Each widget, whether an Opt-In form, Calendar, Blog Stats, etc., has a specific function. They aren’t normally complicated and are really easy to add and remove. This makes them great for testing. If you don’t like the look of feel of a particular WordPress widget, just remove it!

How to Add a Widget to a WordPress Website:

1. Login to your WordPress Dashboard.
2. Click on “Appearance” and then “Widgets”
3. Select the Widget you’d like.
4. Drag and Drop your Widget to the sidebar
5. Edit the widget settings (if it has any)
6. Save on the sidebar and…
7. Test your new Widget by visiting your site.

It’s a pretty easy process. Remember to click the Save button after making any changes. Otherwise, all the changes you made will be lost.

How to Remove a Widget:

You install your widget with a simple “drag and drop.”  To remove your widget it’s the same process, but reversed. Select your widget on the sidebar and drag it to one of two windows on the Widgets page:

• Available Widgets: Any widget you drop here won’t be active on your site AND will lose any settings you’ve added.
• Inactive Widgets: Dropping a widget here will still inactivate the Widget BUT it will RETAIN any settings you’ve added.

Quick Tip:

You can change the order in which widgets are displayed on your sidebar. All you have to do is place the added widgets in the order you want them to be displayed on your sidebar. For instance, if you want the “Meta” widget to be displayed first, simply select and drag it to the top.

Where to find Widgets:

WordPress comes with a ton of great widgets pre-installed. You’ll also find some of your WordPress plugins have widgets associated with them (once you install the plugin, the widget will automatically appear on the Widget screen).

What questions do you have about using WordPress Widgets? Leave a comment below and if you’re reading this far, please share this post with a tweet, like or +1… Thanks!

Want more WordPress training? Click here to check out our WordPress Videos.

Our featured affiliates:

Disclosure: Affiliates allow us the opportunity to earn income as a large majority of our content remains free.  If you purchase any products/services after clicking on one of the affiliate links or ads on this site, we will receive compensation.  Thank you for supporting WPTrainingVideos!

- Mercer

Creating Contact Forms with WordPress Plugins

There are several contact form plugins available for your WordPress site. Most of the plugins very simple to use, even if you are a beginner. Start with a free plugin like Contact Form 7. If you want a plugin that does more than just offer contact forms, then you may want a plugin like Gravity Forms.  Both of these plugins will let you create a form with unlimited fields and then set it up so that when someone hits the “submit” button, you’ll receive an email with the information they submitted.

Creating Forms without Plugins

Why would you want to? I personally recommend using a plugin, but if you must create forms without plugins, there are a couple of ways.

1. If you don’t know them already, you could learn HTML or PHP and code the form yourself. Then build that form into a WordPress page template. Or…
2. Pay someone on a site like Fiverr.com to code the form for you. (It’s a heck of a lot easier, but you’ll still have to hassle with the installation.)

Both of these options will get the job done, but again, I recommend a good contact form plugin above all. For me it’s a matter of flexibility. After all, even after you get your first contact form done, you may find yourself wondering how to change it shortly after (or add another).  If you used a good plugin, you’ll be able to change it with ease.

What questions do you have about creating a WordPress contact form? Leave a comment below and if you’re reading this far, please share this post with a tweet, like or +1… Thanks!

Want more WordPress training? Click here to check out our WordPress Videos.

Our featured affiliates:

Disclosure: Affiliates allow us the opportunity to earn income as a large majority of our content remains free.  If you purchase any products/services after clicking on one of the affiliate links or ads on this site, we will receive compensation.  Thank you for supporting WPTrainingVideos!

- Mercer

The Logo Should Be Relevant to Your Website

Your logo has to match the topic of your site. If you have a WordPress website for selling your product or service, then your logo should be have some kind of a connection with it. For example, a logo that incorporates a ship’s anchor is great if your blog is related to the sea, but it will not suit a tech blog. Similarly, you can use the picture of a car or wheel as a logo for an automobile blog. You know you’ve got a winner when you can show your logo to someone and they can guess what your site is about just by seeing the logo.

The Logo Should be Unique

Your WordPress website is unique… your logo should be as well. Let’s take the example of the anchor logo in the last paragraph. A lot of websites related to ships or mariners use the anchor for a logo, so your own logo should be completely different from all of them. Otherwise it’ll blend in with the crowd. You can add or remove some elements to the anchor to give it a distinct identity of its own. Maybe a unique color or style.

Using Text as a Logo

As you can see, I’m a fan of this. Personally I think developing a logo that IS your website name is a great idea and it makes it really easy for someone to remember you. You can always also add some graphic elements in later.

Overall, make sure your website logo is simple and easy on the eye. Make it too complicated or distracting and it’ll lose its power to convey any sort of message.

Want more WordPress training? Click here to check out our WordPress Training Videos.

Our featured affiliates:

Disclosure: Affiliates allow us the opportunity to earn income as a large majority of our content remains free.  If you purchase any products/services after clicking on one of the affiliate links or ads on this site, we will receive compensation.  Thank you for supporting WPTrainingVideos!

- Mercer

Here’s the good news… There is no shortage of ways to monetize a blog.

Here’s the bad news… It’s highly unlikely you’ll make any sort of quick money with a brand new blog.

That being said, if you’re committed to building for the long term, by providing great content, there are a few different ways you can make money with a blog.

Affiliate Marketing

You’ve probably heard about affiliate marketing, it’s one of the most popular methods of making money online. As an affiliate for a company, you’ll promote its products or services through your marketing efforts. With any luck, you’ll then get a percentage of the sales you make or sometimes a fixed amount per sale. Your success in affiliate marketing depends on the company that you choose to represent and your own marketing skills.

One application would be creating a “review” style WordPress site. Then filling it with quality reviews that are filled with your affiliate links. Here’s a theme built exclusively for creating a hosting company review site… it’ll give you a few ideas.

Using Plugins

As a WordPress blogger, you’ll want to be aware of plugins you can use to place ads on your blog. You can find ads on places like Commission Junction, Clickbank or even Amazon. Take a look the Smart Ads plugin or Ad Squares. Both allow you to add advertisements easily to your blog. When you start to build traffic you can even make money by charging for those ad spaces!

Pay-per-Click

Pay-per-click advertisements allow you to earn some money in the form of commissions each time a visitor clicks on the advertisement links. You can add advertisements in a sidebar text widget, banners, in-text links, pop-ups, full-page ads or pop-unders. The commission that you earn depends on the kind of system you use and the company’s guidelines. The success of your pay-per-click campaign depends on the ads you place on your blog and the kind of visitors your blog attracts. Services like Google Adwords can help you get started.

One Final Tip…

If you want to make money with a blog, get very good at building a community and giving them great offers. It doesn’t matter which method you choose to do that… they all come down to giving your visitors share-worthy content so they keep coming back (and bring their friends back with them!).

What methods have you found to make money with your WordPress blog?  Leave a comment below and would you please share this post?

(Want more WordPress Training Videos?  Click here to learn more…)

Our featured affiliates:

Disclosure: Affiliates allow us the opportunity to earn income as a large majority of our content remains free.  If you purchase any products/services after clicking on one of the affiliate links or ads on this site, we will receive compensation.  Thank you for supporting WPTrainingVideos!

- Mercer

BAM!

Writer’s block.

Unfortunately, there is no definitive guide to inspiration.  However, every writer will have a source.  If you can find your inspiration, you can definitely get a handle on your writer’s block and generate some great writing for your blog. Hopefully, the following steps will get you started…

How to Get Rid of Writer’s Block

• Use Google.  The best/worst part about the internet is that there is so MUCH OF IT!  :)  If you’re having challenges coming up with something to write, do a quick Google search on the main topic of your blog.  See what other sites are saying. You could even add the word “blog” to your search to help narrow the results (as in searching for “downtown Austin blog”).
• Look Around You.  Look for inspiration on other websites.  A quick gander at how others write on the same topic can give you a better idea of where and how to get started.  You may even find they give you that creative spark you’ve been searching for!
• Specialize.  Do you have specialized knowledge that you can share?  If not, it’s time to learn… then teach… by writing a series of blog posts!
• Branch Out.  If you’re writing on a narrow topic of interest, you are bound to run out of ideas at some point. The only way to sustain your inspiration is to open yourself to new topics.  Keep your focus though.  If you are writing about Rodeos for example, try writing about Rodeo equipment, or what to bring when you travel to a Rodeo.

No matter how you end up getting stuck.  You can handle writer’s block with ease as long as you keep these tips nearby! BTW…  If you need more help getting your WordPress blog off the ground, take a look at our WordPress Training Videos.  Have you faced writer’s block before?  What tips do you have?

I’ll be glad to answer any questions… (please leave them in the comments below)

If you liked this post about how to beat writer’s block, please share!  

Our featured affiliates:

Disclosure: Affiliates allow us the opportunity to earn income as a large majority of our content remains free.  If you purchase any products/services after clicking on one of the affiliate links or ads on this site, we will receive compensation.  Thank you for supporting this site!

- Mercer

Maybe it’s a great looking squeeze page to help you build a list.  Or, better yet, it’s a sales page to help increase those orders!

But wait… things just aren’t converting like you thought they would.

Could it be… that NO ONE can see your BUY button, Opt-In Form or other call to action?

Maybe people aren’t clicking on your ads, simply because they can’t see them.

In this short 5 minute video, I’ll show you a simple tool you can use to make sure at least 90%  (or more) of your visitors can see what you want them to see.

(It’s a great way to make sure your WordPress site is taking advantage of its “above-the-fold” real-estate!)

I’ll be glad to answer any questions… just leave them in the comments below!

If you liked this post about how to use the Google Browsersize Tool, please share!  

Our featured affiliates:

Disclosure: Affiliates allow us the opportunity to earn income as a large majority of our content remains free.  If you purchase any products/services after clicking on one of the affiliate links above, we will receive compensation. Thank you for supporting this site!

- Mercer

It can also be a nightmare.  :)

What it becomes, depends on how you upgrade.

Major upgrades (version that go 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, etc.) are something to be taken seriously.  They are the ones that might conflict with your plugins and/or your theme.  Sometimes these conflicts are minor and sometimes these can cause serious issues (like not being able to login to your WordPress admin panel).

In this WordPress training video, I’d going to show you how I upgraded WPTrainingVideos.com.

Here are some quick, basic tips you can take from the video…

1.  You don’t have to upgrade the second a major upgrade becomes available.  It’s OK to wait a week or two (or three!).

2.  If a minor upgrade pops up (3.3.1, 3.3.2, etc.) you should be fine to upgrade quickly.  These are minor security patches.

3.  If there is a problem with your upgrade, it’s normally your theme or your plugins.

• Is it your theme? Contact the developer or use Google to search and see if others are having issues.  You can even install a new test version of WordPress, activate the theme (no plugins) and see if it looks good.
• Is it your plugins?  Deactivate all your plugins, then reactivate one by one… checking to make sure the site is working before activating the next.

(Watch How to Safely Upgrade WordPress on YouTube)

I’m also curious to hear what your thought about the new video style.  Is it better than the standard slides/screencast style?

As always, I’ll be glad to try to answer any questions… just leave them in the comments below!

If you liked this post about upgrading your WordPress site to 3.3, please share!  

Our featured affiliates:

Disclosure: Affiliates allow us the opportunity to earn income as a large majority of our content remains free.  If you purchase any products/services after clicking on one of the affiliate links above, we will receive compensation. Thank you for supporting this site!

- Mercer

WordPress released v3.3… the “Sonny” update.

You can read more about it here…

http://wordpress.org/news/2011/12/sonny/

I’ve installed it on some of my test sites and will have a video out shortly.  It looks great!

One note of caution…

This goes for ANY major update (which WordPress 3.3 is).

DON’T IMMEDIATELY INSTALL this update if you are using any 3rd party (premium)
themes or are using premium plugins.

WordPress does their best to test all aspects before they release the final version, but it’s still not going to work perfectly with all things WordPress.

As you read this, someone is panicking because their theme stopped working, or their plug-in isn’t functioning… they are putting in helpdesk/support requests and the developers are working overtime to fix any issues.

If you are running anything other than the basic WordPress site… give it a week or so before you update.  Then check with your theme developer and plug-in developer to verify that all is well.  If they’ve fixed anything, they’ll have an update available.  Install their updates, then install the WordPress update and you *should* be good to go!

That being said… BACKUP your WordPress site before you update… just in case!

Not sure how to backup your site?  There’s a video for that.  Get your free WordPress training videos here!

I’ll be glad to try to answer any questions… just leave them in the comments below!

If you liked this post about the WordPress 3.3 update, please share!  

Our featured affiliates:

Disclosure: Affiliates allow us the opportunity to earn income as a large majority of our content remains free.  If you purchase any products/services after clicking on one of the affiliate links above, we will receive compensation. Thank you for supporting this site!

- Mercer