How to set up a Wordpress Blog

Why Blog?

Push-Button Publishing

Let the World know what you think!

Where?

http://Blogger.com/

http://yournick.blogspot.com/

Blogger

● Google stable

● Hosted solution

● No constraints

● Customisable

WordPress.com

● Hosted solution

● Uses WordPress MU

● Themes: yes

● Customisable: NO

WordPress.com

● Plugins: No

● CSS tweaking: No

● Widgets: NO

● Custom-localisation: No

● Javascript: NO

WordPress

● FOSS software

● Downloadable from http://wordpress.org/

● PHP + MySQL

● To be self-hosted

● Total Freedom!

What you need

● A domain name

● .in < Rs.200 p.a

● .com... < Rs.500 p.a

● Select a good Registrar

What you need

● A good webhost

● Webspace: >100 mb

● PHP version > 4.3

● MySQL version > 4

● FTP

What you need

● PHP Apache configuration

● “fopen” enabled

● Not in “safe mode”

● Apache mod_rewrite module

installed

Set it up

● Create MySql database

● Note db name, username & pw

● Configure FTP client

First Steps

● Download latest version from

http://wordpress.org/

● Unzip the compressed package

● Read readme.html

First Steps ...

First Steps ...

Initialize

● Rename wp-config-sample.php

to wp-config.php

● Open config.php in an editor

● Fill in your db details

● Configure advanced settings

Config.php

// ** MySQL settings ** //

define('DB_NAME', 'putyourdbnamehere'); // The name of the

database

define('DB_USER', 'usernamehere'); // Your MySQL username

define('DB_PASSWORD', 'yourpasswordhere'); // ...and

password

define('DB_HOST', 'localhost'); // 99% chance you won't need

to change this value

define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');

define('DB_COLLATE', '');

Config.php ...

// You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each

a unique prefix

$table_prefix = 'wp_'; // Only numbers, letters, and underscores

please!

// Change this to localize WordPress. A corresponding MO file for the

// chosen language must be installed to wp-content/languages.

// For example, install ta.mo to wp-content/languages and set

WPLANG to 'ta'

// to enable Tamil language support.

define ('WPLANG', '');

Installation

● Select root or subdirectory

● Upload WP files thru FTP

● Keep WP directory structure

● Create .htaccess file & upload

5-Minute install!

● Point browser to:

http://yourwpdir/wp-admin/install.php

● Enter desired blog title

● Fill in your email ID

● Allow blog to search engines

Done!

Admin area

Admin profile

General options

Reading options

Write a post

Themes

More themes

● http://themes.wordpress.net/

● Select themes, d/l & unzip

● Put in blogdir/wp-content/themes

● Go to yourblog/wp-admin/

● Select theme in Presentation

Plugins

● Go to http://wordpress.org/

● Extend => Plugins

● Search using tags

● Read and understand

● Select, D/L and unzip

Plugins ...

● Upload to:

yourblogdir/wp-content/plugins/

● Go to Admin => Plugin

● Activate selected plugin

● Go to options and configure

Plugins ...

Advanced

● Read the WP Veda - “Codex” at

http://codex.wordpress.org/

● A wiki updated regularly

● Frequent the forums at

http://wordpress.org/support/

Advanced ...

● Write “Pages”

● Tweak themes with CSS

● Provide navigation

● Backup regularly

Blogging tips

● Decide on the focus

● Write a niche blog

● Update regularly

● Moderate comments

Blogging tips ...

● Reply to comments

● Write original stuff

● Use pictures and video

● Link to citations

● Don't indulge in flaming

Blog traffic● Comment on others' blogs

● Subscribe to pinging and blog

networking sites viz:

● Technorati

● MyBlogLog

● BlogCatalog

Blog traffic ...

● Publish in Feedburner

● Tag the posts properly

● Flaunt your blog in all social

networking and bookmarking sites

viz: Digg, Del.icio.us etc. and in

your profile and sig.

In your language

● Set language in config.php

● Download wordpress.pot

● Gettext is used for I18N & L10N

● Use Poedit for translation

● Upload ta.mo to /wp-content/language

Contact me!

S.K

http://www.cyberbrahma.com/

skichu@gmail.com

Thank you!