Wordpress questions

1. 45

   Mikeydoesposted 12 years ago

   I was wondering a couple of things about Wordpress. I think it is about time and would be a good thing to start up a site.
   
   What I'm wondering is, how easy is it to get a rev-share up, and also
   
     I would also like to know if you and your members can upload videos. And how easy that would be to accomplish.
   
   What does wordpress do well? Is there anything else I should know.
   
   I want to make a purchase here soon and get started, but I have 2-3 ideas that I have to choose from. Any help or insight would be appreciated. I'm just not sure how much money I want to spend.

   replyreport
   1. 58

      Mark Knowlesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It is easy to do revenue sharing with the right plugin. I recently setup a multi user site and am going a different route though. After watching the hubpages disaster and looking at how blogspot and woprdpress.com set theirs up - I use a multi site setup using subdomains.
      
      This means I do revenue sharing through a third part ad provider instead. All I need is the code on all pages, then I drop the ads in the back of the ad provider. I can do different revenue shares for different people.
      
      Uploading videos is a nightmare unless you have some money to spend. Far easier to allow embedding.

      replyreport
   2. 69

      tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yep.
      
      There are plugins for Wordpress for this very purpose.
      
      Also, there are entire template themes built  with that in mind.

      replyreport
2. 62

   Bill Manningposted 12 years ago

   Well let's see if I can help. First, you want to get your own domain name and paid hosting. Do NOT use the free Wordpress site. They allow very little ads or money making sites.
   
   So, once you get a domain name for around 10 bucks and a hosting account for around 10 bucks a month, that's only a 20 dollar bill to get going.
   
   After that you upload your own wordpress software and you now have your very own site. You can now do anything, anything at all with it.
   
   You can use adsense, Amazon, thousands of sponsors and products, make a store, whatever you want.
   
   There are two great ways of doing this. One, you pick a very broad niche, then break down your site into many sub-niche categories within the main one.
   
   Two, you pick a very narrow niche and focus the whole site on that. You will rank high for that niche that way.
   
   By narrow I mean like:
   Rubber dog toys
   New York hot dog vendors
   Fishing in Lake Erie
   
   and so on. Good luck.

   replyreport
3. 60

   recommend1posted 12 years ago

   All good advice I think.  I opted for the business deal at Hostgator and have nothing but good to say about them and the help service they provide.  The deal plus the cost of the domain name gives you unlimited sub-domains and most of the other stuff you need to get it up and running.
   
   Setting up Wordpress is easy, figuring it all out is possible for a total web imbecile given a little time and effort - I am living proof of this.
   
   Allow yourself a couple of weeks to learn how and get things running about right - then tune your site up as you go along.
   
   For markets - that is an SEO question and you will need better advice than mine -  from far better SEO qualified people on this site

   replyreport
4. 45

   Mikeydoesposted 12 years ago

   Thanks, all of you have helped quite a bit, my next task is to pick what plan of mine I'm going to do, and also get a domain name.

   replyreport
   1. 69

      tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Have you found which web hosting service that you will use?

      replyreport
      1. 45

         Mikeydoesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Nope I have not decided on anything. I've just been using godaddy to try to come up with a good domain name, that's it.
         
         I'm up for any suggestions.

         replyreport
         1. 69

            tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Sounds good.
            
            Don't use GoDaddy for hosting though.
            
            Blue Host or Hostgator consistently rank at the top.

            replyreport
            1. 45

               Mikeydoesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Which do you prefer?

               replyreport
               1. 69

                  tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Well, it depends on what you are looking for as a user.
                  
                  For basic usage, Blue Host has the best customer service.  I'd go with Blue Host.
                  
                  Here's a comparison and you can see the votes.
                  http://hubpages.com/hub/Choosing-the-Best-Web-Host

                  replyreport
            2. 64

               Richieb799posted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I only use GoDaddy for my Domain name..I use Purplecloud for my hosting since you pay up front.
               
               My Wordpress site has climbed up to page 3 for my niche keyword so things are going quite well..this is after Ryan Kett informed me of the SEO services on Fiverr.com

               replyreport
5. 45

   Mikeydoesposted 12 years ago

   Once again thanks Bill, Mark, recommend and Tri, I've learned something from useful from all of your posts.
   
   Since I'm targeting google for traffic and backlinking. I'm sure it wouldn't matter if I used .cc, .me, .net to save money correct?

   replyreport
   1. 58

      Mark Knowlesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It sure will. Buy a .com. 2nd choice would be a .net. Avoid exact match domains also.

      replyreport
      1. 45

         Mikeydoesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         The name that I think I want as .net and .com both on backorder. it says $20.99. Not sure how that whole process works.

         replyreport
         1. 69

            tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Either would be fine these days.
            
            It used to be that .com held more "authority" and ranked better.  Not really the case these days.
            
            What will people remember?
            
            Simple, catchy domain is easy to remember?  Especially with a .com TLD.
            
            The alternative is a keyword-rich domain, which will benefit you greatly for SEO.

            replyreport
            1. 45

               Mikeydoesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               What about a .me, it is cheaper and couldn't I buy the other ones out later? I think right now all I can do is buy the right to bid on it, and who knows when that will be?

               replyreport
               1. 73

                  thisisoliposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Go for a .com
                  
                  No other domain is as good!

                  replyreport
               2. 69

                  tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  the .me TLD (top level domain) is ok.  Personally, I would still go with .net or .org over .info or .me.
                  
                  It really depends on what you want to achieve.
                  
                  Down the road you could redirect to a different domain, if you so choose.

                  replyreport
   2. 73

      thisisoliposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I use hostgator, but I have heard good things about bluehost as well, godaddy is still fine for basic domain names though.
      
      Think of the associations you personally have with .me domains, .cc domains, etc.
      
      If you saw a .com and a .me on the search engine results which one would you click on?
      
      Unless the .me works with the domain name, ie. unguru.me then I would avoid it.  Cheap domains are generally bought out enmasse by spammers, and while Google avoids talking about the subject of penalizing domain names, the following remains true, it is harder to get a country specific domain name to rank in US or other country rankings, and cheaper domain names generally convey 'cheap' connotations. Considering the low cost of a .com domain in any case, choosing a 99 cent domain is a penny pincher I would definitely avoid.

      replyreport
6. 73

   thisisoliposted 12 years ago

   Revenue sharing is easy to set up - but hard to perfect.  I have it all working on my article directory, but I have had plenty of small issues.
   
   The other thing to remember is that setting up a successful revenue sharing site takes time, I would suggest planning a lead time of at least 2 years before you get any significant author activity on the site (By significant I mean ~5+ daily articles from other authors).
   
   My own article directory has been active for around a year and I see about 1 post a day on average from other authors.  Of course my application requirements are a little more stringent than most article directories, but I think it is safe to say that we all know what has happened to the barely moderated rev-share sites this year.
   
   Allowing other people to post on your site is definitely a good idea, but you have to remember a few things,
   
   It takes time to get the ball rolling
   It takes a lot of work
   There is a lot of competition to attract writers
   
   If you can deal with this then wordpress is definitely a good platform to base it on!

   replyreport
7. 45

   Mikeydoesposted 12 years ago

   Alright thanks for the advice everyone, I'll probably have more questions very soon. Haha.

   replyreport
8. 45

   Mikeydoesposted 12 years ago

   Cool thanks for the info.

   replyreport
9. 45

   Mikeydoesposted 12 years ago

   Well I am getting it rolling. Trying to figure it all out right now. Can't get wordpress up, I'm using hostgator with GoDaddy as my domain. GoDaddy still thinks I want to buy hosting from them or something. I changed the nameservers to what hostgator gave me, still having problems. Uploading wordpress to my site was easy, and it worked.. But I can't get to wordpress when I type in the URL I made. I'll figure it out sooner or later.

   replyreport
10. 45

    Mikeydoesposted 12 years ago

    K my next question is what are some absolute must need widgets?
    
    I'm getting the hang of this, a lot of work ahead of me

    replyreport
    1. 58

       Mark Knowlesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I think you mean "plug ins."
       
       http://www.beesinternet.com/best-wordpress-theme/
       
       This will help. Problem is - most peopel don't know what they need when they start out. And there are lots of ways to break your site when you have plugins that clash with each other.
       
       What fun!

       replyreport
       1. 45

          Mikeydoesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Yeah, I meant plugins. I already have a couple in there, just having some problems. Thanks for the link.

          replyreport
          1. 58

             Mark Knowlesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             That software review I linked to will do everything you want and save you hundreds of hours and headaches. Do you really want to learn php or css?  I know I don't.

             replyreport
             1. 45

                Mikeydoesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                I wish it wasn't so expensive.

                replyreport
          2. 60

             recommend1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

             I would suggest that the most useful starting plug-in is page columnist.  This allows you to column your page - it works properly in Twentyten for sure.  It also makes the entering of the text and images to the page easier with the visual editor that comes with it.

             replyreport
11. 60

    recommend1posted 12 years ago

    I really got to grips with this !!!!!
    
    You design what you would like your site to look like on a piece of paper, then try your damndest to get your site to look like it for 3 weeks, totally fail and start again - then realise you have had a 3 week lesson and now know how to do it.   Then the trouble starts.  Good luck buddy

    replyreport
    1. 45

       Mikeydoesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Lol I was more aware of this. It is always a good thing to learn.
       
       Just looking for tips or something that could save my countless hours. I'm learning little by little/

       replyreport
12. 84

    donotfearposted 12 years ago

    I bought a domain name thru Wordpress for about $25 for a whole year.  I'm using their free website builder, but cannot post ads to it.  You have to get an outside source from some other provider (like Godaddy) to be able to post ads on it.
    
    Like some others, I don't even know what the terms here mean, like 'plug-in', 'widget', etc etc.
    
    I think I could transfer the domain name to the other website builder provider....I think.  For now, though, the Wordpress site is working well and looks very good.  You can see it here:
    <link snipped>

    replyreport