Kuzzuk Singapore

Before learning how to install WordPress on BlueHost with SimpleScripts, some recommended tutorials are below:

• How To Brainstorm WordPress Domain Names. A tutorial on how to brainstorm WordPress domain names.
• How To Register A Domain Name Via GoDaddy. This tutorial uses GoDaddy as an example to illustrate the domain registration process.
• Buying Hosting From BlueHost. This tutorial uses BlueHost as an example to show how to buy hosting from a hosting provider.

Here are the steps:

1. Login to your BlueHost Control Panel. Usually a URL like http://yourdomain.com/cpanel and enter your username and password.
2. Under “Software and Services”, click the “Simple Scripts” icon (highlighted in red).
   
   
3. Click the “WordPress” link on the list followed by the “Install Now” button.
4. Enter the following values:
• Version of WordPress: Version of WordPress to install.
• Domain and directory: Domain and directory where you want to install WordPress.
• Site name: The name of the WordPress blog or site.
• Generate me an Administrator Login: If checked, the username and password for the administrator is generated automatically. Recommended to leave it checked.
• Automatically create a new database: If checked, the database and its corresponding username and password is generated automatically. Recommended to leave it checked.
• License agreement and terms of service: Check to agree with the license terms and terms of service.
5. Click the “Complete” button.
   
   
6. Lastly, a summary of the WordPress installed along with the admin username and password is shown.

That’s it! Now WordPress is installed on BlueHost using Simple Scripts. Also checkout the article on Installing WordPress Via Fantastico On BlueHost.

• 0 Comments

Before diving into this tutorial on WordPress installation, some of the other tutorials that you should check out before installing WordPress are below:

• How To Brainstorm WordPress Domain Names. A tutorial on how to brainstorm WordPress domain names.
• How To Register A Domain Name Via GoDaddy. This tutorial uses GoDaddy as an example to illustrate the domain registration process.
• Buying Hosting From BlueHost. This tutorial uses BlueHost as an example to show how to buy hosting from a hosting provider.

Here are the steps:

1. Login to your BlueHost Control Panel. Usually a URL like http://yourdomain.com/cpanel and enter your username and password.
2. Under “Software and Services”, click the “Fantastico De Luxe” icon (highlighted in red).
   
   
3. Click the “WordPress” link on the left menu and you’ll see a list of existing WordPress installations plus options to upgrade and install a fresh instance of WordPress.
4. Click the “New Installation” link (highlighted in green).
   
   
5. Enter the following values:
• Install on domain: Domain where you want to install WordPress. projects.kuzzuk.net in my example.
• Install in directory: Directory where you want to install WordPress. Leave it blank to install on the root of your directory.
• Admin access data: The username and password for the administrator
• Base configuration: This section consists of the admin nckname, administrator email address, site name and site description.
6. Click the “Install WordPress” button.
   
   
7. Lastly, click the “Finish Installation” button and a summary of the WordPress installed along with the admin username and password is shown.

That’s it! Now WordPress is installed on BlueHost using Fantastico. Also checkout the article on Install WordPress on BlueHost with SimpleScripts.

• 1 Comment

This tutorial uses GoDaddy and BlueHost as examples for domain registration and web hosting respectively. In order to change your DNS or the Domain Name System entry, this tutorial assumes the following two things:

1. You have a domain. If you haven’t acquired a domain name then see the tutorial on How To Register A Domain Name Via GoDaddy.
2. You have bought hosting. If you haven’t bought hosting then see the tutorial on Buying Hosting From BlueHost.

Let’s move on:

1. Login to your GoDaddy account and click on “Domains” followed by the option “My Domains” (highlighted in red).
   
   
2. Check the domain that you want to change the DNS for and click the “Manage Nameservers” icon (highlighted in blue).
   
   
3. Choose “Custom Nameservers” and enter the following primary and secondary DNS values for BlueHost are NS1.BLUEHOST and NS2.BLUEHOST.COM. Thereafter, press the “OK” button. For other hosting providers, they’ll also provide a similar primary and secondary DNS values.
   
   

That’s it and now you are ready to add on a domain and install WordPress. Details of installing WordPress via Fantastico and Simple Scripts coming up in next tutorial.

• 0 Comments

I have been following Brian Gardner’s blog posts and he says he’s been really busy. Not surprising considering he has released new Revolution WordPress themes as Open Source. You can read about the aftermath to the launch of Revolution 2. The announcement also got a fair number of comments on Daily Blog Tips and mostly people are enthusiastic.

Head over to Revolution 2 and at the time of writing there are 11 themes in six categories. However, you may miss the free download link which is at the bottom of every theme page (highlighted in red).

You can buy a package for $99.95 per year or $149.95 for life and the package includes unlimited support, tutorials, theme customizations etc. In my opinion, the lifetime package is worth every cent. I wonder how other WordPress premium theme sellers will react to premium becoming freemium.

• 0 Comments

This short tutorial is about buying hosting from BlueHost (one of the hosting services recommended by WordPress and the one that this blog uses). It also assumes that you already have a domain name. If you do not have a domain then I recommend you to checkout the tutorials on How To Brainstorm WordPress Domain Names and How To Register A Domain Name Via GoDaddy.

Note: It is highly recommended that you buy domains from domain registrars like NameBoy or GoDaddy and hosting from WordPress recommended hosting providers like BlueHost, DreamHost, HostICan, ANHosting, MediaTemple or Laughing Squid. Keeping these two services will prevent you from being held ransom by one single company and usually domain registrars are not strong in hosting and hosting providers are not strong in domain registration.

Though this tutorial is about buying hosting from BlueHost but the process of buying hosting from any other hosting provider should be a similar.

1. Go to BlueHost and click on the “Sign Up Now” button (this may change in future but click on something that invites you to sign up).
2. Enter your domain name under “Transfer Clients” (even though BlueHost may provide a free domain, do not fall for it as you do not want to be held ransom by BlueHost or any other hosting provider especially when you want to switch providers). Click the “Next” button.
   
   
3. Enter your particulars and choose the hosting package. You can either pay by Credit Card or PayPal.
4. After successful payment, you’ll receive an email with the login details to your Control Panel and information about FTP, email, DNS and IP addresses.
5. Since this tutorial assumes that it is a transfer of domain. The DNS or the Domain Name System entry must be changed at GoDaddy. The primary and secondary DNS values for BlueHost are NS1.BLUEHOST and NS2.BLUEHOST.COM.

In my next post, I’ll show you how to change the DNS entry in GoDaddy.

• 2 Comments

Technically, this is not a WordPress topic but I believe that all WordPress blogs or sites should have their own domain names. A domain name signifies that you are serious about your business and it hardly costs anything. I’ll cover the basics of registering a domain. Before reading this post, I recommend reading the post on how to brainstorm for a great WordPress domain name.

I use GoDaddy for my domain name registrations so I’ll use them as an example but the process of registering should be more or less the same with all registrars.

1. Go to GoDaddy – www.godaddy.com
2. Enter the chosen domain name and click the “Go” button (I recommend searching for a .com domain name as it is the most memorable extension).
   Note: The GoDaddy interface may change in the future but the process will remain more or less the same.
   
   
3. It will display whether the name is available or not (highlighted in green). Assuming the name is available, DO NOT click on any of the other domain options provided by GoDaddy (highlighted in red).
   
   
4. Click the “Proceed to Checkout” button and GoDaddy will again try to tempt you with offers like additional domains (highlighted in red). Do not succumb to the temptation. Instead click on the tiny “No thanks. Continue to checkout…” link (highlighted in green).
   
   
5. Login if you already have a GoDaddy account or create a new account by registering. Then click the “Continue” button.
   
   
6. After you register or login, GoDaddy (the evil money making machine that it is) will tempt you one last time. Ignore all additional options that it provides like private registrations, hosting, emails etc and check the “No thanks. I’m ready to checkout.” option and click the “Continue” button (highlighted in green).
   
   
7. One final money saving tip before you check out, search for GoDaddy coupons on Google and enter the coupon code in the “Apply Code” section. Notice how the price of US$ 20.28 gets reduced to US$15.38 (highlighted in green) when I used the code OYH3. Now go have a coffee with the money saved (before you go for that caffeine fix, there’s one final step).
   
   
   
   
8. Select a “Payment Method” (Credit card or PayPal) and click the “Checkout” button. You will get an email after the transaction successfully goes through. That’s all. It was easy wasn’t it? And I hope you didn’t succumb to GoDaddy’s temptations.

In my next post, I’ll show you how to buy hosting from BlueHost.

• 3 Comments

There’s no perfect way of finding a great domain name for your WordPress blog or website. Here what I do to brainstorm for a great WordPress domain name.

Dump Everything: Write all the words that come to mind in relation to your site and blog. I prefer to do this on an Excel sheet (so I can combine words as well as copy and paste later while searching for domains). The rule here is nothing is dumb, just write it down. I use OneLook because it allows me to find definitions flexibly (I can even use wildcards – I’m a sucker for wildcards) and/or Synonym.Com.

Primary and Secondary: I like to use a memorable combination of two words. For example, one of my sites is called Rustic Sikkim (in development) which is an online travel guide for the Himalayan state of Sikkim so rustic was the ideal word to describe. In my Excel sheet, I make two columns with the heading “Primary” and “Secondary”. You could have a tertiary word column but I think remembering two word domains are so much easier than 3 or more word domains.

Go Nameboy Go: My last stop is usually NameBoy where I plug in my primary and secondary keywords and click the “go nameboy go!” button. Nameboy does its magic and shows me the suggested .com, .net, .ord, .biz and .tv domain names including their availibility.

PS: If your domain name is primarily for a blog then you may want to suffix a domain name with the word ‘blog’.

• 5 Comments

BlueHost provides great features like unlimited space, unlimited bandwidth, 2500 email accounts (not that you’d need that many but one never knows) and auto-installers for WordPress along with good customer service that’s 24/7 at an affordable price of $6.95 per month. I personally use BlueHost for most of my projects (including this blog) and I’m a happy camper.

I’m reviewing BlueHost Hosting Service based on the criteria below:

• Disk space: It is good not to worry that you’ll run out of disk space soon because even in this day and age (when disk space is literally a commodity) there are a lot of hosting providers who are stingy with their disk space. Regardless of whether you choose BlueHost or not, unlimited disk space (or a very large number usually in GBs) should be one of the main criteria for hosting evaluation.
• Bandwidth per month: Unlimited. Out of all the WordPress recommended hosting providers, BlueHost is the only one that provides unlimited bandwidth in its plan.
• Number of email accounts: 2,500 email accounts. More than sufficient.
• One click installer: I especially like the combination of Cpanel and Fantastico because of its easy-to-use web-based interface. CPanel allows you to manage most aspects of your website through a web interface whereas Fantastico makes installing, upgrading and removing of applications like WordPress simply a matter of point-and-click. BlueHost also provides SimpleScripts which does the job of Fantastico but I’m not a big fan because in my experience it doesn’t do a clean job of removing applications like WordPress.
• Price Plans: $6.95 per month for 24 months and above. $7.95 per month for 12 months. $9.95 per month for 6 months and below (additional setup fee of $30). I prefer the BlueHost plan of $6.95 per month for 24 months (buy and forget).
• Databases: WordPress needs MySQL databases and BlueHost provides 100 MySQL and 100 PostgreSQL databases. This means that you can have a maximum of 100 WordPress installations running under your hosting account.
• Add-on domains: Traditionally, you could only host one domain per hosting account but this was a bit limiting and cumbersome if you were running multiple websites. So the solution is add-on domains which allows you to run more than one domain from a single hosting account. BlueHost provides unlimited add-on domains which means you can run up to 100 unique WordPress websites (limited by number of databases provided – unless the databases are shared but that’s a more advanced topic) or unlimited static HTML websites. On the flip side, many argue that running multiple websites from one hosting account may not be so prudent because they all share the same IP address and for example, if Google bans the IP (highly unlikely) then all your websites will be affected. This advice primarily means that do not put all your eggs into one basket. Regardless, it is better to have the option of running multiple add-on domains from one hosting account.
• Demo Login: Demo login is important so that you can test-drive the hosting interface before you decide to purchase hosting from BlueHost. Fortunately, BlueHost provides a demo login. Go to BlueHost and click the “Tell Me More” button followed by “Demo Login” button.
• Customer service: Needless to say, customer service is important. BlueHost provides 24/7 customer service via phone at (888) 401-4678, live chat and email help via its automated help desk and ticketing service. Especially if you live in a different timezone, 24/7 support is vital.
• Reliability: It is hard to ascertain reliability until you actually start using a hosting service. However, you can check the number of problems reported for BlueHost on public websites like Google Groups and WordPress.org support forums. However, this cannot be absolutely accurate because the number of problems is usually directly proportional to their number of customers. Additionally, check whether they have a server status monitoring system. For example, at the time of writing BlueHost has 99 issues for ‘Bluehost WordPress problem’ at Google Groups and 1360 issues for ‘Bluehost WordPress problem’ at WordPress.Org forums. A good thing about BlueHost have a server status checking at http://serverstatus.bluehost.com/

Overall, I would heartily recommend BlueHost and intend to write more about BlueHost specific CPanel and Fantastico articles. If you have ideas about topics then please contact me.

• 0 Comments

Here’s a list of 21 tips (original list consisted of 20 tips but i realized I missed out one important tip) to optimize WordPress (the article now has thirteen tips and 8 more to go – will be updated daily) in terms of design, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), standards compliance, usability and cross-browser compatibility.

Please feel free to share tips that have worked for you in making WordPress better. I’d appreciate it!

1. Choose a Good Domain Name

A good domain name should incorporate some of your main keywords and be easy to remember. Nameboy is a fantastic service for brainstorming and buying domain names. OneLook is not a domain registrar but is another great service that can be used for brainstorming domain names. After deciding upon a domain name, register it with a service like Nameboy or GoDaddy.

2. Evaluate WordPress Recommended Hosting

WordPress recommends the following hosting providers:

• BlueHost
• DreamHost
• HostICan
• ANHosting
• MediaTemple
• Laughing Squid

Evaluate these hosting providers based on:

• Disk space
• Bandwidth per month
• Number of email accounts provided
• One click installer for WordPress like Fantastico (preferable) or SimpleScripts
• Price
• Number of databases (useful if you intend to host more than one WordPress installation per account)
• Add-on domains (useful if you intend to host more than one domain per account)
• Demo login is important if you want to familiarize yourself with the hosting control panel interface.
• Customer service factors like 24/7 customer service via telephone, live chat or email is important. Especially if you live in a different timezone, 24.7 support is vital.
• Reliability can be gauged by the number of issues reported on public websites like Google Groups and WordPress.org support forums. However, this cannot be absolutely accurate because the number of problems is usually directly proportional to their number of customers. Additionally, check whether they have a server status monitoring system.

3. Change the WordPress Default Theme/Template

Nobody wants a cookie-cutter website or blog so it is important to change the default theme to make it look unique. Contrary to popular belief, customizing a WordPress template is not ‘rocket science’ and there’s always help at sites like eLance or Rent-A-Coder.

First things first, start with an existing theme (there are loads of premium and free WordPress themes available) that fits your intended design closely. After that, either customize it yourself or hire a WordPress professional at eLance or Rent-A-Coder (you can also get a good deal and complete the site/blog faster if you are using a free or premium theme because they don’t have to create the theme from scratch).

Second, find a theme that suits your requirements. Some premium WordPress themes (most are under $100) I like are:

• Citrus Theme
• Thesis Theme
• WP-Remix
• OneTheme
• Theme Spinner
• Revolution Theme. This theme has gone Open Source which means it can be downloaded and used for free. This post Gorgeous WordPress Revolution Themes Goes Open Source has the details.
• WordPress Theme Market
• Ithemes
• SoloStream
• Press 75
• OmniTheme
• Market Theme
• JobPress
• SemioLogic Pro. The sales page for this theme is off putting but a lot of experts especially the Internet Marketing ‘gurus’ use this theme.

If you can’t find a premium theme that meets your needs or if you don’t want to pay for a premium theme then consider free themes. However, finding a good free theme is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Here are some of my favorite free themes:

• Daily WP (the theme I’m using for this blog)
• Several 3 Theme
• Blogging Pro Theme
• MiniBits Theme
• Modicus Remix Theme
• Structure Theme
• WordPress Extend

4. Update Permalinks to Create Search Engine Friendly URLs

By default, WordPress creates ugly URLs like http://example.com/?p=N which is not exactly ideal. However, creating a user and search engine friendly URL is not difficult at all. Here’s what you do:

1. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
2. Click the “Settings” tab followed by “Permalinks” link.
   
   
3. Choose any structure apart from “Default”. I like to use the Custom Structure of “/%category%/%postname%/” that makes my URL look like http://example.org/category/postname/
4. If the permalink doesn’t work then it is most likely because of the .htaccess file permission issues (assuming the server is Apache). Open the .htaccess file and add the following code (if WordPress is installed in the root directory):
   
   # BEGIN WordPress

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

# END WordPress
5. Open the .htaccess file and add the following code (if WordPress is installed in a directory called ‘blog‘):
   
   # BEGIN WordPress

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /blog/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /blog/index.php [L]

# END WordPress

5. Ditch the WYSIWYG Editor

By default, WordPress provides a visual WYSIWYG Editor to edit content. I strongly recommend to turn this visual editor off because a lot of times it creates unnecessary extra code especially when you copy and paste from word processors like Microsoft Word. Do the following to turn the visual editor off:

1. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
2. Click on your profile name link on the top right corner of the administrator’s interface (highlighted in red).
   
   
3. Uncheck the “Use the visual editor when writing” (highlighted in red) box and click the “Update Profile” button.
   
   

6. Change Date and Time Option

By default, WordPress is set to the UTC timezone which is most likely not your timezone. Do the following to change the date and time option:

1. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
2. Click the “Settings” tab followed by “General” link.
3. Scroll down to “Timezone”, “Date Format”, “Time Format” and “Week Starts On” settings and change it according to your timezone and preferences.
   
   
4. Click the “Save Changes” button.

7. Update Akismet

Comment spam is a nuisance for WordPress blogs and websites. Spammers usually use automated software to post comments that promote their commercial services. Akismet (comes bundled with WordPress) is the plugin of choice to protect against comment spam.

1. Log into your WordPress account.
2. Click on the “Plugins” link on the top right side of the Dashboard.
   Note: Download and install Akismet if it is not already there on the plugin list.
3. Click the “Activate” link (assuming that Akismet is already in the list of plugins) for Akismet.
4. A note saying “Akismet is almost ready. You must enter your WordPress.com API key for it to work.” will be displayed. Open a new window and go to www.wordpress.com and sign up at http://wordpress.com/signup/. At the end of the registration, an API key will be emailed to you.
5. Go back to the WordPress administrator and click the “enter your WordPress.com API key” link. Enter the API Key and click the “Update options” button.
6. Now Akismet is configured and ready. Your WordPress website or blog is effectively protected against comment spam.

8. Expand Ping List

By default, WordPress only pings one service and does not notify other blog directories and search engines that your website or blog has been updated. So it is a good idea to expand this list and notify more services.

1. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
2. Click the “Settings” tab followed by “Writing” link. Scroll to the “Update Services” box and enter the following list of ping services.
   
   http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2

   http://1470.net/api/ping

   http://api.feedster.com/ping

   http://api.moreover.com/RPC2

   http://api.moreover.com/ping

   http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2

   http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping

   http://bblog.com/ping.php

   http://bitacoras.net/ping

   http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC

   http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc

   http://blogmatcher.com/u.php

   http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc

   http://coreblog.org/ping/

   http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt

   http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/

   http://ping.amagle.com/

   http://ping.bitacoras.com

   http://ping.blo.gs/

   http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/

   http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc

   http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/

   http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc

   http://ping.feedburner.com

   http://ping.myblog.jp

   http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php

   http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php

   http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php

   http://ping.weblogs.se/

   http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2

   http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/

   http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2

   http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/

   http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/

   http://rpc.newsgator.com/

   http://rpc.pingomatic.com

   http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

   http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

   http://topicexchange.com/RPC2

   http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php

   http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b

   http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php

   http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2

   http://www.blogoole.com/ping/

   http://www.blogoon.net/ping/

   http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates

   http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1

   http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php

   http://www.blogsnow.com/ping

   http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi

   http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php

   http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud

   http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php

   http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php

   http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2

   http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/

   http://xmlrpc.blogg.de

   http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/

3. Click the “Save Changes” button. That’s it! Now your WordPress blog or website is pinging many more blog directories and search engines.

9. Install and Configure Redirection Plugin

The Redirection Plugin is important for SEO purposes. Whenever a URL changes for whatever reasons then it creates an issue with search engines. For instance, lets say http://example.com/category/postname changes to http://example.com/category/name-of-the-post and the former URL has already been indexed by the search engine. Then there will be SEO consequences. The Redirection Plugin comes in handy in such cases to do a 301 redirect which means that it tells the search engine that http://example.com/category/postname has permanently moved to http://example.com/category/name-of-the-post.

Do the following to activate and configure the plugin:

1. Download Redirection Plugin and FTP to the server’s “wp content/plugins” folder.
2. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
3. Click on the “Plugins” link on the top right side of the Dashboard.
4. Click the “Activate” link for the Redirection Plugin.
5. After successful activation, click the “Manage” tab followed by “Redirection” and “Options” link.
6. Under “URL Monitoring” set the values to “Modified Posts” and click the “Update” button.
   
   

The Redirection Plugin is also very useful for affiliate marketing but that’s a slightly advanced topic that I’ll cover in the future.

10. Install and Activate SEO Slugs Plugin

The SEO Slugs plugin removes common words like ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘in’ from URLs to improve search engine optimization. For example, http://example.com/category/how-to-install-wordpress becomes http://example.com/category/install-wordpress

Do the following to activate the plugin:

1. Download SEO Slugs plugin and FTP to the server’s “wp content/plugins” folder.
2. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
3. Click on the “Plugins” link on the right side of the Dashboard.
4. Click the “Activate” link for the SEO Slugs plugin.

11. Install and Configure All-in-One SEO Plugin

All-in-One SEO Plugin is one of the most comprehensive and popular SEO plugins for WordPress. It optimizes titles (titles are very important for search engine rankings) and automatically generates META tags (which can also be over-ridden manually).

Do the following to activate and configure the plugin:

1. Download All-in-One SEO Plugin and FTP to the server’s “wp content/plugins” folder.
2. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
3. Click on the “Plugins” link on the right side of the Dashboard.
4. Click the “Activate” link for the All-in-One SEO Plugin.
5. After successful activation, click the “Settings” tab followed by “All in One SEO” to configure accordingly. It allows setting of titles for homepage, categories, posts and more…
6. You can also manually create title, description and keywords while writing posts or pages in WordPress. Just scroll down to see the options.

12. Install and Configure Robots Meta Plugin

The Robots Meta Plugin allows you to set which parts of the WordPress blog or website can be indexed by search engines. For example, it makes it easy to prevent pages like registration, login, search results and categories to be indexed.

Do the following to activate and configure the plugin:

1. Download Robots Meta Plugin and FTP to the server’s “wp content/plugins” folder.
2. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
3. Click on the “Plugins” link on the right side of the Dashboard.
4. Click the “Activate” link for the Robots Meta Plugin.
5. Click the “Plugins” link followed by “Robots Meta” link to set the configuration. I recommend preventing the following from being indexed:
• Site’s search results pages
• Login and register pages
• All admin pages
• Author archives
• Date based archives
6. Additionally, you can manually allow or prevent a post or a page to be indexed while writing posts or pages in WordPress. Just scroll down to see the options.

13. Improve Navigation with the Breadcrumbs Plugin

The Breadcrumbs Plugin is a great navigation tool because users are often lost within a website, especially if they came to an internal page or post via search engines. An example of a breadcrumb would be “Blog Home > Category > Breadcrumbs R Us”.

Do the following to activate and configure the plugin:

1. Download Breadcrumbs Plugin and FTP to the server’s “wp content/plugins” folder.
2. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
3. Click on the “Plugins” link on the right side of the Dashboard.
4. Click the “Activate” link for the Breadcrumbs Plugin.
5. Click the “Settings” link followed by “Breadcrumb NavXT” link to set the configuration.
6. Open the appropriate file for your theme (usually header.php). This can be done by clicking the “Design” tab followed by the “Theme Editor” link.
   
   <div class="breadcrumb">
if(function_exists('bcn_display'))
{
bcn_display();
}
?>
</div>
7. Save the file and the breadcrumbs are now active.

Status: Until complete, this post will be updated almost daily. For now, its thirteen tips and 8 to go!

• 2 Comments

Obviously, I am starting a little late but I’m sure I’ll catch up. The post is a summary of the concepts presented on Day 1 of the 30 Day Challenge in 2008 followed by a checklist of action items.

Market Research, Traffic, Conversion and Product

Ed calls these four elements the “Magnificent Symphony in Four Parts” and stresses that it is vital to follow it in sequence.

1. Market Research: The first step is to test an idea of a product or service to determine whether a market for it exists or not. The research (mostly free) can help identify the product, its demand and the price point among other things.
2. Traffic: Traffic is the lifeblood of an online business. The Thirty Day Challenge training shows you how to get free or cheap traffic.
3. Conversion: Conversion is the art of translating traffic into dollars. The Thirty Day Challenge training shows you different methods of conversion and how to make money while testing.
4. Product: Product comes last because the market will tell you what product or service they want. The key is engaging them interactively.

Getting Ideas

1. Amazon: Amazon is a treasure trove of ideas. Go to Books -> Magazines & Newspapers. Scroll down to see the Categories section and look at the best-selling magazines in that section. Firstly, two caveats for choosing a niche 1) topic that interests you and 2) a small niche to start off with. Secondly, take note of how many magazines are in this category and how frequently are the magazines published. I choose scrapbooking as a topic and there were 15 magazines most of which is published on a monthly basis. This tells me that there must be a sizeable number of advertisers spending money in the marketplace and there is money to be made here.
   
   
2. Google News: Now do a Google news search on the topic you have identified. Thereafter, click the News Alert icon (highlighted in red) to receive news alerts within your niche via email daily (recommended), weekly or as it happens. Alternatively, you can add this into your RSS Reader by clicking the orange RSS icon on the address bar (highlighted in blue).
   
   
   
   

Action Items for Day 1 – Getting Ideas using Amazon and Google News

1. Understand the concept and sequence of marketing research, traffic, conversion and product.
2. Use Amazon to generate 5 to 10 ideas for various niches.
3. Use Google News alerts via email or RSS to stay on top of the niches.

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Part 8 is the last of my pre-season post series and it covers the video tips and forum guide for the 30 Day Challenge in 2008 followed by a checklist of action items.

Video Tips and Forum Guide

1. Log in to the Thirty Day Challenge Dashboard and click on any training link. You’ll see a YouTube video embedded and the video can be watched directly by clicking any of the two play buttons (highlighted in red). Alternatively, you can download the video in SD (low res) or HD (high res) by right-clicking the icons (highlighted in blue) and saving it on your local drive. The T icon (highlighted in blue) stands for the transcript of the lesson in PDF.
   
   
2. Personally, I download the HD videos and the PDFs. I read the PDFs and watch the videos only when time permits or when the transcript is not available. Get iTunes or VLC to play the videos and good old Adobe Reader is needed for the PDFs.

Action Items for Video Tips and Forum Guide

1. Register for the 30 Day Challenge 2008 Training.
2. Register for the 30 Day Challenge 2008 Forum.
3. Download training videos and PDFs. Take action and follow along.

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