The iAssistant is an AssistU trained virtual assistant who also writes instructional ebooks about WordPress plugins.
Think Outside the WP Box
By · CommentsSomehow, I’ve always thought that any plugin that went into WordPress had to come from the WordPress Repository, or at least be designed specifically for WordPress. After figuring out how to use the ShareThis plugin on my website, I realized that other plugins could work on a WordPress site.
Take a look at this screenshot:
Have you ever seen this widget on a web page and wondered how it got there? Go to Twitter Goodies, click on “Widgets”, and then “My Website”. You will have a choice of four kinds of widgets: Fave, List, Search, and Profile. The one displayed here is a profile widget that displays my latests tweeps.
It is very easy to do. Even though it looks like nothing is there, click on “Finish & Grab Code”. When you see the code, highlight and copy it.
Then, go over to your WP Dashboard, open “Widgets”, locate the place in your sidebar you want it to display, drag a text widget over there, and paste the code in. There it is!
The widget code didn’t render the correct width to work in my theme, but I changed the width a few times, and it worked just great at 170 pixels.
Why do we love WordPress? Do you have to ask?
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Sociable WP Plugin
By · CommentsYes, I did work on the podcasting plugins, PowerPress and podPress, for quite a while. To be honest, I never got the feed/subscribe thing right. So I stopped.
I stopped going off on tangents and not finishing what I’d started. I stopped doing things that weren’t on my list. I stopped being busy and not accomplishing anything. So, I’m back on the social media plugins and back to working on my ebook.
Here’s a sneak peak at the Sociable plugin WP backend. It is very easy to use. It is ideal for the beginning WordPress plugin user. The hardest part is deciding which social networks to join, take a look at this:
Who knew there were that many? Just check the ones you want to display, and then drag and drop where you want them. And, if you need one that’s not listed, you can request it to be added. Sociable doesn’t have much support except in the WordPress forum, but then, you won’t really need any. It’s a smooth running plugin.
WP Podcasting Adventure
By · CommentsHi Everyone!
I know I said I would be working on an ebook entitled” The Easy, The Hard & The Impossible” about the Sociable, About Me 3000, and Share This WordPress plugins, but I got sidetracked today. Do any of you get sidetracked?
Someone asked me today if I knew how to podcast. I replied that I’d been wanting to learn. To be honest, part of me is scared. I don’t have an iPod, my husband does. I had iTunes installed on my computer but uninstalled it because I never used it. Never one to let technology beat me, I plunged right in.
First, I decided I should figure out exactly what a podcast was, yep, that’s where I was. Wikipedia had an excellent article on podcasting. Basically, podcasting is different from a plain mp3 file because it can be delivered by RSS.
A sidenote here: RSS is handy if you want to avoid email spam, but it doesn’t have the intimacy that having something delivered to your inbox does. RSS is read through a web browser, for those of you who were once like me and had no clue. 
So, now I’m working with two WordPress plugins to insert podcasts into blogs. I have to say, it is one of the harder plugin functions I’ve investigated. 
First, I’ll learn podPress (Mighty Seek) and then I’ll graduate to Blubrry Power Press. Power Press is an upgrade from podPress.
I hope I’ve provided some useful information here. There will definitely be more to come!
WP Social Networking Plugins
By · Comments
Hello Everyone,
I’ve been working an hour or so every day on an ebook featuring three WordPress social networking plugins: Sociable, About Me 3000, and Share This. It’s up to nine pages now. I’m calling it “The Easy, The Hard, and The Impossible”. So far, the ebook contains support information and how the plugin displays on the page. As I dig into the functionality of these WP plugins, I’m sure there will be more.
What I’ve found so far has helped me, if no one else. I now have an “About Me” widget in my sidebar. I couldn’t get it to work before. The more time I spend with WordPress, the more I understand how things come together on my websites.
Sociable displayed a list of my social networking links at the bottom of my blog posts and worked great. Then, I saw Chris Brogan’s blog. He uses Share This, so I started using that plugin. Once the site visitor clicks the icon, she can choose from a multitude of social networking sites. If she wanted to tweet my post, she would login to her Twitter account. But, if she signs up for a Share This account, her information is saved and she wouldn’t need to type it in every time. It’s an extra step the first time, but saves one every time thereafter. Sounds like a win-win situation for the time impaired. 
Bye for now, I’ll talk with you again soon.
WP Plugins-How to Choose?
By · Comments
WordPress is a great CMS and enables newbies to have their own website with a few simple clicks. Then it gets complicated, because we always want to change and tweak and put our own unique style to our very own website. We change the theme and lose all our content. Or maybe it’s not lost, just misplaced, so we have to find it and put it where it’s supposed to be.
Anyone ever been there? That’s why I use WP themes from iThemes, their great tech support! I haven’t lost as much content since I’ve used their templates. And when I do, someone’s there to help me quickly find it and get my website back up.
But the biggy, the one WP modification we make, that can do more damage than anything else is a plugin installation. That’s because plugins are pieces of code, and once installed, they can “break” the code in your template. The only way to save your website is to delete the offending plugin. Some plugins are malicious and leave code on your website that can only be deleted by a professional.
Over the next year, I’m doing a series of blog posts about some of the more popular WordPress plugins, and I’ll include screen shots. One of the problems I’ve encountered with installing WP plugins is that after putting hours of research into getting the plugin installed and working correctly, it’s just not what I need, or it doesn’t fit well with the rest of my site, or it is just more trouble than it’s worth. So, I delete it and go looking for another.
With that in mind, my blog posts will be designed to ease your pain in your quest for that perfect WordPress plugin that will work symbiotically with your website and give you a site that builds your following and promotes your business!
Is there a WP plugin you’d like to know more about? Please leave that information in a comment on this post.
Stay tuned!
