This is part two of a 5 part series. You can read part 1 here. This post assumes you have WordPress installed and functional. So next, we will continue with the customization of your WordPress based blog.

The first thing you need to do is pick a desirable theme. There are many capable and worthy free themes out there. Just take heed, in order to protect the copyrights of their themes, the authors may put encrypted code in the footer area. The encrypted code will be lines and lines of letters and numbers that make absolutely no coherent sense. I agree with copyright protection. But, due to the fact that you cannot see what the code says or does, I suggest you either pick a theme without the encrypted code or buy a theme. A few places to begin are:

•  Onehertz ( only 3 themes, but they are all free, excellent, and very customizable)
• WP Themes Free (a dizzying array of free themes from various authors)
• WordPress (a vast list of themes people have submitted for your downloading pleasure)
• Unique Blog Designs (these guys charge, but they provide blog templates for at least two of the blogging revenue masters - johnchow.com and shoemoney.com)

I suggest you pick out two or three themes and apply each to your site. Then pick the one that you like the best after seeing it in action. I also highly suggest that you pick a theme with at least two columns and ensure that it is widget ready. Two columns will allow for the main posting area and one sidebar. And being widget ready will allow you to plugin pre-built components that give your blog added functionality.

Ok. So you picked a few themes. Next you need to unzip them and upload to your wp-content/themes directory. Fire up your favorite FTP program (I like Filezilla), connect to your FTP server, and upload the entire theme folder. Make sure the folder is only one level down. Meaning, when you double click the folder, you should see files and folders rather than another folder of the same name as the first one. Now that your themes are uploaded, login to your WordPress admin panel at  http://YourDomainName.Extension/wp-admin. Once you are logged in, click on Design and then Themes. You should see the two or three themes that you uploaded. Simply click on the image of the theme and a preview will be generated and ask if you want to apply the theme. Apply each theme and view your blog then pick the one you like the best. If you want further aesthetic customization of your blog and do not have CSS or HTML experience, I suggest you buy a book, get the HTML lesson from the Video Professor, or contact Java Bytes, LLC to customize your theme for you.

Now that your site is looking nice, it is time to add some much needed function. I will give you a list of some of the plugins I like. But, it will be up to you to read the sites of the authors to gather tech support for installation.

• AddThis Social Bookmarking Widget (Help promote your blog.)
• All in One SEO Pack (Out-of-the-box SEO for WordPress.)
• BackUp WordPress (Back up your database, files, and folders with a plethora of options.)
• Feedburner (Detects your WordPress feeds and redirects them all to your Feedburner account so you can track how many subscribers you have.)
• Google XML Sitemaps (Generate a sitemap that is compatible with the major search engines making it easier for them to crawl your site.)
• My Link/Page/Category Order (Allows you to set the order of appearance for your links, pages, and categories respectively.)
• Secure Contact (Drop in form for your users to contact you.)
• UBD Block Ad Plugin (If you are going to place advertisements in the 125×125 variety on your site, this plugin makes it a breeze.)
• And last but most certainly not least is Intense Debate (They were recently acquired by Automattic, the creators of WordPress, because their plugin was so good. Enhance and encourage conversation on your blog by implementing this awesome plugin. Active participation with others who have Intense Debate will generate more traffic on your blog. This one is a must have.)

Most of these plugins are pretty straight forward to implement. You unzip and upload to your wp-content/plugins directory. After you upload them, you will need to venture to the plugins link on the right side of your WordPress admin panel. Then systematically click activate for each one. Visit the author’s website for more detailed instructions.

Your blog is functional, sleek. and powerful now. Tune in next time to garner some basic tips for writing and a little bit of blogtiquette.





Blog - Short for Web Log. It is a part of the Web 2.0 social era that started by individuals typing their daily activities online for others to see. Over time it has been adopted by many different people and companies and implemented in various ways for various purposes. I wrote about the benefits in a previous post and why you, as an entrepreneur, need to adapt to the times and implement social networking habits to grow in today’s Web 2.0 world. Now I am writing a 5 part series on:

• How To Setup A Blog (this post)
• Customizing Your Blog
• Writing Your Blog
• Monetizing Your Blog (get paid)
• Traffic For Your Blog

There are many free blogging platforms that you can use. Google has one called Blogger and you get a blog with a MySpace account. You can also setup one at Wordpress.com. But for the purpose of this post and the added flexibility, we will talk about a self hosted Wordpress installation. Self hosted Wordpress installation means you have your own domain name, have it hosted with a hosting company, and have your own install of Wordpress.

First, you need a domain name. If you already have one, skip this section. If you are reading this, I am assuming you do not have a domain name. You will need to purchase a domain name from a registrar. My registrar of choice is GoDaddy. They are reasonable, their tech support is friendly and knowledgeable, and their service is one of the fastest I’ve witnessed for domain name propagation. That’s fancy for telling other computers where your domain is.

After you have purchased a domain, you will need to apply for a web host. This is the company that will make sure your web pages are viewable to the rest of the world all day , every day. Typical hosting charges run from $5 to $20 per month depending upon the features you require. As a Concurrent Serial Entrepreneur, you should know by now that I have multiple businesses. As such, I am partners in a web resource providing company called Java Bytes, LLC. So, naturally, that is who I use. The normal charge is $10 per month or pre-pay a year and get the 11th month free totaling $110 for 12 months. Go to their contact page and mention this article to receive another month for free, totaling $100 for 12 months.

Once you have acquired a web host, you will need the web hosting company’s DNS servers. Most of the time they provide that to you when you sign up. If not, a phone call or email and they will readily provide this information to you. You will need to go back to your registrar, GoDaddy in this example, login and set your Name Servers from their default to the ones that your web hosting company provided you.

Now, most web hosting companies have a stand alone Wordpress installation option available to you. If they do not, you can get the installation from Wordpress.org and they have an installation guide to walk you through it. For those web hosting companies that have an automated install, like Java Bytes, you can install Wordpress and be ready to go in less than a minute. This is done through a useful feature called Fantastico. Fantastico allows for automated installation and upgrades and it is a breeze to use. You select Wordpress from the menu and click install. It will ask you for the folder location to install into (you can leave it blank to install in the top level directory or root). You will also be asked for an administrator name and password. You can put your name and chose a good password with numbers and letters in it. Below that you will be asked for a contact email address. This is only used for communications sent to you from your Wordpress installation and is not publicly displayed. Lastly, you will be asked for your blog name and tag line. Name your blog and a small tag of what your blog is about. You can change all of this info later. At the end of the install, you will have the option to email the details of the install to someone. Put your email address in the box just in case you forget your admin username and password.

Well, followed correctly and hopefully without incident, you should have a functional, albeit plain, blog based on Wordpress. You can login to it from http://YourDomainName.Extension/wp-admin. Where YourDomainName is the domain your purchased from the registrar and the Extension is the com, net, biz, etcetera that is associated with the domain name you registered.

In the mean time, browse around and become familiar with the various options in the admin panel of Wrodpress. You can find a lot of information about Wordpress in their Docs section. Check back for the next part of this five part series where I show you how to customize your blog and add various helpful and powerful options to it.