Image via WikipediaAll day I’ve been working on rearranging my various blogs and sites. I signed up for a second Reseller Hosting package, this one with ResellerZoom. (The first one is with HostGator.) The reason for this is the old “eggs in one basket” philosophy. Also, I now have a couple of pieces of software that need a cPanel on the hosting package to work.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been dabbling with internet stuff so that I’ve ended up with hosting here and hosting there, and there’s been no plan or system to it. I’m consolidating everything onto these two Reseller Packages in a nicely organized way. (That’s the plan anyway … )

However, it’s easier said than done. Today I’ve been pulling out my hair trying to move a WordPress blog — this one, as a matter of fact. (Here’s a little side note for anybody thinking of starting a blog … Pick out the host you really want before you start. It’s a royal pain to move it later.)

Well, enough of that. The real purpose of this post is to test a service called “Zemanta“. In order to see how it works, it’s necessary to enter a bit of text into your blog’s editor. When it has enough to figure out what you’re talking about it starts giving you suggestions.

There’s a sidebar to the right showing relevant pictures from Flickr and articles that it finds from … wherever (?) At the bottom, there are links and tags that I can apply with a click.

Cool! I just clicked on one of the more relevant pictures, and — just like that — there it is in my post!

Guess I’ll see what happens when I click on one of the articles. Here goes … Okay, it places the link in a “Related articles” box at the end of the post. For each article, there’s a little “visit” link so you can check them out before adding them. I suppose one ought to do that. I’ll stick another one in here so the first one won’t look so lonely.

Next, we’ll experiment a bit with the links it’s suggesting. It’s found ten things to make links of in this post so far. You can check the links it comes up with to see where they go, and use them or not. Seems that mostly they go to Wikipedia. For the sake of this experiment, I’ll choose the “Apply all” selection. It very helpfully provides us a definition of “philosophy” and information on the meaning and origin of the term “eggs in one basket”.

Well, you never know … People frequently don’t know what the heck I’m talking about.

To finish up this test, I’ll also apply all the tags suggested without changing them. This has been fun. Even marginally helpful. I’d recommend having a look at it.

After getting this all set up in QuickBlog, I’ve changed my mind. I think I’d be better off with WordPress. It’s more complicated, but also more options. Apparently you set it up from the same screen where we set up Joomla earlier. (On the GoDaddy hosting account Control Panel, it’s under “Value Applications”.)

The thing I don’t see how to do right off the bat is how to get my domain switched from the QuickBlog.

One other thing to consider — I guess you could make a blog on Joomla, since I’ve decided to learn that program. Maybe there would be advantages to just learning one software.

(Evening)

I’ve spent most of the evening and afternoon reading about WordPress. The next thing will be to figure out how to change the blog over from the other one. I think maybe that will be done by just canceling that blog, and then … (?)

I’m installing WordPress (WordPress 2.0.4) to my practice domain. Here’s what it wants:

1. Admin Username
2. Admin Password(10 characters max)
3. Admin Email
4. Blog Name = (?) (Wonder how hard this will be to change later?)

OK. Setup is pending. It takes it a few minutes to install, then it’s ready to go.

The time has now come for me to start taking some kind of action on my
internet projects. It’s quite confusing and actually scary. I’m not
sure what I want to do … nor how to do it even if I did know what I
want to do.

My idea is that, for now, I’m learning the mechanics of all this. So
financial results are not the main consideration.

They say you should decide on your approach and then concentrate on it.
But at this point, I just don’t feel like I have enough information to
know what I’m going to do — ebay? create a digital product? affiliate
marketing? public domain publishing? something I haven’t even
thought of yet?

Well, it boggles the mind to get too hung up on all that. So for the
moment, my objective is to create a blog and get Adsense on it. Then my
next objective is to create a webpage using Joomla and figure out how
that works.

I’m not even sure where to start … The blog I have in mind will be a
continuing record of a rather clueless non-techie’s journey to a
position of making a living online. I was searching for available
domains the other day and the name I came up with was
“onlinegrandma.com”. Haven’t registered it yet.

I’ll stick with GoDaddy for this, but it’s really confusing. What do I
need vs. what I already have?

There are so many different accounts and kinds of accounts (all with
different passwords) … and the terminology is like learning a foreign
language.

Getting a domain with GoDaddy

Well, I guess I’ll just go ahead and get that domain. It’ll cost me
$8.95 for a year and (I think) I’ll get a free blog — which I already
have.

Doing that … Do I want other versions of my name for extra money?
Like .net or .tv (which they say podcasters ought to register)? Well, I
may end up paying more later, but for the moment, I’m skipping those.

Now they tell me that if I add hosting or website builder, my domain is
only $1.99. Don’t I already have those? I’m skipping those too.

Here I am in their checkout and there’s all these decisions to make.
Should I add the hosting and website builder? What type of registration
– standard, deluxe, or platinum? The Deluxe is $8.99/yr. (Is that on
top of the $8.95 which is the cost if you don’t go for the $1.99 deal?)
It gives private registration and “Whois Advertising Listing”. (I’m not
totally clear on the advantage of this.)

I have a feeling that price is on top of the other. The way the domain
is made private or “unlisted” is by registering through “Domains By
Proxy”, their affiliate company.

Think I’ll take my chances with Standard.

Now we come to a big list of add-ons I can choose from.

Not adding the hosting, because I think I’m okay with that.

This domain comes with one email and 25 MB storage. I can add more if I
want. Well, not now.

This deal is going to cost me $18.40 because it’s for two years. Now
I’m supposed to read the “Domain Name Registration Agreement” (which
would probably be about 10 pages printed) and the “Universal Terms of
Service” (if anything, a little longer). Finally I can click “Checkout
Now”.

Setting up a blog with GoDaddy’s QuickBlog

I’m skimming through the setup instructions. One of the next things I’m
going to need is a title for my blog.

My premise is that “Grandma” has embarked on a career change out of
necessity. She is trying to make sense out of the confusing jumble of
technology and systems and to find some kind of business model that
will provide an income for her. As she figures out various things,
she’ll explain them in plain English and comment on the usability.

The people who might be interested in this would be others with a goal
of making money online, but who are overwhelmed by the technical
aspects. I’m positioning myself, not as an expert, but as a
fellow student.

Here are some title ideas:

• Can you make a living on the internet?
• A Grandma’s Journey
• Internet Income in plain English
• Can the Average Grandma Make a Living Online?

I’m setting up now. Author Information section. Wants:

Used this title: Can the average Grandma make a living online?

For Blog URL, choose “select from an available domain”. That gives a
dropdown and the only choice is “onlinegrandma.com”. Well, that’s the
one I wanted.

Now I pick the template out of seven pages of options. These little
tiny thumbnails are too small to tell anything about. I’ll just pick
one and move on — try “Technology3″. Made the color turquoise. Doesn’t
look especially “grandmotherly”. But I don’t know how it ought to look.

OK. And I see where you go to put in the adsense. (Design
blog tab –> sidebar) Before you can do that, it says you must
register with Google first.