WordPress Users: Activate Akismet to Eliminate 97% of Your SPAM Comments.

The WordPress comment system on Posts and Pages (like the “Leave A Reply” section at the bottom of this Post) is vulnerable to getting Spam Comments. Who knows why people write programs to send wave upon wave of spam comments to our Posts, but they do.

[Actually, the reason they do this is to get incoming links - read an article here to learn how comments should REALLY  be used to improve incoming links.]

Thankfully, every WordPress site comes with a totally adequate free plugin called Akismet. Akismet will eliminate almost all the Spam Comments before they ever reach you. The plugin is simple to activate. Once you start it up, it just simply starts working. If you ever worry that Akismet might be stopping more than you want (as if!) then you can look at the blocked comments, usually up to 30 days after they were blocked.

The only catch is that you need to prove that you, in fact, are human. This is Akismet’s way of verifying that you are the blog owner. And drawing breath. And mostly carbon-based. Etc. To do this, you need to get an API Key from WordPress. Below are the only slightly convoluted directions in how to do that.

To get an Akismet API Key

• Go to WordPress.com
• Click Sign Up Now
• Next page asks for information. Fill it out.
• You do NOT need to create a blog on WordPress to get the API Key, so you can select “Just a username, please.” If you decide to create a blog, it’s cool: you will still get the API Key.
• Once done with this, you will then be told that an email is being sent to activate the account.
• When the email arrives, be sure to click the activation link.
• After that, just wait. Another email will arrive titled “New WordPress.com User:…” This has your API in it, at the lower part of the message.
• The API Key will be a longish series of numbers and letters: “0hhj78c43sx”
• Save this API Key somewhere. It can be used multiple times.

Picking a theme is just a starting point…

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Potential Photos for Slideshow on Home Page

iSTOCKPHOTO

• istockPhoto = $75 = 50 credits
• Click on a photo to get more info about it
• Beneath each photo (in the caption) is an idea for the words that could go on the photo.
• Also in the caption is the price in credits for the photo.

Everyone Loves Casino Night! - 5 Credits

Bring Your A Game! 5 Credits.

Click here to see a pretty cool video that could be used on the site: Casino Fun

• Price would be 55 credits.

Grad Nights, New Year's, Fundraisers... 5 Credits

Leave all the planning to us. Enjoy the party. 5 Credits

Make Grad Night Special. Leave The Planning To Us. 5 Credits.

Link to Grad Video that could be used on site: Grad Video

• 15-25 credits

We Do Officed Parties! 5 Credits

Add Some Fun To Your New Year's Eve Party. 10 Credits.

We make sure EVERYONE has a good time! 3 Credits

For A Classy, Fun Time Call Us! 5 Credits.

You Choose The Fun. We Take It From There. 10 Credits.

FOTOLIA

• You have 10 credits already.
• 25 credits is $30
• 51 credits is $60

Everyone Loves Casino Night! 6 Credits.

We Do The Work. You Have The Fun! 3 Credits

Celebrate New Year's In Style! 6 Credits.

WordPress is an open-source web application that helps people build effective blog sites.

WordPress can be used as a hosted or installed web solution. A hosted WordPress site is completely free. An installed wordpress site requires a person to buy a domain name and hosting. Installed WordPress sites can be customized, even to the point of no longer looking or functioning like a blog site.

[For more information about hosted and installed blogs, click HERE.]

This website, EnterTheNet.com is a WordPress website that has been lightly “de-blogged.” This means that the blog portion of the site – which I use to expand on workshop offerings, talk about client success stories and share cool information about internet marketing – is secondary to the main section. The blog posts are visible and easy-to-access, but they are not the main focus of the home page.

The great advantage to using WordPress as a site design tool is that, with minimal training, the website owner has complete control over adding and editing content on the site. No more having to contact your website designer every time you need to make a minor change!

WordPress sites are also extremely search engine friendly. They allow access to all the “tags” needed to make the search engines happy.

Enter The Net offers WordPress website design in a number of formats. Which one is best for you?

• Install a WordPress Blog to an existing website. We specialize in customizing the new blog portion of your site to look like your existing site. You can see some examples in our portfolio section.
• Create a blog site. This is the easiest, and least expensive way to create your site.
• Create a complete “de-blogged” WordPress site. The end result is a fantastic-looking website that no one knows is really a blog. You can edit your content easily and quickly.

Hiring Enter The Net to create a WordPress site for you ranges in price from $500 to $1500, depending on the level of customization. We typically offer SEO Services at a discount for our WordPress design clients.

Enter The Net also teaches a variety of Workshops on WordPress, including a complete Do It Yourself WordPress Workshop that includes site design, use, optimization and offsite marketing.

If you are interested in learning more about our services, please fill out the form below, or contact us at 971-570-8063.

Click HERE to learn about a course on designing your own complete WordPress website.