LESSON #35: WordPress Themes and Plugins
(Part 3 in a series of 4)
In the previous two lessons, we’ve been talking about WordPress. Lesson #33 covers getting started with WordPress. Lesson #34 covers several of my recommended WordPress settings. And now we’re going cover the fun stuff!
(Watch this video…)
Main points:
-There are hundreds of free themes at: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/
-A nice thing about selecting a theme from the WP site, is seeing if it is compatible with the latest version, seeing user comments, etc.
-Tip: If you intend to do very much customization to your theme, you might want to choose one that is NOT heavily dependent on graphical design.
-Advanced tip: web designers may submit their own theme to WP’s directory (see guidelines first). This could result in exposure from thousands of downloads and back links.
-There are also thousands of 3rd party themes for sale and for free.
Plugins that I currently use:
Akismet
All in One SEO Pack
Dofollow
Ajax Comments-Reply
Flickr Photo Album
ShareThis
UPDATE: I no longer use the ShareThis plugin, and now I use Simple Facebook Like Widget. For more information, see this post about Facebook plugins
There are three main ways…
-You could use an AdSense-ready theme (such as an AdSense template, or search the WP themes directory for one)
-You could use an AdSense WP Plugin, such as Adsense Manager (search the Plugins directory for AdSense). In general, this would be my recommendation.
-You could add it manually to your theme (for example you could insert your ad code into the header.php, sidebar.php, or single.php files)
Action steps:
1) Choose a theme for your WordPress site and install it.
2) If you’re going to allow comments, activate the Akismet plugin.
3) Explore the other plugins.
In the next lesson, we’ll look at how to customize your WordPress theme.
If you need help, please check out the forums at: http://wordpress.org/support/
As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below 
Feel free to let us know your favorite themes and plugins!
Have a great day!
Some good videos Eric… I’m in the middle of setting up my own wordpress blog… I’m glad I found you site…
I’m glad you found it too!
Thanks Eric for the great video.
1. All in one SEO Vs Platinum SEO pack
For adsense: adsense manager Vs adsense deluxe
- which one is better plugin?
2. would you show how to remove dates in wordpress theme in next lesson?
3. Please explain how to use: firebug and customize the theme.
Thanks.
I am not familiar with Platinum SEO pack, but if it looks better give it a try and let us know!
Also I am not familiar with Adsense manager vs Adsense deluxe, as I generally do not use Adsense on my Wordpress sites.
And I’m not familiar with firebug
But I would bet you could easily get answers for all of those questions in WP’s forums:
http://wordpress.org/support/
I am not planning on showing how to remove the date, but I will show how to edit the files in the lesson. I basically just opened single.php in a text editor, and removed the date line.
Eric,
What are your thoughts on WordPressDirect? Would you reccommend something like this or would sticking with the free plug- ins be just as good? Even though WPDirect charges, it looks like they have some very good plug-ins that you wouldn’t find for free! I’m trying to decide while looking at all the options! Thanks for any advice and input!
Get 150 *Top Quality* NICHE Websites With Your Paypal ID On Each!
http://Instant-Paysites.com
I do not think it is necessary. WP is easy enough as it is, and there are plenty of free plugins available. I would rather see people learn how to build their own unique WordPress site.
It looks like you can build your own WP website(which I’m doing) and then import it to WPDirect so the Plug-in packages and automated software work with it(if I was understanding it correctly)Looks like they have some Premium plug-ins I couldn’t find within the free area of wordpress.
If you think it’s something that will help you, that’s great! I have seen a few premium plugins (on a different site) that seem to be of good value.
But I think the thing for most people to keep in mind is that there are thousands of plugins both within, and outside of WP’s official directory… most free, and some cost money. But that doesn’t mean you need to use them.
I’ve seen some bloggers’ lists of “recommended plugins”, and some of these guys have 20 or 30+ plugins on their list! I think the tendency for a lot of WP users is to get carried away with it. The fact is that so many of the plugins are really “cool”, so we think if we add it to our site it will make our site better. But remember, our goal here is marketing, not to have the coolest blog.
So we need to keep the objective of our blog/WP site in mind (I’ll be talking about this in lesson 37). In general, I would advise to go sparingly on the plugins and be careful not to add unnecessary disctractions for your visitors, or for yourself
But I’m certainly open to new and innovative plugins and hearing about how they are helping marketers.
Thanks for the reality check Eric, I’ll hold off for now and focus on one step at a time
any time
and of course it wasn’t directed just at you; I could sense that a lot of folks were going to be asking about all sorts of plugins, so I figured I’d make my opinion known.
Thanks for the tips. Even though I have been blogging for awhile I still learn from your post. Good Information
Thanks
Bo Tipton
The Ornery Marketer
When I am downloading and trying to keep things organized like you, I used fantastico on my cpanel of Hostgator to install my wordpress. How would you organize that?
I am assuming when I used fantastico I do not have WP anywhere on my hard drive. If that is true do I manually download WP into my website folder and unzip it and then do what you said in this lesson or am I way off base?
I anyone would help I would appreciate it.
that’s exactly correct. I would download a copy of WP from wordpress.org onto your computer, then you can keep backups of your themes and plugins there too.
Could you also use filezilla to drag and drop the website database of an active website from your server to your hard drive? If so, do you copy everything from the server side, or just certain files?
Hello Brenda,
Filezilla and other FTP programs would allow you to move most of your site files, but it would be easier to download any databases from within your Cpanel.
Here is the link to Eric’s lesson that discusses Cpanel:
http://www.ericstips.com/tips/lesson25/
Eric is right. Don’t overload your sites with plugins.
We do this professionally and we have a fairly sophisticated set of plugins we use but it has taken time to make sure they all play well together. We add new plugins very reluctantly to this core set.
And we’ve reduced our core plugins to a minimum.
For anyone using a lot of images in their posts, I helped build a Wordpress WYSIWYG editor with its own built-in images editor which helps SEO your images. Really speeds up work and gets you great traffic from Google Images. Don’t forget to add a lightbox for the automated gallery feature.
Thanks for the tip. I’m assuming that’s what you use on your site… the lightbox is pretty cool.
Wordpress is the best blog platform due to it user friendly free theme and customisable plugin.
To Your Success
Bryan Hee
Eric,
Great tips again as usual, this time to help many others to become familiar with all the themes etc… but what about using other third party plugins (such as those not listed above),
DoFollow / Ajax etc… how can we all tell which is the best and safest
(SEO / Google Juice / software) plugin to use.
Are you planning to include how to embed videos into the blogs in one of your forthcoming tips. If so, please feel free to check out the resource link below on
EASY VIDEO PRODUCER, which is a viral video monster, but it also helps people to do the videos with a simple click. You may like to check it out both yourself and other readers.
Feel free and take action guys. These tips from Eric are amongst some of the best you will find on the internet.
Good Luck
John
http://www.easyvideoproducer.com/clickthru.php?id=655
http://www.bestdamnurl.com/list
thanks John, I will be talking about video at some point.
Eric,
As you know, I am a multi-level-marketer with several thousand distributors below me in my success lines in VEMMA ( video proof currently running on my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/TeddyFreeman )So I would like to think I know some things about marketing my self. I still find so much I can learn when visiting your site. I would give quite a bit of credit to you and your marketing advice to the success of my business. Since I feel that you have helped me on my journey to becoming wealthy I would like to return the favor a little if possible. The easy video producer is sure to become all the rage and used vastly in the Internet Marketing Industry. They are newly launched and as an established marketing coach you stand to make a small fortune on the commissions. Plus, It could have multible other uses in your marketing efforts. It absolutely does so much !!!. You owe it to yourself to check it out further. John has his affiliate link there and everyone has got to sign up under someone so you may as well help John make a few bucks. Also, Like I stated before. You will make a whole lot more than what you invested. Rather it be from commissions or from other streams of marketing income created or enhanced.
Thanks As Always,
Teddy Freeman
PS. Eric, Please do take a good look at the Easy Video Producer. It will only help you to help others more.
Hi Teddy, congrats on your success, and thanks for the comments
I took a look at the easy video producer. I have mixed feelings about it, so I probably will not recommend it. The strategy I teach is to build your own list, hosted on your own account using a service such as aweber.
In the case of EVP, you are building your upline’s list, and you don’t really own the list because if you quit, you lose it.
Quote from their site:
“Q. Can I opt out at any time?
A. Yes, you can, but you will lose the ability to use EasyVideoProducer.com and you may lose your contact list. We make it easy to cancel in your members area.”
I do realize that you can email those members and try to get them onto your real list, so it can have value as a list building tool, but it’s just not something I would focus on from a business standpoint.
THAT HAVING BEEN SAID…
I see Joel Therien is behind it, and I know he’s a good guy. And I don’t doubt that it’s a helpful tool. But as far as using it for list building, I think there are better methods for business owners to focus on.
It’s a brilliant marketing tool that they’ve created for their own company, and if anything I would recommend studying WHAT they are doing and seeing how Kiosk is benefiting from it. And then consider using similar strategies to create a viral tool for your own business.
Obviously it’s very effective because they have their users such as John and yourself making an effort to spread the word, partly due to the fact that it’s apparently a good tool, and partly due to the fact that you’re building a downline. That’s exactly the kind of viral effect that you want to see when you launch something like this.
Props to Kiosk!
Thanks so much Eric for another great lesson. I had been wondering how your reply to comments usually connect with the particular comment you are responding to. Now I see the plugin that enables your responses to appear this way.
I will download it right away and try it on my blog. Thanks again for sharing.
sure thing!
Perfect timing, am just setting up another wordpress blog.
Thanks
Thanks for the great set of Wordpress videos. Although I’ve been using Wordpress for more than a year I’m still learning some new things from them.
Like you I don’t know if the ShareThis plugin adds anything but I’m using it and the Tweet This Post plugin.
http://richardxthripp.thripp.com/tweet-this
Susan
I’ve been seeing the tweet plugin showing up all over the place lately. I’m tempted to install it, even though I’m not a twitterer.
I might give it a try some time!
Hi Eric,
Just watched your latest video on Wordpress. Kudos to you mate! You explain things in a very clear and concise manner which helps the viewer to fully understand what you’re on about.
I appreciate your efforts, and recommend you to as many folk who are interested in learning more about internet marketing.
Many thanks
Alan H
P.S. I like the clean “none cluttered” layout of this particular theme you are using for “Erics Tips” blog.
Is there any chance you could tell me where I could purchase it?
Thanks. Actually it was based on an older free theme called “silverlight”, and I just modified it quite a bit.
Thanks for that Eric. I’ll google it and see what comes up.
Alan
Hi Eric Great lesson as always
Just to let you know your lessons are tranferable.
I have not decided whether to go with Word Press Joomla or Drupal yet as a CMS, but What I’m learning here certainly gives me knowledge of CMS protocol.
So thanks again.
Hi Eric
Your videos are getting better and better!
It’s great that you’re sharing your wisdom and experience with us.
I want to add a wordpress blog to my first new site, but if I use a free theme- can I change the header to match my own header on my website? I also bought Joel Comm’s Adsense templates - so could I use one of those and change the header to mine to match the website?
Thanks for your help
and looking forward to next lessons on Wordpress blogs.
regards
Graham in U.K.
Yes you can defintiely change the header to match your site. I’ll be giving some general direction in that regard in the next lesson. The WP themes that me and Joel sold are fine, and you can still use them, but at this point I would recommend going with a newer one, built for the current version of WP.
Great, Eric!
This one is pretty cool.
I wish i stumbled upon “Eric’s Tips”
3 years before.
Keep it that way
Thanks
Eric, I had a Wordpress free blog. I did a lot of work to get affiliate links on it and bring traffic to it. WP shut it down because of the affiliate links! I tried to move it to another host, but the theme and affiliate links are all gone now. The new host (HG) is NO help at all.
What can I do to move this WP blog somewhere and have it look the same as it was before? People seemed to like that format and so did I!
I am surprised about HG, as they do offer free site transfer for new customers.
Do you have a backup of the theme on your hard drive? If so, you should be able to do a fresh install of wordpress on your own domain, and then upload your theme.
As far as the affiliate links… if you had manually added them to the theme files, and you have those files, you should be fine. But if you had added those links via the WP admin panel, those go into the SQL database (which you’ve lost), and you’ll need to rebuild it from scratch.
Someone from HG did “help” with the transfer, at least the content. They said that I would have to reapply the theme myself. The same with the affiliate links, I am on my own with that!
I understood that this whole process was simple but it sure has NOT been. I am frustrated with being left alone to “figure out” how to accomplish these “simple tasks” that really are not in any way simple, just confusing. Even the control panel is complicated so it seems like translation of multiple languages to make anything work out at all. I thought that there was a way to pay WP or buy a “semiologic” program that ran on the same plane as WP does.
Right now, I don’t see any way to recreate what I had to start with except to hire an expert!
I have a back up copy, but that has been no use.
The affiliate links within the content is still there, but the banners and links along the sidebar are all gone no matter what I do here.
It will take weeks or months for me to figure out how to rebuild it from scratch now.
Besides, I can’t locate the same theme so far!
WP will NOT help and any new hosts that I have found don’t seem to understand what I ask them.
How come it seems like so many other people are using WP and getting away with everything from affiliate links to adsense ads on their blogs?
Are they using a different version of WP?
Relatively speaking, WP is simple to use. But it can be complex if you’re getting into customizing and re-creating a blog that had been hosted elsewhere. WP themselves don’t offer tech support, as it is a free open source program. You might be able to find someone to help you in their forums. And it sounds like what you are trying to do is outside the scope of what most hosts are willing to do for a site transfer. I think if you could locate the same theme, that would be at least half the battle.
If you need to hire some help, you might try http://rentalcoders.com or Odesk
Eric, great lessons here! I’ve had WP blogs for awhile and just wanted to add that I’ve found issues with some themes and plugins. Some plugins don’t work well with certain themes. You have to be prepared to experiment and be sure to backup first. There are millions of combos with WP and some of that free stuff doesn’t work as well as others.
Good tip.
Thanks Eric,
I have used 3 of the 6 plug-ins, I load the rest of 3 TODAY, this lesson is awesome, and useful for me.
Question:
1) If I already have a blog on my domain, and I’ll use fantastico to create other blog also on my other domain, I need other WorldPress account or I should use the one I have it?
2) What about API key? I should request another one or I should use the one I have for the first blog, I don’t remember if API key is per site/blog or by account, this is the disadvantage to learn this by trial and error!
Thanks, with the next lesson, I expect the Blog to rock, it will be easy to see an increase on traffic because I put a clustermap on the blog.
Did you see it? It is cool, you can click on widget and you will get all the details we need to know: locations, no of visitors per country etc
http://michaelacernescu.com
Regards
Michaela
You don’t need a wordpress account to install wordpress on domains, you just need it for the API key. And as far as the API key, I believe you can use the same one.
I like the clustrmap. I wonder if there is a similar stand alone application that I could install on my site, rather then linking to their site.
On your aweber form… I would recommend leaving the subscriber count off of it, until you have 100 subscribers. I could be wrong about that though… I would like to hear some other people’s comments about whether they would be more or less inclined to subscribe to a list if they knew there were only a handful of other subscribers so far.
I don’t know if it is a stand alone applic. but linking to their site is not bad, I noticed more traffic on my squidoo lenses since I put clustermap on them.
About the aweber counter you are right, also I discovered that it is an error I have to correct, this week I’ll fix it.
Thanks a lot
Michaela
Eric,
With all the hype about wordpress, I’ve wanted to know more. You’re recent posts have been over the top valuable, and most helpful.
Thanks,
Jim
thanks, and you’re welcome!
What is your opinion with One Theme’s (www.one-theme.com)WordPress theme and content management site. Do you think it’s worth the money with what you get? Drawbacks…,etc.?
Shawn
I have not tried it, but I think my reply to Gary would be applicable. If it is truly helpful, then that’s great. But for most people, it’s just not necessary, as WP already has a good CMS built-in, and plenty of free themes and plugins to choose from.
Will you be going over how to add video to sites? i.e. Ericstips.com
Shawn
Yes i will
Hi Eric,
You’re so right I have been downloading too many templates and ebooks that I don’t even know what I have anymore
The tip I loved from today’s lesson is the way you keep your sites organized in files. Presentaly I have a generic Wordpress folder that’s looking very messy.
One more quick question.
p.s. i’ve added Push Button Marketer to my ads on my site. Hope to make some sales
Thanks and take care
Thanks Luca, and thanks for being an affiliate!
Hi Eric,
Great lesson as always!
I thought I would leave a quick comment to offer a theme I came across that’s just the coolest thing since sliced bread, especially for beginners. You can find it http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/atahualpa It’s highly and easily customizable and has great support, by it’s developer, Flynn. Anyway I love it, and think you will too.
Thanks for the tip.
Hi Eric,
I finally managed to set up a wordpress blog just last week and find your lesson 35 very useful.
Being really new at this, I would like to ask a question about receiving Comments. I have received a few comments to my blog posts so far and each time I get an email from Wordpress asking me to moderate the comment (to Approve, Delete etc.). Does this mean I already have the plugin Akismet activated?
Thank you.
No, that is a setting on the setting menu. I cover it in lesson #34. You can turn off the email notification.
I haven’t tried the Adsense wordpress plugins yet because I have been using Adsense ready themes but it’s something I have been curious about and wondering if would be more suitable for my needs. I am very concerned about optimizing my Adsense placement to maximize revenue. I’m not sure about the plugins, but some of the themes seem to keep that in mind.
Eric, you are doing one heck of a job! And you are giving people the world. I really appreciate your efforts.
I have just added the plug ins to a blog, thanks for a great snapshot as to the power of word press.
Rich
Hi Eric
Thanks. This lesson was brilliant.
I installed atahualpa… you can customize literally everything on the theme.. great for newbies
A plugin I use that I think is pretty important is WP DB Backup. It automatically and periodically sends you a backup of your blog by email.
Here it is: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-db-backup/
I recently had a blog hacked and the database corrupted… had to spend many hours finding past posts in Google’s cache in order to republish them… and still lost hundreds of posts… which surely has hurt my traffic from the search engines.
Thank you for the tip.
Hi eric, I use WP’s free blog as well as my own hosted. I’ve had FREE blogs taken down without warning & communication as to reasons ‘why’ have been very blunt & not helpful. In the sidebar I was linking to a few of my own sites which also included ‘affiliate links’. This was the reason apparently that they were removed. The problem was, I also had a couple of other totally unrelated free blogs with Wordpress, and to this day, about 6 months down the line, they won’t give me access to those.
I think WP is a brilliant concept, but it’s VERY difficult to stay within their terms & conditions as their interpretation seems to conflict with common sense.
I’m not a spammer, and I hate rule-breaking, but now I’m VERY cautious about even linking from WP blogs. I don’t know how they justify allowing google ads if affiliate linking is not allowed.
What are your thoughts on this Eric?
Pete.
I don’t recommend using their free blog on wordpress.com. I have heard of many people having their blogs removed. But I have never heard of any marketers getting in trouble with WP for blogs hosted on their own domains. So as long as you don’t do anything illegal, you should be fine using WP on your own domain for marketing purposes.
Hi Eric,
Thanks for a great video. Plugins are easy to install, but there’s a plugin which makes installation and updating plugins extremely easy and I highly recommend it:
http://w-shadow.com/blog/2007/10/19/one-click-plugin-updater/ You only ever need to install this plugin in the normal way ie FTP etc then after that its all select and install with one click and it notifies you of available updates of your plugins.
Do you have a recommended plugin to assist list building?
Ray
http://www.visiolo.com/t/156
That’s cool. A lot of plugins now do already check themselves for updates and have one click updates.
For list building, I don’t use any plugins. There are some aweber related plugins though. For example this one signs people up for your aweber list when they make a comment on your blog. I haven’t tried it because I think it would be a bit redundant on my blog, but for some people it could work well.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/aweber-wordpress-plugin/
Thanks Eric, i took action following this video to learn and change my wordpress theme. I now understand what plugins are. Hoping to get to more resources soon.
Erik, I can’t believe what great content you give away for free. Thank you. Something you haven’t covered (as far as I can recall) is: How do you get large audio/video files to upload? Wordpress said my 23.9 MB file exceeded the allowed size. Also, how can I import my own header graphic. I did it once (a long time ago) but don’t recall how.
I never use WP’s uploader. I just upload the files via FTP into a directory of my choosing, and then link directly to those files from within my WP post.
I’ll show a demo of switching out a header graphic in the next lesson.
Nice gravatar!
Thanks Eric.
Does all these apply to wordpress free blog?
Hi Eric,
I’m getting hung up on Filezilla. I downloaded my WordPress theme and have it set up like you did ready for upload, but I don’t know how to set up my server side. How do I check where I installed the WP files. Currently it’s blank because I’ve never had to FTP anything (XSite does it for me). Could you tell me where to go to find out?
Filezilla is covered in lesson 29:
http://www.ericstips.com/tips/lesson29/
If you used the 1-click WP installer, then WP will be in your public_html directory, or within a directory within your public_html directory.
Thanks! I knew it was easy.
Hi Eric,
Terrific info in this lesson. I took the liberty of looking up “Akismet.” The developers say it is short for automatic kismet (fate, destiny), so I believe it would be pronounced uh-KIZ’-met. It works very well.
I really liked your suggestions for plug-ins and plan to try some.
We have started our business about 1 week ago and have slowed down to go thru Eric’s tips 1 at a time. The problem being-I want to go faster. We are really trying to be patient.
Checking to see if changing my email address will display my gravitar…
THANKS ERIC, IT LOOKS A GOOD BEGINNING!I WONDER IF WE CAN GO 3 LESSONS A DAY?
HOPE TO START SOON!
REGARDS TO YOUR FAMILY!
I have a question and I have no idea if anyone will be able to help but it is worth a shot. I just joined paydotcom and started to promote one of erics products. The monthly income formula. On the sheet it says raw hits and unique hits what is the difference. Is there a way to know where they are clicking from.because they are not buying and im trying to find out if it is something that I am doing wrong or something that I can make better. I would appreciate any help this is the first glimmer of life that I have had in my business.
thanks again eric none of this would be possible without your help
just answered your question on other lesson, thanks
Thanks for that very informative and complete video about wordpress themes and plugins. From it I have understood that the all-in-one seo pack over writes the title of the webpage but will not change the permalinks of your post unless you manually edit it; all really for seo purposes. Looking forward to your next lesson…
Eric, I’m still stuck on Lesson #33. Can you please answer my qestion there. Thanks…
Hello Eric and Friends,
Got an email from Pushbuttonmarketer.com linking to the site listed above. Wasn’t sure if the email REALLY came from you Eric? So I’m just checking!:)
Thanks
Jeff
Yes it come from us
A little co-promotion we’re doing with some friends for a cool product they launched.
I used the Share This to digg your video.
I hope you don’t mind but I also put you in my blog roll. I love your site. And I’m going to Tweet about it too. Thank you. I feel like I just went from Kindergarten to 8th grade. Hopefully by end of this series I’ll be graduating HS. 
Much appreciated, thank you!
I’ve made it this far. I am part way into Lesson #35. I have two issues…1) When I go into my WordPress folder in my beyondgloom file on my desktop, there is no content file in the folder. So I am unable to download the theme I want into the folder. 2) In Lesson #34 I added a tag to my blog “Express Yourself & Heal”. I want to replace that tag with “Poetry on Depression & Spiritual Growth”. How do I do that? Thanks much…Jeanette
1) just download it via FTP . you can download it anywhere you want.
2)You can edit the tag line in your WP admin panel… under blog settings.
I have a 3rd problem with Lesson #35…I installed the All in One SEO Pack and put in “Poetry on Depression & Spiritual Growth” on the title line. But it doesn’t show up above like yours did in your example. Did I do something wrong?
It looks like you got it working:
http://beyondgloom.com/blog/2009/04/04/welcome/
I see it in the title bar.
You’ve done it again with concise accuracy. Just one problem I’ve been trying to overcome. I tried to add a plug in and word press keeps saying it’s downloaded. I can’t activate it or add tittle tags. There are 4,550 something help blogs. Do I need to look all day for one that explains my problem?
Which plugin is it? Is it showing as an inactive plugin in your WP admin panel?
Eric, I went back and tried to download my selected Wordpress theme into my blog. It didn’t work. I downloaded the theme into my beyondgloom folder on my desktop. I couldn’t get into my wordpress file because there is no content file so I just downloaded it into the folder as a new file. But when I went into Filezilla to drag & drop it into the theme area on the right side, nothing happened in my admin theme area. It doesn’t show up. It does show in Filezilla that I physically put it where it was supposed to be, but it is not showing up in Wordpress. What should I do?
Did you unzip it before uploading it?
If you uploaded it into the right place, it would should up in your WP admin panel in the theme area.
I can tell you that it currently is not in there, but you did apparently upload an html file and a rich-text (rtf) file into it:
http://beyondgloom.com/blog/wp-content/themes/
Eric, I’m sorry but I don’t understand. Yes I did unzip it before uploading it into FileZilla. I did contact WordPress Support a couple of days ago but have not heard back from them. I don’t understand what to do now.
Well you must not have uploaded to the right folder, otherwise it would be there. so I’d say try try again
you found the folder because you uploaded that other stuff there… just not the theme…
Eric…Success! I figured out the problem. I had two beyondgloom files - one in my documents & one on the desktop. I was trying to load my poetry document into the theme area of http://ftp. Boy do I feel silly. Now if I could only figure out why I don’t have a content file in the WordPress folder. That’s keeping me from doing Lesson 36.
when I installed the ajax comments plugin, it does not look like your comments area. Did you modify the code at all?
I may have modified it slightly, but I don’t recall what I did. But one thing to keep in mind is that your theme will affect what it looks like.
well I got my first website up and running I have a blog page and a forum page. It is still a work in progress but I think it looks good so far. If anyone would like to discuss erics tips or anything else that would help people out you can go to http://www.myoppsbusiness.com/business-forum/
I want to thank you eric because I would have never gotten this far if it hadnt been for you. I am getting the hits on the products that I am affiliating for I am just not getting the sales. This is why I wanted to create the forum to find people that might be able to help me out.
again eric thank you so very much.
Hay Eric
I’m jumping in. Watch for the splash!
Hi Eric.
Terrific series. I have already blog with pretty simple theme and would like to change it. Can I use any theme and how can I know will it be OK before I change. I am afraid that I could screw it up and will no be able to fix it. Is there a safe method?
Hello Gord,
The great thing about themes, is they change the way your site looks, but aren’t tied to your content! You may simply select a new theme from the “Design” section of your WordPress admin panel. If you don’t like the way it looks, you may simply choose a new theme, or go back to your original theme. Either way, the content on your site remains intact!
Hi Eric.
I posted question last night but it disappeared. I would like to know if there is way to check if the new theme will work before you do the change.
I have blog already and would like to change the theme but I am afraid it might not work properly on my blog. How can I know which themes are compatible with my blog before switching?
BTW video series is fantastic.
Thanks,
Gord
Hello Gord,
The first thing that you’ll want to do, is to make sure the theme is for a WordPress blog, instead of another blogging platform.
Secondly, some themes are only compatable with more current updates of WordPress. You may see what your current version is from the home page of your WordPress admin panel!
Hi Eric.
Fantastic tutorial!
My question is if there is way to check if the new theme will be compatible with existing blog before you do the changes. I tried to simply put new theme on my blog and got some funny characters. Fortunately it come back but now I am afraid it could get damaged permanently.
The best way is just to upload the theme and test it. Just do not overwrite your old theme. It will not damage it permanently; you can switch right back to your old theme. You could always run a full backup (including MySQL) via cpanel first if you’re worried.
Hi Eric, You make things sound simple but I find that one little change just bogs me down!. I’ve been working on the theme transfer for most of 12 hours. I use host gator, have a reseller account. Now, I d on’t know if it’s WP or Hostgator or filezilla but I don’t know what my host account is, I don’t know what files to ftp from WP and I get a messge on WP theme page that my stlye sheet is missing! It’s which step to take first and what transfers from WP download onto the live site that has me really frustrated. Sorry but I was really excited about doing something simple that I could finish myself…
it looks like maybe you got it to work?
I am guessing that maybe when you unzipped your theme (befoe uploading it), that it created a folder within a folder. Or perhaps the style sheet was missing, corrupt, or somehow not being uploaded?
Eric,
These tutorials are very helpful. I would have given anything to have seen them a year ago (but I still learn from them).
Thanks
Wow! Beautiful photos Eric! Also, just want to say I always look forward to receiving your tips.
I’m learning a lot watching your videos. However, I’m more interested in becoming an affiliate marketer. Can you direct me to a marketer that’s honest? I know you mentioned someone, but I haven’t been able to find his name or site in my kept “Eric’s Tips” lessons.
Thanks,
James
A couple of affiliate marketing teachers that I would recommend are Rosalind Gardner and Ewen Chia
Hi Eric,
Back at it again, interesting how taking a turn here or there takes you on a whole journey around the web. Anyway, it seems that I will be best served trying this on my own instead of finding a partner. The first thing that I want to do is start building a list while I am designing my site. Maybe the wrong order, but the list seems to be the whole key to what I want to do. You have recommended AWeber and I wanted to use your link to them, I tried finding it in one of your archived articles but don’t see it. I am sure I will be ultimately using many outsources, but for now I have to start somewhere. I just can’t afford the $500 a month and there are no people who are looking to do that side of the business, if they know that, they are doing their own!
Yes building a list is definitely a top priority. My aweber link is:
http://toplevel.aweber.com/
thanks
I like this lesson epsecially when combined with the knowlwdge of the purpose of your blog (personal branding or niche expert).
My question/request Eric is, can i get a theme that is similar/exactly like yours.
I really don’t like too many things on my blog than pure content like yours.
Can i get something of this type?
you can find some good simple themes if you search for “minimalist” or “white” or similar words in the WP theme directory. My theme is based partly on an older theme called “silverlight” which you can probably find.
I still can’t get this theme.
Can i get it from you Eric? I will do my own customization.
Please!!!
(And i just noticed something here right now while typing. Spelling correction? Is that a plug-in in effect or its just part of the theme)
Ok here: http://ericstips.com/silverlight.zip
I’m not sure about the spell check… maybe that’s something on your computer?
Once again Eric a very interesting lesson. I am currently loading the program to start my blog.
Thanks
WELL, BACK IN BUSINESS - MULTIPLE DUTUES. wILL TRY TO CATCH UP SOON. TAKE EXTENSIVE NOTES, AND PLAN ON STARTING NEXT MONTH ON WEB SITES. WORKING ON COPY. GREAT HELP - I CAN’T TELL YOU ENOUGH HOW MY VISION AND ‘BELIEF’ LEVEL HAS GONE UP. BY THE WAY, THERE WILL BE A NEW EMAIL SITE - SHORT AND SWEET - LESS CONFUSING. THIS ONE IS NOT A BUSINESS SITE. AL
I guess this video came in at the right time as my site is just a couple of months old and I still am experimenting with it, making tweaks here and there. Although I’ve heard this all-in-one SEO pack and it seems to be recommended a lot by people in the know, I still haven’t decided to give it a try until I hear you recommending it yourself. I think I’m gonna try it today. Thanks Eric.
OMG! I could have never got this far without your help Eric!
I think I’ve done this correctly? Could someone click on my page. The title page to my blog did create a permalink that will show in the title bar but only if it is clicked on.
Akismet is working great and I tried Sotollo newsletter plugin but having problems with it. I think I have figured out what I’m doing wrong and just need to tweak that. And, not sure if I can do a newsletter with Hatchling?
Other than that I LOVE Wordpress. The structure, simple look and feel is pretty much what I want. Of course content at the moment is just filler but wow! Thanks Eric what a huge step I’ve made.
How do i remove the Blogroll & Meta stuffs?
Hello Kola,
You could remove these items from within your WP admin panel. They are located in the “Design” section, followed by the “Widgets” link.
Thank you Micah.
How exactly will i remove them. On getting to the widget page, it listed available and inactive widgets. I draged the ones i don’t want to the inactive ;ist but it’s still there.
What am i doing wrong?
You may have more than one sidebar that the widget’s need to be removed from. Just below the “Current Widgets” area, you should be able to edit additional sidebars if they are included in your theme.
Here is the direct link to the WordPress support for the best help:
http://wordpress.org/support/
I don’t quite understand.
Tell me how to do it precisely. What do i do to remove them?
Hello Kola,
Here is a link that explains another solution:
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/226195
Eric,
thanks for the tip. My service provider gives me a wordpress account but I can’t add plugins. It is their template. but it does get the job done.
thanks for the tips.
you finally answered the questions i asked in lessons 1&5 thanks it cleared my head knowing that answer.i have a wp acct finally now gmail won’t accept it but i’ll get it going some how.i still don’t know what i’m going to do it seems to change from time to time oh well it was a good lesson.
Hi Eric…great lesson.
Back to my little giveaway. ,
Hi Eric
I’ve found your lessons amazing.
In the last couple of weeks I have been through all 52 lessons a couple of times and the information is fantastic.
I recently had a site built for me in Wordpress (Which I am now administering). After finding your tips I am now in the process of building another site:ifloserswrotebooks.com.
I have installed the minimalist theme from your lesson on that site.
Being a newbie I have two questions.
1. Is it easy enough to delete The Blogroll”" and “Meta” links on the sidebar.
2. I have tried to set the home page as a static page but when I click on the static page on the “reading settings”and choose the home page it changes the info displayed on the home page to that of the blog post. Am I missing something basic?
Hi Eric
Found the answer to the first question in a post above (Sorry I didn’t read that first).
I think my second question may be an issue with WP being ion a sub folder and not the route.
1- yes it’s very easy to remove those from the sidebar. You can remove all the links from within your Admin panel. If you’re using one of the newer widgetized themes, you could drag and drop them out of the sidebar from within your admin panel. If it’s not widgetized, another option would be to simply remove those lines of code from your sidebar.php template.
2- As for the static home page… hmm that’s strange. I’m assuming you did create a static page first, and then selected it from the dropdown menu?
This has been really great info about Wordpress. I’ve had a blog on another site for a couple of years with tons of spam arriving daily, now I know how to get rid of it!
Hi Eric,
I’ve been waiting for the lesson # 36, the lessons are very useful especially a newbie like me.
I have 3 days off so I can read and repeat the lessons but I’m still waiting for lesson # 36.
Thanks and God Bless with your family.
Hi Eric,
I need your recommendation and your reply for my query, hoping you can able to assist me during your busy days.
I have existing moneyonline domain which is not giving me any income from PPC google adsense, could i use my same google adsense account with the new website that will create with the use of profit bot?
I need your advise / recommendation.
Thank you always for giving me an informative lessons and giving direction to real world of internet marketing.
Yes you can use the same Adsense account.
I do not know where Wordpres and how do I use it, in what programs we made please give an explanation
thanks
Thank you for the wonderful advice. I am a web developer and have been using wordpress for a while but i’ve learnt a thing or two from this lesson especially about the Akismet plugin.
I am running behind on lessons but i’m hoping to catch up soon. My website is http://www.peakanddale.com. Have a lovely day.
I have the silverlight template on my new blog but there is Text Link Ads on banner kind of thing on it by default.
How do i remove it?
check it at http://kolaadebayo.com
Just a quick note to say thnx to you Eric for such awesome tutorial at a real humane price. I can already imagine the feelings of “giving back” you must feel. I commend you Sir. I will follow.
Thnx again.
Len
Thanks, Eric, for your series of lessons on Setting Up of Website using various unique features. It is amazing that you can give out such great resources free of charge. You are indeed a man with a large heart. God bless.
But can you produce the same in CDs or DVDs for
distribution to your subscribers/customers?
Sylvester
Actually I do plan on selling the course on DVD’s in the future
Eric,
Lesson 35 would not load movie —
May 13th @ 5:30 AM
Please try these solutions:
http://www.ericstips.com/trouble-viewing-flash-videos/
Got It!
Looks like FF has a bug… played everything up
to #35; then played up to #41 and stopped again,
But after a reboot of FF they both played just
fine.
As for the lessons… It’s amazing how much you
miss the first time you watch it… or in my
case how much you “FORGET”!!!!
Hello Eric,
I am yet to choose which of the 5 ways to Build a Website. Having gone through all the 5 ways on your tutorial, it looks like the WordPress is the way to go for me.
However, I am not sure whether I can use WordPress for the prevous website which was design using ASP.net framework.
All the files was transfered to my HG reseller Linux server and cannot be replicated.
I was told to get a programmer to re-code this website.
Is there a possibilty to use WP to tweak or is there any plug in for the re-coding.?
I doubt if there is a plugin or any easy way to recode the website from ASP.net to WordPress.
If you were very familiar with WP, you could probably re-create the site yourself.
But if you’re new to it and/or not real comfortable with HTML and PHP, then your best bet is probably to hire a programmer to rebuild the site in WP for you.
I think it will be well worth it, and you will really appreciate the WP interface.
Hi, Eric
From the beginning until now, i am more interesting, thanks for the free lessons.
I just beginner on this. I want to know what the different between Theme and Template, is it related to SEO?
On this lesson you mention Wordpress.org and Wordpress.com what that? thx
A WordPress “Theme” is a template for Wordpress.
Wordpress.com is where you can have a blog hosted ON wordpress.com. In other words, you don’t OWN the domain. It’s not a good choice for your business. It’s better for casual bloggers only. Wordpress.org is where you can download the stand-alone version of Wordpress to install on your OWN domain. Also wordpress.org contains plugins, support documents, etc.
Interesting Eric, I picked up a helpful tip on the SEO all in One plugin and like the idea of using the ajax comments-reply!
Thank You!
Hi Eric,
Great informative lessons, keep them coming.
I use similar plugins to you, plus one from my good friend Bill McRea called the WordPress Exit Plugin. It is great for redirecting traffic around my sites or to affiliate offers.
Actually, Bill has just released another free plugin. He has called this one the Stealth Marketing Plugin. It looks promising, I am gonna try it out over the next few weeks.
All the best,
Nick.
THANKS ERIC THIS IS ONE GREAT PROGRAM. I’VE ALOT MORE THEN I DID WITH OTHER PROGRAMS KEEP UP THE GOOD JOB. PEOPLE CAN’T LOSE WHILE LISTENING AND USEING YOUR TIPS
Thanks Eric for this series. I tried to put a WP blog on my site many months ago a was very unhappy with it so i took it down. These last lessons have given me the courage and hopefully the knowledge to try it again successfully. Thank you.
Hi Eric,
I am using the same theme as you are for my new blog. However I am unable to change the font size. Can you or someone else advise me how to do that. I modified style.css but still size remained same.
Thanks in advance.
It is in the style.css. Search for “font-size” in it, and change all the px sizes to bigger or smaller numbers.
Thanks Eric for this lesson.I already have my blog.I tot only all in one seo and wp db backup is important plugin i must install.now i see there are a lot more plugin that also important to install
Hi Eric,
Thanks for all the lessons. They are great! Just wondering if you’ve heard that having too many plugins or widgets can slow your blog down? I can’t remember where I read that but the author was saying to only have what you really need and use and delete the rest.
Anyway, thanks again and keep up the great work.
Jeff
Yes, and it can be especially impactful depending on what the plugins are. The ones you need to be especially careful about are ones that communicate with another site. For example, I used to use the “ShareThis” plugin, but found that when the sharethis.com website was slow, it caused my own website to load dreadfully slow. The only such plugin that I’m currently using is the Gravatar avatars.
I would agree with the author you are referring to. No need to have plugins unless you have a need for them. Generally, each plugin is “called for” each time a page is accessed on your WP blog. If you have 20 plugins, that’s a lot of extra work that your website is having to do behind the scenes, which could slow it down.
Excellent video!Very detailed. I just recently created a wordpress site and had to figure out alot of things on my own. I wish I would have seen this video first. I’ll definately be back to watch more helpful vids in the future. Thanks
Hello Eric,
I lack words to appreciate you. However, I have a question. I want to launch some sites just for adsense and affiliate, and had wanted to use Hypervre, but after your lessons on word press,and watching your socrates theme sales video, I felt that templates for hypervre are obsolete. Can I use word press( socrates theme) to create multiple sites like I coiuld do using hypervre. I want to purchase Joel comm’s socrates theme, just want to be sure before I go ahead.
Thanks for your sincere guide.
Mike.
Just answered this question for you on another post. At this time I think Socrates is a much better option.
Hi Eric,
I have been wanting to change my current theme at in2headlien.com to a new theme but i am scared that i will loose content and plugins that are previously installed. What do you suggest is the best way to ensure that plug ins remain intact after a new theme has been installed.
The only way to find out is to test it. The nice thing about Wordpress is you can easily switch back to your old theme with one click. So just be sure not to overwrite the old theme. Then you can test the new theme and see how it works with your plugins. You should not lose any content, unless it was written into the PHP files of the old theme manually.
For me one of the most feature rich themes by far is Flexibility 3.
It’s free and gives you almost complete control over every aspect of your site. I use it a lot.
You can download it here.
It has many inbuilt headers and menu tabs you can choose from and so much more.
There are also a series of tutorial videos that show how to use its many features. They are under the FAQ menu tab on the site.
Check it out, you’ll be glad you did.
.
Hi Eric…I keep coming back to these lessons as I need them. They are really the best on the interent. I like how you go back and add and substract information as times are changing. I like your new picture with your wife included too…you have a very beautiful family!
I am finding my head is spinning again with too many gurus emailing me and so many offers that I just don’t know what to follow. When I feel that overloaded feeling…I come back to your site and I feel your teaching gets my head going in the right direction again.
I review lessons over and over again and I always learn more.
Thanks, Eric. You help me when I’m feeling like giving up…
Hi Eric, I noticed that you don’t use a broken link checker plugin. Is this because you don’t think it offers any value.
I am amazed how many broken links I have been getting and many of them are permanently broken and will lead search engines to dead ends if not dealt with.
Hello Brian,
That sounds like a very useful plugin!
Hi Eric
Although I am struggling a little and don’t always understand these technical type of things the first time, I am really starting to get a better understanding of things. I will probably have to view the WordPress lessons a few times over before I really get to grips but it is slowly sinking in. Life has been somewhat difficult to say the least for the past few years but I can honestly say that for the first time I do feel optimistic about the future. Thank you
Kathy
great video
Great instruction as always. I have setup my blog and am using Socrates. I am having trouble trying to figure out how to get my Aweber into the sidebar. I would like to make my site look like yours.
Hello Deb,
Dan would be happy to answer any of your questions about the Socrates Wordpress Theme at the following link:
http://www.socratestheme.com/demo/contact/
Create your form code at aweber and copy to clipboard or notepad.
Under the appearance tab in your admin click on widgets. Drag the text widget to your sidebar and it will open up. Paste your code here and click save. Check if it looks ok and if not reopen the widget and put a checkmark in have WordPress add paragraphs and this should fix it.
Hi Eric,
I saw you were concerned about using third party plugins. You obviously know more about this than I do but I use a plugin called Sexy Bookmarks instead of Share This.
The intrepidity theme is the best free theme for Internet Marketing. I do have the Socrates Theme and it’s awesome too.
You taught me a few very useful plugins and I thank you for that. You also brought up a good point about loading too many plugins. I have had some issues and even lost connection to the server a couple times. Always back up your blog before you install plugins.
I would like to bring up one plugin that is perfect for internet marketing and affiliate marketing even more. It’s called Pretty Link and you can pick up the free version right through your admin panel.
It solves your links being tracked, cloaked and speeding up creating quality looking nofollow redirect links.
Thanks again for all your tips Eric!
Hi, Eric:
Thank you for your instruction. However, I have a question. I will build the store online. which wordpress plugin is best for my website?
Plugins that I have:
All in One SEO Pack
WP-DB Manager
WP-Super Cache
WP-PageNavi
WP Touch
Thank you
Kathy
Hello Kathy,
You might want to try this WordPress e-Commerce Plugin:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-e-commerce/
Great instruction
so I probably will not recommend it : what do you mean?
looks like you watch Piano Briefs lol
Hello Jinny,
For the reasons Eric mentioned, he likely won’t write an official review with his recommendation for that product!
why this:
so I probably will not recommend it
were you thinking of piano briefs ? lol
Hello Renata,
For the reasons Eric mentioned, he likely won’t write an official review with his recommendation for that product!
Hi Eric
Is there a reason for not using the add new option whilst in the plugins area?
I know you like to keep everthing within your site folder on your computer, surely its just as quick to transfer the plugin to your computer via http://FTP.
Norman
No reason not to use it. I hope to update the video eventually with new features such as this.
Hi Eric installed seo pack as per vidio’s
i am running w/p vertion 3.3 when i activate the seo pack i got this message
!!All in One SEO Pack must be configured. Go to the admin page to enable and configure the plugin.
All in One SEO Pack now supports Custom Post Types and Google Analytics!! so i go to this page in plugins then to Options configuration panel and i get this page
Plugin Status: Enabled
Disabled
Home Title: Peter Hodgins Blog
Home Description:
Home Keywords (comma separated):
Canonical URLs:
Rewrite Titles:
Peost Title Format: %post_title% | %blog_title%|
Page Title Format: %page_title% | %blog_title%
Category Title Format: ?tegory_title% | %blog_title%
Archive Title Format:?te% | %blog_title%
Tag Title Format:%tag% | %blog_title%
Search Title Format: %search% | %blog_title%
Description Format:?scription%
404 Title Format:Nothing found for %request_words%
Paged Format:Nothing found for %request_words%
SEO for Custom Post Types:
Custom Post Types for SEO Column Support:
Google Analytics ID:
Use Categories for META keywords:
Use Tags for META keywords:
Dynamically Generate Keywords for Posts Page:
Use noindex for Categories:
Use noindex for Archives:
Use noindex for Tag Archives:
Autogenerate Descriptions:
Capitalize Category Titles:
Exclude Pages:
Additional Post Headers:
Additional Page Headers:
Additional Home Headers:
Log important events:
it is saying it as been activated
!!!!!All in One SEO Pack must be configured. Go to the admin page to enable and configure the plugin.
All in One SEO Pack now supports Custom Post Types and Google Analytics.!!!!
dont know what to do about this message s the instalation ok
Hi Peter,
Here is the link to the All in One SEO Pack Support Forum:
http://semperfiwebdesign.com/forum/
They also have a Frequently Asked Questions page here:
http://semperfiwebdesign.com/blog/all-in-one-seo-pack/all-in-one-seo-faq/
You might want to try to create a new post or page. If the installation was successful, you should see the All in One SEO Pack form fields in the editing area.
thanks alot , i did not see ALL IN ONE SEO in my own version of wordpress . what will i do please
Hello Obi,
You can download that All In One SEO Pack here:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/
What is the difference between using the WP theme and using the template, i.e. Hostgator? How do they corrolate
Hello Glenn,
Hostgator is the “webhost” for your website. In order for people to be able to visit your website, it needs to be on a server that is always connected to the internet. A webhost is necessary no matter what kind of website you have.
A WordPress theme is a special design for your WordPress blog.
If you want to have an attractive looking blog, you might want to purchase an eye-catching theme. Then, you would also need hosting so people could visit your blog.
Micah~ Thanks for your prompt response, but I guess my question wasn’t very clear. What I’m asking is if you can just use the templates and themes Hostgator provides, or must one install and use Wordpress. I’m obviously a “newbie” and it’s all pretty overwhelming at this point!
You can do either. You could use the templates, which I mentioned in lesson #31 (Note: their templates have improved since I made that lesson). Or you could install and use WordPress. Personally, I would recommend the WordPress route, because it’s a better long-term solution. Also, it’s really not any more difficult than using a template. You can install Wordpress for free with a few clicks, and you’re good to go.
Can’t believe that you guys are such dedicated and committed towards your students,what you have promised, you are delivering. you are doing more than enough.
You understand the frustration and need of your students, and in no time you answer their questions. That is something new, which I have not seen from the so called gurus who charge you not less than $2000.00 and then no help at all. I’m very pleased with the course and your attitude towards your student, you want them to be successful not just take the money and that is it.
Thanks again, Eric. Way to go!
Mark
Thanks Eric for the lesson!
I liked to share this great blog with you, which allows lots of Professional Free Premium Wordpress Themes & Plugins! Enjoy.
And Thanks again.
Here is the link: http://freebies-wd.blogspot.com
Most wonderful coaching ever. I am in awe that it is at no cost. I have a ‘doublediprecessionprooofincome’ site launching sept.1, and you and the other boss firing fellows are heavily recommended.
Just checked and API keys are no longer included with WordPress.com accounts.
Hi eric sorry for being a pain im missing lessons
13 to 25 nothing in my email account that i can see, i dont wish to skip those steps can you help please,thank you
Hello Lucy,
Eric will still be completing 100 lessons. The next lesson will be sent to you soon. You can also visit the following link to see the latest lesson updates and revisit earlier lessons:
http://www.ericstips.com/tips/category/lessons/
Here is the direct link to lesson 13:
http://www.ericstips.com/tips/lesson13/
You may also simply change the number at the end of the link, to go to a different lesson number (example: /lesson1, /lesson2, /lesson3, etc…).
If your email happens to block some of the lessons, we recommend that you view this tip on whitelisting an email address:
http://www.ericstips.com/whitelist/
Dear Eric, I would like to say you have a great website, and even though i just subscribe i have been following you for weeks. Do i need to install both “all in one seo pack” and “wordpress seo by yoast”
Hello Churchill,
Eric typically just uses the All in One SEO Pack.