Diet Nutritional Stats Tuna Salad with Orange and Bell Pepper
Serving Size 191 g
Amount Per Serving
Calories 138
Calories from Fat 26
% Daily Value
Total Fat 2.9g
5%
Saturated Fat 0.0g
0%
Cholesterol 19mg
6%
Sodium 194mg
8%
Total Carbohydrates 15.3g
5%
Dietary Fiber 3.5g
14%
Sugars 10.4g
Protein 13.7g
Vitamin A 21% Vitamin C 132% Iron 3% Calcium 6%
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 seedless oranges
1 small red onion, halved, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 9-ounce can white meat albacore tuna packed in water
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
8 cups mixed salad greens
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
Whisk vinegar and garlic in large bowl to blend. Working over bowl with dressing, cut oranges. Add onion, bell pepper, tuna, and parsley; toss. Season with salt and pepper.
Divide salad greens among plates. Spoon tuna salad over, dividing equally. Garnish with almonds.
Diet Nutritional Stats Poached Tuna with Escarole and Lima Beans
Serving Size 192 g
Amount Per Serving
Calories 169
Calories from Fat 17
% Daily Value
Total Fat 1.9g
3%
Saturated Fat 0.0g
0%
Cholesterol 32mg
11%
Sodium 335mg
14%
Total Carbohydrates 14.4g
5%
Dietary Fiber 4.7g
19%
Sugars 1.2g
Protein 23.9g
Vitamin A 31% Vitamin C 39% Iron 15% Calcium 5%
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 10-ounce albacore tuna fillet, cut into 1/3-inch-thick slices
1 large green onion, thinly sliced (about 1/4 cup)
4 cups coarsely chopped escarole (about 4 ounces)
1 8 1/2-ounce can baby lima beans, drained
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, divided
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
Line heavy medium skillet with lemon slices. Sprinkle tuna with pepper and place atop lemon. Spray tuna with PAM spray. Poach tuna over medium-low heat until almost cooked through, about 3 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer tuna to plate. Discard lemon slices.
Discard all but 1 tablespoon drippings from skillet. Add green onion and sauté over medium-high heat 1 minute. Add escarole, lima beans, and 3 tablespoons parsley to skillet. Sauté until escarole begins to wilt, about 1 minute. Sprinkle with vinegar. Season to taste with pepper.
Divide escarole-bean mixture between 2 plates and top with tuna slices. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon parsley and serve.
For stew:
Heat PAM spray in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until soft, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add garlic; stir 1 minute. Mix in paprika and next 8 ingredients. Add 1 cup water, tomatoes, and lemon juice. Bring to boil. Add squash and carrots. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Season with pepper.
For quinoa:
Rinse quinoa; drain. Spray PAM in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and carrot. Cover; cook until vegetables begin to brown, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and turmeric; sauté 1 minute. Add quinoa; stir 1 minute. Add 2 cups water. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium-low. Cover; simmer until liquid is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes.
Rewarm stew. Stir in half of cilantro and half of mint. Spoon quinoa onto platter, forming well in center. Spoon stew into well. Sprinkle remaining herbs over.
Diet Nutritional Stats Quinoa with Grilled Zucchini, Garbanzo Beans and Cumin
Serving Size 236 g
Amount Per Serving
Calories 296
Calories from Fat 44
% Daily Value
Total Fat 4.9g
8%
Saturated Fat 0.5g
3%
Cholesterol 0mg
0%
Sodium 28mg
1%
Total Carbohydrates 50.9g
17%
Dietary Fiber 12.2g
49%
Sugars 7.7g
Protein 14.8g
Vitamin A 12% Vitamin C 39% Iron 31% Calcium 10%
15-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric, divided
1 teaspoon paprika
2 cups water
1 cup quinoa (about 6 ounces), rinsed well, drained
1 1/2 pounds medium zucchini (about 5), trimmed, quartered lengthwise
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
Combine garbanzo beans, garlic and lemon juice in large bowl. Let marinate at least 15 minutes and up to 2 hours.
Heat PAM spray in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add cumin seeds, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, and 1/2 teaspoon paprika; stir about 1 minute. Add 2 cups water, quinoa, and coarse salt; bring to simmer, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until all water is absorbed, about 16 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare barbecue (medium high heat). Place zucchini on rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, and 1/2 teaspoon paprika. Toss to coat evenly.
Place zucchini on grill; sprinkle generously pepper. Grill until tender and browned on all sides, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to work surface. Cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces. Add zucchini, green onions, and parsley, then garbanzo bean mixture to quinoa. Toss to blend. Season with pepper.
Diet Nutritional Stats Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa
Serving Size 118 g
Amount Per Serving
Calories 271
Calories from Fat 19
% Daily Value
Total Fat 2.1g
3%
Saturated Fat 0.0g
0%
Cholesterol 0mg
0%
Sodium 7mg
0%
Total Carbohydrates 49.5g
16%
Dietary Fiber 10.2g
41%
Sugars 2.7g
Protein 14.9g
Vitamin A 7% Vitamin C 12% Iron 21% Calcium 9%
2 teaspoons grated lime zest
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup quinoa
1 (14- to 15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 medium tomatoes, diced
4 scallions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Whisk together lime zest and juice, sugar, and 1/4teaspoon pepper in a large bowl.
Wash quinoa in 3 changes of cold water in a bowl, draining in a sieve each time.
Cook quinoa in a medium pot of boiling water, uncovered, until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Drain in sieve, then set sieve in same pot with 1 inch of simmering water. Cover quinoa with a folded kitchen towel, then cover sieve with a lid and steam over medium heat until tender, fluffy, and dry, about 10 minutes. Remove pot from heat and remove lid. Let stand, still covered with towel, 5 minutes.
Add quinoa to dressing and toss until dressing is absorbed, then stir in remaining ingredients and pepper to taste.
Diet Nutritional Stats Quinoa and Black Bean Salad
Serving Size 122 g
Amount Per Serving
Calories 302
Calories from Fat 56
% Daily Value
Total Fat 6.2g
10%
Saturated Fat 0.9g
4%
Cholesterol 0mg
0%
Sodium 9mg
0%
Total Carbohydrates 50.0g
17%
Dietary Fiber 8.8g
35%
Sugars 2.2g
Protein 13.4g
Vitamin A 7% Vitamin C 27% Iron 20% Calcium 6%
1 1/2 cups quinoa
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans, rinsed if canned
1 1/2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups cooked corn (cut from about 2 large ears)
3/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
2 pickled jalapeño chilies, seeded and minced (wear rubber gloves)
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh coriander
For dressing
5 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or to taste
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin, or to taste
2 tbs olive oil
In a bowl wash quinoa in at least 5 changes cold water, rubbing grains and letting them settle before pouring off most of water, until water runs clear and drain in a large fine sieve.
In a saucepan of boiling water cook quinoa 10 minutes. Drain quinoa in sieve and rinse under cold water. Set sieve over a saucepan of boiling water (quinoa should not touch water) and steam quinoa, covered with a kitchen towel and lid, until fluffy and dry, about 10 minutes (check water level in kettle occasionally, adding water if necessary).
While quinoa is cooking, in a small bowl toss beans with vinegar and pepper to taste.
Transfer quinoa to a large bowl and cool. Add beans, corn, bell pepper, jalapeños, and coriander and toss well.
Make dressing:
In a small bowl whisk together lime juice, salt, and cumin and oil, whisking.
Drizzle dressing over salad and toss well with salt and pepper to taste. Salad may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring salad to room temperature before serving.
Prepare barbecue (high heat). Brush bell peppers, corn, and green onions with some olive oil. Grill vegetables until well charred in spots, turning occasionally with tongs and removing pieces as they brown, 5 minutes for green onions, 10 to 15 minutes for bell peppers and corn. Cool slightly. Cut bell peppers and green onions into 1/3-inch pieces. Cut corn off cob.
Heat PAM spray in heavy small skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cumin; sauté until garlic begins to sizzle but does not brown, about 30 seconds. Pour into large bowl; mix in lime juice and hot sauce. Mix in vegetables. Season to taste with pepper. Cool completely; mix in cilantro.
Diet Nutritional Stats Multi-Grain Pasta with Sicilian Salsa, Cabbage and Green Beans
Serving Size 136 g
Amount Per Serving
Calories 224
Calories from Fat 15
% Daily Value
Total Fat 1.7g
3%
Saturated Fat 0.5g
3%
Cholesterol 1mg
0%
Sodium 165mg
7%
Total Carbohydrates 41g
14%
Dietary Fiber 8.0g
32%
Sugars 3.9g
Protein 11.2g
Vitamin A 14% Vitamin C 51% Iron 19% Calcium 6%
1/2 14.5-ounce package multi-grain spaghetti
3/4 cup coarsely chopped Italian parsley
3 tablespoons drained capers
3 anchovy fillets
3 garlic cloves, chopped, divided
6 cups thinly sliced savoy cabbage
1/2 12-ounce bag frozen green beans, thawed
Cook pasta in large pot of boiling water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking liquid.
Meanwhile, puree parsley, capers, anchovies, and 1/3 of chopped garlic in mini processor.
Heat PAM spray in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add cabbage; sauté until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add haricots verts and remaining garlic; toss 1 minute. Add pasta, and 2/3 cup pasta cooking liquid, then parsley mixture from processor. Toss until sauce coats pasta, adding more pasta cooking liquid if dry, about 2 minutes. Season with pepper. Serve.
8 tsp un-salted Mozzarella, non-fat, Polly O Cheese
Heat PAM spray in a large skillet over high heat. Toast corn 5 minutes, stirring. Remove corn; set aside. Cook onion, stirring, until it caramelizes, 5 minutes. Add garlic; cook 1 to 2 minutes. Add tomatoes; cook 10 minutes. Add zucchini; cook until tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Add corn, beans, epazote and pepper. Cook 3 minutes. Split filling among tortillas; top each with 1 1/2 teaspoons salsa and 1 teaspoon cheese.
Diet Nutritional Stats Green Bean Salad with Radishes
Serving Size 136 g
Amount Per Serving
Calories 103
Calories from Fat 61
% Daily Value
Total Fat 6.8g
10%
Saturated Fat 2.1g
10%
Cholesterol 8mg
3%
Sodium 143mg
6%
Total Carbohydrates 8.8g
3%
Dietary Fiber 4.0g
16%
Sugars 2.1g
Protein 3.6g
Vitamin A 17% Vitamin C 33% Iron 7% Calcium 9%
1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed
8 radishes, sliced paper-thin
3 tablespoons aged Sherry
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
1/4 cup olive oil
3-ounce Feta cheese
Cook beans in large pot of boiling water until crisp-tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain well; cool. Toss beans, radishes in large bowl. Whisk Sherry, mustard, and chives in small bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. Toss salad with enough dressing to coat. Add feta cheese to taste.
Diet Nutritional Stats Spinach Radish Slaw with Crispy Chiles
Serving Size 284 g
Amount Per Serving
Calories 121
Calories from Fat 66
% Daily Value
Total Fat 7.3g
11%
Saturated Fat 2.2g
11%
Cholesterol 8mg
3%
Sodium 286mg
12%
Total Carbohydrates 9.9g
3%
Dietary Fiber 5.3g
21%
Sugars 2.9g
Protein 6.9g
Vitamin A 320% Vitamin C 103% Iron 28% Calcium 24%
2 tablespoons Sherry wine vinegar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 dried chiles, minced
2/3 cup shelled raw pumpkin seeds
4 9-ounce bags spinach leaves
2 10-ounce bunches large red radishes, trimmed
2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
Whisk both vinegars and mustard in small bowl. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before using.
Cut chiles in half lengthwise; discard seeds. Using scissors, cut chiles crosswise into 1/4-inch strips. Spray PAM into a large skille; heat over medium-high heat. Add chiles and fry until beginning to crisp, about 45 seconds. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. Add pumpkin seeds to same skillet and fry until golden brown and crisp, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to another set of paper towels to drain. Cool completely. Cut spinach crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick strips. Transfer to prepared large bowl.
Using grating disk on processor, grate radishes. Place in strainer set over another bowl; drain 15 minutes. Place spinach, radishes, chiles, pumpkin seeds, and cheese in very large bowl. Toss with dressing. Season with pepper.
Based off of the best statistics, I’ve found, there are over 187 million blogs. People obviously love reading and writing blogs. There is little doubt then, that a business that doesn’t speak to its customers through blogging, is definitely alienating its customers.
In this day in age, it is very easy for any business owner, no matter how small, to create a website. These websites must build customer relationships, while pulling in business from all over the world. In the past, business owners needed to rely on extremely expensive web design companies to build them a site. Those days are now in the past, thanks to a fabulous program called WordPress.
WordPress, is a free blogging tool kit, that brings the power of internet blogging to the people. WordPress is the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day. The goal of this series of articles is to help people get started with WordPress. It really is quite easy.
There are two versions of WordPress. There is the blogging software you can use with WordPress, at wordpress.com. This operates in a way similar to most social networking systems like Myspace, Facebook, etc. There is another version, that you host on a hosting company, such as GoDaddy. This version can be downloaded from wordpress.org. If this is a bit confusing don’t worry. The video tutorials will show you exactly how to set up both of these versions of WordPress.
WordPress is so easy to use, because it takes care of all the technical stuff. This allows you, to spend all of your time writing. Whats better, is that WordPress allows you to easily create amazing tools and new web designs, with ease. We’ll get to them later.
A Few more Reasons why WordPress is Amazing
It installs easily! Normally, it will take you no more than 5 minutes.
It helps you organize all of your articles in a logical manor.
Search engines absolutely love WordPress websites.
If you follow this tutorial, your Google Page Ranking will probably be higher, than if you hired a web design firm.
WordPress is not just used for blog websites. You can use it to create a traditional site as well.
There are many pre-made web designs for you to pick from. If you want a new design for your entire site, you can have it in a few seconds, with no design or technical knowledge.
Your customers want to interact with your website. WordPress provides you with easy to use enhancements that allow you to add bulletin boards, calendars, RSS feeds, video, audio, shopping carts, etc.
It will block unwanted spam from your site.
The Difference between WordPress.com & WordPress.org Websites
As I mentioned before, a WordPress.com site is similar to a social networking site. It is hosted on WordPress computers. It is free, for the most part, and extremely easy to set up. Almost every technical activity is taken care of for you such as: saving your content, blocking spam, security, upgrading, and promotion.
Let’s go back to that free sort of comment. First, in my opinion, WordPress deserves every dollar they make. I just want to make that clear. Either way, if you want to gain special benefits at WordPress.com you must pay for the following (prices on December 2nd, 2009):
The Custom CSS Upgrade allows you to use your own CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) to customize the appearance of your blog. CSS allows you to change fonts, colors, borders, backgrounds, and even the layout of the blog. The cost is $14.97 per year.
If you want to use a custom domain name that doesn’t end with wordpress.com you can either pay WordPress $14.97 to both register and host your domain for a year. Or if you already own a domain name, they charge $9.97 for you to host that domain name on their servers.
WordPress gives you 3 gigabytes of space to use for free on their computer. If you want more, you get 5 GB for $19.97 / year, 15 GB for $49.97 / year, or 25 GB for $89.97.
If you don’t want WordPress to put ads on your site, you have to pay them $29.97 / year.
There is a limit to the number of private users you can have on your site. If you wish to buy the unlimited users, instead of staying at the standard 35, that will cost you $29.97 / year.
Now if you want to host your own site and control everything, the version of WordPress found on wordpress.org, is the way to go. You will gain access to a larger number of web site designs, called themes. You will only be limited in size by your chosen hosting company. You will also gain access to a larger number of tools, called plug-ins. Plug-ins, give you access to tools such as: e-commerce systems, a wide assortment of media tools, and basically anything else you can imagine.
The negatives of hosting your own site include: you must pay a hosting site to host your site (avg. cost: $7 to $15 / month), it is more complicated to set up (many hosting companies will set upWordpress for you), you are responsible for upgrading your software, and your sites up time will only be as good as the hosting company. I personally, use GoDaddy for hosting, but there are a large number of other great hosting companies.
The minimum requirements a hosting company must meet include having, PHP version 4.3 or greater and MySQL version 4.0 or greater installed. It’s also probably in your best interest to install on a Linux rather than a Windows server. The best hosting companies include: Blue Host,DreamHost, MediaTemple, and GoDaddy.
In the next article, I will go into detail on how to create a WordPress.com account. You should do this even if you plan to host on your own site to gain access to Akismet, a great anti-spam tool. An additional benefit to starting with a WordPress.com account is that it gives you the opportunity to see if WordPress is right for you. Whether you chose to host on WordPress or from your own hosting company, the interface of WordPress is nearly identical. So, if you learn how to operate a blog on WordPress.com, you’ll know how to run WordPress on a separate hosting plan as well.
I hope this clears up any questions about using WordPress. Next, I’ll dispel any beliefs that WordPress is complicated to set up. If I missed anything, please tell me how I might improve the post.
So, you want to start a website? There really, is no better place to bring that dream to fruition than at wordpress.com. In this article, I’ll take you through the entire process of setting up a website, that will be hosted with WordPress. To help you understand the process I have placed links to step-by-step video’s to help you along. Enjoy!
The process for signing up for an account, is the following:
Go to wordpress.com, with your chosen browser.
Click on Signup up now, which should be in the upper right hand corner of the page.
Enter a Username, you will remember.
Enter a Password, that isn’t easy to guess and that you’ll remember.
Reenter that password again.
Enter an email address, that you’ll have on hand, to verify your account.
Click in the box, next to: I have read and agree to the fascinating terms of service.
Click on the circle, next to: Gimme a blog! (Like username.wordpress.com)
Click on the Next button.
In the Blog Domain text box, enter the name for your site. It should be short, have something to do with the content of your site, and something you’ll remember.
In the Blog Title text box, enter the name you’d like to use for your blog. It should be descriptive of the content you will have on your site.
Choose your language preference.
Let the privacy check box selected, unless you don’t want search engines and just about everyone else to be able to find your site. What fun would that be?
Click the Sign Up button, and you are done with the setup process.
Check the e-mail account, you gave to WordPress. This will contain a link you need to click to finalize the whole setup process.
Now, in a browser go back to wordpress.com. At the top of the page enter your Username and Password and click on Log In.
This is how you would manually install a WordPress blog system on Go Daddy. The process of installing manually on most all other hosting companies, like Go Daddy, is nearly identical.
Here are the directions from Go Daddy’s website.
Installing WordPress using Hosting Connection is the easiest way to get WordPress up and running on your domain. However, you can install it manually into your shared hosting account if you so desire.
To accomplish this, you will need the following items:
* A compatible hosting account which supports PHP and MySQL.
* Your FTP account login information. This includes the FTP User Name and Password for your hosting account.
* A MySQL Database for WordPress and the Database information.
* The latest version of WordPress.
NOTE:This article assumes you already have a compatible hosting account and your FTP login information. If this is not the case, obtain these items and then return to the article.
Create a MySQL Database for WordPress
1. Log in to your Account Manager.
2. In the My Products section, select Hosting.
3. Next to the hosting account you want to modify, click Manage Account.
4. In the Databases section of the Hosting Control Center, click the MySQL icon.
5. Click Create New Database.
6. Enter a description, WordPress for instance.
7. Enter a user name and password.
8. Specify your MySQL version.
9. Specify whether you want to allow Direct Database Access.
NOTE: Direct Database Access is a less secure way to manage your hosted databases which most users do not require. If you do not need to access your database remotely, then you should not enable Direct Database Access. For more information, see Why Connect Remotely to Shared Hosting Databases.
10. Verify your MySQL database settings. If everything looks OK, click OK.
It may take a few minutes to create your database. Click your browser’s Refresh button to check if your database is ready.
Once you have set up a database for your account, you can find your host name information by clicking the Pencil icon next to the name of your database. Note the following items, as they will be needed later in the install process:
* Host Name
* Database Name
* Database User Name
Now, you need to download the latest version of WordPress from their servers. This can be found at WordPress.org.
Modify wp-config.php
Extract the WordPress ZIP file you downloaded and open the WordPress folder. Locate wp-config-sample.php and open it with a text editor like Notepad. Save a copy of the file as wp-config.php. You will be working in this file from now on.
In wp-config.php, locate the section that looks like this example:
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘putyourdbnamehere’);
/** MySQL database username */
define(‘DB_USER’, ‘usernamehere’);
/** MySQL database password */
define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ‘yourpasswordhere’);
/** MySQL hostname */
define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’);
Enter the Database information from your newly created Database as follows:
* putyourdbnamehere is your MySQL Database Name
* usernamehere is your MySQL User Name
* yourpasswordhere is your MySQL password
* localhost is your MySQL Host Name
WordPress includes security keys which add encryption of information stored in user’s cookies. These must be set manually in the wp-config.php file. Locate the section of the file that looks like this:
define(‘AUTH_KEY’, ‘put your unique phrase here’);
define(‘SECURE_AUTH_KEY’, ‘put your unique phrase here’);
define(‘LOGGED_IN_KEY’, ‘put your unique phrase here’);
define(‘NONCE_KEY’, ‘put your unique phrase here’);
Go to WordPress’ online key generator and insert the keys in place of the placeholder text in the wp-config.php file. When you are finished, save and close the wp-config.php file.
Install WordPress
Using an FTP client such as FileZilla, Fetch or gFTP, FTP into your server and copy the WordPress folder to your hosting account. This directory can be stored anywhere in your account, in this example it will be in the root (http://www.coolexample.com).
1. Begin the WordPress installation by going to http://www.coolexample.com/wp-admin/install.php, where coolexample is the name of your domain. This will launch the WordPress installation process where you’ll be asked for your Blog Title and Email address.
2. Enter this information and click Install WordPress.
3. The next screen will provide you with a username and password to log into your blog for the first time. Note that information, then click Log in.
4. Enter the username and password you just noted and click Log In. The WordPress Dashboard will display. This is the main administration center for your blog.
Your WordPress blog is now installed. For assistance in the set up and maintenance of your blog, see the Getting Started with WordPress page at WordPress.org.
Once you log into your account, you’ll be presented with a page titled Dashboard. The first thing on the page is an announcement from WordPress. Under that, in the section called Your Stuff, you’ll find links to your most recent posts. What’s Hot, displays links to the hottest posts, blogs and the newest content.
Now, go over to the left side of the screen and click on Blog Stats. This page will be very important to you, once you have content on your site.
You’ll see a great chart here, that we’ll show the number of people going to your site. Referrers: are people that were nice enough to link to your site. Top Posts & Pages: display data on which of your posts people are visiting the most. Search Engine Terms: will display the keywords people used in search engines to get to your site. Clicks: displays a list of your most popular links.
The final bit of data, can be found under Blog Stats. Here you can find out information on how busy your site is, information on your own activity, and the number of people who subscribed to be notified every time you make a change to your site.
A brief explanation maybe in order here. Posts: are the individual articles you have put on your website. By default, WordPress provides the readers of your site the opportunity to comment on each of your articles. This option can be withdrawn if you like.
Categories: provide an organizational structure to your site. Let’s say I plan to talk about marketing and cats on my website. It would make sense to separate these two things into separate categories, so that people who visit my site can easy chose which subject is important to them. By separating my information into separate categories, I give them that ability.
Tags provide you with the ability to assign keywords to each of your posts. This is a great way for you to allow people to search through your site and find exactly what they want. If you associate the tag turtle to one of your posts, people will be able to click it and find all of the posts you have written on turtles. By using tags you will also increase your odds of ranking well with search engines. So, take the time and use tags through out your entire site. I’ll go into doing this in a later article.
The final bit of data on the Blog Stats page, refers to email subscribers. You can set up a system in which, those who chose, can be sent an email every time you post a new article. On this page, you’ll see how many people have chosen to be alerted. I’ll cover this in more detail in a later post.
Now click on the link Blog Surfer, which is located on the left side of your screen. Here you are able to search and track other blogs that would be of interest to you.
Click on the link to the left titled My Comments. This page will show you all of the comments you have made on other people’s WordPress blogs.
If you click on Readomattic, you’ll be taken to a page that displays the top news posts made by the WordPress community.
Tag Surfer, provides you with the ability to see the posts of others that write about the same topics that you do. Just type a topic into the subscribe box and hit add. Your page will display the newest posts made on WordPress.com blogs that refer to that topic. To remove those posts, just click on the X next to the keyword you just typed in.
If you click on the My Blogs link, you’ll be taken to a page that lists out every blog you have hosted on WordPress.com. You can use this page to quickly jump to stat pages, set up a system to automatically post your posts to Yahoo Updates and/or Twitter and setup a way to post to your blog just by sending an email. I’ll cover these topics in a future article.
On the final link under Dashboard you’ll find Subscriptions. Here you’ll see, what blogs you have subscribed to. By subscribing to a blog, you have chosen to receive an email every time someone makes a change to their blog.
You may or not have noticed, that there is a drop down box across the top of your screen. One of those links is called My Account. There are duplicate links found here, that are also found under the Dashboard link, we have been working with. I’ll now cover those links that differ between the two.
The first new link found under My Account is Edit Profile. You can also access this page by just clicking the link labeled Profile, on the left toolbar. Here you will find a reference to what they call an API key. This series of letters and numbers, is a password of sorts. We will use it in a later post to set up a spam blocking tool. Don’t worry about it at this time.
Under Personal Options leave the Visual Editor box unchecked and chose the color palette of your dashboard, if you like. Keyboard Shortcuts, will be of use when your website is getting a large number of comments. Refer back to it when this day comes.
The Browser Connection option, provides you with the ability to add a layer of security, whenever you log on to your WordPress Dashboard. If you chose to use HTTPS, every time you make an update to your site, those changes will be encrypted before they are sent. The only negative to using HTTPS, is that it will take longer to update your site.
The next two options allow you to change your specified language and assign your Primary Blog. The Primary Blog is considered, the blog to be the blog you will make the largest number of posts to.
WordPress comes preinstalled with a great grammar checker. You can decide under Proofreading, what errors you want WordPress to check for.
The information under both the Name and Contact Info section are self explanatory. Make sure you fill in as much information as possible here. AIM, Yahoo IM, and Jabber / Google Talk are all instant messaging clients. If you know what they are, have one, and want others to contact you through them, enter that information here. If you need to change your password you can also do so on the Account page.
The final two options available for you on the Profile page are My Gravatar and My Location. A Gravatar is simply an image that you want to represent you in your posts. You can set up a system in which this image will represent you not only on your blog, but also other social networking sites. I’ll describe Gravatars in a later post.
Geotagging can be enabled, if you want to give others very specific data on your location. I’m referring to latitude and longitude information. If this sounds great, go for it. I may cover this subject further in a later post.
There are three final links provided under the My Account link, found in the upper left hand corner of your browser window. Click on Support, if you have any questions on using WordPress. WordPress.com, will take you to the WordPress home page. Log Out should be clicked if you don’t want others to gain access to your blog without entering a username and password.
The only link left to cover is the link labeled Tools, in the left toolbar. Here you can decide if you want to install Gears on your home computer. Never do this on any other computer other than your own. As it states, Gears allows you to install your site content on your home computer. If installed your interactions with your WordPress blog will receive a speed increase.
Finally, here you have the option to set up a system, that will allow you to post to your blog by just sending an email. If you post often, this could be a great option for you. You set up this account by clicking on the link My Blogs, under Dashboard in your left toolbar. Locate the blog you wish to publish to by email. Click on the button located under Post-by-email to enable the account. Now you have an email account set up for posting to your blog from any where.
That completely covers all the options found both under the Global Dashboard and My Account categories. Next, I’ll cover everything you ever wanted to know about posting articles and every other feature available on WordPress.com.
So, now your ready to start posting articles in WordPress. There are two approaches to writing articles on the web. One, is to just write about whatever you want randomly and hope someone finds your content of interest. The other is to start out with a plan. I’ll cover search engine optimization of websites in another article, but for now I thought I’d introduce some things to think about as you plan your articles.
If you want to attract a large number of visitors to your site your articles most be valuable, timeless, original, and personable. By valuable, I mean, your articles should be of value to a large percentage of people. Try to write about subjects that people are definitely interested in. You can find out what people are reading about by going to:
http://www.google.com/insights/search/#
http://www.google.com/trends
http://technorati.com/
http://www.alexa.com/
By timeless, I mean, the article should be of interest to a large number of people a month from now. This is important, when your trying to create a large content driven website. Let us say, you want to have 100 interesting articles on your site. If you create 5 per day, but 4 of those five will have no value to anyone in a month, you are working against yourself. Instead of reaching your goal in 20 days, it will take you 100 days, to reach your goal.
Original content, is invaluable. There are far to many aggregators of information as it is. The only way you can make your site different, is to create content that is not available any where else. So, go get inspired by something, and create some original content.
Finally, do your best to talk like a real person. Try to be funny, tell stories and don’t get stuck writing articles that are aimed only at pleasing the search engines. Many search engine optimization tricks are geared toward making it seem like a website is of value. Do your best to appeal to real people and search engines, by just making a valuable, timeless, and original site. Now, Back to WordPress posting.
Everything you Ever Wanted to Learn About Posting in WordPress
I’m assuming, you are logged into your WordPress.com account right now. At the top of your page, drift your mouse over the link titled My Dashboards. When you do, a drop down window will show all the blogs you currently have set up at WordPress.com. Click on one.
You are now on a catch all page. Under Right Now, you’ll see a listing of your total posts, pages, categories and tags. The posts, are your articles. Pages, refer to static pages you created, that are more similar to normal website, rather than blog pages. Categories, refer to how you have grouped your articles, with other similar articles. Tags are keywords, that help you define the topics covered in a post.
The Recent Comments section, will list all the comments others have made on your blog. Incoming Links, shows you other websites that are linking to your site. The Your Stuff section, shows all of your recent posts. What’s Hot, describes what other sites are talking about.
The Section labeled QuickPress, allows you to post onto your blog without thinking about the styling of the post. You just plug in your title, content, tags and whether you want to add media and hit Publish. If you want to save a draft, which will keep others from seeing the post later, click Save Draft instead.
To Add an Image to your Post, from somewhere on the web
Click the first icon next to the words Upload/Insert
Click the From URL tab, at the top of the window that just opened.
Type a descriptive title for the image
Type a description of the image, in the Caption box
Choose whether you want the image aligned to the Left, Center, Right, or Default (None) format
Type a link to the image
Click the Insert into Post button
To Add an Image to your Post, from your computer
Click the first icon next to the words Upload/Insert
Click the From Computer tab, at the top of the window that just opened.
Click the Select Files button
Choose the image or images, you want to use
Click the Open or Select button, depending on if you have a PC or Mac
After the image uploads, you can edit the image, by clicking the Edit Button
Give the image a title
Fill in the Alternate Text, which is what someone will see if the image doesn’t load
Fill in a Caption that you wish to associate with the image
Fill in a Description of the image
If you want the person sent to another page if they click the image, fill in the Link URL, or click None
Choose whether you want the image aligned to the Left, Center, Right, or Default (None) format
Choose the desirable size for the image
Now click on Save All Changes or if you changed your mind click on Move to Trash
If you have already uploaded images, you’ll find them under the Media Library tab
To Add a Video to your post from your computer
Click the second icon next to the words Upload/Insert
If you have a video upgrade, you can upload your own videos
Click the Select Files button and select the video file. Once the video has been uploaded you’ll see a message stating “This video is being processed”
Check your media library, in a bit, and when your video is ready click Show
Now enter the Title, Description, and Rating
Click Insert into Post
To Add a Video to your post from another website
Just a Note. You are able to link and show your visitors videos for free, as long as they are not being stored on a WordPress Server.
Click the second icon next to the words Upload/Insert
Click on the From URL tab
Here is a list of some common video websites
Blip.tv
DailyMotion
Flickr Video
Google Video
Kyte.tv
LiveVideo
PodTech
Redlasso
Splashcast
TED Talks
Viddler
Vimeo
Vodpod
YouTube
Paste the link to the video you wish to upload
Click the Insert into Post button
To Add Audio to your post from another website
Click the third icon next to the words Upload/Insert
Type the web address of the audio file you want to upload
Give your audio file a title
Click insert into post
To Add other Media to your post from your computer
Click the fourth icon next to the words Upload/Insert
Recognize that you can only upload the following types of files:
jpg / jpeg: JPEG image files, which are normally used for photos on the internet
png: PNG image files, which try to be good at showing photos and few color images
gif: GIF image files, which are normally used when a photo has few colors and gradients
pdf: Adobe PDF file
doc / docx: Microsoft Word documents
ppt / pptx: Microsoft Power Point documents
odt: Sun Microsystems Open Office Document
Click the From Computer tab
Select the file you want to upload, then click Open or Select
Click Insert into post
To Add other Media to your post with a URL
Click the fourth icon next to the words Upload/Insert
Recognize that you can only upload the following types of files:
jpg / jpeg: JPEG image files, which are normally used for photos on the internet
png: PNG image files, which try to be good at showing photos and few color images
gif: GIF image files, which are normally used when a photo has few colors and gradients
pdf: Adobe PDF file
doc / docx: Microsoft Word documents
ppt / pptx: Microsoft Power Point documents
odt: Sun Microsystems Open Office Document
Click the From URL tab
Enter the web address (URL) of the file you want to upload
Give the file a Title
Click Insert into post
The Rest of the QuickPress Dashboard Page
The last two parts of the page, show you your recent drafts and stats on the activity of your blog. Recent Drafts are links to posts you have not made public yet. The Stats section shows you how many people are visiting your site and what they are looking at and searching for.
Posting the Proper Way
To finish off this post, I’m going to walk through the best way to post your articles. First click on the link labeled Posts, on your left sidebar. A new window will open titled, Add New Post.
In the big unlabeled box at the top of the page, enter the title of your post. You see under that, the same icons we talked about previously, that allow you to upload different forms of media. Under that is a mini word processor area. You will find the following text editing tools here:
Bold Text
Italic Text
Strike Through: Which people use to eliminate a thought, without deleting it. I’ve never understood this concept.
Unordered List: If this list your reading had little dots next to each item, instead of numbers, you’d have an unordered list.
Ordered List: The list format I’m using currently
Block Quote: When used white space, shows up, before and after a block quote element. It also insert margins for the block quote element.
Alignment Icons: Positions your text to the Left, Center or Right
Hyperlink Buttons: One allows you to create hyperlinks, while the other eliminates them.
Insert More Tag: When you decide that you want to cut off the article, you can insert the More tag to effectively split the post (mark where the excerpt officially ends).
Proofread Writing: Checks for spelling and grammar errors, based off of the preferences you set on your Profile page in WordPress.
Toggle Full Screen Mode: This will make the posting area take up your whole browser window.
Show / Hide Kitchen Sink: If toggled on, you’ll see additional text editing icons pop up. Toggle it on now!
HTML Styling Drop-down: This will allow you to quickly add HTML styles to your article.
Underline Text
Align Full: Will stretch your text spacing to make your left and right margins line up with each other.
Select Text Color
Paste as Plain Text
Paste as Word
Remove Formatting
Insert Custom Character
Outdent: Creates a paragraph, in which the first line is left justified and each additional line is indented.
Indent
Undo
Redo
Help: Gives you additional information on Rich Text editing
The next box is labeled Excerpt. You should create excerpts for all of your articles. It is a brief description of your article. By writing one, you allow your visitors to easily see what content you have that would be of interest. RSS feeds from sites that use excerpts for their articles are much preferred. Also search engines love the keyword heavy excerpts. So just take the time and write them.
It is considered a nice gesture to use trackbacks. If you write a post and reference a post from somewhere else, you should paste the URL to that post your referencing here. It provides website owners, with the ability to see who is linking to them. Think of it as a kind gesture.
In the Discussion area, you have to decide if you want others to be able to comment on your article. It’s in your best interest, search engine wise, to leave both of these boxes checked.
That leaves us with the last three editing areas. Once you write your post, you have to decide what to do with it. Under Publish, click on Save Draft, Preview or show it to the world, by clicking Publish. In the Publish section, there are other options concerning, who you want to see the post or if it should be published later.
That ends the “Posting Articles in WordPress” Post. In the next article, I’ll cover the Media, Links, Comments, Ratings and Poll links in your left sidebar.
Finishing Up the Sidebar: Media, Links, Comments and Ratings
I’m assuming, you are logged into your WordPress.com account right now. At the top of your page, drift your mouse over the link titled My Dashboards. When you do, a drop down window will show all the blogs you currently have set up at WordPress.com. Click on one.
This article will cover, the rest of the left sidebar, not covered in previous posts. Pages will be the most complicated issue I’ll cover in this article; and I plan to cover it last.
If you click the link labeled Media in your side bar, you’ll be taken to your media library. Here you’ll see a list of all the different media types, you have uploaded to WordPress. You can sort or delete these files, either individually or as a group. If you click on the Add New link, which opened on your sidebar when you clicked Media, you be taken to a page, from which you can upload more media. For information on uploading media please refer to the previous post, Posting Articles in WordPress.
The Link hyper-link, if clicked will take you to a page that will list all the links you think are important. They are placed in a link category titled Blogroll. A Blogroll, is just a list of links. On the page titled Edit Links, which should be on your screen, you can delete and order those links currently in your blogroll.
If you click on the link labeled Add New, under the Links sidebar link, you are ready to add new important links. You can enter the following information on each link you add to your blogroll:
A short name that you want to associate with the link
The web address of the link your adding
A description of what a person will find if they click on the link
The category you wish the link to be associated with. You can create a new category here as well.
Under the Target Option, it’s probably better to always click _none. Most people, don’t like a website that opens windows all over their screen.
The Link Relationship area is were you describe the relationship you have with the person that posted the link.
In the Advanced area of the Add a New Link page, there are a few advanced subjects to cover! An Image Address, would be a small photo you would want to be associated with a link.
If you type in the address of a RSS feed for the link, WordPress displays the link to the site’s RSS feed. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. With an RSS feed you can share the headlines from your blog. By adding the RSS feed to your blogroll, your users can easily gain access to this information at the same location as the link.
In the note block, you can add any additional information about the link. Now give the link a rating, if you wish. Go to the top right hand corner of the page, decide if you want to keep the link private and then click save.
If you click on Link Categories, on your left sidebar, you can now sort your links into different categories. Enter a Link Category Name, that would be descriptive of the links it will contain. Add a Description for the link Category. Now click Add Category. If you want you can go back to the Edit page under Links, in your left side bar, and move your links into your newly created link categories.
By clicking the Comments link, in your left sidebar, you’ll be able to Approve, mark as spam, or trash any comments, all in one place. There are Bulk Actions, you can use to handle many comments with just a few clicks.
By clicking on the Ratings link, in your left sidebar, you can give commenters the ability to rate their favorite Posts, Pages, and Comments. You can enable these rating systems, by clicking on the tabs across the top of the screen. If you enabled ratings, by clicking on reports, you’ll see the ratings your posts, pages, and comments have received.
There is an option to add polls to your posts. You do this by setting up either a free or pay account with a company called PollDaddy. You can find out more information on that here, polldaddy.com, or check back for a later post.
Making Traditional Website Static Pages
You can create pages, on your site, that do not change. These are called static pages. You create these pages by clicking on Pages, in your left toolbar. You are now looking at the familiar text editing tool you saw when you created posts in the past. Give the page a title. Refer to the previous post, to learn how to use the text editing tools if needed. Decide if you want others to be able to comment on your static page.
Now on to the Attributes part of the page. Each of the pages you create will be listed in a menu that goes across the top of your website, down the left, or down the right side depending on the template you choose for your site. Each of these static pages can be all alone or they can be associated with other static or blog pages.
If you want this page to be at the top of your page hierarchy, leave the select box, under parent set at Main Page (no parent). If however you want it associated under another page, in the select box, select the page you want it associated with. Under Template, you can choose what template you want associated with this static page as well. Finally, click on the order of your hierarchy of pages if you don’t want them to follow the alphabetical default.
Now, click on Save Draft, Preview or Publish after you decide if this page should be available for public consumption.
If you want your new static page set as your home page, being the first page people see when they go to your site. Click on Settings, in your left sidebar. Then click reading. Now, under Front Page Displays click in the circle, next to a static page (select below). Select the Front page, or home page you want displayed and then click Save Changes, at the bottom of that page.
The next article will be about styling the appearance, or theme of your website. Then will move on to adding users, and finishing up with a review of all the final settings available in WordPress. You’ll be an expert then.