I often get asked about WordPress and other Website Building programs.  I have gone down the path of road testing many different programs – from Coffee Cup, Big Pixie, Artisteer, NVU, Joomla and Web Creator Pro 4. I have wasted a lot of time trying all these programs out, however now I am a complete and utter WordPress advocate.  I mean the wordpress.org not wordpress.com. Here’s why:

• You own your site with wordpress.org because you host it – you can therefore put as many affiliate links you want on your page. I’ve known people who have been banned for putting too many affiliate links on WordPress.com
• You can have an unlimited amount of WordPress sites on one hosting account – a reseller hosting account costs $24.95 for unlimited sites versus one site building program I know of that costs $30 per month per site.  If you use hosting with the add on domain feature, hosting can even cost you as little as $6.95 per month for unlimited sites.
• WordPress has thousands of free and paid themes that you can use.  It would be rare if you couldn’t find a theme that you didn’t like.  This site uses Thesis which is a paid theme but it is by far one of the most customizable themes I have used.  The software program Artisteer can also design templates specifically for WordPress.
• There are hundreds of plug-ins that give your site extra functionality even if you don’t know html, css or php. You can use the plug-ins to have a facebook like button, a twitter button or even add contact forms or even add extra search engine optimization features.  It even has plug-ins that mask affiliate links and plug-ins that help you submit articles directly to ezinearticles from your website.  I could write at least 10o pages on the plug-ins you can use with WordPress but for now I’ll keep it simple.
• Google also loves blogs – why is this so?  This is because blogs are often updated with fresh content. Google loves fresh content and does not like thin sites with just a landing page.  With over 90% market share, you have better do what Google likes.

This subject has been debated by many newbies to Internet Marketing and also another Internet Marketing group we manage. The trouble is that many newbies are often recommended programs or website packages that are owned by the speaker and their prime motivation is to make even more money from you.   If you check out what sites they are using for themselves, you’ll often find that they are using WordPress as their platform of choice.  You would think that if their program was any good, they would use their own products.  You would think that, wouldn’t you?

I believe most serious (and ethical) Internet Marketers will agree with my opinion.  WordPress is awesome.  Some Internet Marketers still use xSite Pro but many have moved away from using this program all the time to predominantly using WordPress – although xSitePro still has a place for Internet Marketers.  I use one of the products from xSitePro, xHeader which I have written about in another post.

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If you ever thought changing the header on your wordpress theme was too difficult, think again. Adding a header to your WordPress website really is quite effortless – you don’t even need a graphic designer.  You can have a new header installed on your website in less that 10 minutes just by using a software program that automatically creates headers for you.  The software is called xheader.

The beauty of this is that you can save some money and put your dollars behind getting a great logo created for your business. This software program comes pre-loaded with hundreds of headers – some plain and lots with graphics.  All you need to do is add text to your header and your logo if you have one. Simple.

In the video below, I demonstrate just how easy it is to do. The WordPress theme that I am installing the header on, is called Semiologic which is a free or paid theme depending on what functionality you want. I am using the free version but if you don’t like Semiologic, there are other themes you can use such as Chameleon Alikivia that you can use that make it easy to install a header without diving into code.  WordPress has also recently changed their default theme and this change has now made changing your header with the default theme a breeze. You can also use these headers on the Thesis theme which is a paid theme and one which I use on the majority of my websites.

Students who attend our workshop have use of this software on the day so they will be able to create their own unique headers. Check out the video below – it is so easy I am confident anyone can do it.

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Once you you have  found a niche and an affiliate product and set up a website, your next major step is to hide the affiliate links that lead to your product.  There are a number of reasons why you should hide your links and here a few a them:

• Affiliate links can often look spammy and people are less unlikely to click on links that look like spam
• Affiliate links are hard to remember – your job is to make it as easy as possible for your prospects to sign up with you
• Other people could steal your affiliate commissions if it is obvious you have affiliate links

There are a number of techniques that you can use including:

Method 1: Use HTML to display different destination link
Method 2: Use “link shrinkers” e.g. http://tinyurl.com/
Method 3: Buy link cloaking software
Method 4: Purchase a domain name from a service that offers free forwarding and masking services
Method 5: If you are using WordPress, you can use a plugin such as prettylink that can mask your link
Method 6: Use a php redirect script

There are a number of pros and cons with each of the above options. I’ve used a number of the options above.  More recently, I have used the latest Thesis Theme for WordPress that has just been updated to make it very easy to hide your affiliate links.  You can check the video on how to do it here.

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Any top ten list is bound to be contentious and this list is going to be no different.  There are an amazing array of WordPress plugins available. This list concerns itself with essential plugins. Most are related to security, spam protection, and search engine optimization.

Some plugins suit some themes better than others. For example, the All-in-One SEO Plugin and the Google Analytics plugin used to be my favourite plugins until I found the Thesis theme.  Thesis made both these plugins unnecessary, however in place of this I still need  need the Robots Meta plugin which allows me to easily change which pages are indexed and which links should be dofollow or nofollow.

So bearing in mind that I use the Thesis theme, I am excluding some SEO plugins and Google Analytics Plugins. My top 10 plugins are:

1. Robots Meta:  This allows you to easily change which pages are indexed and whether links should be dofollow or nofollow.
2. Fast and Secure Contact Form: This allows other people to contact you without displaying your email address or attracting SPAM.
3. Google XML Sitemaps: Helps search engines better index your website / blog
4. Socialable – automatically add links to your favorite social bookmarking sites on your posts
5. TweetMeMe: Twitter Plugin to help readers tweet your posts.
6. WordPress Database Backup – You can set how often the backup runs and where to send the file(s) for safekeeping. Can set it to backup daily (or weekly) and have the file sent via email. I delete the previous day’s backup once I’ve received the new one.
7. Yet another related posts – gives you a list of posts and/or pages related to your blog post and helps the reader find other relevant content on your site.
8. Akismet: A great plugin to catch spam.  It comes as a default with wordpress. A good plugin for small websites with low visitor traffic.  There is a 500 visitor limit on the plugin so you may need to eventually replace it with another anti-spam plugin.
9. Secure WordPress: helps keep your site secure.
10. Privacy Policy: automatically generates a privacy policy for your site saving you time.

If you aren’t using Thesis, then the following plugins are essential and can replace the robots meta plugin:

1. Platinum SEO for normal sites
2. Headspace2 - For autoblogs, datablogs, rss feed blogs.  Headspace2 does everything the all-in-one seo and platinum seo plugins do and more. It allows integration of Crazyegg tracking.

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If you have been thinking about having a website created, here’s a big tip! Make sure the website design company you select lets you have access to your web analytics account or at the very least creates an account specifically for you. If they refuse to do so, tell them you will create an account and give them the code to insert into your website.

Many agencies like to send you your website statistics as a PDF rather than give you full control and access your account directly.  But what happens if you separate from your agency?

Having direct access to your account gives you the following benefits:

• You have control over your account
• You get to see everything you want to know about your traffic – not just the bits your agency shows you
• If you part ways with your agency you can give the code to your new supplier without experience any loss of historical data
• You can even track in analytics when you changed agencies to see which supplier is giving you the best return on investment

If you have been in a scenario where the agency already has control of your analytics account, heres what you can do:

1. Request admin access to your account
2. Create a new account and give the code for your supplier to install on your website

Option 1 allows you to retain your web history but leaves you vulnerable if you do decide to change suppliers. Option 2 means you will lose you history but will give you greater flexibility in the future and you will be able to log into your account any time to see the data.

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Last weekend I was lucky enough to teach how to build a website using WordPress.  The afternoon went very quickly but over the course of the 2 and half hours, we set up a website for our Internet Marketing mastermind group.   Of course, the website needed a bit of tweaking and I added some content and tidied that up later in the evening. I am sure the website will evolve a bit more over time!

The interesting thing about the meeting was the amount of things that went wrong.  Well not wrong exactly but not exactly right either. It’s amazing though what things can and did go wrong despite having an earlier practise run. For a start, the projector didn’t want to show what was on my screen.  Funnily enough I had done a practice run earlier with great success but repeating what I did before did not work. Fortunately, we got the everything up an running.

Secondly, the theme I choose looked pretty ordinary and we didn’t really have the time to go backand look for a new one. Not that it mattered – the purpose was really to demonstrate how to change the appearance of the site and I think we achieved that.

Later, I went to demonstrate how to install plug-ins.  It was like Murphy’s Law – the plugin I choose did not work as the server it linked to was down!  This had never happened before so was totally unexpected. In any case, the day was a success and we will be holding more of these meetings after Christmas.

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The Melpies Internet Marketing monthly meeting will be focusing on how to build a website using WordPress. Key topics to be covered include:

• Registering a domain name
• Setting up a hosting account
• Setting up WordPress website
• Themes / Website Designs
• Plugins

The meeting on Sunday November 22nd will be held at Fitzroy Library (Meeting Room 1) at 128 Moore St, Fitzroy (Melways 2c B9) between 2pm -5pm.

Fitzroy Library is central and has a wireless Internet connection. The connection can sometimes be temperamental so it would be wise to bring  your own wireless card/USB as well as a powerboard.  I have access to a projector and the plan is to have a step by step process on how to set up your own WordPress Blog. This will be good for anyone struggling or who needs a refresher.

Come along and pick up some other great tips as well. Looking forward to seeing everyone there.

A gold coin donation would be appreciated to cover room hire costs. Please confirm your attendance using the contact form so I can ensure we have enough seats.

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One thing I have really been enjoying doing lately is creating websites.  A few years ago, I briefed an agency to create the Birds Eye website from scratch.  The project took forever and cost an absolute fortune – the main cost stemming from the fact that the website needed to connect to a lotus notes content management system.  Big mistake! That’s old technology.

Since then, I have been under the mistaken impression that it costs big bucks and time to create a website.  I also thought special skills, such as html, would be required. I now know better.  Websites can be created at such a small cost.  The bigger issue with website creation is generating content. This is where you find you will spend the most time.

In any case, I have dabbled with a number of software programs including Coffee Cup ($49), Web  Creator 4 Pro ($119.95), Artisteer ($49.95), and NVU (free).  I have learned that creating websites is not all the difficult.   I’ve also dabbled in using Blogger which is like WordPress on training wheels and Joomla. WordPress, however, has been my favourite method of website creation.

This website has been created using the downloaded version of  WordPress and whilst it doesn’t look too pretty right now, it will look much better once I have finished with it.  I am using a paid theme called Thesis which gives me more flexibility to design the site how I want it. Now WordPress does take a bit of a learning curve but once you know where to look for things, you will be a WordPress Master.

Why is WordPress so good:

• It’s free – the only cost is registering a domain name and setting up a hosting account if you use the downloadable version
• There are hundreds of themes to choose from – this means you can change the look and feel of your website in literally a few pushes of the button
• There are hundreds of applications (called plugins) that you can use to make your website more functional
• You can search engine optimise your website so it can be found easily in search engines
• You don’t really need to know HTML

The only limitations with WordPress is the fact that many of the themes are not very flexible.   You may may to spend some time trying different themes until you find one that you are happy with. The other alternative is to create your own theme.  This is easy to do if you purchase a program like Artisteer or if you buy a more flexible paid WordPress theme such as Thesis.  I have used a number of different themes – my favourite paid WordPress theme is Thesis and this is what I am using on this website (currently a work in progress).  This is really because it suits my needs better as it is more flexible in that I can customise my site to look exactly how I want to.  Be warned though that this also is a bit of a learning curve as the design interface is a bit different to what you might have gotton used in WordPress. The other option, it using a software program Artisteer.  What I love about it is the fact that everything is so easy to use – this was one of the first programs I used as an absolute newbie and I maintain it has been the easiest program to use. You can literally design a fantastic looking website in minutes and then export it straight to WordPress. The software also has images included so you won’t have to spend a fortune on hiring a photographer or buying images from a photo stock image library.

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