Today I went to login to my WordPress admin and suddenly I had no capabilities. I couldn’t access pages or posts or see anything besides what normal subscribers could see. In a panic I logged out and logged back in thinking I screwed something up. Nope, still broke.  Scratching my head I wondered how this could have happened?   No clue, must have been a database hiccup or other random error that aligned things perfectly to strip my privileges and halt me in my posting tracks.  But how do I fix it?  I scoured the web trying to figure out how to word my issue correctly.  Finally, I found an obscure reference for adding a admin user via database. “Ah ha! That should have the information I need!”

So should this ever happen to you, here is how you fix it:

(pre-step: if you aren’t comfortable editing databases.. BACK IT UP! Make sure to save it in case you make a mistake)

1. Login to your Cpanel or hosting admin panel. Find the area that says phpMyAdmin and login there.  This will give you access to the database that holds your WordPress installation.

2. Select your database from the list of databases (if you have more than one.)

3. On the left hand side click “wp_users” , find the username you want to restore to admin access and note the ID #

4. On the left hand side click “wp_usermeta”

5. This next step you’ll have to look at two columns to make sure you have the right entry. Find where the user_id column shows the ID for the user you want as admin AND also has the meta-Key column displaying “wp_capabilities”

6. Click the little pencil icon on the entry you identified above in order to edit it.

7. In the space for meta_value paste this in:      a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;b:1;}

the above makes all the difference, you know this was your issue if it said a:1:{s:13:”subscriber”;b:1;}

8. Click “Go”, your database should now be updated with the correct admin permissions and  you can login with your full access restored.

I hope this will help someone else avoid the frustrations that I had trying to figure this out.

So I got the all-clear that my eyes are healed, yay! For those who are a little late to this party, I recently suffered corneal abrasions on both my eyes that covered the majority of my corneas. They were chemically etched. Yikes is right! After 4 days completely blind, then another week of just ok vision I now have my vision back and eyes are healed. That is a lot to celebrate!

I’m passing on my excitement with a big blog sale! Its my opinion that business web sites can benefit immensely from blogs being incorporated. Any web site for that matter! To celebrate being back to designing and to also help raise funds to cover the cost of expenses related to my eye injury I’m having this sale.

When you purchase a web site design package and add a matching blog design to your order I will take %50 off that matching blog! I’ll design a theme to match the web design you ordered and install it to the associated WordPress blog on your new site! You’ll have a fresh new blog to chronicle all your excited about your fresh new web site.

How do you take advantage of this sale? Simply add your design package using the package picker (Get Started @ top) and check the “Add a Matching WP Blog Theme” option. After you add that to your cart you can use the coupon code: BLOGTASTIC at checkout to get your discount.

eCommerce site owners start here | Informational site owners start here

That’s it, its that easy! So check out the design packages and get your BLOGTASTIC savings on your matching WordPress blog theme.

A while back I posted that I don’t offer SEO, the reason behind that I feel Search Engine Optimization is a long term relationship between the site owner and the web site. SEO is a process that not only includes the basic set up, but also the continual attention of the site owner. Its not something you can just “do” as a one time thing and forget about. With that said, I’m getting a lot of requests to help with SEO type services. I’ve decided its time to make these services available for those who need a bit more help getting started.

What I’ve decided to offer are starter services that will jump start the SEO process for the web site. I still encourage site owners to learn more about how to optimize their site and work towards reinforcing the optimization with long term efforts. In the Add Ons – A la Carte category of my online ordering area I’ve added some basic SEO services to help get you started.

Some of the services listed include adding meta tags or pages and products, keyword research, full product optimization, site map creation and submission, search engine submission, Analytics creation and integration, social networking setup and integration (including Twitter and Facebook) as well as various WordPress social networking plugin setups.

A few of these are offered as stand alone add ons and the rest are part of the SEO services customized package where you can pick and choose which services to add.

All SEO services are for sites and blogs designed by me, Web Savvy Mama. If you have a site designed by someone else please contact me using my custom quote form to inquire about the cost for your SEO package.

Some examples of blog templates I’ve done to match web site designs. Some of these are pretty old and these are just a few of the many I’ve done.

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You may have noticed, or not, that there is a floaty box in the upper right corner of the Web Savvy Mama blog now. This is the status window for the Facebook Connect plugin I’m trying out on this blog. What is Facebook Connect? Its a plugin that you can add to your wordpress blog to allow your readers to login and comment using their Facebook profiles. Not only with they use the same login, but their avatar will be the one from their Facebook profile as well.

The good part is that if you use Facebook as a marketing tool and login as your business, it can be a great way to promote. It also keeps the various logins to a minimum and makes it easier for your readers to post.

The bad part is that, so far, I haven’t found a way to implement a nickname instead of displaying your full name as it does on Facebook. Crossing my fingers that they fix that in a future release.

Brave enough to post from your Facebook? Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Web Savvy Mama has been creating custom matching blogs for web designs for awhile now. I specialize in creating WordPress blogs that match the current website design.

Why is a blog so important for my website?
Blogs are an excellent way to bring readers and potential customers to your website! Its an easy way to keep your content fresh and up to date. Blogs are also a great way to highlight a product that may not normally get noticed or to announce an awesome sale you plan on having! Want an easy way for visitors to stay up to date on on your site’s activities? Add a blog. Want to share a find you found on the internet your customers may enjoy? Blog about it! Maybe you want to do a link swap with another person in your niche business area. A blog post is the perfect way to announce your affiliation or show your love of the other shop.

Above all, blogging on your website increases your textual content and gives a medium for you to post your desired keywords and link to your products. Search engines love blogs and when your blog is indexed, so is your website along with all those valuable keywords and content!

What blog platform should I choose?
Web Savvy Mama has a soft spot for WordPress. I love the flexibility, the integration and the enormous amount of plugins available. WordPress is also FREE and can be hosted right on your website with your domain.

How can Web Savvy Mama help?
I specialize in custom matching WordPress themes. If you have a website, chances are I can create a theme to match it. If you have a Web Savvy Mama designed theme even better, just tell me you want a blog theme added to your design package. Matching blogs from an existing design start at just $80! Feel free to contact WSM to get a quote for your blog project.

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