Yesterday I wrote about curating content into your WordPress blog with the “Press This” boolmarklet tool. I’ve been having some trouble using the tool in WordPress and getting mostly 404 errors when I click the button. This doesn’t always happen, but does maybe 90% of the time, and it’s the same in all browsers. To find a solution I started with my Hostgator message board and soon found this fix. [watch the video]

Here’s a solution I found as a work around. I hope this gets changed in some fashion so that it works a little better for me. Since I’m no coder I have no clue how to figure out where the problem is so I’ll just do this and keep swimming.

Alright. Look out world. I’m about to become a blogging machine. I’ll be posting far more content here and hope to climb the learning curve very quickly. It seems simple enought, doesn’t it?

WordPress Press This 404 error fix – YouTube.

Google’s “cache” is an advanced search operator – and just one of many that are offered. Just watch how quick, easy, and helpful it can be.

If you have not started on building and recording your top keyword list then this may be the perfect place to start. For mor on SEO you’d be smart to listen th ethe audio from this previous post on the topic of SEO in the real world.

There are bound to be more of these coming so look for them.

This will be my topic at tonight’s Atlanta Bloggers Meetup.

Here’s the slide show that I’ll be using. I hope it brings you some value.

use .jpg – smallest size for speed!
filenames = good keywords
adjust pxl size to best fit
use alt tags
use descriptions
use titles
use clear images
we like faces

Image Data give SEO value to blog posts

This image example includes a title – alt data – description and a caption – can you find the data in the post or the source code?

Could I have improved this image further?

this is a test and example to be used in the talk I will give at Atlanta Bloggers Meetup on Wed eve.

I just finished installing a new WordPress site for a new friend and would like to go ahead and let the cat outta the bag. The blog is called the “Southern Liberal Observer”, and is written by Georgia comedian Debra Cole. Politics is sure filled with comedians and I know there’s plenty of room for one more.

When setting up a new blog there’s a long list of things to do. With some forethought I am writing this post as a piece for me to follow in the future as I’ll likely have to do this again someday.

I uploaded the WordPress core .zip file that I found at wordpress.org and followed the famous 5 minute install. I did it this time without following close attention to the details and it worked first time. I likely take more than 5 minutes but I don’t care. I was done right and it worked.

Once I got the WordPress installed I fished around for an appropriate StudioPress theme and settled on Genesis and the Lifestyle child theme. It has the basics and several nice features to grow into.

The Setup and theme is sort of moot this the basic point I wish to make part of this template. The steps in common to all blogs are pretty much the same.

I added a couple of plugins for security. My fave is Limit Login Attempts. The name says it all. I get notices every day when hackers try to access my site via admin login scripts. I hate that. The other is called BackWPup, for backups. Its free and worth it. For more robust measures you have to spend a few dollars. Be sure ad see my WordCamp security presentation if you can handle the truth

After this I directed this user to Akismet for their own API Key for the super-duper spam-scouper. Comment spam is nuts and this tool is a must have.

Another must-have is the Gravatar. Debra created a new email address for this blog so I pointed her to Gravatar.com to add this for ‘Globally Recognized Avatar’. It’s a must, unless you want to go looking all 2003!

Lastly I created a custom favicon.ico for the site so it looks ‘custom’ and cool. It’s the little things that count.

add your favorite Social Share plugin and Social Media widget and you’re ready for action. If you are ready for some fun political humor for a soon-to-be pal please visit Debra at her Southern Liberal Observer.

recapping a few items for the checklist:

Install WordPress properly with no “admin” account

add security with limits on logins and setup for backups

Add a akismet API key and activate the plugin

check your gravatar as needed

create and install a favicon

configure and test the setting and widgets for social and email links

blab the site in your other blogs or platforms and ask for your friends advice and input.

Go eat – yep, it’s that time.

Later.

Hackers are at work right now.

My presentation at WordCamp was about backup and security for WordPress sites. One of my new pals that I met at this event emailed me this weekend in a bit of a panic as his site was very infected. He wanted to know what he could do.

My first question for someone in this position is “do you have a clean backup?”. If you don’t then I’d say you have to ditch everything and start over, or may have to spend a small fortune to get some pros to fix your problem. The one qualified repair place I know to check with is Sucuri.net

My presentation video is edited and will appear here as soon as I can get it rendered and embedded. Meanwhile here’s the short version.

Back up your site and do it now. Use free tools if you have to like plugins WP DB Backup or BackWPup. If you have a few bucks Id recommend VaultPress or Backup Buddy. Once you have a backup make yourself a plan and schedule for backups.

After the backup look at your dashboard and check for updates. If your WordPress is out of date then use the automatic update option and get up to speed. Plugins and themes need updates too so keep it going. According to the experts I’ve talked to the majority of problems are due to out of date software.

For the mover detailed long version follow the slideshare presentaion while I show you MyASS, or the Manage your Assets Security System.

Deal with it before the hackers get in, or the price will be much higher.

WordPress Security & Backup

View more PowerPoint from Randy Barnes

]]> http://rbarnes.com/892/back-up-your-wordpress-site/feed/ 0 http://rbarnes.com/866/wordpress-seo-is-the-secret-sauce/ http://rbarnes.com/866/wordpress-seo-is-the-secret-sauce/#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:21:15 +0000 Randy http://rbarnes.com/?p=866 You Heard It Here Fist.

Yesterday I wrote a bit about SEO and talked about listing to the mp3 audio I recorded at WordCamp Atlanta. Today I’m inserting the audio here so that you too may get a little insight into what’s important in creating traffic based on the search engine results.

Jenny Munn, an Atlanta copywriter, delivered this presentation focusing on SEO, and WordPress and I feel it’s a really high value and worth your time to listen to. Jenny, who’s a friend, will hopefully enjoy the fact that I’m laying it out here before I consult her and before it’s available elsewhere.

Jenny Munn on SEO and WordPress

I recorded this from the audience on Zoom H2, and the sound is surely not ready for a quality audio product. What it lacks in technical audio polish is offset by the high content quality. Listen and take some action. I think I’ll listen a second time and spin through the slides as I go. [look below]

So, below is the audio from the first hour [of two] and the slide share. The whole presentation, recorded from a video camera, will likely appear in the WordCamp.tv site at some point, but for now this is all you get Take it and run with it.

The player here below has one hour, part 1.of 2. I will likely get the 2nd part up here soon. If you want it and it’s not here just ask.

Well the day’s been long and eventful, and I haven’t spent any time with my blog project, until now. Writing 100 posts in 100 days isn’t that crazy, but in the real world most of us are going to have a few days when the task is put off to tend to the more pressing business of life.

I’d rather just blog a few thoughts that may seem trite and boring than just skip a post altogether. I’m sure that I can post some great stuff soon, but for today all I have to say is how tough this is to do, everyday.

Today I worked at The Next Cool Event, and helped an artist create an amazing project. I made a video to project on at 13 ft tall model of the World Trade Center. That was way cool, and I will have video soon. For now, I’m too pooped.

Peace.

Today I was thinking about pinging. If you do not know pinging is a process that notifys the interweb that you’ve posted new content.
Ping-o-matic is one awesome ping tool and is another fine product of Automattic, the parents of WordPress.

Pinging is one of many aspects of content/blogging that I find confusing. Apparently, over pinking is a problem and is more negaive that not pinging in the first place. This is the way I understand it, but is it true? When how and where is the best pinging strategy.

I want a class on pinging please.

feed me

One thing I’m going to do is search WordCamp.tv, WordPres,org, and search engines to see if anyone has done a presentation and has a video online. This sort of stuff is no fun to read, ( for me) so I’d rather watch or listen.

If there’s nothing good to be found then I may just have to create a little presentation myself. Good Grief. Save me.

Happy ping feeding