Now if you are a blogger or a website owner then you need to follow some steps to make Google find your Website. For this Google provides Various tools to make our websites SEO Friendly.

Here I am going to share some of my learning which might help you understand some basic concept as How Google can find your website easily? How Google Crawls your site? How to create a SEO Friendly Sitemap? What are Meta Tags and how it plays vital role in SEO? What are Tags? and many more questions.

I would request you all to post your comments or queries if any.

Traffic – building tips, straight from Google

How to Make youur site Accessible

How Google “discovers” your site

How Google “ranks” your site

Google’s advice on why and how to create good meta tags

How google works

How Google rates from sites like Twitter and Facebook

In Today’s world when ever you have any question or any query, the first thing which comes to your Mind is Google Search.
Imagine if you did not had this option then where would you have gone to look for the answer to your queries. Google is like a God which have all the answer to your queries. And the best part here is it show the results for what you are looking in seconds. Did you ever had a thought as how google acts when you click on search button. For this you can refer to one of the Expert comments from Google.

Now if you are a blogger or a website owner then you need to follow some steps to make Google find your Website. For this Google provides Various tools to make our websites SEO Friendly.

Here I am going to share some of my learning which might help you understand some basic concept as How Google can find your website easily? How Google Crawls your site? How to create a SEO Friendly Sitemap? What are Meta Tags and how it plays vital role in SEO? What are Tags? and many more questions.

I would request you all to post your comments or queries if any.

Traffic – building tips, straight from Google

How to Make youur site Accessible

How Google “discovers” your site

How Google “ranks” your site

Google’s advice on why and how to create good meta tags

How google works

How Google rates from sites like Twitter and Facebook

1. Manage Authors And Change Admin Password

To start with WordPress will assign a password to your admin user which will be a auto generated password of random numbers and letters, so the first thing you should do is change the password for your admin user to something easier to remember. While you are changing your admin user you can also make changes to add other authors to your blog. This will allow users to login to your blog to post content. You can set this up to not publish the post straight away but set it to pending review before it goes live, which means the admin user will login to approve the post.

2. Manage Your Blog Categories

When you first install WordPress it will setup a default category called Uncategorized. You should delete this category and create your own. Adding your own Categories will automatically add category links to your navigation. To create new categories go to Posts > Categories and fill in the form.

3. Change The Default Theme

You want your blog to look professional, to do this you need a good theme. There are many choices of themes out there some are free and some are premium. If you can’t afford to have your own custom made theme it is always better to have a premium theme over a free theme, this is because they are easier to customise and have better inbuilt SEO.

There is a good WordPress theme marketplace called ThemeForest which gives you the choice of 100s of high quality themes with well written documentation and user guides.

From CodeCanyon you can also get some premium WordPress plugins to add that little bit of extra functionality to make your blog even more unique.

4. Edit Your Permalinks

The WordPress default URL for your posts is not very user friendly or SEO friendly, your first post URL will look like http://www.xcellextech.com/Blog/index.php?p=1. This needs to be changed to something which is more descriptive, there are many different options you can choose from so you need to decide on which one you will use.

Other combinations are category/post-title or what I use on this blog data/blog-title. The only reason I have my URLs like this is because I like having the date in the URL so visitors will know how old and how relevant the content is. If I write an SEO post which is over 5 years old they will know that it won’t be very relevant now.

To change the permalinks go to Settings > Permalinks and select which format you want as your new links. You can also change how your tags and categories URLs are shown.

5. Install Analytics Plugin

Now that you have the basics of your blog setup you need to start installing some WordPress plugins to add some additional functionality that is essential to any website.

First of all you will need a good Analytics system to keep track of your visitors. The best free analytics system is Google Analytics, they provide lots of reports and give you the ability to create your own reports to capture exactly what your visitors are doing. You need to know where your visitors are coming from and what marketing is working and what isn’t.

If you don’t want to go around playing with the blog theme then here are some good analytics plugins.

1. Google Analytics for WordPress
2. Simple Google Analytics
3. Web Ninja Google Analytics
4. Google Analyticator

6. Install Spam Filter Plugin

The good thing about WordPress is that it is very popular so if you need support with any problem then you know there is always going to be help.

But the problem with WordPress being so popular and that it is open source software means it’s an easy target for spam comments, you will find that when your blog starts getting traffic you will get spam comments. These are comments from bots which only objective is to get a comment on your blog so they can link back to their own site. Spam comments can be annoying for the site owner and can look unprofessional on your blog.

It is essential that you have a good spam comment filter, the best one you can get is the Akisment plugin. This plugin will catch all spam comments so you don’t have to deal with them. You will need to go to akismet.com to get your private key to use the plugin, but when you do no more annoying spam.

7. Install Feedburner Plugin

Feedburner is a FREE service from Google which will keep track of your RSS feed, it will let you know how many people have subscribed to your RSS feed and who many people have viewed the posts on your RSS feed. The Feedburner plugin will automatically redirect all the default WordPress RSS feeds to Feedburner to keep track of your subscribers. All you have to do is sign up to Feedburner and then install the Feedburner plugin.

8. Install XML Sitemap Plugin

XML Sitemaps are used to let the search engines know what pages are on your site and what pages they need to crawl. It is best to have a manually made sitemap but for blogs there can be 100s of pages so this just isn’t practical, so get yourself a good Sitemap plugin to do the job for you. The plugin I use is Google XML Sitemaps, which will crawl my posts and automatically generate an XML file, compress it using gzip and ping the search engines about the sitemap.

9. Install Database Backup Plugin

Install a backup Database plugin to automatically make backups of your database, you don’t want something to go wrong with your web hosting and you lose all your hard work of generating content. The plugin I recommend for this is the originally named plugin WordPress Database Backup. It allows you to automatically make a backup of your database which can be stored on your server somewhere or emailed directly to your mailbox.

10. Change Blog General Settings

Make sure that you have changed the default settings under the general tab to make the theme act just how you want. This is where you will control the blog title, tagline, Website URL, the admin email address and the timezone. Make sure that the timezone is set to the timezone you expect this is so your scheduled posts are published at the correct time.

What are some of the first things you do when you install WordPress? Comment below and let us know! Please don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS-feed and follow Inspirationfeed on Twitter + Facebook (100% Spam Free!) If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word with your peers!

WordPress is a massive blogging platform that is used by 14.7% of the top million websites in the world. It has got so popular because of it is easy to customise, expandable with plugin’s and applies good SEO standards. On the WordPress website they have a tutorial which you can learn exactly how to install WordPress on your site. Now you have installed WordPress on your website, what do you do now? How do you get the most out of this blogging platform? Here is a valuable list of things you should do after you have installed WordPress on your website.

1. Manage Authors And Change Admin Password

To start with WordPress will assign a password to your admin user which will be a auto generated password of random numbers and letters, so the first thing you should do is change the password for your admin user to something easier to remember. While you are changing your admin user you can also make changes to add other authors to your blog. This will allow users to login to your blog to post content. You can set this up to not publish the post straight away but set it to pending review before it goes live, which means the admin user will login to approve the post.

2. Manage Your Blog Categories

When you first install WordPress it will setup a default category called Uncategorized. You should delete this category and create your own. Adding your own Categories will automatically add category links to your navigation. To create new categories go to Posts > Categories and fill in the form.

3. Change The Default Theme

You want your blog to look professional, to do this you need a good theme. There are many choices of themes out there some are free and some are premium. If you can’t afford to have your own custom made theme it is always better to have a premium theme over a free theme, this is because they are easier to customise and have better inbuilt SEO.

There is a good WordPress theme marketplace called ThemeForest which gives you the choice of 100s of high quality themes with well written documentation and user guides.

From CodeCanyon you can also get some premium WordPress plugins to add that little bit of extra functionality to make your blog even more unique.

4. Edit Your Permalinks

The WordPress default URL for your posts is not very user friendly or SEO friendly, your first post URL will look like http://www.xcellextech.com/Blog/index.php?p=1. This needs to be changed to something which is more descriptive, there are many different options you can choose from so you need to decide on which one you will use.

Other combinations are category/post-title or what I use on this blog data/blog-title. The only reason I have my URLs like this is because I like having the date in the URL so visitors will know how old and how relevant the content is. If I write an SEO post which is over 5 years old they will know that it won’t be very relevant now.

To change the permalinks go to Settings > Permalinks and select which format you want as your new links. You can also change how your tags and categories URLs are shown.

5. Install Analytics Plugin

Now that you have the basics of your blog setup you need to start installing some WordPress plugins to add some additional functionality that is essential to any website.

First of all you will need a good Analytics system to keep track of your visitors. The best free analytics system is Google Analytics, they provide lots of reports and give you the ability to create your own reports to capture exactly what your visitors are doing. You need to know where your visitors are coming from and what marketing is working and what isn’t.

If you don’t want to go around playing with the blog theme then here are some good analytics plugins.

1. Google Analytics for WordPress
2. Simple Google Analytics
3. Web Ninja Google Analytics
4. Google Analyticator

6. Install Spam Filter Plugin

The good thing about WordPress is that it is very popular so if you need support with any problem then you know there is always going to be help.

But the problem with WordPress being so popular and that it is open source software means it’s an easy target for spam comments, you will find that when your blog starts getting traffic you will get spam comments. These are comments from bots which only objective is to get a comment on your blog so they can link back to their own site. Spam comments can be annoying for the site owner and can look unprofessional on your blog.

It is essential that you have a good spam comment filter, the best one you can get is the Akisment plugin. This plugin will catch all spam comments so you don’t have to deal with them. You will need to go to akismet.com to get your private key to use the plugin, but when you do no more annoying spam.

7. Install Feedburner Plugin

Feedburner is a FREE service from Google which will keep track of your RSS feed, it will let you know how many people have subscribed to your RSS feed and who many people have viewed the posts on your RSS feed. The Feedburner plugin will automatically redirect all the default WordPress RSS feeds to Feedburner to keep track of your subscribers. All you have to do is sign up to Feedburner and then install the Feedburner plugin.

8. Install XML Sitemap Plugin

XML Sitemaps are used to let the search engines know what pages are on your site and what pages they need to crawl. It is best to have a manually made sitemap but for blogs there can be 100s of pages so this just isn’t practical, so get yourself a good Sitemap plugin to do the job for you. The plugin I use is Google XML Sitemaps, which will crawl my posts and automatically generate an XML file, compress it using gzip and ping the search engines about the sitemap.

9. Install Database Backup Plugin

Install a backup Database plugin to automatically make backups of your database, you don’t want something to go wrong with your web hosting and you lose all your hard work of generating content. The plugin I recommend for this is the originally named plugin WordPress Database Backup. It allows you to automatically make a backup of your database which can be stored on your server somewhere or emailed directly to your mailbox.

10. Change Blog General Settings

Make sure that you have changed the default settings under the general tab to make the theme act just how you want. This is where you will control the blog title, tagline, Website URL, the admin email address and the timezone. Make sure that the timezone is set to the timezone you expect this is so your scheduled posts are published at the correct time.

What are some of the first things you do when you install WordPress? Comment below and let us know! Please don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS-feed and follow Inspirationfeed on Twitter + Facebook (100% Spam Free!) If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word with your peers!

Previous week I promised to continue writing post on evolution of Technology and started writing assuming the first technology would be FIRE.

Here is a picture depiction which says how Social Networking sites started its evolution.

Before Y2K year 2000 we had mostly only live journal.
Then came up Friendster a social networking website founded by Jonathan Abrams and Peter Chin in 2002 in Morgan Hill, California. Followed by MySpace in 2006.
Orkut owned and operated by Google Inc launched in 2008
Then came Facebook launched in 2004 by # Mark Zuckerberg (CEO) who claims the real inventor, privately operated until 2009. After the facebook was launched, other social networking sites declined steadily in spite of several drastic design changes and other improvements
Twitter by Twitter Inc which offers a social networking and microblogging services. Though launched in March 2006 but it gained popularity only after 2009. It is sometimes described as the “SMS of the Internet. It has the highest number of users all around the world.

Now we have G + (Google +) by Google Inc which has launched with a promise to be the top social networking site. Lets wait and watch the future of Google +….

Previous week I promised to continue writing post on evolution of Technology and started writing assuming the first technology would be FIRE.

Here is a picture depiction which says how Social Networking sites started its evolution.

Before Y2K year 2000 we had mostly only live journal.
Then came up Friendster a social networking website founded by Jonathan Abrams and Peter Chin in 2002 in Morgan Hill, California. Followed by MySpace in 2006.
Orkut owned and operated by Google Inc launched in 2008
Then came Facebook launched in 2004 by # Mark Zuckerberg (CEO) who claims the real inventor, privately operated until 2009. After the facebook was launched, other social networking sites declined steadily in spite of several drastic design changes and other improvements
Twitter by Twitter Inc which offers a social networking and microblogging services. Though launched in March 2006 but it gained popularity only after 2009. It is sometimes described as the “SMS of the Internet. It has the highest number of users all around the world.

Now we have G + (Google +) by Google Inc which has launched with a promise to be the top social networking site. Lets wait and watch the future of Google +….

Google Plus is a Plus, no doubt

Google+ A real Plus

Google has arrived with a splash on the scene — which is what Google Plus or Google+ is.  After the failed attempts with Google Buzz and Google Wave, I believe that Google+ is the real deal.  Having launched +1, an equivalent to the Facebook LIKE button, it is clear that Google has now dropped the gloves with Facebook. And, after a mere 48 hours of existence, I am going to say that Google+ is the real McCoy.  Google will have to work through the kinks, but, bottom line, the functionality looks and feels better than on Facebook in many instances.  With the “invitation only” approach, Google is helping to create a little of its own buzz.  People (like myself) have been chomping at the bit to give it a try.  It’s called Shortage Marketing.

Google Plus has a whole number of spaces to play with including Circles, Huddles, Hangouts, Sparks and Instant Uploads. I won’t cover each of them here, but if you want to know more about a key component, Google Circles, I recommend checking out their video below or you can view a broader presentation on this little Google demo.

What makes this Google Plus initiative a real plus?

1. You start by defining your circles of friends: not all friends are equal and, compared to Facebook, which has made a real mess of sorting friends, Google Circles is a fabulous way to get started.  The truth about social networking is that is not just about who you know, but why and how well you know them.  Your network is a part of your e-reputation and, just as we all know we can’t have more than a handful of profound friends, we also need to communicate with our friends, family and acquaintances differently.  Being able to categorize “friends” is a KEY to making the social media network more effective. I am not sure this functionality is, as yet, enough to run circles around Facebook, but I like this part best.
2. Ipso facto, Google Plus will be a wake-up call for Facebook.  That’s healthy competition.  Since there are only a few players (Microsoft, Apple & Google) able to take on Facebook frontally, I hope this one sticks.  I love the fact that within nano seconds, someone came up with a mirror functionality of Circles for Facebook.  If you are not on Google+ yet, but are on Facebook, I highly recommend trying it out: Circle Hack
3. Search Plus.  There is a recommendation engine to facilitate sharing of relevant content.  The feature is called SPARKS.
4. Video is central.  A cornerstone element of Google+ is around the video.  There are some neat functionalities to make video chatting in group or one-on-one easy.  The uploading of photos and videos seems to be easier than on Facebook.  One feature I like: you can upload a still within a video too.  Between Google Huddles and Hangouts, you know that the terminology is 100% American (the former, huddles, refers to the pre-action pause in American Football).  Watch out for these words to be banned on French Television soon?
5. Blogs got an automatic +1 on Google Page Rank: which is sort of incidental to the Google Plus project, but I thought it deserved a mention:  Social Search just took another step forward.Google+ Bells & Whistles: Circles, Huddles, Hangouts & MoreGoogle Plus is still rolling out its invitations.  The early adopters are running all the tests Google needs to find out how well it works for real.  There are certainly some wrinkles that need to be ironed out, specifically, as far as I am concerned, with Circles (to be able to view all the circles at once, sorting of friends via a more robust search mechanism…).  I also have been a little lost without a wall.  But I am sure those are just teething pains.  On the mobile front, Google Plus is up on Android, but is not available on the iPhone yet (funny that).

   The online battle is definitely heating up

   The confrontation between the online giants looks to have gone to a whole other level.  Microsoft and Apple have been hitting the clouds.  Facebook and Google are going at in social.  Facebook is aligned with Microsoft, which bought Skype, which is going to be embedded into Facebook very soon to allow for in-the-flow video chat.

   All said, Google+ seems to be the real deal. We welcome your suggestions & thoughts… Source

Google+ is the latest social networking site from Google is making news. The beta version is launched and the worlds eye on it. Believed to be a competitor for facebook. The history would say it all how better from facebook.

Google Plus is a Plus, no doubt

Google+ A real Plus

Google has arrived with a splash on the scene — which is what Google Plus or Google+ is.  After the failed attempts with Google Buzz and Google Wave, I believe that Google+ is the real deal.  Having launched +1, an equivalent to the Facebook LIKE button, it is clear that Google has now dropped the gloves with Facebook. And, after a mere 48 hours of existence, I am going to say that Google+ is the real McCoy.  Google will have to work through the kinks, but, bottom line, the functionality looks and feels better than on Facebook in many instances.  With the “invitation only” approach, Google is helping to create a little of its own buzz.  People (like myself) have been chomping at the bit to give it a try.  It’s called Shortage Marketing.

Google Plus has a whole number of spaces to play with including Circles, Huddles, Hangouts, Sparks and Instant Uploads. I won’t cover each of them here, but if you want to know more about a key component, Google Circles, I recommend checking out their video below or you can view a broader presentation on this little Google demo.

What makes this Google Plus initiative a real plus?

1. You start by defining your circles of friends: not all friends are equal and, compared to Facebook, which has made a real mess of sorting friends, Google Circles is a fabulous way to get started.  The truth about social networking is that is not just about who you know, but why and how well you know them.  Your network is a part of your e-reputation and, just as we all know we can’t have more than a handful of profound friends, we also need to communicate with our friends, family and acquaintances differently.  Being able to categorize “friends” is a KEY to making the social media network more effective. I am not sure this functionality is, as yet, enough to run circles around Facebook, but I like this part best.
2. Ipso facto, Google Plus will be a wake-up call for Facebook.  That’s healthy competition.  Since there are only a few players (Microsoft, Apple & Google) able to take on Facebook frontally, I hope this one sticks.  I love the fact that within nano seconds, someone came up with a mirror functionality of Circles for Facebook.  If you are not on Google+ yet, but are on Facebook, I highly recommend trying it out: Circle Hack
3. Search Plus.  There is a recommendation engine to facilitate sharing of relevant content.  The feature is called SPARKS.
4. Video is central.  A cornerstone element of Google+ is around the video.  There are some neat functionalities to make video chatting in group or one-on-one easy.  The uploading of photos and videos seems to be easier than on Facebook.  One feature I like: you can upload a still within a video too.  Between Google Huddles and Hangouts, you know that the terminology is 100% American (the former, huddles, refers to the pre-action pause in American Football).  Watch out for these words to be banned on French Television soon?
5. Blogs got an automatic +1 on Google Page Rank: which is sort of incidental to the Google Plus project, but I thought it deserved a mention:  Social Search just took another step forward.Google+ Bells & Whistles: Circles, Huddles, Hangouts & MoreGoogle Plus is still rolling out its invitations.  The early adopters are running all the tests Google needs to find out how well it works for real.  There are certainly some wrinkles that need to be ironed out, specifically, as far as I am concerned, with Circles (to be able to view all the circles at once, sorting of friends via a more robust search mechanism…).  I also have been a little lost without a wall.  But I am sure those are just teething pains.  On the mobile front, Google Plus is up on Android, but is not available on the iPhone yet (funny that).

   The online battle is definitely heating up

   The confrontation between the online giants looks to have gone to a whole other level.  Microsoft and Apple have been hitting the clouds.  Facebook and Google are going at in social.  Facebook is aligned with Microsoft, which bought Skype, which is going to be embedded into Facebook very soon to allow for in-the-flow video chat.

   All said, Google+ seems to be the real deal. We welcome your suggestions & thoughts… Source

10 fresh, beautiful, inventive and, hopefully, inspiring blog designs

 Jason Gray Music

Jason Gray’s blog was initially WordPress-based, but it now has a beautiful and original Flash appearance that we just couldn’t pass up.

The Pixel Blog

This exquisite blog belongs to a Web design and marketing company called The Pixel. Amazing graphics in the header and footer, along with a giant tree (the branches of which separate the posts), make this design pure eye-candy.

WorkAwesome

The neat desktop-themed design of WorkAwesome’s blog is definitely worth your attention.

Dustin Curtis

New to York

Abduzeedo

Abduzeedo, which is bookmarked by every Web design fan, was recently redesigned. The highlights are considerably enhanced usability and unique post teasers.

Trent Walton

Tumble 

Biggest Apple

The pure style of Biggest Apple’s website features a gorgeous sketch in the header and some pretty icons all around.

Stripturnhout.be

10 fresh, beautiful, inventive and, hopefully, inspiring blog designs

 Jason Gray Music

Jason Gray’s blog was initially WordPress-based, but it now has a beautiful and original Flash appearance that we just couldn’t pass up.

The Pixel Blog

This exquisite blog belongs to a Web design and marketing company called The Pixel. Amazing graphics in the header and footer, along with a giant tree (the branches of which separate the posts), make this design pure eye-candy.

WorkAwesome

The neat desktop-themed design of WorkAwesome’s blog is definitely worth your attention.

Dustin Curtis

New to York

Abduzeedo

Abduzeedo, which is bookmarked by every Web design fan, was recently redesigned. The highlights are considerably enhanced usability and unique post teasers.

Trent Walton

Tumble 

Biggest Apple

The pure style of Biggest Apple’s website features a gorgeous sketch in the header and some pretty icons all around.

Stripturnhout.be