Fun and Free

Sorry about the big gap between posts, but I found out my auto post to this blog wasn’t working! Anyway, it appears to be fixed now, so all I have to do is find all of my posts in My Documents and send them here. Here’s the first one.

Next, lets talk about adding a Wordpress blog to your website. It isn’t exactly easy, but it isn’t really difficult either. You just have to follow the (excellent) instructions at the Wordpress site. Now, you can just start your own blog on the Wordpress website, but you can’t customize it very easily or as much, and the content isn’t on your website, where you want it to be!
Your easiest solution is to use one of the web hosts that have “one-click” install of Wordpress. Some of them are listed here: Wordpress Affiliate Hosts . There are many others, and to find out if you are using one that does, simply go to your sites control panel and look for a Wordpress button on the main screen. Click it and follow the easy instructions, and you’ll be all set to blog in under 5 minutes. Unfortunately, my favorite cheap host, HostRoute, doesn’t yet have one-click available, but I have sent them a request to install it. However, they are capable of supporting your own installation of Wordpress. If your host doesn’t have Wordpress already set up to do one-click install, you need to go to the Wordpress website to download it (Make sure to get the zip version since you should already have the software to unzip it from when you got Filezilla). First, create a new file under “My Documents” called Wordpress to download it to. Then go get the software by clicking here: Wordpress Download. Make sure you also go to “installation instructions” on the same page, and download and print out the quick and the long instructions. Before you start, decide what you want to call your new blog area in general, i.e. blog, wordpress, rssnews, etc., and then think up a name and a description for your blog. For instance, if your website is about cats, you could call your blog “Small Cat Diary”, and your description could be ” The day to day antics of five nearly wild cats.” You might also pick a user name and password, although Wordpress will walk you through and give you your random password during set-up (Make sure to write it down exactly as it is on the screen!). Now, simply follow the instructions, step by step, and you will be up and blogging in less than 30 minutes.
When you first go to your log-in screen, save it in “Favorites” for future log-ins. If you lose it, the format is simply www.yourwebsitename.com/blog (or weblog, or rssnews or whatever you chose)/wp-login.php.
After you are set up, go back to Wordpress to download a new template and instructions for installing it, if you’d like. Check out the further instructions for modifying existing templates, and visit the forums to find out more info and research any problems you might have. I’ve installed Wordpress on two different websites, and so far (knock on wood) I haven’t had the first problem. If I can do this, so can you. So get started, start blogging for free, and remember to have fun with it!

Freebie Jack

If you’ve been working just a little on your website, and you’ve registerred a domain name and signed up for your free or cheap webhosting at Hostroute or 1&1, now all you need is a way to get your brand new site from your computer to your new online home.  The FTP utility I use is a freeware version that is reliable and really easy to use.  It’s called Filezilla, and you can download the latest version 2.2.25 by using the link below.  Make sure you remember where you downloaded the file!  I created a new folder under My Received Files and called it “Filezilla”.

Filezilla Download Link

Once you download the file, just unzip it (using WinZip, or download it here, if you don’t already have it), and follow the install instructions.  Then just open Filezilla by clicking on the desktop icon, click File, and choose Site Manager… from the menu.  In the Site Manager box input all of your sites info, name (www.yoursite.com), and the user name and password for your site.  This is usually set up by the web site provider, and you can then change your password to anything you’d like.  For Servertype, use FTP and under Logontype choose Normal.  The Port is usually 21, but Filezilla should find it for you.

Next, click the Connect button at the bottom of the box, and Filezilla will log you on to your website.  Find the file with your website in it in the left hand  top pane of the Filezilla screen (should be saved under My Documents/website or website name, whatever you chose) and open it by clicking on it.  The contents will be shown in the bottom left pane.  Now click on the public_html file in the right hand pane to open it.  Highlight all of the files in your website folder (click on top one and use down arrow while holding the shift key down to highlight all of them), then right click on the highlighted files and choose Upload from the menu.  All of your files will be automatically uploaded to your website.  Just make sure that your file for your main first page is named index.html, (hightlight it and rightclick on it to rename it, if necessary), and then disconnect (under File button on top row) and close Filezilla. 

Your new site should be up and running, and you can visit it by opening IE and typing in the address.  Make sure to check all of your links and buttons, to make sure they’re working, and start sending people to your new site!

Come back and visit, and we’ll talk about adding a Wordpress weblog (blog) to your new site, as well as some free ways to promote it.

Freebie