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Regardless of what we’re doing, most of us try to find shortcuts along the way to help make the job easier. Maintaining a website and blog are no different.  However, if you haven’t started thinking about shortcuts, I’ve listed some of my favorites below to help get you started.

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HTML Time Savers

1. Create templates for HTML pages, tables or blocks of text you plan on using repeatedly.
2. Use the   <!– –>   tag to embed information in the web page. This information can be anything – inventory number, location of item; information relevant to your advertisers, or you may want to save page details such as alternate background color, font names, etc.
3. Use <center> </center> tags for each block of text, table, etc. that is to be centered. This may seem excessive, but when I want to move or delete something, I don’t have to worry if doing so will impact the overall layout of the remainder of the page.
4. Use pixel shims or transparent images as spacers- or when needing visual help in laying out a table.
5. Use ‘Control + A’ to view everything on a page. This is helpful if you’ve used hidden letters, numbers or punctuation marks in the same color as the background to create negative space.      Note:  Do not use this technique to place ‘hidden’ links – those links to your other pages or websites that are the same color as the background so as not to be visible to the eye – to try and boost your search engine rankings. It’s a definite no-no.
6. If you’re having trouble laying out a table, using a border to see where the columns and rows are makes finding mistakes easy. Once you’ve fixed the problem and have the table like you want, remove the border.

GRAPHICS Tips

1. Use layers for building complex images or graphics with multiple elements. It is much easier to change one layer than re-create the whole graphic.
2. Save both the multi-layered original and one-layer finished images. And while you’re at it, use the same name for both only end the layered image with a unique notation such as psp. (This is the file extension for Paint Shop Pro that designates a layered image.) Using the same name makes it easy to find both images if you need to make changes, and at the same time be able to easily tell the difference.
3. When using layers, include one informational layer that contains the hexidecimal colors and the font names used. By doing this, you’ll always have the correct information for making any changes. Unless you only use one font or are very familiar with the font names, it can be difficult to remember which font was used.

Word Press Tips

1.  Use HTML tables to include rows, columns in a post. To do this you will need to select HTML rather than Visual.
2. Use tables to include sections with a different background color. This is good to highlight a section or advertisement.
3. Use dots for additional spacing or lines in your WP blog. To do this, place the dots where you want the extra spaces or additional lines, and then make them the same color as the background. This allows you to include extra lines to space pictures or text – or place more space between words if desired.

This is a non-spaced line, do you see any dots?

This is a spaced line. ……..Do you see the dots?

[Note:    To see the dots I used to put space in the second line above, hold the Control key + A at the same time and the dots will appear. ]

Conclusion

Develop your own shortcuts and time-savers and put them in a single folder where you will be able to find them quickly and easily. If you prefer keeping the shortcuts and templates in multiple folders, you may find keeping a single Word Pad document with notes and locations helpful.

There are 2 ways to install this plug-in:

1. Manually download the plug-in and upload to the plug-ins directory then configure
2. Automatically install from the Dashboard (Recommended)

Manual Download of  XML Sitemap

For those that want to give it a try, the manual download can be accessed at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/.   Once you’ve downloaded the plugin follow the installation steps at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/installation/.   If you encounter any problems, there are other tabs available to help out – FAQs, Screenshots, etc.  Unless you are proficient with FTP programs and code this method is not recommended.

XML Sitemap Plug-In Installation

The easiest way to install the Google XML sitemap in your WordPress blog  is through the Admin – Dashboard.

1. Log-in through the Admin account to access the Dashboard.
2. Under the Plug-in heading; Click on ‘Add New’ – this will open a new screen.
3. In the ‘Search’  box type in ‘sitemap’ and perform a search. You will see a list of sitemap plug-ins to choose from.
4. The Google Sitemap should be first – click on ‘Install’.
5. Return to the Plug-in Section on the sidebar and click on ‘Installed’.  This will open a new screen.
6. You will now see the ‘Google XML Sitemap’ plug-in in your list of plug-ins. . Click on ‘activate’.
7. Now, from the Dashboard go to the heading ‘Settings’ – you should see ‘XML Sitemap’ listed – probably near the bottom. Click to open.
8. The screen displayed allows you to configure the settings for your blog’s sitemap.
9. Most of these can be left on default, however, you will want to change the ‘Update Notification’ section. Checking the boxes for Google, Bing, Ask, Yahoo will allow those search engines to crawl your blog.  If you do not do this the purpose of the sitemap will be defeated.
10. Continue reading through the other options - make any changes you feel you need.
11. At the top of the page, generate your sitemap.
12. Save update (at the very bottom)

Couple of issues I ran into.

Yahoo.com

1.  You will need a Yahoo account in order to get an ‘Application ID’. If you do not have a Yahoo account, the link to get one is under the space for the ID number.   Click through and follow the prompts to get your ID number. Once you get it, copy and paste it into the ID box on the ‘Settings’ page.

2.  Should you have any problems logging-in to Yahoo, it may be due to not allowing cookies.  If this is the case, you will  need to  allow ‘cookies’ for the Yahoo website. This can be done from the Internet Explorer tool bar. 

Click on Tools > > Internet Options > > Privacy > > Sites > > (type in the address for Yahoo – http://www.yahoo.com) and click ‘Allow’.

Close the Tools box. You should now be able to log in to Yahoo without any problem.

Ask.com 

After generating my sitemap (for the first time), I received an ‘error’  message that there was a problem notifying Ask.com. On checking the Internet for solutions, it would seem that this is a common problem in that Ask  is not accepting this information. To get around this issue, I went back to the ‘Update Notification’ section in my ‘Sitemap Settings’ and unchecked Ask.  I then clicked on the ‘Update Options’ link at the bottom of the page.

Once you have your sitemap installed and the setting configured, you will not need to do this again unless you change something on your server or blog (this does not include adding posts or pages.)  If you feel you want to have Ask.com as part of the ‘Update Notification’ section, you can periodically go in and check their ‘box’ and ‘update options’ to see if they are accepting sitemap information.

Here are three ways you can put AdSense (and other ads) within a blog.

1. Place the ad in an individual post
2. Place the ad in a Text Widget
3. Place the ad in a Plug-in

How to place an AdSense ad within the individual post

This can easily be done once you’ve logged into your account , set up the ad and generated the code. You are now ready to copy and paste the ad code directly into the individual post where you want the ad to show. It should be noted that you must use the HTML screen to do this. If you paste the code in using the ‘Visual’ screen, it will appear just like it is – WYSIWYG – ‘what you see is what you get’.  By doing this you will be showing every line of the ad code as well as exposing your merchant number!

If you choose to show ads on individual posts, you should be aware that you will still need to follow the Google guidelines regarding the number of ads allowed per page. If you are not sure of these limits, take time to read the AdSense guidelines.

For example: You’ve elected to have 10 full posts shown on your blog’s home page – if you were to place 1 AdSense ad per post, this would equate to 10 ads,  causing you to go well beyond the total number of ads Google allows per ‘page’. Even though they are 10 separate posts, the fact that they can all be seen and accessed from the same ’1 page’ results in their being considered part of  ‘one page’.  If you had any AdSense ads in the sidebars, these would also need to be taken into consideration. 

How to place an AdSense ad within a text widget

This is another way to display AdSense if you want them in one of the sidebars. In order to do this you must first place a Text Widget where you want the ad to show. This is done by going to the ‘Appearance‘ section of the blog Dashboard and opening the Widgets page. Once there you can select the Text widget from the list of available widgets and then drag it where you want it.  (Note: The sidebar where you want to drag the Text widget must be open.)  Once you have it in the sidebar of choice, you can move it up or down to change its placement if there are other widgets already there.

OK, you’ve got the Text widget in place, now you’re ready to put the AdSense code into it. To do this follow the same procedure for generating an ad. Copy the code and paste it into the open Text Widget. My preference is to place the code inside of some HTML code, specifically the <div> tag. I have found that sometimes the AdSense will work without it, and sometimes it won’t. So, I prefer to go ahead and put the code in. When using the <div> tags, the complete AdSense ad would look like:

<div>

AdSense code here

</div>

Once you have completed placing the code in the widget, select Save and then Close.

For more information on widgets see Word Press Settings  or Plug-ins and Widgets: Whats the Difference?

How to place an AdSense ad within a Word Press Plug-in

This is probably the best way to display AdSense ads. Not only will this plug-in manage your ads but also will rotate them and limit the number of ads displayed to meet the guidelines. It also recognizes many of the other ad networks including-

AdSense

 Adpinion

 Chitika

 CommissionJunction

 CrispAds

Yahoo!PN

Widget Bucks . . . and you can use unsupported ad networks too.

Some features of this plug-in are:

• Import ad code automatically
• Widgets and sidebar modules compatible
• Automatic limiting of ad display to meet network terms and conditions

This plug-in can be downloaded at this link – http://code.openx.org/projects/show/advertising-manager . Once there you’ll also find other helpful information and a forum should you have any questions or need help.

If you haven’t started using AdSense to monetize your blog, use the information here to take your first step towards making money on line.