In this tutorial you will learn the quick and easy steps necessary to add videos to your WordPress website using the embed codes that are available on most internet web hosting video sites. NOTE: If there is no embed code available on the website were the video is hosted you may want to Embed Videos Using the URL.

1. Locate the video you want
2. Locate the embed tab, button, etc. – This can be located in different places on different video hosting websites
3. Select the options (if available) that work for your website (i.e. size, color, etc.)
4. Copy the embed code by highlighting the code (hold your left mouse button down while moving over the code) and either right click to copy or press ‘Ctrl+C’ on your keyboard to copy
5. Paste the embed code on the desired webpage under the ‘HTML’ tab
6. Be sure to press either ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’: NOTE: you can ‘Preview’ the page before publishing it if you like

For a visual tutorial please see the screenshot below. CLICK THE IMAGE FOR A LARGER VERSION!

How To Add Videos Using The Embed Code is a post from: My WordPress Tutorial

©2012 My WordPress Tutorial. All Rights Reserved.

When I logged into Facebook this morning, I was greeted with the picture to the left. I am sure that many of you have already seen this. I am also sure that many started out the same way I did; looking for the path to add the ‘like’ button to your website. With that said, I decided to write a post explaining how to install this little tool to your website.

Before I begin, I thought I would share what this button can and will do for you. If you look to the right, you will see this button in action on our real estate network. As you can see at this point (originally published 4-22-2010), not many have used it. Over time, the number will grow and people will be able to share our network with their facebook friends a lot easier. All one needs to do is to click the ‘Like’ button once, and it adds them. Below is an excerpt from the facebook page explaining this a little better:

The Like button enables users to make connections to your pages and share content back to their friends on Facebook with one click. Since the content is hosted by Facebook, the button can display personalized content whether or not the user has logged into your site. For logged-in Facebook users, the button is personalized to highlight friends who have also liked the page.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s take a look at how we add this neat little tool to our own websites. If you look to the immediate left, you will see the picture of the Like Button Generator. As you can see, I have filled out the necessary fields to create this button for Positive Real Estate Professionals’ main page. Now, in theory, I could do this for each and every page that I wanted to on PREP, but at some point, you run into overkill.

Once all the pertinent information is entered, all you need to do is click on ‘get code’. When that is done, it will generate 2 codes; the first is an iFrame code and the second is a JavaScript code. Once you have selected which code you want to use, all you need to do is add this as a ‘Text’ or ‘HTML’ widget in sidebar of your website. If you do not have access to do that, then contact your webmaster and they can instruct you more on this subject. In some cases this can require coding added to the theme itself or some adjustments to certain parameters that can only be done by an admin or webmaster.

OK, now that we have the why and how to out of the way, let’s get down to the where. I thought long and hard about how I could help you get this tool on your site in the easiest way. I decided that I would add the direct link to the Facebook Developers social media ‘Like Button’ plugin page; http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like I hope that you find this post useful.

How To Add Facebook Like Button To Your Website is a post from: My WordPress Tutorial

©2012 My WordPress Tutorial. All Rights Reserved.

In this tutorial you will learn how to change the name of your pages/tabs on your website and how they are ordered. (NOTE: THIS METHOD SHOULD WORK FOR ALL WORDPRESS PLATFORMS.)

Dashboard>Pages

1. Click the ‘Pages’ tab in the left hand column on your Dashboard (PURPLE).
2. To change the page/tab name simply replace the existing name with the new one (GREEN).
3. If you are changing the page/tab name and want the permalink (name that appears in the URL) to match the new name, you must manually change the permalink (BLUE). NOTE: IF YOU DO CHANGE THE PERMALINK YOU MUST CHANGE THE LINK LOCATION WHEREVER IT IS USED TO AVOID A BROKEN LINK.
4. To change the page/tab order locate ‘Page Attributes’ on the right hand side of the page you are editing (ORANGE).
5. Under ‘Page Attribute’ locate ‘Order’ (RED).
6. You order your pages by number (ascending). NOTE: IF YOUR WEBSITE IS SET TO HAVE YOUR BLOG (OR ANY OTHER PAGE) AS THE DEFAULT ‘LANDING PAGE’ THEN YOUR PAGE ORDER WILL BEGIN AFTER THE DEFAULT PAGE.
7. Hit the ‘Update’ button.

For a visual tutorial see the image below; if you click on it a larger, complete version will open.

Additional tutorials relating to pages are below.

Adding Pages And Subpages

Adding Or Editing Content On Pages

Changing Page/Tab Names And Order is a post from: My WordPress Tutorial

©2012 My WordPress Tutorial. All Rights Reserved.

You (or your webmaster) has created a wonderful site that is just waiting to receive your content. But you are left wondering, just how do I add my content? After reading this post you should be able to quickly and easily add your content. While the image in this post will touch on How To Add Pages and Subpages, Virtual Siloing, and Adding Images, you may want to follow the appropriate links to read specifically about these topics.

Another thing that I feel is important is to define what I mean by ‘content’: Content (to me) is anything you place on your page. This includes text, images, music, video, etc.

Here is the how you add content (you must be logged in to your Dashboard; refer to the image below for a visual tutorial):

Dashboard>Pages

1. Locate the ‘Pages’ tab in the left hand column on your Dashboard (PURPLE).
2. Select either ‘Pages’ or ‘Add New’ depending on whether you are adding content to an existing page or adding a completely new page (PURPLE).
3. If you are adding a completely new page you will need to give your new page a title (RED). If this is a completely new page and you use a hierarchy format (parent/child or page/subpage) you will need to be certain to select the appropriate ‘Page Attributes’ (PINK).
4. Insert your content, text, images, video, etc. (GREEN) just as you would for a blog post.
5. Either hit the ‘Update’ button for edited content or ‘Publish’ button for content on a new page.

That’s it!

Adding Or Editing Content On Pages is a post from: My WordPress Tutorial

©2012 My WordPress Tutorial. All Rights Reserved.

Over my 2 plus years of blogging, I have used many platforms. I have to say that WordPress has to be one of my favorites simply because of it’s ability to allow an author to write posts and then schedule them out to be posted at a later date. In this tutorial we will discuss how to do just that. Accomplishing this is much easier than you might think. I have added a couple of pictures to help you with your learning.

In the first picture to the left, you will see two arrows. The first arrow is red and it is pointing to the section that says ‘Publish Immediately’. To the right of that verbiage will be a section that says ‘Edit’. Click on it and it will open up an option to pick the date and time. Our second arrow, the green one, points to this section. Once you chose the date and time, simply click ‘OK’. Now our first step is completely done.

To finish scheduling a post, write all of your article. Once you are done with that portion, you are then ready to schedule your post. This might be the easiest of the steps as all you need to do is click on the word ‘Schedule’ that our purple arrow in the image to the right points to.

In closing, that is all you need to do to be able to schedule a post. Now you can go on vacation and appear to still be posting on a regular basis.

Using The Schedule Function in WordPress For Posts is a post from: My WordPress Tutorial

©2012 My WordPress Tutorial. All Rights Reserved.

***There have been changes to the widget discussed in this tutorial since the original publication (9-02-2009) of this tutorial. I have updated the tutorial to reflect these changes. Yellow font indicates where changes have been made. I have used the strike thru to indicate procedures that no longer apply. Also note that some images have been changed or deleted to reflect the changes to the widget.***

In this tutorial you will learn what tags are and how to use them. If you consider the amount of information on the internet it is no surprise that there must be a way to categorize that information for future reference by web surfers who are looking for it. The same holds true for information contained on your site.

To use tags you begin on the same screen where you write a post. After writing a post look to the right of the box where you have just typed the body of your post. You will see a white box labeled ‘Tags’ (notice the RED arrow in the illustration to the right). This is where you enter the tags which accurately describe the content of your post (see the GREEN box in the illustration to the right). Once you have added your tags they will appear under the header entitled ‘Tags used on this post:’ (inside the PURPLE box in the illustration to the right). If your post is about some aspect of the ‘$8000 Tax Credit’ then that phrase would be a good tag. You do not want to use non-relevant tags as visitors might get upset and/or frustrated if they click on ‘$8000 Tax Credit’ and the post(s) which are displayed are not directly related to that tag.

A wonderful tool that is available to help visitors easily use the tags you have entered is the Tag Cloud Widget. This widget is accessed via the dashboard; YOU MUST BE LOGGED IN. From the Dashboard this is the path:

Dashboard>Appearance>Widgets>Tag Cloud

If your tag cloud widget is not active and you want to use it, look for the ‘Appearance’ header on the left side of your Dashboard. If you hover over ‘Appearance’ a GRAY dropdown arrow will appear; click on this arrow. You then click on WIDGETS to open the list of widgets widget page. Simply add the ‘Tag Cloud’ widget to your sidebar by clicking ‘Add’ dragging it to the desired sidebar.

Tags which accurately relate to the content of your post are a great organizational tool. This organization can make your site much more visitor friendly. Imagine for a minute that you are the visitor and you arrive at a webpage looking for information on the ‘$8000 Tax Credit.’ If the site owner uses accurate tags then a visitor can simply click on the topic they are looking for in the tag cloud to display all of the posts that are tagged with that term! See the tag cloud to the right for an example of how a well utilized tag cloud might look.

How To Use Tags ***UPDATE*** is a post from: My WordPress Tutorial

©2012 My WordPress Tutorial. All Rights Reserved.

***There have been changes to the widget discussed in this tutorial since the original publication (August 13th, 2009) of this tutorial. I have updated the tutorial to reflect these changes. Yellow font indicates where changes have been made. I have used the strike thru to indicate procedures that no longer apply. Also note that the first two images have changed to reflect the changes to the widget.***

One of the most powerful developments on the internet for both business and personal connections is the emergence and widespread use of social media outlets. I would surmise that most internet users and even many people who do not use the internet have heard of at least one social media network; even if they do not realize it. MySpace? Twitter? Facebook? One of these three will generally ring a bell with most people as they are mentioned often on television, the radio, and in print media. In addition to these three social medias there are others, lots of others.

As a PREP member you have access to a pre-loaded widget from your Dashboard that can easily allow visitors to your site to connect with you via numerous social medias. This tutorial is going to give you step by step instructions (with illustrations) on how to:

1. access this widget
2. enter your social media usernames
3. place this widget on your sidebar

To begin with you will need to be logged into your Dashboard. From your dashboard, here is the path to access the widget:

Dashboard > Settings > Social Media Page (SMP)

As you can see from the graphic to the left, the Widget named ‘Social Media Page’ is where you need to begin. Locate the ‘Setting’ tab on the left hand side of your dashboard. When you hover over the settings tab a grey arrow will appear next to the tab name; click this arrow. When you have clicked this grey arrow a dropdown with numerous options will appear. In this list of dropdowns you will need to locate ‘Social Media Page.’ This is the widget we will be working with. In the image to the left I have placed a red box around the widget with a red arrow pointing to it. Click on ‘Social Media Page’ to begin working with this widget. Follow the directions on the image to the left.

When you click on ‘Add profile to list‘ the image to below  will appear on your dashboard:

From this point you fill in your Username/User ID for each of the social medias that you belong to and that you would like to utilize to easily connect with visitors to your site. Be sure that once you have filled in this information that you click ‘Update Profiles & Options’ at the bottom of the page to save the information you have entered. WARNING: If you do not click update the info you entered will not be saved and you will have to re-enter it. Now you are ready to place the widget on your sidebar.

To place the completed Widget on your sidebar, here is the path:

Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets > Add

On left hand side of your dashboard, locate the ‘Appearance’ tab. Just like you did with the ‘Settings’ tab above, hover over Appearance and a grey arrow will appear. Click this grey arrow to open up a dropdown. In this dropdown, locate ‘Widgets’ and click on it. I have placed a blue oval around widgets in the image to the right.

When you click on widgets, a new screen will open on your dashboard. From this screen, you can now add the completed ‘Social Media Page’ widget to your sidebar. Simply click ‘Add’ to place it in drag the widget to the sidebar you have selected. Once you have added it to your selected sidebar be sure to click ‘Save Changes’ or it will not be added.

That’s it! Now if you open your PREP site you will see the widget added to your sidebar with the various social media icons present and linked to your accounts. Just another way to connect with those potential clients.

Integrating Your Social Media Accounts ***UPDATE*** is a post from: My WordPress Tutorial

©2012 My WordPress Tutorial. All Rights Reserved.

Whether you hold classes, set up at local events, or simply want to promote an open house you are hosting then The Events Calendar is the perfect tool for you. This tool allows you to not only add the specifics of your event to both your blog and your calendar, if you enter a specific address it will embed a Google map in your post! If you have experienced underwhelming attendance at any of your events then this tool can help you to get more publicity and provide a map to help boost attendance. In addition to increasing attendance at your event, it will also help to garner more Google juice through the use of Google tools!

See the two images below for both visual and written directions on how to use this tool; clicking on either image will enlarge them. THIS TUTORIAL ASSUMES THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY INSTALLED THE EVENTS CALENDAR.

How To Use The Events Calendar is a post from: My WordPress Tutorial

©2012 My WordPress Tutorial. All Rights Reserved.

Lets face it, your website, be it for personal or professional use reflects who you and your business are. Most people realize this and in an effort to make it more accurately reflect who they are use the easily customized HTML coding intended for sidebars. Whether you are integrating a (Face Book Like button), local weather widget coding, or any of the numerous other features that can be added to your sidebar, the process is very easy and definitely helps to personalize your website. In this tutorial you will learn how to integrate this coding into your website’s sidebar.

For those of you who are visual learners there is a graphic at the bottom of this post that should be helpful. To view a larger image of this graphic simply click it!

Here is the path to add HTML coding to your sidebar:

Dashboard>Appearance>Widgets>Text>Sidebar (Drag to desired sidebar and add HTML coding)

1. Login to your Dashboard.
2. From your Dashboard hover over the Appearance tab. This will allow you to click on the gray dropdown arrow to the right of that tab.
3. Click this gray dropdown arrow.
4. You will now want to click on the Widgets tab (under Appearance). This will open up your widgets page.
5. Drag a Text widget to your Sidebar or open an existing Text widget in your Sidebar. IF YOU OPEN AN EXISTING TEXT WIDGET BE SURE NOT TO DELETE (OR REPLACE) THE EXISTING CODE UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET RID OF THE EXISTING WIDGET.
6. Insert the HTML coding and hit SAVE.

That is it! Visit your site to see the new widget you just added.

Inserting HTML Into A WordPress Sidebar is a post from: My WordPress Tutorial

©2012 My WordPress Tutorial. All Rights Reserved.

All you do to embed a video is to use the URL of the video, being sure to place it on its own line. Below is an example of how this works: the pink writing represents ordinary text in a blog page or post while the yellow represents the URL of the video (you would leave the quotes off when posting an actual video).

This would be the normal text for your post or page leading up to the video you wanted to embed.

“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nda_OSWeyn8″

You would then continue with the text of your blog or page beginning on its own line.

That’s it!

Embed Videos Using URL is a post from: My WordPress Tutorial

©2012 My WordPress Tutorial. All Rights Reserved.