10 years of Viral content creation and hidden factors of global traffic

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I was started my blogging in 2004 when I was final year student of MBA in Madurai Kamraj University as a fashion to maintain daily diary. After completing my study life, travelled one company to another and finally, I had left my regular job and entered full time online worker. Blogging and Freelancing were my main pathways to earned my bread and butter on those days with lots of hardship. I had written 10+ articles on this matter, so don't want to give you boring by drugging same drum once again. In 2013, I have founded a news portal (Indilens !Insights of India) and I had got the idea of viral post or article such a few news reports got 1000's of hits globally but why? A lots of questions risen on viral article and news topic such What makes content go viral?

10 years of Viral content creation and hidden factors of global traffic  


I know that it is a tough question, but when you look around, there’s some people who are able to craft contagious content every single time as my news portal get minimum 1 article daily.

What’s their secret? Do they know something you don’t?

I can say that every one can able to do so, creating viral article or reports for their wb portal and blogs. And while they may not be aware of it, they know how to push the little “traffic buttons” on the internet without fail.

How do I know this? Because I’ve done it… for years. And until recently, I was never able to explain exactly how I was able to do it. But today, that all changes.

Before getting insight of the topic, I want to mention a name Jonah Berger who is an assistant professor of marketing at the Wharton School of Business with specializes in discovering what makes ideas and products go viral. I had learned a lots from him via his articles and books. It is mentioned that he is featured in many of the prestigious marketing research journals and publications like the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Economist and more.

Here is the basic factors of viral post: 

1. Positive content is more viral than negative content.

2. Content that evoked high arousal emotions—positive or negative—is more viral than content without emotion.

3. Practically useful content get’s shared.

4. A little controversial with attraction of legacy. 

5. Touching emotions of thousands. 

If your post/article carries any one character above mentioned, then It’s tough to make a blog post go viral. However, I am using some other legal tricks to make a article go viral. Here are a few of my legal tips for readers. 

  • Submit to Google+
  • Submit to Reddit
  • Submit to StumbleUpon
  • Post on Forums in niche
  • Submit to Yahoo Buzz
  • Submit to Delicious
  • Post to Twitter
  • Post to Facebook
  • Post to meetme
  • Post to Google news
  • Post to YouTube (if applicable)
  • Submit to Technorati
  • Post to Pinterest (if applicable)
  • Post to LinkedIn
  • Provide SEO keywords for images
  • Directory submissions
  • RSS directory submits
  • Forum comments
  • Relevant blog comments
  • Social bookmarking
  • Refer to posts on Yahoo! Answers
  • Refer to posts on LinkedIn
  • Refer to posts on Quora
  • Press releases
  • Link to our own past and future blog posts
  • Add to your email signature
  • Add to your signature in forums
  • Add to your next newsletter
  • Request other bloggers to mention your post

Final words from author: 

As a content creator and freelance journalist, I want to say that blogger or portal owner must look after a few other factors before publishing the post such correct keyword optimize of the post, Adding pictures next to key items with alt tag, proofread the post to check for errors with proper correction. I am sure, if any one follows the above mentioned, then surely targeted post will go viral. 

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Stop Wasting Time in Blogging to Make Money Online Now These days

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It was 2004 when we had started blogging to make money online. There were only very few people were working in that blogging industry from India to make money online. As per available information says that the countable figures from that very had got success in make money online via blogging. I think that the pioneer names are known to all those are still working in blogging industry to make money online. 

Stop Wasting Time in Blogging to Make Money Online Now These days


You heard somewhere that you can make money blogging. It’s something magic: someone said that you can work 4-hour daily, from everywhere in the world, and make lots of money…much more than you could do with a full-time regular job! You dreamed about passive income, and finally you had an easy chance to get it, so you got on the boat: you started your own blog. You worked on it and took information about blogging.

To tell the truth you worked hard on it, and you read everything you could read about it. But, since the beginning, you haven’t earned a lot of money from your blog. You tried everything, but you just get few cents (and maybe not even them).Some time, it is seen that some bloggers earn very few pennies after working 15 to 20 hours daily.

What’s missing?

Traffic? Comments? Tweets or likes? Email subscribers?

No, it’s something more important. Blogging (Alone) to Make Money Online is a Waste of Time. Many people think that they can monetize their blog with ads. Yes, you can do it, and you can even have a decent income with that approach…but do you really want that? To live by blogging ads you need to have a HUGE traffic direct to your blog. You can bring that amount of traffic to your blog, but how much work will it require?
A lot.
Is your hard work worth the prize?
I don’t think.

Life is one and time is extremely precious. Every second you waste will not come back. You want a passive income to enjoy the most of the time you have. It’s a non-sense to waste an enormous amount of time for few cents. Other people think that they can monetize their blog with ebooks.

This a better approach. Much better!

You’ll need a smaller traffic to have a decent income. But, again, your way on a decent income is quite long. Ebooks and ads are 2 of the most used ways to monetize blogs online. Both of them will require a lot of work and maybe you’ll never reach the full-time income with them. You are working hard to get a small amount of money.

Now let’s consider a different approach.

Stop Blogging, You Want an Online Business. Stop thinking to you blog as a blog and start thinking about it as the way to start your business. This is the only way with which you can make a good quantity of money without working like a slave. And it’s the best way to reach the success you desire.
Considering your blog as part of your business will give to your strategies a radical shift:

1. You Work Seriously on Your Business

If you consider your blog just a blog, you will not push yourself to bring it to the next level. You will not write your posts if you don’t want. You will not promote your blog if you don’t want. When you think to your blog as the base of your business, you will force yourself to write posts, promote your blog, write guest posts, reach other bloggers and many more… You take it seriously because you know that you are working on the source of your income.

When I started my first blog in 2004 on blogger.com platform, I wrote posts and then I published them after a quick review. Now, I write a post (not regular) but take care :
  • I read it carefully
  • I change many elements
  • I try to improve it as much as possible
  • I edit it
  • I publish the ultimate post
I do these because my posts are windows to my business.  If I don’t do the best for you with my posts how could you trust my business? I want to give you my best, so I do my best to my News Portal Indilens and SEO company website Focusa2zThis approach is a key for your online business success.

2. You Invest in Your Online Business

Would someone with a healthy mind invest in blogging?
No way. No one will invest in something that will not give a reasonable return of investment. Instead, if you consider your blog as part of your business, you will invest in it. You know that to start a business you have to afford some costs. It’s ok, because you know that once you get on the right track, you’ll get money from it. To build a solid business with to your blog, you need to invest. Anyway the costs of your blog will be smaller than the ones for an offline business. Do you know that starting an offline business takes from 7000$ to several thousands of dollars?

Well, with a blog you can start your business with less than 1000$ dollars: Web hosting is about 90-120$ dollars per year (with BlueHost). An email software like Aweber (the best one) only costs 194$ per year. A formidable WordPress theme (like Genesis) will only cost 50-100$. Trainings to speed up your blog have various costs…for example, the best guest posting training is only 100$. 

An offline business may take years to cover the initial investment, with an online business, in 6-12 months you start enjoying your work. If you want to make money online, be serious about your business: investments are an essential part. Try to avoid them when it’s possible, but some of them are indispensable.

3. You Work on Different Sources of Income

At the beginning of this post, we talked about ads and ebooks as sources of income.

I’m not contrary to them, but it’s crucial to be smart. Are your ads a support to your income or are they the main source of your income? In the first case, I think it’s ok (even thought it’s not the best strategy). In the second case, you may want to review your priorities. The same applies to your ebooks. Ebooks are great because they are easy to make and easy to sell, but they should be a side strategy. You can get experience and build authority with your ebooks (they are perfect fits as first products), but then pass to “heavy things”.

You have many ways to build the core of your online business income:

  • Courses (live or video)
  • Consulting (1-on-1 or companies consulting)
  • Membership sites
  • Physical products
  • Softwares
  • Seminars or Webinars
  • Audio products

With my first ebook, I made some money from it…but the average earning for first few months was less than 100$. When I launched my first video course, I made 300$ in 10 days!
Do you see the power of these sources of income?  Why should you limit to ebooks and ads? Notice that all the suggestions listed above have a bigger price than ebooks.

4. You Stop Making Silly Things

I did lots of silly things; it’s normal when you don’t understand. When I started my first blog, I published 5 posts per week in the first few months. I saw that “strategy” from other bloggers, so I thought it was the way it had to be. I wish I published half of those posts. I wish I spent the time saved in that way bringing my posts to more people. It was a wrong strategy to publish 5 posts per week. When you think to your blog as a blog you don’t ask yourself key questions.

When you think to your blog as an online business you start asking yourself:
Is this task going to help my business?
Is it worth my time?
Can I do it better?
Is there anyone that can teach it to me?

“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” – Decouvertes 

These questions will help you to find the best strategies to succeed.

5. You Aren’t Afraid to Sell

It’s fun: many people use content marketing to make money with their blogs, but they forget to sell.
The marketing part in content marketing is equally important as the content part.

Some bloggers feel shame to sell their stuff. They think it’s awkward to sell their products explicitly. When you have a business, you know that you have to sell. It’s normal: you have a business to sell something.  If you have something phenomenal to offer, you even feel proud to sell: you know that you are doing a kindness to offer your great services/products.

The best businessmen know that

They think: “My services are so awesome that you should be silly for not buying them”. People perceive that and think: “Wow! Look at him: he’s so proud of his services that they should be phenomenal. I should be silly for not buying them”.

Final views from author: 

The choice between blogging and online business depends on your goals. Are you blogging or are you running an online business with your blog? Let me hear your opinion . Also, if you have any question, I’m here to answer to you.

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Normally Trapping Web Design Mistakes Which Cost Failure in Online Business

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Business and marketing has been already occupied by World Wide Web and maximum small and medium establishments have made own presence in online world even large scale industries also stepped their identification via websites. 

Normally Trapping Web Design Mistakes Which Cost Failure in Online Business 


Do you know that your sidebar may cost you a lot of money? To tell the truth it’s not the only part of your web design that may make you lose some bucks. Give a look around the web and you’ll notice many silly (but common) web design mistakes. Would you go in a restaurant with a dirty frontage and some rubbish near the entry? I wouldn’t. Those things make you think that such restaurant is low quality and serves unhealthy food. A similar thing happens when you land on a bad looking blog: you classify it as low quality, and you leave as fast as light. Even if a first time visitor remains on an ugly blog, probably he won’t buy products because of the design. 

People need to know that you are reliable and professional to buy from you, but a bad web design gives a sense of unreliability. Of course, a phenomenal web design will help you to sell more products, reduce bounce rate, increase your perceived expertise and better engage your readers, but it will cost you a lot of money, and probably you don’t want to invest them until you grow your business and can afford such investment. The good new is that you don’t need a phenomenal web design, you just have to avoid 7 silly mistakes that can easily kill your business. 

1. Unprofessional Overall Look 

The first thing that you see when you land on a new blog is the overall look of the page. If it doesn’t seem good enough you will leave the site in few seconds. There are many design mistakes in this page, but I want to focus only on the overall look now. As you land on this blog, you see a white page with a quite ugly picture, a green header with a very bad text (green text on a green picture is a huge mistake!), a very flat menu and a light blue background. Would you buy from this blog? Of course not! The biggest difference in the overall look of blog comes from the theme that you use. I highly suggest you to take a premium WordPress theme instead of a free one: it’s on a completely different level in web design and seems professional. There’s a reason because all the most popular bloggers have a premium WordPress theme (and usually, they hire a designer to bring it to the next level too): it’s because premium themes are far better than free themes. I hear from many people that they don’t want to spend money on their blog. Well, it’s ok, but then I hear them complain about their poor results and I wonder “Why are you complaining? You want people to spend money on your business, but you’re the first who doesn’t spend money on it. This is hypocrisy, isn’t it?”. Your blog overall look it’s too important to neglect it. You could even choose a free WordPress themes, but in this case, you need to customize it and make it look great (with most of the free themes you’ll need to know codes or ask to someone who knows codes…but in the latter case you will spend less with a premium theme that you can customize by yourself). The overall design should look harmonious. Pay attention to details. Your background should fit well in the overall look. And follow all the next web design tips.

2. Bad Header 

The header is a key element in your web design. It can help you to get the attention of the people or it can scare your visitors and make them leave your blog. Surfing a little the web you’ll notice that most of the blogs have terrible headers. It’s probably the most undervalued element in the web design, even though it’s one of the most important part of the page. First and foremost, if you want to insert a picture or a graphic work in your header, insert a great one. A bad graphic work in your header is worse than a skunk in a sealed atomic bunker. Many people make their blog title pretty flat and sometimes even unreadable. We’re talking about your online business card, you should make it great and readable! Your title is your brand, if people can’t read it, they won’t know your brand. Your logo goes in the header too, and should be clear because, together with the title, it’s an essential part of your brand. The header gives you the chance to show first time visitors what’s your blog about. This is crucial to make people decide if they are in the right place or not. Not including a headline (that should anticipate your Unique Selling Preposition) is a mistake that may cost you lots of customers. Through the header you can even make a first attempt to connect with a first time visitor: you just have to show your picture. The header is a key to have a great overall look, and it’s also a big opportunity to hook your first time visitors, take care of it. 

3. Wrong Color Scheme 

Colors are extremely important. The unprofessional overall look of a blog is often due to a bad color scheme (other than a bad theme and a bad header). There are many case studies and scientific researches beyond colors and color schemes. It means that colors have a crucial role when it comes to design. Too many colors and your blog seems a very low level one. When you bombard your visitors with many colors you’re distracting them: they can’t focus on your message (headline, menu and blog post titles) because all the colors are taking their attention. My advice is to use 2-4 colors. Using the right scheme you could use up to 6 colors, but if you are not 100% sure about them, probably you’ll have better to insert fewer colors. Notice that the opposite color mistake is pretty common and dangerous too: flat color schemes are pretty boring. Colors should be mixed in the right ration. If your blog is too colored, it will have a bad impact on your visitors. If your blog is too white, it will be too flat. The most important concept is that you have to balance colors. Notice that you should use colors and white spaces to make people pay attention to certain parts of your blog. White spaces can be used to highlight some parts of your blog such as headline, blog post titles, your optin form or your product image. If you want to highlight something just put some white space around it, and make the object colored (or black). 

4. Overcrowded Sidebar 

How many overcrowded sidebars have you ever seen online? I guess too many. There are sidebars in some blogs that are more crowded than the main streets of Los Angeles at 5pm! The blogosphere is full of blogs with way too many ads in the sidebar. Do you know that it’s a counterproductive approach? The more items you do have in the sidebar, the fewer people are driven to click on them. Simply nothing can standout and grab the attention of a person – without mention that a sidebar full of ads makes you look spammy, and as a result your online reputation will be irreversibly damaged. The sidebar has a key role in your business. Your sidebar should accomplish one of the following three tasks, and possibly all of them: Make people subscribe to your email list Make people buy your stuff or your affiliate products Make people read more content on your blog All the other goals are not required. As a bonus task you may want people follow you on social media, but it’s not as important as the previous tasks. This doesn’t mean that you should add, your Facebook box, Twitter feeds and other social network widgets on your sidebar. Keep your sidebar clean. As a general rule you have better to keep 3-5 items in the sidebar. If you insert less items, your blog may seem empty, in the opposite scenario it will look quite messy. It means that you should choose carefully what you insert in your sidebar.

5. A Non-Obvious Overcrowded Menu 

The menu is a crucial part of your blog because the people who arrive on it for the first time need to know where to go. It should be clear and immediate. I’ve seen many blogs with non-obvious page names in it. That kind of menu doesn’t help you to decide where you should go on that blog, and this is a big problem: when people don’t know where to go on a blog, they click the back button. Try to make the page names in your menu obvious. Think like a first time visitor who doesn’t know anything about your blog, and help him to figure everything out fast. It means that you should also cut complex page names out of the menu, keep it simple. Immediacy is the key to a functional menu. Of course, a menu with too many pages isn’t immediate. You don’t people have a hard time trying to figure out what’s on your blog. Insert just the most important pages in your menu. As a general rule, have 3-6 pages in your menu and try to avoid the cascade menu. Cascade menus are quite complex, and because people can’t see every page in them, they will damage the immediacy of your menu. 

6. Too Many Ads 

Ads have the huge power of making you lose potential customers. If ads are your main monetization strategy, leave them on your blog, but if you are selling a product or a service, delete them from your blog. It’s not only because people who click on ads will leave your blog and probably will never return: it’s because ads make your blog look messy, spammy and unprofessional. Of course, you can insert them in the right way and make them look good in your design, but you have to be really good at this for doing it. The most common ads excess, as said before is in the sidebar, but it’s not the only one. There are many blogs which insert ads in the header (huge mistake!). Many bloggers insert ads in the content of their blog, with terrible results – ads in blog posts make you look really spammy. Many people even bring this kind of ads to the next level: they use text ads in their blog posts, a sure way to have messy, unreadable page (please, don’t do it!). I’m completely against ads, because they’ll make you waste more money than you could earn with them, but if you want to insert them in your blog, don’t exaggerate and try to keep an equilibrium. 

7. Unusual Page and Text Colors 

Have you ever noticed that 99,9% of the most successful bloggers use black text on a white page for their posts? It’s just because it’s the most readable content format. Forget about using strange colors for your page and/or text because you’ll only make people leave your blog without reading your content. Avoid grey both in text and page background too. Very dark grey text on a white page it’s ok, but why using it when you can make your text black? The same is true for the opposite case: black text on a very light grey could be ok, but it’s better to use black text on a white page. Your content is the most important part of your blog, you want that everyone reads it – losing some clients because of your blue text isn’t the smartest idea in the world. 

Final words from author: 

What do you think about your blog design? What would you improve in it? Leave a comment with a link on your blog and I’ll be more than happy to check it out and give you a feedback about your web design.
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Website Weds Blog: Combination of blog and Website becomes Fashion

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Blog and website combination has become a fashion for bloggers and webmasters now these days because multi-niche is another top rated topic for them. Today I continue my mini-series on Anatomy of a Blog Design.I had covered various foundational aspects of the blog and blogging. Today I’ll cover a topic that I know a lot of people have questions about. Should I have my main website AND a blog, or is it best to have my blog serve as both. The short answer is, there is no right or wrong. It depends. I’ll briefly cover some of the things you may consider when making that decision, then I’ll cover some effective ways you can combine your blog as both your main website and blog.

Website Weds Blog: Combination of blog and Website becomes Fashion


The first thing you should know is that nowadays, it really is no big deal at all to have a blog be your main website. In fact, many websites you frequent everyday probably are technically “blogs,” but are just designed to run and look like traditional sites. The issue of separating them was more prevalent back in the early day when blogs were primarily periodic journals, sort of like an online diary if you will. Their main function was for you to write posts that your published daily, weekly, etc. Since then blogging platforms have radically transformed. The most significant change was the ability to add static pages. This is what allowed blogs to appear more like traditional sites.

When deciding whether or not you should separate the two, here is a list of considerations:
  • How important is it for your website visitors to have a smooth, cohesive experience?
  • How closely linked are the topics of your blog to your business? (e.g. if your blog is more personal in nature, you may not want it linked to your business)
  • How much content and information do you need to be on static pages?
  • How is your main website created? Can it support having a blog incorporated?
  • How and who updates your website? Will that be the same person who updates the blog?
  • How much time do you have to maintain both?

Most of my blog readers are professional visual artists, and as such I think having a combined blog/website is a great idea. In fact, I see lots of people in this industry doing exactly that.

The Marriage of Your Blog and Website

So, let’s talk about making a combined blog/website. If you’ve gone through all the questions about and decided this is the way for you to go, here are some ideas and tips for doing it effectively.

Design: Ideally, the look and feel of your blog should flow and be completely cohesive with the rest of the site. If you’re using an actual blog as your website, this most likely won’t be an issue since the blog design will be carried throughout. But, some of you may have a website created that is not on a blog platform, then have an installed blog that is accessible from your site, keeping them consistent will be important. Unless you have a professional web designer who can code an installed blog to look like your site (and vice versa) that may be difficult to do. A great example of this implementation are my friends over at Matchstic, a brand identity house here in the Atlanta area. If you look “under the hood” of their website (i.e. “View the Source” from your browser), you can see that their main site is a custom designed site. If you click over to their blog and do the same, you can see that their blog is an installed WordPress blog (whenever you see blog/wp-content/… in a URL path, you know it’s a WordPress blog.) Their blog flows seamlessly with their rest of their site. However, hop on over to mutual friends Whitestone Motion Pictures, and you’ll see their entire site is a WordPress blog. Again, all seamlessly designed to flow together.

Home Page: The key decision you’ll want to make when having your main website strictly on a blogging platform is what will be the “Home” page. Traditionally, the home page of a blog has been the journal part. The section of the blog where your periodic posts go. When people think about blogging, that is what they envision. And when they read a blog, that is what they are referring to. If you make the “blog” part of your site the home page, you’re communicating the message that the periodic posts are the main event of your site. For many of you who are posting photos or videos from jobs you’re doing every week, that’s not a problem at all. However, if you do not have a consistent amount of content to post (and I suggest at least three blog posts a week), then it’s best to make a static page your home page. If you’re using WordPress this is easy. In the left-hand side of your Dashboard go down to Setting -> Reading. Set “Front Page Displays” to “A Static Page.” Then from the drop down menus beneath, select which page you want as your home page, and which page you want to be the page where your periodic blog entries will go. See example below


If you are going to have a traditional “blog” section that is not the home page, you need to actually create the page. In this case, the page I created was called “Journal.” Just create the page, give it a title, and leave it blank. Save it then select it as the “Posts page” in the drop down. When people go to the “page,” it won’t be a page at all, it’ll be your blog posts. This is how I did it for the Teen Identity Network (teenidentity.net/blog). This is aWordPress.com site (with teenidentity.net mapped to teenidentity.wordpress.com) and “blog” set as the posts page.

Widgets and What-nots. From a design perspective, you may also want to consider whether or not to have a lot (or any) widgets in your side bar. This gives a site a very “blog-like” feel. If you’ve built your site on a blogging platform, but what to make it look and feel like a “regular” website, then don’t have those widgets. Some WordPress themes may give you the flexibility to control what your homepage looks like, especially if you have an installed WordPress blog where you can control over coding.

Separation of Blog and Website

I won’t say much about keeping your two sites separate except that if you do, make sure you keep them both adequately updated. It can get easy for you to neglect one for the other. If you’ve decided that it’s important to have both a blog and a separate website, then keep them up to date. I have chosen to keep the two separated because my blog is more of a personal project meant as an extension of my personal and professional brand, not an extension of my company Dare Dreamer Media. Naturally I’ll use it to showcase work I do, but it’s so much more than just a showcase site. This is actually not an uncommon way to go about blogging. One of my favorite blogs is Michael Hyatt’s, Chairman and former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing. His blog is not an offshoot of Thomas Nelson, it’s entirely based on Michael’s role as a leadership trainer, mentor, etc. Depending on your role in your company, your blog may be the same. As I have designed for my company website cum blog at Focusa2z Connects World (www.focusa2z.com ). 

Share in the comments how you’ve used a combined blog/website, or why you keep them separate if you do. Don't hesitate to put your words! 
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How to skip WordPress Upload Limit ,5 easy methods

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WordPress’ new built-in media players make it a powerful platform for streaming video and audio. But you might notice that your WordPress install has a prohibitive maximum file size for uploads. If you want to know what your site’s upload limit is, you can visit Media -> Add New. Below the upload box you will see “Maximum upload file size” with a number next to it, in megabytes. This is how big your uploaded files can be. By default, this number ranges anywhere from 2MB to 128MB and dictates how big an uploaded file can be. If you find yourself on the smaller end of that scale, you may want to increase your upload limit to accommodate larger media files.


Unfortunately, there is not a one size fits all solution for increasing this limit. How you actually go about increasing the upload limit of your install depends on how your server is configured. In the end, you may have to try a few things before you find something that works. This article will step your through this configuration so that you can find the solution that works for you.
Most of the steps that follow require you to access your site via FTP. If you are unfamiliar with how FTP works, I’d recommend Kevin Muldoon’s guide to installing WordPress. It has a section on accessing your site via FTP.

Setting up a PHP Info File

Before you even start trying out different solutions, it can be useful to try and get some details about how PHP is configured on your site. Luckily, PHP has a simple function to help you do this. Create a new file in a text editor of your choice, and add this line of code to it:
<?php phpinfo(); ?>
Name the file “info.php” and save it. Then, FTP into the root directory of your server, where WordPress is installed, and drag in info.php. Next, visit “http://yoursite.com/info.php”, replacing “yoursite.com” with the actual URL of your live site. This will give you a full list of details about your PHP configuration.
PHP info file
Pay special attention to the version of PHP you are running
There’s a lot here, but you can ignore most of it. The most important part of this file is which PHP version you are running. This will be shown in block letters at the top, for instance “PHP Version 5.4.16”. It’s most important to pay attention to the first number of your version. You will either be running a version of PHP 4 or PHP 5. Some of the tips outlined here will require you to know which version you are running, so take note of it.
There are three settings within the PHP info file that are relevant to your upload limit. You can search through the file to see what they are currently set to.
  • memory_limit – This defines how much memory is allocated to PHP. You will simply need to ensure that this number is as high or higher than the upload limit you want to set.
  • post_max_size – This defines the maximum size that is handled in a POST request. We will need to set this to our new upload limit.
  • upload_max_filesize – This defines the maximum size for file uploads. This will also be set to our new upload limit.
Now that we have a little bit of info about our PHP set-up, we can try a few different methods for increasing our file size limit.

Editing PHP.ini

If you Google around for ways to increase your upload limit in WordPress, you will probably stumble across a variety of answers. Most of these are workarounds, but the best way to increase the file upload size is to make changes to your server’s php.ini file. The php.ini file contains all of your PHP’s configuration details, and will let you change the values you saw on your PHP info page.
Note: Before you start making changes to your server’s configuration, you should make a backup of your site and database. If you find your php.ini file, you will also want to back this file up locally.
Depending on your web host, you may be able to edit this php.ini file directly. To find this file, FTP into your site, and go to the folder that your WordPress install is in. This usually exists in an “html” or “www” folder. What you will need to do is navigate via FTP to the absolute root directory. This will typically be one or two directories higher than where the WordPress files live.
From the root directory of your server, you are looking for the folder that your php.ini file is located. This is typically in a “conf” or “etc” folder. Search through these folders to find a file labeled “php.ini”. If you are unable to locate it, trying searching through your web host’s knowledge base to find its location.
Drag this file to somewhere on your local hard drive, and open it up in any text editor. We will be modifying a few values, so you will need to search through the file to find them. For purposes of demonstration, I am going to increase my upload limit to 64 MB. You can go higher than this, but it’s not recommended that you go higher than 128 MB.
The PHP.ini file
A snippet from php.ini
First, find the “memory_limit” value, and change this to 64M (unless this is already set to something higher). Next, find the the “post_max_size” and change this to 64M. Finally, find the “upload_max_filesize” and once again change this to 64M. It is important that we use an “M” to define our filesize limit in megabytes, instead of the commonly used MB. You may also want to find the “max_execution_time” variable and set it to something like 300. This will ensure that your site does not time out when uploading larger files. In the end, your values will look like this:
memory_limit = 64M
upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M
max_execution_time = 300
Though these values will be scattered throughout the file. When you are done, save your file, and drag it back to the directory where your php.ini file is located and overwrite the existing file. It may take a little while for these changes to take effect. If you are on a dedicated server and are able to, you should try restarting your server. If you’re unclear about how to restart your server, check with your web host. Otherwise, make sure your browser and site’s cache is cleared. Hopefully, when you visit Media -> Add New you will see a new maximum upload size, and you’ll be all set.

Uploading your own PHP.ini

If you are unable to find your php.ini file, or if your web host does not give you access to it, you may be able to upload your own file to override the default settings. To do so, create a new file and open it up in your text editor. Then, paste in the following code:
memory_limit = 64M
upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M
file_uploads = On
max_execution_time = 300
Once again, I am setting my upload limit to 64MB, but you can change this value to whatever you want.
Remember your PHP version above? If you are on PHP version 4, then save this file as “php.ini”. If you are on PHP version 5, then save this as “php5.ini”. If you do happen to be running version 5, and the above filename does not work for you, then you can rename it “php.ini” and upload it again.
FTP root directory
The php.ini file using the Cyberduck FTP Client
Then, FTP into your site again, and find the root directory where your WordPress files live. Drag this file into this directory.
Once again, if you have the ability to restart your server you should, then clear your browser and site’s cache. To confirm whether or not this method worked, go to Media -> Add New and check to see if your maximum file size has increased.

Using .user.ini

If that method still isn’t working for you, you may have another option. This will only work if you are using a version of PHP 5. Otherwise, you can skip this section.
Create a new file, and this time call it “.user.ini”. In that file, paste the following code:
upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M
memory_limit = 64M
max_execution_time = 300
You can change the value of 64M to match your new desired upload limit. Save this file, and then drag it into the directory of your WordPress install using FTP. If you have the ability to restart your server, you should do so. The changes may take a bit to take effect, but go to Media -> Add New to confirm.

Trying .htaccess

If you’ve tried the php.ini solutions, and none of them worked, there may be a solution that lies in your htaccess file. In general, htaccess is used to configure an Apache server. However, it can also be used to change PHP values, if your PHP version is set up as an Apache module.
Before you edit your htaccess file, make sure you have a backup. Changing this has the ability to cause an Internal Server Error or a blank white screen, which can easily be removed by simply re-uploading your original htaccess file.
To access your file, go to the root directory of your WordPress install. Make sure that you’ve enabled your FTP client to view hidden files, then open up the file labeled “.htaccess” to edit. At the bottom of the file, paste in this code:
php_value upload_max_filesize 64M
php_value post_max_size 64M
php_value max_execution_time 300
php_value max_input_time 300
Then save this back to your server. Visit your site, and look for any errors. Then, you can go to Media -> Add New to see if your maximum upload size has taken effect. If you run into any problems, upload the backup htaccess file you saved locally.

WordPress Config File

If all else fails, there is one more trick you can try. This will require editing your WordPress files directly.
The first step is to FTP into your server, and drag your “wp-config.php” file, located in the root directory, so that you can edit locally. Open up the file, and at towards the bottom add the line:
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT''64M');
Then upload this file back to the server.
The navigate to your active theme folder in “wp-content” and drag your “functions.php” file to your hard drive so you can edit it. Open it up, and at the very top, insert:
@ini_set'upload_max_size' '64M' );
@ini_set'post_max_size''64M');
@ini_set'max_execution_time''300' );
This may be able to edit your server’s php.ini file at runtime. Historically, this is the most effective solution. But on some older set-ups or shared servers, this can sometimes be effective. once again, clear your browser and site cache, and visit Media -> Add New to see if your new limit has taken effect.

Contacting your Web Host

If none of the above solutions work for you, the next step is to contact your web host. Tell them you want to increase the “memory_limit”, “upload_max_size” and “post_max_size” in your php.ini file. Most hosts will not have a problem doing this. If your hosting service will not let you, or are unresponsive, it may be time to find hosting elsewhere.

Increasing Upload Limit on MAMP

Sometimes, you are developing your site locally and you want to increase your limit there. If you are on a Mac, you may be using MAMP, a local server that gives you access to Apache, MySQL and PHP. In other words, everything you need to run WordPress.
Fortunately, you will have access to your php.ini file in MAMP, you just need to know where to find it. The first step is to go to to the “PHP info” section located on the MAMP homescreen, up at the top. From there, mark down your PHP version.
Once you know that, go to “/Applications/MAMP/bin/php/PHP_VERSION/conf”. In the “php” folder you will see a list of different PHP versions, so make sure you navigate to the version your system is currently running. From there, you can open up the “php.ini” file, and follow the instructions above. Ultimately, you are going to look through the file to change these four variables:
memory_limit = 64M
upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M
max_execution_time = 300
And you’ll be all set with a new upload limit in your local environment.

Increasing Upload Limit on WAMP

The Windows equivalent of MAMP is called WAMP. And like MAMP, you will have access to your php.ini file. To find it, go to “C:\WampDeveloper\Config\Php\php.ini” and open up the php.ini file. Make the changes outlined above, keeping your eye on the four variables that relate to the upload limit in WordPress.
memory_limit = 64M
upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M
max_execution_time = 300
After you change these parameters, the upload limit will be increased.

Finding Your Solution

Unfortunately, there are quite a few things that you may need to try before you can increase the upload limit on your WordPress install. I can’t guarantee that they will work, but hopefully one of these will. If they don’t, don’t hesitate to reach out to your web host for help. A good host will assist you quickly, and get you up and running in no time. PHP configuration is no simple task, but with the meda-rich abilities of WordPress, it may be necessary for you to do so.
Article thumbnail image by Anikei / shutterstock.com
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