The most important point to remember – Domain and hosting expiry

A WordPress website is hosted on a server and both the domain name and hosting package are purchased for a limited time only. This should be first on your agenda. Check the expiry dates of domain registration and hosting package. If required, renew them for adequate period.

Note down login details, phone number and registered Email ID

The most safest option is two factor authentication. However, if the authentication is by a mobile app, you need to keep a note of it on paper and keep it somewhere safe.

Login details, password, registered phone number, address and the Email ID needs to be rechecked and noted down for safe keeping.

Backup website using All-in-one WP Migration plugin

Among the many plugins available out there, All-in-one WP migration is the best out there. No wonder it features right on the top of popular plugins. In installation we get three main options.

Export option allows you to backup the complete WordPress site in a single click and single file. You will get several options to backup, however file backup is the only one available in free version. When an export file is created, it automatically goes to the backup. You can download the backup file from backup section too. List of backups with size and dates are listed.

Once the backup is done and you have downloaded the backup file, there are two options.

• Either you can delete the website totally so that no one is able to access it.
• Install a coming soon plugin.

One of the main factors which you need to consider is the Google search penalty your site will face for being absent.

How to display a maintenance message?

For this we shall use the WordPress plugin WP Maintenance mode and Coming soon.

You can choose between various templates.

That completes the site preparations.

Returning back to normal

• Deactivate the maintenance mode.
• If you have deleted the website, restore it using the All-in-one migration plugin.
• Update the theme and plugins.
• Update the PHP level on your hosting.

Your site will be up and running.

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• Hosting service provider
• Domain name
• Hosting package
• Addons like SSL, etc

All these can be purchased as a single package from a hosting service provider. These components are well integrated. Here is what you will generally go through.

• Selection of domain name with the suitable package.
• Creation of account with hosting provider and payment process.
• Installation of WordPress though a single install software.
• Housekeeping.

Hosting service provider

Service providers give you a combination of tools so that you can start with a website. There are various types of hosting. Primary are Linux hosting, Windows hosting, cloud hosting and dedicated WordPress hosting. WordPress hosting is a bit expensive but worth the extra bucks. Hosting account provides with Cpanel access with total and easy access to hosting account. You can create subdomain, SSL certificates, Mail addresses, File manager, edit php files and so on. Sometimes you get a choice of location of servers. US servers are the least expensive. Most important we get a single click WordPress install like Softaculous. Popular hosting providers are Siteground, Bluehost, Hostgator, Godaddy, Hostinger and a few hundred more. Once you have shortlisted you service provider, you move on to the next step.

Domain Name

This is the most trickiest part of the whole thing. A .com domain name is the ultimate prize. But all the common name and combos are gone. A .in name may or may not be desirable as you might find, traffic going to your .com counterpart. Select and shortlist number of options before finalizing getting the one of your choice. As part of the freebie, try to get the hosting package which gives a free domain name, even if it is for a year.

Domain name should be catchy, simple to pronounce and remember, should reflect the nature of your blog and preferably should not have a spelling mistake. There are a ton of extensions available now, but remember, .com is a top level domain name.

Hosting package

All vendors give a 50% discount over the entire package when buying for the first time. Check the freebies carefully. GoDaddy still does not give a free SSL certificate. Check for the best deal with freebies like SSL, Business mail and domain name. Also go for the maximum duration say three or five years. You get the 50% discount either way. So go for the best package. Take help of a technical expert if required because this is going to be the deal of a lifetime. Package integration is a breeze with most of the top hosting providers. But the very reason why I always recommend top hosting providers is that their technology integration and programming is top notch. The tier two hosting providers have integration issues which leads to headache for all th ethree years you take the package. Once the domain and rest all are set, you can go to install the website.

Single click WordPress website install

Automatic installers usually take care of the technical aspects of WordPress installation. You should keep details like email address, blog name and description handy. A few clicks and your WordPress website is ready. It might take anything between a few minutes to an hour for your newly created website address to propagate through the DNS servers. After that you can login to the admin account.

Post WordPress install

• Secure your account with a strong password.
• Anything can go wrong, so choose the best option for a backup and take regular backups of your blog.
• To not overdo with plugins because they are a security risk and also slow down the website.
• Choose a theme which meets your requirement.
• Get the basic pages ready and apply for adsense as soon as possible.

The post What is a self hosted WordPress website – a simple guide appeared first on Start Blog Writing.

Single page WordPress website

Salient features of single page website are

• Just one page to scroll
• Works great on a smart phone screen
• Content can be arranged in blocks
• Personal websites can be single page
• Website is light and fast
• Anchor menus can help visitor skip content
• Affordable hosting
• Keeps the visitor interested till the end

We have many examples of single page website. But here is a notable few.

Why WordPress

The popularity of single page website means that WordPress has also got single page themes. However Astra still remains the most popular and fast plugin. Another good theme is Neve. With a few other plugins, a fast website is possible.

Difference between a regular website and single page website

• Both are dynamic, but single page website has static content, means content which will be rarely updated
• There will be no blog articles of updates on single page website
• With lack of pages and articles, there is no need for a menu
• A single page website can at later stage be converted to multi page website
• Single page website is best for professionals

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Browser password saving

This is the most common and straightforward way to say a password. The moment your web browser detects a login, it will offer to save the username and password. Google even goes a step further and saves your chrome passwords on the cloud. This facility is also available on all major browsers, but Google and Chrome does it in style! Retrieving a password is even easier and is just a few clicks away. Saving options of the browser can be customized.

And what better way to start you day when you come to know that Chrome browser has not saved your login details. Or you did not click the save button. In such a scenario, retrieving the password from the cloud is also not possible.

Recover your lost password through email

WordPress has a very robust system of password recovery.

After keying in the username or Email Address, your password reset link will be sent to your Email Address. This process is pretty smooth. But it is worthwhile to check if the mail options are working. Otherwise you will end up with nothing in the inbox. Check the spam folder too.

But in case of this author, the reset link never arrived.

If your WordPress installation is powered through Jetpack plugin, you can still login through WordPress and then scroll down to View Admin. But that is still a hyperlink. So again no luck if you have not saved the password.

Login WordPress Admin account from Cpanel

With this one, almost all password reset options are expired. At this point there is nothing much to do, except take a backup and delete the site. After that one can do a fresh install and restore the backup. To do all this, you will need access to your hosting account. But then there is a final twist to retrieving your lost password or rather making a new one.

Once you login to your Cpanel, go to Softaculous. Click on the icon to list all the installations.

WordPress bloggers would be familiar with the icons on the right which are used to clone, backup and delete an installation. Backup also allows you to download the entire installation in a tar package. But if you click on the Admin icon which is located within the blue circle, it will straightway take you to your website, logged in as Admin. This means the admin password is stored at the time of installation. Once you are in, then you can create another password in your profile.

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On the left is the blog with the effect. As one can notice, the notification bar on the top also takes the same color. On the right is the blog without the effect.

How to change color of the address bar

First find out the hex code of the color which you want to use. Use your theme customisation to check the exact color. Next, insert this code in the header.php file in the </head> tag.

<meta name="theme-color" content="#26CE61" />

The hex code, #26CE61 is light green. You need to change it as per your theme color or any other color you want.

If you do not have access to the header file, you can use the plugin Insert Headers and Footers. This plugin allows easy insertion of any code int he header or footer.

Also note that this effect is only visible for mobile browsers like Google Chrome.

The post Changing the color of the address bar in mobile chrome browser for your WordPress Blog appeared first on Start Blog Writing.

AMP Official website and announcements

The official website for AMP is the first place to start for details. It is almost the single reference point to begin with AMP.

https://www.ampproject.org/

But for the beginner point of view, this is the best way to start understanding about AMP.

https://googleblog.blogspot.in/2015/10/introducing-accelerated-mobile-pages.html

This link is from the official Google Blog. Ironically the announcement is of Oct 2015 and as of Jan 2017, Google Blogging Platform still does not support AMP. WordPress however is fully AMP compliant.

What is the problem with mobile phones display

Mobile Phone screens have very less space. And most of the PC users now use the smartphone to do basic internet related things like browsing, emailing, maps, etc. As soon as someone searches Google, the search results are the direct interface between Google and its user. Search results are well within the control of Google. But the websites are not. Also Google has no control over how the websites are displayed on the limited size smart phone screen.

On the smartphone display, the website has its content, pictures and videos and advertisements. These should have some standard display pattern so as to have a uniform user experience. AMP is an attempt to standardize things. All AMP pages will be served from the Google AMP Cache. Google AMP Cache will behave similar to any content delivery network (CDN). There will a delay till Google caches all your AMP compliant pages.

Another interesting explanation of AMP is given in the link below.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6340290?hl=en

Self Hosted Website v/s Social Media Platform

Once we understand the concept of AMP, we straight come to the question of the utility of a self hosted blog or website. There is no doubt that a self hosted blog provides amazing flexibility as far as design is concerned. Security is also top notch. A self hosted website with a dedicated server is the ultimate blogging machine. Google rankings are bound to be higher with a self hosted blog.

But a self hosted blog also means lots of maintenance. A blogger managing a self hosted blog means that he/she is a webmaster, admin, author, editor and publicist, all rolled in one. Anytime a new tech is introduced, we are back to the drawing boards. HTML 5, Google authorship, Mobile friendly compliance, panda algorithm and so on. Keeping a tab on new tech and making design changes at irregular intervals becomes a pain.

On the other hand, a platform like WordPress by Automattic or Blogger by Google takes care of techs. This means that bloggers can now focus on content and creativity. If your blog is hosted on wordpress.com, AMP compliance is automatic.

Bloggers have recently moved to social media platforms to have an instant reach to audience. Facebook, Tumbler, YouTube, Instagram, all are blogging platforms. Scores of bloggers in fact find no need to have a self hosted blog. The audience reach of these platforms is much higher and simpler. AMP compliance and other such tech needs which might come up in the future are automatically taken care of.

A few examples of AMP

So AMP is a method to display web pages on a mobile phone screen in a particular format. Here are some examples.

First we shall see a side by side comparison of AMP and non AMP page.

The screen shot on the left is AMP display. The position of each element is fixed. The layout does look good and space is optimized.

Google also favors the AMP compliant pages and websites by displaying them in search results in a preferential manner.

AMP pages are denoted by a white lightening bolt in a grey circle. I have also seen a noticeable jump in ranking of my articles after AMP compliance.

Though Google is still experimenting with AMP and search results, here is something interesting. AMP pages might show your featured image next to the snippets. Another eye catching option.

The post What is AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) appeared first on Start Blog Writing.

In this article we see how to start a blog on WordPress.com. Now before we proceed, it is essential to note that WordPress as a blogging platform provides two services. One is WordPress.com where you only need to choose the correct setting and you have a ready made blogging platform including the hosting. It is a very good package for someone who wants to take out the technical intricacies of blogging. The other service is from WordPress.org which lets you download a copy of WordPress software which can be customized but requires all necessary setting and customization done at your end.

Four steps to start a blog on WordPress.com

STEP 1

On WordPress.com click on New Site. Then choose your correct category and sub category.

STEP 2

Next is to select a theme for the site. This can be changed later.

STEP 3

Next is to choose a domain. The free option is to choose a sub domain if it is available. You get the free option which looks like
https://startblogwritingblog.wordpress.com
Which is a subdomain

where startblogwritingblog is the sub domain where you can place the name of your choice.

Other domain names are available for a price.

STEP 4

Last step is Choosing the right plan. Basic plan is free and allows you to blog, while the advance plans offer you much more options including a custom domain and running ads on your WordPress blog. It also provides support options.

Once the steps have been completed, the domain is setup and you get your brand new WordPress.com website.

Once finished, you can do the customization to change the look and feel of the website to suit your requirements.

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