Wordpress by Gtycoon PART 1

[gtycoon]

Allot of you know that I post here all the time, but you might have noticed I rarely post other than sales threads. I want to change all that over the next couple of months, and offer some helpful tips.

This week I'd like to start with a blogging CMS (content management system) or blog platform that is my favorite. The blogging platform I like to use the most is Wordpress from http://wordpress.org/.

The reason I like it so much is for SEO and how versatile it is. I also like how many templates are available for free. And with so many people using Wordpress, designers and coders are used to tweaking it. I have script called Fantastico on all my servers that allow me to have a wordpress installed in minutes. You can see easy installation of Wordpress here: http://www.optiniche.com/blog/187/wo...th-fantastico/

The most important step is activating your Askimet Spam filter to prevent your blog from getting over run by spam bots.
http://akismet.com/



The next most important Wordpress plugin to install is an SEO plugin to help optimize your site for the search engines. If you don't use this plug in your URLs look like :

http://highstakespkr.com/?p=80

Rather than having the post title in the url like this:

http://www.pokerbloggs.com/poker/tom...hallenge/462/:)

Seo Plugin:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/...-one-seo-pack/

Once I get a Wordpress uploaded, I usually make 3 long 1000 word posts and set up some basic pages. I then submit the blog to
http://www.submitexpress.com/ and wait for it to index over the next couple of days. After it indexes, I usually link to it via other blogs or sites of mine (take it easy on this).

The next step is grinding like a screwed down poker player. You are going to have to start making quality posts and doing allot of research into your niche. I highly reccomend carving out a niche that you can dominate and one that is starting to emerge.

After I get some quality posts going and start to get some traffic
I burn a RSS feed using Feedburner: http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home
They have a feature on here called buzzboost where you can have your RSS on Myspace or on other sites you may own. This is really good for driving traffic to your site! Then I would use thier chicklet chooser and place them in the sidebar or Widgets section of your blog:


Feedburner also allows your users to subscribe to your blog, this gives you a following and ads value to your site. Unless you are doing this to keep a private journal, creating a site is for profit.
You obviously always want to take the path that will make your site
get the most quality traffic which ups the value of your site. Not only does traffic and subscriber up the value of the site, it increases the amount you can charge for advertising. The more you make from ads, the more your site is worth. Within a year, you can have a blog that generates $1000.00 - $2000.00 a month and be valued at over $15,000.00
The value of a site as many variables as illustrated by Shoemoney here http://www.shoemoney.com/2008/03/19/...art-1-payroll/


A generic way to estimate is by using this tool:
http://www.websiteoutlook.com
As you can see by the photo below it's a little off. I suggest only using this for rough estimates.


Next I would add your site to http://technorati.com/ technorati is basically a blog search engine mixed with a ranking system for authority and a social network on top of that.

Now you are started well on your way to becoming the top poker blogger in the industry. I didn't mention domains in this post, I'm assuming you already own one. If not, It's best to have the keyword in your domain and not more than two words. I believe buying your domain and setting up a wordpress is the best path to take instead of
using Blogger.com and being a slave for Google.

In Part 2 of Wordpress by Gtycoon, I'm going to cover themes, themes for SEO, themes for banner exposure. Feel free to post anything I missed, there are so many things to cover when it comes to Wordpress. Also feel free to challenge Wordpress with your favorite blog platform.

[LadyPokerWriter]

Keep in mind, that wordpress , as w/ others, will allow you to produce content and schedule it out for some time. If you take a few days and post some general topics on the blog, in case you don't get to it as often as you should, you know that google and yahoo n msn will pick up the new posts when you have them planned out. Use it as a resource. you should try to keep it up to date w/ current events, but at least the scheduled posts will appear at the right time.

[The Poker Jerk]

Here are some plugins that I always make sure to have installed on my Wordpress sites:

Akismet - takes care of comment spam
All in One SEO Pack - Absolutely necessary
end content - Post a blurb at the bottom of every post/page. You can set categories. I use it for my "strategy" category. See here for an example (look at the bottom)
Enhanced WP-ContactForm - Always good to have an easy way to be contacted without putting your email out there to be read by spambots (I have an email address that gets over 10K spams a day)
FeedBurner FeedSmith - Converts the built-in feed link to Feedburner
Global Translator - Dealer Dan says it's useful, I'm not so sure. Doesn't hurt to put it up. Note: you can delete the credit from the php file to keep your site clean.
Google XML Sitemaps - Absolutely don't think of running a Wordpress site without this!
Sociable - Puts all the social links at the bottom of every post. Not really that useful for poker sites, as most poker sites spam these places and you'll rarely make it to the top
Popularity Contest - Another must-have. Keeps track of the popularity of posts, based on hits, comments, etc. Can be used along with the sitemap plugin above to create highly optimized sitemaps.
Twitter Tools - If you're not using Twitter to promote your site, you are living in 2007
WordPress.com Stats - Yet another way to keep an eye on stats. I use it along with SiteMeter and Google Analytics
WordPress Related Posts - Creates links on the bottom of every post, sending readers to similar content. Based on tags, popularity, keywords, categories
WP-Ban - If some moron is bothering you with spam, or you are getting a lot of spam from a single bot, ban them here. Many options
WP Super Cache - Be prepared in case you get a huge spike in traffic! Converts all Wordpress pages to static html pages, so your server load is lightened
Yoast Breadcrumbs - Good to have breadcrumbs, in order to keep readers discovering your site, and good for SEO too
Adsense-Deluxe - Can be used for any type of banner code, not just adsense. Create banners for all your affiliates, and easily stick them into your content with quick markup code.
My Page Order - If you want to change the order of how your pages are displayed in the navigation menu of your site
Subscribe To Comments - When someone leaves a comment, give them the opportunity to subscribe to updates when someone replies. Keeps them coming back
Viper's Video Quicktags - Absolutely must-have if you post videos in your content.
WP Page Numbers - If you run a blog with a lot of posts on the front page, you will want to use this for your navigation

[gtycoon]

Originally Posted by The Poker Jerk

Here are some plugins that I always make sure to have installed on my Wordpress sites:

Akismet - takes care of comment spam
All in One SEO Pack - Absolutely necessary
end content - Post a blurb at the bottom of every post/page. You can set categories. I use it for my "strategy" category. See here for an example (look at the bottom)
Enhanced WP-ContactForm - Always good to have an easy way to be contacted without putting your email out there to be read by spambots (I have an email address that gets over 10K spams a day)
FeedBurner FeedSmith - Converts the built-in feed link to Feedburner
Global Translator - Dealer Dan says it's useful, I'm not so sure. Doesn't hurt to put it up. Note: you can delete the credit from the php file to keep your site clean.
Google XML Sitemaps - Absolutely don't think of running a Wordpress site without this!
Sociable - Puts all the social links at the bottom of every post. Not really that useful for poker sites, as most poker sites spam these places and you'll rarely make it to the top
Popularity Contest - Another must-have. Keeps track of the popularity of posts, based on hits, comments, etc. Can be used along with the sitemap plugin above to create highly optimized sitemaps.
Twitter Tools - If you're not using Twitter to promote your site, you are living in 2007
WordPress.com Stats - Yet another way to keep an eye on stats. I use it along with SiteMeter and Google Analytics
WordPress Related Posts - Creates links on the bottom of every post, sending readers to similar content. Based on tags, popularity, keywords, categories
WP-Ban - If some moron is bothering you with spam, or you are getting a lot of spam from a single bot, ban them here. Many options
WP Super Cache - Be prepared in case you get a huge spike in traffic! Converts all Wordpress pages to static html pages, so your server load is lightened
Yoast Breadcrumbs - Good to have breadcrumbs, in order to keep readers discovering your site, and good for SEO too
Adsense-Deluxe - Can be used for any type of banner code, not just adsense. Create banners for all your affiliates, and easily stick them into your content with quick markup code.
My Page Order - If you want to change the order of how your pages are displayed in the navigation menu of your site
Subscribe To Comments - When someone leaves a comment, give them the opportunity to subscribe to updates when someone replies. Keeps them coming back
Viper's Video Quicktags - Absolutely must-have if you post videos in your content.
WP Page Numbers - If you run a blog with a lot of posts on the front page, you will want to use this for your navigation

PokerJerk, I know when you include allot of plugins to Vbulletin that there is a bigger chance of problems occurring, does the same apply to WP? Is there greater chance of hacking plugins?

[gtycoon]

Please pm me any ideas for part 2 of Wordpress by GTycoon. I'm looking for theme ideas, issues, theme seo, and more.

[The Poker Jerk]

Originally Posted by gtycoon

PokerJerk, I know when you include allot of plugins to Vbulletin that there is a bigger chance of problems occurring, does the same apply to WP? Is there greater chance of hacking plugins?

Probably, yes. But I always try to use plugins that are updated often (all but a few of the ones I mentioned are).

Usually plugins don't do much more than use internal Wordpress functions, they just make it easier. Ones that have scripts and shit may introduce issues.

[CasinoMack]

Certain plugins do have problems with others. You will know when you have that problem though when your site is borked. Just undo 1 plugin at a time and narrow it down.

[TheLady]

could also consider a maintence posting option. i think that is what the ladypw was referring to, but if you do'n't hae time to do it yourself, you can always outsource. i do that w/ my other sites, set up the generalized posting once a month - but now that i've got 4 in one area, i have some one else do it for me. i created the log in, and what i want it to read when it is posted, they post to the sites for me. i get the pr.

[TenPoker]

I found this post very useful! Looking forward to part two!

Cheers

[TheLady]

are we awaiting a part 2?