PACK YOUR BOXES AND CLEAN UP WHERE YOU ARE LEAVING

Two years ago we moved my mom from her home of 57 years to a senior apartment complex. It took a lot of vacation days and solid planning to do this task. Because I am not the most savvy packer I hired two people to work with me. We packed and labeled the boxes.

We also cleaned the apartment completely and was ready for the moving. This is silmilar to what you  need to do BEFORE you move your static site to your new blog home. You need to pack your files,label them correctly and clean up any left over hosting fees etc.

Now, if you DO NOT KNOW how to back up your files GET HELP! Hopefully you have your files in a folder on your hard drive which should be a MIRROR  of what is on your host server. If you have labeled your files right it is going to be a lot easier to bring them to your new blog home.

For example, I had all my images , articles, and products, etc in separate folders inside a folder called rosiehorner.com on my hard drive. But I had someone help me insure that all the files matched what was on my server. We made not one, but two cd disks of the files. It is from these disks that I am systematically bringing files over to my new blog home.

Am I ready for prime time? Not quite. But because I have old traffic from articles I have written, clients visiting etc there is still a lot of traffic going to my site. Yet, I have not promoted it yet. So, I guess you know what my next series will be don’t you?

Stuff to do before your site is ready f or Prime Time!

I really hope this series was helpful for you. If you need some basic help with file management and other tips useful for your static website or blogs in an easy to understand formati. A friend and coach is doing a FREE WEBINAR on Tuesday, June 15, 2010. Tell her I sent you . I have taken some of her classes and it was just the right thing for this baby boomer!

Now it is time to call the Cable Companies

For me the cable companies I am referring to are AWSTATS and Google Analytics. I call them the cable company because they SHOW YOU you know when, from where, how and how long folks are staying on your blog. I am not going into a discussion about the differences between the stats with AWSTATS vs Google Analytics. It is deep and different. I would suggest putting the phrase, What is the difference between AWSTATS and Google Analytics directly into Googles search.

But I will tell you quickly that AWSTATS are part of most hosting packages along with Webelizer. The latter is great for charts. But I prefer AWSTATS. Whereas, Google Analytics is part of the Google World. You can download a plugin to place it on your site or do it manually. They have excellent tutorials.

But bottom line is set your domain name to start getting this information before you bring your furniture into the house. Now, it is true that the host where your static website lived will keep generating stats for you. But when you disconnect from that host you don’t want to miss a beat. Remember the day you left so you can check the stats f rom that point.

Depending on how fast your moving company bring in your boxes and your family and friends arrange all your stuff your stats might be down for a short period of time.

For those of you are will be using Bluehost they have a video tutorial on their site telling you how to set up AWSTATS or Webelizer with your domain.

I am sure many of the other  hosts also have some kind of instruction. Was this clearer than mud?

What Do You Think The Last Step IN This Series Will Be?

However, I want to make a couple of points before you view the movie.

• The email subscribers you have via Feedburner have subscribed to your Blog not any thing non-related to your blog posts. For example, I would not advise that you send them announcements about your trip to Kansas when your blog is on music.  You get the idea. I just don’t anyone accused of spamming. But this is my opinion and would love to hear other’s thoughts on the matter. The author of the tutorial below suggests that you can bring the names into different programs. But just be careful that you have permission to use them beyond the subscription to your blog.
• The emails can be exported from Feedburner into a CSV file and then opened in an Excel spreadsheet plus other programs.

Ok, now you can view the video and let me know what you think.

Now it is time to call the Phone Company

The phone company I called was Feedburner. I created an RSS feed there and also a way for folks to subscribe to my blog. All they have to do is key in their email address and a call is placed to their email letting them know I just posted something new on my blog. How cool is that!

I have located a easy to understand video on how to do the subscription. Once again, I could have done it but she did such a great job! Plus, now I have time to go out and hula hoop.

Email subscription using feedburner

Oh, I know I can also call other venders and if you know of any please share. But for now Feedburner, which is owned by Google should do just fine. While you are there browse and look at the other features because it is simply powerful.

Talk with you later

Now it is time to call a security company to activate an alarm system. Why? Because your site is alive on the internet although you have not moved your furniture into it. You will have folks trying to break in with something call SPAM.

Activate Your Askismet Before You Move Into Your Blog Home

Akismet to the Rescue for WordPress Blogs

Akismet is a FREE plugin that fights spam on your blog. It comes standard with all WordPress blogs. I found out that there is also a commercial key you can purchase. Rather than explain all the levels here is a link to their site.(Note that this is not an affiliate.)

Here is a pretty clear video on how to activate your plugin. I was going to create one but I must admit it was faster going to YouTube.

Now time to work on the next part to this series. Did I leave anything out? Can anyone share what plugins fight spam on Typepad or other hosted blogging platforms?

A good webmaster will keep your site alive on the old host until the house is ready. But  the reality is you could not start working on this new blog home until you activate it with a domain name! So, a sign needs to go up on your new blog home although you are not living there yet. Does that make sense?

I suggest  creating either a blog post or static page within your blog site Announcing that this is where you will live. Avoid simply stating “Under Construction.” But convey the  excitment you have about  having a site that will engage your readers.

Now, I realize that I have not shared “how to create a post” or “How to create a static page on your blog.” But to be perfectly honest you could Google those exact phrases and find a lot of videos and tutorials. But for the purpose of this post I just want you to remember to put up a sign somewhere to let folks know you are moving in very soon.

Personally, I created a post while bringing in one piece of furniture at a time. I need to do it in bite size chunks since I don’t want to pay money for a U-Haul and I don’t have the bodies to help carry the furniture. It’s working, I would send you to the site but it’s not really ready for prime time yet. But

The review will include  include the different categories, sections, pages, and overall layout that you have in mind. Knowing how many pieces of your blog are involved will help you make a better decision when narrowing down the right theme.

Paint the Walls of Your New  Blog Home-Choose a Theme (WordPress)

• Pick your colors before you search through a lot of themes waiting until a color jumps out at you. Decide on the colors you want.  Are the colors related to your brand? Are you planning to have a lot of images that can get lost in the loudness of your color selection?
• Decide if you want one, two or three columns on your blog. This will define the room you have to layout your furniture.
• As you look at previews of themes within WordPress or on premium sites, pretend you are a visitor. How easy will the theme be to get around. Think about it if you have clients coming that have special needs can you meet them? Is it usable for your target market? For example, as a baby boomer I like themes with large fonts.
• Look very closely at the header design. Can you change it if needed? Does it work with your logo? Is it overbearing?
• Test your theme in Internet Explorer first. Most folks use this browser. But also test it in Firefox, Safari and other browsers. Be sure it does not act stupid.
• I always have more than one theme as a backup in case there is a problem.
• Now invite some friends over and have a paint party. You pay for the pizza!

Did I leave out anything?

• What will be the name of my blog?

• Am I expanding my target market?

• What will be my blog’s tagline?

• What keywords will I use? Will they be the same as the ones I gave my webmaster for my static site?

• What pages will I include?

• What pages will I delete?

• What links will I include ?

• Do I want RSS feeds?

• Do I want to include audio /podcasts?

• Will I have video?

• Will I change any p

• How will I monetize my new site?

• What will be my categories? I did not worry about that with my static site

• Will my mission or vision statement change?

• Pictures? I was thinner now I am wider.

Well this got me started.

I have a PRESENT FOR YOU.  Click on this link to get a FREE Blog Planning Form. No strings attached. It is one that my hubby and I developed to plan our blogs. Even if you answer half of the questions it will still make it easier to choose a theme.

Let us know if this form is helpful. You don’t have to use it just for moving a static site to a blog home. It works for any new blog.

The blog we just posted to is called Fun in the Word. It is has a Christian focus and will often feature guest bloggers. Of course if that is not your cup of tea just skip this paragraph but please read the next paragraph.

So, just wanted to pass on this little blogging motivational tip. Look at your blogs and upgrade them if needed. But while you are doing this little chore find some blog food and post on it.

Of course if you are on a blogging platform that is hosted and not self-hosted the upgrade will be done automatically. But still look for those blogs that you have not posted on in several weeks and create a post.

Will you consider doing this?

So, visit when you can or send others because I plan to explode it with  step by step information. Of course, the version will change more than we change and update our WordPress.org blogs but that is a great place to learn new versions when they come out.

So visit the lasted videos just posted.