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Add Your Own Domain to Your WordPress.com Blog

Posted on October 31, 2011 by rivera

Now that you’ve got a nice blog on WordPress.com, why not get your own domain to brand your site? Here’s how you can easily register a new domain or move your existing domain to your WordPress site.

By default, your free WordPress address is yourblog’sname.wordpress.com. But whether this is a personal or a company blog, it can be nice to have your own domain to really brand your site and make it your own. Or, if you already have another website and want to use WordPress as a blog for it, you could even add blog.yoursite.com or any other subdomain.

Adding a domain to your WordPress.com is a paid upgrade; registering and mapping a new domain to your account costs $14.97 a year, while mapping a domain you already own to your WordPress blog costs $9.97 a year.

Getting Started

Enter the domain or subdomain you want to add to your site in the text box, and click Add domain to blog.

If you entered a new domain you want to register, WordPress will make sure the domain is available and then present you a registration form to register the domain. Enter your information, and then click Register Domain.

Or, if you enter a domain that’s already registered, you will see the following prompt.

If this domain is a domain you own, you can map it to WordPress.com. Login to your domain registrar account and switch your nameserver to:

NS1.WORDPRESS.COM

NS2.WORDPRESS.COM

NS3.WORDPRESS.COM

Your DNS settings page for your domain may be different, depending on your registrar. Here’s how our domain settings looked.

Alternately, if you’re wanting to map a subdomain, such as blog.yoursite.com to your WordPress blog, create the following CNAME record on your domain register. You may have to contact your domain registrar’s support to do this. Substitute your subdomain, domain, and blog name when creating the record.

subdomain.yourdomain.com. IN CNAME yourblog.wordpress.com.

Once your settings are correct, click Try Again in your WordPress dashboard. The DNS settings may take a while to update, but once WordPress can tell your DNS settings point to it, you will see the following confirmation screen. Click Map Domain to add this domain to your WordPress blog.

Now you’re ready to pay for your domain mapping or registration. Depending on your purchase, the information and price shown may be different. Here we’re mapping a domain we already have registered, so it costs $9.97. Select your method of payment, enter your payment information or signin with your Paypal account, and continue as usual.

Once your purchase is finished, you’ll be returned to the Domains page on WordPress. Try going to your new domain, and make sure it opens your blog. If it works, then click the bullet beside the new domain, and click Update Primary Domain. Now, when people visit your WordPress site, they’ll see your new domain in the address bar. You can still access your blog from your old yourname.wordpress.com address, but it will redirect to you new domain.

Conclusion

Having a personalized domain is a great way to make your blog more professional, while still taking advantage of the ease of use that WordPress.com offers. And, if you have your own domain, you can easily move to your site traffic to a different hosting provider in the future if you need to. The process is slightly complicated, but for $15/year we found this one of the best upgrades you could do to your WordPress.com blog.

If you want to see an example of a site created with WordPress, check out Matthew’s tech site techinch.com.

Posted in How To, Web | Tagged blog, Domain, wordpress | Leave a comment

Add Your Own Domain to Your Tumblr Blog

Posted on October 31, 2011 by rivera

Would you like to personalize your Tumblr blog with your own domain name? Here’s how you can redirect a domain to Tumblr and register it with your blog.

When you signup for a new Tumblr Blog, by default your blog’s address will be your_blog_name.tumblr.com. One of the best reasons to use your own domain name is that you could always move the domain to another blog service if you decide to switch and quit blogging at Tumblr. With your own domain, your blog’s identity is secure, and best of all, once you own a domain it’s free to add it to your Tumblr. Here’s how to do it.

Redirect Your Domain to Tumblr

First, you need to own a domain name. There are many popular domain registrars, and you can usually signup for a new domain name for around $10. If you don’t already have one, find a domain hosting service you feel good with and signup for a new domain name.

Once you’ve got a domain name, you need to direct your domain name to point to Tumblr’s servers. Or, if you want to keep your domain name at a current site, you could redirect a subdomain to Tumblr. Our domain was hosted with 1&1, so here’s how to do it there; the process is generally the same on other registrars, though the wording may be slightly different. Login to your domain administration page, and if your hosting company offers multiple services, select to Manage your Domain.

Now select your domain name, click the DNS button, and select Edit DNS Settings. Again, this may appear different depending on your domain registrar, but should in general work the same.

Now, on the IP Address settings, select Other IP address, and then enter Tumblr’s IP address:

72.32.231.8

Click Ok when you’re finished making the changes. Now your domain name should be ready to add to your Tumblr blog, though note that it can take up to 72 hours for the changes to go through.

Add Your Domain to Tumblr

Once you’ve changed your DNS settings, head over to Tumblr’s Check Domain page (link below) to make sure everything is setup correctly. Enter your domain name, and click Check domain.

If everything’s setup correctly, you’ll see a confirmation like the one below.

Alternately, if your domain is not pointing to Tumblr, you’ll see a message informing you that it isn’t pointed to Tumblr. If you see this, make sure you entered your domain correctly, and then go back and check your domain settings at your domain registrar.

If everything is directing to Tumblr correctly, you should now see a page similar to the following screenshot when you visit your domain. Now you’re ready to add it to your Tumblr account.

Browse to tumblr.com/customize (link below), and click the Info tab at the top.

Now check the box near the bottom that says Use a custom domain name, and enter your domain name in the field.

Click Save + Close on the top right corner, and now you should see your Tumblr blog when you browse to your new domain. If you don’t see it, press Shift+F5 to force your browser to fully refresh.

Conclusion

No matter how you plan to use your blog, you can make it much more personalized with a custom domain. Now you can run your business’ blog on Tumblr and keep your branding, or run a personal site that’s easily movable to a different service. Don’t forget; if you don’t have a Tumblr blog, check out our tutorial on how to Create a Beautiful & Easy to Update Blog With Tumblr.

Posted in How To, Web | Tagged blog, Tumblr, Tumblr Blog | Leave a comment

Add WordPress.com Features to your Self-hosted WordPress blog

Posted on October 31, 2011 by rivera

Are you missing some of WordPress.com’s nice features in your self-hosted WordPress blog? Here’s how you can add many of these features back for free with some great WordPress plugins.

We’ve recently shown you how you can easily run WordPress software on your own site for free, and how to easily install it manually via FTP or Automatically with Softaculous. Running WordPress software on your own site gives you tons of flexibility and the ability to take you blog further than you could with the free, hosted WordPress.com. However, WordPress.com does give you some features that are not included out of the box with WordPress software on your own site. These include integrated spam protection, site statistics, spelling check, and more. Thankfully, you can add many of these features back into your self-hosted WordPress blog, so here we’ll look at how you can do that quickly and easily.

Find Your WordPress.com API Key

First, though, you’ll want to get a WordPress.com API key. Two of the best plugins for WordPress, Akismet and WordPress.com Stats, both require a WordPress API key. If you already have a WordPress.com account, you can easily find this key to use in plugins. Head over to WordPress.com, and login with your standard account. In the menu bar at the top, click My Account and then select Edit Profile.

Click the API Key and other Personal Settings link here.

Now, you’ll see your API key listed at the top of this page. Copy it, as you’ll need it to activate these other plugins on your self-hosted WordPress site.

Create a new WordPress.com Account for an API Key

If you don’t already have a WordPress.com account, you can create a free account without a blog so you can get an API key. Head over to WordPress.com, and click the orange Sign up now button to get started.

Enter your information, and then at the bottom of the form select Just a username, please. This will give you a WordPress account without creating a new blog. Once your account is setup, find your API key using the instructions above.

Akismet

Blogs today can often get more spam comments than legitimate ones, so filtering out the good from the bad can be a daunting task. WordPress.com makes it easy by including Akismet spam protection, and you can add this same protection to your self-hosted WordPress blog with the included Akismet plugin.

To add this to your WordPress blog, login to your Dashboard and select the Plugins link on the left toolbar.

You’ll notice that two extensions are installed by default: Akismet and Hello Dolly. We want to activate Akismet to spam protection on our blog, but before activating, you’ll need an API key. If you do not already have a WordPress.com blog or an Akismet account, you can signup for a free WordPress.com account as listed above. Or, if you only want to use Akismet and do not want any of the other tools, click the API key link in the plugin description.

If your site is a personal site or you are making less than $500/month from it, then you can use the free API key. Scroll down and select use Akismet for free. Otherwise, choose the plan that fits your business.

Select the bullet at the top of the page with your API plan, and then enter your contact information. If you chose a for-pay play, you’ll need to enter credit card or PayPal account information to complete the purchase.

You will now receive an email containing your API key. Copy this, and then go back to the plugin page on your WordPress dashboard to finish setting Akismet up.

Now, back in the Plugin page of your WordPress dashboard, click Activate under the Akismet plugin description.

The page will refresh, and let you know that the plugin is ready to use. Click the enter your Akismet API key link to finish setting it up.

Enter your Akismet API Key or WordPress.com API Key in the box. You can choose to have Akismet automatically delete spam comments after a month, and then click Update options.

The plugin will let you know that the key was verified. If it didn’t verify, make sure you entered the key correctly and try again. Now your blog is protected with industry-leading spam protection, the same one used on WordPress.com, so you won’t have to worry about junk comments filling up your site.

WordPress.com Stats

Many bloggers love Google Analytics or other stats tools that let them know more about their traffic. But one of the simplest stats tools is the one built into WordPress.com. This lets you see a simple graph of your site visits and most popular posts directly from your WordPress dashboard. Even if you want to use Google Analytics or another stats tool, we’ve found WordPress.com Stats to be a nice compliment to more complicated tools, as it lets you quickly see what you really want to know as a writer.

To install it on your site, click the down arrow on the Plugins menu on the left, and select Add New.

Enter WordPress.com Stats in the search box, and click Search Plugins.

This should bring up the WordPress.com Stats as the first result. Click Install Now under its name.

Click Ok at the prompt to confirm that you want to install it.

WordPress will now automatically download and install the plugin. When it’s finished, click the Activate Plugin link at the bottom.

You’ll see a banner on your Plugins page letting you know that Stats needs an API key. Click the WordPress.com Stats link in the banner.

Enter your WordPress.com API Key you found above, and click Save.

Now when you login to your WordPress dashboard, you’ll see a new Stats widget that shows a graph of your stats and popular posts. Click View All to see more detailed statistics.

After The Deadline

Spelling and grammar mistakes can be embarrassing, especially if your writing is published online for everyone to read. WordPress.com incorporates an advanced spelling and grammar checking system called After the Deadline, and you can now add this for free to your self-hosted WordPress install so you can keep your writing good and correct even when you’re editing blog posts online.

To install it on your blog, enter After the Deadline in Install Plugins page as above, and click Search Plugins.

Click Install Now under its description, and then accept the prompt as above.

Once its installed, click Activate Plugin underneath the information.

Now, whenever you’re editing a post in WordPress’ online editor, you can click the ABC button to check your writing.

It will underline spelling, grammar, and context problems it notices. Click the underlined word to chose the correction, or click Explain for more information. No spelling or grammar checking system is perfect, but After the Deadline does find and correct more errors than many similar tools.

Conclusion

WordPress is a great platform for your website, and is a great option whether you’re running it on your own server or on WordPress.com. With these plugins, you’ll be sure to get the same great experience, whether or not you’re hosted on WordPress.com. We’ve found these to be some of the most useful plugins on our WordPress sites. What are your favorite WordPress plugins? Sound off in the comments and let us know!

Posted in How To, Misc | Tagged wordpress, WordPress plugins | Leave a comment

Add Traditional Comments to Tumblr Blogs With Disqus

Posted on October 31, 2011 by rivera

Would you like to add a traditional comment box to your Tumblr blog? Here’s how you can add the Disqus comment system to your Tumblr blog to find out what other think about your posts.

Tumblr’s default “Like” and “Reblog” options are an attempt to reinvent comments, but they only work well when all of your friends and readers are using Tumblr. Adding traditional comments to your Tumblr blog can broaden your site’s community and make it more fun and useful. Although Tumblr doesn’t include a standard commenting system, it does allow you to integrate the Disqus comment system, which can bring both comments and feedback from social networks to your blog in only a few steps. Here’s how you can register and add Disqus to your Tumblr blog.

Head over to Disqus.com to signup for an account and add it to your blog. Click Sign Up, Free to get started.

Enter your blog’s URL address, which is usually your_blog.tumblr.com. Then enter a name for your site, as well as a Shortname that uses no spaces or special characters other than dashes. Make sure to copy your shortname, as this is what you’ll need to add Disqus to Tumblr.

Enter your username, password, and email address below to create your moderator profile, and then click Continue.

Now, on the second page, you’ll need to choose some settings for your blog’s comments. Select your language at the top, and then you can add many optional, social features or simply click Continue at the bottom to add a standard comment field to your blog.

Disqus Optional Features

The optional features can be very nice. From the first field, you can select to add a Facebook API connect key, which will let you share comments on Facebook and let Facebook friends comment without logging in again.

One of the worst problems with comments on blogs is spam, and for many bloggers, it has taken the joy out of blogging. Moderating comments all day is nobody’s definition of fun. Check the Akismet box to enable spam filtering on your comments, and enter your Akismet API key. If you don’t already have one, check out our post on Adding WordPress.com Features to Your Blog for info on signing up for a free Akismet API key.

If you’d like to see what other people across the internet are saying about your site, check the Reactions box. You can choose to see posts from Twitter, Blogger, WordPress, Hacker News, Digg, and more, or simply select Select all services to see every reaction Disqus finds.

By default, if someone wants to leave a comment on your blog, they’ll have to enter their name, email, and password or sign in with a Disqus profile. If you’d like to make it easier, check the Display login buttons with comment box near the bottom of the page. Now you can select to let visitors sign in with their Facebook, Twitter, OpenID, or more to make it easier for them to comment.

Once you’ve selected the options you want, click Continue on the bottom of the page.

Now your Disqus account is setup and ready to add to your blog. Disqus works with a variety of blogging systems, so it will offer instructions on installing it on your own site. Click the Tumblr link for more info on installing it in Tumblr, or just keep reading here to finish getting it setup the easy way. Note that you may need some code from this page if your theme doesn’t automatically support Disqus comments, so you may want to open it in another tab for reference.

Add Disqus To Your Tumblr

Head over to your Tumblr dashboard, and select the Customize link on the right side. Alternately, if you’re logged into Tumblr, simply browse to Tumblr.com/customize.

On the Customize page, select the Appearance tab.

Scroll down to the bottom of that list, and paste your Disqus shortname in the Disqus shortname box. Remember, this is the shortname you entered when you were signing up for Disqus. You may see different options depending on your theme, but most themes will include a Disqus options box.

Once you’re done, click Save + Close in the top right corner.

Adding Disqus Manually to Tumblr

If you do not see the Disqus box in your Appearance settings, then you’ll need to add the Disqus info manually to your theme. Please note that this is a fairly advanced step, and while we show how to do this generally, it may not work on all themes the same. If you feel unsure, you may want to switch to one of the Featured themes, as all of them include Disqus support.

To proceed and add Disqus manually, select the Theme tab,

and then click the Use custom HTML link at the bottom of the theme tab.

Now, in a separate window or tab, open your Disqus instructions page we mentioned earlier. If you don’t have it open, browse to the Disqus Tumblr installation page (link below). Once you’re there, copy the text in the box under Manual Instructions part 2.

Back in Tumblr, paste this code in your HTML source directly under:

{/block:Posts}

If you can’t find this, you can press Ctrl+F and then enter the search term in your browser.

Now, copy the text in the 3rd box on the Disqus settings page, and paste it before the {/block:Posts} line.

Once you’re done, click Save + Close in Tumblr as before. You should now have Tumblr comments on your theme even if it didn’t include them by default.

Disqus on Tumblr

Now, when you visit your Tumblr blog, you’ll notice a couple changes. These may look differently depending on your theme, but most themes will now show the number of comments and reactions on a post directly on your front page.

You’ll also see a new comment box, with the social login options you selected, or alternately traditional name, email, and website fields if you chose that.

Once you’ve got comments, they’ll show up under your post as normal, and you can reply to them in one click.

Conclusion

Whether you’re running a personal blog or a corporate news site, comments can be the bridge between you and your readers. Disqus brings this to your Tumblr blog, and helps you keep up with the entire conversation around your posts. Combine this with Tumblr’s default like and “Reblog” features, and your blog is more social and connected than ever.

If you don’t already have a Tumblr blog, check out our article on how to Create a Beautiful, Easy to Update Blog With Tumblr. Tumblr makes blogging simpler, and with some of these tricks and tips you can make it work just like you want and contain many of the features of more advanced systems.

Posted in How To, Misc | Tagged blogs, Disqus, Tumblr | Leave a comment

Add Social Bookmarking (Digg This!) Links to your WordPress Blog

Posted on October 31, 2011 by rivera

Social bookmarking/news links are extremely popular these days. There are a ton of different websites out there, from the Digg.com’s to del.icio.us and furl. I personally only really use del.icio.us, but whatever your choice, you can be sure that you will have visitors that use at least one of the different services.

Enter the social bookmarking links. You’ve seen them, the Digg This and +delicious links that seem to be on every page, everywhere across the entire internet. (yes, they are on this page too).

Adding these links to your wordpress blog couldn’t be easier. There’s a full-featured button creator on the TwisterMc page that you can use:

http://www.twistermc.com/shake/social-bookmark.php

Or if you want to have the icons similar to the ones you see at the bottom of this post, there’s another plugin called Social Bookmarks Bar that I prefer, mostly cause I want a less intrusive link.

Posted in How To, Misc | Tagged blog, digg, wordpress | Leave a comment

Add Free Windows Live Apps to Your Website or Blog

Posted on October 31, 2011 by rivera

Would you like to use Hotmail, Office Web Apps, Messenger, and more on your website domain? Here’s how you can add Windows Live to your website for free.

Microsoft offers a popular suite of online communications products including Hotmail and Messenger. Although Hotmail hasn’t been as popular in recent years as Gmail, it is getting a refresh this summer that might make it an even better email solution. Additionally, the new Office Web Apps offer great compatibility with Office documents. While Skydrive offers 25Gb of free online file storage for all users, so Windows Live can make a great communications solution for your domain.

Note: To signup for Windows Live for your domain, you will need to be able to add info to your WordPress.com blog or change Domain settings manually.

Getting Started

Open the Windows Live Custom Domains page (Link below) to get started adding Windows Live to your domain. Your free Windows Live account will let you create up to 500 accounts, so it’s great for teams and groups that want to have customized email addresses in addition to those who just want an email account for their website.

Enter your domain or subdomain you want to add to Windows Live in the box, and then select whether you want to setup Hotmail with this or now. We want to add email to our domain, so select Set up Windows Live Hotmail for my domain and click Continue.

You’ll need to sign in with a Windows Live ID to create the account, or choose to create a new Windows Live account associated with your domain.

Or, enter your information to create a new Windows Live ID if you selected the second option.

Now, review your settings and make sure everything looks correct. Click the I Accept button to setup your account.

Your account is now fully setup, but you’ll need to add or edit DNS information on your site. The steps are slightly different depending if your site is hosted on WordPress.com, on your own server, or hosting service. We’ll show you how to do it on either one.

First, though, note the information below this box. You’ll see settings for your Mail setup…

Security settings…

And Messenger integration. Make note of the settings, especially the circled ones, as we’ll need them in the next step.

Integrate Windows Live with Your WordPress Blog

If the domain you added to Windows Live is for your WordPress blog, login to your WordPress dashboard in a separate browser window or tab. Click the arrow beside Upgrades, and select Domains from the menu.

Click the Edit DNS link beside the domain name you’re adding to Windows Live.

In the text box on this page, enter the following, replacing Your_info with your code from the Mail Setup box in your Windows Live Dashboard. Note that this is the blurred section in our screenshots. It should be a numerical code like 1234567890.pamx1.hotmail.com.

MX 10 Your_info.pamx1.hotmail.com.

TXT v=spf1 include:hotmail.com ~all

CNAME Your_info domains.live.com.

Click Save DNS records, and your settings are saved to WordPress. Note that this will only integrate email with your WordPress account; you cannot integrate Messenger with a domain hosted on WordPress.com.

Finally, return to your Windows Live Settings page and click Refresh. If your settings are correct, you’ll now be ready to use Windows Live on your WordPress.com domain.

Integrate Windows Live with Your Own Server

If your website is hosted on your own server or hosting account, you’ll need to take a few more steps to add Windows Live to your domain. This is fairly easy, but the steps may be different depending on your hosting company or registrar. With some hosts, you may have to contact support to have them add the MX records for you. Our site’s host uses the popular cPanel for website administration, so here’s how we added the MX Entries through cPanel.

MX 10 Your_info.pamx1.hotmail.com.

Now, go back to your cPanel home, and select Advanced DNS Zone Editor under Domains.

Here, add a TXT record with the following info:

Name: yoursite.com.
TTL: 3600
TXT Data: v=spf1 include:hotmail.com ~all
Click Add Record and your Mail integration data is all configured.

To integrate Messenger with your own domain, you’ll have to add an SRV entry to your DNS settings. cPanel doesn’t have an option for this, so we had to contact our site’s hosting company and they added the entry for us. Copy all of the information in the Messenger box and send it to your domain support, and they should be able to add this for you. Alternately, if you don’t want or need Messenger, then you can simply skip this step.

Once all of your settings are in place, return to your Windows Live Settings page and click Refresh. If your settings are correct, you’ll now be ready to use Windows Live on your WordPress.com domain.

Create a New Email Account On Your Domain

Welcome to your new Windows Live admin page! Now you can add email accounts so you and anyone else you want can access Hotmail and the other Windows Live apps with your domain. Click Add to add an account.

Enter an account name, which will be the email address of the account, e.g. accountname@yourdomain.com. Then enter the user’s name and a password for the account. By default this will be a temporary password, and the user will have to change it on first log-in, but if you’re setting up this account for yourself, you can uncheck the box and keep this as your standard password.

Now, go to www.mail.live.com, and sign in with your new email address and password. Remember, your email address is your username previously entered followed by @yourdomain.com.

To finish setting up the email account, enter your password, secret question and answer, alternate email, and location information. Click I accept to finish setting up your new email account.

Enter the characters in the Captcha to confirm you’re a human, and click Continue.

Your new Hotmail inbox will now load, and you’ll have a welcome email in your inbox. This works the same as normal Hotmail, except this time, your email address is with your own domain.

You can now access any of the Windows Live services from the top-level menu.

Here’s an Excel Spreadsheet open in the new Office Web Apps via SkyDrive on our new Windows Live account.

If you setup Messenger access previously, you can now sign in to Windows Live Messenger using your new @yourdomain.com account as well.

Important Links

Accessing your Windows Live accounts is easy. Simply go to any Windows Live site, such as www.hotmail.com or www.skydrive.com, and sign in with your new Windows Live ID from your domain as normal. You don’t need a special address to access your account; it works just like the standard public Hotmail accounts.

To administer your Windows Live for your domain, go to https://domains.live.com/ and sign in with the Windows Live ID you used to create the account. Here you can add more users, change settings, and view usage details for the Windows Live accounts on your domain.

Conclusion

Windows Live is easy to add to your domain, and lets you create up to 500 email address for it. With the upcoming updates to Hotmail and Office Web Apps coming this summer, this can be a nice way to make your domain even more useful. And with 500 email accounts, you can easily let your team take advantage of your unique address as well.

If you’d rather use Google’s online applications with your domain, check out our article on how to add free Google apps to your website or blog.

Posted in How To, Misc | Tagged Google, Google Apps, office | 1 Comment

Add Free Google Apps to Your Website or Blog

Posted on October 31, 2011 by rivera

Would you like to have an email address from your own domain, but prefer Gmail’s interface and integration with Google Docs? Here’s how you can add the free Google Apps Standard to your site and get the best of both worlds.

Note: To signup for Google Apps and get it setup on your domain, you will need to be able to add info to your WordPress blog or change Domain settings manually.

Getting Started

Head to the Google Apps signup page (link below), and click the Get Started button on the right. Note that we are signing up for the free Google Apps which allows a max of 50 users; if you need more than 50 email addresses for your domain, you can choose Premiere Edition instead for $50/year.

Select that you are the Administrator of the domain, and enter the domain or subdomain you want to use with Google Apps. Here we’re adding Google Apps to the techinch.com site, but we could instead add Apps to mail.techinch.com if needed…click Get Started.

Enter your name, phone number, an existing email address, and other Administrator information. The Apps signup page also includes some survey questions about your organization, but you only have to fill in the required fields.

On the next page, enter a username and password for the administrator account. Note that the user name will also be the administrative email address as username@yourdomain.com.

Now you’re ready to authenticate your Google Apps account with your domain. The steps are slightly different depending on whether your site is on WordPress.com or on your own hosting service or server, so we’ll show how to do it both ways.

Authenticate and Integrate Google Apps with WordPress.com

To add Google Apps to a domain you have linked to your WordPress.com blog, select Change yourdomain.com CNAME record and click Continue.

Copy the code under #2, which should be something like googleabcdefg123456. Do not click the button at the bottom; wait until we’ve completed the next step.

Now, in a separate browser window or tab, open your WordPress Dashboard. Click the arrow beside Upgrades, and select Domains from the menu.

Click the Edit DNS link beside the domain name you’re adding to Google Apps.

Scroll down to the Google Apps section, and paste your code from Google Apps into the verification code field. Click Generate DNS records when you’re done.

This will add the needed DNS settings to your records in the box above the Google Apps section. Click Save DNS records.

Now, go back to the Google Apps signup page, and click I’ve completed the steps above.

Authenticate Google Apps on Your Own Server

If your website is hosted on your own server or hosting account, you’ll need to take a few more steps to add Google Apps to your domain. You can add a CNAME record to your domain host using the same information that you would use with a WordPress account, or you can upload an HTML file to your site’s main directory. In this test we’re going to upload an HTML file to our site for verification.

Copy the code under #1, which should be something like googleabcdefg123456. Do not click the button at the bottom; wait until we’ve completed the next step first.

Create a new HTML file and paste the code in it. You can do this easily in Notepad: create a new document, paste the code, and then save as googlehostedservice.html. Make sure to select the type as All Files or otherwise the file will have a .txt extension.

Upload this file to your web server via FTP or a web dashboard for your site. Make sure it is in the top level of your site’s directory structure, and try visiting it at yoursite.com/googlehostedservice.html.

Now, go back to the Google Apps signup page, and click I’ve completed the steps above.

Setup Your Email on Google Apps

When this is done, your Google Apps account should be activated and ready to finish setting up. Google Apps will offer to launch a guide to step you through the rest of the process; you can click Launch guide if you want, or click Skip this guide to continue on your own and go directly to the Apps dashboard.

If you choose to open the guide, you’ll be able to easily learn the ropes of Google Apps administration. Once you’ve completed the tutorial, you’ll be taken to the Google Apps dashboard.

Most of the Google Apps will be available for immediate use, but Email may take a bit more setup. Click Activate email to get your Gmail-powered email running on your domain.

Add Google MX Records to Your Server

You will need to add Google MX records to your domain registrar in order to have your mail routed to Google. If your domain is hosted on WordPress.com, you’ve already made these changes so simply click I have completed these steps. Otherwise, you’ll need to manually add these records before clicking that button.

Adding MX Entries is fairly easy, but the steps may depend on your hosting company or registrar. With some hosts, you may have to contact support to have them add the MX records for you. Our site’s host uses the popular cPanel for website administration, so here’s how we added the MX Entries through cPanel.

Add MX Entries through cPanel

Delete any existing MX Records for your domain or subdomain first to avoid any complications or interactions with Google Apps. If you think you may want to revert to your old email service in the future, save a copy of the records so you can switch back if you need.

Now, enter the MX Records that Google listed. Here’s our account after we added all of the entries to our account.

Finally, return to your Google Apps Dashboard and click the I have completed these steps button at the bottom of the page.

Activating Service

You’re now officially finished activating and setting up your Google Apps account. Google will first have to check the MX records for your domain; this only took around an hour in our test, but Google warns it can take up to 48 hours in some cases.

When everything’s finished, you can click the link to access the inbox of your new Administrator email account in Google Apps.

Welcome to Gmail … at your own domain! All of the Google Apps work just the same in this version as they do in the public @gmail.com version, so you should feel right at home.

You can return to the Google Apps dashboard from the Administrative email account by clicking the Manage this domain at the top right.

In the Dashboard, you can easily add new users and email accounts, as well as change settings in your Google Apps account and add your site’s branding to your Apps.

Your Google Apps will work just like their standard @gmail.com counterparts. Here’s an example of an inbox customized with the techinch logo and a Gmail theme.

Links to Remember

Here are the common links to your Google Apps online. Substitute your domain or subdomain for yourdomain.com.

Dashboard https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/yourdomain.com
Email https://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.com
Calendar https://www.google.com/calendar/hosted/yourdomain.com
Docs https://docs.google.com/a/yourdomain.com
Sites https://sites.google.com/a/yourdomain.com
Conclusion

Google Apps offers you great webapps and webmail for your domain, and let’s you take advantage of Google’s services while still maintaining the professional look of your own domain. Setting up your account can be slightly complicated, but once it’s finished, it will run seamlessly and you’ll never have to worry about email or collaboration with your team again.

Posted in How To, Misc | Tagged blog, Google, Google Apps | 1 Comment

Add Anything from the Ribbon to the Quick Access Bar in Windows Live Writer Beta

Posted on October 31, 2011 by rivera

In the previous version of Windows Live Writer, utilizing features was a simple process. Now things are placed in the Ribbon and at times more difficult to access. Here we’ll look at adding anything to the Quick Access Toolbar.

The other day we showed you how to add the Post Draft to Blog button to the Quick Access Toolbar. Today we look at adding anything from the Ribbon to it for easier access.

Before

To add a picture in the previous version you just needed to click Picture on the right hand section and made it rather easy to create posts. However, everything had its place, and there weren’t a whole lot of customization options.

Current Beta Version

As we can see here, you need to click on in the Ribbon twice…a minor annoyance, however there are more options. The cool thing about the new Beta version is you can add anything from the ribbon to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Here we click Picture or Video on the Ribbon, choose the location, and right-click on it. Now select Add to Quick Access Toolbar above or below the Ribbon.

You can add anything from the Ribbon. From HTML styles, Hyperlink, to different fonts…anything!

Here we added a bunch of goodies to the Quick Access Toolbar…very cool!

This should allow for faster access to the different tools you need when creating your blog posts. Let us know what you think, are you happy with the new design of Windows Live Writer? Leave a comment and let us know.

Posted in How To, Misc | Tagged Quick Access Bar, Ribbon, Windows Live Writer | Leave a comment

Add a Premium Theme to Your Tumblr Blog

Posted on October 31, 2011 by rivera

Would you like to give your Tumblr blog a distinct look with a premium theme? Let’s look at how you can purchase and add a premium theme to your Tumblr blog in just seconds.

Tumblr includes hundreds of beautiful themes, and a wide majority of them are available for free. Some of the best themes that include stylish touches and features, however, are available in the Premium Themes section. Some of the premium themes can even make your blog a great portfolio or photography site, complete with transition animations and more. Here’s how you can purchase a premium Tumblr theme and make your blog more stylish with very little effort.

Find a Premium Theme For Your Blog

Tumblr has a large number of beautiful premium themes available. You can preview them directly from the Theme Garden (link below) even if you don’t have a Tumblr blog yet.

Alternately, you can browse through the available Premium themes directly from your Tumblr customization page. Login to your Tumblr dashboard, and click the Customize link on the right under your blog’s name.

Open the Theme tab to look at the available free and premium themes. Notice that the Premium Themes are listed first, and the standard free themes are listed at the bottom.

There are a wide variety of premium themes available, and many of them can add unique features to your Tumblr blog. Whether you’re looking for a theme that’s cute, designed for photography, typography, or just something unique, you’re likely to find one that matches your blog. Premium themes currently range from $9 to $49, and there’s a wide selection in each price range.

Once you’ve found a theme you like, click on it to preview it in the main Customize window. You’ll notice the price of the theme listed directly below it.

Make sure to look all around the theme in the preview before you purchase it. The posts displayed will be the default ones from the theme’s sample site, but the header and description will be the unique ones from your blog. You can even check out the Appearance tab to see what tweaking options you have before you purchase the theme.

You cannot try customizing the HTML of a Premium theme before you purchase it, however. Don’t worry; if you do purchase the theme, you can customize the HTML however you want.

Purchasing a Theme

Once you’re decided on the theme you want, select it in the Theme tab and then click Purchase Theme on the top right.

Your blog customization page will darken, and a popup will open for you to enter your credit card info. You’ll be reminded of the theme’s price with the stamp on the corner. Enter you’re payment info, or if you’d prefer to checkout with PayPal click the Use PayPal link at the bottom of the popup. Once you’re done, click Next to continue.

Now you’ll see the last four digits of your card listed on the popup. Click Confirm to purchase the theme with this card, or if the card is incorrect click the change card link at the bottom.

Tumblr will take a few moments to process your payment.

Once it’s done, you’ll see the customize dashboard as normal, with the standard Save buttons. Click Save + Close to apply your brand new premium theme to your blog.

Now open your blog in a new tab or window to see your new theme in action.

Customize Your Theme
As nice as your new premium theme is, you’ll still likely want to tweak how it looks and works. The good news is, you can customize your Pro theme just like you would standard free theme. Your theme may have more or less options in the Appearance tab, depending on the theme.

If you like to tweak your code, feel free to tweak anything in your Pro theme just as you would in a free theme. Just click the Edit HTML button in the bottom of the Theme tab and tweak to your heart’s content. Check out some of our Tumblr articles for tips on how to add Disqus comments, Google Analytics, Adsense, and more from the Custom HTML.

Or, if you get bored with your theme, feel free to switch to another free or pro theme as before. Just select the theme to preview it, and click Save in the top right corner.

Your purchased Pro theme will always stay with this blog account, even if you change your theme in the future. You should be able to easily locate it, as it will appear in the Premium Themes section as before but will now not show a price. Simply select the theme to re-apply it.

Note that you can only use the premium theme on the blog you used to purchase it. If you have multiple blogs on the same account, you would need to purchase the theme for each blog if you want to use it on both. Though, as mentioned above, you can keep any premium themes you purchase on the same blog account forever, so you won’t need to worry about losing your purchased themes.

Conclusion

The Premium Tumblr Themes give you a great selection of designs to extend your blog and make it more personalized and unique. Many of the best free themes are used on thousands of blogs across the net, but a premium theme can give your blog a more unique and beautiful design. Plus, many of the pro themes have more features that can help you create new types of sites on Tumblr, such as company or showcase sites. Look through the themes, and see if you find one that can make your blog look more amazing or useful than before!

Or, if you can’t find a theme in the Tumblr gallery that suites your blog, there are many more themes available online directly from other designers.

Posted in How To, Misc | Tagged blog, Premium Theme, Tumblr | 1 Comment

NineSixTutorials

Add Your Own Domain to Your WordPress.com Blog

Add Your Own Domain to Your Tumblr Blog

Add WordPress.com Features to your Self-hosted WordPress blog

Add Traditional Comments to Tumblr Blogs With Disqus

Add Social Bookmarking (Digg This!) Links to your WordPress Blog

Add Free Windows Live Apps to Your Website or Blog

Add Free Google Apps to Your Website or Blog

Add Anything from the Ribbon to the Quick Access Bar in Windows Live Writer Beta

Add a Premium Theme to Your Tumblr Blog

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