Welcome! For those of you who have visited in the past, I just wanted to welcome you to the new website. I decided to completely re-create the site because the software I used for the old site was not interactive at all. The new site here will allow you to register, post comments and share your personal thoughts on different subjects. I will be working on adding lots of content and videos – and feel free to make comments anytime. I really appreciate you taking the time to visit, and I will be posting more shortly! God Bless!
December 15th, 2009
Posted in 
Tags:
Hello, I got a pingback from when you posted the link to my site. Just wanted to say thanks for spreading the video around. It really is the best I have seen. I really like this one too.
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/03/27/wof-signs-and-wonders/
I just started a self hosted WP blog too. I am still not getting many hits,,, but you can check it out here. http://how2becomeachristianblog.com/
I am trying to read up on how to get traffic to the site. Self hosted versions do not use wp.com’s in house tag system, So I get many more hits on my WP.com blogs. I have learned a couple of things I would like to share.
1. You need to make sure your running the ALL IN ONE SEO (search engine optimization) plugin.
2. You need to change your permalinks structure so your URL’s do not look like this, http://www.trueoutpouring.com/?p=3 This is not good with search engines
You can do this in your WP control panel. Go To settings > permalinks > common settings. Chose custom structure and add this to the field,,, /%postname%/
That will make you page and post links look like this. http://how2becomeachristianblog.com/mark-1123-24-did-jesus-promise-to-give-literally-anything-we-ask-in-faith/
This is allot better than the default setting for search engines.
Thanks and be blessed,
damon
Hi Damon! Thank you so much for the comment – yours is the first one! I appreciate all your advice – you are definitely familiar with WordPress and know how to make it work with the search engines! I just changed my permalinks so they are SEO friendly.
I actually work online and have some really well-established WP sites – often when I link from one or two of them to a new site (with the keywords in the anchor text) I get a higher ranking almost the same day! What keywords are you trying to reach with your self-hosted WP Site?
Hi Holly,, I am not that advanced yet that I am targeting specific keywords. LOL
Hey what did you mean by “with the keywords in the anchor text”? I have crossed linked to my other sites but don’t know what you meant by that. I’d like to try it if you can explain it.
Sorry for assuming you was a newbie when I seen the default permalinks. I just thought one newbie could help another. Myself,, I am starting to wonder of the new site is worth the time and money since I am not yet getting many hits from search engines. I have three articles, one on hardening WP and two on making it SEO friendly. I have done everything but it still has not helped. I was thinking about doing an SEO test and going from there, and find the best related keywords and target them.
Let me ask you a question, maybe you can help. I know Google is really bad about double posting and if the bots see your posting stuff from other sites they will essentially blacklist you. I think that is what happened to me. My first 8-9 post where from my other blogs and I did not change the title at all. Would you just keep posting and hope google sees that I am now posting original material. Or would you delete those post.
Thanks
damon
Hi Damon! That’s ok – I really appreciate your words of advice anyway! Here is an explanation of anchor text – http://www.tizag.com/SEOTutorial/seo-anchor-text.php and the anchor text used when linking to other sites makes a HUGE difference in building up your search engine ranking. My brother works for a big SEO firm so I learned some from him, and I have been working online for about 6 yrs now and learned the rest from experience. I’m honestly not sure what I am targeting here for keywords- so I plan to add a lot of content with a large variety of topics. That is not so smart I suppose for SEO purposes – but I haven’t done my research yet for specific topics and keywords. About your question – I wouldn’t really delete those double posts. I have had a lot of situations with this and some people have copied my entire site and republished it (many times too) but nothing really happened from that. People pull in content from other sites all the time and it doesn’t seem to affect anything. If you copy an entire website and repost it, like people did with mine, you could have a higher chance of getting dropped off the search engines. If the rest of your site is different, with other content, that helps – if just 8 articles were the same – it may not matter at all. If you want a higher search engine ranking, you could post some of the articles on ezinearticles or a similar site that accepts article posting. That can help you gain high quality links. Also, just make sure you post often.
Hope this helps. I am off to pick up my son but I will write more later – if you need help with anything or if we can help each other that would be great .:)
That was a good and easily understandable article about anchor text, Thanks Holly. I went and including anchor text with the picture links I already had posted. Maybe it will help.
I cannot think of anything I need help with right now. Thanks for joining friend connect. If I think of anything I might need I will come ask. Thanks for the offer. It was nice of you. And it seems you are pretty OK on your own and know what your doing.
I have done refined keyword research for some websites I have. But I have done so yet on this blog,,, for the same reason as you,,, because it is cult apologetic site and I have many many different topics. I have my site seo keywords done pretty good but the could be improved much. I think I am still going to refine my keywords some.
I’ll keep an eye on your blog and see if I should add it to my blogrolls. Will you do the same? I* like your videos so far. I am a cessationist but am not anti-charismatic.
Thanks and God bless ya
damon
Hi Holly and Damon,
I found this website through your YouTube channel, Holly. Thank you very much for sharing your experiences. I’m going to watch through more this evening.
I saw you mentioned you are a web designer, too, and came here to check it out. Very nice website! I’ve been in web design for quite awhile, too – design firm, advertising. However, the new WP sites are throwing me for a loop. Any good links for getting up to speed? CSS/HTML, etc is no problem. I’m unfortunately one of those who likes to know how everything works before I dig in – that might not be the best in this case with WP, I assume – so many possibilities. Anyway, I’ve really enjoyed reading both of your WP tips! I’d love to be able to offer my clients this at some point.
Anyway, thanks very much Holly for sharing your experiences. They’ve helped and encouraged me. As a Christian, I’m becoming very uneasy – and have been increasingly so for a long time – to the point I stay to myself (hence posting on a Sat. night, lol). We all need to hold to the Hope in Jesus and the Father’s Grace!
Damon, I bookmarked your website, too. Thanks!
God Bless you both!
Scott
Hi Scott,
I have a guide – called WordPress and Beyond – it may help you – but it is pretty basic. Let me know if you want it and if you need help with anything or have specific questions. Once you get used to WP – you will have no issues as it is really easy!Take care 
Funny you mentioned this because I am totally familiar with WP – but not as familiar with CSS – learning it in depth now – just bought CSS – the Hidden Manual and love it.
Hi Holly, I’m sorry for late response.
Friends of Ed has a great book on HTML and CSS, too, called Web Designer’s Reference. It’s very easy to read and understand – this helped me very much in understanding what I could do with CSS. I’ve done a lot of work with presentational HTML (table alignments) that CSS seemed a bit daunting at first. I love pixel perfection. =)
That would be cool if you could share the WP guide; thanks! I’ve been reading WordPress for Dummies but it’s hard to get through – a lot of the author’s personal experience/references which is a bit distracting for me in a tech book. Ha!
Thanks for the confidence in WP. =) I hope to get a PHP server soon, so I can start digging in with a self-hosted version. I hope it’s as easy to maintain, as you say. =) That would be awesome!
I hope you and your family are doing well!
Cheers!
Scott