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Hi there MslilPeta followers and readers.  Just a quick post in between some of my study and Social Media work.  If you are going to build a website for yourself or a business have you considered what platform you would like to use?  Would you like to do some due diligence and research what is out there on offer, what others are using and what will suit you?  Then I have found a great placce to start researching and seeing the statistics for websites in use or CMS (Content Management Systems).  Check it out HERE

Now obviously I am using a WordPress content management system, and it seems to be the most popular choice, but make sure you look for what you think will work for you and your business.  Remember to think about what you want the website to do, how you want people to interact with your website and what information you want to share and gain from your visitors.  WordPress works for me as it was easy for me to teach myself and get it up and running quickly and efficiently.  I also love the plug-ins available to use with WordPress.  These Plug-ins make updating and keeping up with the evolution of the web, social media, and how people interact with websites quite easy, and as the name suggests ‘plug-in and go’.  Nice and easy, something MslilPeta likes and appreaciates in this busy life.

So please take a quick look at the CMS link to start your research about websites and also note down what you want your website to do and how you want the website to be used.

Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.’ – Zora Neale Hurston

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Hi there readers and fans, MslilPeta back with a quick video and tip to enhance your worpress website.

I am sure you have noticed that many-a website have small icons -a favicon- in the address bar and in the tabs of the windows you have open while using your interenet browser.  Yes?  No?… Just incase you haven’t or not sure what I am talking about,  you should be able to see a ‘P’ favicon in the address bar of your browser while reading my post.  Do you want to have one of these for your webpage?  If you don’t this post is for you!

After deciding I wanted my site to look even more professional and polished.  And remember this is not a bad thing, you want your site or sites to look as professional as possible too.  And well, also standout from the crowd.  You can add a ‘favicon’ to your site quite easily.  Firstly what is a favicon?  A favicon or ‘Favourtie Icon‘ is a small icon that allows a short cut for you favourite web pages and adds a graphic to your bookmarks. Typically a favicon is to be 16×16 or 32×32 pixels and can be added to you ‘root’ directory in your website.  Now if you are using WordPress as you website platform, adding your very own favicon is more simple than you may think.

Firstly you can create or find a favicon that suits your website or needs. Check out this site – iconj.com for many favicons, still or animated, available for free download.  My favicon in the picture above is one from iconj.com and is exactly what i wanted for my website.  If you are feeling more adventurous you may want to generate your own. You can do so by using one of the many online favicon generators suchas Favicon Generator.com and there are many more.  Many of these sites will also give you the code needed to add to you website, but I have found an easier and much quicker method to add your new favicon to your wordpress site.

Once you have made or found the favicon that you want to use on your wordpress website, go to your plug-ins page and search for new plug-in – All in one favicon.  Once you have found the plug-in, install straight to wordpress plug-ins for your site and activate the plug-in.  Once you have done this you will can edit and add you favicon straight into this plug-in.  Go to settings in your wordpress dashboard and click on All in one favicon and it will bring up the set-up page for adding your favicons.  It is now a simple case of uploading your favicons to this settings page.  Browse for your favicon, maybe save your favicon to desktop to find it easily.The favicon plug-in uploads automatically and hey presto… you have your favicons ready to go for your site.  Save the changes of course at the bottom of the settings screen and you are done.  Reload you admin page or open your website and your favicon should appear. Watch the below quick video to help you set up your favicon for your wordpress site.

So now go forth and add your very own favicon to your own wordpress website, I hope I have inspired and helped you to take you website to yet another level and also given you a new skill you can add to your website building resume.  Don’t forget to share this with friends… Or would you like to ask MslilPeta a question?  Click the ‘Ask MslilPeta’ tab at the top of the site

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‘Sharing is caring’

Content Syndication…. Hmmm… What is it?  Content syndication is finding great content, which can be blogs, videos, websites, books, ebooks, articles and the like anywhere and everywhere on the net and paying that information forward.

Web syndication is a form of syndication in which website material is made available to multiple other sites. Most commonly, web syndication refers to making web feeds available from a site in order to provide other people with a summary of the website’s recently added content (for example, the latest news or forum posts). The term can also be used to describe other kinds of licensing website content so that other websites can use it. – Wikipedia

Content Syndication

Everyone on the net, however they interact on the world wide web, always have some way of getting their message new or old to the people who need to know.  These people who need to know also help with this.  Obviously if you like an article or blog post you can syndicate it or pass the message on through social media and the like, but of course you do not want to be re-publishing someone else’s work unless you have the permission to do so.  Some oft he ways I syndicate information I find useful, or informative is using social media as the vehicle.  Most blogs and articles have ‘share me’ buttons, and the like so that you the reader can pass on the links to the information you found helpful or informative.  At the bottom of this post you will find a string of social media buttons for which, if you find this information helpful and know someone or many people who would also need to know or would like to know this information, you can pass the information link on or syndicate it.  Other ways of syndicating or creating excitement for a blog, or article and the like is becoming a follower of that site or person or both, and even commenting or ranking the content that you find on different blogs or sites that you like, or know some extra information to share and so on.  It is like the movie ‘Pay it Forward’… pay the information forward.  Help those who help you!

Now I haven’t written this post just because I want more syndication, although I will not stop anyone who ‘Pays it Forward’, but in home business and becoming a quality presence on the web, syndication of anyone and every-one’s content helps the people find the right people and information that they are looking for.

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Aah Apps….MslilPeta Loves Them!!

“Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. … One is very fortunate if you get to work on just one of these in your career. Apple’s been very fortunate it’s been able to introduce a few of these into the world.”  – Steve Jobs

Hi there folks, I thought I would share a quick post with you all.  As from previous posts I have ‘let the cat out of the bag’ that I love my iPhone and how it offers so much more for the person on the run and still wants to keep up to date with posting on their blog, keeping up with friends on Facebook and Twitter, to name a couple and also receiving emails and updates on the goings on ‘everywhere’.  The iPhone, and yes I am still alittle old school here with my trusty iPhone 3GS, continues to allow access and fun anywhere and everywhere, but is a great tool for those who are online and need to be busy online.

I would like to share with you the apps I use daily, if not at time hourly on my iPhone to maintain my precence and social media output.  If you are thinking about going online with a blog or you have your business and want to take it to the next step, being online is now the vital key or ‘feather in your cap’ that you need to maintain.  Apps for the iphone that I love and use constantly include, Facebook, Blogpress, Hootsuite, Flipboard, and Instagram. (These are all available in the iTunes store peeps, check them out) These 5 apps allow me to update my MslilPeta Blog and maintain a social media precense through Facebook and Twitter, and also provide great content to read and share/sydicate via Flipboard or scheduled though Hootsuite and the ever growing alternatives to status updates, the picture update using, Instagram.  Everything you could need in the palm of your hand… seriously.  And there are many more apps that can inhance the using of these apps.  I guess peopel are right in saying ‘there is and app for that!’

So if you need an app to keep you logged into this fast moving world of ours and need to stay on top of your sydicating , blogging and Social Media requirements, check out the app store from Apple.  Check the few I have listed today, or find others more suited to what you need, but stay connected and have fun.

“I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.” – Steve Jobs

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WordPress | Web Designer.

A journey of a thousand sites begins with a single click.  ~Author Unknown

Hello to my followers, just found a great site I wanted to share with you all which I hope in turn will have some good content if you are looking for ideas, hint and tips for building your own website, or you are interested in learning what more you can do if you have already started.

I bought ‘Web Design’ magazine in my local newsagent recently, as I wanted to continue my own learning and research for updating and  making my WordPress website even better.  And I am also looking to get the best up to date thoughts for plugins and the like for other websites I am working on and hope to start in the near future.  I have already used one of the recommended WordPress plugins from the magazine.  My last post ‘My Website More Mobile’, using a plugin to make my website more mobile device friendly.  And I am sure as I filter through Web Designer internet site I will find more interesting facts, hints and tips to help grow my website and of course make mslilpetamattschoss.com, an even better website for all of you.  I have not fully dived into the website or the magazine, at times MslilPeta a little time poor   unfortunately, but it doesn’t stop me from passing on a good find to help syndicate a good source of information from other ‘Web’ and ‘Internet’ peeps out there.

So check these guys out, and also stayed tuned for any cool little widgets, tip or hints I can also say that I have tried and am using for any and all websites I am working on.  Always looking to help out and keep you up to date with what does or doesn’t work for me.

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WordPress Sites configured for Mobile Devices

‘The Mobile Web Initiative is important – information must be made seamlessly available on any device.’
Tim Berners-Lee

Hi there folks… MsLil Peta catching up with you all after a bit of a lull.  I have been busy getting a local jewellery shop online and setting up their online sales/blog site, so I have been a little behind the times with my own posts, but here is another quick installment for you all to have read and maybe implement into your own sites.

Even though have been quite busy working and setting up another website, I have also been doing more reading, and learning about the web and getting my site (and of course yours with my tips) out there and providing a site that suits all users that will visit your or my site on their internet ‘surf’.  As you know I love my iPhone and use this device a lot, and of course you can view the internet quite seamlessly and at any time with such a mobile device.  And of course there is now the evolution of Android phones and the iPad which is also getting more and more people connecting to the net and searching and finding the information they are after at anytime and anywhere.  Using Safari on Apple devices, or your mobile devices browser, you can connect to websites as you please, but it is getting more and more important and possibly better that all websites, maybe more so for blogs, can also have a mobile device option within the site so that mobile device users can view their favourite website, like mslilpetamattschoss.com, in a mobile friendly format.

I have since found such a plug-in for WordPress which I am quite happy with, and does, make my site mobile friendly without losing to much integrity.  Of course on an iPhone/iPod or iPad you can view my and many other sites in normal view, but having found WPTouch, I now have a mobile device friendly website.  WPTouch is a plug-in accessed through your WordPress dash, in the plug-ins section.  Do a specific search for WPTouch and install immediately to your dash and of course your site.  For those who like to you can download the plug-in and upload to WordPress as you need.  The WPTouch plug-in comes with a large amount of options and tweaking if you prefer and of course comes with a Pro version which adds even more features.  I am using the standard program and as shown below, which looks fine and allows a better mobile view of my site.

Of course I do like to view my site in full as on the web, I am the type of person who likes the BIG picture so to speak.  But we are all at a time when building our websites for blogging, selling or whatever the reason, that we need to think of the more mobile society we are part of, and connecting with readers in a mobile friendly way.

‘Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.”
Mitchell Kapor

“In art the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can inspire. ” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well readers it has been a little too long between posts, but let’s rectify that today. As I blog I am sitting on the Cairns esplanade. Although about to be rained on, blogging is something you can enjoy doing from anywhere, any time. In an earlier post, I let you all know about the ‘Blogpress’ app available for iPhone, which allows blogging from anywhere to your favorite blog, or blogs. Since then I have found Blogpress, there have been continued updates to make it even better and also being available for iPad. More ways to get your ideas and thoughts out there.

Although, I have taken a step back and to the side, working on a different angle for business, it is good to know that I can still access and post content to my site anywhere! Home business and creating the freedom you need is still very popular, and I think will maintain popularity. A large part of a home business is keeping up to date and finding ways to communicate to your team, or spark the interest of new prospects and again being able to blog and share from anywhere is a great tool.

“For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can.” Ernest Hemingway

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Esplanade,Cairns North,Australia

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Home computers are being called upon to perform many new functions, including the consumption of homework formerly eaten by the dog.

~Doug Larson

Hello to my followers, readers and well ALL of you out there.  I have just gone through some of the comments and thoughts from some of you, and have found this question quite often…. ‘what web hosting do you use?’.

Before I answer quite definitively and therefore ending the post quite quickly, you as a new or old blogger, site builder, or internet dabbler need to make sure you do your own due diligence and research all possibilities.  You also have to make sure what your are choosing will cater to the needs of you, the customer and user of the hosting.  There are a few hosting rating sites out there, from independent sources, which rate hosting companies and, truth be told, is where I started my search.  I also researched some of the options used by my mentors in home business and blogging and took my time in finally deciding.

As an avid reader of my site you may have noted to the right of my blogs a ‘sponsors’ area where you will find a link to the hosting company I use and also have recommended to new friends and customers of mine – Just Host.  I can hear all your questions already – WHY Just Host?  Well it boiled down to a few key items of particular interest to me.  Probably the most important was the support available, which includes live chat, anytime, for smaller issues, and the fact that there is customer support in 3 different time zones including Australia which is home for me.  Tech and Customer support are excellent, relatively quick response to any and all issues.  And you can upgrade your account to have ‘priority’ support, but you don’t really even need to.  I do have ‘priority’, but for a friends website I am currently working on they do not and the support and follow-up times are just as good.

Of course another key reason for choosing Just host is pricing and the options available to get you up and blogging or what ever you are using you websites for.  Keeping this in mind there are so many other options and extras you can upgrade to or have as part of your account.  Too many to list here, but I do have the ‘Green Hosting’ option, and as I quoted above, ‘Priority support’ – always handing for those not always confident to work out issues with websites, a good safety net.  But of course it is all up to you, your budget and what you will need from a hosting company.  I have used other hosting companies and all fine, some more expensive, but for the expense they do most of the work for you, and others like Just Host where it is up to you and your creativity.

I have added this link for you all to follow for a simple comparison of web hosting companies – http://www.webhostingsearch.com/

Just Host Link – (get started now!!) -  Just to the right, and down the page a bit     - – - – >

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Blog Posts, Article Writing – What I do, which suits me…

A word is not the same with one writer as with another.  One tears it from his guts.  The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket.  ~Charles Peguy

In recent weeks I have had some readers and subscribers ask me if I have a copywriter for the articles I post on this blog.  Short answer… No! But that doesn’t mean it is a bad thing to use a copywriter or that you shouldn’t look into using a copywriter if you wish.  During some of my social media research and reading over the past year I have noted that it is a common occurrence that people all over the net, who post on blogs or other article submission sites do use copywriters.  I say go for it… why not, but at this point in time, and I never may, use a copywriter.  For me it is just another cost for an online home business still making its mark and becoming established.  I also feel that everyone has a certain amount of writing skill, and you never know how much if you never try I say.  Some of your best achievements can be from having a go!  Of course you may start out slowly, or even shyly only concentrating on one subject that you know everything about, but time and effort are our friends people so give writing for your own blog a go.

My only tips for writing articles that seem to reach those interested and even those who didin’t know they were interested are as follows.

Write about what you know, have done some research about, and definitely what you are passionate about.  Everyone has a subject that they are passionate about…. I guess unfortunately for me I have many subjects, but they all inter-connect with each other in some way.

Write from the heart AND mind, people will know that you have something to offer if you, yourself believe in what you are sharing.  Personal experience is a great way to bring a message home.  People, readers, certainly like being able to relate to a subject or a thought… Stir up the – ‘hang on, that happened to me, I understand’ thoughts in your blog readers.

Funny but true, seriously, I write like I talk.  Hmm that is a bit funny isn’t it?  Well I do.  I don’t stand on street corners on a soap box trying to speak to the masses, but my glimpses of wit and general sense of fun whilst delivering a message is in my personality and I certainly don’t change how I write or get the message across just because I am writing it.  If you want an academic approach or a thesis, well you won’t really find it here.  I certainly include the facts as I know them and use quoted material to back up my thoughts, always noted to the original writer, but I write to my readers like I was having a conversation over coffee.  It is relaxed and informal, but still factual and information and experience that I have found helpful in my journey.

I think with writing like anything, if you like something you will read it or understand it and be glad you found the article.  If you don’t like what you are reading or you can’t seem to get into what you are reading, maybe there is better information out there for you or someone with a different way of presenting the information for you.  Again you can use a copywriter if you want to, but research and find the person who fits you and your style of presenting information.  There are many many copywriters available online and I am sure you will find one if that is what you are looking for.  Otherwise, I am also sure that you can also write blog posts or articles and publish yourself.  Have a go … I did! 

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise.  The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.  ~Sylvia Plath

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MsLilPeta – What Were We Talk’n About??: Positive Journal.

Write things down… Even if just bullet points!  Keep your memory full of the good that happens to you, and have added to your day even in the toughest times.  Good does happen, even if it is sitting in the sun for 10 minutes or listening to your favourite piece of music or winning the lottery.  Be positive and visualise the good you encounter and how you will create more good for yourself.

Positive Journal

‘Journal Writing is a voyage into the interior.’ – C Baldwin