Nerve Center Plugins: How To Add A Twitter Widget To Your Blog…
Hey, I know a lot of people have been having trouble with plugins on their Wordpress blogs but it’s really easy to do when you know the trick. This post is nothing fancy… it won’t save lives… but it will make it a lot easier for you to add flashy new gadgets to your nerve center or blog even if you don’t have a clue how to do that right now.
I’m gonna assume that you’re using Wordpress because it’s the standard in blogs these days. It shouldn’t matter whether or not you have a blog at Wordpress.com or host your own.
However, I think everybody should be hosting their blog on their own. You can only do so much with a free blog on wordpress.com. It’s cheap enough to do… even a great webhost is less than $10 a month. But anyway, I’m getting off track…
What I want to show you is how to add plugins to your wordpress blog. Specifically a plugin called “Twitter for Wordpress” which updates your blog every time you tweet. It’s really pretty cool, and you can see my mine on the right side of this blog. It’s labelled “Jason’s Tweets”. The same steps will apply for most plugins too. So this is a universal kinda post.
Nerve Center Plugins: How To Add A Twitter Widget To Your Blog…
Plus, it real easy to do to, so here we go…
1. Login to your blog dashboard. Which I hope is pretty easy for you by now. If not, well, this post will probably only confuse you. 
2. Go to the “Plugins” section of your dashboard. It’s on the far left, but you may have to scroll down.
3. Click on “Add New”. This brings you to a screen with the headline “Install Plugins”
4. Search for your plugin. If you don’t know what your looking for then you can type in something general like “Twitter”.
Type in the name of the plugin you want to install. In our case we would type “Twitter for Wordpress” and it will bring you to a new screen with your search results. You’ll see there’s little stars to rate the plugins based on user feedback so you can tell what’s really popular with people.
5. Select your plugin. There’s a little button on the far right that says “Install”. Just click on that button. Then you’ll see a screen with all the plugin’s requirements and stats. If you keep your wordpress blog updated then this shouldn’t be a problem.
Note About Updating Wordpress: Usually Wordpress will tell you when to do that. All you have to do is click “Please update now” and follow the instructions. It shows up on the top of your dashboard when updates are available. Easy beasy.
6. Follow the instructions. On your blog, you should see something that asks you to “activate” or “install” your plugin now. If you don’t then you’ll have to go back to the “plugins” screen. This time click on “Installed” to see which plugins are activated.
7. Click the “activate” button on any plugins that are not active yet. Assuming you want them active and presto, you should be ready to go.
Now, some plugins have custom settings which aren’t always obvious at first. For instance, “Akismet” makes you go and get your “Wordpress WPI Key” but the cool part is most of the time they give you easy to follow instructions.
Unfortunately, it can be confusing at times and I can’t get into details for every plugin. But most are simply activated or deactivated with a single click.
8. For the “Twitter For Wordpress” plugin you have to take it one step further. It’s pretty easy, but you actually have to go to the “Widget” page for your blog. Again, you can find this by looking at the menu to the far left of your screen every time you login. It’s actually right above the “Plugins” section.
9. Click on widgets. You’ll see a page that says “Widgets” and “Available Widgets”. All you have to do is search through your widgets until you find the “Twitter” widget. It should be titled “Twitter #1″.
10. Drag and drop the “Twitter #1″ widget over to your side bar. I have a picture of mine above. Depending on you blog these will represent sections of your website. You can always move them around later. For now, we need to set the widget up.
11. Configure your “Twitter for Wordpress” widget by clicking it. Under the option for “Title” you write whatever headline you would like it to have. Under “Username” you’ll type in your Twitter user name. It’s as easy as that. Then you have to choose the “Number of Links”. That’s how many of your tweets the widget will display on your blog. I just picked five cuz that’s all you really need. Ignore the rest, but if you’re in doubt, consult the image to your left. Those are my settings.
12. Click “Save” and you should be ready to go. Now, all you have to do is visit your blog and make sure the widget works and shows up where you want it too.
So give it a whirl. I would be very surprised if you didn’t get this right. But here’s a few more tips if you’re still having trouble.
Trouble shooting
I can’t anticipate every problem you’ll have with installing plugins but one thing I learned about technology is to take a deep breath, stand still, and slowly read over everything on your screen from top to bottom.
You would be amazed by what you can learn just by reading and clicking the buttons one at a time. So don’t panic, you’ll get there. And when you do, your friends will be amazed by how good you are at this stuff… they’ll even ask you to help them out with their blogs too.
You can even go widget crazy and install some more.
Recommended Plugins:
• Easy Gravatars “Add Gravatars (your picture) to your comments”
• TweetMeme Button “Adds the TweetMeme button into your posts and RSS feed.”
• Twitter For Wordpress “Displays your public Twitter messages for all to read.”
• FD Feedburner Plugin “Redirects all feeds to a Feedburner feed”
• Akismet “Kills spam comments without deleting friendly ones.”
• Sociable “Automatically add links to social bookmarking sites on your post”
And That’s A Good Start…
I hope this helps. I know there’s a lot to learn and sometimes it can all feel overwhelming but if you take things slow and only do one thing at a time you’ll be an expert in no time.
I even know of people who make a full-time living helping people set up their blogs. Now that’s an easy way to add to your bottom line. 
To your success,
Jason The “Better Networker”
P.S. Has anything like this ever made you want to pull your hair out? I’ve been there. Tell me about it in a comment below. I’m curious.
17 Comments
Mitchell Dillman on November 27th, 2009
Right on Jason, You ARE the Man…
What a valuable resource you continue to be, I don’t know weather to tell all my new friends or keep you a secret, like some classified weapon.
Just kidding, of course I’ll share your link with all that I meet. I’ve already told my newest team member to get over here and get signed in.
Thanks again, I’ll let you know how these tips work out.
Now, back to work…So many people need what we’ve got!
Mithcell Dillman
Eco Warrior
[Reply]
Rebecca Geiger on November 27th, 2009
My Favs:
WordPress Database Backup
Traffic Getting SEO PluginTM 2.0 – Free Version
Yummy!
[Reply]
Rebecca Geiger on November 27th, 2009
I wanna know how you make such a fantastic opt-in box…. now that would be HOT!
[Reply]
November 28th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Hey Rebecca,
It depends on your designer. But any
decent web designer should be able to
design and code one up for you. Some people
even sell just the opt-in boxes themselves…
I’ve seen them for sale on Google when I searched for
“opt-ins” but not sure if it’s worth the investment.
[Reply]
Donna Newby on December 3rd, 2009
Hi Jason,
Hope you had a great thanks giving & thanks for the comment on Marc’s post you made his day
Great and informative post for beginners, Just a few little tips I have learnt that might help as well.
I didn’t realise the More button was so simple! I have been using the “collapsible elements” plugin the plugin inserts an Excollaps button next to the more button in your WP-admin & like the more button you choose where you want to insert it, but it then gives you the option to choose what the linked caption say’s and then you copy and paste the rest of your content into a collapsible box (sounds a bit complicated but the instructions are great!)
Any way the outcome of this is when the reader clicks on the read more…. link it doesn’t open the post in a new page! it just expands the box with the full content, so when the reader has finished the post the next post is still on the page below so they can keep reading. I guess it would be interesting to test the two, mmmmmm
Oh and im sooooo glad Rebecca asked about the opt-in box im working on a video tutorial for that as we speak for our new free D.I.Y. Design Course it’s nearly finished and I would love for you to review it before it goes live.
But here is a great tip for Rebecca, Aweber have just updated the opt-in box design studio and OMG it’s excellent their are loads of templates and design options you can customise, change header, body and footer colour’s add pictures and even add fully customised backgrounds. Go and have a play you can have a great looking opt-in up in no time. Just log-into your Aweber account select or create your list then go to the Web forms tab and get creating!
Well I hope that helps, thanks for your inspiration as always Jason.
Donna
[Reply]
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:39 am
Hey Donna,
Very cool. I’ve used both Awebber and Icontact.
I didn’t know that Awebber now has opt-in box design.
Hmmm… maybe I’ll take a gander.
Still, I love Icontact. I find it’s so much easier for me
to use. Makes my morning’s happier.
Maybe I’m biased though. I think we all have our faves.
As for reviews, feel free to send it along. I just can’t
make any promises for the next couple of days. Work
load is piling up. But I’d love to.
[Reply]
Timothy Willan on February 17th, 2010
Wow! Jason you don’t even know the trouble I have with word press.org But thanks for showing a step that I didn’t know!
[Reply]
February 17th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
I can imagine Timothy…
Sometimes it can get really frustrating.
[Reply]
Tony Logue on March 30th, 2010
So Jason,
Are you the inventor of the term “nerve center” in regard to blogs? I’ve just begun hearing about this.
I’m very intrigued about the concept. I have several blogs, and I really want to learn more about taking it to the next level.
I’ve been looking at the integrated systems like MLM Lead System Pro, Sponsor Daddy, and Prosperity Central, but I’m seeing a lot of buzz about using your blog and capture pages buried inside to do an even better job.
Can you tell me more?
Tony “The Turtle” Logue
[Reply]
March 30th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Hey Tony,
Credit should go to Tim Erway in Traffic Formula.
At least, that’s where I got the term from.
Basically, a simple way to look at it is this…
Your blog is your central home, “base” or “nerve center” for all of your operations and functions as your primary opt-in page too. Which is what Google likes these days too, so it’s a win win for everybody.
[Reply]
Thanks Jason,
I’ve been in Mike Dillard’s TF2.0. Through this course I first got my blogs up and on-line. I was amazed with myself being an old worn out Carpenter.
Since then though, I’ve been real nervous about installing widgets and plug-ins.
I recently got the Flip cam and want to start doing video blogs. What is the procedure for installing a Video Screen insert on my personal blog, maybe even over on my business blog.
Is it as easy as what you’ve just described or do I need to plan on seeking assistance with this?
And one other question, if you don’t mind.
I’ve noticed on many blogs that the articles are listed as an out-take, then when you click on the ‘continue’ text it takes you over to the entire article. Is this an add-on or widget device as well? If so, what is it called and does it install much the same way?
You’re always such a wealth of information…I wished I had someone like you 25 years ago when I was learning how to frame houses.
Thanks,
Your friend,
Mitchell Dillman
Eco Warrior
[Reply]
November 27th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Hey Mitchell,
First Question:
The easiest way I’ve found to do
that is to upload your video to
Youtube then go to your video.
You’ll see two options in the
right sidebar menu.
URL: Which is just your video link
and under that…
Embed: Which if you copy and paste
into your posts while you edit them
will place the video on your blog…
no problem.
There’s also a few widgets that do
similar things… but for the life of me
I can’t remember which ones I actually
used before
There’s probably a hundred ways to do
this…
But I hope this helps Mitchell. Let me know
if it works… it’s simple as long as you get
your videos on Youtube and find the
“embed” link.
Second:
(The continued… thing)
If you’re referring to how it’s done
on this site… it’s called the “more tag”
You know those buttons when you’re writing
posts like… “b” for bold “i” for italics?
Well, beside them is a button that says
“more”.
When you edit your posts you just place your
cursor where you want the cut-off to be… click
the more button and some code will pop up
with the word “more” in it.
That makes the cut-off in wordpress blogs.
Again, let me know how that works for you.
I’ll probably do blog posts getting into this
in the future.
A lot of people are having trouble… and honestly,
I learn this technology as I go too.
[Reply]