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How to add a Gravatar to your WordPress Blog

Barry — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:42:11 +0000

Hi, thanks for stopping by.

Do you need a little help:

Adding a Gravatar to your WordPress Blog

For the last few weeks I’ve been taking part in the 100 Blog Comment Challenge, which is showing signs of being a huge success for everyone involved. We now have 102 contributors on board so phase one is complete, phase two is to get them all to comment and bookmark each others blog post. I have been following the comments and replies of quite a few blogs and can plainly see that a lot of people are really benefiting from the interaction with other bloggers.

One thing I noticed during the challenge was that quite a few people were having problems Installing Gravatars on their blogs, with some having installed it only to find it was conflicting with another plugin and showing two images.

Being the helpful kind of guy I am I decided to make a video and show you how I have it set up on my blog, so that you can simply follow my settings and resolve the issue on yours.

If you want to pause the video as you carry out each step then open another browser tab and have this post displayed on both. That way you can switch between the two and stop start the video as needed and copy or connect from the other. It saves going up and down, back and forth etc.

Before you can take any action you need to go through your pictures and select an image of yourself to use as your gravatar, remember it will be widely seen across the internet so chose wisely. You can always change it later if you wish to .

Ok, here’s the video, I’ll place a Gravatar link and plugins mentioned beneath it. In the bottom right corner there’s a toggle button so you can view in full screen, just press escape to minimize the screen again.

Having got your photo ready you then need to sign up with Gravatar using the same email address that you use for your WordPress blog.

Then open your WordPress admin panel and go to the Plugins section, where you need to click the Add New button and enter WordPress Gravatars.

Following the instruction in the video you will be able to install, activate and configure the settings for the WordPress Gravatars Plugin.

Once you have done that open a new tab and visit your blog to see how it looks.

If you would like to install the comment reply plugin that I show you during the video it’s called WordPress Thread Comment and is installed in exactly the same way as the WordPress Gravatars Plugin.

As mentioned in the video the two plugins have instructions to include your gravatar, so you may see two images but don’t be alarmed as during the video I show you how to overcome this problem.

As always, I appreciate your comments.

I’m back from hospital now but have to spend the next two weeks on bed rest. I’ll reply to all comments upon my return to work.

Until next time, take care

No related posts.

eBook Sellers: Look What I Have Found

Barry — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:22:30 +0000

Hello and thanks for visiting my blog.

This post is going to be slightly different to my normal posts, in fact what I’ll be doing here I have never done before……more on that in a moment.

I sell information products, both on eBay and from my websites and I have recently found a jewel that I just have to bring to your attention, especially if you also sell (or are thinking of selling) information products.

Whether you are an established eBook writer or a newbie with an idea to create an eBook something you are going to need are

eBook Graphics

I personally have only ever used Planet Divinity, No that is NOT an affiliate link, my earning money is not the point of this post….

I could go on and tell you about the Cheap Prices, the Quality of Work Produced or the Speed at which it is delivered, but that’s not the point of this post….

I could go on even further and tell you that Planet Divinity ask a series of simple questions and from your answer they will produce a first class cover, but that’s not the point of this post either….

Ok, I can hear you…”What is the point of this post and how is it going to be different?”

Let me explain…

The point of this post is to Save you money on your “eBook Graphics” and pass on a free lesson that I have found. It’s different because……….I’m going to ask you to go and read someone else’s blog post.

My last couple of posts have been about blogging and to demonstrate the benefits of visiting blogs I want to bring a post to your attention. As you know I spend quite a bit of time visiting other blogs and when I found this post it instantly took first place for the Best Free Lesson I have found online this year!

Before I tell you who and where I want to ask you to do 3 things:

Open your mind to future products
Think of all the old PLR material you have sitting on your Hard Drive
Clear your desk for 18 minutes; 2 minutes reading and a 16 minute video.

Oh, sorry there’s a 4^th, make your self a coffee, come back and get comfortable, then click the following link to Sally Neill’s Blog Post.

If you like the video please leave Sally a comment saying so and she may make more for us all to share.

If you have also found valuable lessons that are free for everyone to see please leave a comment below and let us all know about them, if you include a link i will check them before publishing your comment, thanks.

Until next time, take care

No related posts.

Part 10 of The Newbies Guide: Generating Traffic To Your Website

Barry — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:00:07 +0000

Hello and thanks for visiting my blog.

In the last video we dealt with uploading your website and testing that everything worked as it should do. If you suffered any problems or are stuck in any way please let me know and I’ll help you through it.

If on the other hand you have completed the uploading process then Congratulations you are now online and ready to go, pat yourself on the back: You’ve got your website online for the world to see….

…..Now that your website is online and ready to make sales we need to start generating traffic to it.

Now, I’m not an expert in traffic generation but I know a man that is. As I said in the last video, I have had to get special permission to create this video as I’m showing you the members only area of Total Web Traffic.

Before we get to the video I would like to thank Dave Nicholson for allowing me to create the video and for making a special offer available to my readers, more on that below the video.

During the video I show you what Total Web Traffic has to offer and towards the end of the video I show you some of the results that I have had from following the course.

Please watch the video and feel free to leave your comments afterwards. Below the video you will find a link to the special offer that Dave Nicholson has made available to us.

Dave’s Special Offer: Total Web Traffic Discount

As always, if you have any problems you can either leave a comment or email me for assistance.

Until next time, take care

Part 9 of The Newbies Guide: Uploading Your Website With Filezilla FTP

Barry — Thu, 06 May 2010 11:25:35 +0000

Hi Thanks for visiting my blog.

It’s time to upload your website to your server (web host). While this may sound daunting, it is really simple to do and the video below shows you exactly how to carry it out.

Before we can upload the website we need to download an FTP program, (File Transfer Protocol). There are plenty of free ones on the web, but I use (and recommend) Filezilla. It is easy to install and easy to use, but the best feature is that it is free of charge.

To be able to access your web host you will need your FTP details which are in the email that you would have received from your hosting company. If you used D9 Hosting then the email is entitled ‘New Account Information‘ and you will find the details needed in section 4.

The details you need are:

Your FTP Hostname/Address:
Your FTP Username:
Your FTP Password:

Have them ready to copy and paste into your FTP program, which is demonstrated in the video.

It may take some time to upload your website, it all depends on the size and content of the website and your internet connection speed. Be sure that your computer doesn’t go into any form of stand by mode, as some do.

Once you have completed uploading your website go to your web browser and enter your domain name. Your website should now be displayed. Congratulations, you are now online.

Please Note: Before you start trying to make sales, or generate traffic to your site double check everything. Click every link, every payment button and check everything works as it should do. Then go and visit a friend that has internet access and a PayPal account, maybe take them a beer and a cheeky wink.

Ask your friend to go onto your website and buy some of your items. Don’t worry about the expense, you can refund them in full when you get home. The reason you want your friend to purchase some of your items is to test your system is working as it should and that your friend (representing a customer) is supplied with the product upon payment, by both PayPal and your automatic email responder.

It is far better to discover mistakes with your friends than your customers. If you do find things not working as they should make notes of what isn’t working and when you get home check your work. The most common error is an incorrect link, which is why it is best to copy and paste them, ensuring not to insert any gaps at the start.

To download your FTP program click Filezilla

As always, if you have any problems you can either leave a comment or email me for assistance.

Don’t miss the next video, it’s going to be HOT as i have had to get special permission for this one. Pop your details in the boxes below and i’ll email you when the next video is online.

Until next time, take care

The Newbies Guide: Part 8 Creating A Newsletter and Opt-in Form With Aweber

Barry — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:00:08 +0000

Hello and thanks for visiting my blog.

In this Module we are going to create a newsletter and opt-in form for your website.

Q, Why do I need to create a newsletter in the first place?

The answer to that is quite simple: Email Marketing!

Say for example you have a website but don’t have a newsletter. You will need to drive fresh traffic to your website over and over again. Some of those visitors may (or may not) make a purchase and then leave your site. Once they have left your website the chances of them coming back is somewhat slim as there are so many other websites to choose from. Meaning that you have to keep trying to drive fresh traffic to your site, (traffic = potential customers). This can be quite difficult to achieve and you will probably give up at some point in the near future, meaning all your hard work has been for nothing. Don’t get me wrong, you need to drive traffic to your site whether you have a newsletter or not, but……

……by creating a newsletter and placing an opt-in form on the same website you are able to capture leads, (potential customers), that are interested in what you have to offer.

This is extremely beneficial to both you, (the web master), and your potential customers, (the readers):

You have the opportunity to build a relationship with your readers and supply them with fresh information, tips, news, forthcoming events, discounts, promotions and of course your new products. You build your list up one by one and over time you build a list of people interested in what you do and the products/service that you provide. Which can often lead to further sales and of course money in your pocket.

Your Readers get the free information they wanted when they signed up and are kept up to date with news, tips, discounts and everything else mentioned above.

Q, How do you get people to join your newsletter?

There are a few ways of getting people to opt in:

If you have a blog that specializes in a niche, (eBay, Dog Training, Weight Loss etc) and has regular updates the reader may want to be kept up to date with your new posts. A step by step weight loss programme for example.

You could offer the reader an assortment of free eBooks with resale rights. Allowing them to resell the eBooks and keep all the profit.

You could offer the reader one free eBook that covers a certain niche or would help the reader in some way. Maybe a step by step guide to show them how to achieve a difficult task.

You could offer a high value product with resale rights, or a piece of software maybe.

Please Note: If you are going to give products away, especially high value products, please make sure that you have the correct rights to do so. If the rights are not stated within the product package then contact the person you got the product from and ask them.

The quickest and easiest way of creating your newsletter is to use a professional service that will do the majority of the work for you. Freeing up your time to concentrate on building and developing your business.

I use Aweber Communications for my own email marketing and have never had any concerns with them. As I said at the start of this mini course I will only recommend products or services that I use myself.

By all means search the internet for alternatives, but the instruction in this part of the Newbies Guide are carried out using Aweber.

Okay Barry so how do I create the newsletter and opt-in form?

As you know this course is in video format, however for this stage I have created a free eBook to show you each step to take. The reason for this is that there were some areas of the screen that I was not comfortable with releasing to the public. So I created this 24 page eBook which you can have free by simply clicking HERE to download it.

Once you have downloaded and unzipped it have a read through and then watch the video below.

I will skip through the eBook with you and then show you exactly how to place the opt-in form on your website. We will also edit the form so as to personalize it to suit you.

After watching the video please feel free to leave your comments. As always if you need help drop me an email and i’ll do all i can to assist you.

Until next time, take care

Part 7 The Newbies Guide: Creating Payment Buttons On PayPal

Barry — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:00:19 +0000

Hello and thanks for visiting my blog.

Welcome to part 7 of ‘The Newbie’s Guide To Editing and Uploading Their 1st Website’ in which I will take you from the point of purchase to the point of uploading the completed website.

As YouTube will only allow a maximum of ten minutes per video I am showing you one task at a time, so this may seem a little slow but please bear in mind that this series is aimed at helping people that have never done any of this type of work before.

This Seventh video shows you how to edit your HTML pages and add payment buttons, via PayPal, so that upon completion of payments your customer is taken directly to the thank you page where they can download the product.

Please watch the video and feel free to leave your comments. When you have watched the video please continue reading this post, as I will provide you with links to the websites mentioned during the video.

Website talked of during the video:

PayPal:

Part 8 of the series will be created and uploaded when I return from hospital.

Don’t forget, I’m here to help YOU, if you have any concerns or questions leave a comment and i’ll get back to you personaly. Please bear in mind that I’m in hospital and will be there for at least another week. Upon my return I WILL reply to everyone.

Until next time, take care

Part 6 of The Newbies Guide: Creating An Auto Reply Message On Outlook Express

Barry — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:00:50 +0000

Hello and thanks for visiting my blog.

Welcome to part 6 of ‘The Newbie’s Guide To Editing and Uploading Their 1st Website’ in which I will take you from the point of purchase to the point of uploading the completed website.

This Sixth video shows you how to set up an auto reply message on Outlook Express. So that when a customer makes a purchase and PayPal send you an email to confirm payment, Outlook Exress will recognise the title of the product purchased and automatically send an email with the corresponding download details.

I supplied you with email templates in my last blog post, hopefully you’ve been able to complete that section now. If not I will place the link at the bottom.

Now Test:
Once you have created all of your auto reply messages on Outlook Express pop over to your existing email account, (NOT THE NEW ONE WE MADE) and send yourself an email (to the new account on Outlook Express) containing the titles of each product, one at a time, to see that you do receive the auto reply and everything is working as it should be.

Please Note: If your existing email account was already on Outlook Express you will need to create another email account on hotmail or googlemail and send yourself an email as detailed above.

To download the email templates click HERE

Part 7 of the series will be uploaded next week.

Don’t forget, I’m here to help YOU, if you have any concerns or questions leave a comment and i’ll get back to you personaly. Please bear in mind that I’m in hospital and will be there for at least two weeks. Upon my return I WILL reply to everyone.

Until next time, take care

Part 5 of The Newbies Guide: My Digital Dispatch and Outlook Express

Barry — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:00:31 +0000

Hello and thanks for visiting my blog.

Welcome to part 5 of ‘The Newbie’s Guide To Editing and Uploading Their 1st Website’ in which I will take you from the point of purchase to the point of uploading the completed website.

This Fifth video gives you an insight to My Digital Dispatch and how easy it is to load the inventory and items for sale. You would need to purchase the software to be able to use it. This is the software that I use (and if you’ve ever made a purchase from me, you will know just how quickly the software delivers my digital products) and I highly recommend it. There’s nothing better than starting work and seeing that all of your digital sales have ALREADY been delivered.

Here’s a tip for you; go and have a look at the sales page, and if you don’t want to purchase it close the page, IF you DO want to purchase it CLOSE the page. Sound crazy? No, when you go to close the page you’ll be offered a $30.00 discount, don’t tell them I told you ha ha.

If you are thinking of using Outlook Express to automatically deliver your digital goods, then you need to be aware that your PC has to be on and Outlook Express open, for it do so. I will show you how to set up an auto reply message in Outlook Express on the next video, but for now I’ve created a folder for you to download, (link below the video). In the folder there are a couple of email templates, a READ ME file and a copy of the info store record. I’ll show you what to do with them when you watch the video.

Remember: You only need to do this IF you intend on using Outlook Express to automatically reply to your customers.

Website talked of during the video:

My Digital Dispatch:

To download the email templates click HERE

Part 6 of the series will be uploaded next Monday.

Don’t forget, I’m here to help YOU, if you have any concerns or quieries leave a comment and i’ll get back to you personaly. Please bear in mind that I’m going into hospital tomorrow and will be there for at least two weeks. Upon my return I WILL reply to everyone.

Until next time, take care

PS: Happy 1st birthday to my blog for tomorrow.

Part 4 of The Newbies Guide To Editing and Uploading Their 1st Website

Barry — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:00:26 +0000

Hello and thanks for visiting my blog.

Welcome to part 4 of ‘The Newbie’s Guide To Editing and Uploading Their 1st Website’ in which I will take you from the point of purchase to the point of uploading the completed website.

This Fourth video deals with creating a pop3 email account and downloading it to Outlook Express. You will only need to do this if you intend to use Outlook Express for your auto reply. So that when a customer makes a purchase and paypal send you an email notification Outlook Express with automatically reply with an email containing a link to your ‘thank you’ page.

In the video I show you how to create the email address on d9 hosting, however most hosting companies will use the same or similar control panels so you should be able to follow the video in most cases.

If you did manage to get some free web space from your ISP you may need to search the internet for a pop3 email account, if you haven’t already got one. During the video I show you how to search Google for one, but you would need to check with the supplier how to download and configure it with Outlook Express.

Remember: You only need to do this IF you intend on using Outlook Express to automatically reply to your customers.

There are alternative ways of Instantly sending emails to your customers, which I will show you in the next video, however the software is NOT free of charge, as Outlook Express is.

Please watch the video and feel free to leave your comments. When you have watched the video please continue reading this post, below the video, as I will provide you with links to the websites mentioned during the video.

Websites talked of during the video:

Google and D9 Hosting:

Part 5 of the series will be uploaded ASAP.

Until next time, take care

Part 3 of The Newbies Guide To Editing and Uploading Their 1st Website

Barry — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:44:21 +0000

Hello and thanks for visiting my blog.

Welcome to part 3 of ‘The Newbie’s Guide To Editing and Uploading Their 1st Website’ in which I will take you from the point of purchase to the point of uploading the completed website.

This Third video deals with Domain Names and Hosting. I have recommended the two companies that I use for these services, but please feel free to look around for alternatives of your choice. Also; it may be worth your while getting in touch with your Internet Service Provider and asking about free web space as most of them do offer it. However if you’re with Orange, I know that they only offer a basic template for you to fill in, which is no good for what we are doing here.

If you do manage to get some free web space from your ISP your web address is likely to look something like:

http://yourchosenname.website.orange.co.uk/

Which i hope you’ll agree doesn’t look very professional. However you can purchase a domain name and have it forwarded to your free website, so that the web address you use is far more professional looking, for example:

http://yourdomainname.co.uk

Websites talked of during the video:

1 and 1 and D9 Hosting:

Part 4 of the series will be uploaded ASAP.

Until next time, take care