Many of you are very confused when it comes to your sidebar widget.

Some widgets are ‘pre-made’ such as ‘Categories’ or ‘Archives’ and you can just drag them, but what if you want your own sidebar widget with a photo and text and links, etc.?

I have created a video that shows how you can use a WordPress post to create a custom sidebar widget and then use the HTML generated from it to drop into a text widget.

Clear as mud?  Watch the video!

I am very excited about making this video and I think that a LOT of you have wanted the ability to create galleries of your work on pages or in posts.

This video shows how to import and use the NextGen Gallery plugin for your WordPress site and use it immediately. 

This plugin is capable of way more than I am showing, so I recommend that you get to know it better by going to the website provided by the plugin designer, meanwhile, see how easy NextGen gallery is to use right out of the box!

One of the awesome things about WordPress is the ability to drop code in to a post or page without needing any special ‘plugins’.  Just remember to drop it in in HTML or CODE view (depending upon your WordPress version).

And I realized after I made the video that I spelled YouTube wrong (I typed it as two words, LOL!).  So, trust me on the method (if not my spelling)!

I will be featuring more videos in the coming week(s) on most asked questions… so send me your questions!

This is entirely overdue, but I have finally created a tutorial about how you would get a photo and/or a link (or a linked photo) into your WordPress sidebar using a ‘text’ widget.

You can view this tutorial here as made from screenshots of actually uploading a photo and using html image tags to make it appear. 

As a re-cap to the video, the hyperlinking tag is:
<a href="URL">link text</a>

Image tags:
<img src="URL" />

Remember the URL is the address of the destination (or the photo) on the web.  For example www.websbyamy.com is the URL (or address) of my site.

Saw this fabulous article at Noupe.com and learned a thing or two about the new WordPress 2.7 that I had missed! (Okay, so what I don’t know could fill a book).

The first thing I noticed (in Point 1.2 of the article) is the ability to "stick" a post using the Publish tab (see fig. below).  Many of you miss your ‘Sticky Post’ plugin that appears to not be compatible to 2.7.

You might be tempted not the read the entire article (it gets a bit technical for a few points) but keep reading for some excellent points!

For example, in Point 2.4 (of his article referenced above) – You can upload and install plugins with a touch of a button.  Hmmm… good news, but word of warning here… I do not provide support for plugins (other than helping your turn it off and get your site back online).  You will, however, get the plugin designers attention immediately by donating via Paypal to him.

I say this because you may really, really want that functionality but it may come with more than just ‘turn it on’ (it may need more in-depth configuring) or it might just not work for some reason.  If I happen to know how to configure it, I am happy to help.  Stick to the ‘popular’ plugins (especially those recommended by WordPress.org), their plugin designers get ‘group’ feedback quickly.  And remember (before you put in 10 or more) they can also cause conflicts among each other and cause your site to crash.

So moral of the story, plugins are like kids:  you take the good with the bad, we want them despite the drawbacks, fewer is always better (spoken like a mother of four who knows of what she is speaking)… and lastly, try not to drop the problem ones on my doorstep (I might hide behind the sofa and pretend to not be home). 

This is an excellent article from one of my favorite blogs www.FindableBlogs.com.  Sarah Lewis is specifically a WordPress blogger and SEO expert.

Read her latest article on "3 Easy Ways to Get More Mileage from Your Blog Posts" at http://www.findableblogs.com/get-more-from-your-blog-posts/ .

Today the question was "How do I create a download link so I can include a document in my post?"  And I want to thank Robin Messenheimer who asks the BEST questions! 

This short tutorial will assume that you have the WordPress plug-in FCKeditor  (which I include with all WordPress installations that I do).  FCKeditor replaces the standard WordPress editor with an awesome "MS Word" type editor.

Follow the step-by-step, matching the numbered step in the photo below.

1. Type the word that you want to link (by the way, it also works with a photo) and then ‘select’ (or highlight) it.
2. Click the "Link" icon and a menu will pop-up
3. Click the "Upload" tab and then "Browse" to find the document you wish to have be the download
4. Click "Send it to the Server" and wait until you get the confirmation… do NOT click  "Send it to the Server" multiple times, or you will corrupt the file.

Click on the image below for larger detail:

Do you want to share a flyer or a newsletter that you created in Publisher or Printshop or another application that isn’t widely distributed and worse–can only be read in the application?  Perhaps you have created a Word document, but you’ve used fancy fonts and you want the photos and text to display exactly as you’ve created it… well you are in luck!

PDFCreator is freeware.  Click here to go to the download page.

>Click on the setup.exe file
>Click on ‘run’ to install the application
>When it is installed, open the document you want to convert
>Open "Print"
>There will be a printer called "PDFCreator" and choose that
>When you send it to print, you are actually sending it to convert to PDF!
>You will be able to name the document and embed your name and company and date
>You will be able to save that PDF after conversion to your hard drive

Good luck!

You are going away… to convention or cruise (shouldn’t we all…) and want to still post while you are gone.   How about a series of posts?  It’s very easy!

When you are creating a post, you may not have noticed, but in the right hand column (under Preview this Post) there is a "Publish Status" area and a choice "Publish Immediately" and EDIT (which is a link)… see first screenshot.  When you click "Edit" you will get a date/time menu that you can choose.

REMEMBER:  Your date/time must be properly set in >Dashboard >Settings >   Also, you must click "Publish" (it will remain a draft until you hit publish).

It is relatively easy to put HTML into a post using the "Source" button on the editor.  (Of course the editor in my hosted blogs include the souped-up FCKeditor that I install as a standard ’must have’ plugin).  If you don’t have this plug-in, the simple editor that comes with WordPress will have a ‘Plain Text’ option that you can work in.

This trick is especially useful for blog add-ins that don’t have a ‘widget’ specifically for WordPress.  Most better blog add-ins have an ‘other’ option that includes HTML code for your site.  **Exceptions** at this time, you cannot drop the Paypal HTML directly into WordPress, but you can still put a button in using my workaround here.

Since WordPress works with a ‘visual editor’ it won’t take code and read it as such. To drop the code in a post or a page, you must switch your editor to a ’plain text’ or ‘source’ view. 

Follow these directions:

1. Create your post (or page) and put all the information in it (except the code). You automatically are working in the visual editor.
2. When you are done creating the post, click on the "Source" button (circled above) and your entire post will be converted to plain text, including HTML tags… it makes it tricky to navigate
3. Move your curser down to the end (or where you are placing your code) and ‘paste’ the HTML code
4. Click "Save"
5. After you "Save," the post will go back to visual editor and you *might* not be able to see the form or code at all until you publish (or click "Preview this Post" above).

 Paypal ‘Workaround’ -

1. Take the image of a Paypal button from the Paypal site (right click and ‘save as’ to your desktop)
2. Import the image into your post to where you want it.
3. Hyperlink it with the Paypal code for ‘Emails".  To get this code, create your Paypal button online and instead of creating the button, choose "No" at encrypting the button and then choose "More Options" and when you get to the next page and click ‘Create Button’, you will be given the HTML Code for websites (that you can’t use in WordPress) AND you will also get the code for linking an email. 
4. Cut the ‘email link’ code from Paypal and hyperlink the button you imported in Step 2