” Upgrade current website to WordPress and add blog and iHomefinder IDX intergation….call anytime after 9am EST”

I called at 6:10 our time (9:10 EST) and asked him the question i already had an idea of the answer to:

“How did you find me?”

Of course it was a two word Google search: “ihomefinder wordpress”; which yielded this March blog post:

http://socialmediasystems.com/blog/seemless-integration-of-ihomefinder-idx-into-a-wordpress-blog/

I have been trying to explain this to people who are buying PPC and lousy leads for years, since 2001: because of ActiveRain.com, some of you are finally starting to get it.  Maybe this example will help   (PS: It is about the content!)

To work around this bug, here is how to embed video into your blog posts and pages:

I had to fix the videos in code view, here are instructions for now, to work around the incompatibility of the Youtube player with the visual editor:

1.  Build the rest of the page forst
2. In the editor, click HTML tab, now you are looking at code, but the text is still text so you can see where you are
3.  Insert the embed code from Youtube: example:
<object width=”640″ height=”385″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/YAwJR0_G2vU&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1″></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowScriptAccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/YAwJR0_G2vU&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”385″></embed></object><br />
4.  Remove everything but this:
<embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/YAwJR0_G2vU&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”385″></embed>

5.  Surround the embed code like this with

<div><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/YAwJR0_G2vU&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”385″></embed></div>

6.  Save without going back to visual editor.

7.  If you edit the page later, you can use the visual editor to make edits and change things around, but only save in code view (HTML tab)

8. For WordPress – there are plug-ins that fix this problem, I found this one with a five star rating:
http://www.press75.com/v4/the-simple-video-embedder-wordpress-plugin/

photo credit: Skype Nomad

I here it almost everyday:

“Must I post, can’t you just make me rank on Google search without me having to do anything?”

The answer is yes, and not.

What good will it do you?  Even if i know some ways to fool somebody into coming to your worthless, page, what would be the point?

Very soon (and is some ways already) it will only be the value of your site to your visitors, and how long they spend there that determines your rankings; the tips and tricks of Gurus like me will not help you, if Google knows that people do not stay on your site; and Google already knows everything.

I am living proof that most of you would rather buy sweet lies than hear the truth.  But the truth is still the truth.  It is all about the value of the resources you provide now.

Stop buying sweet lies.  You need video, interaction, and real content to compete online in 2010: and the best way to get these things  on a scale that will scale, is user-generated, user-filtered content.  The way to get that, is with a social media enabled site.

>>more here>>

photo credit: Eric F Savage

One of the most annoying things in Microsoft Word that bloggers run into, is that it uses fancy curly quotes that aren’t supported in the default character set of WordPress and other blogging platforms.  If you copy and paste directly from MS word into WordPress or your blogging platform of choice you’ll end up with weird &@39; and other character numbers inserted to replace single and double quotes.

The result looks terrible, like there’s some coding mistake, is distracting as hell and looks like a mistake.  There is an easy fix, just turn off the curly quotes in MS word and have it use staright blogging and html friendly quotes.  Alternatively you can also find and replace, but that is very tedious.  If you can’t modify the preferences of your MS office (like if it’s a locked down work computer), I’d highly recommend not using word to compose your blog entries.

In fact there are better alternatives anyways, but people like to compose things in programs they’re use to and feel very comfortable with so they can focus on the content instead of the software, so let’s change those quotes to make sure your blog articles aren’t chuck full of strange codes.

In Microsoft Word 2007 – paraphrased from (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA101732421033.aspx)

Step 1.  Click the Microsoft Office Button in the left hand corner and select ‘Word Options’ in the lower right hand corner near ‘Exit Word’

Step 2.  Click Proofing and then AutoCorrect Options

Step 3.  In the AutoCorrect Dialogue Window

Click the AutoFormat as you Type tab and under Replace as you type, clear the “Straight quotes” with “Smart quotes” check box.

Click the Autoformat tab, and under Replace select or clear the “Straight quotes with smart quotes” check box.

In Microsoft Word 2003 – quoted from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HP051901241033.aspx

“Microsoft Word automatically changes straight quotation marks ( ‘ or ” ) to curly (smart or typographer’s) quotes as you type.

To turn this feature on or off:

1. On the Tools menu, click AutoCorrect Options, and then click the AutoFormat As You Type tab.
2. Under Replace as you type, select or clear the “Straight quotes” with “smart quotes” check box.

Note You can find and replace all instances of single or double curly quotes with straight quotes in your document. To do this, clear the “Straight quotes” with “smart quotes” check box on the AutoFormat As You Type tab. On the Edit menu, click Replace. In both the Find what and Replace with boxes, type ‘ or “, and then click Find Next or Replace All.

To replace all straight quotes with curly quotes, select the “Straight quotes” with “smart quotes” check box, and repeat the find and replace procedure.