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My next suggestion for those of you wanting to set up your own Wordpress blog, is to download the Firefox browser and switch to it. Aside from the fact that Firefox renders web pages more accurately to web standards (Internet Explorer 5 & 6 are the worst offenders here), Firefox offers many other advantages:

1) Tabbed browsing. You can have more than one page open in a window. I use this all the time. I open a link on a page in another tab, while still staying on the page I’m reading. I can then go over later and read the new page.
2) Pop up blocking. Need I say more?
3) Better security and protection from spyware. (with Firefox on my Mac, I’ve NEVER gotten spyware. Knock on wood. Knock on wood again for good measure.)
4) Firefox offers search suggestions in their search bar. If you start typing something in, a drop down list appears for you to choose from. Or you can finish typing it in yourself. I have to say, I use this often for things I’m not sure how to spell!
[Read more →]

Tags: How to Blog, Wordpress, Wordpress Setup Series by Kacey
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So you decided you want to set up your own Wordpress blog. I’m going to take you through the steps, one by one over the next few weeks. The first step is deciding on a hosting service to host your blog. A reasonably priced hosting service is BlueHost. You can get web space for $6.95 a month and a free domain name. Don’t forget to check the box for privacy if you want to hide your personal information.

BlueHost uses Cpanel for the administration interface for your website. I find CPanel an easy interface to use. They also have Fantastico which basically has a one click install of Wordpress.

For more information about picking a domain name see this post.

I’m going to be setting up another blog here on Dandelion on a subdomain to show you the steps on setting up Wordpress, uploading a theme and setting it up. We’ll then add some plugins and you’ll be all set to go with your very own Wordpress Blog on your own website.

My next post will be about finding an FTP client to use to upload files to your blog. I’ll be discussing Filezilla, which is free and available for both Windows and Mac.

Tags: How to Blog, Wordpress, Wordpress Setup Series by Kacey
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Here are eight Wordpress plugins we use on our blogs to either make things easier on our readers or on the management of our blogs. These plugins are downloaded from the links provided, unzipped, and and then uploaded into your plugins folder in your Wordpress intall. The plugins folder will be in the wp-content folder.

To activate a plugin go to your Wordpress admin panel, click on plugins. Go to the plugin you want to install and click on activate.

Akismet comes with your Wordpress install. Use it. It helps to fight spam in comments and spam trackbacks. The options for akismet are found under Plugins, Akismet Configuration.

How about making it easy for your readers to contact you? Dagon Design has a secure contact form you can add to your blog. After you activate this plugin, the options for it are found under the Options tab. DDFM-Main. You can have more than one contact form on your blog. For instance, here on DandelionBlog we have a contact form for contacting Suzanne, and one for contacting me. [Read more →]

Tags: How to Blog, Wordpress by Kacey
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Let’s face it, if people already know you and read your books, they are going to look for your website by searching for Jane Smith writer. Or Jane Smith author. They’ll find you. But what about attracting NEW readers? Readers who don’t already know your name or read your books? This is where your blog comes in. Attract more readers to your blog through search engine traffic.

You might decide to try and attract people searching for paranormal authors. Okay, let’s look at that. You can use the Wordtracker Free keyword suggestion tool. Type in paranormal authors.

Look, paranormal ROMANCE authors get searched for more than paranormal authors. If you write paranormal romance, it would make more sense to target the higher searched for term. [Read more →]

Tags: How to Blog, Marketing, Website Tips, Wordpress by Kacey
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Steps to Add A YouTube Video to Your Wordpress Blog

Have you ever wanted to include a YouTube Video on your Wordpress Blog? I’ll explain how easy it is to do. Have you seen some of the great book trailers that have been uploaded to YouTube? We’re going to use one by author Sydney Croft in our explanation of how to add a YouTube Video to your Wordpress post.

Go to YouTube and find the video you want to include in your post.

Highlight the text in the box to the right of the video, where it says embed. Copy the highlighted code.

Go back to the post you are writing in the Wordpress admin panel.

Make sure your tab on the write post page is set to Code

Paste in the code where you want it to appear in your post. Save the post. You’re finished.

If you have any problems with a specific browser & operating system:
1)Go to your admin panel on Wordpress.
2)Click on Users
3)Click on edit by by your user name
4)On the page it brings up, uncheck Use Visual Editor in the upper left corner
5)Click on Update User

Now try adding the video to your blog.

To see another embedded video on a Wordpress blog, I have the trailer to the new Sex in the City movie in my post on WineontheKeyboard.

Here are some links to other book trailers on YouTube to give you an idea of what authors are doing with their book trailers:
Merline Lovelace — Stranded with a Spy (she said she made it with iMovie on her Mac)

Marianne Arkins — Don’t Fence Me In (she has it embedded on her blog)

Deborah Smith’s — A Gentle Rain (some great photos in this one)

Diana Duncan — Lethal Attraction (she has it on the front page of her website)

Warning on Embedding YouTube Videos on Your Wordpress Blog

Heads up…if your content section of your Wordpress theme is too narrow, adding a YouTube video to your Wordpress blog post will break the theme and mess up your page layout.

Tags: How to Blog, Marketing, Wordpress by Kacey
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