Hard Headed Hosting

Multi User Web Hosting: WPMU From Scratch

Shrewdy — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:32:30 +0000

Thanks to (nz)dave for this image

How different is Multi User Web Hosting compared to a standard hosted WordPress installation?

There are more similarities than differences, but you must prepare properly and keep your wits about you.

My standard WordPress installation wizard starts after you have a domain up and running. WordPress Multi User (WPMU) installation requires some changes to how your domain is configured. Specifically, you need to change DNS records if you want user blogs to be userblog.domain.com rather than www.domain.com/userblog.

I need to do a separate Multi User Wizard, but for now, I will list all the steps I took to get WPMU running. I’m pretty sure that the plugins and other configuration steps will differ, so I will generate the first phase of my Multi User Wizard over the next few days.

For now, the installation steps, with a couple of warnings, are:
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cPanel, WHM, wordpress mu

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Web Hosting For Dummies

Shrewdy — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:42:45 +0000

I know many people seeking web hosting for dummies.

Millions of people have gained benefits from “For Dummies” books. Most don’t really like admitting to being dummies. Many are far from dummies, but want to get back to basics so they have a good foundation for whatever they want to learn.

These people are Shrewdies.

They want to gain the benefits of web hosting without years of learning technology secrets.

How can Shrewdies get good quality web hosting at reasonable prices? Or free?

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wordpress mu

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Bad Web Hosting Behavior

Shrewdy — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:12:01 +0000

Thanks to dogwelder for this image

After a short break from developing my web hosting business, I have a new exciting project.

I’ll use the project to describe the technical steps you need to consider when hosting a new website, and take the opportunity of developing my webhosting wizard.

I will document this project development from a number of different angles. This makes the development time slightly longer, but allows me to save time on future projects, by keeping all the management and technical issues recorded.

More importantly, it helps you to plan your web hosting projects better.

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Bad Behavior

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2 Essential Visitor Management Tools

Shrewdy — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 13:57:16 +0000

Visitor management is crucial to all but the unfriendliest of business websites.

It’s no use putting on a friendly face, and hoping that your visitors will be happy - you have to work to keep them happy.

Visitor satisfaction must run through all aspects of your website. Much is commonsense:

Encourage customer feedback
Prompt response to feedback
Clear site policies
Consistent navigation

Most of all, you have to overdeliver in every department. There are a couple of essential tools which I have added to my WordPress Installation pack.

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dofollow, TailHitter, visitor management, Visitor Optimization

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Small Business Web Site Development Wizard

Shrewdy — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:27:50 +0000

Your small business web site development needs more than a flashy installation wizard and content management system.

You need a support system to constantly manage new content that satisfies your visitors thirst for relevant information.

There is a milestone for most websites when you get more input from your actual visitors than you did from your keyword research. Typically this is around 60 pages, but can be much earlier on a site that encourages visitor involvement.

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business web site builder, business website builder, small business web site development

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Small Business Web Site Promotion

Shrewdy — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 05:13:06 +0000

October 2008 Update: BlogRush is sadly no longer with us. See Bye Bye BlogRush

The latest small business web site promotion looks set to be the best.

I believe any serious small business website needs to include a substantial blogging element. It is the easiest way to generate content for your visitors, and the easiest way to keep your customers informed.

Blog style websites have long been the easiest to promote, and blog promotion just got easier. And better.

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blogrush, small business web site promotion

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Web Business Opportunity: AdSense Referrals

Shrewdy — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 08:11:07 +0000

Why is it that when people ask about web business opportunities, I immediately talk about AdSense, but hardly ever mention AdSense Referrals?

The AdSense for Content scheme dominates my thoughts, perhaps because, for many sites, it is the main earner. But AdSense Referrals can also bring significant income, and the product list has grown tremendously from the original Google product line.

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adsense, adsense deluxe, adsense for content, adsense referrals, web business opportunity

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Business Website Builder

Shrewdy — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:41:48 +0000

My main activity, currently, is developing my business website builder wizard. I’ve added a new page to keep track of development. Though it is a long way from finished, I hope you find some of the development information useful.

I have called the first part Essential Plug-ins. These are ones that any self-respecting WordPress web business needs. Some may have alternatives. I have selected ones that I know work. If you know of alternatives that you think are better, please let me know.

I noticed one or two that I rely on, but haven’t mentioned in this blog, so I will mention them now.

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business web site builder, business website builder, clouds ii, exec php, single bookmark category list, wp cache

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Build A Business Web Site

Shrewdy — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:30:15 +0000

As I build a business web site at Shrewdies.com, it acts as a great reinforcing exercise to test and improve the plug-ins collection for my WordPress installation wizard.

Today I found a better forms handler, reminded myself about the importance of backups, and found a potential method for making plug-in management much easier.

Contact Pages are important for any web site, but crucial for a credible web business site. My current method works fine on standard contact forms, but to build a business web site, you also need surveys, polls, and all manner of related feedback mechanisms.

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alinks, build a business website, cforms II, oneclick, pluginstaller, surveygizmo, Visitor Optimization, wordpress database backup

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Hosting Links Web Site

Shrewdy — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:11:39 +0000

My hosting links article prompted me to add a page describing my link policy.

I find these policy pages a tad tedious, but a necessity. They add weight to your website (when was the last time you saw policy pages on a spammy scraper site?). More importantly, they immediately let visitors know where you stand on various issues.

I’m surprised, but delighted to see that (more…)

hosting links, hosting links web site, linking policy, links policy

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