I'm about to get rid of my Wordpress Blog

[Jayson L]

I started my lates site using wordpress because it is supposed to be simpler to work with and haven't found that to be true. I am about to change back to Yahoo SiteBuilder. Is this a bad idea, or doesn't it make much difference? I try to do simple things like adding a quotebox to my site and can't figure it out. It seems like every change to the design takes so much effort to make.

I look forward to everyones feedback!

Thanks,

Jayson L

[winebuddy]

While there is a learning curve, WP has plugins for just about everything you want to do and the best thing about WP is that it is EXTREMELY easy to get the sites SEO optimized and get to page 1 of Google faster.

I would stick with WP and get a guide on how to use it.

I have about 14 WP blogs as my main money sites.

[Jayson L]

The main problem I have is that I like to test different Quote boxes and they require a link within the banner. I haven't learned the basic html to make the link clickable. I also can't figure out for the life of me how to put the image into my hostgator cpanel and then put it on my wordpress blog.

[TruWebPro]

If you upload an image file through cPanel's file manager to the images folder on your site (usually there is a subfolder titled "images" in your public root folder; i.e., public_html/images/) then an html link to that image file (which you can post in WordPress) would look like this:

<img src="http://www.mydomain.com/images/imagefile.jpg">

Html to make that image a "clickable" link would then look like this:

<a href="http://www.mydestinationdomain.com/landingpage.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.mydomain.com/images/imagefile.jpg"></a>

The target="_blank" part is to make a new tab or window open when they click on the link; if you don't want that, you can leave that out.

Don't give up...WordPress is worth the effort.

Cheers,
Neil

[Jayson L]

How do you take a banner and make a specific part of it clickable though?

[TruWebPro]

Originally Posted by Jayson L

How do you take a banner and make a specific part of it clickable though?

That's more involved, using some code to specify the x,y coordinates defining the area you want to be a link. Are you sure you want to get into that?

I would at least try to make the whole image a link first, and make sure you get that right, before adding that element. But if you want to have a go, it's called an image map, and there's a pretty good example of it <here>.

Best of luck either way,
Neil

[Jayson L]

I'm also wondering if the theme I'm using isn't any good. It seems like every time I turn around the font is changing on my site and it doesn't match. The font is also hard to read too.

Could I get someone to design a custom theme with a custom header, quote box and everything for $100 or so, or does it cost way more then that?

I had someone design the last theme and haven't had much luck with it. I seem to be spending all kinds of money with no success

[rcjcal09]

Personally, Wordpress is an absolute must for me. It is a lot more customizable and powerful that Yahoo Site Builder. In my opinion, it is also the best SEO capable system on the web.

[captivereef]

do a search for the flexibility theme, great theme for beginners and they have an awesome tutorial on how to use it

[TruWebPro]

Originally Posted by Jayson L

I'm also wondering if the theme I'm using isn't any good. It seems like every time I turn around the font is changing on my site and it doesn't match. The font is also hard to read too.

Could I get someone to design a custom theme with a custom header, quote box and everything for $100 or so, or does it cost way more then that?

I had someone design the last theme and haven't had much luck with it. I seem to be spending all kinds of money with no success

Not more, that's about right..or even less, depending on what you need. It also happens to be the business I'm in, since you brought it up. Take a look at the link in my sig to see some samples of my work, and if you want to work something out, send me a PM and I'll be happy to give you a quote.

Cheers,
Neil

[mkayius]

I don`t know if it`s simplier to use than Yahoo SiteBuilder. I never used Yahoo SiteBuilder. But I do know that WB seems to me very easy to use. And nowadays you can find tutorials for it almost instantly if you know where to look.

[Jayson L]

O.K I'm trying to learn this and stick with it for now. Luckily I have another site that I haven't done anything with and can experiement with. Here's my question: How can I change the banner in this site to my own banner? This would be a huge start for me!!

Thanks again for the help!

Oh, heres the site: www.mymichiganinsurance.com

[johnknow]

WP is the way to go and you need to get friendly with the addons and widgets. These are two very very powerful customizing tools for WP.

I can put up a decent, 6 page, standard html site in about 2 hours. Slap up a little java script, a couple of gif's, some bright border work and wa la; attractive, eye catching and useful. and it will take a week to get it indexed.

I can put up the same WP site in half an hour, addons included, use the widgets to put on banners or LINKABLE text in a banner, easy peasy, turn my 6 page html into 6 posts over 72 hours and BAMM; google loves me.

[Jayson L]

Any advice on changing the banner up with my own in this theme? This is the site. www.mymichiganinsurance.com

[kajanova]

You should stick with wordpress. I recently switched to wordpress with hosting and it was difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it, it is great. Once you go wordpress, you don't go back. You just need to get the hang of it, try searching for some tutorials. There are lots of them out there that can help you.

[Ken Snowdon]

Don't dump your Word Press, it's the best and most amazing and easiest system to work with for blogging, they walk you through it all, give it some time and patience will reward you, also a fast capture to first page on Google, they love it to. My pardner and I link between our blogs on two sites and we would not do without Word Press

[Steve Powers]

Well,wp is pretty good and can be competent for your business.Maybe you're not familiar enough with it.So you'd better spend more time on it and then you will find it's really valuable and helpful.There are also various plugins for you to install to your website.Make full use of them.

[JackPowers]

Originally Posted by Jayson L

Any advice on changing the banner up with my own in this theme? This is the site. www.mymichiganinsurance.com

Hi,

You have to edit the header.php file and maybe the stylesheet.css.

The stylesheet has a property (dont know if thats the correct word), called 'header' something. It has settings for how big the header is etc.

The header.php file contains the actual code for the header, so you can add an img and make the header clickable with a href.

It's usually very easy.

[PRsubmits]

When I first began using WP a few years ago it seemed very complicated- now I can't understand why I ever thought that!

Stick with it gets my vote- there is a bit of a learning curve but it is absolutely worth it.

[Fred_Acker]

Hi Jayson,

Once you get the hang of wp you'll have a tough time going to anything else. As mentioned, there are numerous plugins that can make your life as a blogger easy.

As far as themes go, you can go to:

WordPress › Free WordPress Themes

which is the main site for wp. Or you can simply do a search for "Free wp Themes" (or any type of wp theme) and you'll find an abundance of them.

Or you can try one of the theme generators such as artisteer.com

But.... And this is a big one...

The more time you spend finding, creating or building a theme the less time you'll spend getting the necessary content up on your site.

As for yh site builder, I used it many many moons ago, before I learned the good stuff, and I didn't like it then and chances are I wouldn't recommend it now.

Yh was charging a premium back then for hosting and I assume they still are. You can get much cheaper/better hosting if you look around some.

If you need some help or some ideas pm and I'll send you a list of some of my latest wp creations. I sometimes get a little carried away with the design part (that's how I know about not getting the content up) but that's the part I enjoy the most.

good luck with it,

Fred

[valerieSONORA]

I'd never use yahoo sitebuilder over wordpress. But I'd never use anything yahoo anyway. I used the yahoo sitebuilder maybe back in 2003 and think wordpress is much better.

Look at how everyone who offered feedback said stick with wordpress and not a single person recommended yahoo sitebuilder. That tells yous something right there.

If you need help with wordpress, you can find help. It's also really simple to use. And you're not stuck with yahoo. Not to mention you have to have a domain registered thru yahoo and they charging over $30 for renewal fees.

[CDarklock]

Originally Posted by valerieSONORA

Look at how everyone who offered feedback said stick with wordpress and not a single person recommended yahoo sitebuilder. That tells yous something right there.

Yeah - it's a conspiracy! Everyone else is really using Yahoo Sitebuilder, but they want me to waste all my time on WordPress so they can get all the money without having to compete with me! They're jealous of my wonderful ideas, and running scared at the idea that I might enter the market! They want to handicap me so I can't make any money! They're all stupid! They're stupid jerks! I'll show them!

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by Jayson L

Any advice on changing the banner up with my own in this theme? This is the site. www.mymichiganinsurance.com

Jayson, I took a look at the source code for the home page. Somewhere, either in the theme itself or a plugin, there's an image map generator. You'll have to either modify that, or find its spot in the theme and replace it with your own clickable banner.

If you can't figure it out yourself, getting a competent WP mechanic to figure it out for you should be cheaper than buying a whole new custom theme...

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by Jayson L

How do you take a banner and make a specific part of it clickable though?

You do that with what is called an image map. Pretty complicated for someone who doesn't know the basics of Wordpress or about how to ftp/upload images to your server. It would be worth your time to learn Wordpress ... it's not real complicated, but you do have to learn a bit. You should also learn about uploading to your server. It's a must for just about anything you want to do online.

Wordpress is very easy to get indexed and to get ranked. Well worth the effort.

[Frodr]

Honestly.. i like the fact that wordpress offers a plugin for just about every task.

But to set up a wordpress blog to look and act exactly as you would like can be a bit difficult at times.

I would recommend you hired your self a wordpress guru. There are so many out there, but if you have the time to learn wordpress then just do it. lol

It can prove to be a time saver once you know your way around it. Its not that hard, just spend a couple hours browsing some tutorials and you should be alright.

-Felix

[Debbie Songster]

Originally Posted by CDarklock

Yeah - it's a conspiracy! Everyone else is really using Yahoo Sitebuilder, but they want me to waste all my time on WordPress so they can get all the money without having to compete with me! They're jealous of my wonderful ideas, and running scared at the idea that I might enter the market! They want to handicap me so I can't make any money! They're all stupid! They're stupid jerks! I'll show them!

I've read some of your posts - you must smoke some really good Sh!#

[Jayson L]

Good morning everyone! I appreciate the feedback and am sure now that you are all using Yahoo. This is definitely a conspiracy Anyway, I stayed up for hours last night and am feeling like I have a small understanding of wordpress now. I mean small too! Here is the site I have been using to learn. My Michigan Insurance I have to create a banner with a get quotes now button next, but I think I'm getting somewhere! The banner up there now is an old one I had kicking around and it doesn't fit when I changed the size. Once I create the banner, I'm thinking I can probably call hostgator and get someone in customer service to help me upload the image for the first time. I still need to figure out how to make the button clickable. The good news is I'm moving forward!

Thanks again to everyone

Jayson

[d101]

Originally Posted by rcjcal09

... In my opinion, it is also the best SEO capable system on the web.

well, no.

:-)

[ScottTMc]

I understand, i have a few wordpress sites and they are hard to make into what you want, it took me a day to get a theme i liked and change it to what it needed to to be. A whole day!!

But plugins are key, there is litrally one for anything, just google it.

[Jayson L]

I think I'm getting somewhere though. Are there any tutorials out there to learn how to make the banner clickable, then convert to simple html?

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by Jayson L

I still need to figure out how to make the button clickable. The good news is I'm moving forward!

Thanks again to everyone

Jayson

Jayson, here's a sneaky way to make just the button clickable, if that's what you really want to do.

Don't mess with trying to generate an image map.

1. Create a 3x3 table the size of your banner.

2. Make the center row the height of your button. Make the top row height the distance you want the top of the button from the top of the banner.

3. Make the center column the width of your button. Make the left column the distance you want the left edge of your button from the left edge of your banner.

4. Make a copy of your banner, minus the button.

5. Make the altered image the background for the table.

6. Insert the button image as a clickable image in the center cell.

What you end up with is an html construct that looks like a banner with a clickable button. It's really two images, one on top of the other. Then all you have to worry about is putting the table where you want it.

[Jayson L]

I am keeping wordpress! You guys inspired and helped me. The site looks awesome compared to what it did!! I have some changes to the interior pages with font and I also have to figure out how to rearange the sidebar options such as recent comments (which I want to remove) and then move the catagories section towards the top, but I'm extremely happy with the changes. Anyone that wants to see can visit Michigan Auto Insurance-Cheap Michigan Car Insurance

Once again, I couldn't have done it without the inspiration and help!

Thanks,

Jayson

[Christian Sawyer]

Your site looks very good now...I would try reordering some of your menu items.

Also, placing an image within your header is a very easy fix, contact me if you need help.

-Christian

[Ben202]

This thread is all I needed to read about wordpress. I've thought about trying to learn html, or finding someone to build me a website. After looking at your final results Jayson I am truly inspired. The website you finally created is awesome.

Got to run now and find me a WP tutorial.