Hi everyone, welcome to BuildMySiteForFree.com. In today’s tutorial, I’m just going to show you quickly how to get started with WordPress ‘cause it’s actually a very simple process. And for those of you who don’t know, WordPress is an open source blog tool and publishing platform that allows you to create and run your blog or website. And it’s one of the most popular softwares out there, so here as you can see we are on our Dashboard and once you have created your WordPress blog or website this is where you’re going to be controlling everything on your blog, and navigating to everything on your blog. You also will learn how to create posts, have media in your library such as images, videos, and music. You’ll also learn how to create pages, manage your comments and just to give your blog the overall look and appearance that you’d like. There’s also several plugins and widgets that you can install on your blog to utilize different aspect on your blog.

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And  there are three ways that you can get WordPress. You can come to WordPress.org and you will click download and all the instructions will be there of how to set it up. You can also come to your host site where that you use WordPress and set it up from there, or you can come to buildmysiteforfree.com which actually sets the site up for you for free. So all you’d have to do is sign up and they set it up for free for you.

You have a video right here that you can actually watch by this website that will tell you all about the free website builder. You can also come over here to where it says services and scroll down to where it says ‘Free WordPress Blog Setup’ and it will bring it to a page that not only tells you what you get with your free blog set up but also what you need to get your website or blog set up for free.

And it shows you how to get started. It gives you a very thorough detailed instructions. You can even come to customer service and ask uestions about this before you start. Not only does buildmysiteforfree set up your site for you, but they also offer free themes and plugins to put on your blog which become very useful not only to monetize your blog but to create your blog in different ways from others.

This is how you start your blog or website with WordPress. Stay tuned for more videos.

Here are 15 simple ways to get more traffic to your WordPress blog, starting today!

1. Use Social Media: Facebook and Twitter both experienced triple digit growth in 2009, so it’s vital to tap into their trillions of visitors and use them to promote your blog.  Search engines also rank pages according to how many external links you have.  Plug-ins such as ShareThis and Sociable invite your visitors to submit your posts on their social sites.  Plus you can use a feed, such as Twitter feed, which puts your latest posts as RSS feeds on your Twitter account and updates your blog with any Tweets. You can download all of these plug-ins for free on our resources and plug ins page.
2. Promote on forums: another way to increase your external links and therefore your search engine ranking is to promote your blog on forums.  Sites such as Bloggeries and Digitalpoint can be really effective.  Do inspire potential visitors with a bit of your content, rather than blatant advertising.
3. Promote through prizes: get friends to promote the competition on their social networking sites, as well as using other forums, blogs and even local press to increase awareness.  This is a great way to increase a loyal readership that comes back regularly. 
4. Local promotion: can you get some free publicity by running a competition in your local newspaper or radio station?  You could also give away freebies at a gig or hand out flyers at your local college.
5. Freebies:  if you’re selling a product, send some free samples to journalists, national magazines, local press, review websites and any other relevant organization that might give you a free plug.
6. Comment on other blogs: commenting on other relevant blogs not only allows you to check out the competition and what they’re writing.  You can also become one of their top commentators, which can increase exposure for your own blog.
7. Track what works and what doesn’t: if you know which posts are most popular and what your subscribers tend to like, you’re more likely to increase their loyalty and encourage them to bring more readers with them.  Using a plug-in such as Google Analytics or StatPress, which can tell you everything you need to know about your visitors.
8. Search Engine Optimization: it’s important to write with search engines in mind, which means paying attention to relevant keywords.  WordPress have a free All in One SEO plug-in which is so simple to use and does the job for you.
9. Add Multimedia: by adding images and video clips you can drive traffic to your site through multimedia search engines.  You can also optimize your search engine ranking by adding relevant keywords to your images and clips.
10. Create a Sitemap: using the Google XML Sitemap plug-in is so easy.  Each time you edit or create new content, the sitemap will be updated and all major search engines notified.
11. Create good content: take care of your loyal readership and give them content they’ll enjoy.  It’s important you take care of your consistent readers, who are likely to spread the word about your blog and encourage other readers to join.  Keep it fresh and update your blog three to five times per week to keep your visitors coming back for more.
12. Make use of RSS feeds: RSS feeds allow you to keep your subscribers informed of new content on your site, as well as increasing traffic.  They are one of the most effective ways of publicizing your site and improving your search engine ranking.  The basic WordPress package from any free website builder involves RSS feeds, which you can then customize to maximize your traffic.
13. Make friends with your visitors: people who enter your site will come from a variety of different routes and each with a huge network of their own friends.  Using the Referrer Detector plug-in increases interactivity with your visitors from different routes, and allows you to customize your greeting.  For example, you can remind Diggers to dig your story, or ask Tweeters to Tweet to your post.
14. Improve your article descriptions: description meta tags should contain your keywords, which can increase your search engine ranking.  Also make your meta tag description enticing, as this is what readers will see on the search results page and will make the difference as to whether they click on your site or not.
15. Keep subscribers coming back: by using the Subscribe to Comments plug-in you can inform a user by email when someone has replied to their comment.  This increases traffic because they’re likely to keep coming back every time the conversation continues.

1. Twitter Blog:  this plug in is great for increasing your external links, which is vital for search engine ranking.  What it does is tweet your blog post, then check for any replies to your tweet and put them in the comments box under your post.
2. WordPress Thread Comment: a great plug in for creating a dialogue of comments, which motivates people to join in the conversation and keep coming back for more.
3. Top Commentators:  this is actually a widget for your sidebar which motivates people to comment more and more, as they fight for the top spot of Top Commentator.
4. Comment Approved Notifier: this is such a simple plug in that emails a commentator to tell them their post has been approved.  This has a double advantage, not only pinging the author again to encourage them to come back, it may also motivate them to check any replies to their comment.
5. CommentLuv: motivates you as the blogger to comment more and more because it shows the latest blog post at the end of each comment you make.  This fosters a community spirit and makes your blog highly interactive.
6. IntenseDebate Comments: this really gives your WordPress comments area the wow factor, using Ajax to write, reply and rate.  It also includes comments voting and allows users to connect to Twitter and friendfeed, which enhances promotion of your site.
7. Highlight Author Comments: this plug in makes your words stand out from the crowd by automatically displaying author comments in a different and distinctive style.
8. Do Follow: this is great for search engine ranking because it removes the “no follow” attributes in comments links, enabling search engines to follow them.
9. WP Content Filter: nobody wants a blog full of swearwords, so this filters out any unwanted words automatically and replaces them with wild card characters.
10. Custom Smilies: allows users to put in emoticons to comments, adding color and fun to your blog.
11. Whisper Comment: this allows commentators to “whisper” their comment to one or a group of other users.  A great tool for allowing enhanced interactivity and a sense of ownership for subscribers, which could encourage them to revisit and bring more people with them.
12. Live Comment Preview: do you want your commentators to be able to preview their comments before posting?  This plug in enables them to do just that.
13. Comment Rating: a brilliant way to allow subscribers to feel some ownership of the blog, by voting on posted comments.  Time to let your readers decide which comments deserve to be shown!
14. Most Commented: a widget that allows users to quickly access the most popular posts, by displaying those with the most comments in the sidebar.
15. Akismet: finally don’t forget that spam can be an issue with any WordPress blog, with comments boxes constantly being bombarded.  This is an essential add-on to any website builder and this is one of the most popular to kick spam comments out.

The tools you have at your disposal can make it easy for you to increase your sales, your site members, your discussions and more. Knowing which ones will make the biggest difference when there are so many to choose from can be tricky, but here are ten plugins that every WordPress website user should know about.

You can find all 10 Plugins in our onsite directory.

1. Mobile Press

This plugin makes your site as useful to someone visiting from a mobile device as one visiting from his or her computer. You can customize your site for mobile viewing and even track mobile views.

2. Wapple Mobile Architect

Since not all mobile devices work the same or use the same web programs, it only makes sense to customize your site to work with individual devices. This plugin does that for you, offering consistency for your mobile viewers.

3. WordPress Wiki

This plugin allows you to create a wiki within WordPress.

4. TDO Mini Forms

With this plugin, you can create customizable forms that let your members and users submit posts that you can approve or disapprove for publication to your site.

5. Members

This plugin is great if you have multiple users contributing to your site. It allows you to set boundaries for users, and determine what capabilities and role each user or member has, and allows you greater control over your content.

6. WP e-Commerce

The e-Commerce plugin for WordPress provides you with a full-feature shopping cart to accommodate sales on your site or for collecting required fees.

7. eShop

Another e-Commerce tool, but this one gives you more flexibility, allowing downloads, sales completed through email, as well as shipping options for products. It also includes an auto-responder for completed sales.

8. Business Directory

Let your customers input their own business information that you can include in a directory right on your site. Users can include descriptions of their business, URLs, contact information, and any other information you want to make available. This can also be a powerful SEO tool for your site.

9. Calendar

Make a calendar available on your site to list upcoming events, sales, and appointments. You can list multiple events per day, and users can see the details of each event, by either clicking on the date or hovering over the date with their pointer.

10. Social Bookmarks

One of the best ways to promote your site or business is through social sites, like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. This plugin allows visitors to post your site to their social networking page, making it visible to all of their friends and followers.

While there are many powerful plugins you can include on your WordPress website, the tools you use will depend on the type of site you have, and can determine the reach and impact of your site will have to the online community.

If you have a WordPress blog, almost all your traffic will arrive from a search engine, so you need to start talking their language.  Here are some simple solutions that will help you improve your search engine ranking and dramatically increase the traffic entering your site:

Basic Steps for Improving Your Rank

Search engines use many different parameters for ranking web pages, so it can take a lot of time to tick every box.  So when you receive your website builder, work on getting the basics right and half the battle is won.  Firstly, keyword density is important.  Putting a list of keywords together that make no sense just won’t work.  You need to form natural sentences using the keyword phrase and try to scatter it five or six times within the text, including in the first sentence and last paragraph. The keyword density monitor plug-in allows you to quickly check each post, ensuring you keep the search engines happy.

You can also improve your ranking by looking for similar keywords on the same theme and scattering those in the blog once or twice.  Simply type part of your keyword phrase into Google and it will list other phrases and the number of searches.  For example, if you type, “how to write a WordPress blog” you’ll also see that “how to write a WordPress post” is a popular search keyphrase.

Create a Sitemap

Using an XML-sitemap for your blog allows search engines to quickly check through your content and look for keywords, which can improve your ranking.  The Google XML-sitemaps generator is compatible with all the major search engines and an excellent addition to any free website builder program.

Make Use of Multimedia

Adding images, video and sound makes your site more exciting for the visitor, as well as helping to drive traffic through Google’s multimedia search engines.  Using a plug-in such as SEO Friendly Images is really useful, because it automatically updates all your images with proper title attributes to increase traffic from Google Image Search.

It’s not just about your site!

Finally don’t forget external links, because search engines also rank pages by the number of links to your site.  You can easily achieve this using a free social media plug-in, which invite your visitors to submit your posts on up to 100 social bookmarking sites.  Some of the most popular social plug-ins are ShareThis, Sociable or Gregarious, all available through our WordPress Resource Directory.  Or even more simply, LinktothisPage is a plug-in that allows visitors to quickly and easily link your site to their own.

Knowledge Is Power

The key to making your site attractive for search engines is to understand your target market.  As soon as you begin with your website builder, you need to know which keywords are being searched for, how your viewers arrive and which pages they like best.  This enables you to make the most of your content, ensure you’re using the appropriate keywords and helps you to create a loyal readership.  Google Analytics, StatPress and PostRatings are all free plug-ins which analyze various statistics about your visitors.  Go to our WordPress Resource Directory where you can download one for free.

Making The Most Of Your Content

The basic rule of driving traffic to your site is to write with search engine optimization in mind.  Content is key because a search engine cannot actually see a site.  It’s the words that do the talking.  You still need to create interesting, relevant and original content, otherwise your visitors won’t return.  Yet don’t waste hours with your website builder focusing on themes, fonts and colors.  If you don’t drive traffic to your site, no one will see it anyway!

Here are some basic rules to optimizing your content:

• Stick to a single topic: each page or post should be focused and relevant.  Don’t just put in random keywords, as search engine technology can detect this.  They look for how tightly focused a page is, so it’s better to write about a single topic.
• Don’t overdo the keywords:  you need to use your chosen keywords throughout your post several times, plus you also need to place them in the title.  Try to naturally integrate them into the structure so that your content is easy to read.
• Don’t forget a title and description:  these appear when your site is listed in search rankings.  They should also contain your keywords or keyphrase, which can boost your ranking as well as enticing the reader to click on your site.

All In One SEO

If you’re new to search engine optimization, there’s a great plug-in called the All in One SEO pack, available in our resource directory.  It effectively helps you increase your search engine success with very little effort, by automatically optimizing your titles and metatags.  This package is excellent for beginners and best of all it’s completely free.

1. Be specialized! Find a niche and deliver great content.  Don’t try to write about everything because this will just put people off.  Choose something you know a lot about, for example dog training, how to build a shed, acrylic nails or how to customize vintage clothes.  If you specialize you can focus your promotional efforts on your exact target market and pull in a larger segment of that specific market.
2. Post on other forums: find forums in your niche area and use your writing to develop a following that will lead them back to your website.
3. Cross-promotion: find a blog with related content that’s not in direct competition with your own.  You can then agree to cross promote each other using RSS feeds, again supported with the Feedvertising plug-in.
4. Invite readers to subscribe: this may sound obvious, but it’s okay to ask!  At the end of your posts, add a line recommending people subscribe for more of the same great content.  Don’t forget a link to your subscription page too!
5. Show how popular you are: if people see that over 500 people are already subscribing, it’s good sign that there’s something worth coming back for.
6. Keep your blog active: you need to keep updating your content to make readers want to come back again.   You should be adding fresh content 3 to 5 times per week to keep your blog’s traffic growing and your visitors happy.
7. Feed to Twitter: some people like receiving their feeds direct to Twitter.  You can also use Twitter and other social sites to publicize your blog and spread links to your network and beyond. Twitter Feed, ShareThis and Sociable are really useful WordPress plug-ins to do this and are available on our resources and plug ins page.
8. Content is King! Finally don’t forget without great content that’s meaningful to your subscribers, they simply won’t come back for more.  It’s easy to create great content using a free website builder.  Just choose your niche, do your research and find out what people what to read about.

All you need is to spend a bit of time researching how the Adsense program works.  What you’ll discover is that even with high volumes of traffic, simply sticking a unit anywhere on your WordPress website won’t convert to decent earnings.  Yet there are some simple tried and tested methods for maximizing Adsense revenue, which could see you triple your earnings within 30 days.  Try them out and you could be well on your way to your first $100 day, with many more to come.

Location is Everything

One of the most important lessons Adsense entrepreneurs have learnt is to get the placement of ad units right.  You’re looking to increase your click through rate, and by simply choosing the best location and following a few simple rules you can dramatically increase your earnings.

Successful entrepreneurs report their click through rates skyrocketing when they employ a 336×280 unit placed below the post titles on their WordPress site.  This proves to be much more successful than between the post and the comments section.  Also using the left hand sidebar can be successful, much more than the right.  The best thing to do is to try different locations and see which has the best conversion rate for your site.  It’s easy to check, just try the unit in several different places and see which generates the most conversion.

Use a larger unit

To make decent earnings from Adsense you’ll need to place a fairly large unit on your WordPress site.  Some people even use up to three per page.  Overall the 336×280 unit appears to have the most success.

Add aggressively to low traffic sites

Having a few sites scattered around the internet that yield just a small amount of visitors is a simple way to generate some extra Adsense income.  These sites are so easy to set up using a free website builder and take very little maintenance.  Because traffic is low you don’t have to worry about aggressively using Adsense units, meaning you can place three per page in the prime locations (below the post titles, on the left side bar and below the body of the text).  These sites can yield a high click through rate, despite the low traffic levels.  Don’t underestimate the earning potential of your smaller websites.

Protecting your loyal readers

Some people worry about annoying loyal readers by placing large advertising units across their sites.  One way to get around this is to place larger units on posts more than 7 days old.  This works because loyal readers log in more regularly and see more recent posts, plus they oblivious to advertising units over time anyway.  Then you can rely on search engine traffic, which tend to come to older posts, to click on the ads and increase your revenue.

Quality not quantity

If you choose a niche, you can successfully optimize your lower levels of traffic and it can be just as effective at generating good levels of income.  If you are creating a new site for Adsense rather than using it on an existing site, do your research and find a niche you know will pull in a lot of well converting traffic.

Test to see what works

The best way to work with Adsense is to try different things and see what works for your site.  Don’t give up just because you have a low conversion rate.  Try different things to see what increases your percentage.  Simple techniques like changing the layout, theme or ad design can increase your conversion rate significantly.  For example, simply removing the Adsense border can increase the click through rate on some WordPress sites by up to 2%.  Try it out and see if it works for you!

Just because you’re making money elsewhere…

Don’t underestimate the power of Adsense, even if you’re already making money from affiliate marketing and direct sponsors.  You could still use Adsense to increase your earnings, even by $100 per month, by placing some strategically placed units.

How To Use RSS Feeds To Your Advantage

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, or sometimes it’s referred to as Rich Site Summary, and it’s basically an XML-based format.  These feeds work by keeping people informed of changes to your content, so they can keep coming back for more.  It also allows people to subscribe to your site and keep up to date of what’s new on your blog using a feedreader.

Each RSS feed basically offers a headline of the new content on your site, with some graphics or an image, alongside a direct link to the full content. By using feeds you can bring new and repeat visitors in, as well as improving your search engine ranking.  In fact it’s rated as one of the most effective ways of getting your message out there and letting people know what’s happening on your site.

Using RSS Feeds From Other Sites

The first way to use RSS feeds is to actually place feeds from other sites onto yours.  You may be thinking, “but won’t this publicize other people’s sites instead of mine?”  The answer is yes, it will, but it will also bring traffic to your website through a number of ways.

By choosing an RSS feed that provides content relevant to your WordPress site, you’re adding extra keywords to your site which can help improve your search engine optimization.  This can be even more powerful due to the fact that keywords contained within a link can be ranked as higher value by search engines.  RSS feeds can also get search engines to trawl your site more frequently, once again improving your ranking and therefore making it more likely for someone to click on your site.

Here’s an example of how to use an RSS feed from another site to your advantage.  Imagine you’ve used your website builder to create a site about health and wellbeing.  You could then add a link to a feed from a health news website.  People often search using topical keywords that are relevant to current news stories, so by searching for these keywords your site will also appear in the results due to the RSS feed.

One tip, once you’ve installed the feed, click on it to make sure it works!

Publishing Your Own Feeds

It’s also vital to get your own RSS feeds on other sites, which should encourage visitors to click onto your site.  By offering an RSS feed that’s linked to your content, other people can then use your content on their site which creates external links back to your website.  This is great for search engine optimization and for building traffic.

To publish a feed, simply locate the URL to your feed on your WordPress blog and then promote it.  If you sell products through your website, this is a great way to contact existing customers and use your RSS feeds to keep them informed of new products or promotions.  Other sites might also want to publish this kind of information.

One really useful plug-in to add onto your website builder is the Category Specific RSS Feed Subscription plug-in, which is available on our resources and plug-ins page.  This allows people to choose category specific feeds.  Some people are put off by subscribing to feeds if they can’t choose the categories they are interested in because they’re worried about too much mail.

By using a free website builder to create a WordPress site, you’ll have complete control over what happens to your images, the amount you charge and how much you reap from their use.  This article has some priceless tips on how to sell your photos online, ensuring your WordPress photography website is a huge success.

Creating a WordPress Photo Website

If you plan on selling your photos online, you need to create a highly stylized photo gallery that’s easy to navigate and presents large quantities of photos.  Successful online photographers uploads thousands of images and it’s the best way to make money.  You may only generate a small amount per image (one or two dollars for stock images), but if you have thousands of photos, you’re guaranteed to make a decent income

First you need to choose a theme that has been designed with the professional photographer in mind.  Here are some of our favorites, which are all available on our resources page.  Do bear in mind that some of them cost a little to buy and use, but the investment will be well worth it to ensure you give your portfolio the maximum impact.

• Photoblog: this is a simple yet powerful presentation for photos that lets the images do the talking.  It has some really nice features such as drop-down menus, home page slide show and social media site icons integrated into the program.  The best bit is the built-in dynamic image resize, allowing you to upload very large images which are then resized with links to the various size options.  This is great for customer downloading.  The cost for this theme is $49, but it’s well worth it for the professional finish you’ll end up with.
• Photocrati ViewFinder: this theme is created specifically with professional photographers in mind.  It’s edgy and eye-catching, with a black theme and a single large image with thumbnails along the bottom of your homepage.  It costs $59 but really has the wow factor.
• FlashFrame: a very clean, simple and elegant WordPress theme for photographers.  The homepage displays one image at a time, creating a slide show that fades from one photo to the next.  You can then create a blog and gallery of photos on your secondary pages.  The price is $79.95.
• Photo Nexus WordPress Gallery 2 in 1: this costs just $27 and is a highly stylized two tone theme, great for visual impact.  It’s modern, minimalist and simple to use.
• SnapShot: a free WordPress theme which allows users to rate your photos.  This could be great for business.  It comes with three color themes – red, blue or green.

How To Get Buyers To Your Site

Now that you’ve set your site up, you need to work on getting people to see it and buy photos.  Concentrate on search engine optimization as this will bring you high up on the search engine ranking, vital for ensuring people click on your site.  Here are some tips on how to do this:

• Use Keywords: research which keywords are going to work for your images and make sure you use them in the title for each photo.  This is vital for selling success.  Use concepts to describe your photos, such as power, success, romantic, comic, alongside more descriptive keywords to describe what is going on in the photo, such as man on a bicycle, woman meditating.  The SEO Friendly Images plug in can help you do this by automatically updating all your images with proper ALT and TITLE attributes, which is vital for search engine ranking success.
• Find out what sells: any successful professional photographer will tell you that stock images need to be simple, top quality and evoke a theme.  Don’t use family snaps or endless landscapes.  Find something you’re passionate about and make that your niche.  You could focus on emotions, or become an expert in photographing food products.  Whatever you choose, you need to provide hundreds of photos on your portfolio to give buyers plenty of choice.  Natural photos of people going about their everyday business are also very popular, because buyers can use these in advertising campaigns and on their own websites.
• Don’t forget local coverage: don’t forget that your WordPress photography website will also sell your services to local clients.  Get yourself listed as a Google local business so that whenever anyone searches for a local photographer, your beautiful WordPress portfolio will appear.