1. StudioPress. StudioPress uses a theme called Genesis to power almost all of their other themes. To use most of their themes, you have to install Genesis first (but not activate it), and then install the theme you want to use (called a child theme). The child theme gets its inner workings from Genesis, but gets its unique design from its own theme files. Kind of like how a child gets its DNA from its parents, but that DNA works itself out a little different from child to child in a family. The Genesis theme itself is pretty powerful and I’ve used it on several sites. The best thing about StudioPress themes is their support. It is A++++. I have NEVER seen a product with such great support. In fact, when possible anymore, I start with a StudioPress theme and make modifications to it.

2. ThemeForest. Themeforest is a collection of themes for various platforms, not just WordPress themes… but you can search just for WordPress themes. ThemeForest is a theme marketplace, meaning many different theme authors sell their themes there. This is nice because it offers a great variety of themes. The theme this site currently uses is called Magzimus, and I got it at Themeforest. I suggest reading through a theme’s Comments before you purchase a theme through ThemeForest, and look to see how the theme author responds to questions and requests for assistance. There are some truly creative themes at ThemeForest that make great use of what WordPress is capable of, and you just won’t find those themes anywhere else.

What theme are you using for your site now? What do you like about it? Not like? Can we take a peek? Do you need a recommendation for a theme to use for a particular project – tell us about in the comments.

THIS IS HOW IT WORKS

I will install and set up WordPress for you at no cost to you. Not only that, I will also install for free the following plugins to get your blog started on the right foot:

• All In One SEO
• Google XML Sitemap
• Sexy Bookmarks
• Widget Logic
• Google Analyticor
• Akismet

These are some of the best free WordPress plugins available and I’ll make sure they’re installed on your site. I’ll also install one of the best premium themes out there: Genesis by StudioPress. That theme currently sells for $60 and you’ll get it for free!

What’s The Catch?

There isn’t one. This promotion is being sponsored by HostGator. They are THE hosting company I recommend, and host all of my own websites there. To take advantage of this free WordPress installation promotion, all you have to do is order a web hosting plan from HostGator. Then forward me the login information to angie [at] mynameisangie.com and I’ll install WordPress for you. Afterwards, I’ll email you back the login information for your new WordPress blog and you can start blogging!

WAIT! TWO MORE BONUSES!

1. Just to make sure you know how to get started USING your WordPress installation once it has been installed, I’m giving you over 30 instructional videos which will show you all you need to know to master WordPress. Watch an example video here. They’ll be included in your WordPress installation, so anytime you login to your website, you can review the videos. And, if you’re not a video-type, there is a link to an online text manual, too.

2. Use the coupon code mynameisangie25 during your HostGator checkout, and receive 25% off your entire order! I recommend at least the “Baby Plan” because you can have unlimited domains. Trust me, once you get started using WordPress, you’ll eventually want to create more than one site, and with the “Baby Plan” or “Business Plan,” you’ll be able to do that easily. As of the day I’m writing this, you can get your domain and hosting for less than $75/year when you use the coupon code mynameisangie25. Great hosting doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg.

Of course, I’ll include instructions on how to change all your login passwords. I won’t keep any of the forwarded information from HostGator. Once WordPress has been set up, I’ll destroy the email.

Not only will you get your hosting at a great discount but every hosting plan at HostGator comes with $100 of Google AdWords credit that you can use to promote your new website. Start your blog for 25% off, get WordPress, the amazing Genesis theme framework, those great plugins and instructional videos installed for free and get $100 of AdWords credit. You won’t find a better web hosting deal anywhere!

If you’re ready to start right now, and I mean RIGHT NOW, then head over to HostGator, order your hosting plan using the coupon code mynameisangie25 and I’ll get you started. Click the banner below to get started.

Sitemaps are an easy way for webmasters to inform search engines about pages on their sites that are available for crawling. In its simplest form, a Sitemap is an XML file that lists URLs for a site along with additional metadata about each URL (when it was last updated, how often it usually changes, and how important it is, relative to other URLs in the site) so that search engines can more intelligently crawl the site.

Web crawlers usually discover pages from links within the site and from other sites. Sitemaps supplement this data to allow crawlers that support Sitemaps to pick up all URLs in the Sitemap and learn about those URLs using the associated metadata. Using the Sitemap protocol does not guarantee that web pages are included in search engines, but provides hints for web crawlers to do a better job of crawling your site. (sitemaps.org)

How to use the Google XML Sitemaps plugin:

• Once you have logged in to your WordPress website, scroll to the PLUGINS tab in your dashboard’s sidebar. Expand it and click ADD NEW.
• Search for “Google XML Sitemaps.” At the time I’m writing this post, it is the second plugin returned in that search. Click INSTALL NOW, and confirm YES, you do really want to install this plugin.
• After the installation process is complete, remember to click ACTIVATE, or your plugin will not be available for you to use…it will merely be installed on your site.
• Once you do that, scroll to the SETTINGS tab in your dashboard’s sidebar and expand it. You should see a new link for XML-SITEMAPS. Click it.
• You will see a notice at the very top of this settings page that tells you to build your sitemap for the first time. Click that link… and the magic will begin!

Once your sitemap is built, you will not need to make any other changes to the settings on this page. This plugin is fantastically configured straight out of the box! I know – it almost sounds too easy… but it’s true. So take four minutes and go install this plugin on your site right now.Then, if you have any questions, feel free to pop over to the forum and ask!

First, let’s install and activate the plugin. Then we will look at the basic instructions you’ll use to tell your widgets when to display.

Now, let’s learn how to create some snippets of code that will tell your newly installed Widget Logic what to do with your widgets.

is_home()

just the main blog page

!is_page(‘about’)

everywhere EXCEPT this specific WP ‘page’

is_category(array(5,9,10,11))

category page of one of the given category IDs

(hint – installing the plugin WP Show ID will be helpful for finding the category ID’s for this one)

is_single() && in_category(‘baked-goods’)

single post that’s in the category with this slug

current_user_can(‘level_10′)

displays widget only for administrators

strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'], “google.com”)!=false

widget to show when clicked through from a google search

is_category() && in_array($cat, get_term_children( 5, ‘category’))

category page that’s a descendent of category 5

global $post; return (in_array(77,get_post_ancestors($post)));

WP page that is a child of page 77

global $post; return (is_page(‘home’) || ($post->post_parent==”13″));

home page OR the page that’s a child of page 13

Have questions?

Join our forum and ask away!

This is the start of a series on the plugins I suggest and use myself. Starting with one a day for the next week, I will show you some of my favorite plugins and how to use them. Plugins, like themes for your site, come in two versions: free and premium. They both work fine, but sometimes the premium ones will come with additional or more attentive support (and lots of times, the free plugins have support that’s just as good as the premium ones! Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that only premium themes and plugins are worth anything – it’s not true)!

I want to start by showing you how to install, activate, deactivate and delete a plugin. It’s important to know how to do this because whenever you upgrade your WordPress installation, you should deactivate your plugins first – then reactivate them once you’ve upgraded. So without further adieu, here’s a quick video on how to install plugins (PS – please forgive the abrubt ending! I ran out of time – rest assured I had said everything I needed to say)!

Free Plugins

• All in One SEO Pack
• Sexy Bookmarks (or ShareThis or Sociable)
• Contact Form 7
• Google XML Sitemaps
• Widget Logic
• Google Analyticor

Premium Plugins

1. Authors and Users: This link will show you all of the current users of your site, their username, name, email, role and number of posts attributed to them.
2. Add New: Allows you to add a new user. When you create a new user, you will also create their password, and you will have the option to email that password to them. Be sure to choose that option so the new user knows how to login to their account.
3. Your Profile: This page allows you to change the information listed in your profile, such as your name, nickname, bio. This is also where you can change your email address and password.

It’s possible that you don’t want every user of your site to be able to access your ENTIRE site. Here are the different roles you can allow your users to have:

1. Administrator – Somebody who has access to all the administration feature
2. Editor – Somebody who can publish posts, manage posts as well as manage other people’s posts, etc.
3. Author – Somebody who can publish and manage their own posts
4. Contributor – Somebody who can write and manage their posts but not publish posts
5. Subscriber – Somebody who can read comments/comment/receive news letters, etc.

1. Installed: The plugins installed on your site are listed on this screen. You also choose to activate plugins here, deactivate or delete them, as well. Also, sometimes a plugin’s author will update it, and if you need to upgrade your version, you’ll see a notice here telling you to do that.
2. Add new:  Just like the themes, you can search for plugins approved by the WordPress team.
3. Editor: Like the theme editor, this allows to edit the CODE which makes your plugins work. If you know how to edit that, you probably didn’t need this e-book.

Later, I will show you the top 10 plugins you should install on your site when you are setting up shop.

Widgets: Widgets are drag and drop boxes you can add to your sidebars, and sometimes your footer (depending on your theme). Popular widgets include a listing of your pages, categories, recent posts or comments, monthly archives of your posts, links, a search field, and your tags. To put a widget on your sidebar, click on Widgets, then drag the one you want to the “Sidebar” list on the right side of your screen. Then, click on title of the widget on the sidebar to adjust any particular settings for that widget. For example, the “Categories” widget asks if you want to show the categories as a list, or as a dropdown menu; if you want to show post counts (the number of posts attributed to each category), and if you want to show the hierarchy of categories (if you have sub-categories, this will show them, too). To remove a widget, simply drag it back, or click remove.

Editor: This allows you to edit the CODE behind your themes. For the purpose of this ebook, I’m simply going to say, don’t change anything here.

Add New Themes: Like I said, there are thousands of themes to choose from. You can find and activate new FREE themes here. All of the themes listed in the WordPress directoy have been approved by WordPress for use – they don’t have tricks up their geek sleeves and are safe to use.

1. Search: allows you to search the WordPress theme directory by colors, columns, width, features, and subject. You can also specify particular terms you’d like to search for, such as pink, feminine, or cancer. There may already be a great theme for a breast cancer site, and you can search for it here.
2. Upload: When you’re getting started, using the free theme directory is the way to go. However, not EVERY theme that exists is listed in this directory. Some themes, like the ones you pay for, won’t be. If you have purchased one of those, then you’ll have a file you’ve downloaded from the site you purchased it from that you’ll need to install on your site. You can do that by clicking the “Upload” link, finding the file on your computer and then clicking Install.
3. Featured: This will show you the themes that WordPress is fond of lately. In many ways, these are the best of the best FREE themes.
4. Newest: Um, shows the newest themes approved by WordPress
5. Recently Updated: See – I told you this was pretty simple. Displays the most recently updated themes approved by WordPress.

Once you have found a theme you like, you will see the links to “Install” or “Preview” it under the theme title. Previewing it will show you what the theme looks like with your existing pages/posts and widgets. Installing it will pop up a small window that shows a button to “install now.” Click that and then you will see a screen that gives you the options to again Preview, Activate or Return to Theme Installer. If you would like to make this theme THE theme for your site, choose Activate.

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Remember, you can look at all of the themes installed on your site by choosing the Appearance>Themes tab.

1. Edit> Allows you to edit existing pages.
2. Add New> Allow you to add new pages. Are you seeing now how this works?