larrybn
09-30-2009, 11:54 AM
I've never done a tutorial before, so here goes nothing...
What you will need:
1) Domain and Hosting ...duh
2) WFReview
3) A .csv database of videos OR RealVMS (http://www.realvms.com/) (you only need the free version)
TIP: If your database is in SQL form download WAMP (http://www.wampserver.com/) open up phpMyAdmin and import the database. Then click export and save it as CSV.
Step 1
Set up your domain with WFReview and download a license for your site on the member's area.
Install Wordpress.
Install nice theme and your favourite plugins.
Download the latest version of WFReview and install it on your hosting, remember to copy the license.txt file over too.
Set up permalinks in the Wordpress settings section to include the postname.
Step 2
Now your site is set up lets get some videos!
If you have bough a nice video database off Chatmasta go to step 2a
If you don't have a database so are using RealVMS got to step 2b
Step 2a
Select 'Upload Posts' in the WFReview section of your Wordpress control panel and import your posts. If the php memory limit on your server is set to something low like 16M (that’s pretty standard for most hosts) and you cannot change it I recommend only importing 1500 records at a time especially if there are many columns.
Now let’s make a template.
TIP: You can use html in your template, but don't go overboard. Never use the <font> tag or even <b> or <i> tags. I recommend using the <span> tag and then adding a class to it.
eg. <span class="VideoTitle">[VideoTitle]</span>
Make a note of these and once you have finished uploading add them to your theme's css file like so: .VideoTitle {}.If you do this it saves frustration in the future when you want to edit your design but find you can't. This way you can edit all of your posts styles right from the editor panel in Wordpress and also easily copy the classes over to a new css file if you change the theme.
Remember to save your template for later.
Now let’s start some automation.
Select the 'Randomly select a date..' option and then set the first date to today and the second one to ... well just read the tip...
TIP (for those mathematically challenged):
Number of Posted Imported = x
Posts You Want Added Per day = y
x/(y*30) = Approx Number of Months to Run Automation
So add on this many months to date 1 to find date 2
Please, please, please do not click 'create posts under a single category...' not only do categories organise shit better and improve SEO but they also make it easier to generate comments if your hosting sucks (I'll explain later).
And you did it! Click 'Finish and Create Posts' and watch the magic.
Step 2b
Okay so you don't have a database, not to worry! RealVMS is here to help, delivering highly targeted YouTube videos to your blog automatically! In some ways it is even better than using a database because the videos will always be reasonably fresh. However there is a downside which is that you don't have the same control over the template or content that you have when using a database.
Anyway, forwards. Install and activate the RealVMS plugin in your Wordpress control panel. Now browse to 'Social Bookmarks' and enter your Deli.icio.us and Faves user details. If you don't have accounts with either get them here (https://secure.delicious.com/register) and here (https://secure.faves.com/signIn). This will enable RealVMS to automatically bookmark each post which it creates. I have found it to be a little buggy, but it's still worth doing.
Now let's check out what videos we will be including in our site. Browse to 'Add Videos' and start testing out search combinations. Try out different, categories, keywords and sorting combinations to find the most relevant videos. But do not add any videos. Make a note of the best search combination and now go to 'Automation' where the fun starts.
Skip the first form and just focus on 'Automation Setup'. First enter your desired search combination that you worked on before and then fill in the rest of the form.
TIP: Unfortunately in RealVMS you can't automatically set categories for each video, but you can choose a category for each automation. So if you want you could make one automation for cats, one for dogs and one for mice and each one would go in a different category.
Now I will go through the form options: Don't add post tags. Comment range won't work in the free version (in the paid version it adds in YouTube comments into your blog). So therefore don't worry about safe commenting unless you have the paid version. Using the video tags in the post can make you blog look scraped and unprofessional, but they do add content. Definitely include video descriptions. Definitely bookmark on Faves and Del.icio.us.
Now click 'Add Post Details' and you're ready to start the automation! I recommend making multiple automation posts that run every day. However if you are lazy just make one post and run it hourly. Now just set when you want it to start (probably a few minutes after the current time) and click 'Start the Automation'.
Wow, Step 2 was pretty long!
Step 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you just used RealVMS: STOP!
When you import a database with WFReview all of posts are created, they are just scheduled not actually posted straight away. When you use RealVMS the posts are created on the fly. So therefore any ratings generated will only apply to the posts currently published. If you used RealVMS don't bother auto generating ratings until you have a few videos on the site.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now let's generate some ratings for your videos. Open up 'Rating Categories' in the WFReview section and add the name(s) of your rating(s). I usually just add the name 'Rating' in 'Global' and be done with it, but if you have a more complex site you may want to use different ratings for different categories and add different rating names.
Once you have done that we can generate some ratings. Browse to 'Generate Reviews' and fill in the form. I recommend rating things between 3 and 5 stars, as this usually averages out to everything getting 4 stars, making it look like everyone likes your videos.
TIP: Remember I mentioned that creating posts in categories may help when you if your hosting sucks, well now it's going to help you. Let's set the scene: you've just uploaded thousands of posts, you're on shared hosting, every other website on the box is screaming for attention from the RAM and CPU. What do you do? (well you could get a VPS from Zensix who rock) but if not then basically choose these options to reduce strain on the server:
- Set number of ratings to create for each post to between 0 and 1.
- Only rate posts with less than 1 rating.
- Only rate posts in one category.
- Use only Male or Female names.
Repeat this twice for each category.
Obviously it's worth fiddling with these settings a bit as some hosts are better others, what I have given you here is the bare minimum that you can set this to. As you can see the benefit of using categories is that it splits up the data into easily manageable bitesize pieces for the server.
Step 4
Time to customise your site:
- Add Adsense or whatever your preferred form on monetization is
- Add widgets to the sidebar
- Add some unique relevant content
- Do some auto linking of certain words using WFReview or All in One SEO Pack
- Edit you css to make you posts look pretty
- Create a custom homepage (ie. make it look like a website not a blog)
- Make a logo
TIP: How to cheat at logo design. Open Photoshop or Fireworks (I much prefer Fireworks). Write your site's name in a big, bold, sans-serif font. Add a gradient to it going from light to dark of whatever colour you choose. Go to IconFinder (http://www.iconfinder.net) and search for an icon which suits your site. Steal it and add it to your text. Save As or Export. Profit.
Step 5
Time to promote your site. There are numerous ways of doing this but I'm going to list some of the best:
- Digg account with lots of friends (how do I get this? (http://www.earnersblog.com/digg-power-user/))
- AutoStumble
- ReUpload popular YouTube videos and place a link to your site in them
- All other social bookmarking
Basically for this kind of site social media works very well.
Congratulations you've made an auto-updating video site!
Now for one I made earlier: http://www.lolz.in
What you will need:
1) Domain and Hosting ...duh
2) WFReview
3) A .csv database of videos OR RealVMS (http://www.realvms.com/) (you only need the free version)
TIP: If your database is in SQL form download WAMP (http://www.wampserver.com/) open up phpMyAdmin and import the database. Then click export and save it as CSV.
Step 1
Set up your domain with WFReview and download a license for your site on the member's area.
Install Wordpress.
Install nice theme and your favourite plugins.
Download the latest version of WFReview and install it on your hosting, remember to copy the license.txt file over too.
Set up permalinks in the Wordpress settings section to include the postname.
Step 2
Now your site is set up lets get some videos!
If you have bough a nice video database off Chatmasta go to step 2a
If you don't have a database so are using RealVMS got to step 2b
Step 2a
Select 'Upload Posts' in the WFReview section of your Wordpress control panel and import your posts. If the php memory limit on your server is set to something low like 16M (that’s pretty standard for most hosts) and you cannot change it I recommend only importing 1500 records at a time especially if there are many columns.
Now let’s make a template.
TIP: You can use html in your template, but don't go overboard. Never use the <font> tag or even <b> or <i> tags. I recommend using the <span> tag and then adding a class to it.
eg. <span class="VideoTitle">[VideoTitle]</span>
Make a note of these and once you have finished uploading add them to your theme's css file like so: .VideoTitle {}.If you do this it saves frustration in the future when you want to edit your design but find you can't. This way you can edit all of your posts styles right from the editor panel in Wordpress and also easily copy the classes over to a new css file if you change the theme.
Remember to save your template for later.
Now let’s start some automation.
Select the 'Randomly select a date..' option and then set the first date to today and the second one to ... well just read the tip...
TIP (for those mathematically challenged):
Number of Posted Imported = x
Posts You Want Added Per day = y
x/(y*30) = Approx Number of Months to Run Automation
So add on this many months to date 1 to find date 2
Please, please, please do not click 'create posts under a single category...' not only do categories organise shit better and improve SEO but they also make it easier to generate comments if your hosting sucks (I'll explain later).
And you did it! Click 'Finish and Create Posts' and watch the magic.
Step 2b
Okay so you don't have a database, not to worry! RealVMS is here to help, delivering highly targeted YouTube videos to your blog automatically! In some ways it is even better than using a database because the videos will always be reasonably fresh. However there is a downside which is that you don't have the same control over the template or content that you have when using a database.
Anyway, forwards. Install and activate the RealVMS plugin in your Wordpress control panel. Now browse to 'Social Bookmarks' and enter your Deli.icio.us and Faves user details. If you don't have accounts with either get them here (https://secure.delicious.com/register) and here (https://secure.faves.com/signIn). This will enable RealVMS to automatically bookmark each post which it creates. I have found it to be a little buggy, but it's still worth doing.
Now let's check out what videos we will be including in our site. Browse to 'Add Videos' and start testing out search combinations. Try out different, categories, keywords and sorting combinations to find the most relevant videos. But do not add any videos. Make a note of the best search combination and now go to 'Automation' where the fun starts.
Skip the first form and just focus on 'Automation Setup'. First enter your desired search combination that you worked on before and then fill in the rest of the form.
TIP: Unfortunately in RealVMS you can't automatically set categories for each video, but you can choose a category for each automation. So if you want you could make one automation for cats, one for dogs and one for mice and each one would go in a different category.
Now I will go through the form options: Don't add post tags. Comment range won't work in the free version (in the paid version it adds in YouTube comments into your blog). So therefore don't worry about safe commenting unless you have the paid version. Using the video tags in the post can make you blog look scraped and unprofessional, but they do add content. Definitely include video descriptions. Definitely bookmark on Faves and Del.icio.us.
Now click 'Add Post Details' and you're ready to start the automation! I recommend making multiple automation posts that run every day. However if you are lazy just make one post and run it hourly. Now just set when you want it to start (probably a few minutes after the current time) and click 'Start the Automation'.
Wow, Step 2 was pretty long!
Step 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you just used RealVMS: STOP!
When you import a database with WFReview all of posts are created, they are just scheduled not actually posted straight away. When you use RealVMS the posts are created on the fly. So therefore any ratings generated will only apply to the posts currently published. If you used RealVMS don't bother auto generating ratings until you have a few videos on the site.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now let's generate some ratings for your videos. Open up 'Rating Categories' in the WFReview section and add the name(s) of your rating(s). I usually just add the name 'Rating' in 'Global' and be done with it, but if you have a more complex site you may want to use different ratings for different categories and add different rating names.
Once you have done that we can generate some ratings. Browse to 'Generate Reviews' and fill in the form. I recommend rating things between 3 and 5 stars, as this usually averages out to everything getting 4 stars, making it look like everyone likes your videos.
TIP: Remember I mentioned that creating posts in categories may help when you if your hosting sucks, well now it's going to help you. Let's set the scene: you've just uploaded thousands of posts, you're on shared hosting, every other website on the box is screaming for attention from the RAM and CPU. What do you do? (well you could get a VPS from Zensix who rock) but if not then basically choose these options to reduce strain on the server:
- Set number of ratings to create for each post to between 0 and 1.
- Only rate posts with less than 1 rating.
- Only rate posts in one category.
- Use only Male or Female names.
Repeat this twice for each category.
Obviously it's worth fiddling with these settings a bit as some hosts are better others, what I have given you here is the bare minimum that you can set this to. As you can see the benefit of using categories is that it splits up the data into easily manageable bitesize pieces for the server.
Step 4
Time to customise your site:
- Add Adsense or whatever your preferred form on monetization is
- Add widgets to the sidebar
- Add some unique relevant content
- Do some auto linking of certain words using WFReview or All in One SEO Pack
- Edit you css to make you posts look pretty
- Create a custom homepage (ie. make it look like a website not a blog)
- Make a logo
TIP: How to cheat at logo design. Open Photoshop or Fireworks (I much prefer Fireworks). Write your site's name in a big, bold, sans-serif font. Add a gradient to it going from light to dark of whatever colour you choose. Go to IconFinder (http://www.iconfinder.net) and search for an icon which suits your site. Steal it and add it to your text. Save As or Export. Profit.
Step 5
Time to promote your site. There are numerous ways of doing this but I'm going to list some of the best:
- Digg account with lots of friends (how do I get this? (http://www.earnersblog.com/digg-power-user/))
- AutoStumble
- ReUpload popular YouTube videos and place a link to your site in them
- All other social bookmarking
Basically for this kind of site social media works very well.
Congratulations you've made an auto-updating video site!
Now for one I made earlier: http://www.lolz.in