I. URL Service Sites

The first method that you can use to shorten your URL is to go through a URL service site, these are usually free to use. These sites generate shorter URLs, in which they usually incorporates their URL with a unique identifier that redirects to your long URL. However, due to the fact that this method depends on a different site, you never know how long that site will be up for, which makes this option a suitable choice for just short-term or temporary usage.

As an example, if you have a long URL, such as http://www.yourdomain.com/test-1234/qwertyuiop/asdfg/hjkl=zxcvbnm, a URL service site would create a short URL that redirects to it, such as http://bit.ly/1234.

Here are a few options of URL service sites:

• Bit.ly
• Minify.us
• TinyURL.com
• Goo.gl
• Is.gd

II. Use The “Redirects” Tool In CPanel

If your web hosting account utilizes cPanel as your control panel, you can use the “Redirects” tool as a way of shortening a URL.

Here’s how to do this:

1. Log into your cPanel account

2. Click on the “Redirects” icon in the “Domains” section

3. Choose either “Permanent (301)” or “Temporary (302)” for either a permanent or temporary redirect

4. For “http://(www.)?” select the domain name to use

5. In the text box to the right of “/” type in any shortcut name (e.g. – domain.com/1)

6.In the text box to the right of “redirects to?” enter the long URL that you want to redirect

7.Click “Add”

Note:
This method does not work well if you want to redirect a large number of URLs due to its cumbersome nature.

III. Create Your Own URL Shortener (Advanced Users)

If you’re an advanced user, you can create your own URL shortener script.

Here are a few free, open source resources to create your own:

• Yourls
• Shorty
• Phurl
• PHPurl
• BrianCray.com

If you’re using a specific publishing application, such as WordPress, you can find different URL shortener plugins that can be installed in that specific application. For example, you can use plugins such as Pretty Link Pro and Short URL for WordPress.

Which method do you prefer to use?

Related posts:

1. Subdirectories – 3 Ways To Hide Them Through CPanel
2. WWW Vs No WWW On A Canonical URL?
3. DNS – How To Customize Your Records

1. Download a theme of your choice (There are many free WordPress themes available on the web)

2. Upload the folder containing all of the files for the new template to your wp-content/themes/ directory

3. Log into WordPress as Admin

4. Click ‘Presentation’

5. If the ‘Themes’ section is not already open, click the link for ‘Themes’

6. Click on the screen shot of the theme you would like installed

Check out your WordPress site ’cause you’re done!

What do you look for in a WordPress theme (e.g. – color scheme, themed layout, features, etc.)?

Related posts:

1. Twenty Ten Inverted WordPress 3.0 Theme
2. Simple Red Grunge WordPress Theme
3. Modern Blue Dark WordPress Theme

Here are a few tips to optimizing WordPress so that it’ll load faster, use less server resources, and make sure that your site is running in it’s peak condition:

1) Keep WordPress up-to-date

WordPress developers are constantly making changes and optimizations, so it’s important that you keep your WP installation updated. For example, if you have Fantastico in your cPanel, which you used to install WP, you can simply log into cPanel > Fantastico and upgrade there, or if you installed WP manually, you can download the latest version at http://wordpress.org and follow their instructions for upgrading.

2) Watch your plugins

Along with your WP installation itself, it’s also important to keep your plugins updated (which newer WP versions allow you to do very easily). At the same time, it’s also key not bog down your site with a ton of plugins because the more that you have on a single page, the longer it’ll take to load. But we know it’s very tempting to install more plugins than you actually need with WP’s thousands of plugins available. Unfortunately, the #1 cause of problems related to slow loading and CPU/memory overages is having too many site-facing plugins (or known “bad” plugins) installed in your WP. So it’s best to disable any plugins that you’re not using or don’t need. Moreover, on shared and VPS servers, plugins that collect data from remote sites or run interactively (like chat plugins) are the most problematic.

The follow plugins specifically are known to cause issues:

wp-forum, wp digg, geo-mashup, wassup

3) Use Caching

It’s recommended to use WP-Super-Cache as a caching plugin for WordPress, which stores your WordPress pages as static HTML files so they are accessed quicker the next time. It reduces the amount of calls made to MySQL as well as how often the server has to recompile PHP pages every time your site is loaded. Based on data the data that InMotion Hosting has collected from their own customers that have experienced slow-downs with their site or CPU/Memory overages, it’s shown that WP-Super-Cache can reduce CPU and Memory usage by up to 70%, and increase site loading time by up to 50%. And with the author’s step-by-step installation guide, it’s an extremely easy installation to do. You can find it at the link below:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-super-cache/

4) Don’t stack your pages

Since the homepage of your site is prone to get more hits than the rest of your site, it’s not a good idea to “stack” your homepage with a lot of posts. WP lets you select what you want on your homepage, whether it be a specific page or post, or a certain number of your latest posts. The setting for WP, which is also the preference of most bloggers is to use the latest posts to populate the homepage, so if you choose this option try not to display more than 8-10 posts on your frontpage or per page after that.

Another factor that affects your site’s loading time is the content of your posts. Your WP site will take more time to load if your posts contain streaming media, heavy advertisements or large images. So it’s important to downsize or limit the amount images and streaming media, which will automatically optimize your WP site.

Lastly, the theme of your WP site is just as important as the content. If your sites receives heavy traffic, generally you can accommodate that by downsizing the site design so that it loads quicker. So you have to watch out for themes that are heavily based on images and large flash headers, which could cause your WP site to load slowly. In that case, you should reformat your larger images to web-safe formats like gif, jpeg, and png to reduce their file sizes, which makes them download faster for your visitors.

What other steps have you taken to optimize your WordPress site?

Related posts:

1. How To Install WP SuperCache On Your WordPress Blog
2. 12 WordPress Plugins To Power Up Your Blog
3. Website Security: 5 Easy Steps

1. Backing up your account

This first step to take is to always backup your website on a regular basis or whenever you make any changes or additions. The control panel for your website, such as cPanel, should have an easy backup utility that you can use to backup your entire website, databases, email, and files.

2. Vulnerabilities in the software you run on your hosting account

The next step to take is to asses any vulnerabilities in the software that you run on your web hosting account and on your local computer. Hackers are usually successful through these vulnerabilities with the numerous techniques that can be used against them.

For instance, most software that users run on their website is Open Source, which is free software that’s available for anyone to download and use. Examples of such software are the commonly used WordPress and Joomla. However, since anyone can download and view the code for Open Source software, it makes it easier for hackers to find ways to compromise a website. Therefore, the authors of such applications regularly release updates and security patches. So it’s important to make sure that you’re running the most current versions of any third party software on your website since those are usually the most secure.

The following is a list of links, specifically for WordPress and Joomla, that point to the software’s own information about security:

WordPress
Wordpress.org – How to Keep WordPress Secure
http://wordpress.org/development/2009/09/keep-wordpress-secure/

WordPress.org – Hardening WordPress
http://codex.wordpress.org/Hardening_WordPress

WordPress.org – Upgrading WordPress
http://codex.wordpress.org/Upgrading_WordPress

Joomla
Joomla.org – Joomla Security Center
http://developer.joomla.org/security.html

The Joomla Security Center includes information about their latest security news, their latest security articles, and more information in general about the Joomla Security Strike Team.

Joomla.org – Upgrade Instructions
http://docs.joomla.org/Upgrade_Instructions

3. Vulnerable plugins

In addition to the actual software, it’s also important to keep any third party plugins / extensions on your website up-to-date as well. Here are a couple links for more information about this topic:

Joomla
Joomla.org – Vulnerable Extensions List
http://docs.joomla.org/Vulnerable_Extensions_List

WordPress
Wordpress.org – Hardening WordPress – Plugins
http://codex.wordpress.org/Hardening_WordPress#Plugins

4. Vulnerabilities in software that you run on your local computer

On the other hand of things, companies such as Microsoft and Adobe that provide software that you run on your local computer release updates also release updates on a regular basis. Here are links to information about security updates of major software titles:

Adobe
Adobe.com Security bulletins and advisories
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/
For example, Adobe offers many popular products, such as:
Adobe Reader – http://www.adobe.com/support/security/#readerwin
Adobe Dreamweaver – http://www.adobe.com/support/security/#dreamweaver
Adobe GoLive – http://www.adobe.com/support/security/#golive

Microsoft
Microsoft.com – Windows Update
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
Microsoft provides Windows Update to help keep your copy of Windows and other Microsoft products up to date. Be sure that your version of Windows has installed the most up to date security patches available.

Apple
Apple.com – Apple security updates
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
Apple is well known for the security and stability that their products come with, but even Apple has to releases security updates. Please see the link above for more information regarding Apple security updates.

5. Did you code and develop your website yourself?

Another security precaution to take is that if you coded your own website, it’s important to know common techniques that hackers use to help you take steps to making your own software secure. Here’s a list of links to articles on Wikipedia for more information on common hacking techniques:

SQL injection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sql_injection

Code injection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_injection

Cross-site scripting (XSS)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Site_Scripting

Remote File Inclusion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_File_Inclusion

With the IT industry constantly changing, especially with Internet and security, it’s crucial to constantly keep your software, both on your hosting account and on your computer, updated. And don’t forget to maintain regular backups of your website. Lastly, you should also scan your computer for viruses and malware on a regular basis.

What steps have you taken to secure your website?

Related posts:

1. Website Security, Part 1 – Preventing A Hack
2. WordPress: 4 Steps To Optimize Your Blog
3. WordPress Security Practices and PlugIns

We’ve written a post or two talking about 3.0 and its advances over previous versions. We also wrote up a nice little guest post over at WebDesignerDepot detailing the differences between Kubrick — the default theme for WordPress since 2005 — and Twenty Ten, the new theme specifically designed for 3.0. But, in honor of the official launch of 3.0, we’ve put together a little treat for all you WordPress maniacs out there.

Skylar, our designer and WordPress maven extraordinaire, took it upon himself to design his very first theme based on Twenty Ten. He likes to call it his “Inverted” theme, as it takes the existing color scheme and flips it around. Other than that, you’ll find all the features that make this release so exciting. Trek on over to our post on WebDesignerDepot for a quick tutorial.

We hope everyone is as excited about today’s launch as we are! Enjoy the theme and, as always, Happy Blogging!

WordPress Inverted Theme

Download Theme Here

View Demo Here

Related posts:

1. WordPress – How To Install A Theme
2. Modern Blue Dark WordPress Theme
3. Navy Spiral WordPress Theme