Tips & Tricks Around The Web

How To Create Your Own Blog Site --A Beginners Guide

2011-02-05T20:14:00.000-08:00

Nowadays, creating a website requires little to absolutely zero programming knowledge. With just one push of a button, anyone can publish to the World Wide Web.

Four years ago, I read a newspaper article on the same subject. The prospect of being able to write, be my own editor and publisher all at the same time are what attracted me to create my own blog. If you love writing as much as I do, blog is perfect for you!

Now, there are two most famous blog scripts or blog platforms that you can choose from. There is Blogspot (now more commonly referred to as Blogger) by Google, and there is WordPress. Both offer free hosting for blogs. Hosting service and hosting solution are companies with physical machines (servers) where they store your data for you. It functions in the same way as the hard disk of your computer.

So, Blogger is good for those looking for easy to use platforms as they offer a lay-out view for your blog, giving you the whole picture of your blog, and which has an easy drag and drop options for all the elements of a page (your blog’s homepage). Changing your blog’s skin (blog theme) is easy too, you can either choose from the available themes or you can download whatever you like from the Internet and upload it to your site. All with just a click of a button.

Then comes WordPress. One critical thing that you should know about WordPress is that WordPress.org is different from WordPress.com in that the WordPress.com offers free hosting of your blog while the Wordpress.org requires a third-party hosting service (at your own cost) thus giving you more control of your blog. I recommend you start with a free hosting first, the WordPress.com, as it’s less complicated and offers less contact with the technical process of setting up a blog.

WordPress platform is user-friendly as well, although it offers more functionality than Blogger‘s. It also uses drag and drop options for the sidebar (widgets). You can download and upload your own theme at WordPress.org, but you can only choose for available themes at WordPress.com, although customization is possible. If you can think about something you’d like to see in your blog, Wordpress has it. It’s also the coolest blog in the planet! --if you ask me. It’s geared more towards giving you most out of your site, that is why most professional bloggers prefer using the WordPress.org blog script. But if you’re geared to having ads and monetizing your free blog without paying for a hosting service, Blogger can give you that. You can only monetize your blog when you have a paid hosting at WordPress.org because the free WordPress.com has a No Ad policy.

When you’re quite decided which platform to use, then you’re ready to set up your blog. That’s next in Part 2 of this post.

How To Edit Text and Font Style In Photoshop

2011-02-03T21:34:00.000-08:00

Photoshop is daunting. I would not use it myself if I don't neccessarily have to (like when I have to edit the header of my website done in Photoshop), and I would not reccommend using it when you don't have any tutorial lessons or classes on it. It is much rather easier to make Christmas cards with Windows Paint for example, but when you absolutely have to use Photoshop, when you have to make texts or edit texts, here is a short how to on it.

Open the layered Photoshop file

The shortest way to do it is to press the letter "T" on your keyboard to activate Type Tool. The longest, you can look for the black letter T on the left layer and click it. The action will launch the Type Tool Options Bar on the top appear.

Now, hover your mouse on the text you want to edit and click to start editting and typing.

Go to the top toolbar and change the font to whatever font you like by clicking the drop-down box. Make sure your text are highlighted when you do it.

Position your text in your preferred alignment.

Now you're ready to save the file!

I tried to make this as clear and as less complicated as possible, but if you still have questions, leave them in the comments section.

How To Create Sub-Pages

2011-02-02T02:29:00.000-08:00

I have recently moved one of my WordPress.com blog to WordPress.org, and setting up the new site I've encountered a lot of technical difficulties my next-to-none HTML knowledge hadn't been able to solve.

Here's a simple way to make Child pages of a Parent Page without installing any plugins.

Login to your WordPress Panel
Go to Pages
Click Add New (Page)
On the right side, just below Publish, look for the "Page Attributes"
Choose the Parent page you want to make a sub-page of from the drop-down menu choices

HOW TO ARRANGE THE ORDER OF YOUR PAGES

Just below the "Parent" Attribute could be found the "Order" Attribute. Just enter your desired order of the page you're creating, with number 1 as the first page appearing on your top navigation menu, 2 as the second page, 3 as the third, and so on and forth.

You can create as many sub-pages as you like under one Parent page. You can make About page as Parent page of "Contact Page" for example.

Hope this helps you. Have fun!

How To Publish Your Blogger Blog Posts To Facebook Automatically

2011-01-28T18:59:00.000-08:00

It's easy to get your Blogger posts automatically published in your Facebook account. Here's how to do it:

Log in to your Facebook account.
On the search box, type Notes. You will then be taken to the Notes Application page of your account. (If it doesn't, just click the "Notes" application in the search results page).
On the left part portion of your page, click "Edit/Import Settings". You will then be taken to "Import A Blog" page.
Enter the URL or the web address of your blog on the box indicated. Tick the box that said you agree to the Terms of Use of Facebook, then click "Start Importing"

You're done! Now, every time you post in your blog, your Notes page updates and your profile will show your blog posts. All your previous posts will be included in your Notes page as well and imported notes from your blog cannot be edited. Do remember that you can only import one blog at one time.

Enjoy posting!

Domain Name -- How and where to buy your own

2011-01-23T17:12:00.000-08:00

I would assume that since you're on this page, you already know the advantages of having your own domain name. Still, even without knowing the advantages, having your own domain is like having your own name and identity in the world wide web, and who doesn't want that?

Anyway, don't let most of the terms used in the web intimidate you, buying and having your own domain name is as easy as buying your favorite brand of milk in the grocer, you pick up the item, line up the counter, pay for your purchase, and voila, you can now drown yourself with your milk possession.

Seriously, the process starts with choosing your name. You may already have an idea of what you want it to be, or maybe you're still mulling over what best name to use, but to be sure the name is still available to use (somebody might already have bought it before you), head over to where domains are marketed and check to see if it is. Alternately, you can also type the address in your browser and if the page search returns with a zero result, then the address is most definitely available.

Now, where do they sell domains? Domain names are sold most everywhere, web hosts sell domains, even those that host free web page only. You can google for the best domain name seller or the cheapest domain name seller but I recommend GoDaddy.com as their price is comparatively cheap (not the cheapest but definitely cheap with the services that come free with a purchase) as compared to other sellers and ideal for those who don't want to be bothered by the technicalities involved in pointing their domain names to their website or setting up a website with the new domain name. Their system is "compatible" with most web hosts/web servers and the mapping (pointing or redirecting) works seamlessly from one to the other with just a click of a button.

More on web host, and why having a domain name is different from having a whole website (whether with your own domain name -www.yourdomainname.com-- or not --www.nameofyourownchoosing.nameofyourhost.com. ex.www.nameofyourownchoosing.blogspot.com)

Access Blocked Sites Through A Proxy

2011-01-20T17:18:00.000-08:00

This isn't new although apparently, not everyone knows that you can access websites through a proxy server even when your web access have content filter that blocks and prevents you from visiting your favorite sites for example. Proxy servers bypass your Internet provider service and let you browse a blocked site through it (the proxy site).

Basically, this is how it works:

You go to a proxy site, type the web address you would like to visit in their form, then the proxy takes you to that site. Proxy hides your IP address and makes your browsing session private and secured. It prevents leakage of your private and personal data and secures your system from malicious software and viruses.

Below are some of the proxy sites you could use. (Please use them responsibly):

Free Proxy Browser.com

TNT Proxy - Free Proxy

Increase Your Traffic With Ping-O-Matic

2011-01-17T18:11:00.000-08:00

In my previous post, I mentioned the difference between Blogspot and Wordpress blog codes and services which I believe ultimately affect the stats of the blogger. Of course, I do not understand much of what is happening at the back end and I can only guess the behavior of search engines like Google in ranking and indexing a site. I'm fairly new to blogging with SEO in my mind. I'm a blogger who blabs to my heart's content with neither thought to having a "focused-subject" blog nor ranking high in search engines. I do love to look at my stats though, even when I don't know how to analyze it and use it to increase my traffic.

So, my obsession with the stark difference in the stats of my Wordpress blog to my Blogspot blog led me to the discovery of Ping-O-Matic. Another difference between Wordpress and Blogspot. Wordpress has a built-in tool that makes use of the services of Ping-O-Matic for their Wordpress.com blogs .

What is Ping-O-Matic?

Ping-O-Matic is a web service that automatically "pings" search engines when you have a new post in your blog. That means it notifies them of your new post and automatically submits your post to be included in the searches, so you don't have to manually submit it yourself.

I just tried it this morning and it said to come back again when I want my posts to be automatically submitted to search engines. I'm not sure what it means by "automatic" there. Does that mean I have to come back to the site everytime I have a new post? That, I intend to find out, because I do want something that I can set then forget, don't we all? I'll give it some time and let you know how it works.

Thanks for reading :)

How To Automatically Publish Your Wordpress Post in Facebook

2011-01-16T21:03:00.000-08:00

When Facebook first came out, I smiled and thought "teenagers". A couple of years later everyone of my friends seem to be using it and I said "It wasn't my thing". Now, even people who've never heard of the Internet before Facebook, are now Facebook users. In fact, I know a handful of Senior Citizens who have Facebook accounts!

It's amazing how social marketing sites affect our lives. I think it's a wonderful addition to ways we can promote our websites and blogs.

If you have a Wordpress blog, you can automatically publish your blog posts as a status message. With just one click of a button, you publish your post not just in your blog page but also in your Facebook profile where your network of friends can also see them.

Here's how to do it:

1. Log in to your Wordpress account.
2. On your Dashboard, click MY BLOGS

3. Choose the blog (if you have many blogs) you want to publish posts from and click the services you want to publicize your posts on. (There are several to choose from including Twitter and Yahoo Updates). Tick the box beside Facebook.

4. Click ENABLE.

5. You will then be taken to a Facebook page and will be asked to approve the action. Approve it.

That's it! Now everytime you click the PUBLISH button in your Wordpress account, a snippet of your post with a link to your blog will appear in your Facebook status message automatically!

You can also do the same process for your Twitter accounts.

Improve Your SEO Blogger Templates

2011-01-15T21:13:00.000-08:00

When I started blogging, I created blogs at both Wodpress and Blogspot/Blogger but I ended up being active more in my Wordpress blog. Aside from the fact that I found Wordpress more "user-friendly", it also turned out to be more "appealing" SEO-wise. I do not have extensive knowledge of the subject, it's just me talking from experience. My Wordpress blog gets more traffic than my Blogger blog, and my Wordpress blog got a PR4 without so much effort while my Blogger blog gets very little traffic. Of course I found out later that Wordpress automatically submits your blogs to blog directories and social networking sites, but technically speaking, I don't know what else they do to make Wordpress blogs more visible in the net.

Recently, I also found out that blog titles of Blogger blogs come before the post titles when search engines read them, and that is not good in the world of SEO.

I took the liberty of reposting here what you could do to remedy the problem if you have a Blogger site:

1. Go to Design > edit HTML in your Blogger dashboard.
2. Search for this tag:

3. Replace the tag with the following:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "index"'>
<title><data:blog.title/></title>
<b:else/>
<title><data:blog.pageName/></title>
</b:if>

4. Save your template.

Find Out Who's Hacking Your Facebook Account

2011-01-15T06:16:00.000-08:00

I don't understand it myself, but the reality is, some people just don't have anything better to do but hack Facebook accounts. Identity theft is just one of the top reasons why they do it, but who knows what really motivates them? The good news is, we don't need to know the whys and wherefores before we find out if we're being hacked or not. Take a look at the steps below:

1. Login to your Facebook account
2. Click ACCOUNT located on the top right hand corner, then ACCOUNT SETTINGS
3. Click the CHANGE in the ACCOUNT SECURITY (near the bottom of the page)
4. Set the "Login Notification" ON
5. Click the box underneath for notifications on other devices you have associated with your account.
6. Then, check the "Most Recent Activity" for anything funny and unfamiliar to you. Take a look at the address, browser and the OS of the user who last accessed your account.

You may report unauthorized access of your account to Facebook Help Center