This edition contains more than 70 pages. That’s nearly 1/3 larger than the previous book. It’s loaded with step-by-step instructions, screenshots, and cut-and-paste tweaks for your website.

It also contains lots & lots of links to free and inexpensive tools to make your website gorgeous… and really easy to maintain.

This update was a major project, but I’m pleased to know how much time it’ll save my readers.

I’ll add new graphics to the support website tomorrow. Today… well, in addition to polishing and proofreading the book, I spent over three hours adding the many clickable links to the ebook. It’s been a long day!

Late today (Thursday, June 26th), people who purchased the previous version were sent a link to a free copy of this new edition.

If you bought the first edition before June 27, 2008, and didn’t receive your link to the free update, use the Contact form at the top of this page. Tell me your name (PayPal email address) and the date that you bought the book, and I’ll resend the update link.

Thanks to everyone who sent questions and ideas for the new edition. Any suggestions that weren’t included in the book will be addressed at this website, in illustrated articles.

The new edition is for sale at http://www.SitesThatSoar.com/ It’s available for immediate download, even at 3 in the morning!

You’ll love all the screenshots. They make it easy to build your own gorgeous WordPress website!

Note: The old edition is still for sale. After all, many people are still using WordPress 2.3.x

I’ve reduced the price of that book, since people who buy it now won’t get the free upgrade to the WordPress 2.5 edition.

That book’s sales page is at http//www.SitesThatSoar.com/ebook.html

It’s still available as an affiliate product, too, paying 50% for every sale.

I’m using that post as a checklist right now. Yes, I’m having (minor) problems with one of my WordPress sites.

If you’re wondering why I included the image at the right: It was a test to see if my current problem was the image. An image that’s too large or flawed (garbled or missing image code) can cause difficulties.

That particular picture (Kilmallock Abbey, Kilmallock, Ireland) wouldn’t upload at another WordPress site that I manage. By testing it here, I can see that the image isn’t the problem.

In other words, if you have more than one WordPress installation running on the same server, you can rule out some problems by trying the same task in the other WP install.

(I’m about to overwrite my previous WP install, to see if one of my files was corrupted. You can always overwrite your files if you follow the extended steps that are recommended for upgrading WordPress.)

If you’ve already installed WordPress 2.5 — but only if you’ve already installed it — you may want to install 2.5.1 due to the security issue. That’s what I’m doing.

WordPress has a good, expanded list of instructions for an upgrade, but here’s my “cheat sheet” version. (I’m assuming that you backup your files — using Manage > Export — and your database, regularly.)

1. Deactivate all plugins.
2. Use FTP to delete the wp-admin and wp-includes folders.
3. Upload (with FTP) the new version’s wp-admin and wp-includes folders.
4. Upload (overwrite) all of the files (not the folders) in the main wordpress folder, except wp-config.php, of course.
5. Reactivate your plugins.

That’s it, though the WordPress site will talk you through some wp-content changes that may be necessary.

Also, I tried the new “secret key.” Be sure to add it to the correct location in your wp-config.php file, or you may have problems. In my wp-config.php file (generated by my hosting service during the installation), I added the secret key code as a new line immediately after where it says this:

define(’DB_COLLATE’, ”);

If you add your own secret key code, use FTP to save the updated wp-config.php file (overwrite the old one) in your WordPress folder, and you should be all set. You will have to log in again, even if you were already logged in. But, in theory anyway, that’s all you’ll need to do.

On a more positive note, the “Add media” function seems to work better now. When I say that I want the graphic to go on the left, it really shows up there, aligned with the text. Life is good!

That said… I’m leaving most of my websites in WordPress 2.3.3 (the one illustrated in my book) until this new upgrade stabilizes. That’s when I’ll expand the Sites that Soar! book — or create a new, separate edition — with WP 2.5 illustrations and tips.

I doubt that I’ll change the book until June 2008 at the very soonest. A new version of 2.5 with this many changes… well, that suggests that there will be more changes in the immediate future.

WHAT ARE BREADCRUMBS?

That term refers to the trail of breadcrumbs left by Hansel & Gretel, hoping to follow it back out of the woods if they became lost.

Online, “breadcrumbs” are a string of links showing your website visitor the previous pages (at your website) that he or she visited.

EXAMPLE

Let’s say that your visitor arrived at your website featuring tin foil hats, and began reading an article, “Kinds of foil.”  From there, she read your article, “Alien technology,” and then, “Shielding your bedroom.”

The breadcrumb trail would look like this:

Kinds of tin foil > Alien technology > Shielding your bedroom

And, all of those would be links so your visitor could find her way back to re-read the first article, if she wanted to.

PLUGINS

As of April 2008, there is one WordPress plugin that’s recommended for creating breadcrumbs, called Breadcrumb NavXT.  Here’s the link: http://mtekk.weblogs.us/code/breadcrumb-navxt/

I haven’t tried it, but it’s already been updated through WordPress 2.5 (that’s a good sign) and I’ve heard some good things about it.

CAVEAT?

In most cases, if you try a plugin and it’s a disaster, you can simply disable it.

If a plugin causes WordPress to fail, freeze, or behave badly, just to into your FTP program and delete the plugin from your plugins folder.

Generally, you can’t go too far wrong with any plugin that is popular and updated regularly.

Breadcrumbs can help your website visitor find his or her way around your site.  Breadcrumbs may also improve your search engine rankings.

I’m not using this plugin on my sites (yet) because I rely on the Sitemap to help visitors navigate the site.

However, I may consider breadcrumbs for some of my more eclectic sites that can be confusing to a new visitor.

The only change in this edition is Page 29. On that page, you’ll see that “header.php” has been replaced with the correct file name, “index.php.” You’ll also see one quick fix for the Category ID number issue in WordPress 2.5.

If you only want the corrected page, it’s at the following URL.

http://www.sitesthatsoar.com/SitesThatSoar-page29.pdf

For more solutions to the Category ID number issue in WordPress 2.5, see this article:

Category numbers in WordPress 2.5

I plan to update the book again, after we know more issues, updates and fixes related to WordPress 2.5. (That will probably be around June 2008.)

Until then, unless you’re comfortable finding short-term solutions to broken plugins, stay with WordPress 2.3.3. That’s what I’ve used to illustrate the current version of the book, and it’s the most reliable for use with themes and plugins.

*Anyone who bought the book on April 21st or later automatically downloaded the revised edition. You don’t need an update.

On page 29 of my book, it says:

1. Open the file called header.php in wp-content > themes > branfordmagazine
2. In your theme’s header.php, scroll down to see this code:
<div id=”rightcol”>
<?php
// enter the IDs of which categories you want to display
$display_categories = array(3,4,5,6);
The numbers 3,4,5,6 are the four categories that are currently featured in that right
column. The most recent article from each of them will be featured there.

That’s a typo.  The PHP file is actually index.php.

(Thanks to Jen for catching that error.  Five people proofread the book, and not one of them noticed it.  That makes me feel a little less sheepish about such an obvious error, but I’m still embarrassed by it.)

This mistake will be corrected in the next edition of the book, and I’ll have a replacement page available for existing book owners.

Be sure to sign up for my newsletter (the signup form is in the lower right column on this page) to find out about book updates.  (Updates are always free to people who’ve bought the book.)

There are many reasons why I didn’t recommend WordPress 2.5… until now.  (Security issues make it imperative to upgrade to 2.5.1 immediately.)

One reason why I was hesitant about WP 2.5.x is Category ID numbers. You can’t see them as easily in WordPress 2.5, and you’ll need those numbers for themes such as Branford Magazine and Mimbo.

(I still highly recommend the Branford Magazine theme, or the Mimbo theme, which provided much of the code for Branford Magazine’s basic design.)

Many of us are hoping that this WordPress issue will be fixed in the next WordPress upgrade. In the meantime, there are three ways to work around the problem: Rollover, click, or (as of late April 2008) with an Alpha plugin.

ROLLOVER

To find the Category number in WordPress 2.5, go to Manage > Categories. In that panel, roll your cursor over the category name for which you need an ID number.

The number will appear at the lower right corner of your screen.

Here’s an illustration:

In the example above, my “Design secrets” category’s ID number is 4.

Or, you can click on the category name to see the ID number.

CLICK

If you click on the category name as if you’re going to edit it, the category’s ID number will appear at the top of your screen, as a URL. The ID number is at the far right (end) of that URL.

Or, you can use a plugin that’s been released in April 2008, and — as of today (19 Apr 08) — is still in Alpha mode. (”Alpha” mode means that there may be significant bugs in this plugin, and you are taking a risk if you install it.)

PLUGIN

Oliver Schloebe has created a handy plugin to solve the problem. Though it is still in Alpha mode, I installed it and it worked fine for this website.

Important note: I do not intend to install this plugin at my larger websites until it is at least in Beta mode. If you install it and it causes problems with WordPress or your website, I cannot help you fix that.

The plugin is called Reveal IDs for WP Admin 2.5

Download, unzip, and upload/install it according to the instructions at that link.

Then, activate it in your Plugins tab.

Go to your Settings tab.

Uncheck everything on the list.

Save your changes.

Recheck the box that enables you to see the Category ID numbers. (As of 19 April, this part of the plugin is in Alpha mode.)

Save your changes.

Go to Manage > Categories and the ID numbers should show up to the right of your category names.

Here’s a screenshot of how it looks at this website:

As you can see, the ID number appears to the right of each category name.

TO FIND OUT MORE

To stay current on this issue, visit the WordPress Support forum for news. Search using words such as “category numbers 2.5″ and check the latest discussions about this problem.

Here’s one post about the issue: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/162394

Meanwhile, please do upgrade to the newest version of WordPress.  There are some huge security issues with the earlier versions.

First, let’s talk about the page background. That’s the color around the container where your content is.

On my Business of Art website (Arts-Careers.com), the background is dark grey. The arrow in this picture points to the area that I’m talking about.

Let’s say that I want to change that background color to green. It’d look like this, instead. (The red arrow points to the change I might like.)

To make that change, I’ll use any text editor (or simple HTML editor where I can write code) and open the file wp-content > themes > branfordmagazine > style.css

In that CSS file, look for the code for the body of the document. It looks like this:

That code, #333, indicates dark grey. (That’s the same as #333333, by the way. Since all the numbers are the same, all the way across, only the first three are necessary.)

Tip: In CSS, “background” is usually the background color. “Color” is usually the text color.

To make the background color a dark green (color #006633), I’d change the CSS to look like the following.

Then, I’d upload this edited file via FTP. After that, I’d look at my website and tweak the color (in style.css) until I was happy with it.

CONTAINER BACKGROUND CHANGES

But, let’s say that you want to change the background color for your container… where the content is. This can lead to many other changes, such as the header and so on, but the following will get you started.

The background color of the container is controlled by the style.css file as well. The following screenshot shows the part of the CSS code you’ll be changing.

That should help you customize the Branford Magazine theme to make your site look more unique.

Reminder: This is a good example of how I explain things — with screenshots — throughout my book, Sites that Soar! (If you don’t own a copy yet… get one now!)

If so, I recommend the WordPress plugin, AmazonSimpleAdmin.

The plugin homepage says that it only works with PHP 5, but I’ve had success on my sites that — according to my hosting service — are running PHP 4.3.4 with Zend Optimizer.

Also, if your book display is in German but you want English or French or another language, change the text to your preferred language in two files:  In the plugin folder, open the tpl folder.  In there, change the text in two documents: default.htm and book.htm.

Since my sites are in English, here’s how I changed part of the code.  My changes are in bold type.

ISBN: {$ISBN}</p>
<p><strong>Price:</strong> <span style=”color: #990000; font-weight: bold;”>{$AmazonCurrency} {$AmazonPrice}</span><br />
{$TotalOffers} copies starting at

The plugin seems to be working very nicely with my Amazon affiliate code (entered in Options > AmazonSimpleAdmin  or Settings > AmazonSimpleAdmin, depending upon which WP you’re using).

That said, the site draws from a wealth (pun intended) of marketing blogs by people who know how to sell.  It’s a great one-stop overview of the most important online marketing news.  Even better, you can subscribe to the feed via RSS.

Tip: I’ve made iGoogle my homepage.  On it, I have tabbed pages for different categories of RSS feeds… art, fashion, spirituality, business, marketing, and so on.  I’ve added Internet Marketing NewsWatch to my Marketing tab, and I can check it whenever I want to check the latest news from several major marketing resources.

If you’re using iGoogle, be sure to try their plugins.  My homepage shows two examples of art for visual inspiration.  It has a clock that’s text-based, so my dyslexia doesn’t tell my brain “Eleven o’clock” when it’s actually 1 p.m. (That has happened.)  I have a yellow notebook page that I can edit to add my top three Most Important Tasks of the day.  And so on.

Internet Marketing NewsWatch (often called “IM NewsWatch”) also features the newest press releases in the field, as well as product news and reviews.

Are you selling your own, new product?  (It has to be your own, and it also has to be new.)

Get it reviewed at IM NewsWatch.  If you have a product to submit to them, use their Submit Product page. (They have other pages for other promotional options.)

I’m not sure what percentage of products actually get reviewed there, but it’s certainly worth a try.  Their audience is huge.

All in all, if you’re actively marketing products online, IM NewsWatch is a good resource.