Here’s a quick update on some tips and techniques for content management in your dynamic WordPress websites…

WordPress 2.6 on the Way: Already in beta, WordPress 2.6 is due for release mid-summer with some great new features like “Post Revisions” (saves editing history), and improved plugin management.

New Slide Show Service: We just completed a couple of websites (Fifth Avenue Advisors, and NEXTBusNews.com with a “Business Benefit Slide Show” on the home pages. Click here to learn more about how this new service can help you convert visitors to customers.

Security Matters: WP Version 2.6 also includes some security upgrades, as each new version does, and this is good because there have been increased reports of hacking into WordPress installations recently. What to do? Stay up to date. And, if you believe your site may have been compromised, take a look at the WordPress Exploit Scanner plugin. Written by one of the WordPress core developers, it scanns your site and alerts you to suspicious activity in both your files and databases.

SEO Matters: How is your Search Engine Optimization coming? If you’re in need of backlinks that matter, and who isn’t, you can find some help in this article: Discovering Backlinks that Matter. And remember you can tighten up your SEO with our Max-SEO Optimization service.

Plugin Recommendations: We’re getting some good feedback on our new MaxRef Widgets plugin which gives you powerful control of link groups in your sidebars, and I also like the idea of new plugin, called inline Google Docs, that allows the user to embed Google Documents and Spreadsheets in posts and pages. Both require at least WordPress 2.5 — another good reason to upgrade today.

Let me know if we can help with upgrades, slide shows, and development. I’ll be pleased to provide a prompt estimate for your projects — reach me via our Contact Page.

Tags: CMS, Graphics, News, WordPress CMS Help by Partner
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WebFadds.com has recently completed two interesting CMS website projects — one offers a complete shopping cart built into WordPress, and the other was designed to match an existing website. Both are hosted at WebFaddsHosting.com.

Have you heard of the eastern mystic and poet — Rumi? He was a prolific writer 800 years ago, and now the Society for the Understanding of Mevlana (Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, that is) has a full CMS website solution with an integrated shopping cart to sell rare translations of his works, at sfumevlana.org.

What does CMS stand for? Content Management System. This means that pages, links, and key content is generated dynamically, and promotional feeds and pings are sent automatically. Editing is easy — much more so than “old-school” websites. If you’ve used a shopping cart, then you’ve seen content management first hand. We enjoy building website solutions on the WordPress platform, because you get the same dynamic advantages with your pages and posts, that shopping cart owners enjoy.

Above, the shopping cart is integrated into the sidebar for users, and into the administration area in WordPress for managers.

Notice that the “blog” area of sfumevlana.org is secondary to the bookstore and other CMS pages, and is not on the home page. WordPress has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a simple blogging solution to allow for just about any sort of structure you need at your sites.

The sfumevlana.org site includes our eNewsletter Installation compete with customized template shown above. The newsletter plugin we use automatically addresses items to your customers, and offers a paid subscription option. A newsletter and RSS feeds are a powerful duo to get your marketing messages out.

WordPress is very flexible. Take for example the new site WebFadds.com produced for BolenComm.com — a sales enablement provider for B2B businesses. Bob Leonard of BolenComm.com wanted to take advantage of the dynamic promotional strengths afforded by a WordPress blog, but he wanted the blog to match his existing website. Take a look:

Above, at left is the original website of BolenComm.com — while at right is the blog designed to match by WebFadds.com

To get an estimate for your own custom installation and order one today, just visit our Blog Services page. Solutions like these require a hosting plan (our WebFaddsHosting.com has excellent plans starting at $7.95mo.). Standard Installation is $79 on your server, $49 on our hosting one of our hosting plans.

WebFadds.com is a Modern Web Development Company focused on Website Services and CMS (Content Management System) website solutions built on the evolving WordPress publishing system. Reach Scott Frangos, your lead Project Manager, and Managing Partner for WebFadds.com by email at sales [at] WebFadds.com, on Skype messaging service (scottfrangos), via our Contact Page, or by phone at 360.566.2451.

Tags: News, WordPress CMS Help by Partner
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by Scott Frangos, Managing Partner - WebFadds.com

Time to upgrade WordPress? Just wave your wand — well almost… there are a couple of tricky things to avoid. WordPress puts out 2-4 upgrades per year, with a major upgrade about every ten months. We do upgrades for $49 (on our servers), or $79 (on your server) — we’ll include six essential plugins, and twelve themes.

Avoid a big trap — do not use the automatic upgrade utility your host provides, like Fantastico, or our own Elefante Installer at WebFaddsHosting.com. Why? Two reasons. If you installed WordPress originally using a clean manual install (as we do it), then this will most likely pull your site down — and require more time and expense to restore it.

If you originally installed with an auto-installer, then it might go ok — when the installer company and your hosting company get around to including the newest edition of WordPress. Even so, you are relying on the auto-installer, another program on top of WordPress and everything else, to manage things. This adds another layer of software, and complexity, when you need to troubleshoot website problems. So again, it’s best to do it manually.

What about plugins that do automatic upgrades? Elsewhere I wrote of a plugin I liked for a while — but then I had a problem with an upgrade and had to reinstall from scratch. Make you nervous? That’s why I went to manual installs as standard policy. But never fear, here are five steps to keep your data safe as you upgrade:

Steps for a smooth WordPress Upgrade

1. Perform two backups: With our standard installation we include a plugin which you can use to download an immediate database back-up to your hard disk. That’s back-up number one. Back-up number two is done using the “Manage>Export” function in your Admin. area to download an XML file of your data. Now you’re double protected.
   
   Above, the backup plugin (configured for you in our standard installation), should be used to “download to your computer,” a complete backup to disk prior to upgrading WordPress.

2. Turn off all Plugins: Turn them off in the plugin area to avoid any conflicts during the upgrade process. You can print or save the page first so you remember which ones were on and which were off.
3. Download the latest Version: Get the latest version of WordPress and unzip it.
4. Perform the Upgrade: If you are doing it yourself, go to the WordPress codex and follow instructions there (be sure to delete the appropriate files prior to the upgrade using FTP, and to retain the appropriate files without overwriting them).
5. Restore your Plugins: Turn them back on and cross your fingers… if the plugin author is on the ball, their program will work with the latest version of WordPress.

And, on that last point about Plugins working with new versions of WordPress — a good policy is to wait a few weeks after a major upgrade of WordPress, and check at your essential plugin author’s site to see if there’s a notice that it is compatible with the newest version of WordPress. You may have to limp along for a while without a couple plugins until they are updated.

Remember that the nature of WordPress is that it is a collaborative symphony of software components. People have asked me, what if a plugin author walks away and does not upgrade a plugin? This has happened. Sometimes a new author takes their place and gives the plugin a much needed facelift and retrofit. Sometimes you can hire an independent PHP programmer to customize the plugin or write one from scratch. Sometimes there’s a new plugin that performs a similar function. Sometimes… you just have to walk away, like the plugin author did. What? Just remember, you didn’t pay anything for the original program… and you should really “tip” your plugin developers (most have paypal links in the admin. area) so they stay motivated and focused on their work.

Contact WebFadds.com, and we’ll do all the steps listed for you when you need to upgrade your WordPress website.

Tags: Hosting, News, WordPress CMS Help by Partner
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by Scott Frangos, Managing Editor - WebHelperMagazine.com

Countdown to WordPress version 2.5

2.5 is almost here — below, a screenshot shows some of the planned revisions to the administration area in the next upgrade of WordPress — version 2.5. Revisions are still being made, but the DashBoard area looks streamlined, and the menus have been reorganized to aid editing.

Above, the new widget management structure does away with a drag and drop interface in favor of adding a new widget by clicking on Add in the list at left, then editing the widget when it shows up in sidebar position at right. You can drag a widget up or down at right to change its position order in your sidebar, however. I like it.

WordPress 2.5 is due for release in about 8 days, so get ready for a new and revised administration area (above), some revisions to the plugin structure, built in avatar support (show little pics of your blog readers, a revision to the widget management functions, and an automatic plugin updating feature (nice). Kudos to the WordPress team and their Open Source spirit in providing this program and excellent upgrades.

So… should you update right away? Well, my advice is to hold off a bit and check to see that your important plugins have been updated for the new release. There are some changes to how plugins are handled (plugin authors can check the helpful style tips given by Joost de Valk at his blog), and so you might wait a couple of weeks after the initial release before you take the plunge. This also allows time for the WordPress development team to fix any bugs noticed after the first brave BlogMasters implement the update.

Some Helpful New Plugins

There are a couple of new plugins that I like, and some usage notes:

1) Collapsible Elements ->>

This is the plugin that enables the AJAX pop-down effect that reveals more information. I’m using it here. In the words of the author “Collapsible Elements adds a button to the code editor which creates the code for having multiple collapsible elements in a page or post.” Get the Plugin Above, the Collapsible Elements plugin adds a new button in the post and page editor.

2) SEO Tweaks ->>

This plugin adds a number of tweaks that are helpful even if you use a major SEO plugin like HeadSpace2, and some that just address theme issues like adding “read more” after post excerpts. Get the Plugin Above, the Tweaks plugin offers SEO fixes and non-SEO fixes.

3) Audio Player ->>

Like to play mp3 files at your site, but not ready for the more complex podcasting plugins? Audio Player is a smart option with a built in Flash Player that makes it simple to drop audio files into your posts. Get the Plugin Above the simple, one-page admin. configuration options are just right for adding MP3, and you can even style the color of the player that will appear in your posts (inset, top right).

Six Theme Picks: A thumbnail review of new and interesting themes…

Here is a look at six new themes for WordPress (click them to see larger images — site download link in captions). One of the great advantages to going with WordPress as a Blog, or CMS website solution is the wealth of themes (templates for newbies), available for almost every concept and purpose. The important thing is to pick one that functions best for your online business mission — remember, form follows function. And, no — I don’t think you have to have a them with two columns on the right mostly filled with ads. Here are my picks of the month:

(click a theme to enlarge it)

Architec Theme - I like this one with its two header options, widget ready programming, and CSS Styling.	Options Theme - This one is loaded with options including five category sections, three features sections, and two videos sections. Nice for an eZine, or video community, this one turns your WordPress installation into a full CMS solution.	Blue Leaves Theme - Sometimes simple is more… and this one color tone theme may be all you need for a personal blog, or small niche website
Color Play Theme - Features a 2 column right sidebar layout and clever option to change colors (clicking a square at top right changes the background and headline colors). A good pic for an art-related business or photography studio.	Vehicle of Novelists Theme - Here’s a unique design with a right sidebar running up to a large, bold graphic. (The link goes to the direct download from Zinruss Studio.com http://www.zinruss.com/, a high-end flash site that’s alittle difficult to navigate.)	Naruto Strikes Back Theme - This theme offers an interesting graphic at top, which you may change to suit your design concept, but I picked it because the design really emphasizes the search function with space for a sub-slogan at left then an interesting catch phrase above the search field. Perfect for a directory concept, note that the author may have envisioned a travel website (”Looking for an adventure?” is above the search box).

WordPress Jobs

Have you checked out the new job board at WebHelperJobBoard.com. Since we are able to filter jobs by different criteria, we included a range of openings just for BlogMasters and WordPress experts. Some are on location positions, and some are for telecommuters.

A couple of examples WordPress Jobs:

• Custom WordPress Theme Creation Needed
• WordPress Themes from HTML Files (lots of work available)

Take a look, and get the job board RSS feed.

That’s a wrap of this edition of the WordPress round-up. Stay tuned for a full review of WordPress version 2.5 in the next edition.

About the Author: Scott Frangos is Managing Editor for WebHelperMagazine.com, and writes the OpenSourceWebMaster.com Blog there. He also builds dynamic Blog and CMS websites with WordPress for WebFadds.com and is a college level instructor for Graphics and WebMaster subjects. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife, Pepper, and their three dogs: Wisdom, Spirit, and Steggman, and is a great believer in the WordPress movement.

Tags: CMS, WordPress CMS Help by Partner
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We just finished installations of dynamic blogs for five Real Estate companies, and we get a lot of questions about “what do I do next,” after the blog is installed — from Real Estate agents, and clients in other industries. One key secret of Social Marketing using your own blog is making regular posts. That’s right. At least three times a week, you need to type up a post and submit it via your blog to take advantage of syndication feeds (your WebFadds.com blogs and CMS websites include RSS feeds), automatic “pinging”, and for search engines to rank your blog highly based on frequency of new content.

What else do you need to do to be successful at social media marketing in the real estate industry? Here’s your list of Ten Online Marketing Tips for Real Estate Professionals:

1. Submit your Blog and RSS feeds to Real Estate specific search sites like Zillow.com, and Trulia.com.
   
   Above, Zillow.com offers free marketing options for Real Estate Agents. TIP: You can submit listings via a feed, and if one of your WordPress blog categories contains listings, then submit the feed for that specific category.

2. 

   Configure your blog smartly for SEO — Search Engine Optimization. We can do that for you with our “Max-SEO” service, or you can do it yourself with our SEO Plugin Collection for WordPress.

3. Structure your blog smartly, from your prospects’ point of view. If you are a Real Estate agent, you need to set up categories in WordPress, and include at least three that are similar to: “Recent Listings,” “About the Area,” and “Financial Resources.” Mortgage and Finance Professionals should include “Financing Options,” “Investing Tips,” and “Credit Help.” You will probably think of a few more.
4. Make sure your blog is set to “ping” appropriate services that store, track, and announce new blog posts. There’s a good list of ping services to use here. We install a master ping list as part of our “Max-SEO” service.
5. Remember that in addition to factual posts about listings, you are also building credibility, and making pre-sales connections, so you need to write in a personable way. Engage your prospect. Invite comments on your blog, and reply promptly. Think of talking to them in a conversational way when you write these posts. Here’s a reference article to help you — Top 10 Blog Writing Tips.
6. Write at least 3 posts per week. This takes advantage of your blog’s automatic marketing (RSS feeds, and pings), and also tells search engines that your blog is alive and providing valuable content on a regular basis. And if you need some more inspiration, for ways to write that engage your potential customers, I recommend this post at “Content Marketing Today”.
   
   Above, at recent custom blog installation by WebFadds, agents post articles about local economics, and the process of building a home in addition to recent listings.
7. Market your blog, and RSS feed. Tell your prospects to subscribe to your RSS feed so they get the latest updates on deals. Put your blog address in all marketing materials.
8. Install a proactive newsletter program for WordPress. Why — isn’t RSS and pinging enough? Well, they are great ways to get the word out, but they’re reactive — they rely on your prospects to sign up for your feed, or to surf to the sites that feature your pings. With a newsletter, you can send updates, alerts, promotions, etc., direct to a list of prospects. We have an excellent program we install and configure for you with our eNewsletter Configuration service.
9. Work with other allied professionals to “cross-post” on their blogs, always with a link back to your own blog. This continues to build the image of you as an expert, garners wider exposure, and forges key alliances. And, part of the SEO game is getting good solid links to your blog — Google, for one, counts these toward your ultimate “score” as it gauges the relevance of your blog/website.
10. Get a dynamic, automated WordPress blog from WebFadds.com — installation is $49 on our hosting servers (WebFaddsHosting.com), or $79 on yours. This is step one of your online marketing solution because now you will have a professional system that will automate some of the tasks for getting the word out online.

Follow these tips to maximize the reach and impact of your blog, it’s content, and ultimately your own sales potential.

About the Author: Scott Frangos is Managing Partner for WebFadds.com, a modern web development firm focused on dynamic blog and website solutions for your business mission online — reach him at the contact page at WebFadds.com, or at 360.566.2451.

Tags: Advertising, News, WordPress CMS Help by Partner
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