more.
  • get statcounter.com and/or gostats, and clicktale.com account for tracking visitors
    • setup a project and get tracking code(s)
    • block yourself using blocking cookies
    • do not block using ip address unless you have a static ip address, most people don’t
  • get a FeedBurner account
    • claim your domain, note FeedBurner feed url
  • get ShareThis account for social networking
    • create and copy script code
  • get Socializer account for plugin
• Activate WordPress Plugins
  • Already copied files earlier
    • otherwise copy theme and plugins files
    • download from wordpress or copy my zips
  • top plugins and themes
  • Select All, Deselect last plugin, WP-Wap, Bulk Actions -> Activate
  • if you have any errors, check out our knowledge base (link) – below
• Setup WordPress Plugins – there are alot of plugins, we will setup some now, others can wait till later
  • again, going down the list
  • Posts – Ad Units – setup adsense ads in adsense manager
    • header 468×90, footer 468×90
    • single line block of text links 468×15, menu text link block 160×200
    • create sidebar 160×600
    • place ads in header.php, index.php above content, and sidebar widgets
  • Posts – Auto Tags – automatically adds content-based tags
    • check "Activation" and "Tags database" and click "Update options"
  • Plugins – Feedburner Configuration
    • insert feedburner feed url
    • check "do not redirect category or tag feeds"
  • Plugins – WordPress.com Stats
    • insert WordPress.com API key
    • API key found in WordPress.com Profile after logging in and registration email
  • Plugins – Akismet Configuration – SPAM filter
    • insert WordPress.com API key here also
  • Plugins – ClickTale
    • insert ClickTale code here, apply (update options) and test
    • "disable for 10 years" button (middle-right area)
  • Settings – AdSense Manager
    • set Be Nice! to 0 percent. when you start making a regular income online, then you can afford to donate.
  • Settings – All In One SEO
    • fill in the title, description, and keywords
    • change 404 Title Format to "%blog_title% | %request_words%" (no quotes)
    • fill in Additional Post/Page/Home Headers, sample below
    • we will go over keyword optimization and usage details later
  • Settings – GoStats – traffic tracking
    • if you want to use GoStats, insert your code here
    • if do not, disable this plugin
  • Settings – HidePost – registered users only, good reason for visitors to register
    • enable hidepost
    • other options are up to your preference
  • Settings – Page Lists Plus – adds some good features
    • check "Add Home link" checkbox
    • further down, check "Redirect To"
    • uncheck "Open link in new window"
    • check "Include"
    • uncheck "Link"
    • remember to save changes
  • Settings – ShareThis
    • paste your ShareThis.com widget code
  • Settings – Sociable
    • uncheck Sphinn – has anyone heard of them?
    • check blogosphere, email, live, myspace, newsvine, reddit, slashdot, stumbleupon, technorati, tumblr, Twitthis
    • position – only blog posts, uncheck "Pages"
    • open in new window – check "use target=_blank on link?"
  • GD Star Rating – don’t get overwhelmed
    • it has lots of settings and screens that we will not get into yet
    • many screens will fill out once you have posts and ratings
    • Settings – Posts and Pages
      • Rating>Auto insert code: Only for individual posts. uncheck pages, Archives, FrontPage, and Search
      • Save Settings – button is below content area

Setup A Few Pages

• Pages Overview
  • Discussion – usually for posts, not pages, usually uncheck these two
  • Page Lists Plus – controls how and which pages are shown in main navigation
  • Click tags / Suggested tags
  • All in One SEO Pack
    • choose appropriate keywords
    • a short summary for the description is good. otherwise the first words upto 160 characters is used for description, which Google may decide to use anyway.
  • writing in code view requires html knowledge, but far safer usually
    • wordpress editor "optimizes" your posts and pages for database storage, but doesn’t always do a good job
    • many people disable WYSIWYG editor in profile and only use html code editor
  • publishing – time, permalink, etc
• About Page
  • about page should have mission statement, goals, objectives, contact information, etc.

Setup Side Bar Widgets

• All about Widgets
• much is up to preference
• my preferences
  • left sidebar
    • text – bookmarking – includes sharethis, feedburner rss feed, and technorati fave button
    • categories – if there’s sub categories, check hierarchical structure
    • popular tags –
    • links – blogroll
      • add LinkExchange/Resources link to blogroll
    • adsense – use filter to only show if !is_home(), fewer ads on home page
      • drag adsense ads added by adsense/advertising manager
  • right sidebar
    • text – registration form – use filter to only show if !is_logged_in()
      • see supplements for registration form code
    • text – profile/logout links – use filter to only show if is_logged_in(), see supplements for code
    • adsense – show only if !is_home()
    • text – site info – copy statcounter/gostats here
      • also good for alexa image, blogcatalog, and other site info links
      • siteinfo is last so that the rest of the page loads first, which appears to load faster

Make First Post

• delete hello world post
• model your first post as an introduction of your blog to your target viewers
• here is a site with some good tips
  • http://www.searchengineguide.com/mack-collier/how-to-write-your-first-blog-post.php
• there is tons of keyword tips
  • catchy keyword optimized title, gets users attention
  • relevancy based on titles first, then on content
  • and so much more, keyword research is high priority
• immediately setup settings -> xml plugin
• DO NOT click the link in the Status box here, yet.
• Settings -> XML-Sitemap
  • go down about 2/3 and under Sitemap Content, include Categories
  • down a little further, under Change Frequencies, set posts to weekly
  • under priorities, respectively, 1, 0.8, 0.6, 0.7, 0.5, 0.3, 0.4, 0.3

At this point you could continue writing posts and articles and you will eventually make a little AdSense money.

But, there is more…so much more I’ll have to put it into another post. Just think how much there will be when I start to go into details! For now, there is plenty to do. Let me know what you think of my plan so far!