Quick Tip: Add Dynamic Images to Your WordPress Blog

Any blogger worth their salt knows how important images are to a successful website design.

After writing quality content, the visual aids you use are the second most important tool for engaging your readers.

Most successful site designs make use of photos and graphics – check out the WordPress Showcase for some amazing examples.

The problem is that a website image, like a loaf of bread, is a perishable item. It goes stale with time.

If you’re displaying the same static images on your site – day in, day out – soon enough your visitors will grow weary of them, now matter how pretty they are. And when your site gets boring, your traffic starts to drop.

Dynamic trumps static

Rather than displaying a single image all the time, you can get a much greater shelf-life from your photos and graphics by rotating them. Anywhere you display an image on your site, it’s fairly simple to set up a rotator that will display a different image every time the page reloads.

Do this, and your readers will be treated to a slightly different visual experience every time they visit your site.

Dynamic images can add a bit of spice to your design, and help create the impression that your website offers something fresh and unique for every visitor.

Rotating header images, for example, are used widely in the WordPress community. You can see a dynamic header in action on the default Twenty-Eleven theme that comes with a new installation of WordPress.

When I arrive on my test blog’s homepage, this is the header image I’m greeted with.

Then I hit refresh, and when the page reloads it looks like this:

Pretty nifty, huh?

To be sure, if your content is boring and repetitive, no amount of flashy design will mask that fact and your blog will perish.

But if your content is solid and you’re offering something of value to the reader, then a few subtle visual tweaks can really kick your site up a gear. Using a rotation of dynamic images is an easy way to keep your site design fresh without having to change anything manually.

Make it happen

Advanced WordPress users who are comfortable with PHP can add dynamic images to their site with a number of different scripts.

For non-coders in search of a quick and painless solution, it’s time for a trip to the WordPress Plugin Directory. There’s an ample selection of plugins that allow you to display dynamic images on your WordPress site. Far more than we could list by name here, but to get started you could check out Image Rotator, Dynamic Headers or WP Rotator.

Whichever plugin you use, you will need to choose your selection of dynamic images and upload them to a specified folder on your server, where the plugin can find them. Keep the following points in mind when doing this:

• All images need to have the same pixel dimensions, eg. 500 x 350
• Use the same file extension for all your images. Don’t upload a mixture of JPEG, GIF, PNG etc.
• Don’t use excessively large image files on your website, as this will affect your page loading times. Resize your images for optimal web use. (More on that here).

If you’re not married to your current blog design, you could also consider changing your WordPress theme to one that accomodates dynamic images out of the box.

Over to you. Got any tips on incorporating dynamic images into a WordPress site?

_{Thanks to Bike Racer and Grevel for the photos.}

Oh, Wow! – 7 Free WordPress Apple Themes

WordPress Apple Theme Options

It has been nearly a month now since Steve Jobs died, but he is still making news. Only this time it is not with his products. It’s with his reported last words, “Oh, wow! Oh, wow! Oh, wow!”

Regardless of what you think of Jobs, I think most of us would have to agree–that’s the way to go out. Not with Oh, no! Oh, no! Oh, no!  … But with Oh, wow! Oh, wow! Oh, wow!

And so in honor of these new famous last words, we’ve decided to dig through the glut of WordPress themes out there to find the best free Apple-inspired WordPress theme designs. If you know of any others, let us know in the comments.

1. iBlog 

This Apple-inspired theme is from PageLines. They also have a pro version of the theme which is very crisp and clean. It also comes with more options, of course.

FIND IT HERE

2. iFeature

The iFeature theme is from CyberChimps.com. Some of its features include a slider, a dynamic header for your custom logo, social icons, social sharing, and template choices. There is also a pro version, which you can see a demo of here.

FIND IT HERE

3. iTheme2 

This Apple theme is from Themify.me.  It has a fluid and responsive layout (so it will work on mobile devices). It comes with a feature slider, a social media widget, two theme skins, and more.

FIND IT HERE

4.  Tigerpress

This two-column theme provides a clear left-column navigation and an unmistakable Mac-like look. It was released by SmashingMagazine along with the original designer (7Graus from Portugal).

FIND IT HERE

5. Revista

Inspired by the Apple Leopard OS, Revista includes a custom theme panel, a slider, tooltips, ad spots, social icons, and an enhanced drop-down menu. It was released by WPExplorer.com.

FIND IT HERE

6.  Retro Mac OS   (Download)

I saw recently that WordPress.com had released a retro Mac theme; however, it doesn’t appear that the theme is available to WordPress.org users (only .com users).  Luckily, I came across a retro Mac theme that is available for WordPress.org users. It is a few years old, but hey, if you’re going to go retro, then why not really go retro? I guess we can say this theme was Apple retro before Apple retro was cool.

FIND IT HERE |  DOWNLOAD

7. Mio (Ecommerce Theme)

The Mio ecommerce theme is a very clean and attractive possibility if you run an ecommerce site. There is also a free shopping cart plugin to download along with it. (Available on the theme’s homepage as well.) This theme comes with a ton of options including a homepage product slider, footer category product display space, a 3-step checkout system, product grid display, tons of shortcodes, and more.

FIND IT HERE

Wow! is Right

Some of these themes are quite impressive, and because they are based on Apple’s design, they all have that trademark clean look. Before Steve Jobs, perhaps not many in the tech world thought you could wow your users with subtlety. But, of course, that’s exactly what he did. And now, with these Apple-influenced themes, so can you.

(Thanks to segagman for the image.)

Create a Portfolio Site on a Budget: Free HTML5 Portfolio Press Theme for WordPress

Hello starving artists and craftsmen! This one is for you. Every visual artist needs an online portfolio, as the internet makes the whole world your audience and your marketplace. Maybe you know this but you don’t have the budget to hire someone to build a portfolio site for you. Today we’re going to take a look at a free HTML5 theme for WordPress that will allow you to start showcasing your work online quickly.

Introducing Portfolio Press:

Portfolio Press is a creative project from the folks at WP Theming. This theme is free and available in the WordPress Theme Directory. It’s perfect for showcasing photography, art, web sites, products for sale, recipes or other projects. You can also use it as a regular blog.

What I love about this theme is that it instantly puts the spotlight on your work. It’s also very easy to use and comes with an options panel for uploading logos and and changing the layout.

The theme demos on wordpress.org often do beautiful themes a disservice in that they don’t include much content with all of the options turned on. Visit the demo set up by WPTheming.

Portfolio Press users custom post types for portfolio pages.

The theme author’s introductory video walks you through the entire process from installing this theme to setting up menus and adding portfolio items. If you already have a WordPress site then there’s no reason you can’t get this theme set up in a matter of minutes, even if you consider yourself to be non-technical.

Examples of Sites Using the Portfolio Press Theme:

Here’s a real world example of this theme being used to display panama hats for sale:

Below is an example of the Portfolio Press theme in action to showcase Golden Retrievers available for adoption:

This is a very flexible theme that could be used for any kind of showcase site. Use it to get your portfolio online quickly on a budget. Download it for free from the WordPress theme directory or grab it directly through your WordPress dashboard.

How To Install AWeber Sign Up Forms On Your WordPress Blog

In yesterday’s article, we went through setting up an email list in AWeber. Now it’s time to get forms on your WordPress blog so that your readers can actually sign up! After all, it is rather an important step if you want to build a list…

So let’s get straight into it and take a look at AWeber’s form design tool.

Designing Your Sign Up Form

When you click on the “Web Forms” button on the navigation bar, you will be presented with the page above. As advised, make sure that pop-up blockers are disabled. Then go ahead and click “Create A New Web Form”. You will be presented with a page that can initially be rather overwhelming. But fear not! We’ll go through all of the features, step by step.

1. This is the button for the design screen, which are you currently on.
2. In this area, you can select fields to include in your form, or create entirely new ones.
3. Click this button to preview how the form will look.
4. These eight different buttons will insert different items into your form – a header, a footer, a privacy notice and link, a subscriber counter, a “powered by” message, an image placeholder, a divider, and a text box.
5. With these buttons, you can select categories of template designs based upon certain criteria (e.g. their popularity).
6. This is where you select your chosen template.
7. With this drop down box you can select the part of the form that you want to customize. This will then display different options to the right (which are in the above image, options 8 and 9).
8. With “Form Type” selected from the drop down box, you can set whether the form should be inline or in a light box, as well as other options.
9. Here you can select the width of the form.
10. Here you can reorder and fiddle with your form design. It is very simple to reorder the fields by dragging and dropping.

As you will quickly learn, the form design tool is extremely powerful, and you have a great deal of control over the final product. Just a few clicks of your mouse can produce a drastically different design.

You may wish to spend a fair bit of time having a good old fiddle in order to get the best out of your design. If however you are not so fussy, you have the option to just point, click, and move on with finalizing the setup of your form.

I have just one main piece of advice when it comes to form design – keep it simple. Don’t overwhelm your potential subscriber. Ask them for as little information as possible, make it absolutely clear where they should enter it, and give them a big fat button to press.

Once you are happy with your form’s design, save and proceed to step 2 by either clicking “Go To Step 2″ at the bottom, or the “Settings” button at the top.

Sign Up Form Settings

We now have a few fields to fill in.

Set a sensible name for your form. I will explain later why you might consider having multiple forms on your blog, which means that you should create an identifiable name for each one. For instance, if this form is going to live in your sidebar, you might imaginatively choose to call it “Sidebar”. You’ll thank yourself later when you have 10 forms to track and know exactly which one is which.

You then have an opportunity to check your “Thank You” page. This is the page that is shown when a subscriber first submits their details. The default page is all well and good…

…but I’m sure you can do better than that. If you want to keep your new subscriber engaged with your blog, changing your Thank You page to a page on your blog can be a great way to do so.

You also have options to redirect your new subscriber to an audio or video page. Alternatively, you can choose for him or her to just stay on the existing page (you might choose to do this if you had some sort of JavaScript popup or something similar that shows subscribers what you would otherwise say in a separate page).

You can also redirect the “Already Subscribed” message to a custom page. I am inclined to be lazy here and say to yourself, “If they’ve already subscribed, you’ve already got them on the hook.” Naughty I know, but they’re only going to be referred to AWeber’s standard page – it’s not the end of the world. But, if you do want to create a custom “Already Subscribed” page, here is your opportunity!

If you click on “Show Advanced Settings” you will also have another couple of options.

You should enter your form name into the “Ad Tracking” field. This gives you the ability to track where your subscribers originally came from. It can be a handy feature.

You also have the opportunity to select which message your new subscriber should start on. You might choose to do this if you were for example designing a form for a specific landing page on your site, for whom subscribers would not find your first follow up page relevant.

And finally, you can request that AWeber passes on form data to your thank you page. This is so that you can display custom messages, featuring the subscriber’s data (like, “Thanks for signing up, Jimmy!”).

Save your web form, and proceed to the final stage of form design – getting your dirty mitts on the code, and pasting it into your WordPress blog.

Publishing Your Sign Up Form

Click on “Publish” and you will be presented with three options:

Options 2 and 3 are pretty self-explanatory and require little further work. If your web designer is handling the installation of your form, you just need to click the second option and follow the instructions. If you wish for AWeber to host your form so that you can link to it, you need to select option 3. However, I do not recommend that. You do not want prospective customers to have to click on a link on your site, which then takes them to another page where they can sign up. Keep the process simple for them – have the form on your site.

So we’re now just down to option 1 – “I Will Install My Form”. Go ahead and click on that option. You will be presented with two new options:

I have experienced reliability issues within WordPress by using the JavaScript snippet, so I recommend that you copy and paste the raw HTML.

Either way, you will now have some code that you need to transfer onto your WordPress blog.

You will typically want to put your form in one of three places:

1. Your main content
2. Your sidebar
3. Your footer

All three options are easy.

How To Insert A Web Form Into Your Content

All you need to do is head over to the page or post that you wish to enter the form into on your WordPress dashboard. You will be presented with the familiar WordPress text editor. At the top right of it, you will notice two tabs:

Go ahead and click on “HTML”. This will present you with the “guts” of your content. If you are not particularly savvy with HTML, do not fear. All you need to do is take the code you copied from AWeber, and paste it into the part of the page on which you want the form to appear. It’s that simple.

How To Insert A Web Form Into Your Sidebar Or Footer

Click on “Appearance” in your WordPress dashboard’s sidebar, then “Widgets”.

You will now be presented with a list of available widgets, and boxes in which you can place said widgets. We are going to need to use the “Text” widget. All you need to do is drag it into the Widget box that represents your sidebar or your footer (depending on which one you want to install the form into).

Then all you need to do is simply paste the code you copied from AWeber into the main text box of the widget, and the form will display in your sidebar!

And That’s It!

You can now install forms all across your WordPress blog! If you are going to do that, consider creating different forms for different pages. They do not have to be different designs, but it can be very handy to see where people are signing up, and that can be done by setting up separate forms.

Daily Tip: Display Your Latest FourSquare Checkins on Your WordPress Site

If you’re addicted to checking into FourSquare, have we got the widget for you! FourSquare API is a new plugin that will show your latest checkins in a widget on your WordPress site.

Don’t worry, despite the plugin’s name, you won’t have to know how to work with the FourSquare API in order to add the checkins widget. You will, however, be required to give permission to FourSquare for updating your site. Once installed go to the Settings >> FourSquareAPI admin panel and follow the instructions to connect with FourSquare.

Customizable options include the ability to show icons, mayorships, timestamps, venue stats, a map, the number of checkins, and the caching frequency.

Start showing your latest checkins by downloading the free FourSquare API plugin from the WordPress repository.

WordPress Quiz: Featured Images, Bulk Publishing, Custom Fields

Take this short three-question WordPress quiz.

Quiz 1-3

1.  How can you set a “Featured Image” for a post?

Difficulty – Easy (2/10)

2. How can you bulk publish many posts at the same time?

Difficulty – Medium (5/10)

3. Fill in the blanks with one word each.

When using Custom Fields, you have two boxes you need to fill in—one on the left and one on the right.

The box on the left is for the _______________ and the box on the right is for the ____________. (See image.)

Difficulty – Hard (8/10)

SEE ANSWERS BELOW

 1. How can you set a “Featured Image” for a post?

Answer:

1. Choose “Set featured image” link at the bottom of the right column on the post editor screen (the screen where you write your posts).

2. Upload your image or choose one from your media library.

3. In the box that pops up, scroll to the bottom and click “Use as featured image.”

4. The image you’ve chosen should then appear in the bottom right hand corner of the page.

2. How can you bulk publish many posts at the same time?

Answer:

1. On the Admin menu go to All Posts:

2. Check the boxes beside the posts you wish to publish (or check “Title” to select all the posts on that screen).

3.  From the pull down menu, select “Edit”

4. Click “Apply”

5. In the “Status” pull down menu, choose “Publish.”

6. Click “Update.”

Difficulty – Medium (5/10)

3. Fill in the blanks with one word each.

When using Custom Fields, you have two boxes you need to fill in—one on the left and one on the right.

The box on the left is for the _______________ and the box on the right is for the ____________.

Answer:

The box on the left is for the key and the box on the right is for the value.

The box on the left is now titled “Name” on the WordPress editor screen; however, it is referred to as the “key” in documentation.

Difficulty – Hard (8/10)

Can’t get enough? Looking for more WordPress Quizzes? You can find more here:

1. WordPress Quiz: Taglines, Headlines, Sidebars
2. WordPress Quiz: Pages, Blogrolls, Import-Export, Slugs, Codex

(Thanks to Poldavo for the image. Thanks to theilr for the image.)

The Illustrated Guide to Installing and Setting Up BuddyPress 1.5+

BuddyPress 1.5 was a huge release that introduced tons of changes and improvements that make BuddyPress more intuitive and responsive than ever before. A few things have changed since the “old days” of installing BuddyPress, most notably that you have quite a few more options at setup. We’ll walk you through the process, which is really quite easy, though those who are new to BuddyPress may have questions.

Before you install BuddyPress, make sure your WordPress setup meets the minimum requirements:

• Server Requirement: PHP 5.2.4 or better
• Server Requirement: MySQL 5.0 or better
• Server Requirement: Apache Module mod_rewrite enabled for Pretty Permalinks
• Make sure WordPress was installed manually i.e. via FTP, cpanel and not via the quick install scripts offered by some hosts
• WordPress cannot be in its own directory – it must be installed on the root

These are the basics, but more detailed information is available in the BuddyPress codex.

Step 1: Install BuddyPress Using the Automated Installation

Installing BuddyPress is the easiest part of getting set up. You can do it directly from your dashboard, which is by far the quickest method. Go to Plugins >> Add New and search for BuddyPress. Click Install Now.

Activate the plugin. Installation is now complete! So simple, wasn’t it? Let’s move on to setup and configuration, where you may have a few questions.

Step 2: Follow the BuddyPress Wizard to Configure Components

The BuddyPress setup wizard is new in BuddyPress 1.5. It’s located under the new BuddyPress menu in your dashboard. You’ll start by selecting your components. Don’t worry, none of the choices you make in the wizard will be locked in. You can always change them later.

If you want to have the default setup with all the features that BuddyPress has to offer, then just leave all the boxes checked. Otherwise, each component is listed with a short description and you can choose to disable any that your community doesn’t require.

Click “Save & Next” at the top of the screen to progress to the next step of the wizard.

Step 3: Set Up BuddyPress Pages

BuddyPress can set these pages up for you with the default, ie. /members, /groups, /activity, etc. Your other option is to map these pages to existing pages on your website, ie. /people, /teams, /updates, etc.

Step 4: Set Your Permalinks

BuddyPress requires pretty permalinks, so if you haven’t already set these, do so now.

Step 5: Select Your Theme

Here you will have a few choices, depending on which themes you have installed. If you’re just starting out with a clean installation of WordPress, you may want to opt for the BuddyPress default theme. It’s responsive for use on devices, comes with five new widgetized areas, featured images, and much more. Using the BP Default theme will enable you to get going with BuddyPress right away.

If you’ve already got a highly customized WordPress theme and want to integrate BuddyPress later with the newly updated BP Template Pack, then select “Don’t change my current theme”.

Step 6: Click Finish & Activate

You should see a success screen that looks something like this:

Now you should see a new tabbed menu in place of the wizard. Here you can edit any of the selections you made during the setup process.

Your BuddyPress site is now ready! Visit the front end of your site to see it all in action.

Optional: Set Up Forums

If you’d like to have forums for your community, you can now visit BuddyPress >> Forums. Select whether you want to install group forums, use an existing installation or install site-wide forums. We’ll cover these in greater detail in another tutorial. Any of these choices will be easy to install.

Optional: Set Profile Fields

If you want to make more profile fields available to your users, go to BuddyPress >> Profile Fields. Adding a new field is simple. Give it a name and description, mark as required or optional, and then select a field type, ie. dropdown, checkbox, radio buttons, date selector, text box, multi-line text box, or multi-select box. Based on your selection, the profile field wizard will display any additional options you may need to configure.

Start Customizing!

You should be all set now for running your own social network on WordPress and BuddyPress. Play around with the basic components and features and then start adding more plugins to extend your site even further. There are currently 373 BuddyPress-specific plugins on wordpress.org alone, plus many premium, professionally-supported plugins. Give us a shout on Twitter or in the comments if you have any questions about the installation process. We’d be happy to point you in the right direction.

How To Start Building An Email List For Your WordPress Blog With AWeber

In my last article, I pitted AWeber and MailChimp against each other in a fight to the death. It actually wasn’t anywhere near as exciting as it sounds, and no one was actually killed. But AWeber did walk away triumphant, whilst MailChimp was left nursing a bloody nose. There was also a whole load of useful debate in the comments section too, so be sure to check that out for some alternative views on the two services. Thank you to everyone who contributed!

If you are sold on moving forwards with AWeber (don’t forget they have a $1 trial with a 30 day guarantee), you’re in good hands. In this article, we are going to get your list set up and your first message written and ready for sending to your potential horde of adoring fans. Tomorrow, we are going to get some sign up forms installed on your blog.

Getting Started

Once you have signed up and logged on, you will be presented with your Control Panel, which will look like a less-populated version of this:

The first thing we want to do is a create a list. All of your actions will stem from the creation of your list. So go ahead and click the “Create A New List” button.

You will then have a few fields to fill in:

You do want to take a moment to make sure that these fields are filled in correctly. The List Name will obviously be used as an identifier by you, but will also be seen by your subscribers at certain times. The List Description will actually show up when a subscriber chooses to unsubscribe, so it can be your last line of defense!

You will also want to make sure that your “From” Name and Address are relevant. You do not want your subscribers deleting your emails because they do not recognize your name and/or email address.

Finally, ensure that you put in a valid Contact Address. Spam guidelines are very strict these days, and you absolutely want to make sure that you are on the right side of the law to avoid gaining a negative reputation. If you are not keen on releasing your home address into the public domain, you might choose to list a P.O. Box.

Next, you will be presented with an option to receive notifications of subscriber sign-ups:

Regardless of whether or not you want subscriber sign-up notifications, you should put your name and email address into these fields. Why? Because it will give unsubscribers the option to leave feedback. Understanding why someone is unsubscribing can be very valuable information, and some people will take the time to let you know.

Once you’re done, click “Save Settings” and we can then move onto personalizing your list.

Fill in your Company Name (or blog name, if appropriate), URL, and Email Signature. You should also upload a logo if you have one.

Below those fields, you can choose to publicize your broadcast archive via Social Media. I have mixed feelings about this option, and am currently sat in the camp of “your broadcasts should be unique to your list – that’s the whole point”. So I’m going to skip over this feature.

Finally, you have a Global Text Snippets tool. Don’t worry about this at the moment, although you may want to read the description briefly and make a mental note of what it can do for you. It may come in handy in the future.

Once you’re done with those fields, click “Save Settings” and we can move onto the final step of the list setup process.

This is an important step that shouldn’t be neglected. You will be presented with the template email that will be sent out to confirm a subscription:

It is only necessary to fiddle with this template email if you have option 2 set to “On”. I strongly encourage you to keep this option on, for the reasons stated in AWeber’s description above.

So why is the confirmation message so important? Bear in mind that us internet folk are an impatient lot. Say someone signed up for your mailing list, but didn’t check their emails straight away. They might check their emails the following day and see your “Confirm your subscription” message. If they have forgotten that they signed up, it might get immediately deleted – it’s not exactly inspiring, is it? So make sure that your subject line is engaging and gets people clicking. And by extension, you may wish to optimize the content of your email to remind people how they are going to benefit from signing up to your list.

Remember – a subscriber isn’t a subscriber until they have confirmed. Some people will go through the first stage of confirmation but never confirm their intended subscription – it is unavoidable. Make sure that you minimize such occurrences by optimizing your confirmation message.

Finally, you have the option to send your brand new subscriber to a customized success page:

You don’t need to worry too much about this at the moment. However, setting a customized confirmation success page is a good way of bringing a subscriber straight back to your site and getting them re-engaged with your content (and is also a great opportunity to ask them to follow your Twitter account or like your Facebook page).

Once you have completed all of the above steps, the infrastructure of your list is in place. However, before you start signing people up in their droves, you need to draft your first email that will be sent out when someone subscribes.

Creating Your First Follow Up Message

You have two options when it comes to your first follow up message:

1. Introduce them to your list and tell them what they can expect.
2. Get straight into the meat of your content.

If you are going to be producing a periodical newsletter, option 1 is the best one to go with. After all, they will only get your freshest editions, and you can hardly send them a periodical newsletter that you haven’t yet produced, can you?

If you are going to be running an autoresponder series then it is best to crack straight on with your content, so option 2 is the way to go.

Either way, there is one important thing that you should include in your follow up message – a reminder to add your email address to their “safe list” or “white list”. In this day and age, people use some very powerful spam filters, and the best way to avoid being filtered is to be exempt.

In order to create your first follow up message, click on “Messages” in the top navigation bar (1), then “Create A New Follow Up Message” on the next page (2).

You will now be presented with a text editor. Filling in the subject line is obviously straightforward enough. Unfortunately, AWeber’s text editor is very buggy and can do some strange things to your formatting. You may wish to draft your email in the Plain Text box first, then copy and paste it into the text editor for final formatting when you have finished.

It is important that you include a plain text version of your message. Many people do not have the capability (or choose not) to read HTML messages. As such, you need to cater for them.

If you want to go upmarket, then you can choose from AWeber’s extensive list of templates. As you can see from below, you can check out previews before you select a template.

One final thing – if you are technically minded, you can get into the guts of your email and edit the code by clicking on the little “Source” tab at the bottom of text editor.

If you have experience with HTML and CSS you have the opportunity to do some pretty funky stuff. Having said that, you will want to make sure that your message displays correctly in your subscribers’ email clients. More on that shortly.

At the bottom of the screen, you have the option to track clicks. Bear in mind that if you keep this option selected, your URLs will be re-routed through AWeber’s servers. This means that any inquisitive reader will see that your links are pointed to strange-looking URLs. This shouldn’t be of any particular concern to you, but it is worth knowing. Link tracking is extremely useful, so you should have the option selected.

Once you are finished, you have the option of previewing your message or saving it. I advise that you save the message and proceed to the next screen. We can send a test message from there – in my experience, the preview option doesn’t necessarily represent what your readers will see.

You will now be directed back to your main Messages page, where your first message will now be listed.

Go ahead and click on the “Test” button. This will present you with an option to send the email to an address of your choosing, so you can check out how it looks. I advise that you always do this when creating a new message.

Et Voila!

Your list is now fully set up, and your first message is good to go. Once we have some signup forms installed on your blog (which we will go through tomorrow), you will be well on your way to building your very own email list.