If you are unfamiliar with plugins, a is a set of software components that adds specific abilities to a larger software application. Word Press plugins expands the capabilities of your Word Press site.

Here is a list of my must have Word Press plugins.

Free Word Press Plugins

Google XML Sitemaps by Arne Brachhold
TinyMCE Advanced by Andrew Ozz
OptinCrusher by Daniel Watrous
Related Posts Thumbnails by Maria Shaldybina

Premium Word Press Plugins

Rank Tracker by Peter Coughlin
OIOpublisher Ad Manager by Simon Emery (Read our OIOPublisher Review)

OIO Publisher

With OIO Publisher I can set up multiple ad zones in minutes. Then all I need to do copy and paste the code for multiple ads in to the allotted areas and place one line of code on to my actual pages. Then multiple ads will automatically appear on any page I place that particular piece of code. By going back to the OIO Publisher setup page a can easily change the ads I want to have running.

As an added bonus OIO Publisher has offer our readers a $10 off coupon! Use the code MIST-MOM when you check out!

What is OIOpublisher?

Basically, OIO is an advertisement script that allows you to maximize your income while saving time and keep you in complete control of your ad space.

This php script can be be placed on any page enabling you to sell and serve any rotating banner ads on any website. The OIO ad mangement script is easy to install and use. Best part about OIO is that it is available as a Word Press Plugin.

What are the benefits?

• Complete control over your advertising, with fully automated sales
• Keep 100% of your revenue, forget middleman commission
• Run 3rd party ad networks alongside your own ads
• A single license covers all of your websites

Why use OIOpublisher?

Flexible

• install OIO Publisher as a WordPress plugin or a standalone platform
• sell all forms of text ads, banner ads, and paid reviews
• display ads on any website you like using php or javascript
• no empty spaces, show your own default ads until slots are purchased
• convert website visitors to sales staff using the inbuilt affiliate program
• custom purchases also allow you to sell digital products

Time Saving

• installation is simple using the web installer, no more manual file uploading
• enitrely automated, all ad purchases and expirations handled automatically
• one-click ad management lets you spend more time on other things
• click and impression tracking, plus weekly ad reports emailed to advertisers
• integrated marketplace helps you sell your ads

Supported

• after purchasing, you’ll receive first-class support, at no extra cost
• the support forum offers tutorials, as well as answers to any questions you have
• development work is always ongoing, and one-click updates are supported

Bonuses

• use the ad manager on an unlimited number of sites (providing you own them)
• submit an unlimited number of your sites to our ad marketplace
• earn 50% commission on all sales of OIO Publisher, via our affiliate program

With the big changes Google has added a new feature where you can have your Google Profile picture show up with your pages search results. At first I though “Great – one more page I have to maintain and one more piece of code I have to figure out.”

After a little more thought, I decided Google’s new profile picture in the search results really could be a good thing. Most importantly, at least for the next few months, it will make your pages stand out from the rest. There aren’t a lot of site implementing this new feature yet and until they do, your site is going standout.

With your Google Profile picture next your search result your link is going to look different than the rest. It is going to catch peoples attention and that is going to lead to more clicks. More clicks means more visitors and more visitors means more money.

Also this feature will allow you to lay claim to your articles where every they may be across the world wide web by letting your readers no who you are and where they can find more of your work.

The feature that allows Google to show your profile picture next to your search results is being referred to as Rich Snippets. Rich Snippets is still mainly in its trial stages and more the most part is only available to review sites and social networking/people profile sites. If you are writing for a site that is already participating your picture should start show automatically. If you would like to add your site to the experiment you will need to sign up on the “Interested in Rich Snippets” form.

Luckily, adding the Google Profile pic to your search results isn’t too terribly hard. Follow me through the process below.

Tutorial : Adding your Google Profile picture to your sites Google Search results.

1. Create a Google Account Profile – If you don’t already have a Google account, you should. What you may not have taken the time to do yet is fill in your Google Profile information. This is super easy. Go to https://profiles.google.com/, click on each section and fill in the information. Try to make it personal, but also keep your goal of promoting your site online. You can also add in photo and links your own or sites you have been featured on.
2. Creating an About Me page on your site – This is another one of those “If you haven’t already, your really should.” things. Just create a page about yourself or your site and add the following code. (Make sure to replace “your ID” with your Google ID. You can find it at the bottom of your Google Profile page, next to Profile URL.)

   <a href="https://profiles.google.com/your_ID" rel="me">My Profile</a>

3. Link your About Me page to your Google Profile – Go back to your Google Profile and a Custom Link to your new About Me Page. Check the box “This page is specifically about me.”
4. Add a link to About Me page to your articles – Now you are going to link all the articles you write your you about me page. Use the following code.

   <a href="http://yourwebsite.com/about/" rel="author">More About Me</a>

5. Test it out – To test it out and make sure all your hard work was worth while go t othe Rich Snippets Testing Tool and enter the URL of page you created in Step 4. This will show you if the code has been implemented correctly.
   NOTE : For now that does not automatically mean your photo will actually show up in Google search results. You must be posting on a site that has been accepted to the trial. Sign up with “Interested in Rich Snippets” form. Google will be adding more sites over time until we are all part of the experiment!
   

Jetpack WordPress plugin that supercharges your self-hosted WordPress site with the awesome cloud power of WordPress.com. Previously only on WordPress.com, this plugin does the work of a handful of other plugins you might have already tried or have running on your site all in one lite weight package.

For more information, check out Jetpack.me.

Features include:

• Simple, concise stats with no additional load on your server. Previously provided by WordPress.com Stats.
• The WP.me URL shortener.
• Hovercard popups for your commenters via Gravatar.
• Easily embedded media from popular sites like YouTube, Digg, and Vimeo.
• For the Math geeks, a simple way to include beautiful mathematical expressions on your site.
• A widget for displaying recent tweets. Previously provided by Wickett Twitter Widget
• Your readers can easily share your posts via email or their favorite social networks. Previously provided by the Sharedaddy WordPress plugin.
• Your writing will improve thanks to After the Deadline, an artificial intelligence based spell, style, and grammar checker. Previously provided by the After the Deadline WordPress plugin.
• and many more to come!

We are now going to configure the General Options for our S2Member Membership Site.

On you Word Press Admin Panel you will see S2Member on the left hand column. Click on General Options.

Once on the General Options Page you will see 12 different drop menus that need to be configured. Many of them can stay as they are, there are however a few you will want to pay special attention to.

1. Deactivation Safeguards – Set this to yes so just in case you deactivate the plugin your data is not lost.
2. Email Configuration – Change to email you what your visitors to see.
3. Open Registration – If you plan on having a free level where users must register before accessing so or all of your content. This will be level #0.
4. Membership Levels/Lables – Here you can name your membership levels. With the free version you can have upto five including free members.
5. Login and Registration Design – This will let you change how your registration pages look. You change fonts and text color and size. You can also change to background and swap out the S2Member logo with your own.
6. Custom Users Registration – You can choose what information you want to gather when a new visitors signs up. By default it will collect the First and Last Name and an email address.
7. Login Welcome Page and Membership Options Page – For both of these options just select the corresponding pages we created in Part 1.

Today we are going to go through the process of setting up the S2Member Word Press plugin and create our very own membership site.

First, you will need to go to Plugins on the left hand menu bar of your WP Admin Panel. Click on Add New. In the search box search for S2Member. Select it from the list and click Install Now.

Before you set up the plugin, you will want to create a few necessary pages for your new membership site .

1. Membership Options Page – This is where your site visitors will sign up for your site. You will place all the information on what your site is all about as well as a link to your Registration Page or PayPal Buttons. If you are offering a free membership level your registration link will be http://yoururl.com/wp-login.php?action=register. If you are charging we will set up our PayPal Buttons later on.
2. Login Welcome Page – This is the first page your visitors will once they log in. Use this page to welcome them to your site and let them know what they should do next. You can also provide Upgrade information on this page.
3. Wrong Subscription Level – This will be an error page where your visitors will be redirected if they are trying access content that is protected for higher subscription levels. Here you should put information on why they can’t access the content and how they can upgrade to the next subscription level.
4. Download Limit Exceeded – You will only need to create this page if you are offer downloadable content. This is another error page. This time it is for subscribers who have used up their allotted number of downloads.

Move On To Step 2

1. Select your domain name – research both Google search data and website competition.
2. Identify Affiliate Marketing Programs that will compliment your site.
3. Create a logo and basic site design in Photoshop – I create my own logos so I like to this step before actually purchasing the domain just in case I can’t come up with something I like. If you are paying someone to create you logo for you may want to save this until Step 6 when you are choosing your theme.
4. Purchase your domain name and hosting – use SiteGround.com they offer free domain registration with a year of hosting. Great prices, good service.
5. Set up email accounts – Go to Manage Your Site from your SiteGround account to your C-Panel controls. Set up at least two accounts. ( I also do info and my name as a catch all account)
6. Install Word Press – From your C-Panel go to Fantastico Deluxe near the bottom of the screen. From there you can install Word Press in just a few easy steps.
7. Choose a theme – Go to StudioPress.com find the best premium themes. When choosing a theme sketch out what you want the site to look like. Write download the functionality your are looking for. Choose the them that best fits with your sites needs.
8. Install the Genesis Framework fom StudioPress.com
9. Install your StudioPress.com Theme.
10. Go through the basic StudioPress tutorials for the specific them that you purchased to get everything set up correctly. Make sure you update  your Theme Setting during this step.
11. Fill in your site SEO Settings.
12. Create your basic pages – This would be pages like About Us or Contact Us.
13. Set up your site Categories.
14. Post a sample post in each Catagory.
15. Install your Custom Header and Background.
16. Change your Favicon – This is the little image that shows up in your web browser.
17. Install any Custom Fonts you plan to use.
18. Change your Permalink structure – Custom Structure: /%post_id%/%postname%/
19. Setup a Google Analytics Account – This will track how visitors get to your site and what they do once the get there.
20. Create a Google Webmaster Tools account – If you already have a Google Analytics Account set up you can just connect the two.
21. Go back and rewrite your sample posts from Step 11. Add in featured images is you haven’t already and make sure to fill in the Genesis SEO Settings and add Post Tags.
22. Install Plugins – Here is a list of my must have Word Press plugins.
23. Add Google Ads if wanted. Best position include directly under the Nav Bar, before or after each post and a the top of your side bar.
24. Create a Google XML Site Map and add it your Google Webmaster Tools.
25. Write another set of Posts.
26. Apply for your selected affiliate programs – some programs will approve automatically, the best programs will actually look at your site so you want to make sure everything is presentable before you complete this step.
27. Look for back link opportunities.
28. Set up a Facebook page.
29. Set up a Twitter account.
30. Re-write last set of posts.
31. Add in approved Affiliate Ads.

If you don’t already have one, sign up for a Google Account. Then go to https://www.google.com/analytics/provision/ to create your first Analytics account. The process of signing a Google Analytics account is pretty simple. Click the Sign Up button at the bottom of the screen and follow the steps provide.

On the next screen you will be asked to enter your Website URL, Account Name, Country and Time Zone.

On the next screen enter the last few lines of information and the agree to Google’s Terms of Service.

Click the Create New Account button and you are almost done. Google will now generate a bit of code just for you. You will need to copy this code and paste into your site so the Google Analytics can work their magic.

If you are using the StudioPress Genesis Theme Framework this is super easy.

Go to Genesis on your left hand main menu and click on Theme Settings. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see a box to enter code to appear directly before the </head>. This is where your Google Analytics code should go. Once you have pasted the code in their, make sure to hit save so your changes take effect.

If you are not using Genesis you will need to find </head> in your code. For a standard WordPress installation you will need to go to Appearance on the left hand main menu and then click on Editor.

From there click on header.php. Scroll to the bottom of the page and find the code </head>. Paste your Analytics code directly before that and click Update.

Choosing the proper domain name is one of the most important you will make. It sets the stage for future of your site. With all the sites out there find an available domain name that will work for your site can be a little tricky.

I believe having at least one of your main keywords in your domain is vital and will help significantly with search engine rankings.  I would also recommend sticking with .com or .org depending on the type of site you are trying to create as apposed to .net or .biz.

I have bought all my domain names from Godaddy.com even though I host most my sites elsewhere. They have the most competitive prices, a great search tool, domain parking, email and total DNS control.