Build a WordPress Website from scratch
Building a WordPress website seems easy for me, however I have showed various students how to do this and it takes everyone at least 3 lessons to get it down pat. That’s not bad either. We are talking about creating a website, much like building a house, it can become a cyber property with true value.
When I finally woke up to WordPress I was amazed at how fast I could have a website (or blog) up and running. As you will see in the video below, I could probably get a WordPress website up in five minutes if I wasn’t doing a tutorial video at the same time. The thing is, I believe that anyone can do this and that practice makes perfect.
What do I need to start building a WordPress Website?
- Web hosting that has cpanel and fantastico so it is easy for you to install websites. I use hostgator but there are heaps of website hosting companies that compete with each other.
- You will also need to buy a domain name. There are plenty of places to buy a domain name. I use Namecheap but you can use any name reseller or if you have a spare domain name lying around you can use that. LOL Am I the only person who has 37 spare domain names lying around?
Please note if you are not willing to pay for hosting and a domain name then you are not serious about building websites. I suggest you start a blog at blogger.com until you prove to yourself that this is for you.
Steps to building a WordPress website:
- Buy website hosting if you do not have it.
- Do keyword research and find a niche.
- Buy a domain name with your niche keywords in it.
- Point your domain name to your hosting account.
- Go to your cpanel to add on a domain. See how to add a domain in your hosting.
- Go to the fantastico icon in cpanel and press on the WordPress link.
- Install a wordpress website/blog.
The video below shows each step, even buying the domain name at Namecheap and following the steps after that.
Using Youtube Video To Rank Your WordPress Website On The First Page Of Google
Hands up who wants to rank number one on Google search for your chosen keywords? Oh only two people… I said “who wants to have their WordPress website on the first page of Google for their keywords?” Oh everyone does. Ok, now we are getting somewhere.
I have many strategies that I use to dominate the first page of Google and one of my all time favorites is using a Youtube Video. I can see you are pulling faces now. Can you stop detracting me? We all need to start taking Youtube a bit more serious. When most people think of Youtube a funny video comes to mind, or a funny blooper. Remove that thought from your mind and think of Youtube as a traffic source and a big pat on the back for your website. And when you get that big pat on the back from your Youtube video it will take your website closer to the top of Google for your keywords.
How does using Youtube video help a website rank in Google?
If you make a Youtube video using the keywords for your website in the title, that Youtube video sometimes has a better chance of ranking higher than your actual website does. You’ve most likely seen it. When you search for something, anything basically, there are the typical results showing. A few top websites, a Youtube video, maybe an Ezine article, and then a few more websites. Has anyone else noticed this. It’s not always like that but you get the idea. Some Google search results might show a Squidoo lense or a Wikipedia page but Youtube is always close by.
Tips for using a Youtube video to improve your WordPress website rankings in Google:
- Go to Youtube and type your websites keywords into the search bar there. Find your competition.
- See what your competition is NOT doing and do that. Think about what you can do better than them.
- Examine how a competition video has got so many views. Study their SEO techniques such as keywords in the title, tags for the video, and words in the description.
- Submit an article to Ezine articles that is focused on the same keywords and that links to your Youtube video URL. Youtube will love that you are link building to their website.
- Make more than one video using different variations of the video title. This way you will have a better chance of finding the right combination of keywords.
- Social bookmark your video. Share it around on Twitter and Facebook.
So your Youtube video ranks well in Google, what about my website?
youtube views
Under each Youtube video you upload be sure to have a link to your website in the description of your video. It has to be the first text you put into your Youtube video description. This link will bring you traffic to your website, but it will also show Google that the keywords of this popular video is related to your website. Everything you do should end up at your website. So the Ezine article you posted earlier with a link to your Youtube video, which in turns points to your website can only benefit your website rankings. See the screen shot below. You can see the link to my website where the red arrow is pointing. It is the first link you see and people have a habit of clicking.
In this video tutorial below I ramble on about what video I should make for my keywords and some strategies I might use to get better rankings in Google.
If you are interested in seeing the results of this challenge please let me know by commenting below.
How to make Anchor text links
What are anchor text links?
The best links to leave are anchor text links which is keywords that link to your website. For example instead of putting just http://www.wordpresswebsitehost.com you can put something like this WordPress Website Host.
You use the keywords that relate to your website so when people press on the link they get an idea of where they are going.
Anchor Text can also be called Title text.
Where do you use Anchor text links?
Sometimes you cannot use anchor text link and have to put any ugly original link to your website. Here are some places you can use anchor text:
- In link directories. They usually ask for the title of your website (which is the anchor text) and the url in a separate box. Then they will make the anchor text the link to your website.
- In blog commenting..most blogs ask for your url and then a name or title which will be made into the anchor text.
- When exchanging links with other website owners you include the Title, the URL, and the description. The Title will be made into the anchor text that will point to your url.
- On forums you can use BBC (bulletin board code) to leave links using anchor text. This could be in a forum signature or in a forum post.
There are strict rules about leaving links on websites..If you are seen to be spamming or over selling you will be banned from that website. All websites have their own rules.
Where can’t you use Anchor text links?
One example of where you cannot use anchor text links is yahoo answers. You can only post the original link as there is no provision to write in code.
How do you make an Anchor text link?
It is easy when you get asked for a title or an anchor for your link; however when you have to enter html code yourself it might be a bit more difficult. Here are some examples of simple text links with anchor or title text.
HTML anchor text link:
<a href=http://www.wordpresswebsitehost.com>Wordpress Website Host</a>
Green = the anchor text
Yellow = the link code going to my website
If you want to link to another website simply change the website URL and the ANCHOR text.
BBC anchor text link:
This code can vary from forum to forum as there are many variations of this code.
[URL=http://www.wordpresswebsitehost.com]Wordpress Website Host[/url]
Green = the anchor text
Yellow = the link code going to my website
How to make an anchor text link in a WordPress post?
1. When you are making a WordPress post in the dashboard of your website simply select the text you want to make into anchor text.
2. Then click on the link icon in the above menu.
3. Enter in the URL you want to link to.
4. Now press insert. No need to fill out any title text because you have already selected it.
5. You can also choose a target which will make the link open in the same window, a new window, and so on.
The World Traffic Summit at the Gold Coast
I am completely exhausted tonight but extrememly excited at the same time. My brain is running at a million miles an hour with ideas on what I can do with my already exsisting internet busineses. I have been spending the last three days mesmurized by the big gurus in the internet marketing world. OMG… Yes. I attended the World Traffic Summit at the Gold coast!!!!
The founders of the World Internet Summit, Brett Mcfall and Tom Hua were there, along with their hand picked lineup of spetacualr speakers. I do not even remember having a dull moment. In fact I did not like having breaks, I just wanted to get on with the information.
The various speakers all had different ways to get traffic to an internet business and different ways to make money. I was totally amazed that some of the old school methods such as article marketing and backlinking were still some of the major common denominators. Some speakers, however, made their millions by leveraging only social media such as Facebook and Twitter. This is what I call the new school methods.
Mili Ponce and Paul O’Mahony, the Social Media Experts, conducted a World Traffic challenge where all attendees had to signup as an affiliate and promote their link to people persuading them to optin to get free gifts. With great tips from Milli and Paul throughout the weekend I managed to come in second place. I cannot tell you how nervous I was standing on that stage with these gurus, the other winners, and all those people in the audience looking at me..
I will give you some more info tomorrow as I picked up some fantastic internet marketing secrets from every speaker there. They all had valuable treasures to tell.
Manage all of your WordPress Websites at once for free
How can I manage all of my WordPress websites at once?
This is one of the questions I continually asked myself. How could I manage all of my WordPress websites at once without having to login to all the different websites individually? Wouldn’t it be heaven if you could install 10-20 plugins into 20 different websites at the same time? Imagine if you could see pending comments from all your websites and answer them from on easy location?
Well If you are not doing all these things I mentioned above, then you haven’t found www.Managewp.com yet!
What is good about Manage WordPress (Managewp.com)?
- Free
- Convenient
- Easy to use
When managing more than one website with Managewp what are the main features?
- I love the fact that you can access everything concerning all your websites in one control panel.
- You can install loads of plugins to all your websites at once, and have them activated for you.
- You can changeWordpress themes, edit posts, create categories, publish posts, and more all in the control panel.
What do you need to use this service?
- You need at least one WordPress website.
- You need to install a “worker” plugin into each website. This plugin is available from the Managewp website.
- You need to signup for a free account…Thats it..
Watch the video tutorial for more information.
Upload a PDF ebook report to your Hostgator server
Knowing how to upload a PDF file, a report, or even a full ebook to your server is a “must know” task when it comes to building websites. We all know you need to feed your website visitors with new information to keep them interested and PDF files seem a great way to do this. It is all the rage.
How to upload a pdf file to a hostgator web server?
1. Sign in to your Hostgator account.
2. Scroll down to the Files section.
3. Click on the File Manager icon.
4. A file directory box will appear.
5. Select which domain you want to install the pdf on. If you only have one domain name on this server you will not need to choose.
6. After selecting the correct domain press go. See the screen shot below.
7. You will be taken to the root directory of your website.
8. Now you can press on New Folder to make a folder to put the PDF file in.
9. Double click on the new folder to enter it.
10. Now click on the upload icon.
11. Another window will open. Find your file and upload it.
Once you have uploaded your PDF file to your Hostgator server you will need to know the file path so you can make a link for website visitors to click on. The path or link will be the domain name, then the folder you made, and finally the file name. It will look something like this: http://www.tips4pc.com/foldername/filename.pdf
To see more information watch the video tutorial below.
Why would you need to upload a PDF file to your Hostgator Web server?
If you do not know this already, most free giveaway reports and ebooks are in PDF format. If you intend to transfer these files to your websites visitors you need to store them on the internet and therefore we need to upload it to a server.
How to post a job on Odesk.com
odesk is a website that you can go to and hire a person to help you with your website work. Although it is not just for webmasters, that seems to be the dominant aspect of this website. If you search through the jobs that others are posting you will see that they are all about building websites, writing for websites, or even building software do sell on websites. It’s crazy how outsourcing has become the “in thing” and if you are not doing it, it’s about time you started.
There are now a huge number of websites like odesk, however having tried them all, I have ended up back at Odesk and elance.com.
How to Post a job on Odesk?
1. Sign into your account on Odesk.
2. Hover over the My Jobs Tab.
3. A menu will appear. Choose Post a job. See the screen shot below.
4. A form will appear. Simply fill in the details.
When choosing between hourly and a fixed rate you need to think very carefully. I personally like choosing a fixed rate for a particular job. Then if the job is completed then the payment is due. With an hourly rate you can choose, for example 5 hours a week. This job will continue until you end it. If you click on the advanced options link, as shown in the Screen shot below, then more options will appear.
I definitely like the way you can see all the candidates for the job you posted all clearly listed on the one page.It also seems that you do get more employee applications coming through also.
Getting an account on Odesk?
When you sign up for an account at Odesk you will need to verify 2 payments that will be deposited into your credit card. These will also be reversed so it is free to join Odesk. It will cost you nothing in the end. I highly recommend joining Odesk if not for hiring people, but for the learning experience. You can browse through the jobs and see what others are doing with their websites.
Use the link generator in Ebay Partner Network
When you become an Ebay affiliate in the Ebay Partner Network, actually getting HTML affiliate code to paste into your website is not always an easy task. I know it took me a few weeks to work out what links I wanted and how to use them.
How to create a link with the Ebay Partner Network link generator?
1. Sign into your Ebay Partner Network account.
2. Click on the Tools tab. See the screen shot below.
Ebay link generator
3. Click on the Link Generator link as show above.
4. The Link Generator will appear with options for you to choose.
To see what options to use you can watch the video tutorial.
In this video tutorial I will show you how to use link generator to create an affiliate link pointing to Ebay.
The link generator can be used to create customized links, links to Ebay shops, links to particular sellers, or even just links straight to the home page.
Remove top menu page navigation from an Artisteer WordPress theme
What is Artisteer?
Web Design Generator – Artisteer is a program that helps you create website themes and templates without having to know too much php or html. Here is a previous tutorial I posted about using Artisteer. You can watch a video on how to make a website template.
I like to design WordPress Themes with Artisteer and sometimes customizing the theme is a little bit different to other themes I have worked with. In this tutorial I am going to show you how to remove page links from the top navigation bar and leave only the ones you want. If you have a WordPress theme built using something other than Artisteer then please see this article Remove a page link from the top menu navigation in WordPress.
How to remove a page link from the top navigation menu in an Artisteer WordPress theme?
Most of the time, when removing a page link from the navigation bar you have to edit the header.php file. However with an Artisteer WordPress Theme you need to edit the functions.php file. That is the only major difference. You will find the same or similar code to edit in there. Changing the header.php file in an Artisteer theme will not effect the top nav menu.
1. Click on the Appearance menu. Then choose Editor.
2. On the far right there will be a menu of pages with .php on the end. Find the Theme functions page (functions.php) and click on it.
3. In the Functions.php file look for anything that says list_pages under the heading of /* horizontal menu */
4. See the screen shot below. Click on it to enlarge.
5. Where I have circled the code it had this there: wp_list_pages(‘title_li=&sort_column=menu_order’);
6. I replaced it with: wp_list_pages(‘exclude=3962,4061,4125,3899&title_li=&sort_column=menu_order’);
The numbers that I added in (3962,4061,4125,3899) are page numbers that I want to exclude from the menu. Please watch the video tutorial below to see more details on how to do this.
Add a custom background image to your Youtube channel homepage
If you have your own Youtube channel, sooner or later you will want to customize your channel homepage. This will brand your business or hobby as your own and separate you from the pack.
How do I make a background image for my Youtube Video channel?
My Youtube video channel background is 1598×1636 and is 214KB. Of course yours does not have to be this exact size. You can experiment by trying different sizes. It is also a JPG file. This is very easy to create from scratch. You can open Mspaint and start making your background.
How to create a new background image for Youtube in Ms paint?
1. Open Ms Paint. Usually in the start menu under accessories.
2. Click on File at the top. Then choose new.
3. Then choose image from the top menu.
4. From the drop down menu choose Attributes.
5. Fill in the details for your Youtube background image. 1598 high x 1636 wide.
6. Press OK.
7. Now you have the size of your background image. Edit an play with it, adding your company name and so on.
8. Save your image background as a JPG file.
In the video tutorial below I show how to download my Youtube video Channel background image and then edit that in Photoshop. It is not as hard as you think…Just give it a go and before you know it, your Youtube channel will customized and unique looking.
