Mollio for Wordpress » WP themes

Premium Vs Free WordPress Themes

blogger3 — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 21:23:23 +0000

Setting up WordPress in your own website is quick and easy. It is even easier if your web hosting provider offers a quick installation of WordPress from their web host control panel since it usually comes with some nice themes to choose from. Even if there are no themes available, the default template for WordPress 3 looks fresh and nice, but may not be the theme to use if your blog is for business purposes or if you want to make an impact on your readers. To solve this dilemma, you can either choose to download free themes or pay up to enjoy some premium WordPress themes. Before making a decision, it is better to compare them head on.

Design and Functional Quality

If a designer is asking money for a WordPress theme, you can already conclude that it offers something more or different than the standard WordPress theme being offered for free. It usually means that the designer spent a significant amount of time perfecting the visuals and layouts of the theme or made sure that the theme allows more functionality than the ones derived from the default theme.

If you take a look at the online stores that sell premium WordPress themes, you may get the idea on why this particular theme could be worth the money. Many premium WordPress themes target people that manage business blogs since they know that these webmasters need a professional design to make profits.

Support Quality

Good theme designers make sure that the theme fully works in all of the latest browsers before releasing it to the public. There are instances where users can run into problems especially if their blogs have numerous extensions and add-ons. Those that design WordPress themes for free may not have the time or resources to tend to those situations although there could be some exceptions. However, premium theme designers are more likely to be more accommodating to these issues so that they can send a subtle message to the customers that paying for the theme includes free dedicated support as well.

Abundance

Free WordPress themes are a lot more abundant than the premium ones. In fact, the WordPress website features dozens of themes available for those that cannot host their own WordPress site. This makes searching for free themes quite useful as there may be a chance where you can encounter a nice theme with a free download attached to it.

Overall Value

Your decision in picking a free or premium WordPress theme depends on your comparison between quality and quantity. Fortunately, just about all designers offering free or premium WordPress themes have a screenshot of the theme so they can visualize how their website will be if the theme is applied.

Premium themes are priced differently as well so you really need to take some time in choosing a commercial WordPress theme. Your choice won’t be disappointing at all if you look at the premium theme at all angles. It is unlikely for a free alternative to surface since premium themes usually take longer to make and require a lot of skill.

How to Install WordPress Theme

blogger3 — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 12:01:57 +0000

So you have hunted high and low and found the perfect WordPress theme. Now you need to know how to install WordPress theme or it will just be a pretty file collecting dust on your hard drive.

Installing a WordPress theme is not as complicated as many people think it is. The thing that tends to confuse people is that there are two different methods you can use when trying to figure out how to install WordPress theme.

Manually install WordPress theme

First I will go over how to install WordPress theme manually to help you get familiar with the WordPress structure.

To install a WordPress theme manually you will need to download the theme, which I am assuming you have done by now.
You will also need to unzip the WordPress theme to a folder on your hard drive (try not to forget where you put it).
Now you will need to fire up your FTP program and FTP to your site.
At this point you will want to navigate to the themes folder by going to the ‘wp-content’ folder and then the ‘themes’ folder.
Once you are in the themes folder on your web site, you will want to navigate to the theme you unzipped on your hard drive (you did remember where you put it, didn’t you?).
You will then need to upload the theme on your hard drive (folder and all) to the themes folder on your web site.
After your all FTP’d out you will want to go back to your browser and log into your WordPress blog on your site.
You will then go to the ‘Appearance’ option on the left side menu and select the ‘Themes’ option.
At this point you should be able to see your theme listed as an option. If not then you probably uploaded it as a folder within a folder and will need to double check it.
You should now be able to preview and then activate your theme by selecting the appropriate options listed under your theme.

Automatically install WordPress theme

If you are lazy like me you will want to let WordPress do all the work for you. So now we will learn how to install WordPress theme by letting WordPress get down and dirty.

To put WordPress to work you will need to first log into your blog.
You will navigate to the ‘Appearance’ option on the left side of the menu.
Next you are going to click on the ‘Themes’ option located under the ‘Appearance’ tab.
Once you are under the ‘Themes’ section, you will see ‘Manage Themes’ at the top of the page. Next to the ‘Manage Themes’ tab you will see the ‘Install Themes’ tab which will probably be grayed out. You will want to click on the ‘Install Themes’ tab to make it the active tab.

Now you have a couple options here.

Option one is that you don’t have a theme in mind yet and want to search for one. In this case you will select the options you are looking for and click Search. Once you have the results up on screen you can scroll through until you find one that you like and want to use. At this point it is only a matter of previewing the theme to make sure it is what you are looking for and if it is, then you can click Install and let WordPress do its magic.
Option two assumes that you have already downloaded the theme you want to use. In this case you will want to select the Upload option that you will find available under the ‘Install Themes’ tab. Once you have selected the Upload option you will want to browse to the theme file you downloaded and select it. (Yes WordPress will even unzip the file for you. How’s that for service!)

Then it is just a matter of clicking ‘Install Now’ and let WordPress go to town.
I prefer to let WordPress do the dirty work and install the themes for me. But it is a good idea to get familiar with FTP’ing to your site and taking a look at how things are structured within WordPress. That way if you have to edit, alter or repair your WordPress theme you will know how to find your way around the WordPress world.

Once you know how to install WordPress theme you will wonder why it seemed like such a complicated task. You may even find yourself customizing and making your own WordPress themes.

Installing WordPress Plugins Easily

blogger3 — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 16:08:18 +0000

Most plugins can be found and installed easily. You do not have to leave your WordPress website because you can install most plugins quickly from your dashboard. The search for plugins is just as simple.

Where do I find Plugins?

Simply login to your WordPress dashboard. Scroll down to “Plugins” then select add new. In the new window that opens to the right there is a search box. You can also see a tag cloud of popular searches. Type in your term or select one of the words.

How do I select a Plugin?

Now there should be a list of plugins for you to choose from. If you know exactly which plugin you want check the name and the plugin author to make certain you have the right one. Otherwise you want to decide which plugin will be the best one.

What can I learn from this list?

Without clicking install there is a lot to learn from this list of plugins. You can see what the name of the plugin is. The average rating, however you do not know how many people rated that plugin. Then the description of the plugin. See if the description meets your particular needs. The plugin may be related to what you need not do what you need. If you still like the plugin at this point click install.

Does it pass the Installation Screen?

A Install pop-up screen will appear. This will tell you even more about the plugin. Here you can read more about the description. To the right you can see when it was last updated. This is in days. Next you can see if it is compatible with your version of WordPress. If the version is fairly current then even if it does not list your version it will probably work. You can also see how many people download it and how many people rated it. This is good because one person giving it a 5 means less than 100 people rating it a 4.5.

Still not certain about this WordPress Plugin?

Look towards the top of the pop up. You will see description, which is what you are looking at. Click Installation, Screenshots, and other tabs. These tabs change depending on if it has information or not. Visit the Plugin Site which is on the description tab. Then visit the WordPress plugin page. Hopefully this will get you enough information.

What about installation?

If you are satisfied enough, try the plugin. Just click install, then activate. Remember you can try a plugin and if you do not like it uninstall it. Simply click installed under the plugin tab. Scroll down the list of plugins to the one you want. Then click the word deactivate. If you do not plan on using it further, click delete next. But most plugins are free, and easy to deactivate. So when you need a new one, try it, you might like it
Are you wondering how to get started online? Or need a little how to help?

Premium WordPress Plugins

blogger3 — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 22:48:08 +0000

WordPress has offered people from across the world with an easy, cost-free, and open-source blogging platform since 2003. Considered the best and most popular blogging tool at recent times, WordPress has also provided opportunities for developers to create premium WordPress plugins designed to address the needs of millions of WordPress users.

What are plugins? WordPress plugins are simply defined as prepackaged codes that can enhance the features and functionality of a website or blog. Various plugins offer a wide range of advantages for WordPress users. For one, plugins can help optimize a WordPress blog so that it gets a high ranking in search engines. Second, plugins can monitor site statistics such as page views and visitors. Third, plugins prevent comment spam from flooding a blogger’s WordPress account. Other useful WordPress plugin features include photo galleries, advertisement manager, and social bookmarking. WordPress plugins make it easy for bloggers to add functionality to their blogs without the need for tedious and complicated coding. With the many benefits a blogger can get from free WordPress plugins, it is no wonder that developers take them a notch higher-that is, they develop various premium WordPress plugins to suit different blogging needs.

Although premium WordPress plugins has not yet fully taken over the prominence of free plugins, the former’s importance cannot be underestimated. Compared to free plugins, premium plugins give more assurance that they are appropriately supported, updated, and improved.

In fact, there are a number of premium plugins considered by many as the best there are on the market. Most of these good premium plugins have useful features for search engine optimization (SEO), affiliate marketing, and advertising purposes. Premium-designed WordPress plugins for SEO provides users with full control over their blogs from the WordPress dashboard. For affiliate marketing purposes, some premium plugins enable the blogger to manage his or her affiliate links using the WordPress dashboard. In addition, affiliate-oriented premium plugins make it easy for bloggers to put advertisements into their blogs. On the other hand, plugins that are made for advertising help users manage the advertisements on their blogs by automating paid reviews, text links, banners, and collecting payments for the blog owner. Some premium plugins allow bloggers to create a number of full-featured review websites.

All in all, premium WordPress plugins can meet the needs of most bloggers in terms of earning money online. Premium plugins provide solutions for bloggers who want to monetize their blog by helping them do it successfully. The monetary benefits are worth the money spent for purchasing these plugins. With premium plugins for WordPress at their disposal, bloggers do not need to acquire technical knowledge or skills to maximize their blogs’ potential to drive huge profits. Before purchasing premium plugins on the Internet, a conscientious blogger should do an extensive research on certain premium plugins that can cover his needs. Of course, careful preparation is important in any undertaking. Enhanced WordPress experience and improved money making strategies can be achieved if bloggers use the right premium WordPress plugins for their needs.

How to Install A WordPress Theme?

blogger3 — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 08:02:44 +0000

Design and Functional Quality

Support Quality

Abundance

Overall Value

Protecting Your WordPress Blog

blogger3 — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 23:08:23 +0000

The WordPress blog platforms is the most popular choice for those who manage their own blogs. It is free to use, allows you the most flexibility with regards to customization, and there are literally thousands of plugins available to enhance your blog in some way.

The downside to the popularity of WordPress is that it has now become a good target for hackers. With each major release of the platform, there are many security fixes that appear after words. While you can’t control the WordPress code, at least most can’t, the one thing you can do is control your blog. There are many things you can do to ensure you blog is as secure as it can be.

Change the administrator ID and password. This should be standard practice regardless of whether it is for a WordPress blog or another item such as a router. Never use the default user ID and password. Always create your own ID with a strong password.

Change your database table prefix. By default, when you create your blog’s database the prefix for all the tables is ‘wp_’. Everyone who has used WordPress knows this, so they would know the structure of your database. By changing this prefix, it makes it harder for others to guess the names of your blog’s database tables.

Secure your WordPress installation. How much you want to secure you WordPress directories depends on how much you want to learn. Some steps include preventing directory browsing, and allowing access to specific files and directories from an IP address. Performing a search in Google will yield many results that can walk you through the process step-by-step.

Install a security-checker plugin. There are several plugins that you can install that will check your WordPress installation for any security holes. You don’t need to keep these plugins enabled, but it is good practice to enable once in a while to verify that there are no glaring security issues with your blog.

Install a backup plugin. It is a good idea to make regular backup copies of your WordPress database, files, and directories. If someone does manage to get into your blog, does some damage to the point where you can’t continue, you can always restore a backup copy and continue within a few hours. There are several plugins that allow you to schedule backups so you don’t have to remember.

While the above list isn’t exhaustive, it provides a good list of items that you can look at when you want to secure your WordPress blog. There is a lot of information online about securing your blog, which you read and learn what works best for you.

Things You Need To Start A WordPress Blog

blogger3 — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 16:58:49 +0000

If you’ve been considering starting a blog, you have probably run into people telling you that WordPress is the way to go. After all their blogs are flexible and easy to use, and yet they offer endless options for customization. You might have heard about people who make money by blogging and selling adspace on their websites and you’ve decided that you want a piece of the pie. Obviously blogging isn’t a get rich quick answer to all of your money woes, but it can be a fun way to earn some extra cash. If you’re considering using WordPress for your blog there are a few things that you need to know before you sign up.

When you choose to start a WordPress blog you basically have two different options. The first option is to have it hosted by wordpress.com and have your blog’s name as the subdomain. This option is free and still provides most of the flexibility that WordPress can offer. You get to start your own blog, publish posts, and build an online audience. The downfall to this option is that because you are using WordPress to host your blog they technically own your writing. This means that they can take your blog down at any time and for any reason. Although this rarely happens it is still a cause for concern. The larger disadvantage to having WordPress host your blog is that you don’t have your own domain name. This severely limits the growth potential of your blog. After all, does it sound more professional for your blog to be named http://www.yournamehere.wordpress.com, or http://www.yournamehere.com? The answer should be obvious. If you want to maximize the potential of your blog it is far better to use the second option that is available through WordPress.

By using wordpress.org instead of wordpress.com you can ensure that your blog will have your domain name, and that it will be easily recognizable as yours. When you start your website using wordpress.org, you have the added expense of purchasing a domain name through a hosting service such as godaddy.com or bluehost.com. Obviously this costs a bit of money up front, but it makes sense if you think of your domain name as an investment in the future of your business. Using a hosting site with your own domain name means that you own the content and can determine what you publish and how you market your website. You still have all of the flexibility and support that WordPress offers along with the added bonus of having complete control of the content that you put on your website.

No matter which option you choose, WordPress provides detailed instructions for getting started. Even if you are choosing to purchase a domain name and use an outside host the process for getting everything set up is very easy. WordPress advertises that they have a 5-minute install that will get you up and running in no time. The customizing and templates are easy to use and thousands of plugins are available that will enable you to professional looking website exactly the way you want it, even if you don’t know anything about web design.

Hosting Your Own Domain Name on Blogger

blogger3 — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:02:03 +0000

The popularity of Blogger has made it so that the Internet is littered with thousands of blogs that look something like this: myblog.blogspot.com. What about those bloggers who wish to take advantage of all the benefits of blogging from a Blogger account (free hosting, easy customization, gadgets, etc.) without making it so obvious that they’re part of the thousands of blogging freeloaders, riding on Blogger’s back like an egret on a rhino?

Many bloggers might be surprised to find out that a domain name can actually be mapped to a Blogger URL so that the blog that exists at this address: myblog.blogspot.com can be accessed by going to this address: http://www.mydomainname.com. Here’s how to do it.

Changing Your Domain Settings at Your Registrar
Changing the location of your domain name begins at the same place you registered your domain name. I use Netfirms.com to register my domain names ($6.99/year), so the screen shots you’ll see here come from Netfirms’ control panel. The interface for other registrars may be a bit different, but the concept is the same. You need to create a CNAME entry for the www sub-domain of your site. You also need to edit the A Record entries for your root domain to have Blogger IP addresses .

To begin, I click Domains->Domain Manager.

From the Domain Manager screen, I click the Add button.

Now I’m taken to a page that allows me to add a domain, transfer a domain from another registrar, or set up a sub-domain. I click on the Sub-domain tab, and enter www for the sub-domain. I click on the CNAME box to set up a CNAME entry corresponding to the sub-domain. In the Host Name field, I enter Blogger’s address: ghs.google.com .

After I’ve entered the www sub-domain and associated ghs.google.com as the CNAME entry corresponding to the account, I click Add.

Now I need to change the A Record for my domain. From the Domain Manager, I click on the domain I want to redirect to my Blogger account, and I click on the checkbox next to A Record. I then enter the information that transfers my naked (meaning not prefaced with www.) domain name to be hosted on Blogger.com. Here are the IP addresses for Blogger. You should enter these addresses into the first four fields of your A Record list.
216.239.32.21
216.239.34.21
216.239.36.21
216.239.38.21

After I enter these addresses in my A Record fields for my domain, I click Update so that the changes will take effect. At the point, I’m finished making changes at the domain registrar. The changes will take about 24 hours to propagate throughout the web.

Changing Your Blogger Setting to Complete the Domain Switch
After your domain settings have been propagated throughout the web, you are now ready to tell Blogger to receive your domain name and associate it with the account you have set up with them. Login to your Blogger account, and click Setting->Publishing to set up the domain redirection on Blogger. The default page you see involves purchasing a new domain. Instead, you should click on the “Switch to advanced settings” link, which will allow you to enter the domain information for the domain you’ve already configured to be hosted on Blogger. On this page, enter your www sub-domain name (that is, include the www in your domain address), and click the box that redirects your domain name without www to the same site as your www sub-domain.

At this point, open a browser and enter your domain into the address bar. You’ll notice that the contents on your Blogspot account are now visible. Your old blogspot.com address still works too. You can access your blog using either address, but now at least you can make it appear as if you are on your own hosting package.

Starting a Self Hosted WordPress Blog

blogger3 — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 12:16:41 +0000

If you are thinking about starting your own blog, or blogging business to generate revenue from it, you might be aware of WordPress blog. Here I am not writing about blog that being hosted in sub domain of WordPress.com, but the blog that is hosted on your own domain name. Before we know how to create a self hosted WordPress blog, let me explain why it is so important to create self hosted instead of hosting it with WordPress.com or any other blogging services.

Not right now, but after a few months, your blog will be come a lot to you. It may be money making business for you or your online presence, your online business exposure etc. At this time you will never like that some one else have full control on your blog. While you are hosting your blog in blogging service, you are giving full control to them and putting your price less effort on risk of being banned, being deleted automatically by mistake of automatic spam detection or firewall of it. Even if your blog gets restored after few days or a week, you may loss so many visitors, business proposals, search engine ranking and search engine traffic. In hosting services, you are also limited by their features. They do not allow you full control of editing template, installing plugins, and extra dynamic facilities that you want. All these benefits are available only with self hosted blog, so let me help you to create it.

For Self hosted blog, you need following things.

1. Your domain name. (yourname.com)

2. Web Space to save your blog data.

I will recommend you to purchase both domain and web space from the same provider, so that you do not need to configure domain with your web space. Once you have done payment to provider, they will send login details of ftp and control panel of your hosting account.

If you have purchased CPanel hosting account, you will have built in script installer tool in your CPanel called “Fantastico De luxe”. You can use this tool to install WordPress in your domain. This is once click install, so you don’t need to worry about the installation process.

If you do not have any installer tool like this in your hosting control panel, you can install WordPress manually as mentioned below.

1. Download latest version of WordPress from WordPress.org/download/

2. Extract it in your local computer directory and upload it to your ftp account using ftp client like Filezill.

3. Create MySql database through your control panel wizard, create database user and give full privileges on database to that user. This process may differ and depend on hosting control panel, you can take assistant from hosting support also for that.

4. Once you uploaded the WordPress files to ftp and created user with database, you can start installation process by accessing your domain name (yourname.com) in internet browser.

5. Installation instruction for both advance user and beginners are given at http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress.

Great, now you are ready with your own self hosted WordPress blog. What can you do now is start blogging and playing with the full controls on your own blog. If you find any difficulty in installation, please feel free to contact me via commenting here.