wordpress: Build a Better Blog... How to survive the next tech meltdown from ActiveRain to WordPress part 1 - 05/19/11 11:03 AM
 

 Hi guys, in the next part of my Build a Better Blog series I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at a few simple ways to protect our online presence. In other words...
 

 In the past few weeks I've seen a ton of posts here on AR like...
ActiveRain & Reliability ~ My 2¢'s Worth
HAS ACTIVERAIN REALLY BEEN SOLD?
A $60,000 Eulogy for ActiveRain
 
and out on the web...
Why Your Self-Hosted Blog is More Valuable than Your Facebook Page
Google's Blogger back after 20-hour outage
Twitter: Experiencing site stability issues
What We Can Learn From … (41 comments)

wordpress: Build a Better Blog... turning WordPress themes into custom Rain blogs - 05/10/11 02:36 AM
 

 Hi guys, it's been awhile since I wrote something for my Build a Better Blog series and since I've had a lot of questions and emails about my outside Rain blog, here goes...
 

 First I thought I'd give you a quick overview of what I did to make it look so different from the standard Rain blogs and I'll point out a few things that might not be obvious until you play around with it. The fact is that what you see on my outside Rain blog is actually a theme I had designed on WordPress. 
 Here are a couple … (40 comments)

wordpress: WordPress in Plain English... installing themes - 11/26/10 04:43 PM

 Hi guys, and welcome back to the next part of the WordPress in Plain English series  If you've followed this series up to this point, we've done everything from installing the WordPress software on a webhost to setting up your WordPress blog and today... we're going to take a look at how to install themes.
 

 Whether you want to install a free theme, a premium theme or a child theme, here is a quick and easy overview on how to upload, install and activate WordPress themes.
 Important!!! Some advanced themes with lots of features will require additional steps … (52 comments)

wordpress: WordPress in Plain English... customizing the default theme - 11/20/10 05:55 PM

 Hi guys, and welcome back to the next part of the WordPress in Plain English series  If you've followed this series up to this point, we've installed the WordPress software on a webhost and today we're going to take a look at how simple it is to customize the default WordPress theme Twenty Ten.
 Note: One of the reasons I'm using Twenty Ten as an example for people who are new to WordPress, is because you can customize a lot of the theme's look without getting too techie or knowing anything about CSS as I've mentioned in earlier posts. Ready?
… (45 comments)

wordpress: WordPress in Plain English... widgets - 10/23/10 11:03 AM

 Hi guys and welcome back to the WordPress in Plain English series. If you're new to WordPress or if you're just joining us, you should read the first few tutorials in this series to catch up before reading this section.
 In this tutorial we're going to take a t look at how to add widgets to your blog. Let's get started. As usual you'll have to login to your WordPress admin panel...
 

 Widgets are essentially little pieces of code that extend or add functionality to your Wordpress blog. To access the default widgets, go to the Appearance section … (60 comments)

wordpress: WordPress in Plain English... comments - 10/21/10 06:07 AM

 Hi guys and welcome back to the WordPress in Plain English series. If you're new to WordPress or if you're just joining us, you should read the first few tutorials in this series to catch up before reading this section.
 In the previous tutorial we looked at how to create a post in your WordPress blog. Today we're going to see how to moderate and approve comments on your posts.
Ready??? OK, let's get started. As usual you'll have to login to your WordPress admin panel...
 

 Once you've logged in...
- look on the left side for the … (33 comments)

wordpress: WordPress in Plain English... posts - 10/15/10 04:46 PM

 Hi guys and welcome back to the WordPress in Plain English series. If you're new to WordPress or if you're just joining us, you should read the first few tutorials in this series to catch up before reading this section.
 In the previous tutorial we looked at how to create categories (topics) for your WordPress blog. Today we're going to...
- create a sample post
- add some content
- decided whether to allow comments on the post
- add some tags (keywords)
- and then save it as a draft or publish it
 
 Are you ready? To create … (75 comments)

wordpress: WordPress in Plain English... categories - 10/09/10 04:32 PM

 Hi guys, and welcome back to the WordPress in Plain English series. If you're new to WordPress or if you're just joining us, you should read the first few tutorials in this series to catch up before reading this section.
 In this tutorial we're going to prepare your WordPress blog for some content. Content includes everything like text, images, links, videos and is usually added to either a page or a post.
 

 Before we add more pages or new posts, the first thing you'll want to do is to create some categories. You can think of categories as … (52 comments)

wordpress: WordPress in Plain English... your API Key, Akismet anti spam - 09/30/10 05:38 AM

 Hi guys, and welcome back to the WordPress in Plain English series. If you're new to WordPress or if you're just joining us, you should read the first few tutorials in this series to catch up before reading this section.
 In the previous tutorial we set up the under construction page for your new WordPress blog. In this tutorial we're going to get your API Key to activate the Akismet anti spam plugin that is included by default when you install WordPress.
 

 The API Key is like an ID/password that you'll need to activate some plugins on your … (58 comments)

wordpress: WordPress in Plain English... under construction page - 09/23/10 11:18 AM

 Hi guys, and welcome back to the WordPress in Plain English series. In the previous tutorial we looked at the preliminary settings for your new WordPress blog.
 
 If you're new to WordPress or if you're just joining us, you should read the first few tutorials in this series to catch up before reading this next part.
 In this tutorial we're going to create your first page "Under Construction". Either you can create your own graphic or feel free to copy and save this image I've created for you. You have my permission to use it on this or on … (28 comments)

wordpress: WordPress in Plain English... settings - 09/20/10 10:25 AM

 Hi guys, and welcome back to the WordPress in Plain English series. In the previous tutorial we looked at installing WordPress on your own web host.
 If you're new to WordPress or if you're just joining us, you should read the first few tutorials in this series to catch up before reading this next part. OK, here we go...
 

 To set up your WordPress installation first you'll have to login to your WP admin panel.
- go to the admin link you saved at the end of the installation process (previous tutorial)
- click on the link (i.e. … (39 comments)

wordpress: WordPress in Plain English... installing WordPress (updated) - 09/16/10 01:47 PM

 Important: There is more information below to set up WordPress using the Softaculous installer that is basically like a newer version of Fantastico.
 
 Hi guys, and welcome back to the WordPress in Plain English series. In the previous tutorial we looked at connecting your domain to your web host using the CPanel feature so now we're ready to install WordPress!
 If you're new to WordPress or if you're just joining us, you should read the first few tutorials in this series to catch up before reading this next part. OK, here we go...
 

 There are several ways … (53 comments)

wordpress: WordPress in Plain English... connecting your domain - 09/14/10 11:35 AM

 Hi guys, and welcome back to the WordPress in Plain English series. In the previous tutorial we looked at web hosting in general and the CPanel feature.
 If you're new to WordPress or just joining us, you should read the first few tutorials in this series to catch up before reading this next part.
 And now the final step before we install WordPress. Let's connect your domain name to your web host.
 

Login to CPanel
 Earlier we looked at why using web hosts with CPanel is the best way to install WordPress. It's also a super easy way … (38 comments)

wordpress: WordPress in Plain English... web hosting - 09/11/10 10:18 AM

 Hi guys, if you're new to WordPress or just joining us, you should read the first few tutorials in this series to catch up before reading this next part.
 

 The good news is that you can install WordPress on pretty much any web host. The bad news is that not all web hosts are the same so it can be more difficult installing WP on some than on others.
 One of the most important business decisions you'll ever make is which web host you will use for your blog or website. Most people don't put much thought into … (49 comments)

wordpress: WordPress in Plain English... What You'll Need - 09/07/10 10:25 AM

 Hi guys, in my previous post, we looked at why so many people are using WordPress for their blogs and websites. We also cleared up the confusion about and the differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. If you haven't read it, take a few minutes to check it out now before reading this next part.
 The next 2 questions I'm often asked about WP are...
- Is it difficult to install WordPress?
- What do I need to set up a WordPress blog or website?
 The good news is that it's not very difficult to install/set up WordPress and you probably … (36 comments)

wordpress: WordPress in Plain English... introduction - 09/05/10 12:56 PM

 Hi guys, in my previous post Aliens, Espresso, WordPress and Rain blogs I mentioned that I'll be starting a new series of tutorials this month... WordPress in Plain English
 Since there seems to be a lot of confusion about even the most basic aspects of WordPress, these tutorials will be based on the questions/problems I hear about most often. Also, if you have ideas or suggestions for future tutorials, let me know and if there is enough interest, I'll try to cover those as well. Let's get started...
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 Before we get … (65 comments)

wordpress: Aliens, Espresso, WordPress and Rain blogs Q & A - 08/30/10 09:55 AM

September Q & A...
Q: Pussy cat, pussy cat where have you been?
A: Painting, designing and building new themes... ;-)
 Hi guys, contrary to the rumors... I didn't overdose on espresso or cookies and I haven't been kidnapped by aliens. I just got wrapped up in a few projects that took much more of my time than expected. Now that my life is back to "normal", I'm going to give you a sneak peek at some stuff I have planned for the next few months.
 

 Q: Help!!! How do I get started with, install, set up, use, … (58 comments)

wordpress: December calendar, REsources, WordPress in Plain English - 12/01/09 09:50 AM
 

 Hi guys... thx for the emails asking where I've been and if I'm OK. Yes, I'm alive, well and just really, really busy. I'm stopping by to drop off our new December calendar that you can use, edit or give away on any of your own sites / blogs.
 

 The image above is a preview of the December wallpaper/calendar we're giving away on my art website Its an untitled painting I just finished for a client (a surprise Christmas gift for his wife).
 If you'd like to use the image above on your own blog or website, … (69 comments)

wordpress: Rain Blogs or WordPress? Wrong question! A solution & REsources... - 04/19/09 06:46 AM
 

 Hi guys... this week I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at something I've been working on to try and address/solve a question that comes up more often than I can count...
 

  Almost every week I get emails from fellow Rainers asking something along the lines of "hey marti, I'm thinking of signing up for an ActiveRain outside blog but I'm also thinking about using WordPress, what should I do?".
 Since this question has been around for months and doesn't seem to go away, I thought I'd answer it publicly to give you my opinion … (63 comments)

wordpress: Marketing YOU "Don't try this at home", Tiny Chat + featured posts - 02/20/09 09:58 AM
.

 First, this post isn't about any one particular person because I see this happen over and over again with my own clients and Rain members who email me asking for help.
 Second, I was really hesitant to write this post because I know that a little knowledge is usually a very dangerous thing but... since almost half of my projects and emails for "help" seem to come from people who've tried to do tech stuff themselves, I thought this might be the right time to try and point the "do it yourselfers" in the right direction!
 I have no … (38 comments)