I think about 50% of my websites are built on the WordPress platform, while I use Dreamweaver for the others. I am not a programmer, and at best, I am a novice developer, so I like WordPress because it’s easy to operate. One of the best aspects of WordPress can also be one of the most frustrating. Whenever WordPress rolls out a new version, or a plugin is upgraded, WordPress lets the publisher know that the newest version is available.

The notice is in a spot to ensure that people upgrade, since security patches are generally a big component of upgrades. It isn’t distracting, but positioning of the notice makes you feel like it’s very important to install the new version, whether it actually is critical or not. All you need to do is click the “Please upgrade now” notice, and you are taken to a page where you can easily upgrade to the newest version with the click of the mouse. Sounds simple, but it can cause major headaches for you.

With a custom designed website residing on the platform, an upgrade that goes wrong can lead to problems, which aren’t always obvious. Despite having an issue a few months ago that was the result of an upgrade gone wrong, I decided to take a chance and upgrade to WP 2.9. I had recently backed-up the entire site, so I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal if things went haywire.

The day after upgrading, I found that a post missed the schedule, which was an issue that happened last time. I did some testing (changing to the default theme and turning off the plugins), and I had the same issue. I got in touch with my designer, and he did a bit of research on the issue. Luckily for me, he found a thread on the WordPress Support Forums, where several people complained of the same issue. In a few minutes, my designer found the potential solution, which worked for my site.

The same type of WordPress problems can exist with a plugin upgrade, patch installation, or other WordPress upgrade. Before you are tempted to upgrade, make sure you back-up your full website. If you do run into a problem, do a Google search to find others with the same problem so you can either diagnose it or find someone who can diagnose it and remedy it for you. It’s great that WordPress makes it easy to upgrade, but it can cause you problems if things don’t work out as expected.

Elliot contacted me looking to quickly setup 54 long-tail domains on WhyPark relating to real estate agents and home loans in different cities. The objective was to include content relevant to the subject and/or city being targeted, develop new traffic and revenue that doesn’t currently exist on these domains, and generate domain sales leads.

The following is a quick overview of how the domains were setup on the WhyPark platform, followed by some thoughts on how to help these domains attract visitors from related sites and search engines.

Step 1: After logging into Elliot’s WhyPark account, I created the following groups to easily manage the domains:

• Real Estate Agent
• Real Estate Agents
• Mortgages
• Home Loans

Step 2: I copied each group of names from the list sent and used our “Bulk Add Sites” to quickly add the domains to each group with the same settings. Since one goal is to attract end-user sales, I’ve selected that the domain is for sale. That will automatically add the “for sale” link on each domain and also the inquiry form for buyers to easily contact Elliot.

Step 3: I let the bulk import do its magic for a few minutes while it does the following:

• Splits the domain names into keyword rich site titles (coralspringsrealestateagents.com to “Coral Springs Real Estate Agents”)
• Creates keyword lists to be used in article matching
• Creates relevant Related Search terms that will lead to pay per click revenue through the top-tier advertising feed.
• Writes a quick meta description by integrating the most popular terms for the domain
• Categorizes the domain and assigns a template/image.   For example CoralSpringsRealEstateAgents.com has been automatically assigned a “Florida” image.   Others like ShreveportRealEstateAgents.com were assigned an image specific to Shreveport.   WhyPark currently has over 4,000 images, adding several hundred new images for our templates weekly.

Step 4: Our bulk import tool is usually very accurate on matching keywords with domains having multiple keywords and phrases.   However, we might not always have stock content for highly focused phrases or small geographic areas.   So, I’ve reviewed the domains and when needed, tweaked the keyword list to ensure that we have focused content about the domain name’s theme along with content that a user would expect when they land on the domain.

For instance, we might not have much content specifically about a phrase like “Murfreesboro Real Estate Agents”.   However, we do have content relating to the city of Murfreesboro along with related real estate areas like Tennessee.   By updating the keywords, we’ve been able to provide a good mix of real estate related content about Murfreesboro and surrounding areas.

Step 5: Choosing a Template:   By default, we assign a template to each domain as it’s imported, mixing in a few different templates for variety.   In this case, we’re going to choose one template we created that has a wider column on the right to accommodate widgets from Zillow.com.   I’ve clicked on the group of names called “Real Estate Agents”, selected all domains in that group and chose to update the layouts in bulk.   I then chose the template from Elliot’s saved, custom template gallery which applies the layout to each of the domains in that group.   I’ve repeated the process on the domains in the “Home Loans”, “Mortgages” and “Real Estate Agent” groups.

Step 6: Elliot asked to include widgets from Zillow.com on his real estate and mortgage sites.   To do so, I went to the widget section on Zillow’s site.   For each city, I generated a city-specific widget and copied the code.   I then pasted that code into the HTML of the layout on WhyPark.   This customization does require some basic understanding of HTML to determine where to paste the code in the layout.

Step 7: I asked Elliot to update his DNS to point to our servers and all 54 domains went live.

Moving Forward

The WhyPark platform focuses on matching the most relevant content that we’ve licensed from many sources. While we try to make it as easy as possible to turn your domains into active, relevant sites, it shouldn’t be misunderstood that this will be a free ticket to the top of every search engine. WhyPark provides a number of tools, so you can import RSS feeds, customize your design, add an unlimited number of custom pages, update your home page, and much more.

It’s also always recommended to start working on getting links from quality sites that are related to the domain you’re optimizing. Search engines place a large amount of value on the quality and types of incoming links your site has. The beauty of having developed sites is that you can immediately start working on getting new links to build trust and create new sources of traffic and revenue.

“I have a great business idea! I was eating marshmallows and pretzels at the same time yesterday, and it dawned on me. Marshmallow covered pretzels – tadah! I bought the domain name MarshmallowCoveredPretzels.com, and I think there’s a great business idea. I need your help to make it happen…”

I am excited for people when they call or email me telling me they have a great business idea and the matching domain name. It’s great when people take initiative to start their own business online. There are many advantages to it, but if you’re reading my blog, I am sure you are already aware of them.

However, I am probably the wrong person to speak with about building your business idea into an actual business – especially if you aren’t planning to make it your complete focus. I am a domain investor first and foremost. I acquire domain names because I believe the value is greater than I am paying. On 90% of the domain names I acquire, my primary objective is to sell it for more than I paid, and most of the time that involves a quick sale.

A domain name can be a great start for an online business, but it’s just that – a start. You need to have a solid business plan to go along with your domain name, and that doesn’t include the financial backing that some projects need or the person behind it who is determined to make it happen. There are a lot of people with good ideas and nice domain names. It takes a lot more than that to build a business.