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Markus Urban

Blog Design – Where to Get the Best WordPress Themes

December 16, 2009

Now that you have your Wordpress blog installed and setup, you want to make your website look good and stand out. In Wordpress that’s done by downloading and installing themes (they’re basically skins or designs for your blog). What you will want to do is download or buy a theme, pop in a new logo, customize some parts of it to make it your own, and install some plugins. Let’s tackle themes first.

Installing WordPress and Setting Permalinks

December 15, 2009

Once you have your hosting covered, go ahead and install Wordpress – it’s the best blogging system out there and every single professional I know uses it. If you are on Dreamhost, Nick does a great job showing you the process of installing it (video #2) via Dreamhost’s One-Click Installation Panel. If you are on VPS.net, ask their customer support to do it for you. If you are hosted elsewhere, just follow the instructions on the Wordpress site.

Hosting Your Blog – I Recommend Dreamhost or VPS.net

December 15, 2009

There are hundreds if not thousands of places where you can host your website out there. Over the past 8 years we’ve gone through tons of hosts and some are a lot worse than others. For most people, shared hosting is the way to go, especially when you’re just starting out. It’s cheap (about $7/mo.) and it does the job.

Your Options for Grabbing a Good Domain Name

December 15, 2009

Picking out (or buying) a good domain name for your website can take a lot of time & creativity (or money). There are 3 basic ways to get a good domain name. Alternatively you can buy a an existing website at a place like Sitepoint, but I would avoid this option unless you really know what you’re doing and are an expert at valuing sites.

What to Blog About – Pick Something Remarkable

December 14, 2009

Life is too short to be filling your world, or anyone else’s with mediocrity. What to blog about? If you’re going to start a blog, realize that it will take dedication. In order to have dedication you have to be writing about something that you really love.

One Week Challange: Start a Blog in One Week

December 14, 2009

Follow me as I Start a Blog – and Take it from Zero to Awesome and Build a Profitable Kickass site from it – in 7 days (with very little money). This week I am taking everything I know and have learned over the past 8 years about web design, development, promotion, social media, and marrying it with a passion of mine – photography – to start a website from scratch with the ambitious goal of going from zero to 100,000 visitors.