930 WordPress All in One For Dummies

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  8 • WordPress Basics

  1 • Setting Up the WordPress Software • Exploring the WordPress Dashboard • Publishing Your Site with WordPress • Examining SEO and Social Media • Customizing the Look of Your Site • Using and Developing Plugins • Running Multiple Sites with WordPress Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Cory Miller, Kevin Palmer, Andrea Rennick, and Michael Torbert

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  by Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Cory Miller, Kevin Palmer, Andrea Rennick, and Michael Torbert WordPress ® A L L - I N - O N E FOR

  DUMmIES ‰

  ® ® WordPress All-in-One For Dummies Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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  About the Authors Lisa Sabin-Wilson ( WordPress For Dummies, BuddyPress For Dummies, WordPress Web Design For Dummies) has 8 years experience working with

  the WordPress platform, having adopted it early in its fi rst year of release in design and WordPress at several national conferences. Additionally, she hosts WordPress workshops around the country, teaching people how to use the WordPress platform to publish their own sites on the World Wide Web.

  

  Cory Miller is a former newspaper journalist and public relations practi-

  tioner, turned freelance web designer, turned full-time entrepreneur. In ), a provider of premium WordPress themes, and in the summer of 2009, he and his team ), a premium provider of web design training with WordPress. You can fi nd Cory online on his per- and on Twitter: @CoryMiller303.

  Kevin Palmer is the founder of Social Media Answers, a consulting fi rm

  that helps companies create and foster a social media marketing strategy, improve their SEO, and drive traffi c through organic and paid marketing in the B2B and B2C spaces. Kevin has successfully helped Internet startups and Fortune 500 companies. Kevin resides in Portland, OR and is attempting to prove you are never too old to play ice hockey. You can read Kevin’s blog at (@kevinpalmer).

  Andrea Rennick is self-taught in all things WordPress since 2005. She is

  also a mom of four homeschooled, mostly grown children, and grandmother to one. She thinks if she can do it, you can, too. When not building things with WordPress or writing about how to do things with WordPress, she’s usually quilting. Often, Andrea populates the WordPress support forums with answers to your questions about WordPress, particularly her area of expertise: WordPress Multisite. She also runs a multisite resource Web site, WordPress Must Use Tutorials, at) and Twitter (@Andrea_R).

  Michael Torbert is the developer of the popular WordPress All in One SEO

   and best SEO practices.

   Dedication

Lisa Sabin-Wilson: To WordPress . . . and all that entails from the developers,

  designers, forum helpers, bug testers, educators, consultants, plugin makers, and theme bakers.

  

Cory Miller: I would like to dedicate my part of the book to my family — my

  mom, Charleen, and my dad, David, who loved and supported me and simply encouraged me that I could do anything I set my mind to do, and my grand- father and fellow entrepreneur, Leo Chaney, who inspired me to live my dreams and to use business as a tool to provide a great, fulfi lling life for my family and team.

  Kevin Palmer: For my parents, Alex and Sue Guerra, who tend to have no idea what I’m doing, but who morally support me anyway. Andrea Rennick: I would like to dedicate my portion of this book to my

  grandfather, Alfred Thomas Thornton, who introduced me to this new thing called a computer. My only wish is that you and Nanny could hold this book in your hands.

   Authors’ Acknowledgments

Lisa Sabin: Every person involved in the WordPress community plays a vital

  role in making this whole thing work, and work well. Kudos to all of you! Also, big thanks to my wonderful husband, Chris Wilson, for his incredible sup- port, backbone, and ability to put up with my crazy days of writing — I could

  not have done it without you!

Cory Miller: I would not be involved in this project without the help and sup-

  port of my amazing team at iThemes, and in particular Chris Jean and Matt Danner — it is an honor to work with you all and I count you as some of my best friends in life! Big thanks to my business partners, Scott Day and Jay Chapman, for simply being who you are — amazing and encouraging every step of the way. Last but certainly not least, I want to thank Lisa Sabin-Wilson — your personal friendship and support has meant more to me than you might ever realize. I cherish your presence in my life and thank you for invit- ing me to be part of this project. To all the above: #boom.

  Kevin Palmer: I would like to thank Lisa Sabin-Wilson for inviting me to

  contribute to this book and for answering numerous WordPress questions throughout the years. I would also like to thank my friends: Michelle, Kelly, Chrissy, Mark, Kurt, Kris, Tiffany, Nina, Tim, Chris, Lorna, Shawn, Karl, Tom, and numerous others who have listened, given advice, and helped me down my path.

  

Andrea Rennick: None of this would have been possible if Lisa hadn’t asked

  me to write my section on the multisite feature, so a huge thanks to her for making that call. Thanks to the editors for making me look good, and my fellow co-authors for being awesome. It was great to have someone to com- miserate with. A lot of my knowledge comes from the great folks who shared what they knew, via both the old WordPress MU forums and blogs. Some of the people are drmike, lunabyte, David Sader, Deanna Schneider, Tim Moore, SteveAtty, MrBrian, venturemaker, suleiman, Jim Groom and probably many others. Also, WordPress people like Matt Mullenweg, Donncha O’Caoimh, Jane Wells, Pete Mall, John James Jacoby, Boone Gorges, Andy Peatling, and more. Everyone is so wonderful at embracing new faces; big hugs all around at the next WordCamp. Thanks to my mom, who always knew I could do something like this; Addison and Sarah for not minding too much when their mom does something cool; Meaghan for reminding me to eat; and Emma for reminding me to play. And, fi nally, my husband Ron for being there to talk me down, to read over my work, to put up with me, to bounce ideas off of, and to be in this together. I love you so much — here’s to another twenty years. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how much Ron has also brought to my knowledge base and how much work he has done within the multisite area.

  Michael Torbert: Thanks go out to the WordPress community.

  Publisher’s Acknowledgments .

  

For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974,

outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial

  Sr. Project Editor: Christopher Morris Acquisitions Editor: Amy Fandrei Copy Editors: Brian Walls, Jennifer Riggs, and

  Laura Miller Technical Editors: Paul Chaney, Tom Myers Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case Cartoons: Rich Tennant

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  Publishing for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher Composition Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

  Contents at a Glance

Introduction ................................................................ 1

Book I: WordPress Basics ............................................. 9

  Chapter 1: Exploring Basic WordPress Concepts ........................................................ 11 Chapter 2: Exploring the World of Open Source Software ......................................... 23 Chapter 3: Understanding Development and Release Cycles .................................... 33 Chapter 4: Introducing the WordPress Community .................................................... 41 Chapter 5: Discovering Different Versions of WordPress .......................................... 53 Book II: Setting Up the WordPress Software ................ 65 Chapter 1: Understanding the System Requirements ................................................. 67 Chapter 2: Using File Transfer Protocol ........................................................................ 77 Chapter 3: Introducing PHP and MySQL ....................................................................... 89 Chapter 4: Installing WordPress on Your Web Server ................................................ 99 Chapter 5: Confi gurations for Optimum Performance and Security ............................115 Chapter 6: Upgrading WordPress ................................................................................ 141 Chapter 7: Backing Up, Packing Up, and Moving to a New Host ............................. 151 Book III: Exploring the WordPress Dashboard ............. 167 Chapter 1: Logging In and Taking a Look Around ..................................................... 169 Chapter 2: Customizing Your Dashboard ................................................................... 183 Chapter 3: Exploring Tools and Settings .................................................................... 191 Chapter 4: Managing Users and Multiple Authors ..................................................... 223 Chapter 5: Dealing with Comments and Spam ........................................................... 233 Chapter 6: Building Link Lists ...................................................................................... 247 Chapter 7: Creating Categories and Tags ................................................................... 257 Book IV: Publishing Your Site with WordPress............ 269 Chapter 1: Writing Your First Post .............................................................................. 271 Chapter 2: Examining the Difference between Posts and Pages .............................. 287 Chapter 3: Uploading and Displaying Photos and Galleries ..................................... 297 Chapter 4: Exploring Podcasting and Video Blogging ............................................... 309 Chapter 5: Working with Custom Fields ..................................................................... 319 Chapter 6: Using WordPress as a Content Management System ............................. 333

  

  

Book V: Examining SEO and Social Media .................. 357

  Chapter 1: Exposing Your Content .............................................................................. 359 Chapter 2: Creating a Social-Media Listening Hub .................................................... 381 Chapter 3: Understanding Analytics ........................................................................... 403 Chapter 4: Search Engine Optimization ...................................................................... 421 Chapter 5: Exploring Popular SEO Plugins ................................................................. 437 Book VI: Customizing the Look of Your Site ................ 447 Chapter 1: Examining the Default Theme: Twenty Ten ............................................ 449 Chapter 2: Finding and Installing WordPress Themes .............................................. 471 Chapter 3: Exploring the Anatomy of a Theme .......................................................... 485 Chapter 4: Customizing Your Theme .......................................................................... 517 Chapter 5: Understanding Parent and Child Themes ............................................... 537 Chapter 6: Digging into Advanced Theme Development .......................................... 555 Chapter 7: Using Theme Frameworks to Simplify Customization ........................... 601 Book VII: Using and Developing Plugins .................... 613 Chapter 1: Introducing WordPress Plugins ................................................................ 615 Chapter 2: Installing and Activating Plugins .............................................................. 633 Chapter 3: Exploring Plugin Options and Settings .................................................... 647 Chapter 4: Modifying Existing Plugin Code to Your Liking....................................... 663 Chapter 5: Creating Simple WordPress Plugins from Scratch ................................. 681 Chapter 6: Exploring Plugin Development Best Practices ........................................ 731 Chapter 7: Plugin Tips and Tricks ............................................................................... 741 Book VIII: Running Multiple Sites with WordPress ..... 759 Chapter 1: An Introduction to Multiple Sites ............................................................. 761 Chapter 2: Setting Up and Confi guring Network Features ........................................ 771 Chapter 3: Becoming a Network Admin ...................................................................... 779 Chapter 4: Management of Users and Access Control .............................................. 799 Chapter 5: Using Network Plugins and Themes ......................................................... 809 Chapter 6: Using Multiple Domains within Your Network........................................ 825 Index ...................................................................... 841

  

  Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................. 1

  About This Book .............................................................................................. 1 Foolish Assumptions ....................................................................................... 1 Conventions Used in This Book ..................................................................... 2 What You Don’t Have to Read ........................................................................ 2 How This Book Is Organized .......................................................................... 3

  Book I: WordPress Basics ..................................................................... 3 Book II: Setting Up the WordPress Software ...................................... 3 Book III: Exploring the WordPress Dashboard................................... 4 Book IV: Publishing Your Site with WordPress .................................. 4 Book V: Examining SEO and Social Media .......................................... 5 Book VI: Customizing the Look of Your Site ....................................... 5 Book VII: Using and Developing Plugins ............................................. 6 Book VIII: Running Multiple Sites with WordPress ............................ 7

  Icons Used in This Book ................................................................................. 7 Where to Go from Here ................................................................................... 8

  

Book I: WordPress Basics .............................................. 9

  Chapter 1: Exploring Basic WordPress Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Introducing the World of Blogging .............................................................. 12 Understanding Blogging Technologies ....................................................... 13 Archiving your publishing history ..................................................... 14 Interacting with your readers through comments .......................... 15 Feeding your readers........................................................................... 16 Tracking back ....................................................................................... 18 Dealing with comment and trackback spam .................................... 18 Using WordPress as a Content Management System ............................... 19 Chapter 2: Exploring the World of Open Source Software. . . . . . . . . .23 Defi ning Open Source .................................................................................... 24 Understanding WordPress Licensing .......................................................... 27 Applying WordPress Licensing to Your Projects ...................................... 28 Chapter 3: Understanding Development and Release Cycles . . . . . . .33 Discovering WordPress Release Cycles ..................................................... 33 Upgrading your WordPress experience ............................................ 34 Understanding the cycles of a release .............................................. 35 Finding WordPress release archives ................................................. 36 Keeping Track of WordPress Development ............................................... 37 Downloading Nightly Builds ......................................................................... 39

  WordPress All-in-One For Dummies xii

  Chapter 4: Introducing the WordPress Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 Finding Other WordPress Users .................................................................. 42 Finding WordPress news and tips on community Web sites ......... 42 Locating users on social networks .................................................... 42 Users Helping Users ...................................................................................... 43 WordPress support forums ................................................................ 43 WordPress user manual ...................................................................... 44 WordPress mailing lists ...................................................................... 45 Discovering Professional WordPress Consultants and Services ............. 45 WordPress designers .......................................................................... 47 Developers ............................................................................................ 48 Consultants ........................................................................................... 49 Contributing to WordPress .......................................................................... 50 Participating in Live WordPress Events ..................................................... 51 Chapter 5: Discovering Different Versions of WordPress . . . . . . . . . .53 Comparing the Two Versions of WordPress .............................................. 53 Choosing the hosted version from WordPress.com ....................... 55 Self-hosting with WordPress.org........................................................ 57 Hosting Multiple Sites with One WordPress Installation ......................... 60 Discovering WordPress VIP Services .......................................................... 62 Book II: Setting Up the WordPress Software ................. 65 Chapter 1: Understanding the System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 Establishing Your Domain ............................................................................ 67 Understanding domain name extensions ......................................... 68 Considering the cost of a domain name ........................................... 68 Registering your domain name .......................................................... 69 Finding a Home for Your Blog ...................................................................... 70 Getting help with hosting WordPress ............................................... 72 Dealing with disk space and bandwidth ........................................... 72 Chapter 2: Using File Transfer Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Introducing FTP Concepts ............................................................................ 77 Setting Up FTP on Your Hosting Account .................................................. 78 Finding and Using Free and Easy FTP Programs ....................................... 81 Connecting to the Web Server via FTP ............................................. 81 Transferring fi les from point A to point B ........................................ 85 Editing fi les by using FTP .................................................................... 85 Changing fi le permissions ................................................................... 86

   Table of Contents xiii

  Chapter 3: Introducing PHP and MySQL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89 Understanding How PHP and MySQL Work Together .............................. 89 Exploring PHP Basics .................................................................................... 90 Trying Out a Little PHP ................................................................................. 92 Managing Your MySQL Database ................................................................ 94 Chapter 4: Installing WordPress on Your Web Server . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 Installing the WordPress Files ..................................................................... 99 Using Fantastico to install WordPress ............................................ 100 Installing WordPress manually ........................................................ 104 Chapter 5: Confi gurations for Optimum Performance and Security . . .115 Discovering the Confi guration File ............................................................ 116 Securing the confi guration fi le ......................................................... 116 Exploring main confi guration settings ............................................ 117 Moving the /wp-content directory ................................................... 122 Tweaking the confi guration fi le for optimization........................... 123 Using a Caching System for Speed and Performance ............................. 126 Minifying JavaScript, CSS, and HTML .............................................. 126 Using a content delivery network .................................................... 128 Using plugins to make caching easier ............................................. 129 Editing Files and Testing Performance with WordPress Tools ............. 129 Choosing the text editor that’s right for you ................................. 130 Notepad (Windows)........................................................................... 131 Notepad++ (Windows)....................................................................... 132 TextMate (Mac) .................................................................................. 134 Understanding and choosing a Web browser ................................ 134 Discovering different browsers and tools ...................................... 134 Understanding cross-browser compatibility ................................. 139 Chapter 6: Upgrading WordPress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141 Getting Notifi ed of an Available Upgrade ................................................. 141 Backing Up Your Database ......................................................................... 144 Upgrading WordPress Automatically ........................................................ 145 Upgrading WordPress Manually ................................................................ 147 Chapter 7: Backing Up, Packing Up, and Moving to a New Host . . .151 Migrating Your Existing Blog to WordPress ............................................. 151 Movin’ on up ....................................................................................... 152 Preparing for the big move ............................................................... 153 Converting templates ........................................................................ 154 Moving your blog to WordPress ...................................................... 155 Importing from Blogspot, er Blogger ............................................... 156 Importing from LiveJournal .............................................................. 157 Importing from Movable Type and TypePad ................................. 159 Importing from WordPress ............................................................... 160 Importing from an RSS feed .............................................................. 161 Finding other import resources ....................................................... 163

  WordPress All-in-One For Dummies xiv

  Moving Your Web Site to a Different Host ................................................ 163 Creating a backup and moving manually ........................................ 163 Using a plugin to back up and move to a new host ....................... 165

  Book III: Exploring the WordPress Dashboard ............. 167

  Chapter 1: Logging In and Taking a Look Around. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169 Logging In to the Dashboard ...................................................................... 169 Navigating the Dashboard .......................................................................... 170 Right Now ............................................................................................ 172 Recent Comments .............................................................................. 175 Incoming Links ................................................................................... 176 Plugins ................................................................................................. 177 QuickPress .......................................................................................... 178 Recent Drafts ...................................................................................... 179 WordPress Blog .................................................................................. 179 Other WordPress News ..................................................................... 181 Chapter 2: Customizing Your Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183 Arranging the Dashboard to Your Tastes ................................................ 183 Removing Dashboard Modules ........................................................ 185 Changing the Dashboard layout ...................................................... 185 Finding Inline Documentation and Help ................................................... 187 Creating Your Own Workspace ................................................................. 188 Chapter 3: Exploring Tools and Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191 Confi guring the Settings .............................................................................. 191 General ................................................................................................ 192 Writing ................................................................................................. 196 Reading ................................................................................................ 198 Discussion ........................................................................................... 200 Media ................................................................................................... 206 Privacy................................................................................................. 208 Permalinks .......................................................................................... 209 Creating Your Personal Profi le .................................................................. 214 Setting Your Blog’s Format ......................................................................... 217 Posts .................................................................................................... 217 Media ................................................................................................... 217 Links .................................................................................................... 218 Pages.................................................................................................... 218 Comments ........................................................................................... 219 Appearance ......................................................................................... 219 Plugins ................................................................................................. 220 Users .................................................................................................... 221 Tools .................................................................................................... 221

  xv Table of Contents

  Chapter 4: Managing Users and Multiple Authors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223 Understanding User Roles and Capabilities ............................................. 223 Allowing New User Registration ................................................................ 225 Adding New Users ....................................................................................... 226 Editing User Details ..................................................................................... 228 Managing a Multi-Author Site ..................................................................... 229 Tools that help authors communicate ............................................ 230 Tools to promote author profi les .................................................... 231 Tools to manage multi-author blog posts ....................................... 232 Chapter 5: Dealing with Comments and Spam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233 Deciding to Allow Comments on Your Site .............................................. 233 Positive aspects of allowing comments .......................................... 233 Exploring reasons to disallow comments ....................................... 234 Interacting with Readers through Comments .......................................... 235 Tracking back ..................................................................................... 236 Comment and trackback display ..................................................... 236 Managing Comments and Trackbacks ...................................................... 238 Dealing with Comment and Trackback Spam .......................................... 240 Tackling Spam with Akismet ...................................................................... 241 Chapter 6: Building Link Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247 Organizing Your Links ................................................................................. 247 Adding new links ................................................................................ 249 Editing existing links.......................................................................... 254 Displaying Link Lists on Your Site ............................................................. 254 Chapter 7: Creating Categories and Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .257 Archiving Content with WordPress ........................................................... 257 Building categories ............................................................................ 260 Changing the name of a category .................................................... 261 Creating new categories .................................................................... 263 Creating and Editing Tags .......................................................................... 265 Book IV: Publishing Your Site with WordPress ............ 269 Chapter 1: Writing Your First Post. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271 Composing Your Blog Post ......................................................................... 271 Refi ning Your Post Options ........................................................................ 276 Publishing your post ......................................................................... 278 Being your own editor ....................................................................... 281 Creating Your Own Workspace for Writing .............................................. 282 Adjusting screen options .................................................................. 282 Arranging post modules .................................................................... 284

  WordPress All-in-One For Dummies xvi

  Chapter 2: Examining the Difference between Posts and Pages . . .287 Understanding the Difference between Posts and Pages ....................... 287 Creating the Front Page of Your Web Site ................................................ 288 Creating the static page .................................................................... 290 Setting page options .......................................................................... 290 Assigning a static page as the front page ....................................... 292 Adding a Blog to Your Web Site ................................................................. 294 Chapter 3: Uploading and Displaying Photos and Galleries . . . . . . .297 Inserting Images into Your Blog Posts ...................................................... 297 Adding an image from the Web ........................................................ 298 Adding an image from your computer ............................................ 299 Aligning your images ......................................................................... 302 Inserting a Photo Gallery ............................................................................ 303 Chapter 4: Exploring Podcasting and Video Blogging . . . . . . . . . . . .309 Inserting Video Files into Your Blog Posts ............................................... 309 Adding video from the Web .............................................................. 310 Adding video from your computer .................................................. 311 Inserting Audio Files into Your Blog Posts ............................................... 312 Podcasting with WordPress ....................................................................... 313 Keeping Media Files Organized .................................................................. 315 Chapter 5: Working with Custom Fields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .319 Understanding Custom Fields .................................................................... 319 Exploring the Custom Fields Interface ...................................................... 320 Adding Custom Fields to Your Template File .......................................... 323 Entering the code in the template fi le ............................................. 324 Getting WordPress to check for your Custom Field ...................... 326 Exploring Different Uses for Custom Fields ............................................. 328 Chapter 6: Using WordPress as a Content Management System . . .333 Creating Different Page Views Using WordPress Templates ................. 333 Uploading the template ..................................................................... 334 Assigning the template to a static page .......................................... 335 Creating a Template for Each Post Category ........................................... 337 Pulling in Content from a Single Category ................................................ 338 Finding the category ID number ...................................................... 339 Adding the <query_post> tag ........................................................... 339 Using Sidebar Templates ............................................................................ 341 Custom Styles for Sticky, Category, and Tag Posts ................................. 342 Working with Custom Post Types ............................................................. 344 Optimizing Your WordPress Blog .............................................................. 350 Planting keywords in your Web site ................................................ 351 Optimizing your post titles for search engine success ................. 352 Writing content with readers in mind ............................................. 353 Creating categories that attract search engines ............................ 354 Using the <ALT> tag for images ....................................................... 354

   Table of Contents xvii

  Book V: Examining SEO and Social Media ................... 357

  Chapter 1: Exposing Your Content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .359 Understanding the Three C’s of the Social Web ...................................... 359 Content ................................................................................................ 360 Communication .................................................................................. 362 Consistency ........................................................................................ 364 Making It Easy for Users to Share Your Content ..................................... 366 Determining Where You Need to Participate ........................................... 370 Finding Infl uencers ...................................................................................... 372 Leveraging Twitter for Social-Media Success .......................................... 376 Building your Twitter account by using automated tools ............ 376 Updating Twitter from your WordPress blog................................. 378 Engaging with Facebook ............................................................................. 379 Chapter 2: Creating a Social-Media Listening Hub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .381 Exploring Reasons for a Social-Media Listening Hub .............................. 382 Eavesdropping on yourself ............................................................... 382 Keeping tabs on your brand ............................................................. 382 Exploring Different Listening Tools ........................................................... 383 Monitoring with Google Alerts ......................................................... 384 Tracking conversations with Social Mention ................................. 386 Listening to blogs with BlogPulse .................................................... 388 Checking rank with Technorati ........................................................ 388 Connecting conversations with BackType ..................................... 389 Searching communities with Boardreader ..................................... 389 Staying on top of conversations with Twitter Search ................... 390 Microblog searching with Twingly .................................................. 391 Creating Your Own Personal Monitoring Mix .......................................... 392 Grouping your monitoring results ................................................... 393 Cleaning and combining your feeds ................................................ 394 Editing the Dashboard to Create a Listening Post .................................. 400 Chapter 3: Understanding Analytics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .403 Understanding the Importance of Analytics ............................................ 403 Exploring the Options to Track Data ........................................................ 404 Understanding Key Analytics Terminology ............................................. 407 Signing Up and Installing Google Analytics on Your WordPress Site ... 409 Signing up for Google Analytics ....................................................... 410 Installing the tracking code .............................................................. 412 Verifying that you installed the code properly .............................. 414 Installing and confi guring the Analytics plugin.............................. 414 Using the data from the plugin ......................................................... 417 Using PostRank with WordPress ............................................................... 418

  WordPress All-in-One For Dummies xviii