EzSEO Newsletter # 236

In this issue:

1. Creating WordPress Templates in seconds

2. Moving a WordPress Blog to the Root Directory

3. A Quick Guide to SEO – Part 2

4. Importing Google Keyword Tool Data into KRA

5. Windows Live Writer Internal Server Error Solved

Hi Again

I hope you’ve had a productive week. I have managed to complete a task that I have been putting off for a long time, plus I solved an annoying issue with Windows Live Writer.  I’ve also got the second installment in my Quick Start SEO guide, and more.  

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1. Creating WordPress Templates in seconds
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It seem like a everyone is talking about Artisteer.  This software allows you to create WordPress templates, Joomla templates, Drupal templates, etc in a matter of seconds. 

I had initially tried the software for static HTML sites (yes it can do those as well), but wasn’t overly impressed with the HTML code it produced.  It was almost uneditable in Dreamweaver. 

However, after personally converting to WordPress as my tool of choice for building affiliate sites, I decided to give it another go.  Rather than explain how the software works, I decided to show you.  I created a short video.  You can watch the video here:

Artisteer Review

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2. Moving a WordPress Blog to the Root Directory
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This week I managed to get one task completed that I have been meaning to do for over a year – convert my ezseonews.com site into a WordPress site and integrate the newsletter as well.

Previously the main site was a static HTML site and it had a WordPress blog attached in a "blog" folder.  I moved the blog to the root folder of the site, and converted the important static pages into WordPress posts. 

I am very happy with the final results. 

The new design has made the site a lot clearer to navigate, and much easier for me to update.  A side benefit has been the subscription rate to my newsletter.   In the 5 days following the conversion I had double the number of subscribers compared to the 5 days immediately before the switch.

I had thought the conversion would take some time, but it was completed in less than a day. 

I kept putting this off because I needed to move my WordPress blog from a sub-folder to the root folder, and I anticipated problems.  However, there were none and everything went very smoothly.  If you are in a similar position and want to move a WordPress blog to the root, here are the instructions I followed:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress

For anyone wanting to learn how to convert a static website to WordPress you can read more about my HTML to WordPress Course here:

Converting a Static Site To WordPress

That page also shows a video of some rankings of the site I converted, just to allay fears about lost rankings after a conversion of this kind.

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3. A Quick Guide to SEO – Part 2
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In the last newsletter I started a short series on SEO.  My plan was to create a short fr.ee video course showing you the basics, and highlighting what you need to get right on your site, as well as a few things you need to avoid.

In the first video we looked at how quality, themed content can cast a wide net at the search engines and capture visitors for a lot of keyword phrases. 

In today’s video, I want to have a look at the internal linking of the site:

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4. Importing Google Keyword Tool Data into KRA
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Keyword research is a major part of building any site, and while there is a plethora of keyword research tools and services out there, more and more webmasters are turning to the Google Keyword Tool.  If you are not familiar with this tool, you can see it here:

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Since KRA & KRA Pro are used by so many webmasters, I felt it was time to create a tutorial on importing Google’s Keyword tool data into the software.  Here is a video showing how to do just that:

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5. Windows Live Writer Internal Server Error Solved
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I love Windows Live Writer (if you create sites with blogging software, and work on a PC, you should be using this excellent fr..ee tool), but it has had one big problem.

The problem was that I could not retrieve older posts from my server.  If I set the retrieve number to 50 (to get the last 50 posts), I end up getting a 501 Internal Server error. 

I did a little research to find out what was causing this, and found a post from someone having the same problem.   Here is what they said:

"I was having the same problem. I got an email from my host tech support in blazing time. It seems this is a problem with most services defaulting to PHP 4.

The recommendation was to use the .htaccess file to force the server to run PHP 5 when reading and accessing the pages. Two lines of code need to be added".

If you are having the same problem, you can watch my video showing how to correct this problem, and get those two lines of code here:

Windows Live Writer Internal Server Error

Well, that’s it for this issue.  If you want to read the recent issues of this newsletter, you can read them online at my
blog:

http://ezseonews.com/

For older newsletters, you will need to visit the old archives at:

http://ezseonews.com/archives

Have a great week!

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The contents of this newsletter is copyright 2009 Andrew Williams.  If you want to republish any of the articles, you must get permission from the author.

This newsletter disclaims all responsibility for the advertising copy or the product advertised. You cannot rely on the fact that the newsletter has examined the product or recommends or endorses the product, unless it clearly says that it has, when you make your decision whether or not to purchase the product or interact with the advertiser. You are advised to do your own investigation before buying. Additionally, this newsletter may accept articles that we do not write or investigate the accuracy of and for which we may receive direct or indirect benefit or compensation. We specifically disclaim any responsibility for the content of such copy.

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