How to install JetPack for WordPress

 

In this blog post we’re going to go over how to set up and install the Jetpack plugin on your self-hosted WordPress website.

Jetpack is a plugin created by WordPress.com that bundles the following features into one plugin:

• WordPress.com Stats
• Jetpack Comments
• Subscribe to Posts & Comments
• WordPress Sharing Tools
• Spelling & Grammar Checks (Formerly After the Deadline)
• VaultPress
• Gravatar Hovercards
• Contact Forms
• WP.me Shortlinks
• Shortcode Embeds
• Beautiful Math
• Extra Sidebar Widgets (includes Twitter Fees & RSS links)
• Enhanced Distribution Options

The reason that I consider this plugin to be a necessity to any new WordPress installation is a combination of the WordPress.com Stats and the Spelling & Gramar checks.  Here on my website I also have the Gravatar Hovercards turned on.

Installing Jetpack for WordPress is fairly straight forward.  I have run into some compatibility issues with a few selected hosting companies and can honestly say that Jetpack’s support team is fabulous. I’ve had to contact them on two occasions (they have a support ticket system setup on their websites) to pinpoint issues setting up the plugin and they were helpful and their answers were quiet through.

Today I’ve recorded a video tutorial for you all — Let me apologize in advance for the abrupt ending and various noises in the background. As the work at home Mom of two toddlers I can assure you recording a voice-over during the day will take more than one try.  Okay… 5 to be exact. Anyway, this version is free of fire truck sirens, angry birds music and tattling toddlers. I count that as a win.  Generally I record my voice-overs after the little ones are tucked into bed but I wanted to get this up this afternoon.

One quick note before we get started, I’ve found that it’s helpful to log into your WordPress.com account prior to setting up Jetpack it makes the authorization step a little quicker.  So, if you have a WordPress.com account hop over there and sign in quickly. If you don’t have an WordPress.com account you’ll need to sign up first, you can do that here.

That was quick and painless right? Good news is that all the different options are that simple to set up.

Also, Because it takes about 24 hours for your stats to start displaying I’ve included here a screen shot of the stats screen. I love the information displayed in the stats area:

The top is a graph of daily traffic (you can select daily, weekly or monthly for this area). On the left you’ll see your referrers and you can even access a link to the page the visitor arrived from.  Below that it shows what terms were used in Search Engines to find your site followed by any subscriptions you have on posts/comments at your blog.  In the right hand column it shows your top posts with page views as well as clicks away from your website.

I hope you’ll come back and join me tomorrow for the tutorials on how to easily embed your Google Analytics code as well as set up a dashboard widget for viewing your GA stats.