THE ULTIMATE
WORDPRESS GUIDE
Create your WordPress Blog in Next
30 minutes: - Are you ready?
Harsh Agrawal
The Ultimate WordPress Guide
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Table of Contents
1. Foreword: Why this eBook? ........................................................... 3
2. What is WordPress? ...................................................................... 6
WordPress themes: ......................................................................... 7
WordPress plugins: ......................................................................... 7
WordPress.com Vs. WordPress.Org: What's the difference? ........ 8
3. Webhosting for WordPress: ......................................................... 13
What are the features you need in WordPress hosting ................ 13
Server compatibility with WordPress ........................................... 13
Server Uptime: .............................................................................. 13
Bandwidth and storage ................................................................. 14
Support: Get help in time! ............................................................. 14
Different packages offered by Bluehost: ....................................... 15
4. A definitive guide to Shared hosting: .......................................... 16
Starter Package: ............................................................................. 16
Plus package (Most popular & recommended for you): ............... 17
Business Pro package: ................................................................... 17
Conclusion: Which Bluehost Shared Hosting Package is best for
you: ................................................................................................ 18
5. How to Buy Webhosting and Domain: ........................................ 20
Domain name: .............................................................................. 20
Payment mode: ............................................................................. 20
Step by Step Guide to Buy Web hosting Server: ........................... 21
Account details: ............................................................................ 23
Package Information: ................................................................... 23
Complete hosting purchase: ......................................................... 24
Selecting the password: ................................................................ 26
Logging into Bluehost cPanel:...................................................... 26
6. How to Install WordPress on Bluehost Hosting ......................... 28
7. WordPress Setup guide: Let’s make it perfect! ........................... 32
Delete default Posts and page: ..................................................... 32
Set up WordPress permalink: ...................................................... 33
Settings > General: (Basic WordPress configuration) ................. 34
Settings > Writing ........................................................................ 35
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WordPress ping list: ..................................................................... 36
Settings> Reading: ....................................................................... 36
WordPress discussion/comment settings: ................................... 37
Avatar settings: .............................................................................. 37
Settings > Media ............................................................................ 37
8. Essential WordPress Plugins and their configuration ................ 39
How to Install WordPress Plugin ................................................. 39
Must have WordPress Plugin: ....................................................... 41
Email software: ............................................................................. 44
Web-hosting: ................................................................................ 44
Domain Names: ............................................................................ 45
WordPress Themes: ..................................................................... 45
Social Media Management Tool: .................................................. 45
Image Capturing tool: .................................................................. 45
Screencast software: ..................................................................... 45
SEO tools: ..................................................................................... 45
Monetization Program: ................................................................ 46
What next? ....................................................................................... 46
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1. Foreword: Why this eBook?
Hey There,
Usually I call my blog reader as a Shouter and you are new here, so let
me welcome you like a stranger & first time Shouter.
Welcome to ShoutMeLoud & before you get into the journey of
starting your WordPress blog, let me quickly brief you about why this
book & who the hell am I?
I’m an ordinary guy but my friend’s describes me as someone who is
passionate & creative. At the time of updating this book, I’m 29 year’s
old, living a Digital nomadic life (I travel a lot), and following my
dream of an independent life.
It may sound like I live a dream life, but it wasn’t the same few years
back. I come from a small-town & like any other young guy, I
dreamed of making it big. My idea of becoming a big then was to join
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a big MNC & get a handsome package. Thanks to my immense love
for computer & Internet, I got placed in Accenture & was all set to
kick-start my career.
Call it sheer luck as I started blogging to share my learning’s like
everybody else, and it became a huge thing in last couple of years.
Today, my blog ShoutMeLoud receives more than 8 million Pageviews
a year & from my blog earning I have purchased a car & a flat in
the capital heart of India.
The reason I’m emphasizing on the things I have purchased is to
reveal and provide an insight that blogging is not just a part-time
thing. Since blogging has changed my life, I have decided to pass on
my learning’s to as many people as I could. After all, I love writing &
nothing feels better than changing someone’s life.
Why this book? Part II
I started my online journey in 2008 and after 2 months of blogging, I
moved from BlogSpot to WordPress platform.
The very first challenge for me was to understand about installing and
setting up WordPress blog. Those days I never had an eBook like this
that could guide me step by step on how to launch a search engine
friendly blog using WordPress.
This book is written exclusively for reader like you, who wants to
create a WordPress blog & earn passive or make a career in blogging.
You don’t have to be a tech-savvy to do various WordPress tasks as
these days everything is automated and a big blogging community is
out there to help you improve & grow your blog.
The only thing that you need to know is how to create & use
WordPress blog, where to look for help. This eBook is going to be
your best friend to learn all the basics of WordPress and will work as
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your personal assistance to set up your own WordPress Blog.
By the end of the day, you will have your blog up & running. This
book is going to change your life for good.
Here is how I have structured the book to start with. Don’t mind the
boring topics, as through out this eBook you will find me cracking a
light hearted joke, explaining technical details in the way, that even
my college drop out dad can also understand. None the least, I will be
taking care of any follow up question at our forum. I have added the
forum & other important resources for you at the last page of this
eBook.
Once again, let’s have a look at topic titles:
What is WordPress
Different type of WordPress platform & which one is best for
you?
How to buy Webhosting and domain name for your blog
How to install WordPress
How to setup WordPress for the first time
Essential WordPress plugins and how to configure them
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2. What is WordPress?
Before we move ahead, it’s important for you to know why you should
be using WordPress. There are many other platforms like Tumblr,
BlogSpot which are free, but why it’s worth hosting your blog
yourself.
Why 22.7% of websites in the world is using WordPress?
The power of the WordPress is in the community & being an open
Source CMS software (Don’t mind this tech word, it’s a brilliant
blogging platform), which is powered by PHP and MySQL, it makes it
easier for technical & non-tech people like you to make a blog.
According to the recent stats (August 2015), almost 22.7% of websites
on Internet is powered by WordPress. Like BlogSpot that is powered
by Google, WordPress is powered by its parent company Automattic;
which offers two variation of this popular blogging platform:
WordPress.com and WordPress.org (Self hosted WordPress).
History of WordPress: Good to know info
WordPress was started as a blogging tool that is constantly evolving
as a CMS (Content management system). First version of WordPress
was released in 2003, and it is an Open source project licensed
under GPLV2. In the last 12 years, WordPress evolved as most
popular platform for creating blogs and Websites.
WordPress is based on PHP and MySQL, and is founded by Matt
Mullenweg and Mike Little. WordPress project is backed up by parent
company Automattic, which also offers various WordPress related
services and products like WordPress.com, VaultPress, JetPack,
VideoPress, WordPress VIP, Gravatar and many more.
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As a beginner, you need to know two important things about
WordPress:
WordPress themes:
Unlike standard Website and CMS's we know of, WordPress is backed
by a huge community of freelance designers, developers and
WordPress development companies that offers free and premium
WordPress theme.
One of the biggest challenge for a website today is to have a great
design, and WordPress themes are answer to that.
Anyone can download WordPress themes for free from official
WordPress repo, 3rd party Websites or by paying a little for premium
market place. With few clicks of button, you can change the design
and look of your theme. As I mentioned above, WordPress can be
used to create a blog or a Website, and theme part makes it really easy
for anyone to start a Website with almost no coding knowledge.
I use Genesis WordPress theme on all of my blogs including
ShoutMeLoud, as it’s the most optimized WordPress theme out there.
WordPress plugins:
The most fascinating thing about WordPress is plugin.
Plugins extends the core features of WordPress software. They help in
adding new features to your WordPress powered Websites, and there
is a WordPress plugin for almost everything. You want to show
related post after post, you want to add your bio in the sidebar or
Facebook follow link, there is a plugin for it.
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All you need to do is, think of a feature that you want, and search for a
plugin using Google or plugin repo (Link below) and with the help of
the plugin; you can easily add your desired features.
Due to huge number of WordPress plugins, one can easily
get confused with which plugin to use. A solution to this is listed to
the professionals who have been running and managing professional
blogs on WordPress. I have listed down essential WordPress plugins
that you need for your blog at the last chapter of WordPress guide
playbook.
You can download WordPress plugins from official plugin directory
for free.
In the upcoming pages of this eBook, you will learn about installing
WordPress theme & plugins. So enjoy your learning & sip your coffee!
Note: At the end section of this eBook, I have shared a list of
WordPress plugins that you must have on your blog.
WordPress.com Vs. WordPress.Org: What's the difference?
WordPress offers two variations of its software: WordPress.com
and WordPress.org.
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WordPress.org which is popularly known as self hosted WordPress
blog.
WordPress.com: (Good to know information)
WordPress.com is a free blogging platform offered by Automattic,
which will let anyone to create a blog for free. When you create a blog
on WordPress.com, you will get a web address
like domainname.WordPress.com. Your blog will be hosted on
WordPress server, and this platform is perfect for those people, who
want to have a blog for personal writing.
There are many paid addons that are also available; you can a
buy custom domain name, you can use paid themes and so on.
WordPress.com has many limitations in terms of managing your
blog.
For ex: You can't install 3rd party plugins and you have limited
choices for themes.
From a personal blog perspective, this is not a bad option, as
WordPress team takes care of managing your blog architect, and
backup. But, if you plan to make money from your blog & create a
future/career, ignore WordPress.com & use WordPress.org.
Note: If you want to just explore WordPress initially, create a free
blog on WordPress.com & it will give you an overview of how cool &
easy it is to Work with WordPress. (Hardly takes 5 mins)
Later on when you will be installing WordPress on your server, you
can easily differentiate & understand how WordPress.org is awesome.
WordPress.com is useful for:
Individuals who want to start a personal or not so serious
blog.
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Companies who just need a blog without much control &
branding. And factors like design and hosting-space is not
an issue.
It's not for:
Individuals who are planning to make money from a blog.
You can’t use AdSense or use other popular ways to make
money from your blog.
Individuals who needs total control over their blog
You can't use ad networks like AdSense, Infolinks or
create a blog for making money.
Here is an official TOS page for using WordPress.com blogs, which
will give you all the information regarding fair usage and TOS of
WordPress.
WordPress.org a.k.a Self-hosted WordPress Platform
WordPress.org is a complete solution for people like you & me who
are looking to start a blog for making money, for promoting their
small business or for any other usage like creating an E-commerce
site.
In old days, you needed to download a copy of WordPress.org
from official download page and install it our own hosting server.
These days all web-hosting companies let you install WordPress with
few clicks. (Thanks to automatic installer tools).
WordPress.com and WordPress.org have similar interface
(WordPress dashboard), but WordPress.org removes all the
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limitations of WordPress.com, and offers you complete control over
your blog.
Quote: A good blog is your personalized home!
You can use any theme (Design), or install 3rd party themes or
plugins on your self-hosted WordPress blog. You can monetize it
anyways you like (AdSense, Affiliate, In-text ads, Paid reviews) and so
on.
Here is a basic chart showing common difference between
WordPress.com and WordPress.org:
Here are few interesting facts about WordPress:
Some of the most popular websites in the world
(Techcrunch, CNN, Forbes) are powered by WordPress
VIP
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22.7% of the websites in the world is powered by
WordPress.
WordPress app is available for all popular mobile
platforms (iOS, Android, Blackberry)
You can always migrate your BlogSpot or WordPress.com
blog to self hosted WordPress at any time & it’s free.
WordPress platform created a complete market place for individuals
and companies to make money. You can find or post jobs on many
freelance marketplaces like Freelancer.com. You can additionally get
free support from amazing community of WordPress via support
forum.
WordPress is used to create many other type of websites like;
Directory websites, affiliate system, portfolio website, Ticketing
system and so on. There is a plugin for almost everything for
WordPress.
You can install WordPress locally to learn, test or develop anything on
WordPress. (Windows and Mac)
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3. Webhosting for WordPress:
So far you have understood what is WordPress and different type of
WordPress platform. Now I will talk about WordPress hosting, as to
install your own WordPress blog you need to have web hosting and
domain name.
What are the features you need in WordPress hosting
Below I have mentioned the list of features that you should look
before buying a webhosting for WordPress. Don’t get overwhelmed
with the list of features as I have also listed down best Webhosting
companies for WordPress at the end of this section.
Server compatibility with WordPress
One of the important features that you need to look into a web
hosting company is compatibility with WordPress blog. It uses PHP
and MySQL and your server should have latest version of PHP and
MySQL.
Always prefer Linux Hosting for WordPress or web-hosting
which are dedicated for WordPress. For running a WordPress blog, a
server should have minimum of:
PHP version 5.2.4 or greater
MySQL version 5.0 or greater
Server Uptime:
A webhosting with excellent uptime is essential. There are many
webhosting that offers you hosting space for free but doesn’t
guarantee good uptime. This is one reason why you should avoid free
web-hosting companies, and buy reliable Webhosting.
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If your website is down; you not only lose the traffic, but it also affects
your website/blog search engine ranking. Free webhosting have
issues with uptime, most of the time your site would go down and
customer service will respond with the message “We are looking into
it”.
The best way is to go for hosting which offer maximum up time &
reliable support. It’s impossible to achieve 100% uptime but anything
above 99% is what you should look for. I have suggested best webhosting
for WordPress at the later part of this eBook. For now, let’s
focus on making your basic strong, as it would help you a lot in
managing your blog.
Bandwidth and storage:
The higher the bandwidth and storage is; better is it for your website.
There are renowned hosting companies that offer unlimited
bandwidth and storage. In my recommended hosting companies
section (Below), I have listed down those hosting companies for
WordPress, which offers unlimited resources.
Support: Get help in time!
There are times when you will need technical assistance from your
hosting company. You should ensure that you can connect with your
hosting support team in real-time. They should at least offer support
by telephone or live-chat. More over, ensure the support is given in
real-time and you don’t have to wait for hours in queue to be taken
care of.
Getting ready to launch your WordPress blog:
To start with, I recommend you to use Bluehost for installing your
WordPress blog. You can use below link to get Bluehost hosting for
discounted rate. I will also explain what are the different hosting
plans offered by Bluehost and how to buy webhosting from Bluehost.
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Get Exclusive discount on Bluehost hosting
Different packages offered by Bluehost:
In this guide, I will share which shared hosting plan from Bluehost
you should select. Bluehost offers 3 different shared hosting plans
which is useful for end-users like you and me to save our money and
get exactly what we need. For a new WordPress blog, a shared hosting
is the best in terms of money and requirement.
To start with, head over to Bluehost site and check out their existing
shared hosting plans. Bluehost hosting offers Starter, Plus and
Business Pro shared hosting packages. Plus package is the most
popular because it offers complete value for anybody money. Let’s
have a look at differences between all the 3 packages, as it would
make your understanding more clear.
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4. A Definite guide to Bluehost Shared hosting
packages
Before I share the difference between Bluehost Starter, Plus and
Business Pro plan, have a look at below image. This image will give
you an overview of what all packages have to offer, and later I will
explain every package in detail.
Starter Package:
This is the smallest and cheapest shared hosting package that you can
buy from Bluehost. This is indeed a good package that is a feature rich
and costs only $3.29/month for 3 years hosting plan.
Starter package allows you to host only one website and this is one
reason I recommend my readers to opt for Plus package, as they allow
to host multiple websites. (More on this later)
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Starter package offers 100Gb bandwidth/month which is more
than enough for you to run your website on shared hosting. Starter
package doesn't come with Cloudflare CDN offered by Bluehost, but
you can always directly signup for Cloudflare and integrate free CDN.
This will help you to reduce the bandwidth of your hosting account by
great extent.
You should choose starter package only when you are planning to
host only one website and have no plans for adding more websites in
future.
Plus package (Most popular & recommended for you):
This is my favorite and the most popular package on Bluehost. Pro
package is featured rich and offers everything which starter package
offers + unlimited domain hosting + free marketing coupons worth
$200 + free CDN. These marketing coupons are usually free Adwords
Coupon, Facebook Ads coupon which you can use to market your
website. This package also comes with 1 free domain, which will save
extra money for you.
Price for this package is $5.95/month with this discount link (Usually
$9.99/month). If you were looking for one recommendation from me,
I recommend plus package for you.
As this is a complete value for money and help you grow in future.
You should consider buying it for minimum 2 or 3 years term to save
a lot on your hosting bill. (Bluehost coupon is valid only on first bill;
there is no discount on renewals).
For further reading How to add extra domain to your Bluehost
account
Business Pro package:
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This package is targeted to businesses that are hosting their site on
shared hosting and looking for extra features. This hosting package is
recommended for those who need dedicated I.P and SSL
certificate. Do remember SSL is now a search engine ranking factor
and if you are running an E-commerce website you should definitely
have SSL certificate on your website (Https). Along with free domain
you will also get free who.is guard, which will hide your domain
contact details to the world.
Conclusion: Which Bluehost Shared Hosting Package is best
for you:
Here is my suggestion for you to quickly pick right package for you.
Running only 1 site: Pick Starter Package
Running more than 1 site: Pick Plus package
(Recommended)
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Need SSL and dedicated I.P: Pick Business Pro package
If you are planning to buy the starter Bluehost package, I would
recommend grab Plus package as price difference is minimal and in
future if you want to host more than one website, you don't have to
spend money on web hosting.
Garb your Bluehost Shared hosting package
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5. How to Buy Webhosting and Domain:
Here are few things that you need to keep yourself ready with:
Domain name:
The domain name which you want to buy or use. You will get one free
domain name or you can use any of your existing domain name (You
can use free domain later too). If you have not decided on your
domain name, check this guide to learn to select a domain name. You
can use this free service call BustAName to find cool domain names
for your blog.
Payment mode:
You can make payment via Credit card, PayPal or debit cards that
allow online international transactions. If you are from India, you can
buy hosting from Bluehost India. For everyone else, I recommend buy
hosting from Bluehost U.S.
Visit Bluehost India || Visit Bluehost U.S.
Few things to know:
Here are two guides that I recommend you to read first, as this will
give you basic information about Web-hosting and more over you will
learn how to save money on your web hosting purchases.
A beginner guide to Webhosting packages
How to save money on Webhosting renewals
Now if you are done with all the above said things, you are all set to
buy web hosting & domain for your new blog.
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Step by Step Guide to Buy Web hosting Server:
To start with click here & go to Bluehost site and click on get started
now.
This will take you to a page where you will see three different
packages to choose from.
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I already explained above & I’m not going to repeat myself. So, buy
Plus package.
Do remember this discount is only for the first bill. So you better
purchase hosting for 2 or 3 years term.
Click on select in front of the plan you have selected.
Pick free Domain or use your existing domain name:
Next page is where you can either get a free domain name from
Bluehost or you can use any of your existing domain name.
Even if you don't use free domain feature right now, you can always
get your free domain later.
Note: If you are using your existing domain name from some other
domain registrar such as Godaddy, you need to change your domain
Name-server to
NS1.Bluehost.com
NS2.Bluehost.com
Here is a simple to follow guide on doing it.
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If you want to keep things simple, better enter the domain name you
wish to buy in "new domain" field and your free domain will be
activated with your hosting purchase.
Click on next and from here the steps would be simpler.
Account details:
In this section you need to enter your details (Name, email address,
address), which is straightforward, and make sure you verify every
details (Specially email address), as you will get your login and
hosting information in your email address.
Note: Above details are dummy details for reference only!
Package Information:
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This part is crucial and you should pay extra attention to ensure you
are not over-charged for add-ons that you don't even need. As I said
above, pick hosting package for 24 or 36 months term, as you will
notice the price decreases as tenure increases.
Also make sure you deselect the option "Site Backup Pro"
"Sitelock Domain security", as you don't really need them.
Complete hosting purchase:
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Before you make the payment, I suggest you to scroll up and verify all
the information. By default you will see the option to make
payment via Credit card only, but if you want to make payment
via PayPal, click on "More payment option" and it will show you
Pay by PayPal option too.
Use the payment option you are comfortable with, and after making
payment you will see another after sale page like this (Just ignore
every thing), click on complete at the end.
On the next page you will get the confirmation for your hosting
purchase and you will see a screen like below. Click on "create your
password":
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Selecting the password:
This is the last stage of your web hosting purchase, as you just need
to set the password for your hosting login. You can use any of your
password or you can use password generator to create a complex
password. (Recommended).
Copy and paste the password at any safe place and click on paste.
Click on create and that's it, now you are 98% done buying your web
hosting for your blog.
That's it you are done with all the steps to buy your web hosting and
domain name.
Logging into Bluehost cPanel:
Check your Email inbox and you will get a confirmation email with all
the login information for your web hosting. The only thing, which you
won’t get in the email, is the password you created in the last step
(This is for your own security).
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Now go to Bluehost.com and click on Login at the top. In the login
field type your domain name or username and in the password field;
type the password, which you generated above.
On the next page click on Home, and you will be at the Bluehost
cPanel. That's it! Congratulation as you just ended up buying your
first web hosting and domain name.
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6. How to Install WordPress on Bluehost Hosting
Login to your Bluehost account and Click on hosting at the top, to go
inside cPanel.
Scroll down to Website Builders> Select WordPress from the list, and
it will take you to the next page.
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On the next screen click on Install in-front of WordPress installation
pop-up. This will lead you to next page where you can make many
changes.
On the next page click select the domain on which you want to install
WordPress
Note: Here you can decide if you want your domain to be with www
or without www. In 2015 it’s all about shorter URL, so I recommend
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select non www. (You will get this option when you click on
Dropdown, refer above screenshot).
Click on Check domain & this is where you can configure final few
settings to install WordPress.
Click on show advance option:
In this step you can select your WordPress username and password
for your login. Make sure you don't select admin as username.
Instead use some random username and use complex password. Also
keep a check mark on Automatic create a database.
On the next page it will start installing WordPress. Don't close the
page until unless it shows Processing complete. It will take about 1
minute for Bluehost WordPress script to install WordPress blog.
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An Email will be sent to the registered Email address about the login
and password which you can use to login to your WordPress
dashboard.
That’s it and now your WordPress blog is up & running. If you have
any confusion regarding any steps till now, you can email me your
query at admin@shoutmeloud.com or tweet me at @denharsh
Now, the hard part is done & fun part starts. In the next section you
will learn setting up your WordPress blog. This is where your blog is
born, and now you will be adding flavors & your swag to it!
So let’s get on with it:
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7. WordPress Setup guide: Let’s make it perfect!
In this guide, I will add screenshots and explain every WordPress
settings that you need to configure. You can skip certain settings,
depending upon your requirement.
For example: If you are creating a membership site or guest blogging
WordPress blog, you should enable user registration.
So, lets get started with this fun section & setup your WordPress blog.
You can login to your WordPress dashboard by going to
http://domain.com/wp-admin (replace domain with actual domain
name).
Delete default Posts and page:
Login to your WordPress dashboard and go to Posts> All posts
and delete the default "Hello world" post.
Similarly go to Pages > All pages and delete the default "Sample
page".
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Set up WordPress permalink:
The default WordPress permalink is in format
http://domain.com/?p=123
This permalink is short but not friendly for search engine. You need
to change it to make it search engine friendly, which is one click
away.
Go to settings > Permalink and select the post name and click on
save. This ensure that your permalink when appear in search engine,
it will contain some keywords and your blog posts will rank better in
search engine.
Here is an example from my live blog:
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Settings > General: (Basic WordPress configuration)
Remember at the time of installing WordPress on Bluehost, we added
site-name & tagline. You can change it anytime from this setting page.
This is where you will configure your homepage name and tag line.
This is very important, as by default this is what shows up in Google
search. Email address will be your site admin Email address and this
is where you will get all the Email notifications related to your
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site. Make sure you setup the time zone to your local-time, this will
make sure your scheduled post will go according to your time zone.
Settings > Writing
At this page, you will set up WordPress settings related to writing. By
default, WordPress adds a category “Uncategorized” which doesn’t
look so ideal. Here you can change the default category to any other
category.
You can go to posts> Categories from left Side panel, and add a new
category.
Come back, and change the WordPress default category to newly
created category.
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On the same page, you need to update the WordPress ping list. Let
me first explain what is Ping.
WordPress ping list:
One of the major differences between a static Website and a blog is
ability to ping. By pinging search engine bots, our WordPress blog
notifies the search engines about newly published blog post. You
should update your ping list with all major ping services. You can get
a list of updated WordPress ping services from here.
Add all the ping services URL and click on update button.
Settings> Reading:
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Here you can configure number of maximum blog posts to show on
homepage and in feeds. Also, you can set if you want to publish full
content or just partial content in the feed, I prefer to offer partial
feeds (Summary), as I want more activity to happen on my site and
also to avoid RSS theft.
WordPress discussion/comment settings:
This is another section, which you should setup just after installing
WordPress. Just follow the screenshot and put check mark in front of
the field as shown in the above screenshot.
Avatar settings:
Now, if you are new to WordPress, I suggest you to go to
Gravatar.com and create an account and upload your image for your
Email address. This way your image will show on WordPress or any
other WordPress powered sites where you will be commenting or
guest posting.
Settings > Media
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Though, you can skip setting up this part but I usually suggest users
to make come necessary changes to avoid lots of image files. By
default, when you upload images in WordPress, it creates images in 3
different sizes. Here you can set sizes as 0*0 and keep only one
desired size as enabled along with size.
With all these changes, you are done with basic yet most important
set up of WordPress blog.
Now, it’s time for you to learn doing essential stuff such as installing
new plugins, changing themes & so on. You will be surprised to know
that this is so easy & you waited so many months because of afraid of
not being technically smart.
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8. Essential WordPress Plugins and their
configuration
How to Install WordPress Plugin
One of the most basic things, which you need to learn about selfhosted
WP blog, is to install WordPress plugins. There are many ways
by which you can install a plugin in WordPress blog; you can use any
of these three methods to quickly add a plugin:
1. Install plugin by Searching from dashboard
2. Upload.zip folder to WordPress and install
3. Install via FTP
I won’t recommend installing by FTP until you don’t have permission
to install a plugin from dashboard, and most of the recommended
hosting companies like Bluehost, Hostgator gives you enough
permission to add plugins from dashboard.
If you wish to search plugin from WordPress plugin repo, you can
simply get the name of the plugin and do a search from dashboard
and install it.
Login to your WordPress dashboard
Click on plugins> Add New
Search for plugin, which you wish to install
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Click on Install now
Activate the plugin and configure it’s settings
That’s it and you are done installing the plugin. There are many
plugins that are old and have not been updated for years, but they are
still very useful. Since you can’t install such WordPress plugins by
searching, you can download the .zip folder from official repo and
install it. Here is a quick guide on installing .zip format plugin:
Login to WordPress dashboard
Click on plugin > Add New > Upload
Click on upload > browse the .zip file > Install plugin
Activate and configure settings
When you are downloading plugin, make sure you download it from
credible sources like WordPress plugin repo, Codecanyon,
ShoutMeLoud store or official plugin page of plugin developers. Avoid
downloading plugins from any non-credible sources like free
file sharing sites, torrents.
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Installing WordPress theme:
Installing a new theme is again as easy as installing plugin. You can
install theme just like plugins. So instead of me repeating myself, you
can follow this blog post to learn the process. If you need a video
guide, let me know on twitter by clicking this link.
Must have WordPress Plugin:
Here I will add the exact name of the plugin which you need to search
and install. Most of these plugins come with extra configuration and
you should make sure to make optimum changes for making most of
these plugins. If you need tutorial for any specific WordPress plugin
set up, you can let us know on our Facebook fan page.
Akismet:
This plugin is managed by official WordPress creator Automattic.
This plugin is very useful to avoid spam comments. There are many
alternatives to this plugin but I prefer this one, as it’s fast and does
the job pretty well. You can download plugin from official page here.
You need API Key to activate this plugin and you can quickly create a
free account on WordPress.com and get your WordPress API key.
Here is a guide which teaches you how to get free API key for Akismet
plugin.
SEO plugins:
WordPress SEO by Yoast:
This plugin can make a hell lot of difference for your blog success!
I recommend you to install & Setup it just after installing
WordPress.
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With this plugin you can also edit Robots.txt file, .htaccess file from
WordPress dashboard. This plugin also offers Keyword suggestion
and Keyword optimization, which will give you an extra edge in
Search engine ranking.
Also, you can configure indexing and no-indexing of your site
structure which is very useful for proper SEO of your blog. You can
download this plugin from official repo here.
I know few words which might have sounded technical again, but
believe me it’s easy to use. I have created a text post & a video post on
configuring & using this plugin. Follow both the links below & learn
to configure this awesome free plugin.
1. How to configure WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin
2. Here is the free video guide
SEO friendly Image:
Images helps a lot in driving traffic to your blog, but to rank for
images you need to work on alt tag optimization of your blog. SEO
friendly image plugin does the same by, converting your image name
into Alt tag and make it search engine read-able. Bonus tip: Always
use your Keyword or relevant name as image name. Avoid using
Image-001.jpeg and such names.
<Download SEO Friendly image>
PushPress:
If you are suffering from indexing issue on your blog, try PushPress
which is a free WordPress plugin to ping cloud servers. It helps in
faster indexing of your blog. This is a plug and play plugin which
doesn’t require any configuration. <Download PushPress>
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W3 Total cache:
Page load time is one important factor for great user experience and
also for better search engine ranking. W3 total cache is a complete
solution to your WordPress caching. This plugin comes with
advanced configuration and caching options. Also, if you are using
any CDN service and Cloudflare, this plugin offers easy to implement
option for configuration.
<Download W3 total cache>
Here is the detailed guide on how to configure W3 Total cache plugin.
WP DB-manager:
One stop plugin for doing various maintenance job and schedule job
in WordPress. Using this plugin you can quickly optimize WordPress
database, clean WordPress tables, take WordPress backup and
configure WordPress timely backup.
This is a very useful plugin to get many things done.
<Download WP DB-manager>
JetPack plugin:
This is official plugin by WordPress, which comes with many options
that they offer to WordPress.com users. Also, this plugin contain
some of the essential elements that you would be requiring for
example: WordPress.com stats, Subscription option for
commentator, Spelling and grammar check, Contact form and also
many more features.
<Download Jetpack plugin>
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WP.Smush.it:
Smush.it is an online service by WPMU, it does the job pretty well by
compressing your images for faster loading. Your image quality
remains the same and using image compression technology, this
plugin will compress images at the time of loading. This plugin also
comes with bulk image compression of already uploaded images. So,
if you have new or old blog, WPSmushit plugin will help you to keep
your blog loading time faster.
<Download WP Smush.it>
Read: How to use Smush.it plugin
The lists of plugins for WordPress are endless and you can browse
WordPress plugin repo to find plugin for every use. But, these are
some of those must have WordPress plugins, which are essential for
every WordPress blog. Here are few more plugin resource which you
should see:
1. List of WordPress plugins I use at ShoutMeLoud
2. Best SEO plugins for WordPress blog
This comes down to the end of our WordPress eBook and here I'm
sharing other useful blogging resources that I use for my blogs.
Email software:
Feedburner (Free)
Aweber (Paid) 1st month is for $1 only.
Web-hosting:
Bluehost (Shared hosting)
Knownhost (managed VPS)
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Domain Names:
ShoutMyDomain (Accepts payment via Paypal)
WordPress Themes:
Genesis Theme (The best theme which I use at
ShoutMeLoud). You can buy the Genesis Theme +
ShoutMeLoud blue theme from here.
Codelight: Beautiful modern theme for tech-blogs.
Social Media Management Tool:
Hootsuite (Supports Google plus too): Perfect for
managing all social profile from one place
Bufferapp: Perfect for keeping your social-media profile
updated
PostPlanner: Best Facebook tool to manage your pages.
Image Capturing tool:
SnagIt! : Best tool for screen-capture and image editing.
Screencast software:
Camtasia (This is the video recording tool I use for
creating videos for my Youtube channel. You can check
my video blog here)
SEO tools:
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SEMRUSH (This is the only tool I use for Keyword
research and discovery. You can check out free tutorial
here and here).
Monetization Program:
Google AdSense: Best contextual ad network
Viglink: Best way to monetize your outbound links
Affiliate marketing: Learn the tricks with this eBook
What next?
Do remember creating a successful & profitable blog takes time, but
it’s worth the effort. I can say that from my experience, as right now
I’m in Thailand (travelling & working) at the same time. This would
not have been possible without blogging & WordPress.
You should browse all the archive of ShoutMeLoud.com to learn every
tricks that I use to earn over $14000/month. You can see my income
reports here (Yah! I like to be transparent as we got one life to live)
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You should bookmark ShoutMeLoud store page, as this is where I
publish new eBooks & plugins. So far, I have authored 3 eBooks & 2
more will be out at the end of 2015.
Check out ShoutMeLoud store
A quick favor:
Could you share about this book with your friends & those who want
to become their own boss? I know it won’t help you or me in money
ways, but it feels good to change somebody life for good. Isin’t it?
Click on below image to share about free WordPress playbook on
Twitter
Here is the direct link of my eBook page which you can share on
Facebook or email it to your friends.
As promised, you can interact with me & other WordPress bloggers at
Shouters forum. Head over to http://ask.shoutmeloud.com & join the
conversation.
Lets make blogging full time business.
Harsh Agrawal
www.ShoutMeLoud.com
Twitter: @denharsh
Facebook: @shoutharsh
WORDPRESS GUIDE
Create your WordPress Blog in Next
30 minutes: - Are you ready?
Harsh Agrawal
The Ultimate WordPress Guide
Page 1
Table of Contents
1. Foreword: Why this eBook? ........................................................... 3
2. What is WordPress? ...................................................................... 6
WordPress themes: ......................................................................... 7
WordPress plugins: ......................................................................... 7
WordPress.com Vs. WordPress.Org: What's the difference? ........ 8
3. Webhosting for WordPress: ......................................................... 13
What are the features you need in WordPress hosting ................ 13
Server compatibility with WordPress ........................................... 13
Server Uptime: .............................................................................. 13
Bandwidth and storage ................................................................. 14
Support: Get help in time! ............................................................. 14
Different packages offered by Bluehost: ....................................... 15
4. A definitive guide to Shared hosting: .......................................... 16
Starter Package: ............................................................................. 16
Plus package (Most popular & recommended for you): ............... 17
Business Pro package: ................................................................... 17
Conclusion: Which Bluehost Shared Hosting Package is best for
you: ................................................................................................ 18
5. How to Buy Webhosting and Domain: ........................................ 20
Domain name: .............................................................................. 20
Payment mode: ............................................................................. 20
Step by Step Guide to Buy Web hosting Server: ........................... 21
Account details: ............................................................................ 23
Package Information: ................................................................... 23
Complete hosting purchase: ......................................................... 24
Selecting the password: ................................................................ 26
Logging into Bluehost cPanel:...................................................... 26
6. How to Install WordPress on Bluehost Hosting ......................... 28
7. WordPress Setup guide: Let’s make it perfect! ........................... 32
Delete default Posts and page: ..................................................... 32
Set up WordPress permalink: ...................................................... 33
Settings > General: (Basic WordPress configuration) ................. 34
Settings > Writing ........................................................................ 35
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WordPress ping list: ..................................................................... 36
Settings> Reading: ....................................................................... 36
WordPress discussion/comment settings: ................................... 37
Avatar settings: .............................................................................. 37
Settings > Media ............................................................................ 37
8. Essential WordPress Plugins and their configuration ................ 39
How to Install WordPress Plugin ................................................. 39
Must have WordPress Plugin: ....................................................... 41
Email software: ............................................................................. 44
Web-hosting: ................................................................................ 44
Domain Names: ............................................................................ 45
WordPress Themes: ..................................................................... 45
Social Media Management Tool: .................................................. 45
Image Capturing tool: .................................................................. 45
Screencast software: ..................................................................... 45
SEO tools: ..................................................................................... 45
Monetization Program: ................................................................ 46
What next? ....................................................................................... 46
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1. Foreword: Why this eBook?
Hey There,
Usually I call my blog reader as a Shouter and you are new here, so let
me welcome you like a stranger & first time Shouter.
Welcome to ShoutMeLoud & before you get into the journey of
starting your WordPress blog, let me quickly brief you about why this
book & who the hell am I?
I’m an ordinary guy but my friend’s describes me as someone who is
passionate & creative. At the time of updating this book, I’m 29 year’s
old, living a Digital nomadic life (I travel a lot), and following my
dream of an independent life.
It may sound like I live a dream life, but it wasn’t the same few years
back. I come from a small-town & like any other young guy, I
dreamed of making it big. My idea of becoming a big then was to join
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a big MNC & get a handsome package. Thanks to my immense love
for computer & Internet, I got placed in Accenture & was all set to
kick-start my career.
Call it sheer luck as I started blogging to share my learning’s like
everybody else, and it became a huge thing in last couple of years.
Today, my blog ShoutMeLoud receives more than 8 million Pageviews
a year & from my blog earning I have purchased a car & a flat in
the capital heart of India.
The reason I’m emphasizing on the things I have purchased is to
reveal and provide an insight that blogging is not just a part-time
thing. Since blogging has changed my life, I have decided to pass on
my learning’s to as many people as I could. After all, I love writing &
nothing feels better than changing someone’s life.
Why this book? Part II
I started my online journey in 2008 and after 2 months of blogging, I
moved from BlogSpot to WordPress platform.
The very first challenge for me was to understand about installing and
setting up WordPress blog. Those days I never had an eBook like this
that could guide me step by step on how to launch a search engine
friendly blog using WordPress.
This book is written exclusively for reader like you, who wants to
create a WordPress blog & earn passive or make a career in blogging.
You don’t have to be a tech-savvy to do various WordPress tasks as
these days everything is automated and a big blogging community is
out there to help you improve & grow your blog.
The only thing that you need to know is how to create & use
WordPress blog, where to look for help. This eBook is going to be
your best friend to learn all the basics of WordPress and will work as
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your personal assistance to set up your own WordPress Blog.
By the end of the day, you will have your blog up & running. This
book is going to change your life for good.
Here is how I have structured the book to start with. Don’t mind the
boring topics, as through out this eBook you will find me cracking a
light hearted joke, explaining technical details in the way, that even
my college drop out dad can also understand. None the least, I will be
taking care of any follow up question at our forum. I have added the
forum & other important resources for you at the last page of this
eBook.
Once again, let’s have a look at topic titles:
What is WordPress
Different type of WordPress platform & which one is best for
you?
How to buy Webhosting and domain name for your blog
How to install WordPress
How to setup WordPress for the first time
Essential WordPress plugins and how to configure them
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2. What is WordPress?
Before we move ahead, it’s important for you to know why you should
be using WordPress. There are many other platforms like Tumblr,
BlogSpot which are free, but why it’s worth hosting your blog
yourself.
Why 22.7% of websites in the world is using WordPress?
The power of the WordPress is in the community & being an open
Source CMS software (Don’t mind this tech word, it’s a brilliant
blogging platform), which is powered by PHP and MySQL, it makes it
easier for technical & non-tech people like you to make a blog.
According to the recent stats (August 2015), almost 22.7% of websites
on Internet is powered by WordPress. Like BlogSpot that is powered
by Google, WordPress is powered by its parent company Automattic;
which offers two variation of this popular blogging platform:
WordPress.com and WordPress.org (Self hosted WordPress).
History of WordPress: Good to know info
WordPress was started as a blogging tool that is constantly evolving
as a CMS (Content management system). First version of WordPress
was released in 2003, and it is an Open source project licensed
under GPLV2. In the last 12 years, WordPress evolved as most
popular platform for creating blogs and Websites.
WordPress is based on PHP and MySQL, and is founded by Matt
Mullenweg and Mike Little. WordPress project is backed up by parent
company Automattic, which also offers various WordPress related
services and products like WordPress.com, VaultPress, JetPack,
VideoPress, WordPress VIP, Gravatar and many more.
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As a beginner, you need to know two important things about
WordPress:
WordPress themes:
Unlike standard Website and CMS's we know of, WordPress is backed
by a huge community of freelance designers, developers and
WordPress development companies that offers free and premium
WordPress theme.
One of the biggest challenge for a website today is to have a great
design, and WordPress themes are answer to that.
Anyone can download WordPress themes for free from official
WordPress repo, 3rd party Websites or by paying a little for premium
market place. With few clicks of button, you can change the design
and look of your theme. As I mentioned above, WordPress can be
used to create a blog or a Website, and theme part makes it really easy
for anyone to start a Website with almost no coding knowledge.
I use Genesis WordPress theme on all of my blogs including
ShoutMeLoud, as it’s the most optimized WordPress theme out there.
WordPress plugins:
The most fascinating thing about WordPress is plugin.
Plugins extends the core features of WordPress software. They help in
adding new features to your WordPress powered Websites, and there
is a WordPress plugin for almost everything. You want to show
related post after post, you want to add your bio in the sidebar or
Facebook follow link, there is a plugin for it.
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All you need to do is, think of a feature that you want, and search for a
plugin using Google or plugin repo (Link below) and with the help of
the plugin; you can easily add your desired features.
Due to huge number of WordPress plugins, one can easily
get confused with which plugin to use. A solution to this is listed to
the professionals who have been running and managing professional
blogs on WordPress. I have listed down essential WordPress plugins
that you need for your blog at the last chapter of WordPress guide
playbook.
You can download WordPress plugins from official plugin directory
for free.
In the upcoming pages of this eBook, you will learn about installing
WordPress theme & plugins. So enjoy your learning & sip your coffee!
Note: At the end section of this eBook, I have shared a list of
WordPress plugins that you must have on your blog.
WordPress.com Vs. WordPress.Org: What's the difference?
WordPress offers two variations of its software: WordPress.com
and WordPress.org.
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WordPress.org which is popularly known as self hosted WordPress
blog.
WordPress.com: (Good to know information)
WordPress.com is a free blogging platform offered by Automattic,
which will let anyone to create a blog for free. When you create a blog
on WordPress.com, you will get a web address
like domainname.WordPress.com. Your blog will be hosted on
WordPress server, and this platform is perfect for those people, who
want to have a blog for personal writing.
There are many paid addons that are also available; you can a
buy custom domain name, you can use paid themes and so on.
WordPress.com has many limitations in terms of managing your
blog.
For ex: You can't install 3rd party plugins and you have limited
choices for themes.
From a personal blog perspective, this is not a bad option, as
WordPress team takes care of managing your blog architect, and
backup. But, if you plan to make money from your blog & create a
future/career, ignore WordPress.com & use WordPress.org.
Note: If you want to just explore WordPress initially, create a free
blog on WordPress.com & it will give you an overview of how cool &
easy it is to Work with WordPress. (Hardly takes 5 mins)
Later on when you will be installing WordPress on your server, you
can easily differentiate & understand how WordPress.org is awesome.
WordPress.com is useful for:
Individuals who want to start a personal or not so serious
blog.
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Companies who just need a blog without much control &
branding. And factors like design and hosting-space is not
an issue.
It's not for:
Individuals who are planning to make money from a blog.
You can’t use AdSense or use other popular ways to make
money from your blog.
Individuals who needs total control over their blog
You can't use ad networks like AdSense, Infolinks or
create a blog for making money.
Here is an official TOS page for using WordPress.com blogs, which
will give you all the information regarding fair usage and TOS of
WordPress.
WordPress.org a.k.a Self-hosted WordPress Platform
WordPress.org is a complete solution for people like you & me who
are looking to start a blog for making money, for promoting their
small business or for any other usage like creating an E-commerce
site.
In old days, you needed to download a copy of WordPress.org
from official download page and install it our own hosting server.
These days all web-hosting companies let you install WordPress with
few clicks. (Thanks to automatic installer tools).
WordPress.com and WordPress.org have similar interface
(WordPress dashboard), but WordPress.org removes all the
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limitations of WordPress.com, and offers you complete control over
your blog.
Quote: A good blog is your personalized home!
You can use any theme (Design), or install 3rd party themes or
plugins on your self-hosted WordPress blog. You can monetize it
anyways you like (AdSense, Affiliate, In-text ads, Paid reviews) and so
on.
Here is a basic chart showing common difference between
WordPress.com and WordPress.org:
Here are few interesting facts about WordPress:
Some of the most popular websites in the world
(Techcrunch, CNN, Forbes) are powered by WordPress
VIP
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22.7% of the websites in the world is powered by
WordPress.
WordPress app is available for all popular mobile
platforms (iOS, Android, Blackberry)
You can always migrate your BlogSpot or WordPress.com
blog to self hosted WordPress at any time & it’s free.
WordPress platform created a complete market place for individuals
and companies to make money. You can find or post jobs on many
freelance marketplaces like Freelancer.com. You can additionally get
free support from amazing community of WordPress via support
forum.
WordPress is used to create many other type of websites like;
Directory websites, affiliate system, portfolio website, Ticketing
system and so on. There is a plugin for almost everything for
WordPress.
You can install WordPress locally to learn, test or develop anything on
WordPress. (Windows and Mac)
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3. Webhosting for WordPress:
So far you have understood what is WordPress and different type of
WordPress platform. Now I will talk about WordPress hosting, as to
install your own WordPress blog you need to have web hosting and
domain name.
What are the features you need in WordPress hosting
Below I have mentioned the list of features that you should look
before buying a webhosting for WordPress. Don’t get overwhelmed
with the list of features as I have also listed down best Webhosting
companies for WordPress at the end of this section.
Server compatibility with WordPress
One of the important features that you need to look into a web
hosting company is compatibility with WordPress blog. It uses PHP
and MySQL and your server should have latest version of PHP and
MySQL.
Always prefer Linux Hosting for WordPress or web-hosting
which are dedicated for WordPress. For running a WordPress blog, a
server should have minimum of:
PHP version 5.2.4 or greater
MySQL version 5.0 or greater
Server Uptime:
A webhosting with excellent uptime is essential. There are many
webhosting that offers you hosting space for free but doesn’t
guarantee good uptime. This is one reason why you should avoid free
web-hosting companies, and buy reliable Webhosting.
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If your website is down; you not only lose the traffic, but it also affects
your website/blog search engine ranking. Free webhosting have
issues with uptime, most of the time your site would go down and
customer service will respond with the message “We are looking into
it”.
The best way is to go for hosting which offer maximum up time &
reliable support. It’s impossible to achieve 100% uptime but anything
above 99% is what you should look for. I have suggested best webhosting
for WordPress at the later part of this eBook. For now, let’s
focus on making your basic strong, as it would help you a lot in
managing your blog.
Bandwidth and storage:
The higher the bandwidth and storage is; better is it for your website.
There are renowned hosting companies that offer unlimited
bandwidth and storage. In my recommended hosting companies
section (Below), I have listed down those hosting companies for
WordPress, which offers unlimited resources.
Support: Get help in time!
There are times when you will need technical assistance from your
hosting company. You should ensure that you can connect with your
hosting support team in real-time. They should at least offer support
by telephone or live-chat. More over, ensure the support is given in
real-time and you don’t have to wait for hours in queue to be taken
care of.
Getting ready to launch your WordPress blog:
To start with, I recommend you to use Bluehost for installing your
WordPress blog. You can use below link to get Bluehost hosting for
discounted rate. I will also explain what are the different hosting
plans offered by Bluehost and how to buy webhosting from Bluehost.
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Get Exclusive discount on Bluehost hosting
Different packages offered by Bluehost:
In this guide, I will share which shared hosting plan from Bluehost
you should select. Bluehost offers 3 different shared hosting plans
which is useful for end-users like you and me to save our money and
get exactly what we need. For a new WordPress blog, a shared hosting
is the best in terms of money and requirement.
To start with, head over to Bluehost site and check out their existing
shared hosting plans. Bluehost hosting offers Starter, Plus and
Business Pro shared hosting packages. Plus package is the most
popular because it offers complete value for anybody money. Let’s
have a look at differences between all the 3 packages, as it would
make your understanding more clear.
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4. A Definite guide to Bluehost Shared hosting
packages
Before I share the difference between Bluehost Starter, Plus and
Business Pro plan, have a look at below image. This image will give
you an overview of what all packages have to offer, and later I will
explain every package in detail.
Starter Package:
This is the smallest and cheapest shared hosting package that you can
buy from Bluehost. This is indeed a good package that is a feature rich
and costs only $3.29/month for 3 years hosting plan.
Starter package allows you to host only one website and this is one
reason I recommend my readers to opt for Plus package, as they allow
to host multiple websites. (More on this later)
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Starter package offers 100Gb bandwidth/month which is more
than enough for you to run your website on shared hosting. Starter
package doesn't come with Cloudflare CDN offered by Bluehost, but
you can always directly signup for Cloudflare and integrate free CDN.
This will help you to reduce the bandwidth of your hosting account by
great extent.
You should choose starter package only when you are planning to
host only one website and have no plans for adding more websites in
future.
Plus package (Most popular & recommended for you):
This is my favorite and the most popular package on Bluehost. Pro
package is featured rich and offers everything which starter package
offers + unlimited domain hosting + free marketing coupons worth
$200 + free CDN. These marketing coupons are usually free Adwords
Coupon, Facebook Ads coupon which you can use to market your
website. This package also comes with 1 free domain, which will save
extra money for you.
Price for this package is $5.95/month with this discount link (Usually
$9.99/month). If you were looking for one recommendation from me,
I recommend plus package for you.
As this is a complete value for money and help you grow in future.
You should consider buying it for minimum 2 or 3 years term to save
a lot on your hosting bill. (Bluehost coupon is valid only on first bill;
there is no discount on renewals).
For further reading How to add extra domain to your Bluehost
account
Business Pro package:
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This package is targeted to businesses that are hosting their site on
shared hosting and looking for extra features. This hosting package is
recommended for those who need dedicated I.P and SSL
certificate. Do remember SSL is now a search engine ranking factor
and if you are running an E-commerce website you should definitely
have SSL certificate on your website (Https). Along with free domain
you will also get free who.is guard, which will hide your domain
contact details to the world.
Conclusion: Which Bluehost Shared Hosting Package is best
for you:
Here is my suggestion for you to quickly pick right package for you.
Running only 1 site: Pick Starter Package
Running more than 1 site: Pick Plus package
(Recommended)
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Need SSL and dedicated I.P: Pick Business Pro package
If you are planning to buy the starter Bluehost package, I would
recommend grab Plus package as price difference is minimal and in
future if you want to host more than one website, you don't have to
spend money on web hosting.
Garb your Bluehost Shared hosting package
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5. How to Buy Webhosting and Domain:
Here are few things that you need to keep yourself ready with:
Domain name:
The domain name which you want to buy or use. You will get one free
domain name or you can use any of your existing domain name (You
can use free domain later too). If you have not decided on your
domain name, check this guide to learn to select a domain name. You
can use this free service call BustAName to find cool domain names
for your blog.
Payment mode:
You can make payment via Credit card, PayPal or debit cards that
allow online international transactions. If you are from India, you can
buy hosting from Bluehost India. For everyone else, I recommend buy
hosting from Bluehost U.S.
Visit Bluehost India || Visit Bluehost U.S.
Few things to know:
Here are two guides that I recommend you to read first, as this will
give you basic information about Web-hosting and more over you will
learn how to save money on your web hosting purchases.
A beginner guide to Webhosting packages
How to save money on Webhosting renewals
Now if you are done with all the above said things, you are all set to
buy web hosting & domain for your new blog.
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Step by Step Guide to Buy Web hosting Server:
To start with click here & go to Bluehost site and click on get started
now.
This will take you to a page where you will see three different
packages to choose from.
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I already explained above & I’m not going to repeat myself. So, buy
Plus package.
Do remember this discount is only for the first bill. So you better
purchase hosting for 2 or 3 years term.
Click on select in front of the plan you have selected.
Pick free Domain or use your existing domain name:
Next page is where you can either get a free domain name from
Bluehost or you can use any of your existing domain name.
Even if you don't use free domain feature right now, you can always
get your free domain later.
Note: If you are using your existing domain name from some other
domain registrar such as Godaddy, you need to change your domain
Name-server to
NS1.Bluehost.com
NS2.Bluehost.com
Here is a simple to follow guide on doing it.
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If you want to keep things simple, better enter the domain name you
wish to buy in "new domain" field and your free domain will be
activated with your hosting purchase.
Click on next and from here the steps would be simpler.
Account details:
In this section you need to enter your details (Name, email address,
address), which is straightforward, and make sure you verify every
details (Specially email address), as you will get your login and
hosting information in your email address.
Note: Above details are dummy details for reference only!
Package Information:
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This part is crucial and you should pay extra attention to ensure you
are not over-charged for add-ons that you don't even need. As I said
above, pick hosting package for 24 or 36 months term, as you will
notice the price decreases as tenure increases.
Also make sure you deselect the option "Site Backup Pro"
"Sitelock Domain security", as you don't really need them.
Complete hosting purchase:
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Before you make the payment, I suggest you to scroll up and verify all
the information. By default you will see the option to make
payment via Credit card only, but if you want to make payment
via PayPal, click on "More payment option" and it will show you
Pay by PayPal option too.
Use the payment option you are comfortable with, and after making
payment you will see another after sale page like this (Just ignore
every thing), click on complete at the end.
On the next page you will get the confirmation for your hosting
purchase and you will see a screen like below. Click on "create your
password":
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Selecting the password:
This is the last stage of your web hosting purchase, as you just need
to set the password for your hosting login. You can use any of your
password or you can use password generator to create a complex
password. (Recommended).
Copy and paste the password at any safe place and click on paste.
Click on create and that's it, now you are 98% done buying your web
hosting for your blog.
That's it you are done with all the steps to buy your web hosting and
domain name.
Logging into Bluehost cPanel:
Check your Email inbox and you will get a confirmation email with all
the login information for your web hosting. The only thing, which you
won’t get in the email, is the password you created in the last step
(This is for your own security).
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Now go to Bluehost.com and click on Login at the top. In the login
field type your domain name or username and in the password field;
type the password, which you generated above.
On the next page click on Home, and you will be at the Bluehost
cPanel. That's it! Congratulation as you just ended up buying your
first web hosting and domain name.
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6. How to Install WordPress on Bluehost Hosting
Login to your Bluehost account and Click on hosting at the top, to go
inside cPanel.
Scroll down to Website Builders> Select WordPress from the list, and
it will take you to the next page.
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On the next screen click on Install in-front of WordPress installation
pop-up. This will lead you to next page where you can make many
changes.
On the next page click select the domain on which you want to install
WordPress
Note: Here you can decide if you want your domain to be with www
or without www. In 2015 it’s all about shorter URL, so I recommend
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select non www. (You will get this option when you click on
Dropdown, refer above screenshot).
Click on Check domain & this is where you can configure final few
settings to install WordPress.
Click on show advance option:
In this step you can select your WordPress username and password
for your login. Make sure you don't select admin as username.
Instead use some random username and use complex password. Also
keep a check mark on Automatic create a database.
On the next page it will start installing WordPress. Don't close the
page until unless it shows Processing complete. It will take about 1
minute for Bluehost WordPress script to install WordPress blog.
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An Email will be sent to the registered Email address about the login
and password which you can use to login to your WordPress
dashboard.
That’s it and now your WordPress blog is up & running. If you have
any confusion regarding any steps till now, you can email me your
query at admin@shoutmeloud.com or tweet me at @denharsh
Now, the hard part is done & fun part starts. In the next section you
will learn setting up your WordPress blog. This is where your blog is
born, and now you will be adding flavors & your swag to it!
So let’s get on with it:
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7. WordPress Setup guide: Let’s make it perfect!
In this guide, I will add screenshots and explain every WordPress
settings that you need to configure. You can skip certain settings,
depending upon your requirement.
For example: If you are creating a membership site or guest blogging
WordPress blog, you should enable user registration.
So, lets get started with this fun section & setup your WordPress blog.
You can login to your WordPress dashboard by going to
http://domain.com/wp-admin (replace domain with actual domain
name).
Delete default Posts and page:
Login to your WordPress dashboard and go to Posts> All posts
and delete the default "Hello world" post.
Similarly go to Pages > All pages and delete the default "Sample
page".
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Set up WordPress permalink:
The default WordPress permalink is in format
http://domain.com/?p=123
This permalink is short but not friendly for search engine. You need
to change it to make it search engine friendly, which is one click
away.
Go to settings > Permalink and select the post name and click on
save. This ensure that your permalink when appear in search engine,
it will contain some keywords and your blog posts will rank better in
search engine.
Here is an example from my live blog:
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Settings > General: (Basic WordPress configuration)
Remember at the time of installing WordPress on Bluehost, we added
site-name & tagline. You can change it anytime from this setting page.
This is where you will configure your homepage name and tag line.
This is very important, as by default this is what shows up in Google
search. Email address will be your site admin Email address and this
is where you will get all the Email notifications related to your
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site. Make sure you setup the time zone to your local-time, this will
make sure your scheduled post will go according to your time zone.
Settings > Writing
At this page, you will set up WordPress settings related to writing. By
default, WordPress adds a category “Uncategorized” which doesn’t
look so ideal. Here you can change the default category to any other
category.
You can go to posts> Categories from left Side panel, and add a new
category.
Come back, and change the WordPress default category to newly
created category.
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On the same page, you need to update the WordPress ping list. Let
me first explain what is Ping.
WordPress ping list:
One of the major differences between a static Website and a blog is
ability to ping. By pinging search engine bots, our WordPress blog
notifies the search engines about newly published blog post. You
should update your ping list with all major ping services. You can get
a list of updated WordPress ping services from here.
Add all the ping services URL and click on update button.
Settings> Reading:
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Here you can configure number of maximum blog posts to show on
homepage and in feeds. Also, you can set if you want to publish full
content or just partial content in the feed, I prefer to offer partial
feeds (Summary), as I want more activity to happen on my site and
also to avoid RSS theft.
WordPress discussion/comment settings:
This is another section, which you should setup just after installing
WordPress. Just follow the screenshot and put check mark in front of
the field as shown in the above screenshot.
Avatar settings:
Now, if you are new to WordPress, I suggest you to go to
Gravatar.com and create an account and upload your image for your
Email address. This way your image will show on WordPress or any
other WordPress powered sites where you will be commenting or
guest posting.
Settings > Media
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Though, you can skip setting up this part but I usually suggest users
to make come necessary changes to avoid lots of image files. By
default, when you upload images in WordPress, it creates images in 3
different sizes. Here you can set sizes as 0*0 and keep only one
desired size as enabled along with size.
With all these changes, you are done with basic yet most important
set up of WordPress blog.
Now, it’s time for you to learn doing essential stuff such as installing
new plugins, changing themes & so on. You will be surprised to know
that this is so easy & you waited so many months because of afraid of
not being technically smart.
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8. Essential WordPress Plugins and their
configuration
How to Install WordPress Plugin
One of the most basic things, which you need to learn about selfhosted
WP blog, is to install WordPress plugins. There are many ways
by which you can install a plugin in WordPress blog; you can use any
of these three methods to quickly add a plugin:
1. Install plugin by Searching from dashboard
2. Upload.zip folder to WordPress and install
3. Install via FTP
I won’t recommend installing by FTP until you don’t have permission
to install a plugin from dashboard, and most of the recommended
hosting companies like Bluehost, Hostgator gives you enough
permission to add plugins from dashboard.
If you wish to search plugin from WordPress plugin repo, you can
simply get the name of the plugin and do a search from dashboard
and install it.
Login to your WordPress dashboard
Click on plugins> Add New
Search for plugin, which you wish to install
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Click on Install now
Activate the plugin and configure it’s settings
That’s it and you are done installing the plugin. There are many
plugins that are old and have not been updated for years, but they are
still very useful. Since you can’t install such WordPress plugins by
searching, you can download the .zip folder from official repo and
install it. Here is a quick guide on installing .zip format plugin:
Login to WordPress dashboard
Click on plugin > Add New > Upload
Click on upload > browse the .zip file > Install plugin
Activate and configure settings
When you are downloading plugin, make sure you download it from
credible sources like WordPress plugin repo, Codecanyon,
ShoutMeLoud store or official plugin page of plugin developers. Avoid
downloading plugins from any non-credible sources like free
file sharing sites, torrents.
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Installing WordPress theme:
Installing a new theme is again as easy as installing plugin. You can
install theme just like plugins. So instead of me repeating myself, you
can follow this blog post to learn the process. If you need a video
guide, let me know on twitter by clicking this link.
Must have WordPress Plugin:
Here I will add the exact name of the plugin which you need to search
and install. Most of these plugins come with extra configuration and
you should make sure to make optimum changes for making most of
these plugins. If you need tutorial for any specific WordPress plugin
set up, you can let us know on our Facebook fan page.
Akismet:
This plugin is managed by official WordPress creator Automattic.
This plugin is very useful to avoid spam comments. There are many
alternatives to this plugin but I prefer this one, as it’s fast and does
the job pretty well. You can download plugin from official page here.
You need API Key to activate this plugin and you can quickly create a
free account on WordPress.com and get your WordPress API key.
Here is a guide which teaches you how to get free API key for Akismet
plugin.
SEO plugins:
WordPress SEO by Yoast:
This plugin can make a hell lot of difference for your blog success!
I recommend you to install & Setup it just after installing
WordPress.
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With this plugin you can also edit Robots.txt file, .htaccess file from
WordPress dashboard. This plugin also offers Keyword suggestion
and Keyword optimization, which will give you an extra edge in
Search engine ranking.
Also, you can configure indexing and no-indexing of your site
structure which is very useful for proper SEO of your blog. You can
download this plugin from official repo here.
I know few words which might have sounded technical again, but
believe me it’s easy to use. I have created a text post & a video post on
configuring & using this plugin. Follow both the links below & learn
to configure this awesome free plugin.
1. How to configure WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin
2. Here is the free video guide
SEO friendly Image:
Images helps a lot in driving traffic to your blog, but to rank for
images you need to work on alt tag optimization of your blog. SEO
friendly image plugin does the same by, converting your image name
into Alt tag and make it search engine read-able. Bonus tip: Always
use your Keyword or relevant name as image name. Avoid using
Image-001.jpeg and such names.
<Download SEO Friendly image>
PushPress:
If you are suffering from indexing issue on your blog, try PushPress
which is a free WordPress plugin to ping cloud servers. It helps in
faster indexing of your blog. This is a plug and play plugin which
doesn’t require any configuration. <Download PushPress>
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W3 Total cache:
Page load time is one important factor for great user experience and
also for better search engine ranking. W3 total cache is a complete
solution to your WordPress caching. This plugin comes with
advanced configuration and caching options. Also, if you are using
any CDN service and Cloudflare, this plugin offers easy to implement
option for configuration.
<Download W3 total cache>
Here is the detailed guide on how to configure W3 Total cache plugin.
WP DB-manager:
One stop plugin for doing various maintenance job and schedule job
in WordPress. Using this plugin you can quickly optimize WordPress
database, clean WordPress tables, take WordPress backup and
configure WordPress timely backup.
This is a very useful plugin to get many things done.
<Download WP DB-manager>
JetPack plugin:
This is official plugin by WordPress, which comes with many options
that they offer to WordPress.com users. Also, this plugin contain
some of the essential elements that you would be requiring for
example: WordPress.com stats, Subscription option for
commentator, Spelling and grammar check, Contact form and also
many more features.
<Download Jetpack plugin>
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WP.Smush.it:
Smush.it is an online service by WPMU, it does the job pretty well by
compressing your images for faster loading. Your image quality
remains the same and using image compression technology, this
plugin will compress images at the time of loading. This plugin also
comes with bulk image compression of already uploaded images. So,
if you have new or old blog, WPSmushit plugin will help you to keep
your blog loading time faster.
<Download WP Smush.it>
Read: How to use Smush.it plugin
The lists of plugins for WordPress are endless and you can browse
WordPress plugin repo to find plugin for every use. But, these are
some of those must have WordPress plugins, which are essential for
every WordPress blog. Here are few more plugin resource which you
should see:
1. List of WordPress plugins I use at ShoutMeLoud
2. Best SEO plugins for WordPress blog
This comes down to the end of our WordPress eBook and here I'm
sharing other useful blogging resources that I use for my blogs.
Email software:
Feedburner (Free)
Aweber (Paid) 1st month is for $1 only.
Web-hosting:
Bluehost (Shared hosting)
Knownhost (managed VPS)
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Domain Names:
ShoutMyDomain (Accepts payment via Paypal)
WordPress Themes:
Genesis Theme (The best theme which I use at
ShoutMeLoud). You can buy the Genesis Theme +
ShoutMeLoud blue theme from here.
Codelight: Beautiful modern theme for tech-blogs.
Social Media Management Tool:
Hootsuite (Supports Google plus too): Perfect for
managing all social profile from one place
Bufferapp: Perfect for keeping your social-media profile
updated
PostPlanner: Best Facebook tool to manage your pages.
Image Capturing tool:
SnagIt! : Best tool for screen-capture and image editing.
Screencast software:
Camtasia (This is the video recording tool I use for
creating videos for my Youtube channel. You can check
my video blog here)
SEO tools:
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SEMRUSH (This is the only tool I use for Keyword
research and discovery. You can check out free tutorial
here and here).
Monetization Program:
Google AdSense: Best contextual ad network
Viglink: Best way to monetize your outbound links
Affiliate marketing: Learn the tricks with this eBook
What next?
Do remember creating a successful & profitable blog takes time, but
it’s worth the effort. I can say that from my experience, as right now
I’m in Thailand (travelling & working) at the same time. This would
not have been possible without blogging & WordPress.
You should browse all the archive of ShoutMeLoud.com to learn every
tricks that I use to earn over $14000/month. You can see my income
reports here (Yah! I like to be transparent as we got one life to live)
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You should bookmark ShoutMeLoud store page, as this is where I
publish new eBooks & plugins. So far, I have authored 3 eBooks & 2
more will be out at the end of 2015.
Check out ShoutMeLoud store
A quick favor:
Could you share about this book with your friends & those who want
to become their own boss? I know it won’t help you or me in money
ways, but it feels good to change somebody life for good. Isin’t it?
Click on below image to share about free WordPress playbook on
Here is the direct link of my eBook page which you can share on
Facebook or email it to your friends.
As promised, you can interact with me & other WordPress bloggers at
Shouters forum. Head over to http://ask.shoutmeloud.com & join the
conversation.
Lets make blogging full time business.
Harsh Agrawal
www.ShoutMeLoud.com
Twitter: @denharsh
Facebook: @shoutharsh
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