Install your own blogs

Here’s a great little find online. A free banner maker. A lot of times you will get wordpress templates that want some ads in the side. So where the heck do you get the right sized banner to cover them?

Not all affiliate programs will give you the right size. That’s when you go to bannermaker.me and make your own.

I did a quick little video instructional on how to use it:

You’ll be making banners for all your sites in a snap!

Santa stopped by a little early to see if I really wanted to get WP Remix. I’ve been offered a review copy for now. The next few posts will be an indepth review showing installation of the theme to total customization.

I have another site I intend to use this theme for. The examples shown will all take place here on wurdmess - so if you’re visiting and wondering why I don’t currently have the theme running here - well, there’s your answer.

I downloaded the theme onto my desktop, and first opened the zip file to see what was inside. I found a 36 page manual in pdf, in addition to the theme, license agreement, and an additional folder of templates to use with the theme.

Excited to get the ball rolling, I uploaded the theme to my server. Here’s the video. Oh, you’ll notice I started out by clicking on a different page of my current site - just to show how with the free themes all the pages tend to look the same.

To be on the safe side, I disabled the plugins first. The theme loads with a default template that resembles your ordinary generic blog.

One of the first things I noticed after re activating the plugins was the favicon. On the back end I can see the favicon in my tabs but on the front end it shows a default favicon for WP Remix. This tells me a code for the favicon is built into the template already. This should be a simple fix, and just a matter of finding the image file on my server and replacing it (using the same name as found on the server) with my desired image.

Front end and back end tabs show mismatched favicons

I’m far from a php expert, so I’m hoping this discovery only affects this particular plugin. I have a feeling what is written into the code supercedes the plugin option, and my other choice would be to simply remove the favicon instruction from the code. For now, I will locate the image file and just replace it. One of the best things about sticking to wordpress is not just it’s SEO potential, but the ease and use of the gazillion plugins built for it. I’m anxious to get on with this review and show as much as I can for anyone considering WP Remix.

Blava wha? Blavatar. We now have a way to add what is really a favicon to your wordpress.com hosted blog. I believe the image doubles as your avatar as well.

I just came across this today. It’s called a Blavatar.

Even if you have a privately hosted wordpress blog, you are going to want a wordpress.com account for several reasons. Now on your wordpress.com account you can add a blavatar. What does it do? One of the things it does is put the image you upload in as a favicon associated with your wordpress.com account.

Here is what happened when I added one to avenuegirl.

Looks better on my Wordpress.com

Notice it appears in the tab too.

No longer does your free blog have to show the wordpress logo. You can easily add a blavatar and spread the identity of your company further.

I did my best to follow the instruction in the previous post to get a favicon to show, but my header is a bit tricky. To add more muck to my efforts I had upgraded the theme as well. The theme I changed to has the same author, but what happens every time I want to change the theme?

Plug-ins are great in that you can change a theme and other necessary components remain undisturbed. I wen digging and found a plugin to easily add a favicon to your wordpress blog at MaxBlogPress.

It comes with a bunch of pre-made favicons. I initially opened the file after downloading to my desktop, and just replaced one of the images included. Zipped it back up and uploaded back to my host directory. When I went to install, I realized the option is included to just upload a new image to add without even modifying the files first.

So, yippee. I hate dabbling in the code if I don’t have to. This was an easy plugin to install, and my current favicon displayed instantly upon setting the preferences for the plugin.

Thanks MaxBlogPress!

I’ve been toying with some great online sign generators lately, and found along the way some wonderful favicon generators too.

Here’s one hot off the presses: http://www.faviconfactory.com/.

What’s a favicon you ask? It’s a little 16×16 pixel picture that can be seen in you address bar on the left, and it can be seen on tabs open in your window. Sometimes though it just looks like a blank piece of paper - and that is when it is obvious that you don’t have a favicon.

So, I made a favicon for a couple of sites. One site I just reduced a picture down:

Current favicon for All Things Kimkins

That one with the duck can be found on my site Sock it to Me! and here is another:

Bimi Favicon

Those aren’t really blogs, but actually a new cool thing called slinkset where members can submit links - so do feel free to swing by and submit yours.

Ok, so on that site I had a place to upload my favicon to - but here on some of my self hosted wordpress blogs I just didn’t have a clue. Lucky for me, I was able to find this helpful post on My Internet Stuff providing instruction on how to get a favicon into your wordpress blog.

Consider your favicon like a cherry on the top of your site. It just finishes the job just right.

Oh my have I been busy. I’ve been tossing around fixing up some templates, and in my journeys I came across a site WPRemix.

Before I get too far into it, I have a dirty little confession. I’ve been having an affair with Joomla!  Wordpress, I’m sorry and I just don’t know what came over me. Joomla! practically threw itself at me a few months back in a desperate attempt to solve a mystery. Before I knew it, I was spending hours with Joomla! and my precious Wordpress was becoming a distant memory. Later, I began to recall Wordpress and how familiar I was with it and the old feelings started coming back. I was torn between Wordpress and Joomla! I wanted to have my cake and eat it to. I was going to create a site with Joomla and it was going to have a matching WP blog integrated into it and no one would ever know. Or would they?

Things have become quite complicated trying to maintain this 3-way relationship. I find both of my lovers calling me at all times of the day. Wordpress the old steady simple reliable guy, and Joomla! the complicated and sophisticated with recent upgrades that make finding the components I am looking for a challenge in itself. I like a good challenge. Then again, it is the challenge that will keep me from getting things done. But really, it was the massive control I felt with Joomla! I was becoming a complete control freak.

So there I was, wandering aimlessly on the web when I caught a glimmer of something out of the corner of my eye. What is that? It was a template, and the front had some kind very controlled looking front page, and clicking on a link I was instantly taken to the blog - like it was an additional part. Looking at the code there it was. Wordpress was hiding, spying on me, waiting to catch me red handed out looking for new love. Wordpress had hired some help. The name of the help was WPRemix.

So there is my sorted story today. I have to say, this is something very different, and worth checking out as far as wordpress themes/templates go.

Quite a sexy looking package. Hello WPRemix;)

What’s the big deal you ask? WPRemix has a different way of managing things. There are more CMS options, things like being able to edit directly on the page without having to find the blog post.

Just remember, I saw him first.

Wordpress has become extremely popular, and seems to be upgrading in leaps and bounds.  Currently it looks like 2.7 is in the works.

To keep updated with the most recent version of Wordpress, it is good to have a plan.

What is my plan? I have Hostmonster and the use of Simplescripts.

Here’s how easy it is to install Wordpress with Simplescripts.

What is even better?  Well, everytime there is an upgrade to Wordpress, Simplescripts is there and it’s a one click upgrade to the latest version.

How fast is that?

CLICK HERE TO SIGNUP FOR HostMonster.COM NOW.

I was going to do it, but I was beaten to the punch.

It is not often that an e-book is published on a certain subject - this one being a subject I’m all too familiar with - which shows just how useless a lot of the other e-books out there really are.

Recently I stumbled upon Wordpress Goldmine - and the size and completeness of this product really blew me away.

I think we can agree that choosing the right product is important for many reasons.  Wordpress Goldmine takes blogging up a notch going into detail not only on finding the right products to promote with clickbank, but the importance of your domain name and how to pick the right one.

In-depth information is given not just about the processes needed to build your own sites but also what kinds of sites you can create. Many people don’t even know a lot of times when they’ve been to a Wordpress blog as it will look like a regular website.

This book uses live examples with video - but the nice thing is you don’t have to go hunting down all of this information. All the tutorials you need are in one place.

The book is broken down into 5 sections.  In the first section, you will see the different ways to use wordpress to build your blog and how to get a blog up and running in the shortest amount of time possible. The bonus videos included give you additional assistance in this process.

Section 2 focuses on content.  From PLR to self created content, you will never be at a loss for fresh information.  Clear ways of regular unique content are a must for every blog owner.  This is what drives your blog.  Content is also used for article creation and backlinks.  Find out how to recycle and re-use.

Section 3 is all about how to monitize what you have assembled.  While there are many ways to do this, the author has included an all encompassing portion which goes into full explaination of how he make $15,000 on just one blog post.  This one section alone is well worth the price of this guide.  In addition, you’ll see how to use a blog to make money offline and possibly make an extra $1,000 per week consistently.  This is a plan for long term returns and not a fly by night get rich by tomorrow scheme.

Section 4 of Wordpress Goldmine is solely dedicated to the promotion of your blog. An easy to follow diagram is presented to give you a visual mindset.  Furthermore, traffic generation methods are brought in.

Section 5 of this book takes you into promotion. Learn how to crush any competition and get the exposure you’ll want.  You’ll want to be sure to follow the steps outlined in the beginning to ensure you are ready for this step - or it may be a bit intimidating.

The author Mark Thompson has made WordPress Goldmine is the ultimate must have guide for blogging affiliate marketers. There really is no need for hype as this is just a solid quality product. In fact, this type of book will test the quality of future e-books to come.  In the 110 pages there is something for the beginner to even the advanced affiliate marketer.  If you are going to buy an e-book to model your business with blogging, this is the one. Wordpress Goldmine lives up to it’s name.  It’s not a nugget - it is a goldmine!

I have seen shows where someone comes across a Genie, and they are granted 3 wishes.  I think the Genie came to visit me last night, but I just wasn’t specific enough.

I happened upon a little site artisteer.com and found someone has worked up a great little program for easily designing your own Wordpress themes.  Yeehaw was my first thought.  And then - the dreaded question which is always such a pain.  Will it work with Mac?

I have had this issue before when looking for software that can spin articles.  It seems the best software is made with the Windows user in mind.  Doesn’t everyone know they are leaving a whole lot of money on the table when they forget us Mac people?

I emailed the company (who has not yet released their software yet) and it is currently only for Windows.

It is Sunday, and I actually got a really quick reply.  I was very excited about that.  Konrad Musial kindly informed me that there may be a MAC version in the works by early next year.  Oh well.

This sounds great for next year.  Too bad I want it now.  So it is back to the drawing board on finding the easiest way to construct my own Wordpress theme.  I don’t have a lot of time right now to start learning php which I have a feeling will be necessary for this to happen.

I know I can install Windows on my Mac, but something seems very dirty and vile to me about doing that.  Even then, there is no guarantee all the software will work properly.  The other thought is to break down and buy one of the little bastards (a computer that runs Windows) - but I have a feeling that will be more hassle than it is worth.  It is hard enough keeping up with all the great Mac software.