[Ian J]

I currently have a business blog on Blogspot but people have suggested that if I integrated a blog into my own website it may have more effect.

I have downloaded Wordpress and there only seem to be two instructions. Unfortunately I am stuck on the first one which is "Open up wp-config-sample.php with a text editor like WordPad or similar and fill in your database connection details."

Any help using words of one syllable would be much appreciated

[Hitby]

Hi ian,
I don't have any specific knowledge of wordpress but these systems are all fairly similar (I'd personally suggest drupal but that's by the by and maybe too complicated for your needs.

The first thing you'll need to do is set up a database on your host, generally it'll be a mySQL one. most hosting packages come with a couple included.

Once you've set it up (and a user if neccessary) then you need to put the details you get from your host into the wp-config-sample.php file that will be in the wordpress distribution that you downloaded.
PM me if you need a hand
Hope this helps.

Danny

[Ian J]

Thanks Danny (yet again).

It all sounds a bit complicated so maybe it much be best if I just carried on using Blogspot as all I have to do there is to type text.

[Hitby]

If you're happy with blogspot I don't see why switching to a local blog would help - as long as your blog and your site link to each other, visitors to either should see both!

It's not a big job though setting up a database etc so if you change your mind, give me a shout.

Cheers
Danny

[WibXL]

If you do decide to try it out I've run a couple of blogs with it so may be able to help with setup and some of the simpler problems.

[Setenza]

and on a completely irrelevant point, my Blog has actually become a featured Blog over at www.blog.co.uk

I'm so proud

XoD.

[Ian J]

I was told that having an integrated blog would help my search engine rating as Google would treat it as loads of fresh copy on a regularly updated website.

[Ian J]

I decided to start all over again and bought a new domain name that incorporated the keyword plus the word blog three weeks ago together with hosting that included Wordpress software.

My usual software chap is obviously too busy as I am still blogless and as I haven't a clue what to do myself I am missing out on all of the happenings in the world of commercial finance which are highly blogable.

I am looking for someone who can get Wordpress working so that all I have to do is post on the blog. Is that easy to do ?

[WibXL]

Who did you get the hosting from as if it includes Wordpress it may be already setup?

[Ian J]

The hosting is with Compila and it is supposed to include Wordpress but my man couldn't see it there. It's easy enough to upload a new version anyway but I don't know what to do with it afterwards.

I've clicked a couple of buttons and installed it but now comes the difficult part of customising it as I can't see how to do that.

[WibXL]

From your homepage there should be a link on the right called site admin which will take you into the main dashboard and from there you can change what you need to.

You can change the look of the blog using the design tab that will give you access to the theme's menu which will allow you to choose from any of your installed themes which is probably just the default one at the moment. Installing new themes is easy enough though you just need to find a theme site, download one you like the look off and then upload it via ftp to your theme directory. Or if you want to design one yourself a quick way is to go into your themes directory, make a copy of the kubrick theme and then alter the image files to something more to your liking.

If you're feeling adventurous you could also design your own theme from scratch using CSS but I never got much further than figuring out how to change the fonts...

There should also be a plugins menu somewhere in the dashboard (it's been a while since I used it) which will allow you to select any of the plugins in your wordpress plugins directory. I'd highly recommend a spam filter for your comments pages and I'm pretty sure there used to be a Google Analytics plugin as well.

The other menu you'll probably want to look into at the moment is called manage and this has options for adding categories and tags for your posts to make them easier to find.

Like I say it's been a while since I used Wordpress and I don't know what comes bundled with it now but if you have any specific questions I'll do my best to answer them.

EDIT: There's also a settings menu on the right hand side of the dashboard that'll allow you to tweak the blog a bit more.

[jerryfb]

Originally Posted by Ian J

The hosting is with Compila and it is supposed to include Wordpress but my man couldn't see it there. It's easy enough to upload a new version anyway but I don't know what to do with it afterwards.

I've clicked a couple of buttons and installed it but now comes the difficult part of customising it as I can't see how to do that.

OK - I got to this late and my answer is for those who are thinking of doing the same.

You can install wordpress on your own site but you'll need to follow the instructions provided by wordpress.org and make sure the various folders and in the right places and you have a database set up.

My option is to use a hosting site like bluehost or somesuch that allows you to auto install the wordpress scripts. What this means is that on your admin panel (cPanel or somesuch) you should find a couple of links called Simple Scripts or Fantastico deluxe. These are services that allow auto install of many open source packages to your domain. You can select wordpress or other blogs or even other CMS to the site and then these will install.

With wordpress you can then download new themes and apply these to your site. Many of them come with theme editors so you can tweak a theme to the extent you make it look like your own (including your own photos, choice of font etc.)

There's a lot you can do with a theme editor that allows you to make some really meaningful changes.

For search engine positioning there are widgets you can install that create SEO friendly URLs from unfriendly URLs (turning Growing Apples « ciderhousepress.com into http://ciderhousepress.com/gowing_apples for instance)

I have to say that with these automated services you can literally be up and running in minutes and with a bit of tweaking you can have a nice looking site not long after. I would say though (as you'll discover from looking at my own cider blog above) that creating and maintaining the content is the hardest part of all.

PM me if you want some more detailed help

HTH

[tapzilla2k]

I use Bluehost as well and it couldn't be simpler to install wordpress from the fantastico panel Just a bit of typing and a few clicks is all it takes, to get it up and running.

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by jerryfb

I have to say that with these automated services you can literally be up and running in minutes

Wonderful theory and to many of the computer literate I suppose that may be true but I'm finding it hard to even get going. The hosting package came with a script for Wordpress and I have installed it which took me to the templated design but this where I come unstuck.

I keep trying to log in and come up with :-

Fatal error: Cannot use string offset as an array in /home/ianj4750/public_html/wordpress/wp-admin/includes/dashboard.php on line 46

I don't suppose that you know what that means ?

[jerryfb]

Originally Posted by Ian J

Wonderful theory and to many of the computer literate I suppose that may be true but I'm finding it hard to even get going. The hosting package came with a script for Wordpress and I have installed it which took me to the templated design but this where I come unstuck.

I keep trying to log in and come up with :-



I don't suppose that you know what that means ?

Answer here WordPress › Support » 2.5 - Fatal Error: Cannot use string offset as an array, line 46 dashboard.php

I'm not sure that your hosting company truly does automated scripts as with other hosts it literally is one click and you're there. You may end up reinstalling the script.

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by tapzilla2k

I use Bluehost as well and it couldn't be simpler to install wordpress from the fantastico panel Just a bit of typing and a few clicks is all it takes, to get it up and running.

When I read your post i didn't have a clue what you were talking about but looking at my control panel I saw the word fantastico and it rang a bell so I had a look at it and installed Wordpress from fantastico and it now seems to be working.

Just got to think of something to write about now

Thanks all but no doubt I'll be stuck again soon

[jerryfb]

Originally Posted by Ian J

When I read your post i didn't have a clue what you were talking about but looking at my control panel I saw the word fantastico and it rang a bell so I had a look at it and installed Wordpress from fantastico and it now seems to be working.

Just got to think of something to write about now

Thanks all but no doubt I'll be stuck again soon

An in anticipation of that you'll soon be trying to change the theme. So make sure you upload the theme to the correct location (which should be signedposted but it can be easy to get it wrong with the FTP)

Also - leave the prexisting pages, posts and comments from mr wordpress until you have a good chunk of content. This can stop you getting 404 errors from premature deletion.

Also - your hosting company should allow you to set up subdomains on your main domain subdomain.yourdomain.com etc. You can use these for other functions on your site such as ecommerce, photo sharing, CMS etc. You can use fantastico to write these new scripts to these sub-domains)

[WibXL]

There are some interesting security tips here for wordpress.

[Ian J]

I've been blogging away for two or three months now and have got the hang of most of it but the more involved I get the more drawbacks I find with the templates.

The one that I've been using for two of my blogs is great for normal blogging with a variety of categories and tags to make sure that everything I write about is indexed by the Lord Google but if I try and add an extra page I can't add tags and everything is automatically dumped into the default category without the ability to change this.

I have been thinking about converting another of my websites to Wordpress blog format but 90% of the templates I have seen have the page index along the top which isn't suitable for me as my page titles are long. Likewise the few that have page titles in a sidebar can't handle long titles and they don't wrap them properly.

It seems that I can't get a standard Wordpress template to do what I want it do. Are these things easy to adapt and would it be a simple matter for someone with coding experience to amend the template so that tags and categories can be added to the extra pages or would I be better having a template built from scratch ?

Likewise with the index pages in the sidebar. is it a simple matter to get the titles to wrap properly?

Thanks

[WibXL]

You could try all in one seo pack which will allow you to add a title, description and keywords to your pages which should hopefully get them indexed better.

I think that it would be possible to get the titles to wrap correctly by altering the style sheet for the theme that you are using but I'm unsure what code you need to change to do so.

[Ian J]

I use All In One SEO already but can't tell how effective it is.

I use Google Alerts to bring me daily details of any activity on any website with my desired keyword and any time that I update my blog there is a link to it later that day in the daily alert.

I added two pages to my blog (as opposed to posts) over the weekend and they don't seem to have been picked up by Google Alerts at all which makes me wonder how effective All In One SEO actually is

[WibXL]

Do you use Google sitemaps as well? This plugin will create a sitemap for you and then let Google know everytime you add a new page.

There is also tags4page which will allow you to tag pages but I don't use it myself so I can't say how good it is or even if it works with the latest versions of Wordpress.

EDIT: If you need to make sure that the pages have been indexed you can use the site command by typing site: and then your url into the search engine which will bring up all of the indexed pages from your site which will show if it's an indexing problem or lack of keywords etc.

[Ian J]

Did anyone ever tell you that you're a superstar

[WibXL]

Originally Posted by Ian J

Did anyone ever tell you that you're a superstar

I tend to get called many things but that isn't one of them

[Ian J]

It didn't work so I take it all back

[WibXL]

Originally Posted by Ian J

It didn't work so I take it all back

D'oh.

[WibXL]

Try Headspace2, it'll allow you to add tags to pages along with all of the other SEO stuff and looks pretty good.

EDIT: Why does SEO get a dotted underline added to it?

[johnscarlet]

Originally Posted by WibXL

Try Headspace2, it'll allow you to add tags to pages along with all of the other SEO stuff and looks pretty good.

EDIT: Why does SEO get a dotted underline added to it?

hover your cursor over it