Wordpress Help Please- I'm gonna SCREAM!

[servantcoach]

Where is the best place to get help with wordpress? I have been trying to get a wordpress site up but as usual technology is kicking my @ss!

I can get wordpress installed and running but don't know about how to do many things like...

What plugins and widgets and all that good stuff are needed to be up and running to help with SEO and feeds and all those things?

How do you get ads to show in the sidebar?

How do you get a popup to work?

How do you get your autoresponder optin on the page?

These are only a few of the things I am running into. I bought Semiologic thinking that would make things much easier and provide everything needed along with education and training but couldn't get it installed after trying three times. Their site seems to be sorely lacking on the education and training end. I'm asking for a refund there.

Sherman's Wordpress tutorials site has been down for days and I can't try that right now to see if that will help me.

I finally decided to post here to see what people here recommend as a resource to learn wordpress and get the answers.

Thanks for your help!

[nicholasb]

search for "jjpmarketing" on the warrior forum

I was having trouble to and he cleared everything right up.

[MentorTodd]

Hello,
I feel your pain. When I first started my blog I was running into so many questions about widgets, seo templates......etc! I can say that I finally 'bit the bullet' and ordered a paid ebook about setting up wordpress and di things get soooo much easier. I dont want to sound like an ad...so if your interested I could give the link, if you want to email me....

Another pretty good tip is that YouTube has some good tutorials about wordpress. I really like videos because you can watch the video and pause....go and complete a step then continue watching the video....so try there first.

Todd

[JustDean]

Man if word press isrough I just had it out with HTML and I lost big style

[winebuddy]

There is a learning curve but once you learn the ins and outs, you can but a big site up in just a day.

Keep at it and don't scream too much - you'll get hoarse and annoy the neighbors.

[Mary Gallivan]

Hi

What I do is a google search for whatever it is I need to do. For instance 'adding a plugin to wordpress tutorial' adding an image to wordpress tutorial etc. etc.

You'll normally get a good selection of text or video tutorials to choose what method of learning suits you best.

Mary

[VegasGreg]

Once you learn the ins and outs of Wordpress, it is a pretty simple (yet powerful) software to use. It does have a slight learning curve though.

As mentioned above, I would search Google and/or YouTube for WP videos. That way you can see it as you learn it and there are a ton of free videos out there.

To answer a few of your questions:
Q)How do you get ads to show in the sidebar?
A)The easiest way is to place a 'Text' widget in the sidebar and copy/paste your ad code into the 'text' widget.

Q)How do you get a popup to work?
A)I don't use pop-ups, but you would take your pop-up code and place it in the 'header.php' file of your theme. (Accessible from the WP Admin Panel->Design->Theme Editor.)

Q)How do you get your autoresponder optin on the page?
A)This depends a little on where you want to place the form. If in the sidebar, you can place the form/code in a 'text' widget as mentioned above.

As far as plugins, there are millions of them and it depends on what exactly you want to accomplish from your site. "All in one SEO" is one of the most popular plugins that should always be used.

Widgets simply allow you to change whats in your sidebar and their positions. You may want to show your 'pages', 'categories','ads in a 'text' widget, 'recent posts' to get started.

i hope that helps a little.

[servantcoach]

Thanks Greg, I knew many of the things would be very simple like how to put banners in the sidebar. After you explained it I'm thinking, "How stupid could I be. How could I not have figured that out." But if you don't know you don't know.

That's what frustrates me so much about the education and training that most people offer. They forget about what it was like when they were learning and gloss over or omit things that leave people frustrated and looking for answers elsewhere. Sometimes I think that it's done this way by some of the gurus to keep people from learning everything and actually getting something accomplished. That way they can keep you coming back for more.

By the way, Greg, I am wondering how to thank you in a post. I noticed that in the info under people's name but don't know how to do that.

[4morereferrals]

Originally Posted by servantcoach

Thanks Greg, I knew many of the things would be very simple like how to put banners in the sidebar. After you explained it I'm thinking, "How stupid could I be. How could I not have figured that out." But if you don't know you don't know.

That's what frustrates me so much about the education and training that most people offer. They forget about what it was like when they were learning and gloss over or omit things that leave people frustrated and looking for answers elsewhere. Sometimes I think that it's done this way by some of the gurus to keep people from learning everything and actually getting something accomplished. That way they can keep you coming back for more.

I feel your pain brother!

Many plugin and widget developers are giving away their code free so they're like - "read and learn yourself - I dont have time to detail too much on how to use my software ..."

BUT, if they were smart - like a couple plugin widget developers I downloaded from - they'd grab an email address, make some oto's, check in and see if there were any glitches, point people to a tutorial video, and .... sell them some related widgets etc... or design and install services.

WordPress › Blog Tool and Publishing Platform .... select the "extend" option - use the search feature. Thats how Ive discovered the majority of plugins and widget I needed.

www.michelfortin.com has a great post on the 71 plugins and widgets his killer blog utilizes - its a great guide ...

good luck

[Nathan Hangen]

I love Wordpress, but there is a bit of a learning curve. Once you get it down though, you can accomplish amazing things in an instant.

[servantcoach]

About autoresponder form code in wordpress- Do you put the javascript or html code in the text box or does it make a difference?

[sylviad]

Try here:
Main Page WordPress Codex

It gives you a ton of advice and instructions on setting up and working with WordPress.
Tutorials, FAQ, Advanced Techniques, Posting Tips and so much more. It probably has everything you need, including info about Plugins.

Sylvia

[Rosie Cottis]

I think the Wordpress Unleashed videos are the best. They have been selling with MRR for a few months now so you should be able to find them for cheap. I found them at around $7 with not too much searching.

They relate to Wordpress 2.6 rather than 2.7 but it mainly just means some options are down the left instead of along the top in the admin screen.

Don't be afraid to experiment (but take backups before you do!)

Rosie

[forous]

Can you state the exact problem that you are facing?

Then we will know how to help.

But for starters, if you need any information or videos or tutorials on how to setup wordpress, pm me and I will send you some information.

[VegasGreg]

Originally Posted by servantcoach

Thanks Greg, I knew many of the things would be very simple like how to put banners in the sidebar. After you explained it I'm thinking, "How stupid could I be. How could I not have figured that out." But if you don't know you don't know.

That's what frustrates me so much about the education and training that most people offer. They forget about what it was like when they were learning and gloss over or omit things that leave people frustrated and looking for answers elsewhere. Sometimes I think that it's done this way by some of the gurus to keep people from learning everything and actually getting something accomplished. That way they can keep you coming back for more.

By the way, Greg, I am wondering how to thank you in a post. I noticed that in the info under people's name but don't know how to do that.

I always try to explain things from a starters point of view. When getting started if you don't know what certain terms mean or where certain buttons are it is hard to do something.

I still have a hard time explaining a lot of things with WP, but it does get easier.

On the "thanks' thing under each post there is a "thanks" button people can click on. Bottom Right.

Originally Posted by servantcoach

About autoresponder form code in wordpress- Do you put the javascript or html code in the text box or does it make a difference?

Javascript is easier, however there are some web surfers who have Jave disabled and if the stop at your site there is nothing there for them to see. I now only use the HTML version of ads and opt-in forms whenever possible.

Though the percentage of users with Java disabled is probably small, every opportunity counts!