blog Archives - Page 4 of 4 - Rick's Daily Tips

How to create your own self-hosted WordPress blog for only $5!

Posted on January 15, 2020

If you’ve ever wanted to have your own self-hosted WordPress blog, right now is a perfect time to get started.

Right now Godaddy and Hostgator are running special deals that will allow you to register your own domain name AND get your first month of web hosting from one of the best web hosts in the business for a grand total of just $5.00!

There are several options for creating a blog for free, but regardless of which free blogging platform you choose you’ll be very limited in regards to what you can and cannot do with your blog (such as customize your blog and/or make money from it).

By purchasing your own domain name and inexpensive web hosting plan, you can rest assured that you’ll be able to do anything you want with your blog!

It’s easy to create your own self-hosted WordPress blog for only $5.00. First, lets snag a domain name for $4.99! Here’s how: [Read more…]

Q&A: Why is Webroot saying your site is unsafe?

Posted on December 28, 2019

Question from Ray H.: Hi Rick. I’ve been reading your blog for years Rick because I love all the useful info you provide.

But right now I’m having a problem accessing your pages.

I bought Webroot a few days ago and now every time I click one of your links on Facebook Webroot throws up a warning saying that the link is unsafe.

It’s doing that for a couple of my other favorite sites too.

I love reading your posts but I must admit that this has me concerned. Can you explain what’s going on?

Per your own advice I’m very wary about the possibility of visiting a malicious website.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

How to keep your WordPress blog free of broken links

Posted on October 28, 2018

Update: Unfortunately, it’s been discovered that the “Broken Link Checker” plugin mentioned in this post has a very serious security flaw and the plugin’s author has chosen not to fix it.

Therefore I can no long recommend the use of this plugin.

I now recommend using the web-based broken link checking tool on this page.

Note: The original post continues below…

Broken links are a blogger’s worst nightmare. In addition to providing your blog’s visitors with a poor user experience, they also give your blog a bad reputation with the major search engines, and your search rankings can suffer as a consequence.

Even worse, if you sell advertising on your blog, broken links also make your ad space less valuable.

Tracking down broken links used to involve a boatload of manual labor. We had to visit each page and post and click on all the links to see if they were still valid. But now a nifty WordPress plugin called Broken Link Checker makes it easy to find all the broken links on your entire blog without lifting a finger. [Read more…]

How to move a blog from Blogger or WordPress.com to a self-hosted WordPress blog

Posted on April 30, 2018

Many aspiring bloggers opt to set up their first blog using a hosted blogging platform like WordPress.com or Blogger due to their utter simplicity.

In my opinion, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that since that approach allows them to get their blogs up and running in as little as 3 minutes!

But what often happens for many recreational bloggers is they eventually realize that blogging can be more than a simple pastime. The problem is their hosted blogging platform of choice offers very little flexibility in the ways they can manage their blog and earn money from it.

If you happen to be one of those bloggers who dreams of taking your blog to the next level, the solution is obvious: Move your blog onto your own self-hosted WordPress blog! [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I add the www to my WordPress blog’s URL?

Posted on April 23, 2017

Question from Chuck F.: Rick, I followed the instructions in your guide to creating a self-hosted WordPress blog and created my very first blog over the weekend. Everything went well with no problems whatsoever.

I was wondering though if there is a way to change the blog’s URL to include the www part? Right now my blog is at http://example.com and I want it to be http://www.example.com.

Rick’s answer: Hi Chuck! By default the WordPress installation script creates the blog URL without the www, but most bloggers prefer to have it included. Here’s how to add the www to your blog’s URL: [Read more…]