Website overhaul, all advice appreciated

Get some feedback on your site or ad from other rental owners and techies. Also a library of online resources so you can make DIY improvements to your web presence.
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Windy
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Post by Windy »

All looking a bit "me no worky" today :cry:
Ellery
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Post by Ellery »

It's a disaster on Safari right now, but fine on Firefox.

All right, it's time I wrap my head around Wordpress or something similar. Off to work!
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DrRichard
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Post by DrRichard »

Wordpress works well. You'll find it works out of the box for Firefox, Safari and IE, so that's one headache solved.

If you're using the ".org" version, you will need to wrestle with setting up a MySQL database, editing some PHP files and uploading to your server via FTP. It's all pretty straightforward though so don't be scared! There are a lot of people here who've done it.
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Mountain Goat
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Post by Mountain Goat »

Or use a Fantastico one-click (sort of) install from any decent WebHost outfit.

MG
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DrRichard
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Post by DrRichard »

Do you find these work OK MG?
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Mountain Goat
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Post by Mountain Goat »

Yes, they've worked fine for us so far - about 20 I guess. I know the professionals aren't keen, but I've never found out why. One downside is that the Fantastico version may not generate the latest WP version available, and you might have to nag the provider.

Doesn't the latest WP version now have an inbuilt update thing?

MG
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Gite Guru
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wp + fantastico

Post by Gite Guru »

Fantastico does tend to install an older version of wp, but it does all the dbase configuration for you. once that's done, head of to wordpress.org, download the latest version, and upload it over the top of the original install.

the only file you need to maintain in the old version is the wp-config.php file, and that file doesn't exist in the update you download.

wp 2.7 is in public beta and does have the auto-upgrade but until fantastico starts using this (quite a way off i'd imagine) it's useless for this purpose.

My advice if you're novice and don't know your way around ftp is to stick with the hosted version at .com. they have loads of themes, loads of pre-installed plugins, and so long as you're not choosy about using domain forwarding it's adequate for the job.

If you need a hand with the install on a server, drop me a line and I'll help you with it for free.

kr,

Dave
Ellery
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Post by Ellery »

Thank you all so much!!! My head was spinning for a bit, but I'm catching on.

My inclination is to start from scratch, so that I spend more time learning the ins and outs of wordpress, than going mad trying to transfer my old (somewhat rinky dink) site.

From what I understand so far, I need to decided whether to download the .org or .com version of WP. Could anyone simplify the benefits and differences between the two? Or provide a link that helps? I am a novice about FTP, but am decent at Illustrator and have usually caught onto other computer programs pretty easily... (I know FTP is not a program).

One thing I am interested to understand more about is Hosting, I like what Gite Guru said because it would be simpler to have WP host the site, but maybe that's a common reaction by all newbies.
My advice if you're novice and don't know your way around ftp is to stick with the hosted version at .com. they have loads of themes, loads of pre-installed plugins, and so long as you're not choosy about using domain forwarding it's adequate for the job.
Can you expand on the choosy part of domain forwarding?

Should this topic be transferred to the Workshop? Don't mind either way.
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Windy
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Post by Windy »

I installed WP vie Fantastico over the weekend - Took less than 2 minutes including importing my existing blog from Blogspot.

Sorting out a matching colour theme will take a bit longer but it was really amazingly and gratifyingly easy!
Ellery
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Post by Ellery »

Now I'm looking at Kompozer, the freeware site builder that has good reviews in comparison to DreamWeaver. For some reason it's easier for me to understand html and css code, than rss feeds, and blogging protocol. Could I build my site on Kompozer and then integrate with wordpress. Wait, is that exactly what you've been talking about MG and Windy? :o
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Windy
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Post by Windy »

Could I build my site on Kompozer and then integrate with wordpress. Wait, is that exactly what you've been talking about MG and Windy?
.

Not me - I was just commenting on how easy it is to install Wordpress. To be honest it seems to me (unless I'm missing something )that it would be as quick to hand code HTML / CSS as to amend someone else's WP theme for a web site.

As far as I can see the main benefit of WP would be if you have multiple contributors as the content is stored in a DB rather than in HTML pages.

But if it's just you then I can't really see what it buys you. Someone will be along in a moment to tell me that I've totally missed the point of course :wink:

It's great for a blog mind you :D
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DrRichard
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Post by DrRichard »

Wordpress let's you build a blog, yes. It also lets you build static pages just like 'normal' websites, so it becomes like a content management system.

Advantages over hand coding html/css?

- It generates all of your tag, category and navigation code automatically for you.

- It does RSS feeds

- It's open and supported by a great community

- It's easier to make global changes to your site (OK, so you might have written yours with PHP and include files)

- There are a ton of plugins and themes available which you can add/remove as you want.

So - yes, I like it!
Ellery
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Post by Ellery »

As I said Windy, All advice appreciated!

Maybe I'm just not following you. When you talk about installing WP, are you referring to the difficulty of installing it onto your hard drive or of transferring your information (such as previously designed pages) onto WP. If the first is true, how does Fantastico come into the picture?

My "stoningtonboroughvacation" website is still debunked, but can be viewed at

http://web.me.com/annabellmclanahan/32_ ... Home_.html

Dr. Richard:
Advantages over hand coding html/css?

- It generates all of your tag, category and navigation code automatically for you.

- It does RSS feeds

- It's open and supported by a great community

- It's easier to make global changes to your site (OK, so you might have written yours with PHP and include files)

- There are a ton of plugins and themes available which you can add/remove as you want.
It sounds so good! I would love to integrate a beautiful site about my place with a blog that's promotes local tourism. From what I gather, your point of view has a lot in common with Garri's, who got me interested in WP in the first place. However, I'm still trying to understand whether or not you are suggesting that I create my site solely on WP or if I should transfer existing pages from iweb. In which case, I think I'd like to create a new site, on compozer or dreamweaver, that is more compatible with internet protocol.

Thank you all, I have finally begun to grasp so many concepts about this process, as if I switched the light on ages ago, but just now discovered that the dimmer was on low.
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Windy
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Post by Windy »

When you talk about installing WP, are you referring to the difficulty of installing it onto your hard drive or of transferring your information (such as previously designed pages) onto WP. If the first is true, how does Fantastico come into the picture?
I was really saying how EASY it was to install via Fantastico. Fantastico is a commercial script library that automates the installation of web applications to a website and is available with most web hosting packages. Basically you go to Cpanel or whatever equivalent your host provides to manage your sites and click on Fantastico. Then you click on Wordpress and choose a destination directory, username and password and that's about it.

I was able to transfer my entire existing blog to Wordpress just by clicking on a button in the Manage / Import Screen. I t was very easy and trouble free.
My "stoningtonboroughvacation" website is still debunked, but can be viewed at

http://web.me.com/annabellmclanahan/32_ ... Home_.html
That front page is looking great and you have a beautiful place. I'm not sure about the green on the other pages though.

Best wishes

John
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Gite Guru
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additional benefits of wordpress

Post by Gite Guru »

- set up for basic seo out of the box (page titles, URL structure, headers (depending on template chosen))

- pings search engines to let them know that you've updated (a post I wrote on my blog a couple of days ago was in position 3 of a specific search term i was targeting just 10 minutes after i clicked on the 'publish' button)

- a variety of plugins which can vastly improve your SEO

When i talk about 'choosy' in terms of your domain forwarding, if you use the wordpress.com option, your 'free' domain name will look something like http://giteguru.wordpress.com. You can then set up your usual domain (ie www.giteguru.com ) to forward to that URL, so anyone who types it in will be redirected to http://giteguru.wordpress.com. So if you don't mind your guests seeing the wordpress URL structure once they start navigating your website, then the free hosted version may be a good option.

The main downside to the free version (and this is how wordpress make their money) is that if you want to use any designs or plugins which aren't pre-installed, you have to pay a fee to add them in. In the end, it could prove more cost effective to get yourself some decent webspace and host it yourself.

Finally a quick note on 'blogging': as has been mentioned before in this discussion, wordpress is a CMS, not just a blogging platform so you can publish pages as well as posts. The main use for a rentals owner in blogging is to publish news, and things to do in the local area etc. By doing so, you can create articles on a regular basis with search engine optimisation in mind, pushing you up the rankings. There's 4 things that Google loves:

1. text
2. inbound links
3. recency
4. frequency

By publishing a news section regularly on your blog, you're likely to fulfill all 4 criteria.

hth,

Dave
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