I found this WordPress tutorial on how to add images to custom menu links helpful. This is especially handy for inserting an RSS image next to your feed link, or some other identifying icon or small image. It doesn’t fundamentally change the function of your WordPress site, but it does add a nice, small design touch that can make a difference in the user experience. Click the screenshot below to see the tutorial.  We at Pingable love new, helpful WordPress tutorials, so please send them our way.

Tutorials are all the rage right now, especially WordPress Tutorials. I understand why. There used to be a plethora of posts like this one for a while. Many people still write posts like this: “100 amazing themes” and “50 creative logos”. They’re nice to look at, helpful and inspiring.

However the trend is definitely towards tutorials. Look at Envato’s newest marketplace as an example.  And we at Pingable understand the trend.  Tutorial posts are more helpful in a tangible way.  Users can read a post and walk away with a real, measurable, helpful new skill set.

In light of this trend, we thought it would be nice to combine the two types of content.  Here is a list of 25 extremely Helpful WordPress Tutorials.

Free WordPress Tutorials

16 Vital Checks Before Releasing a WordPress Theme Tutorial

WordPress Tutorial by Ludovico Fischer

This tutorial will help you check off those must-do steps before making your new theme public. You spent countless hours developing the theme, don't forget these steps. From protecting comments on posts to correctly paginating posts, don't forget any of these steps.

Designing the Post Meta Data Section

WordPress Tutorial by the Codex Team

Using post meta data is one of the most versatile and helpful features of WordPress. You can essentially generate all of your post excerpt information on the fly which can make for a rich user experience. This official codex tutorial walks you through creating this section of your design.

Creating Custom Fields for Attachments in WordPress Tutorial

WordPress Tutorial by Andy Blackwell

WordPress custom fields are incredibly useful and versatile. They can turn a regular theme into a dynamic and user-powered design. However when displaying attachments the code needs some tweaking. This tutorial walks you through the necessary tweaking to make it work.

Fun Character Entities WordPress Tutorial

WordPress Tutorial by the Codex Team

Using various character entities in your designs can make the user experience smoother. This can be navigation arrows, ampersands, etc. This tutorial by the official codex crew will help you incorporate those characters into your next design.

How to Integrate an Options Page into your WordPress Theme Tutorial

WordPress Tutorial by By Dan Walker

All of the latest quality WordPress Themes include backend (administrative) options themes to help the user utilize all of the incredible, complicated features coming standard with the latest themes. This tutorial will guide you in creating this feature for your next theme.

Premium WordPress Tutorials

WordPress, Beginner to Master Tutorial

WordPress Tutorial by By Dan Harper, $5

This tutorial walks you through creating a complete WordPress site including a blog and portfolio. Written after the many new features in WordPress 2.7, this tutorials brings you up to speed before looking closely at WordPress 3.0.

Securing and Hardening WordPress Tutorial

WordPress Tutorial by By JT Pratt, $5

WordPress is inherently secure as a blogging platform. However as it is converted into a CMS, more user data is being transfered and more opportunities to access core files are created. This makes it less secure. This tutorial will help you secure WordPress against data theft but also make it less prone to malicious attack and forceful entry. A must-read for any serious WordPress user.

Creating a Custom WordPress Portfolio Page Tutorial

WordPress Tutorial by By nuResponse, $5

This tutorial will help you leverage the WordPress custom template functionality to create powerful design functionalities within your site. You will be walked through creating a portfolio page to display information in a unique way which can be applied in unlimited ways.

We hope you enjoyed these Helpful WordPress Tutorials.  These are some of the best free and premium tutorials we could find.  If you have your own must-read WordPress Tutorials, please leave a comment below!

How much do you stand to lose if your site goes down and you’re left without a backup? Even if you only have a smaller personal site, losing months or even years worth of work will hurt.

If your site is vital to your business it can get you in the pocketbook, too. You’ll not only have to worry about lost content, but links that now return 404 errors, any customizations you did to your theme and plugins, lost comments and all of the other tweaks and modifications you’ve made to your site.

You can rebuild but why go through all of that hassle when it can be avoided by having a good backup strategy.

A good backup strategy requires a balance between being as up to date as possible with the effort you can reasonably put into it with the resources at your disposal. Remember, you can’t rely on your web host to do it for you. Even if they offer the service, if you are locked out of your hosting account their backup will do you no good. Ask yourself these questions before formulating your backup plan:

How often do I really need to make a backup?

This will vary based on how often content is updated and how often changes are made to the structure of the site itself. A busy site that’s updated several times a day and receives a substantial number of comments might be backed up hourly while other sites can get away with just once a week.

For most sites a daily backup of the database is sufficient; an hourly backup could potentially strain the server, particularly at busy times of the day.

The WordPress files such as content, themes and plugins will also need to be backed up on a regular basis. If you rarely make changes to your theme or plugins and don’t upload amount of media, this can be done less often, perhaps once a week or even less often if you aren’t making changes and uploading images or other media.

No matter how often you choose to backup your database and files, you’ll want to be sure to do a backup right before making any changes to your site as insurance in case something goes wrong and once again after all changes have been made.

Where will I store my backup?

The simplest solution is to store your backup to your local machine, though this isn’t without its own set of problems. If you’re away from your computer and your site goes down, how will you get it back up and running without access to the backup?

Although it doesn’t seem likely that something will happen to your computer at the same time your site goes down, it is possible.

You can also store backups on your server. However, if you can’t access your sever, you’re still screwed. I’ve heard of more than one person who had their site shut down by their web host and were then unable to get the files and databases needed to migrate to another site.

It’s always best to store copies of your backups in more than one location, for example your personal computer and an online storage service such as dropbox. You can also look into paying a service to make and store backups for you as an added convenience and for peace of mind.

So I have these backups, now what?

Having backups scheduled every ten minutes won’t do you any good if you’ve no idea what to do with them in the event that your site goes POOF!

If you don’t have a plan in place to restore your site, you can lose hours and even days trying to figure out how to get your site back up and running. For most people, this will be stress they don’t need and time they can’t afford to spend. Take the time now to prepare for the worst case scenario.

If you have the time and inclination, teach yourself how to restore your site from the backups. There is a bit of technical know-how needed, but it’s something most people can be taught to do. Since restoring your site isn’t something you’ll do on a regular basis, make sure to write down step-by-step instructions and keep them and all relevant log ins and passwords in a safe place that will be easy for you to access if you need to fix your site yourself.

You don’t want to waste time having to Google and remembering FTP details while under pressure.

Another possibility is to develop a relationship with somebody who is experienced with WordPress and can fix your site more efficiently than you could. Again, it’s best to contract with this person in advance and find out how much the service will cost and what information they’ll need from you to do it. You don’t want to find out at the last minute that you can’t afford to have somebody fix your site.

Some freelancers will allow you to pay a retainer to have their services for a fixed amount of time per month or year. Even if you never need their services, think of it as insurance!

Finally, you can contract with a service that will make and store backups for you and will restore your site should the need ever arise. These services vary in price depending on size of the site and the services offered but can be very affordable, especially if you have a number of sites that need to be maintained.

If you schedule backup with a professional service, be sure to ask them how often backups are made, where the backups will be stored and if you’ll get a copy and how long will you have to wait to get somebody to restore your site if needed.

As the saying goes, stuff does happen. But even though we can’t always control hardware failure or malicious attacks, we can be proactive and make a plan to ensure that even in the worst case scenario we have a backup of our sites and can get them up and running again in the least amount of time possible.

Keeping your online assets safe with a regularly scheduled backup routine, is the best insurance a site owner can have.

Sean Platt is a content marketing specialist who offers regularly scheduled WordPress backups at TheWPMechanic.Com. Follow him on Twitter.



This is a user submitted resource.

Tutorials are all the rage.  Tutoriallounge has put together a collection of 40 fantasy art Photoshop tutorials to guide you in creating your own creative work.

They range from shocking to calming to thought-provoking.  In every example, you will see creativity and amazing perspective.

Check it out

This excellent tutorial was put together by Jared over at Design Juices.  As a key feature in WordPress 3.0, custom post types have the potential to turn your blog inside-out. (In a good way)

Custom post types promise to bring WordPress one step closer to being a real CMS, not just a blog platform.  Check out this tutorial on custom post types to see what’s involved in custom post types.

You work hard to create amazing content.  You also work hard revising and updating your site with new plugins, themes, and more.  If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it will: a new plugin that was not designed to work with your version of WordPress breaks everything.  You can’t get into the Dashboard and deleting the files via FTP doesn’t work either.

What do you do???  Luckily, you have a recent database backup.  Here is a step by step guide for creating a database backup and restoring your site.  Please note: you must have the backup file BEFORE you can restore your site.

Using phpMySQL or a similar SQL database interface to create a backup file.

a) Select “Databases

b) Select the database of your WordPress install

c) Click the Export tab

d) Choose all tables (or just those that apply to your WordPress install)

e) Make sure the following options are ticked: “Structure, Add DROP TABLE / VIEW / PROCEDURE / FUNCTION, Add IF NOT EXISTS, Add AUTO_INCREMENT, Enclose table and field names with backquotes”

f) Leave all other options as default.

g) Click “Go” which will generate a downloadable file.

PhpMySQL cannot handle very large files, so if the process doesn’t complete successfully, you may need to use direct SQL commands to restore.  If that’s the case, check out the official WordPress documentation on the subject.

In order to restore a database backup, follow these steps:

a) In the same (or a new) MySQL database in which you would like the new database to be located, click the “Import” tab.

b) Browse to the file generate in your last backup and click “Go”.  This may take a while, but eventually you should see a success screen.

Check out the official WordPress documentation on the subject.

Bonus: How to export all WordPress posts easily

If you need to move your WordPress from one installation to another, here is one super-easy way to transfer all content between sites.

a) In your WordPress dashboard, on the left under the TOOLS menu, click “Export”.

b) You will be select which authors’ posts to export and whether or not to include all resources (images) attached to each post.

c) Click “Ok” and you will download an XML file which can be uploaded through the Export area of any 2.x + release of WordPress.

d) That’s it! Easy huh?

With hundreds of thousands of blogs being created every day, yours will take a lot to stand out in the crowd. These tips have been assembled from years of experience navigating the blogosphere. Stick to these 6 principles and you’ve got a pretty decent chance of making it.

1. Use a custom design

This is less difficult or expensive as you may think. There are tons of beautiful themes and templates available for blogs. Find the one that best suits your needs (see #6) and customize it by adding a unique background, menu, icons, etc.

Using some of the online marketplaces like Graphic River, you can find new images to spice up your design that is both unique and aesthetically pleasing.

2. Give away something (quality) for free

One of my first blogs found success in giving away a premium quality CMS template for free. This helped in almost every component of my blog. It encouraged link building, increased credibility, and encouraged repeat visits.

The investment is well worth the return. Give away a quality asset like a theme, icons, or something else related to your blog topic. You will find an increase in traffic, backlinks and favorable mentions on other sites.

3. Post frequently (reference other article)

This article discusses this topic further, but you should respond to your readers and post often. Don’t flood your blog with content so that readers can’t filter through it all and quality suffers. However, posting on a regular and frequent schedule will build credibility and show readers you can be depended on for quality content.

4. Develop relationships

There’s no subsitute for pounding the internet pavement and building relationships. All relationships matter, but focus on connecting with others who share your passions and topics. I regularly reach out to other blogs that I follow.

Reaching out can be guest blogging, exchanging links or collaborating on a freebie release. (See #2)

5. Be unique

The web is full of duplicative, useless content. There is a special place in hell reserved for those who saturate the web with boring content meant only to encourage ad clicks.

Have you noticed the increase in “list” sites? Mashable.com and Tutorial9 are just some examples of websites that create helpful posts of lists like “100 of the best free WordPress themes”. Your content should be unique, informative and easy to read. If you can do this, the links and traffic will follow.

6. Leave out the excess (focus on the content)

The big content management systems (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc.) offer countless addons and plugins. These can be both helpful and harmful to your blog. Don’t think that the coolest features are necessary. Focus on quality, informative content and leave the fancy sliders and effects out.

7. Be patient

The top blogs were not made in a day. Popularity, traffic, links and credibility are earned over time. If you’re passionate about a topic, you will continue to be motivated by changes and innovations. Be patient, offer consistent quality and useful content that people can expect every time they come back.

The golden rule of blogging is offer valuable content.  This tip trumps a good design, flashy graphics, twitter integration, powerful links, even advertisements.

However, quality content can be improved with an applicable and eye-catching screenshot.  Here are some tips and tools for creating awesome screenshots for your WordPress posts.

Choosing the format

1. All screenshots should be the same format and size.  Pick a size that goes well with your theme and stick with it.
2. If your screenshot will not be of the entire page, pick a section of the site that is applicable to the topic of your post.

Choosing the screenshot

1. Pick a section of the site to screenshot that is descriptive of the topic and has something to look at.  For example, don’t choose blank space or a generic graphic to focus on.  Rather, choose a piece of the site that is unique and shows something about what the website is about.

Here’s and example of a good and bad screenshot of Mashable.com – one of our favorite blogs.  For this example, we chose a 200px square image in JPEG format.

A bad screenshot

A good screenshot

Notice the differences?  The bad screenshot doesn’t indicate the website or anything about it.  What is that blog about?

The good screenshot indicates the name of the blog, several categories, even the overall color scheme.  It doesn’t matter that the entire logo isn’t shown, people will get the idea.

Formatting your screenshot

1. There are a few things you can do to improve the quality of your screenshot after you’ve chosen how and what to snapshot.  You can add effects like an angle, dropshadow or even the famous “shiny table effect”.  Here are some examples:

The original screenshot without effects

A screenshot with a -25 degree arbitrary rotation.

With an added dropshadow

These effects were all done in the GIMP, a free graphics editor.  If you want to add the shiny table effect, check out this tutorial.

Choose the right tools

There are lots of options out there for taking and manipulating screenshots.  Here are some of our favorites:

Firefox addons

• Lightshot - a simple version without useless stuff
• Fireshot – comes with built-in editing tools
• Screenshot Pimp – a few more options, still simple though
• Check out all the Firefox screenshot addons here.

The other option

• If you don’t want another addon, just use the Print Screen button on your Windows machine which will add a screenshot to your clipboard.  Simply paste it into your selected graphics editor into a file of your preferred size.  Drag it until you’ve got a nice focus and you’re all set!

Graphics editors

• Photoshop - the cadillac of image editing with virtually limitless options.
• The GIMP – a free option that comes with many of Photoshop’s features.
• Grabit - a handy screenshot tool but limited advanced options.  Built purely for screenshots.

A few more tips when taking screenshots

• Choose color – bright, vibrant colors add energy to your blog post.
• Keep them small – screenshots are just a taste of a site and shouldn’t encompass the whole thing.
• Keep them natural – don’t resize if you can avoid it.
• Keep them applicable – if you’re creating a showcase post, or list of multiple sites, choose the first list item as your screenshot.
• Have your own tips for a screenshot?  Leave a comment below.

WordPress is one of the simplest, fastest and easiest tools for blogging. It is open source software developed originally by a god, I mean guy named Matt Mullenweg. With the advent of WordPress, Mullenweg single-handedly changed the face of the web. Ok, so he didn’t do it alone, he had lots of talented coders working with him, but the concept was his.

He developed what they call “…a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.”

So you’ve heard about WordPress. You’ve heard about weblogs (now simply called “blogs”). And you want your own blog! That is where WordPress can help. Here are the most common ways to install WordPress and get your own blog up and running in just a few minutes. This list begins with the simplest installation of WordPress all the way to the most difficult.

Option 1: WordPress.com

The easiest way to install WordPress is to let someone else do it! WordPress.com (not to be confused with WordPress.org) is built on Wordpres Mu (multi-user). By signing up, you will instantly get a blog located at yourname.wordpress.com.

For the casual user, this is probably the best option. When you want to share family news, your personal experiences, or don’t want to bother with the hassle of web hosting or domain names, head on over to WordPress.com for a free blog.

Option 2: Fantastico (via your web host)

The second easiest way to install WordPress is to sign up for web hosting with a provider that offers Fantastico! (the exclamation point is part of the name).  Most web hosting accounts offer Fantastico as a standard feature, and almost all accounts that use software called Cpanel as your backend dashboard include Fantastico.

So what is Fantastico?  It is software that automates and simplifies the installation of a long list of other programs.  These include most blog software, content management systems (CMS) and other community building software.  With just a couple clicks, you can install WordPress with this handy tool.  How?  Keep reading.

Step 1: Log in to Cpanel or your web hosting dashboard.

Step 2: Navigate to Fantastico.  If using Cpanel, simply type “fan” into the left hand filter box and the link to Fantastico will  be brought into view.  Click Fantastico.

Step 3: Under the “blogs” header on the left, click “WordPress”

Step 4: Click “New Installation”

Step 5: Fill out the required fields like domain, directory, etc.  If you want WordPress to be in the root directory of that domain, leave the directory field empty.

Step 6: Click “install” and you’re done!

The downside: you will have a little less control over how things are set up.  The database and db username and passwords are all set up for you (which is also a time saver).  Also, it is a little tricky to assign a domain name to your WordPress install using Fantastico which is also a Cpanel issue.

Option 3: Self hosted installation

The option that offers you the most control and customization options is a self-hosted install.  Even this, the most complicated, is still very very easy.  Even beginners can handle this one.

Step 1: Download and unzip the latest release of WordPress.  You can find the latest release here.

Step 2: Upload the unzipped directory using your favorite FTP client. *

Step 3: Navigate to the directory of your WordPress install.  You will automatically be taken to an installation screen.**

Step 4: Fill out the required bits of information like database, username and password.  Click Finish and voila! You’re done! ***

*Alternately, you can upload the zipped file and unzip it once on your web server.

**You will need to have a way to navigate to the WordPress directory using a domain, subdomain or temporary domain.  Most hosts will allow you to assign a domain to a directory.  Temporarily, you can create a subdomain which is free (usually) and takes less time to propogate across the web.

***You will need to have set up a MySQL database prior to installing WordPress.  Do this a bit ahead of time as it takes a little while to be set up usually by your host.

Did you find this post helpful?  Please consider sharing it with your friends!

Additional Resources:

• The official WordPress installation guide
• More about Fantastico
• More about Cpanel
• Get your WordPress Mug

Update: Option 4: QuickInstall

When updating a server of mine I found out I needed to pay for Fantastico for the first time.  I started poking around and found that my host fully supports software called “QuickInstall”.  QuickInstall works within cPanel, and is even easier than Fantastico.  A fresh WordPress install is literally just a few clicks.  Just choose your site name, directory and email.  A password is emailed to you.  The actualy setup takes just a few seconds on a 7Mbps connection on a VPS.  I was shocked at how easy it was to set up a new WordPress site.

As far as I can tell, QuickInstall offers all the same open source options except for Joomla!  Seeing as Pingable is all about WordPress, I wasn’t too upset to find this out.

Using Google with some basic knowledge on advanced searching techniques you can find some high quality free resources which have typically been set up as digg bait on social media sites. The results of using Google over searching through the sites individually are much better, try for yourself by typing some of the following terms.

To search popular posts on digg type the following into Google:

• site:Digg.com Free Icons
• site:Digg.com Free Vectors
• site:Digg.com Free Clipart
• site:Digg.com Free graphics

This also works for other social media sites:

• site:stumbleupon.com Free graphics
• site:del.icio.us free icons
• site:reddit.com free icons

The “site:” part of the search term specifies the site that you are asking Google to search and the rest is the specific search you want it to look for. Good Luck.