Fortunately Google comes to the rescue here with a website they acquired last year. Feedburner.

The Pros

• Its Free! All you need is a Google account.
• Emails get sent out automatically the next morning after posting on your blog.
• You can brand your emails with a logo and a reply email address.
• Feedburner creates a consistent RSS feed url that stays the same even if your website address changes.

The Cons

• You can’t import subscribers into this system. Google is cautious that spammers will use this service. You could ask your current list to sign up again but you may lose some people.
• Emails are simple and you can’t have elaborate themes.

What on earth is RSS you ask? Read more here.

To get your newsletter sign-up form:

1. Create or Sign-in to your Google account.
2. Go to Google Feedburner: http://feedburner.google.com
3. Enter the full url of your website into the Burn a feed right this instant field: e.g. http://mygreatwebsite.com and click Next.
4. Feedburner will search for RSS feeds at your address (there can be more than one). Choose the top option which should look something like, Your Website RSS Feed: http://mygreatwebsite.com/feed/ Click the Next button.
5. Next you will be asked to choose a name for your feed, both the title and the final URL of the new RSS feed. Adjust (or not) and click the Next button.
6. On the next page you receive your feed URL from feedburner. Copy this down to put into your emails and websites as your RSS feed address. Click the Skip directly to feed management link.
7. Click on the Optimize tab at the top then the Smartfeed link on the left sidebar. Press the Activate button to make your feed readable by anything. This just increases readability.
8. Click on the Publicize tab and then the Email Subscriptions link in the sidebar.
9. Click the Activate button.
10. Feedburner will now display some code. The first, long section is for the sign-up form that will go on your website. The second is a direct link to your form that can be used in emails or as links.
11. This code (the longer string) needs to be copy and pasted into your sidebar in WordPress so that people can sign up to your sites updates easily.

NOTE: There are a few other links in the Feedburner sidebar that allow you to customize the look and feel as well as delivery time etc.  Communication Preferences, Email Branding and Delivery Options.

Here I outline instructions for WordPress but it will work fine anywhere that full HTML can be used. e.g. Blogspot, other free Blogging platforms or web design programs such as Dreamweaver.

Including the sign-up form in your WP sidebar.

1. In WordPress go to Appearance >> Widgets.
2. Drag a new Text Widget where you want the form to appear. It’s position can be changed by dragging and dropping also.
3. Call the text Widget something like “Free Newsletter” and paste into the main text field the code we just grabbed from Feedburner.
4. Press Save and open your website address in your browser to see your new sign-up form on the site.
5. Invite your friends and contacts to visit your site and sign-up!

NOTE: You can change the message above the email sign up form by editing the text within the HTML. Look for the section that says, “Enter your email address:” and change that section only.

Now anyone that subscribes to your emails will receive a full html rich email the morning after you submit a new post to your blog.

Right, now invite all your friends to sign-up!

HOT TIP: You can make the email subject the same as the article title by customizing your emails in your Feedburner control panel:

1. Login to Google Feedburner.
2. Click on the Publicize tab at the top.
3. Click the Email Subscriptions link, then Email Branding in the sidebar.
4. In the Email Subject/Title field, enter this code: ${latestItemTitle}
5. Make any other customizations and press the Save button.
6. Publish more cool stuff!

You should also subscribe to your own blog feed so that you can check what everyone is getting.
[nggallery id=7]

First you need to make sure that the DNS settings in your domain control panel point to your hosting account.

Haven’t got hosting yet? Download our free PDF guide.

[download id="6"]

The DNS Settings will have been sent to you when you first purchased your web hosting server space. The Email will look something like this:

Welcome to the hostgator family!
Your Domain:     yournewwebsite.com
Your Username:   yourusername
Your Password:  cr4zypassword
Your sites IP address:
34.55.456.234
Your name servers:
ns0234.hostgator.com
ns0235.hostgator.com

These last two strings of numbers and dots are the Domain Name Servers. They tell your browser where to look for your domain. i.e. The server your site is hosted on.

Creating An Add-On Domain in Cpanel

1. Login to Cpanel and find the Add-On Domains button.
2. Click the Addon Domains button.
3. Enter your new domain into the New Domain Name: field.
4. Enter a strong password. TIP: You can write it down first on a secure text document then copy and paste it.
5. Click Add-Domain! Cpanel will take a moment to set everything up.

Now you can install WordPress from Cpanel and start building your site!

You do have a gmail account don’t you? If not fix this now by clicking here: http://mail.google.com/mail/signup

To create your language translation gadget visit this link:

http://translate.google.com/translate_tools?hl=en

On this page you can also add one-click translations from with your browser.

Pick the language of your blog or website then copy and paste the resulting code into a text widget in WordPress or in dreamweaver simply paste in the code where you want the Gadget to appear.

Thats it! Refresh your page to see the new Google language translation tool.

Creating fast, user defined search adds a service to your website that serves your visitor and you. Create the search engine, copy and paste some code to one of your web pages and then you can edit it later from your gmail account.

Add the credibility and reliability of Google powered search by following these steps (links open in a new window) :

1. Sign in or create a Gmail account.
2. Go to ~ http://www.google.com/coop/cse/
3. Create a name, description, keywords and what sites to search. You can copy and paste in a list of urls into the field to allow Google to emphasize or search exclusively.
4. Remember to tick the No Ads section at the bottom.
5. The next page will let you do some test searches and send yourself a convenient email reminder.
6. To manage your search engines visit ~ http://www.google.com/coop/manage/cse/
7. Click on the control panel link for the search engine you want to embed. Note: the Home Page link takes you to its own simple page on Google.
8. Click on the Code link. Now you can choose to host the results on Google or on your own site. The zippy and cool way to have them appear on your site is go choose the Modal Overlay which makes use of Ajax to return the results but still being on your website.
9. Take the resulting code from this page and copy and paste this into your static pages or a WordPress widget perhaps.
10. Test the new search engine on your site.

www.google.com is a domain.  www.gofindyourself.net is a domain.

Even though it seems like putting the horse before the cart, what it does is get you thinking about what you are about. This is a good thing.

If possible a domain name should serve at least one if not all of these qualities:

• To be memorable
• Makes it clear what it is you do
• Easy to spell and write down
• Describes the benefit you provide
• Contains keywords relevant to your audience (this has an SEO benefit)
• Talks directly to the people that will be interested in what you have to offer.

Once you know what your website is about and what it’s focus is, this should suggest some keywords to you.

Next, jot down some of those keywords that relate to your website. It may simply be your name.

For example my music website is a combination of my name and what I do. i.e. www.herrinmusic.com

Next you want to be able to find what domains are available right?

Here is a great little domains search tool from a website called Domize.com.

Here is another good domain search tool. This one gives some suggestions of other names as well. http://namedroppers.com/

Once we have settled on a domain we need to find a good domain provider.

Domain Provider Reviews and Comparison

http://smallbusiness-domain.com/

Some Domain Providers

http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/

http://www.godaddy.com/

Most domains cost around $9 to $15 dollars per year.

I have been using a crew in Australia for the last year or two with no troubles but whoever you choose, keep these few crucial things in mind:

Important!

• Use the one Gmail account for all your domains and web hosting accounts. Make it separate from your everyday email but be sure to check it often.
• Save your account names, passwords and links in Firefox for convenient, quick access.
• Keep your contact information up to date on the Registrar site, especially the contact email address. This ensures that you are contacted when the domain needs renewing.
• Every domain has a control panel. Make a note of where the DNS (Domain Name Servers) settings are so that when you get hosting you can update them and get started!

The Domain Name Servers simply tell the domain where the actual website for that name is hosted so that when people type in your address it opens the correct site.

NOTE: Having the one account for all your domains makes it easier to administer but you can transfer from another to consolidate your domains.

Confused by all the terms used with domains? Check out this Glossary

Where Do I Find my DNS settings you ask?

Well if you don’t have hosting yet there won’t be any.

If you do have hosting the DNS settings will probably be in your welcome email or on your Cpanel. For example the Hostgator welcome email looks like this (with fake information of course):

Once you have found the settings, enter them into your new domains control panel. It will probably look something like this:

Having completed this we are ready to either organize our hosting, or prepare the space on our current hosting to accomodate our new website.

But for the moment, rejoice for your site has a name!

But seriously, ISPs or Internet Service Providers ALWAYS give you a FREE email address. You know why?

So that you stay with their (usually crappy) service just to avoid the hassle of changing email addresses.

One of the most annoying things is that you get a very low MB limit for both transfers and storage. Doing business and sending larger files is impossible. They never get through. Also they are typically difficult to access from abroad.

Gmail to the rescue!

• Its free
• 7GB storage limit and growing!
• New! You can now transfer up to 20MB files.
• Access from your favorite email client on your PC or from the web.
• All the other cool free services that Google offer.

Check out more groovy new Gmail features here.

Liberate your inbox.

Get a Google account now.

How to setup Google in your email application? Click here.

Happy Surfing!

Firefox is a wonderfully flexible browser. A strong community of developers have created a huge range of extensions for Firefox that add many practical and enjoyable features to the experience of using the web.

Here is my list of must-have Firefox extensions.

The links open a new window where you can download the add-on.

Essential Firefox Add-ons

Download Management

• Save Complete – Allows you to save a whole webpage for offline viewing.
• PDF Download – Gives you total control over PDF management.
• Download Manager Tweak – Makes the download process in Firefox more convenient.
• Fast Video Download – Inserts a button in the bottom right corner of Firefox that lets you download video from sites like YouTube and many others.

Tabs and Browsing

• Basics – Adds a new tab button to your toolbar.
• New Tab URL – Opens the URL you designate when you create a new tab.
• CoolIris – Click the new button on your Firefox toolbar and enjoy a totally new and cool way to experience the web!
• Google Preview – adds a cool visual preview in the search results page for the website that it points to.
• Session Manager – Saves and recalls the state of all windows and tabs.
• Feedly – A very clean and fast Google feed reader that looks like a magazine. Definitely worth a look!
• Gmail Notifier – Puts a small icon in the bottom of your browser that gives you quick access to your Gmail.

Security and Optimization

• Secure Login – Makes the process of logging in to your WordPress site and any other website quick and easy. Works like the wand in Opera.
• Autofill Forms – Speeds up the process of filling out forms online. Create a profile once and then click the pen to fill out web forms automatically!
• Flash Block – Prevents all those annoying flash ads from showing up. If you want to allow a particular site (like YouTube) it’s easy too.
• Stealther – Surf the web privately without leaving a trace.

Twitter and Social Networking

• Power Twitter – This adds a lot of new much needed features to the Twitter web experience.
• bit.ly Preview – Allows you to see what is beneath those short links. Also lets you create links if you have an account.
• Twitter Search – Adds real-time Twitter search to your list of search engines in Firefox.

WordPress Specific

• Google Gears – The turbo link at the top right in your WordPress admin needs this extension in order to speed up the administration of your website.
• WordPress Helper – Helps you working with WordPress by providing useful help and tools. Also gives you quick access to your WordPress driven websites.

Webmaster Tools

• Firebug – A great tool that will help you find and edit CSS and get more information on your web pages.
  
• YSlow – This will diagnose your web page loading times and give you a report so you can make your sites load faster.
• ColorZilla – A suite of useful color tools.
• WebDeveloper Toolbar – Many essential tools in one place.

A simple integrated FTP add-on.

Fire FTP – A free secure FTP program that works within Firefox. This last one can be a little geeky.

So here you will find a list of essential software for the Mac and PC. All the download links open a new window. NOTE: Many of these applications are the same across both platforms but the ones that are different we have chosen the most simple and free option!

Web Browser

The only choice for mores secure web browsing AND full compatibility with WordPress. I hope you’re not still using Internet Explorer!

Download Firefox 3

Email Client

Email is a huge part of our personal and business life so we need something reliable and secure.

MAC – Apple Mail – The standard apple email client. Comes preinstalled with new Macs.

PC – Mozilla Thunderbird – A safe and configurable email client for Windows. Imports from Outlook Express easily.

Image Management

Images are a key part of our online and web presence so we need a way to organize and optimize our picures.

Mac – Apple iPhoto – Comes pre-installed with any Apple computer

PC – Download Picasa by Google – A simple clean and powerful application that will make organizing your images a pleasure.

Music Player and Management

We love our music and now we need a way to easily manage our music collection, create playlists and burn CDs. Apple to the rescue again with iTunes!

Download iTunes

Video and Media Player

With so many video formats online we need an application that loads everything without a hitch. Here it is. VLC plater is an all round medial player that just works with everything!

VLC Media Player

Quicktime Player

As well as VLC this makes sure you have the latest version of Apples Quicktime on your computer.

Download Apple Quicktime player

Adobe Flash Plugin

Flash is very common online now from YouTube to those horrible ads on MySpace, having the latest flash plugin ensures smooth playability. (There is a way to control flash ads in Firefox. Article to come!)

Download Adobe Flash playe

Adobe PDF reader

PDF or Portable Document File is a very common document format that displays across many different platforms and operating systems.

Download Adobe PDF reader

Unzip Utility

Unpacking files and sending them over the net generally means being able to compress and/or unzip files.

MAC – Zipeg Unzip utility – Free unzip application. You could also try Stuffit Standard.

PC – Download ALZip Unzip – Opens virtually every archive format imaginable. Or you can try Zipeg for Windows as well.

Anti-Virus Software

Windows especially can be brought to its knees from one exposure to a nasty virus so we need something free and simple that updates and keep us safe.

MAC – Clam Xav Free Virus – Also read a Mac Virus update here.

PC – ClamWin Free Anti-Virus – Open source anti-virus project with good reviews. Have been using this app and has worked well so far. Time will tell…

And because Viruses and Security are so important here are some other Apps definitely worth checking out.

• Bitdefender – These guys get very good reviews for their software.
• Avast Anti-Virus – A lightweight anti-virus application. 60 million users and its free!
• HiJackThis – A good Spyware detection tool.

Utilities and Optimization

Keeping your system running smoothly is pretty important once you get everything running the way you like it. These applications will help optimize your system.

Mac - DiskWarrior – Protects your directory from becoming damaged. An essential maintenance tool!

PC – CCleaner – System optimization, privacy and cleaning tool.

Check out this detailed article on optimizing Windows XP.

Just Plain Useful

This is a general category for Applications that will very likely come in handy.

Find out where your Hard Drive space has gone!

MAC – WhatSize

PC - TreeSize Free

Easily take screen shots on your computer.

MAC – Press Command + Shift + 3

PC – WinSnap

Simple Wordprocessor and Document editor.

PC - NoteTab Light – Free note pad software.

Instant Messaging Client.

PC – Pidgin – Links in with all the major clients.

So that’s the list of must-haves for the moment.

This list is subject to review so if you have any suggestions please feel free!

Take care and happy surfing!

If you find this tutorial useful and want to receive more practical web training, sign  up for newsletter updates in the sidebar.

A summary of the steps are as follows:

1. Open Photoshop and choose File > Open.
2. Navigate to the image file you want to optimize and press Open.
3. in the top menu choose Image > Image Size.
4. Make sure the Contrain Proportions button is selected, then change the highest value in the Width or Height dimensions box.
5. Usually 640 pixels is a good high value but you may want to vary this depending on the image and context.
6. Press OK and Photoshop will resize the image.
7. Select File > Save for Web & Devices. This will open a preview window that will show you what the image output will look like.
8. Select an image format. The choices are GIF, JPG, PNG and BMP. Usually JPG is the best choice.
9. Move the Quality slider to find a compromise between quality and size. The preview window will update automatically.
10. Press Save and put the file somewhere ready for upload to WordPress site or image gallery.

This is the optimized image used in the video tutorial.

NOTE: All the links in this article open a new browser window.

Download Applications & Plugins.

Firefox 3 – The most secure and fully featured browser.

Quicktime – An essential internet plugin and player.
Flash – Used everywhere on the net so get the latest.

Download Firefox Add-Ons.

• Google Gears – Allows you to use the Turbo function in WordPress and speeds admin functions.
• Live PageRank – Shows you the page rank for the current URL. This is an SEO tool that shows you how popular a website is. NOTE: PageRank is a meaure of inbound links.
• PDF Download – Gives you control of PDFs on the web.
• Save Complete Webpage – Downloads a whole webpage to your computer correctly.
• Explore more Firefox Add-ons here.

WordPress Admin Details

Find the adminstration links for your WordPress website.

They would have been in an email created when you first installed WordPress or sent to you by your Webmaster. They should look something like this:

Your WordPress Website Account

Public URL: http://yourwebsite.com/
Admin URL: http://yourwebsite.com/wp-admin/
Username: yourname
Password: someobscurestring

Firefox Bookmarks Setup

1. Click the Admin URL shown above, enter your username and password and press Login.
2. Allow Firefox to save the password if you haven’t already. This is only something you should do if this is a private computer. As an added level of security you can also create a master password (Options on Windows or Preferences on a Mac then Security). You will arrive at the WordPress Dashboard.
3. Open the Bookmarks menu by selecting Bookmarks (in the top menu) then Bookmark This Page. Or you can use the key stroke (Command+D for Mac and ALT+D for Windows).
4. Click the top arrow on the right of the Bookmarks window. This will open up the Bookmarks folders.
5. Highlight the Bookmarks Toolbar at the top (by clicking on it once) then create a new folder by clicking on the plus symbol at the bottom left.
6. Name the folder MyWebsite or anything you like.
7. Click Done and this will put the link to our WordPress Dashboard in this new folder that will be accessible from our Firefox toolbar.
8. From the Dashboard, click the Write a New Post button.
9. Bookmark this page to gain quick access as described above.
10. Repeat this with any other pages you want quick access to. For example I like to check out my drafts page often. Manage > Posts > Drafts.
11. In the right hand sidebar find the Shortcuts section. Right-Click on the link that says Press This and select Bookmark This Link. Navigate to the folder we just created and save the Bookmark.
12. Now we should have a folder in our toolbar with our quick links and, with your password saved, your WordPress website is just a click away!

NOTE: Select Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks to move and rename items to make things display the way you prefer.

Hot Tip: You can right click on any link and select Bookmark This Link.