September 2009
9 posts
How to Copy and Paste From Word to WordPress →
Another question I see quite often is people asking how to copy a post developed in Word into WordPress.
I create all my posts initially in either Word or Open Office, because with both of…
Wealthy Affiliate Platinum Review – Affiliate... →
The Wealthy Affiliate Internet Marketing university has recently launched an updated version of its membership site.
This is the first membership site I joined, more than 3 years ago,…
How to Get Started in Internet and Affiliate... →
A question I saw in a forum today: How do I get started in Internet and Affiliate Marketing?
The person asking the question had read tons of guru books and tried a whole lot of different…
How to SEO a WordPress Blog →
How can I SEO my WordPress blog? How can I make it easy to find on-line?
Those are questions I see quite often in the forums.
The fact is, your WordPress blog is already pretty search…
Beating Spam Comments →
Here’s a question I see over and over again in different forums: ‘Why does WordPress attract so much spam? I didn’t get any on my Blogger blog’.
There are a couple of reasons for this:…
How to Install an RSS Subscribe Button →
RSS subscribe buttons (that thing on the left) are an easy way to get people to sign up to your blog updates.
Some themes come with them already installed, but some don’t – even though your…
How To Set Up Feedburner →
Why would you want to use Feedburner?
Because it makes your blog’s RSS feed as widely readable as possible, provides you with some great statistics and incorporates RSS updates by email
…
Authority Rules, Reciprocity and Websites →
Brian Clark recently released the Authority Rules report. If you haven’t read it you must – it contains enormous value.
But, even more interesting, he recently published a post on…
Careful Use of Plugins →
I saw a question from someone this week asking about plugins and whether they slow down site load times.
The answer is yes – they can.
And there are other things to remember too: they can…
August 2009
11 posts
How To Insert an Image into WordPress →
I saw a thread today on the Warrior Forum from someone having trouble inserting an image into a WordPress post.
From what he said on the thread I think the cause was more than just finger…
The Difference Between Pages and Categories →
Here’s an interesting question I saw today: what’s the difference between pages and categories in WordPress?
Categories and pages are both powerful elements of WordPress, but they’re very…
Should I Disclose My Affiliate Links? →
The question of whether or not to disclose your affiliate links came up in an article I read on Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger blog today.
It often generates discussion, and the FTC recently…
Company Site With Integrated Blog: Which Platform? →
Somebody on LinkedIn today asked what the best platform would be for a corporate site with seamless blog functionality.
No prizes for guessing what my answer was.
Right out of the box,…
Matt Cutts on WordPress SEO →
Matt Cutts is head of the Anti-Spam Team at Google – so he knows a thing or two about how to do well in the Google natural search results.
In this video he talks about WordPress (and why he uses…
What’s Your Blogging Voice? →
Just lately the term ‘blogging voice’ seems to be popping up everywhere. What on earth does it mean?
A new technology? Audio blogging?
Actually no. It’s much simpler than that in concept,…
I Got Laid Off Yesterday →
I got laid off yesterday and I haven’t felt this pumped up for a long time.
The world, as they say, is my oyster.
Last time I got laid off it was a nightmare.
Firstly, my then employer…
When You Cannot Insert Images into WordPress →
Sometimes, just sometimes, the commands on the toolbars in the WordPress post- or page-write screens decide they’re not going to work.
As frustrating as that is, particularly when you’re…
Authority Rules OK →
I’ve just read Brian Clark’s latest freebie, Authority Rules.
Releasing a publication as good as this for free is, itself, a master-class in marketing on-line.
Seth Godin talks about doing…
Don’t Know What to Write? Take a Walk →
Thanks to my time and salary being cut by 30% at my day job, I’ve been able to work at home and focus more time on my Internet work.
So what have been the benefits?
Well it’s nice not to…
Do You Make This Mistake? →
“Please post your answer on my blog”. That was the request at the end of a question I read on one of my social sites last week.
I see similar requests on other sites. Things like ‘please…
July 2009
12 posts
Social Network Marketing in Business – What’s... →
I reviewed an article I wrote about 11 months ago on the use of on-line Social Networking in business to see whether much has changed.
What I found is that some things have changed, but the…
How to Create a Search Engine Effective Web Page →
I’m often amazed when I look at the source code of web pages, because creating a page that’s optimised for the search engines is so straightforward – yet so seldom done.
I’ve said…
At Last: A Twitter Desktop Application I Can Read →
I’ve been using the Seesmic Twitter desktop application for a couple of weeks now and I like it.
Mostly because I can read its screen easily.
Its closest competitor is probably TweetDeck,…
Searching on WordPress Blogs Part 2 →
Well – I have to eat my own words. Back here I wrote a post about how I improved the search functionality on this blog by searching for and adding a new plugin.
In that post I was…
How to Create a WordPress Photo Gallery →
I was helping a friend to sort out some images on his WordPress site recently and looked for a video on how to set up a photo gallery. The only video I could find was about 30 seconds long and…
A Rant About Auto Upgrading Plugins →
This is just a ranting article…
I use the automatic plugin-upgrade function on WordPress because I’m short of time.
But the benefits of doing that are completely wiped out when the upgrade…
links for 2009-07-08 →
Obama appeals to skeptical Russians. Bit by bit Obama seems to be changing the international political atmosphere.
It’s in all our interests that he succeeds in improving International…
More Good WordPress Plugins →
Back here and here I listed some plugins that I generally use on new blogs.
Since then I’ve come across some more.
However, as I’ve mentioned previously, you should be thoughtful…
links for 2009-07-07 →
Putin says Russia pinning hopes on Obama. Encouraging sounds from Moscow – I do hope things go well.
The split between the US and Russia over the past few years has been worrying –…
What’s All This SEO Stuff? →
When you first start working online the amount of jargon and acronyms you see can be extremely off-putting.
Which is no different from starting any new type of activity, by the way, but for…
links for 2009-07-02 →
10 free WordPress plug-ins make blogging better. Detailed descriptions of each.
These 10 WordPress plugins are useful and, for the uninitiated, there’s a long description of each of…
June 2009
15 posts
Changing a Theme on WordPress →
I wrote a post a while ago describing how to change a theme on WordPress. When I re-read it today I discovered that it was written for WordPress 2.6 and we’re now on WordPress 2.8 - so time for an…
Backing Up Your WordPress Blog →
Here’s a question I saw today: can someone explain how to back up my WordPress blog?
Backing up your blog is an essential housekeeping task that you should do at least once a week.
If…
Google Webmaster’s Tools – a Quick Tour →
Google Webmaster’s Tools has always been a fantastic (and free) resource for webmasters and bloggers. It recently got even better. If you’re not using Webmaster’s Tools it’s very easy to activate:…
How to Beat the WordPress HTML Police →
WordPress has always frustrated the life out of me when I try to use the HTML view to write posts.
I like writing in HTML. It’s a precise language and you’re able to control exactly how…
Adding and Managing Plugins in WordPress 2.8 →
Here are two videos on adding and managing plugins in WordPress 2.8
Firstly – adding plugins:
And secondly, managing plugins:   
If…
Widgets in WordPress 2.8 – a Video →
The post I wrote a few days ago on widgets in wordpress 2.8 received a lot of views, so I thought it may be helpful to make a video. So here it is – a video on managing widgets in WordPress 2.8.
links for 2009-06-18 →
As Blogger Nears Its Tenth Birthday, It Still Dominates. But For How Long?
What a co-incidence – another article referring to great services that Google bought I seriously hope they…
Do I Need to Learn HTML? →
Do I need to learn HTML and SEO? This was a question I saw in a forum today.
For people new to working on-line learning these new skills with strange acronyms can be daunting.
In another…
How to Install Widgets in WordPress 2.8 →
For more details on Widgets – what they are and what they do - see this post.
The introduction of version 2.8 brought some big changes to the way widgets are managed in WordPress.
…
links for 2009-06-11 →
Top 10 Most Crooked CEOs of All Time. An interesting trip down memory lane.
Reading the accounts of these convicted CEO’s brings back strong memories from the past – particularly the…
What is CSS? →
In this post I said that the base language web browsers use is HTML.
I also mentioned CSS as one of the codes or languages that have been developed to work with HTML, to improve the…
What is FTP? →
Before I started building websites FTP was one of those terms that I heard but never understood.
In fact, I initially hoped I could run an on-line business without ever needing to build a…
links for 2009-06-04 →
Atheist nations are more peaceful! Most wars throughout history are triggered by religion.
I’m not really sure how valid this review is – I suspect professional statisticians would rip…
links for 2009-06-03 →
MichaelMoore.com : Goodbye, GM. A great piece from Michael Moore
This is a great piece by Michael Moore, arguing for the re-purposing of GM factories to make energy efficient means of…
How Does a Website Work? →
A friend told me the other day that although he read all my articles he didn’t understand any of them. Not one.
Which gave me an idea …
Why not set up a new category and write a bunch of…
links for 2009-06-01 →
The media & the financial crisis: Journalism failed &, worse, forgot the lessons of Worldcom, Enron, et al.
With the numbers that were being bandied about in the years leading up to…
May 2009
10 posts
links for 2009-05-30 →
Ex-interrogator says torture cost hundreds of American lives. I wonder what Cheney’s response will be?
This view point needs as much publicity as it can get.
Vice-President Cheney’s…
How to Install Widgets →
When you set up a new WordPress blog you have the option to add some widgets to your sidebars.
What are widgets?
Pre-programmed modules, which come as part of WordPress, that you can add to…
META Tags Are A Waste of Time →
I read a post recently in a forum that argued quite strongly that META tags are a waste of time.
The argument was that they don’t serve a useful purpose any more, with the exception of the…