Free WordPress Help

Mar 14, 2011

Looking for Free WordPress Help? This is the place!

You can ask a question about WordPress in the comments on this page (click here), and we will answer just as soon as we can. For FREE!

Mark McLaren and McBuzz Communications have been offering Free WordPress Help and Free and Easy WordPress Tutorials for nearly four years. That’s 28 years in dog years, and 132 years in Internet years, [ read more ]

WordPress Q&A: More Answers to WordPress Questions

Oct 4, 2010

Questions about WordPress websites or blogs? They may already have been answered. Check the earlier posts “Questions About WordPress? Ask Them Here!” and “More WordPress Questions?” There are over 160 comments, questions and replies there.

Otherwise, just post your WordPress question in the comments below, and we will respond. The cost? FREE!

P.S. If you’re into WordPress, follow Mark McLaren on Twitter for free tips and howto’s. And if you are in Seattle, check out the Seattle WordPress Meetup on Meetup.com.

Please note that McBuzz Communications, the McBuzz.com website and Mark McLaren are not affiliated with Automattic (parent company of WordPress) or WordPress.com.

More WordPress Questions? Ask Them Here!

May 3, 2010

If you’ve got more questions about WordPress websites or blogs, Seattle’s McBuzz Communications has answers!

This page is so long that the comments no longer work. (Old theme. I’m working on it! “Cobbler’s son has no shoes.” You know, that kind of thing.)

Come on over to the latest WordPress questions page: WordPress Q&A: More Answers to WordPress Questions and post your question in the comments. I’ll answer ASAP. The cost? Free!

WordPress Problem with Atahualpa Theme and Bullets

Apr 21, 2010

A reader was having trouble adding bullets to text in the Atahualpa theme for WordPress. I did a test install of Atahualpa and the bullets are working for me. Be sure to note the order of the steps. You can click on the blue text below to see a screen shot of each step.

1. Enter your text. (Put a hard return after each line you want to make into a bullet.)
2. Highlight the text you want to make into a list of bullets – either numbered or unnumbered (ordered or unordered).
3. Click the bullet/list button – either numbered or unnumbered. (Be sure click Publish or Update.)
4. Done.

WordPress Tutorial – How to Upload and Insert an Image Using WordPress

Mar 17, 2010

WordPress Websites Tutorial by Mark McLaren – How to Upload and Insert an Image

This video tutorial replaces my earlier “How to Insert an Image” tutorial for WordPress that was done using screen captures, text descriptions and WordPress version 2.1 or so, which is a bit outdated today.

Some people prefer text tutorials with screen captures. My “How to Make a Text Link” WordPress Tutorial is still a straight-forward explanation of the process, which hasn’t changed.

Questions About WordPress? Ask Them Here!

Mar 17, 2010

If you’ve got questions about WordPress websites or blogs, Seattle’s McBuzz Communications has answers!

This page is now so long that the comments no longer work. (Old theme. I’m working on it! “Cobbler’s son has no shoes.” You know, that kind of thing.) Come on over to the latest WordPress questions page: WordPress Q&A: More Answers to WordPress Questions and post your question in the comments there. I’ll answer ASAP. The cost? Free!

P.S. If you’re into WordPress, follow Mark McLaren on Twitter for free tips and howto’s.
And if you are in Seattle, check out the Seattle WordPress Meetup on Meetup.com.

WordPress Security: Create a New User and Delete the Default “admin” Account

Nov 4, 2009

This post tells you the simplest way to improve security on your WordPress website or blog.

Recently there was a big security scare for WordPress users. A “worm” (a form of automated malicious software) was traveling around the Internet trying to break into unsuspecting WordPress users’ sites. Even high-profile bloggers like Robert Scoble were caught without adequate file and database backups in place. Scoble lost a bunch of posts, and said he felt less certain of WordPress as a result.

But the fact is, Scoble should have backed up his site. At the very least, he should have checked with his host to see if they create automatic backups. (You should do the same with your host. Why wait until after something goes wrong to find out?!) If you don’t know how to backup your MySQL database and the files in your wp-content directory, now is a good time to learn. Your web host should be able to help. If not, let me know. If your site is hosted on WordPress.com, no worries! They make backups for you. However, you might want to do a Tools > Export in the WordPress Dashboard (save the .xml file to your hard drive) just in case! Unless you have an explicit agreement with WordPress.com about backing up your data, don’t expect to hold them responsible for data loss on your site.

Here are two good posts about WordPress security inspired by the latest worm scare:

How to Keep WordPress Secure
by Matt Mullenweg – WordPress.org

Old WordPress Versions Under Attack by Lorelle VanFossen

The first thing everyone with a self-hosted (non-WordPress.com) WordPress site should do is this:
Create a new User account with a not-so-simple username. The default username that comes with WordPress is “admin”. That usually comes with a crazy-difficult password. Unfortunately, most people then change the password to something easy like “mydogname” or whatever.

Worms trying to hack into your WordPress site know to try “admin” as a username because it works probably 70% or the time or more! Then they just have to hack your simple password and they’re done.

So do yourself a favor. Login to WordPress. Go to Users (under Appearance) > Add New User. Use a difficult username, something with upper and lower case letters at the very least. Not something obvious. Then use a difficult password, something with upper and lower case letters, at least one numeral and one special character like * or ( or % etc. Don’t worry about the username displaying as your name on the site. You can enter your first and last name, and then use the dropdown menu to tell WordPress to use that instead of the username after blog posts and such. Be sure to note the email address you use for your site admin (under Settings > General). You can use a different email address for each new user account you create.

After you have created the new user account, log out and then login with the new account to make sure it works. After you have done that, you can delete the admin user account. That way, worms won’t be able to use that username to hack into your site.

Again, this is the simplest way to improve security on your WordPress website or blog.

Web 2.0 Seminar in Seattle: Introduction to Web 2.0

May 18, 2009

INTRODUCTION TO WEB 2.0: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
AND YOUR BUSINESS

Our next Social Media Marketing Event will be on May 11, 2010: “Explode the WordPress Learning Curve: An Evening with the Experts”

I’m very excited to be part of this WordPress Seminar in Seattle line-up! You’ll get lots of vital information, distilled, organized and ready to be put to use. My 20-minute segment will focus on the five most important things you can do to optimize your WordPress website or blog for search engines.

Read more and get tickets for this upcoming evening of social media learning and networking: WordPress Social Media Seminar in Seattle (click for more information). Tuesday, May 11, 6 PM to 9 PM at Bellevue College, Bellevue (Seattle) Washington.