Today, I will cover 2 ways to install WordPress blog in step-by-step process and the things to consider in installing WordPress.

1. How to Install a Custom WordPress blog
2. How to Install WordPress using Fantastico

Don’t worry, it wouldn’t require programming skills in WordPress installation, all you have to do is follow the simple and detailed installation instructions.

Things to Consider Before Installing WordPress

These are the few things you need to consider before you begin the WordPress blog installation includes website access and software:

• An access to your web server (via shell or FTP)

• FTP Client (if you need to install WordPress on a remote server)

• A Text editor/ DreamWeaver/ Notepad

To install custom WordPress package to your web host you need to know the following requirements:

• PHP version 4.3 or greater

• MySQL version 4.0 or greater

Let’s start, just follow the detailed WordPress blog installation instructions to be guided:

a: To create a MySQL® Database, log-in to your website cPanel: (see figure below)

b: After you have successfully logged-in, look for the “databases” section and then click the MySQL® Database icon. (see figure below)

Once you have clicked the MySQL® Database icon, you will be able to see the MySQL Databases page:

c: Enter your desired Database name on the text box New Database, then hit the Create Database button. In this example, I created a database name “sampledb”. (see figure below).

Once successully done, you will be able to see a confirmation. (see figure below)

Then, click the [Go Back] link to go back to the MySQL Database page, then continue to create the MySQL Username & Password.

d: Add New User (see figure below)

Enter your desired username and password, and you have the option to generate password but I won’t suggest that to you. After you have completed the required field, click the Create User button.

After you have clicked the Create User button, you will see the confirmation. In this exercise, I used user1 as the username and samplepass101 as the password. (see figure below)

Click [Go Back] link, then continue the final step in creating a database name.

e: Add User To Database

All you have to do is locate the Database Name that we have created in Step1c:, and the Username that we created on Step1d and then click the Add button. (see figure below)

After you have clicked the Add button, you will be able to see a confirmation. (see figure below)

This is the final step! You will be able to set the user previlidges, and click the Make Changes button. Congratulation! You have successfully created a MySQL® Database and now you are ready for Step2:

To download a Free WordPress package, visit here http://wordpress.org/download/ and then click the download button.

a: Click the download button found at the upper right of the page. (see the download button below)

After you have clicked the Download WordPress 2.7.1 button, the download form will pop-up and ask you to save the file on your desired location, click OK. (see image below)

b: Locate the WordPress file, and then Unzip. (see image below)

c: After you have extracted the file, open the wordpress folder. Locate and open the wp-config-sample.php file in your preferred HTML editor. If you do not have Dream Weaver, you can open it in Notepad. (below is the files inside the wordpress folder)

In this exercise, I opened the wp-config-sample.php in Dreamweaver editor. (see image below)

After you have opened the wp-config-sample.php file, replace the following details: Note: Please do NOT remove the single quote (’).

• ‘putyourdbnamehere’ – see Step1 c to know the Database name you have created.
• ‘usernamehere’ – check Step1 d to know the Username.
• ‘yourpasswordhere’ – check Step1 d for the Password.

After you have made the changes, SAVE the file as wp-config.php. (remove the “sample” word).

Good job! You’re now done with Step 1 & 2, now we are ready to proceed to Step 3.

a. Open your FTP client and Upload the entire contents of the WordPress folder to the location where you want your blog. I am using CoreFTP LE, you can download here. (see image below)

I uploaded the entire files from WordPress folder to my Sample WordPress folder on my website directory using the Core FTP LE client.

In step 1, we created a database name, user name & password using the cPanel.

In step 2, we downloaded and extracted the WordPress zip file. And we edited the wp-config-sample.php file, we changed the db_name, db_user & db_password using the Dream weaver editor and Saved file as wp-config.php.

In step 3, we uploaded the WordPress files into the website server using the FTP client.

Learn how to create a Favicon

Just this morning, I tried to figured out on how to create a FavIcon to Mitchell Espina blog but my knowledge isn’t enough. I Googled with a term “FavIcon” and found out that there are over 8 million pages related to favicon. It’s kinda hard for me, becuase I don’t have enough time to go all those pages. And decided to select few pages only, but still the instruction is not quite clear and don’t understand at all. *Lol. So, it’s time to seek for help and my good friend RockyFord came to the rescue. And in just a minute… BOOM!.. my FavIcon is ready. Very impressive! Daghang Salamat Bai! (Thank you very much buddy!)

What is a FavIcon?

A FavIcon (short for favorites icon), also known as a URL icon, website icon, or a shortcut icon a is associated with a particular web page with 16×16 pixel image size that is displayed in the web browser address bar next to a site’s URL. FavIcon.ico is the format of the file created.

Here’s how a FavIcon on web browser look like:

How to upload a Favicon.ico File

With the use of FTP, connect to your server and upload your Favicon.ico file to your website. The FavIcon.ico file must be uploaded into the same directory as your index page which is in the root directory, and NOT to your image folder. And then, copy and paste the HTML code for the FavIcon.ico to the <HEAD> section of your web pages:

<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”/favicon.ico” >

However, If you intend to upload the FavIcon.ico file to any location on your server, just MAKE SURE to locate the exact path of the file. Here’s a sample HTML code:

<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”file-path/favicon.ico” >

• file-path – is the exact location of your FavIcon.ico file.

Related topics about how to create a FavIcon.ico

• Mysteries Of The Favicon.ico — How To Create A Favicon In Photoshop
• Free Online FavIcon Generator and Instructions

If you think this blog post in useful, please share it with your friends.

Today’s topic is about last year (2008) most popular social networks. Of course, we are aware that there are countless numbers of social networking websites online, whatever your interests and hobbies may be, I’m sure you can find a community group for you.

In the Philippines, Friendster is one of the most popular social network websites. And Friendster is restlessly adding new features and building a global community for friends to connect, share and network with one another.  It’s like the unstoppable growth of Twitter, and the race between Facebook and MySpace for the name of best social network in the US.

The figures doesn’t lie:

These were the 2008 most popular social networks, according to Nielsen Online.

• MySpace.com

• Facebook.com

• Classmates Online

• Linkedln

• Reunion.com

• Windows Live Home

• Club Penguin

• AOL Community

• Tagged.com

• Flixter

• Ning

• Twitter.com

• Imeem

• Last.fm

• MyYearbook

• Bebo

• hi5

And here’s the rankings and trends within the top 20 social networks:

I can think of 3 big reasons why social networking is very popular. Firstly, social networks are a lot of fun. Second, it is a great way to connect, share and meet new friends. and third, it is very easy to join.

Today, we are going to talk about the two most important ways to get a good result on major search engines.

• How to get links
• How to check for back links

Everyone knows that you need to get links from other website regardless of the link building methods you practiced, just to get traffic and to rank on search engine result pages. But it doesn’t end up by just getting hundred of links, you need to evaluate what kind of links you have, determine where your links are coming from, it is the quality that counts. The link from other websites to yours is also known as the “back link”.

How To Get Links

I tell you this, getting hundreds of links in a day is Not That Difficult. Not convinced!? Okay, how about by doing the following:

• Create blogs – there are many free hosted blogs that allows you to create a sub-domain, have your targeted keywords as you “sub-domain name”. You can create multiple accounts on wordpress.
• Blog commenting – give some time to post comments on blog related topics, don’t spam.
• Forum posting – having a signature link.
• Social bookmarking/Social Networks – bookmark your pages, submit videos and post comments.
• Twitter – invite friends, send comments and your links.
• Directory & search engine submission – submit your links to hundreds of free directories.
• Facebook – you can share your links, and join groups.
• Yahoo answers – post comments with your link.
• Link exchange – link to sites that added your link.
• And many others.

See!? You can build hundred of links in a single day, However Does Your Links Count? It is very important to determine the quality of your back links. Please refer to the Google Webmaster Guide.

How To Check the Back Links

Now, that you have already built links, it is about time to evaluate those back links you have. There are free SEO tools that determine where your links and the anchor texts used, thus will help you understand and achieve your goals.

The BackLinkWatch is a web-based back link checker tool.

Here’s how it works, type the URL of your website to get complete detailed information about quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to your website. Then, click “Check Backlinks” and it will show you:

• The Anchor text
• Google Page Rank
• Total Outbound links on the page where your link is found
• NoFollow Flag of your link

The BackLinkWatch back link checker tool is Free.

The Back Link Analyzer, a free link popularity analysis tool which shows the anchor text linking into a web page.

This is the screen shot of the back link analysis information entry screen, version 2.0. The Back Link Analyzer is a windows application tool, you can visit here to download for free.

Author’s Note:

Before you start your linking campaign, you should equipped yourself with knowledge and follow the guidelines set by search engines to avoid being banned or penalized in the future. And the best way to get others to link to your site is by creating a unique and relevant content. Always remember content is king!

For more information about building links, visit the Link Schemes at Google Webmaster Guide.

Many people throughout the world, including the world wide web celebrated Valentine’s day on February 14. And because today is February 14, let’s talk about Valentine’s day. A heart’s day. A lover’s day, or whatever you may call it.This is the time when lovers show and express their love for each other by giving flowers, or sending Valentine’s card. Oh! which reminds me, I haven’t given yet a gift to my girlfriend. Maybe later today after I finish writing this post. *Lol.

Happy Valentine’s day to My Mami Gang.

…I am not a peotic or romantic person …

but these three words would surely make her happy. Not threesome you pervy!

I Love You!

Happy Valentine’s day to everyone!