Information Sells

The Information Sells upgrade to WordPress 3.0 seems to have gone smooth as silk. If you are going to upgrade, here’s my advice (I assume your blog is already at WordPress 2.9.2 If you are at an earlier version – follow the steps below to upgrade to the current version, then upgrade to 3.0 Don’t jump [...]

Tags: wordpress

    Small, Medium, and Large Size Images from Shrink The Web Have you ever wanted to add a thumbnail picture of a web site to illustrate a post? If you’ve tried, you know it can be difficult to make the picture small enough to fit your project while still keeping the image sharp enough to [...]

Tags: photos, screencaps

I spend a fair amount of time writing blog posts, and I’d like to get as much mileage out of that content as possible. At the same time, I want to keep adding new content to my FaceBook Fan page… but there are only 24 hours in the day. Something’s got to give. Or does [...]

Tags: facebook, plugins

From everyone at Ghost Leg Media and Web Sellers’ Circle – have a happy holiday and a joyous new year.

Tags: happy holidays, merry christmas

WordPress 2.9 is now available. However, I’d suggest you hold off updating, at least for a few days, until you are sure your theme and any essentially plugins are compatible with the new version. Beyond compatability, I’ve run across a few puzzling deletions in the final version. First – on the Plugin Upgrader. The buzz [...]

Tags: wordpress 2.9

Although I am not  programmer, I help a lot of people install and maintain their WordPress blogs and web sites. By and large, WordPress is troublefree – but eventually, no matter how good the software, something is bound to go wrong somewhere for someone. This week, I ran across a puzzling WordPress 2.8x bug that [...]

Tags: bug fix, firefox, ftp, Internet Explorer, plugin, theme

Any version of WordPress older than WordPress v2.8.4 is vulnerable to a new attack. So first, before reading any further, take a minute and upgrade your blog. Remember to     1. Back up     2. Disable all plugins After the upgrade, re-enable you plugins and you should be back in business. Now that your blog is [...]

Tags: security, virus, wordpress, worm

WordPress 2.8 is officially available for download The big news – Themes can now be downloaded and installed from within the Dashboard, just like plugins. This makes WordPress even easier to use and customize. No need to download, unzip, and upload a new theme ever again. Just browse the theme gallery, pick your poison, and [...]

Tags: wordpress

If you spend time working with WordPress – that is, not blogging, but testing plugins, tweaking themes, modifying stylesheets, and generally just messing with the code – you’ve probably wished you could test your changes before hitting “Publish” on your blog. Well, you can. Installing the services needed to run WordPress on a Windows computer [...]

Tags: WAMP, wordpress

Sometimes, when you hire someone to install your blog and do the behind the scenes work, writing your first post can be overwhelming. I recently had a client send me an email saying his new blog made him feel as though he were behind the wheel of a new car for the first time. That [...]

Tags: ebook

WordPress v2.7.1 has been released. When you log into your Dashboard, you’ll probably see a small notice telling you a new version of WordPress is available and suggesting that you upgrade. This is the first chance I’ve had to use the new core update feature that was introduced with WordPress v2.7, and I have to [...]

Tags: wordpress 2.7

I am surprised at how often I am asked if I write blog posts for hire. (Short answer: yes, I do, but you probably can’t afford me). After the potential client and I go back and forth a bit about rates, the next question is usually, what about hiring someone on Elance? I believe every [...]

Tags: elance, outsourcing

Don’t write for Google. So much time can be spent on SEO, tweaking headlines, choosing keywords that your contract with your readers is broken. Readers love words – not just keywords If you want your blog to be read – then write to be read. Write for your readers’ pleasure. Does this mean that you [...]

Tags: writing

Are you ready for disaster? How recent is your most recent backup of your blog? (You do back up your blog, don’t you?) WordPress is complicated.  MySQL databases are complicated.  Your web host is probably complicated. Is it really wise, then, to rely on fate to keep your blog safe? Backing up a WordPress blog [...]

Tags: backup, plugins

I have lost track of how often I have read a blog post entitled something like, “10 Tips for Boosting Traffic” that includes the advice “Be controversial.” Please, don’t. Be honest, be straightforward, be blunt, be yourself.  But please, no – please do not be controversial. It’s hard to build a community. It’s easy to [...]

Tags: bullies, controversy