Archive for February 2009
To WWW or Not That Is Google’s Question?
The Plugin That Lets You Have Your Own Way With Google..
If, like I have a couple of times, you have forgotten to check the URL of your WordPress site when you first set it up, click on Settings, the first screen that comes up will have the WordPress Address URL and the Blog Address URL.
For setting up as better Search Engine fodder they should both be:-
http://www. then the domain name. If your site addresses are just the http:// then you are in need of this plugin. It is called Enforce WWW Preference. You can find it here:- Enforce WWW Preferences
Once again, if you have upgraded to the 2.7.1 version of WordPress then all
Smashy download
you need to do is, download the zip file, go to Add New in the Plugins section of your Dashboard menu, browse to where you saved the zip file, click on the Upload button, when the next screen comes up, click on the Activate plugin and you’re nearly done.
One last step, you need to go to Google Webmaster Tools, your Google account gets you in (don’t have a Google account?, sign up for one it’s free).
You need to verify your site by adding a piece of code that is supplied.. This piece of code goes into the header.php file in the Editor Section of Appearance on your site. Look for these tags </head> <body> and paste the code before the </head> tag, click update/save.
Now go back to Google Webmaster Tools and hit the Verify button and all should be well, your site should be verified.
Now in the Webmaster Tools, click on Settings in the side menu and you will see the preferred domain feature options for whichever way you want your URL to be indexed, the www or the non www.
This plugin will help preserve your permalinks by enforcing your no-www or yes-www preference (http://example.com/ vs. http://www.example.com/) and will strip off index.php from the ends of URIs.
Google Webmaster Tools is not a bad place to visit, they have lots of good ‘stuff’ there to help with your sites, have a wander while you’re there doing this.
There you go, some talented person has coded this for you and me, to help us keep the search engines happy and coming back to visit our sites.
If you find the plugin useful, then why not let the person who built it know. If you aren’t comfortable with the Paypal button, Mark has a great wish list with Amazon. Just thought I would mention that as the wish list is a good idea. Go push his buttons, you’ll find them at the bottom of the plugin link here
Posted in Wordpress Plugins
WordPress 2.7.1 Upgrading and New Plugins Feature
WordPress 2.7.1 version is available and to upgrade is a breeze, literally one click and it’s done. Remember to back up your database first with the inbuilt backup option, it’s under tools.
Great new features in WordPress 2.7 and 2.7.1 gets even better.
Now there is another feature that has changed with this update, it is how you get your plugins. Not sure if it’s me and my computer or it is how things will 
be from now on but……..you do it all from your Dashboard Menu for Plugins under Add New.
I have tried uploading a couple of plugins via FTP and they haven’t appeared on the plugins page, seems like it is all done via the Add New section. Which, by the way is very good.
On the Add New page, you can search for plugins via Term, Author and Tag and you will get a list of related keywords with description and rating and the option to install your selection.
There is also several options like, Featured, Popular, Newest and Recently Updated. As of writing, there are
4 Plugins in the Featured section
165 Pages of plugins in the Popular Section
178 Pages of plugins in the Newest
and
178 Pages also in the Recently Updated
That’s a couple or two to check out while you’re waiting for something to upload, download, (good for when a video is buffering/streaming and you have the sound down to zero, so you can listen to it later without the stuttering).
Big choice!
You have the option also to upload a plugin from your computer but it must be in zip format. So no need to download the zip and extract the files anymore, just download the zip and this handy little option uploads the plugin zip and does all the work for you, too easy.
So now I’m off to organise my favourite plugins into a folder with the zip files only. I’ve been known to delete the zips once I’ve extracted the files, so may have some chasing to do. Still when you know what’s ahead, it is a good chase.
WordPress just gets better and better!
How To Get Results For Your Local Market!
It is an untapped market that is your local market, I’ve just watched a video by my local web host that shows how to get to the top of Google results for your local search.
These are the results that appear at the top of the page after you have typed in your search phrase. Google have changed these results lately and have
Smashy download
you noticed those little maps and also the phone numbers, all connected to Skype. Just a by the by, isn’t Skype going to be HUGE!
Now if you are targeting your local market to maybe build sites for them, help them promote their websites to market in their area etc., then this video will help you no end.
It is a very precise step by step, nothing left out, video that will have light bulbs flashing all over your brain.
Here is the link and now let Aaron show you how to do it. You can click here or Here or HERE, Doesn’t matter which one, as long as you click on a ‘here’ I would hate to see you miss out on this information. After all the local market is huge, it’s finding the right angle for them and getting the results that has been the hard part. This video will show you the how to.
Posted in Tutorials
Whirlwind WP Travel Tour
I’m back, been away for a little while but back into action, not sure if the ‘rearing to go’ applies, I’m ready to get to it though.
I’m going to start with a little tip. I’ll call it a touring tip. No, not in the travel to exotic places niche, actually it is to the travel through your WordPress sites niche.
Now that WordPress is so streamlined, it is very easy to update the site and plugins. It wasn’t too long ago that this was one of those chores that got 
pushed to the back burner, now it is so simple to update everything.
If you have a few sites built on WordPress, at least once a week, set aside a time to travel around them and click the update automatically buttons.
Since version 2.7 of WordPress there has been no need to install the WP Auto Upgrade plugin as 2.7 has this built in. Until the last few days there hasn’t been an upgrade to check out this built-in feature.
I just tested it out. But, before you start, make sure you have the backup database plugin installed. Once installed and activated, you will find it under Tools, that’s where the upgrade is too.
When you click on Upgrade you will get a message to tell you to back up your database before you start. Don’t click on that message instead, click on the link under Tools for Backup and follow the instructions. To save, I select the download to your computer option, make sure you don’t close the browser or reload the page while this is happening. Once done you will receive the download popup, so save it to your downloads file or your desktop. Now your databases have been backed up and you can upgrade WordPress to the latest version.
Now go back to Tools and select Upgrade, click on ‘Upgrade Automatically’. There is no need to select “Download version whatever”. After you click Upgrade Automatically and the magic happens……
Don’t blink or you’ll miss it……this is what you get……
——————————————–
Upgrade WordPress
Downloading update from http://wordpress.org/wordpress-2.7.1.zip
Unpacking the core update
Verifying the unpacked files
Installing the latest version
Upgrading database
WordPress upgraded successfully
———————————————
It will take you much longer to read that message than it does to happen.
There is one important note, if you have the plugin for WP Auto Upgrade installed and activated, deactivate it before you start the upgrade.
How easy is that!
Now go to your plugins and upgrade any of the plugins that need it, and you’re set.
Sweet! I had heard this was going to be good, didn’t realise how good as I thought the plugin to auto update was great……That’s why I call it a Whirlwind WP Travel Tour
Posted in Wordpress