These are very basic instructions on how to install a plugin on your self-hosted WordPress blog or website.
Step 1: Click “Plugins” Step 2: Click “Add New” Step 3: Search for the plugin or kind of plugin you are looking for Step 4: Look for a plugin with a good rating Step 5: Click “Details” under the plugin you are looking at and read about the plugin Step 6: Click “Install Now” Step 7: Click “Ok” in the pop up prompt Step 8: You may need to login to install the plugin* Step 9: You will see the installation process run (can take a minute) Step 10: Click “Activate Plugin”
You can get this information in your hosting control panel or contact your host.
Additional Setup
Some plugins will need additional setup once you have installed them. You can look through your side menu in your WordPress Control Panel for the plugin and you will find the additional setup. Most good plugins will walk you through this setup.
Questions?
Please add your questions in the comments! I will answer you in the comments or via email.
We have talked a lot about how you can change your blog for the better including: Logo, Header, Blog Posts, and Sidebar. But now lets talk about how to handle this change. How to conquer the fear of change.
Change can be scary. You may be thinking “I don’t know where to start” or “I don’t want to change anything” but deep down you know it’s time. How do you deal with this anxiety?
Relax
Start at the hardest part. Make yourself relax. Sit back with a cool drink and just take a deep breath. Change isn’t always bad, change can be great!
If you change nothing, nothing will change.
Sit Back
If you can’t seem to get yourself to relax then it’s time to sit back. Experts will always tell you the best way to deal with a creative block is to step away and work on something else. Give your mind a break and come back to the problem later.
Don’t use this as an excuse to procrastinate.
Take a break for an hour or a day, but no more than that. Schedule your break and schedule when you are going to work on your site.
Doodle
When sitting back take some time to doodle. You can doodle your thoughts about your web design or just doodle for fun. If you are not artistic just pull out a pen and paper and try it, you may be surprised at what you may come up with.
Doodling helps with focus, concentration, and helps to tap into the problem solving part of your mind. Even though you feel like what your doing is mindless, your mind is at work.
Browse the Web
Take some time and look at the trends. Take notes about things you like or don’t like. You can even use a service like Evernote to clip the website URL or the image of the page and make notes right on your computer.
Nothing starts your creative juices flowing like reading a magazine or book. I’ve talked about using magazines in the past to find great headlines, but I also use them for design inspiration too. This is a great way to find amazing color schemes, unique layout ideas, and find beautiful typography.
You don’t have to be looking for inspiration as you read, you can just read to relax too. But you may find as your brain starts working on your magazine and book that it starts an overflow of ideas.
Visit a Competitor
Now it’s time to really dive in deep to get some inspiration to improve your site. Visit you competitors in your niche. I do not want you to steal there ideas or copy them the goal is to outshine them.
I want you to see what they are doing as an encouragement to yourself to do things better. Figure out what can make you stick out from the crowd.
Create Lists
Sit back and look at your site and really decide what you are comfortable changing and what you really want to keep the same. This way you know you can hold onto the things you really want to.
This will help with your comfort level with the changes, give you a feeling of control. Sometimes we are concerned about change because we feel like we are losing control. Overcome this feeling by making yourself a list of what you want to change, what your okay with changing, and what must stay the same.
Another way lists can help you is by making lists of sites that you like and why you like them. Be as detailed as possible. Especially if you are going to hire a designer. This can be a great conversation starter with your designer. Also you can use this to tell if the designer you are hiring is comfortable with the style you want to achieve.
Talk to an Expert
You don’t have to take this step, but you might find that you are more comfortable with the idea of change when you have talked to an expert. When you know your site is in good hands you can sit back relax and enjoy seeing the creative process of a professional.
Find someone that is willing to talk with you and that you enjoy interacting with. The more you can talk with your designer and the more they seem to “click” with you the more they will be able to do for you. It takes a relationship for a designer to take your ideas and put them on “paper” for you.
Conclusion
Change always leads to something great. You will grow and you will learn. Take grasp of this chance for something greater for you and your web site!
Have you had anxiety when changing your web site? What helped you with dealing with fears of change? Have you had bad experiences with change? How about good experiences?
You are stuck in the doctors office waiting for them to call you back. Sure they charge you an arm and a leg for their time but disregard yours. Don’t waste this chance to find some blogging inspiration. You are stuck in a room with a great tool at your fingertips: magazines.
A magazine can be filled with 100s of ideas for you and your blog, even if it’s on a completely different subject. You can use magazines to find great color schemes, learn more about layouts, find out about what people are wanting to learn, and best of all find great headlines and post ideas!
If you have never tried using a magazine for inspiration. Grab a magazine, a pen and paper or I like me your phone or tablet. (Don’t have a magazine check out magazine covers on Amazon.com.)
You are going to start creating headline formulas and build a list of post ideas.
Use Eye Catching Keywords
Original Headline: Have a Stress Free Summer (Good Housekeeping)
Basically Stress Free is your keywords here. So your formula will be Have a Stress Free ________. When I write my ideas down on my tablet if I don’t have an idea instantly I will leave blanks.
My Examples:
Blogging twist: Have a Stress Free Editorial Calendar
Kids twist: Have a Stress Free Play Date
Weight loss twist: Have a Stress Free Date Night on a Diet
Original Headline: Sexy Hair Made Simple (InStyle)
Your formula: ________ Made Simple
My Examples:
Blogging twist: Categories Made Simple
Weight loss twist: Grocery Shopping Made Simple
Social Media twist: Facebook Pages Made Simple
Create a List Formula
Original Headling: 285 No-Fail Ideas to Scrapbook (Creative Keepsakes)
Quickly create your formula: # No-Fail Ideas to ________. I don’t actually add the numbers until I start brainstorming and come up with how many items I will have in my list.
My Examples:
Blogging twist: 10 No-Fail Ideas to Blog Posts
Weight loss twist: 5 No-Fail Ideas to Get Your Exercise
Social media twist: 8 No-Fail Ways to get Followers
Original Headling: 12 Sneaky Tricks to Peel Off the Pounds (SELF)
Formula: # Sneaky Tricks to ________.
My Examples:
Blogging twist: 7 Sneaky Tricks to Get Comments
Weight loss twist: 13 Sneaky Tricks to Healthy Snacking
Vlogging twist: 3 Sneaky Tricks to Awesome Videos
Great Phrases
Original Headline: Pasta Salad! How to Create your Own (Food Network)
The basic formula: ______! How to Create your Own
My Examples:
My blogging twist: Headers! How to Create your Own
Kids twist: Bubble Wands! How to Create your Own
Social media twist: Icons! How to Create your Own
Original Headline: More Energy Instantly (Men’s Health)
The basic formula: More _______ Instantly
My Examples:
Blogging twist: More Subscribers Instantly
Weight loss twist: More Protein Instantly
Social media twist: More Privacy Instantly
See how quickly and easily you can start building ideas and creating great eye catching headlines? The best part of this is you can do this in a few minutes or for a half an hour. It’s quick to pick up and put down.
What’s your favorite way to find blogging inspiration? Have you used a magazine for inspiration before?
Have you ever read Darren Rowse’s31 Days to Build a Better Blog ebook? If not you have to it is amazing. Today I’m going to share my incites on Day 14 of the book. I will be sharing this with other’s who have read the book with me, but you can follow along even if you haven’t had a chance to read the book.
Day 14 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog you are asked to update a key page. Darren gives you multiple pages that you can update: front page, about page, contact page, or a high traffic page. Let’s focus in on your about page.
How important is your about page? You’ve got your readers attention, where will they go next? Of course they will click your “about” link in your menu. They want to learn more about your blog and about you but really they want to know what they will get from reading your blog.
I will give you an easy formula on how to build an awesome about page that will encourage your new readers to stay longer and subscribe.
5 Elements of an Awesome About Page
I will be using some of the great tools that you have already developed as you have made it through the previous 13 days of the 31DBBB. Plus we will throw in a couple extras.
I’m going to walk you through how I updated my very boring about page:
The Original Page
A very typical about page, even I have to admit it was boring. I talked about me, how I met my husband, about my boys, and other things. The page was all about me but basically it was a life story. I wasn’t really sharing very much about what my blog was about. Now it’s time to update it.
Step 1: I Updated my Photo
Use a recent photo that is high quality. If you don’t have a current photo or a photo that is high quality then find someone who can take one for you (if you are not good at self portraits). Find a professional to take a few head shots for you or ask your friends and see if any of them can take a high quality photo with a good camera.
Make sure your photo matches the feel of your blog. If your blog is funny and happy share a picture that is bright and full of joy. If you are writing on a very serious topic make sure your photo has a somber and quiet feel.
Step 2: I Started with my Tagline and Elevator Speech
On Day 1 of 31DBBB you wrote a tagline and elevator speech for your blog. You can now describe your blog with a few short words (tagline) and with a short paragraph (elevator speech). This is great for when you are meeting people and trying to describe your blog but this is also great for your about page.
Even though you have already gotten your readers attention you want to keep it. One of the best ways to start out your about page is to recapture your reader in a few seconds and make them want to read more. You have created a quick and interesting description of your blog, use it!
Now that you have described your blog to your reader you need to tell them what they gain from reading and/or subscribing to your blog. On Day 2 of 31DBBB you learned why to use lists; they are easy to scan, succinct, look neat, and are persuasive.
You are going to create a list that explains what your reader gets from your blog in an easy to read format. A list is going to catch your readers eye and you are going to use it to persuade them to subscribe to your blog. You can use anywhere from 5 to 10 points explaining to them what you are offering them.
Step 4: I Gave my Readers a List of Top Posts
At this point your reader should be ready for some more content. They have learned why they should read your blog now prove it to them by sharing a list of your top favorite posts. Make a list of your top favorite posts or if you have the stats on your posts the top most popular posts.
On Day 8 of 31DBBB you learned about the importance of interlinking your posts. Not only will this help your reader find your best content, but it will also help with SEO and page views!
Step 5: Lastly I Called my Readers to Action!
Further along 31DBBB you are going to learn more about call to action or you can learn right now at Smashing Magazine. Basically you are prompting your reader to take action!
Your reader has read through your whole introduction, now is the time to tell them what to do next!
This would be a great place for you to ask them to subscribe to you, subscribe to your newsletter, to follow you on twitter, or to like you on facebook. Choose only one to three of these, don’t overwhelm them with too many options. Make it quick and easy.
Your Turn
Now that I have walked you through updating my page I hope you will now feel like you have the tools to update yours. When you use these steps please share your about page in the comments, I would love to see your outcome!
How often do you visit the about page on a blog you are visiting? Do you always read the whole page? Do you have an example of a great about page?
Investing in your website can be costly. But if you want your readers and advertisers to invest in you, you need to make an investment.
After making the decision to start redesigning you may find that the cost is outside of your current budget. This may make you feel that you need to put off your redesign or not do it at all. But before you put off your new look consider this:
Consider slowly investing in your design. When you look into breaking the design down piece by piece you will find that you can slowly afford an amazing design.
Before you Start
Just as Leo Babauta talks about branding your blog’s personality as a whole in Branding 101, you need to think about how your new look represents you also. Really draw a picture in your head of what you want and what really represents you and your blog.
You want to look at your design from the start as a whole, not as each element as you invest, because in the end you want it all to fit together seemlessly. You will also want to make sure you use the same designer throughout your design.
Picking your Designer
That brings us to our next step which is to find a designer that fits you and your style. You can do this by interviewing them, checking out their previous work and asking for a mock up.
One of things to ask while interviewing them is if they would be willing to spread your project out and how they would recommend going about this.
Don’t skimp on your choice of designer just because of their prices. A true professional designer is going to have a high prices due to their skill level, their education, their investment in computers and programs, and their demand. But you will see something different in a designer that is charging a premium price. They are going to spend the time to get to know you and your product and your vision. They are going to give you a premium product that will amaze you and your readers.
Breaking up the Cost
So how do you break up a new design?
You can break each element out and spread them apart to help you make your slow invest. You can get the prices for each element from your designer and how they would prefer to break it up.
A good example of how you can break up your design is to first invest in a professional logo, then a blog header, maybe a twitter background and a facebook page, and then finally a customized theme.
Logo Design – Your logo is going to be used on everything from your site to your business cards and it will nail down the feel of the rest of your design.
Header Design – You may actually find that you don’t need a header design when you are planning your overall design. Some magazine themes and professional sites are now mainly using their logos as a header and leaving more room for content on their site. This is one reason it is a good idea to have a plan before you start.
Twitter Background and/or Facebook Page – When planning out your overall look think about the different elements you will need for your site and each piece that you will need. I highly recommend you have all your social media match the design and feel of your site.
A Customized Theme – You have lots of different options when it comes to your theme for you blog. Learn about the different levels of investment you can make in your theme design in my previous article, Beauty vs Budget.
As you purchase each piece of the design make sure you are saving up for the theme design, because this will be the largest investment. But this way you will be able to slowly make the changes to your site, your readers will see your investment and start recognizing your new brand!
Payment Plans
Another option to consider is payment plans. Ask the designer that you are interested in if they would be willing to take your project on with a payment plan.
They may do this in a few different ways. They may wait to start the design until you have paid in full or half down. They may be willing to design while you make your payments but will not release the files until everything has been paid.
Make the Plunge
When you are ready to take your site to the next level make sure that you choose a professional designer and don’t be afraid of their prices. Because you will be surprised at your return on your investment if you make the plunge. A truly well designed site will drive in the readers and investors as you would never have imagined.
If you feel that a professional designer that you love is out of reach think again and consider your options and consider slowly investing into you new design.
More Questions?
I’m always happy to help with questions so feel free and ask here in the comments or email me at (unicornbeauty (@) gmail.com)
Photo by channah One of the most important things while researching web hosts is to look at current and former users reviews. Look at what is happening for users that are currently using the host. Today I will be sharing with you how to find reviews for hosting companies and how to use this to …
You must be logged in to post a comment.