http://blog.templatemonster.com/2011/05/17/wordpress-plugins-new-blogs/

So if you can’t find a free WordPress template to suit your needs do not despair.  There are a dizzying array of Premium WordPress templates to choose from, (like this blog, which was based on the Socrates template which costs all of $39!)

SOME OF OUR FAVORITE PREMIUM RESOURCES

TEMPLATE MONSTER:  One our most valued resources for premium WordPress templates is the monster of all template sites:  Template Monster.  For an average of $60, you can purchase an amazing, up to date template loaded with features.  Use the robust search feature to narrow down your search to “WordPress” and enjoy browsing by category and even color!

SOCRATES:  And our newest favorite is the premium theme we built this blog on — Socrates.

Socrates, while not for everyone, is a great resource for affiliate marketers or entrepreneurs who want to crank out social media-enabled websites in minutes!  And the built in banner ad widgets and rotating social media badges and flexible design layouts are some of the easiest we’re ever used. 

THEMEFOREST:  Another massive repository of highly stylized, premium WordPress themes is Themeforest, with hundreds of really high-end designs priced around $35.

Want more?  Just type “premium WordPress themes” into Google.  That will keep you busy for a while!
 

SOCRATES SALES VIDEO

FIND THE WORDPRESS FREE THEMES HERE on YOUR FREE WORDPRESS ACCOUNT

 Find Free Themes Here on your Hosted WordPress Account

Your hosted WordPress blog will have the same “Appearance” link in your dashboard as the free version but the “Install” tab will lead to an area where you can search over 1,300 free WordPress templates — all with one-click install capabilities!

1. How to acquire a domain name for your WordPress blog (www.yourname.com)
2. How to set up a WordPress Hosting acount on GoDaddy
3. How to associate your domain name with your hosting account and your WordPress blog

TUTORIAL #1:  Setting Up Your Domain Name

In the first tutorial we will show you how to sign up and pay for a domain name on GoDaddy. 

Please note, you can actually sign up for a domain name, sign up for hosting and set up WordPress on your hosting acount all at the same time.  But for the purposes of these tutorials and breaking down the tasks for easy understanding, we broke it down into three separate steps.

As mentioned in the tutorial, we claimed a domain name (two of them actually) that ended in the .info extension instead of the .com extension.  The reason?  .info extensions are extremely: cheap and for the purposes of these tutorials we just went with the least expensive option, which in this case was about $2 a YEAR for each domain name.  Hard to beat that price!  The two domain names we grabbed were:

• www.adult-ed-class.info
• www.adult-education.info

Watch the tutorial #1 by CLICKING HERE

TUTORIAL #2:  How To Set Up A WordPress Hosting Account on GoDaddy

GoDaddy actually offers hosting account just for WordPress.  You could also install WordPress on a regular GoDaddy shared hosting account but this variation eliminatees a few steps and gets you right into the WordPress set up a lot faster so that’s the route we chose for this tutorial. 

PLEASE NOTE:  as we menetioned above, you could register a domain name, set up the hosting and then launch your WordPress blog all as part of the same set-up.  We chose to break it up inton 3 parts for the purpose of these tutorials.

NOTE:  Also, we chose the shortest duration of hosting — 3 months, only because it was the least expensive option and it would get us through the 4 weeks of the adult ed class that these tutorials were created for.  For you, we recommend setting up your hosting for at least a year.  If you know you’re serious about having a domain name and blog, even 2 ,3 or 5 years would be the best value.  Plus, the search engines actually rate longer registrations more favorably since they are less likely to be “fly by night” companies that are here today and gone tomorrow. 

Watch Tutorial #2 by CLICKING HERE

TUTORIAL #3:  How to Setup Your WordPress Blog on GoDaddy

This will be the final step for installing WordPress on your hosting account assuming you’ve already purchased a domain name and associated it with your hosting account.  Now comes time to launch WordPress on the account!

Again, you can do this as all part of the same initial set-up but we broke it up into three distinct parts for the purposes of these tutorials

Watch Tutorial #3 By Clicking HERE

TECH SUPPORT:  Please note that if at any time you have a problem setting up your WordPress hosting account, ALL the hosting companies we listed offer 24/7 tech support to guide you through the process on the phone!

• Social Media plugins
• Hook into LinkedIn
• Hootsuite Introduction
• Hooking into Facebook
• Hooking into Twitter
• Hooking into email (Feedburner)

QUESTIONS & SPECIFIC ISSUES

• Compare Socrates & other templates
• Review Template Monster
• Using Widgets
• Create a header
• Installing new templates

• Permalink settings (Overview Video)
• AKISMET
• How to create a post (Video)
• How to post a page
• How to create a link (Video)
• How to add a picture (Video)
• How to add a video
• How to use categories (Video)
• Plugins (Overview video)
• Installing new templates

A Word About How Templates Differ From Each Other

• Bullets
• Captions
• Where’s the blog?
• My video or Facebook widget disappeared

BACKGROUND – INTRO

• Video Intro
• Subscribe to RSS Feed by submitting email address in box to the left <—-
• Compare a Blog vs a Website
  o Blog can easily be changed
  o Has a dashboard
  o No FTP – explain
  o Allows comments and posts
  o Contains an RSS feed for “broadcasting” your content to other places
  o SEO friendly
  o Social Media friendly
• Mention Blogger/Blog spot – Google products
• Introduce WordPress
  o First created in 2001
  o Open source code
  o Thousands of developers, no license fees to use
• Show sample WordPress blogs
• Compare difference between free WP (www.wordpress.com) and paid WP (www.wordpress.org)
  o examine “domain name” & hosting
• WordPress.com – free
  • Yourname.wordpress.com (can use domain name mapping)
  • Some design limitations (costs additional to change CSS)
  • Can’t publish Google Adwords/some photo galleries/third-party widgets
  • WordPress displays text ads on your blog to logged-out users who aren’t regular visitors
  • No FTP capabilities since you have no server
• WordPress.org – free templates for hosting :  http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/
  o Paid Templates for hosting
  • Template Monster
  • Socrates
  • No design limitations
  • Easy to monetize

GET CONSENSUS ON HOW MANY FREE OR PAID?

SHOW HOW TO INSTALL WORDPRESS ON PAID HOSTING ACCOUNT

SHOW HOW TO SETUP ON FREE HOSTING ACCOUNT
 

HOMEWORK

PAID HOSTING:

• Use custom domain name
• WordPress-friendly Hosting accounts
• Go Daddy
• Host Gator
• Network Solutions
• Blue Host
• Dream Host

More info – WordPress For Beginners:  http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Lessons

WordPress API Key

To obtain an API key (application programming interfaces), you simply need to sign up here:  http://akismet.com/wordpress/   Select “personal blog” and it will be free.

Note: Once you get your AKISMET API Key, login to your dashboard, make your way to your plugins area and locate the AKISMET plugin, click it and follow the prompts to activate the plugin. 

FREE HOSTING

Free:  http://wordpress.com/
Great step-by-step tutorial:  http://learn.wordpress.com/

TEST BLOG:

TEST BLOG:  www.samsonmedia-blog.com/blog/wp-admin

LI:  test

PW:  test123

Akismet comes free and preinstalled on every single WordPress blog.  The only small catch is you have to activate it.  No big deal, really, but you just have take the extra few minutes to activate it in order for it to work. 

What type of SPAM can you expect? 

Mostly comment SPAM.  You’ll find it in the COMMENTS area of your dashboard.  What is comment SPAM you ask?  Good question.  It’s basically an in-bound linking scheme to improve some else’s search engine rankings.  It’s a totally black hat SEO technique which I won’t get into here.  All you really need to know is that it exists and you don’t want it on your blog.

Trust me on this one — Akismet is the Spaminator of SPAM.  It will keep your WordPress blog Spam-free and humming along without any problems.

AKISMET TO THE RESCUE

I don’t know how it does it but Akismet totally automates the process, intercepts any and seemingly all comment spam and places is in a separate SPAM list.  After a few days it dumps everything on the SPAM list, automatically cleaning itself out.

To activate your Akismet plugin you’ll need what’s called an API key. 

Go HERE to get your API KEY

The link will take you to the AKISMET site.  This is something relatively new.  You used to be able to get the free API key right from your WordPress dashboard but now you have to go through the AKISMET site where they ask for donations before they give you the API key.  I’m not going to tell you what you should pay since I was Grandfathered in and have had my free API key for 5 or 6 years, but I have to tell you the thing is practically PRICELESS!

Once you get your API key from the link above here’s where you place it to activate your SPAM protection:

SPAM SAMPLES

These can bring your website to a crawl if not deleted (which Akismet does automatically)

Find AKISMET in the PLUGINS Area

Find the Akismet Anti-Spam Plugin Here

Select ACTIVATE (mine is already activated in this picture)

Select the Akismet Plugin

Enter Your API Key & Get Protected