[tentblogger-vimeo 16463955]
Good morning!
Remember when you were younger and you went to that summer camp and had the campfire or large bonfire on the last night of the camp? Remember how neat that was and how you’d hop from group to group seeing all of the people you hung out with during the week, talking about stories and experiences late into the night?
I loved that about my childhood! And I’d love to bring that back, in a digital way!
I have decided to execute on a neat idea to see if we can take the community here to the next level by offering an opportunity for you to not only ask questions but receive answers (and provide answers) for each other.
Let’s call it Community Campfire (or you can call it bonfire if you’d like).
Got a question about blogging? Themes? Plugins? Ask it in the comment thread here and help each other out!
Feel free to also engage on Twitter and Facebook as well. Let’s encourage each other to take our blogs to the next level, shall we?
Have a great Wednesday – we’re almost there to the weekend, I promise!
How about this:
What’s best practice for hosting development versions of WordPress.org blogs?
I’ve been using MAMP to host an offline version of my sites so that if I break something (which happens a lot) it won’t effect my live site.
Anyone else have a better system?
MAMP works great, but I found that I nearly always want so show someone my work (clients, friends, etc.).
It’s so much easier to say hey go here, and it’s all set on the internet.
But that only applies for stuff that isn’t particularly sensitive data.
I use a hosting provider (justhost) that gives me unlimited mysql databases, so I can set up as many different WP installs as my heart desires.
I’ve thought of that too; just doing it all online, my main worry was having everything backed up all the time. I about had a heart-attack when dreamhost went down yesterday.
Helpful suggestions though, thanks!
you might want to look into code repositories like SVM (subversion), or GIT. you can quickly update and restore code.
it’s you!
how are things!?
yea, just working and learning.. working on some special javascript that could use some improvement at work. keeping my coding skills ninja sharp
cool beans.
Brilliant idea. Me? I need a new name. For my blog, of course, not for me. http://www.kevindeshazo.me is the url, which I’m ok with…it’s the blog name itself that needs changing – I’m working on some other things within the site, but that’s the biggest challenge for me right now. Any thoughts are appreciated. Feel free to find me on twitter @kevindeshazo.
lifeinslowmotion.net
You have a cool last name – DeShazo, it would be cool if you could find a non-cheesy way to integrate that into your url.
Just a thought.
good suggestions. definitely some solid stuff to chew on. thanks guys.
deshazz.com
That would be *awesome*
“LIKE”
Love lifinslowmotion.net. if you want a .com what about: slomolife.com (not fabulous, but available)
also available:
kevinsthoughts.com (lame)
ideshazo.com (really not better than current)
deshazoidea.com (but if trying to follow John’s advice about the last name being difficult–didn’t he say that in your site review? than those won’t work)
You describe the blog as just your thoughts. what about
justthethoughts.com (available! But cheesy??)
i like a few of those!
yep I’m in the same pickle as well. I’m thinking about going totally off the beaten path with mine, but I feel like there are a lot of people that know me as jcisonline.
Who knows. Keep looking and you’ll find something that works. Try to go with a .com is about my only advice.
Probably the way the theme is coded to show the comments.
John uses the Standard theme he created, and they coded the theme to show the comments that way. I use the standard theme on my blog and love it.
You may look into using a comment plugin for your blog such as IntenseDebate. I believe it does what you are looking for. You can check it out Jon Acuff’s site stuffchristianslike.net. Check out the comments for any of his posts and see if it does what you are looking for.
Maybe that helps, or maybe there is a super coder out there that can help you fix it within your theme.
Sorry that was to go to Kathy….
Okay, I’ll go…
Simple thing, but it’s driving me crazy. When I reply to comments in my blog, the reply doesn’t appear below the comment I am replying to. When John replies we see him directly below the comment and indented.
Is this a super-simple fix in WordPress, or is this a theme issue? (I use Frugal theme).
A great place to see how my replies are not working is in the most current post:
http://workingforwonka.com/entrepreneur-of-the-weak-richard-heene-pun-intended/
any/all help would be appreciated!
Kathy,
Checking on your site, the “reply” feature to comments isn’t available – so when you reply, you’re just creating a new comment, which would appear at the bottom of the stack. Look above at the various comments on John’s blog (mine, and others), you will see a “reply” link/option under the comment.
Most likely, this is immediately available to you by simply changing a setting in your WordPress comment options.
Go to your WP admin panel:
Settings > Discussion > Other Comment Settings:
Enable threaded (nested) comments levels “x” deep (where you can set how many levels of replies show …
Hopefully that fixes it for you!
Fred: You’re a rock star. What an easy fix. All of the comments I typed as reply in the admin panel on WordPress now all magically appear nested! Thanks!!
wow, love it!
As i’m looking at it they do look indented and off-set within a gray box. Looking good to my eyes anyway.
Hey…love the interaction and community that is developing among TentBloggers. I have one frustration that someone may have an easy fix for.
I have uploaded an image for my comment avatar, but it doesn’t show up in the comments threads on my site. I have an older image that is attached to the email from my WordPress.com site. When I moved to self-hosting, and a new email address, no avatar. Since I have tried uploading the image in the Standard Theme dashboard and looked for other WP settings to change, I am at a loss. It is probably a simple fix, but not sure what to do. Any suggestions?
I had hit some of those same problems and switched to Intense Debate. No problems since. Any time I change my Gravatar, it all works out in a few minutes.
hey Randy,
WP uses gravatar.com for avatars that get associated with an email address, and pulled up from WP. Try setting up a gravatar.com account with the email you use for WordPress, and upload your avatar there.
Does that fix it?
Excellent! Took care of it with Gravatar.com and all’s well. Thanks for the help!!
Writing a post about 5 Steps To Fix (you fill in the blank), is much different than a post about your support for a cause/organization.
What tips does the Tentblogger community have to share about writing “how to” posts vs. “why I believe” posts?
Hey Dewitt, I’ve been thinking through that as well (maybe a good topic for our Skype session next week). I am thinking I will balance the two by either giving a post with an “I believe” section followed by “Steps to follow” section. Or…alternate between “I believe” posts and “How to” posts (maybe related in topic).
My thoughts so far…I would love to hear from others.
Randy, thanks man! I get what you’re saying. It helps to give the steps to support why one believes.
Looking forward to our group meetup.
first of all I would find someone who does it well. I would read Shaun King at http://www.shauninthecity.com/ Doesn’t post as often as he used to but he’s making a huge difference in the world for Haiti and a lot of other places that need the love of Christ.
He is definitely a cause/organization blogger.
I think passion is something that is caught and not taught so writing in your own style in a passionate way is something that could catch fire within your own community.
Just my thoughts.
agreed. shaun kills it here.
Thanks J.C.! I agree with the “caught” about passion in writing. I appreciate your thoughts.
Definitely, Pastor Shaun is doing great work in Haiti.
Love it!
Clarification question: So the bonfire concept, is it for a certain day when we ask questions, or just generally everyday, and to encourage everyone all the time to interact with each other?
I was just thinking that same question…
see comment above!
i think you should be doing this all the time. I love interacting with other bloggers. Wish I could get more to do this on my site.
give them a specific cause. have more thoughts on this soon…..
both. i think sometimes we need to be explicit with it and hopefully this community will latch onto it long-term as a serious boost.
Hi Tentblogger Community,
I recently bought the domain http://lifexpresseddigitially.me and as you can see after clicking that link my directory is listed. Is there a way that I can make this private? I don’t have anything to put up there yet, but I will soon. Right now my blog is at http://blog.lifexpresseddigitally.me. What do you think I should put on the index page for the time being? I don’t like the idea of saying coming soon. Any other ideas?
I think you have to host the domain before you can make the directory private.
Once it’s hosted you can either do an awesomely clever “under construction” page or add an .htaccess file to the directory.
http://www.sitedeveloper.ws/tutorials/htaccess.htm
I could be wrong, anyone have a better idea?
I bought the domain with Godaddy.com and am hosting it with freehostia.com. I’ve got the DNS pointed to the new host so thats fine. I guess I just need to create a HTML file for the root directory.
Does anyone have any good ideas for amazing coming soon pages? I don’t want it to look cheesy.
“double d” in there… that’s a bit tough!
Well I decided not to go with a coming soon page, but instead your very own Digital Business Card WP theme. Check it out in all of it’s glory here: http://lifexpresseddigitally.me/
sweet!
I really like the Under Construction theme from Delicious Themes. Here’s a preview. They have it available for free to download as a WordPress theme on their home page, but if you’re interested I have an older distribution of it as pure HTML, not requiring a WordPress install. Download link
hey jimmy, what do you do specifically in IT? do you do server config?
There’s not much I don’t do
I can do a server configuration for you. Just shoot me an email, so we can discuss it a little more.
That’s great and all, but I really don’t have a estimated launch time right now. I’ll save that to my bookmarks though.
Wish I could be of more help, but all I can say is google it =P
As far as that HTML template goes, if you want it download it now, because I can’t leave it up forever. (It’s a cl.ly link)
Thanks to Kathy’s question I was able to fix MY non-reply comment situation via Fred’s simple instructions.
I’m loving this campfire!
so am i!
My wife and I are looking to move beyond Blogger. I’v read the post about hosting sites. I was wondering which hosts you guys use. We need something that will be easy to port over and use. We’re new at all of this but we are looking to learn. Any thoughts?
I don’t know about porting content, but I followed Human3rror’s recommendation and chose Dreamhost. I set up WordPress and tried Standard Theme and eventually bought the full version.
Dreamhost is a breeze!
Standard Theme is even easier!
I use Web Hosting Buzz to host my sites. I have one of their reseller accounts. I have been pleased with them.
I use GoDaddy, but it’s great and sometimes it’s awful. Don’t really know what you are going to get because so many others are using the same servers that you are.
Probably will switch to Dreamhost next year.
all the hosting providers listed are ones that i like!
I use JustHost. If you go with that, you should be able to get half off with coupon code. Contact me directly for more info.
I don’t really know why this doesn’t happen but how in the heck do you get people to comment on your posts?
I know it’s something that I want to invest in because I love that part the best… like this whole thing. But I’ve done contests, drawings, and even top commenters things but it just seems that people aren’t commenting on a consistent basis.
I would like to change up my comment look in standard to make it more readily apparent like your call to action post. But I don’t know enough code to make it be a cloud bubble type thing…
Any help would be appreciated.
it takes time to build this type of community… but one thing to think about:
1. I’m SUPER explicit. my header logo says it all: blogging for fun and profit. that’s what we’re here for.
As a result my content is focused around all of that. judging by some of the stuff you’ve written historically it can be a stretch to see the underlying currents and themes.
does that make sense?
totally does. Guess it’s tough to find clarity when that’s what you are searching for in the vision for your life, huh?
Funny that I know it but can’t fix it. Would love some prayers for clarification, hahaha
Totally makes sense though, John. Thanks for all that you do.
sure. i think you need to double-down on your focus. it’s everywhere. spend time cultivating those key points and rebuild.
thanks. I’ll definitely be chewing on this.
Hey guys,
Long time reader, first time commenter (sorry, had to do that). I had a couple questions that I would love your input on:
1. I am struggling to get people to subscribe to my blog. I get decent views and comments on posts and through twitter but not very many subscribers. I am going to take John’s advice about a subscription page. What else can I be doing to help with this?
2. Along the same lines I am struggling to get people to respond to polls and dialogue about them. I want to build that kind of community there like there is here. I know that it takes time. What are some things that I can practically do to get started in the right direction?
3. How often should I blog (I know that’s not an easy question to answer). I currently blog 4 – 5 times a week. I light of some of my above questions is this too much or not enough?
As a new blogger, any help that you can give me is greatly appreciated.
2 thoughts that hit me.
1. why do you want people to subscribe? I guess what I am saying is what if you just focused on getting traffic from twitter instead of making sure people subscribe? Just a thought.
2. How often do you end your post with a question that people can actually dialogue about? You know, something that I do not need to write a couple paragraphs about but can do a quick couple of lines and be good?
And along with number 2, how often do you comment on other peoples blogs? If you want dialogue on your blog you have to also give dialogue on others, at least that is what I have seen.
those are good follow up questions kyle.
Thanks Kyle. I do need to do a better job of posting comments on other people’s blogs (doing for others what I want them to do for me).. For most of my posts I do have a question I ask people to talk about. How do you think I can do a better job of phrasing the questions more like you are talking about?
thats a great question.
Maybe in a way that the question was first asked to yourself. You know, like what inspired you to write the post was usually something that even was brought to your attention, a question you might be wondering about, or a thought. So in a way if you can take that moment of inspiration and provide that as the question piece for the reader then I think that could engage more conversation.
in addition to kyle’s thoughts, here are a few.
perhaps you need to experiment more with the length of your posts. also experiment with frequency.
in terms of focus, i’m not sure what you are “about”… i need to know instantly, especially in this online culture where it’s pretty much ADD.
in terms of polls, you don’t have any explicit value beyond answering it. you need to create that. create need and a reason to know the results with your input.
Thanks, John for the advice on the polls.
What do you mean about experimenting with the length and frequency of posts?
How can I make it clearer to my audience what I’m about?
perhaps by being as explicit as you possibly can be! my header/logo (which is temporary) tells the story plainly.
Simply Jeff <~~~~~~ that doesn’t tell me anything.
Neither does this: “My attempt to answer the question, “What do you do the other six days of the week?”
What does that really mean? i need to know!
Thanks for the input John.
What I am thinking of doing to help make things clearer is to change the tagline to: “Helping KidMin leaders laugh hard, lead well, and learn much” I would use these three “Ls” as the purpose of the blog and my three main categories.
Still not sure what a better name than “Simply Jeff” could be. What do you think?
Am I heading in the right direction? I really want to get this right and make it something great for other Children’s Pastors.
Jeff, in addition to what everyone else has said, I’d also add that John S. has been doing this for a long time and has put a lot of hard work into his blogs. I know from my own blog that it takes time to develop readership and trust and rapport. I’ve been going almost exactly two years now, and i’m finally to the point where i’m getting comments on most of the posts. But it takes a lot of time and patience. And just like Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither are most blogs, in my experience. Slow and steady. Tweak here. Tweak there. Continue writing good content, and it will happen.
Thanks Rodlie. This was really helpful.
Does anyone else in here use Commission Junction? I have been having some annoying pop up ads when people click anywhere on my site. I know it goes against their terms of service, but I am waiting on their response to my email. I use CJ for Toms Shoes and Simply Youth Ministry. Is there a way on my end to get this to stop other than taking down the ads and banners I’m currently using.
i am a part of it. it seems like you need to systematically remove plugins and see what the culprit is. or, change themes entirely and see what happens.
Thanks, John. It was the contact me button. I am now switching to the Standard theme, but it’s leaving categories above the header that I’m telling it to leave out. I thought I saw you address this with someone else, but I can’t find it. Thanks for all your hard work.
Got it working. Sorry for the trouble.
sure thing!
I use the Standard Theme for WordPress, but I’m not sure how to get the post date at the bottom of the post instead of the top. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks!
Sure. You first begin by editing single.php.
Change the code to look like this:
http://cl.ly/3362b48e770f85eb7a09
and it’ll start looking like this:
http://cl.ly/84eb907a444b09520b3e
as you can see, the date is at the bottom!
that should get you started.
This is really helpful, I may tweak mine the same way!
sweet! great, do it !
Amazingly enough, it worked without me messing something up! Thanks again!
bravo!
Is there a way to (and should I if there is) hide my personal info for a .us registration? I registered a .us last night but was not given the option to hide my info.
it’s up to you and your level of privacy that you require.
I think I am a bit late jumping on board here…whoops – but I have two things i’d like thoughts on:
1)At the moment I run around 6 blog properties, and use scheduling a lot to get posts out. This works well except that sometimes its really hard to keep an eye on new comments, which I always like to respond to. Is there some sort of app or service or something I can use to manage my comments better? Preferably something that I can use on both my mac and PC
2)At work we are launching a new website which will be selling end-user clothing. It’s mainly non-brand, cheap, functional clothing, target market = late 20′s – 50, people who buy online and don’t care about having branded clothing, just something that is cheap and functional. Part of my strategy with new sites like this is having a blog alongside it. What could I blog about on this website?
1. you can check out these two:
http://churchcrunch.com/manage-multiple-wordpress-blogs-with-one-dashboard/
and
http://churchcrunch.com/moderate-multiple-wordpress-comments-with-this-desktop-app/
2. you could just talk about trends and how your business philosophically see it different. that would be neat.
If you had $1 to give to a different organization everyday for the remainder of the year, how would you tell the story via your blog?
about impact and reach.