Please help this newbie

[cindywatts]

I recently purchased a “premade” niche blog from someone on the Warrior Forum. It was relatively inexpensive and I thought it would be a good learning blog and an easy way to get something out there rather quickly. I also thought that I would be able to tweak it on my own without too much problem. WRONG! I must have GULLIBLE written across my forehead. The blog was created in a Woo Theme template, which I do like, but I don’t know how to change the header and how to do the other tweaking that needs to be done. I went to the Woo theme forum but I’m not able to access because I am not a member… ugh. I’m sure this is easy stuff it’s just that I’m a complete newbie to working with Wordpress. I do have some experience building regular websites and I do use photoshop, so I’m not completely green. Any ideas for me? I could outsource but I really want to learn how to do this myself.

The site is www.firsttimepregnancy.org (please ignore the video ... not sure if that should stay.. ha ha)

Any advice would be wonderful and really appreciated.

Good thing I’m going to NAMS

[billdotd]

Did you get a username and login for the site? If you go to www.firsttimepregnancy.org/wp-admin and login it will take you to the admin dashboard. You can do your tweaking and editing there...

[Engage]

Hi Cindy,

I really want to learn how to do this myself

Why? Why are you making websites? What is your goal?

If your goal is fun, then learn how to tweak Wordpress, and have a great time. I agree technical and artistic challenges can be lots of fun.

If your goal is income, you might reflect, nobody is going to pay you for learning web technology skills, unless you take those skills to a pretty high level.

You are not alone. As we speak, there are probably millions of people around the world wrestling with the kinds of Wordpress issues you are asking about.

Most of these webmasters think they are working while they are learning WP skills. But, learning things that don't generate income isn't really working, it's being distracted from working.

My suggestion, if your goal is income, walk away from any technology you can't master in an hour or two, and focus on content, links, and income.

Apologies, I know this isn't the kind of answer you are looking for. I'm trying to help you solve both this problem, and lots of similar technical problems you will face in coming years, all in one step. One stop shopping!

If you wish, you can throw all these distractions away now.

[cindywatts]

Engage, I mean no disrespect at all, but I have to laugh because if you knew me, you would know that NOT learning to do it myself is NOT an option. I love the challenge of new things and I am definitely a quick learner. You don’t have to show me too many time. I’m a firm believer in learning as you go. In fact, I think that’s probably the best training there is. Yes, I want to build my own niche sites and I am not intimidated in the least by wordpress, in fact, that is what excites me the most. Why wouldn’t I want to learn… just one more tool in my tool belt and perhaps I can help the next person… (my dear husband is sitting behind me shaking his head, saying “oh no”).

My long term goal would be of course, to make money, but thankfully, I am in the position that I can take my time and hone in on the technical and artistic areas, as well.

Thank you for your input though. I realize that you are trying to save me time and frustration and I appreciate that. Will I be meeting you at NAMS?

Hey, where in north Florida are you? I’m just outside of Jacksonville.

[chickblogger]

I see my buddy Suite J in the house, I love his design work. You scored a nice niche site there. It looks great!

With Woo, they have an admin options area. To change or add a header, go to the section titled "appearance". You should be able to just upload from right there. I see that you have the GAZETTE theme, which I also own. Will take a screenshot and show you real quick.

[Engage]

Engage, I mean no disrespect at all,

None taken, no worries. If I should feel disrespected, that would be my little problem to deal with. Please type with wild abandon!

but I have to laugh because if you knew me, you would know that NOT learning to do it myself is NOT an option.

Ok, it is of course entirely your decision.

I'm most interested in the big picture, millions of webmasters, and don't mean to intrude upon any one person's preferences.

Let's talk about webmastering in general. Lots of people want to take on the challenge of Wordpress.

Ok, if we like challenges that don't lead to income, why not set Wordpress aside, and build sites with just raw HTML? Why not learn Perl, so we can code our own Wordpress? Why not learn how to build our own computer, and wire our own router? And so on...

My only intention is to puncture the illusion that fiddling with web technology is working, being productive, building a business.

If someone sees that, and wants to fiddle with web technology anyway just because it's fun, go for it. Fun is good!

Millions of webmasters have been convinced that fiddling with Wordpress themes, plugins, etc is working, and thus millions of hours of time is being wasted, and thus great numbers of people don't reach their dreams.

And they don't reach their dreams, because they are investing much of their time in unproductive activities, under the illusion they are moving forward.

I'm suggesting we change our mental model of what succeeding as an online publisher involves.

Instead of modeling ourselves on our fellow webmasters, (the vast majority of whom are not doing so well) I suggest we model ourselves on professional authors in other print media.

Buy a newspaper, magazine or book, and follow people who get paid to write full time, professional authors.

Let's ask ourselves, how much time do these professional authors invest in learning how to operate printing presses? The answer is, none.

Let's ask ourselves, how much do our readers care about our themes and plugins etc? The answer is, not much.

If we do the same things all the other webmasters are doing, we'll get the same results. The majority of webmasters are failing, because they don't actually take their sites and writing seriously, and thus nobody else does either.

Hey, where in north Florida are you? I’m just outside of Jacksonville.

I'm in Gainesville, two entire hours from the beach, which is kind of annoying this time of year.

[angienewton]

Cindy,
Just wanted to say I look forward to meeting you at NAMS!

[CindyBrock]

Ditto for me, Cindy, about meeting you at NAMS!

(We may have to have a "Cindy" meeting since there are so many of us!)

[cindywatts]

Thank you for all the replies. I'm working on a new header for the site and once that's finished I'll figure out how to change it from the old one. This will be a good learning experience for me... and fun. I've found some good video tutorials online, which is helpful.

Angie and Cindy, I'm looking forward to meeting you girls at NAMS, too. I'm really excited about going!!!! My husband is going with me but not attending the workshops. He'll probably relax, hangout at the pool, and enjoy a few (much deserved) days off from work.

Engage, you're my neighbor. I'm in Starke, one county over. Go GATORS!!!

[premiumweb]

Cindy, my hubby is going with me too.

If you need help with the header, give me a holler.

P.S. You should join Elite when it opens back up on Monday!