This post was published earlier on LinkedIn

After learning from the first two articles in this series (see below), we have arrived at this last article to help strengthen your networking skills.

• “5 Steps to Approaching a Stranger at a Networking Event”
• “How to Approach 2-3 People at a Networking Event”

Approaching people at networking events is usually easier, because it is assumes you are at the event to network. Approaching someone on the street, supermarket, or random place is different and can be intimidating. You are in good company; we all have a natural resistance to talking with strangers in public.

In this article I outline proven methods that helped me overcome my natural shyness of talking to strangers in public. The secret is to not come across as threatening and remain relaxed, as mentioned in “5 Steps to Approaching a Stranger at a Networking Event”

“Networking is really about relaxing and being able to make others feel you are relaxed. It is about demonstrating that you are ok with who you are. That you like people and don’t mind spending time with others.”

Below is the previous process where we learned the 5 steps:

1. Visualize a positive outcome
2. SMILE
3. Make eye contact
4. Extend your hand
5. Introduce yourself.

What needs to change?

Not much, but there are some subtle nuances to be aware of when approaching a stranger in public. When you come across a stranger you would like to meet keep in mind that people are generally wary of strangers in public places and they may be thinking:

• “Who is this person?”
• “Is he/she trying to sell me something?”
• “Is it someone religious, wanting to talk about God?”

That means:

• You need to think before you act.
• You need to create a relaxed atmosphere.
• You need to make the other person establish you as being in the ‘friendly’ category.

THINK BEFORE YOU ACT
No matter what approach you take, be sensitive to the other person’s body language and mood.

BODY LANGUAGE
Here are some basics of body language:

• Crossing your arms in front of your chest is not a welcoming gesture. Keeping your arms open and hands in front of your body is more welcoming.
• A person pointing feet and body towards you, instead of away, signals interest in you.
• People avoiding pro-longed eye contact are often shy or insecure.
• Smiling will attract 97% of all the people you meet.

LOOK FOR THE STATE OF A PERSON
In others, you are looking for what I call a “relaxed” or “stiff/hardened” state.

A relaxed state is when a person seems warm, smiles a lot, feels non-threatening. A stiff/hardened state is when a person that doesn’t smile, seems rigid and comes off a little intimidating.

The way you approach a person who is in a relaxed state is just being yourself, since they are already inclined to want to talk to you. ‘Being yourself’ means it does not matter if you are afraid, shy or an introvert, try for a moment to plough though it and trust that no one means you harm. Act natural as you would when you are with your family or friends. For reference, see the 5 steps above.

The way you approach a person in a stiff/hardened state is to smile more, be extra warm, non-intimidating and non-confrontational, and allow them to steer the conversation. These people often need to feel they are in control. They are use to having their way and for the purposes of creating a good conversation it is usually better to allow them to lead most of the time.

As you progress in the conversation they will relax. Keep in mind, non-intimidating doesn’t mean submissive. You can stay firm but work on making the other person feel you are not a threat to them in any way. Over time you will develop the skills necessary to be able to talk to any person in their stiff/hardened state.

Like everything else, it is time and experience that will help you learn. A Google search can reveal many basic body-language guidelines if you want to know more.

MOODS
We all wake up every day in a different mood. You can refer to the moon or time of the month, your astrology sign or a hangover. The fact is, as humans we are moody creatures and we carry this with us as luggage. Consciously or sub-consciously we are broadcasting this to those around us. That means sometimes people are attracted to us because of the mood we emit and other times they are repelled.

Not only do you need to pay attention to what mood you may be broadcasting, but as you approach a stranger that you want to engage, quickly gauge the mood they are in. Do they look like they are:

• Pensive?
• Happy?
• Sad?
• Sleepy?
• Stressed out?

STARTING THE CONVERSATION
Once you feel you have read their body language and mood, start a conversation and look for signs that your conversation is positive, lively, and connecting or just going stale.

You will recognize a lack of connection when you get very short answers like “hey”, “hi”, or “ah”, or get a response like, "Not much" when you ask, “what's going on?”

They could be having a bad day or are pre-occupied with something. If you sense this, excuse yourself, wish them the very best and carry on with your day.

The better you're able to hone in on their body language and mood, the more likely it will be that you'll succeed in striking up a good conversation.

CREATING A RELAXED ATMOSPHERE
This is key. Smiling helps a lot. Respect the other person’s private space. Find a way to bring in the inner-peaceful-you and leave any kind of alpha-male persona at home. Compliments are always welcomed.

We all enjoy compliments, so consider starting the conversation using one. E.g.:

• “Nice shoes, I haven’t seen that style in that color before”
• “That is some very nice make-up you have on. Very subtle”
• “I noticed your watch. Quite classy, I like it”

Always remember if the other person is not responsive to you, don’t be pushy, let go and walk away. Never take it personally. Most likely it has nothing to do with you

BEING FRIENDLY
Try to make eye contact, without being too obvious, and smile. This will make your friendly intentions clear and diffuse any possible tension that could arise.

Say something light, humorous, or topical to first break the ice. Ask leading questions. Remember, a leading question is one that cannot be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

Here are some examples:

• “Hi, my name's Francis. I work around the corner. How about you?”
• “Hi, I’m Jane. How’s the coffee at this place?”
• “You are sporting a neat T-shirt, where did you get it?”

You should always say something to get a response and keep it:

• Simple
• Direct
• Open-ended

ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES
Sometimes I find myself using ‘help questions’. You basically play ‘dumb.’ Next time you’re at the store, you can ask anyone near you the innocent question:

“Would you know where to find soap?”

You may already know where the soap is, but that’s ok. Your purpose is just to get a conversation started.

Help questions work well because they are safe, easy to answer, and give you permission to pop the bubble that exists between strangers. The other person won’t feel weird responding to something so innocent. More importantly, you won’t feel awkward asking.

Another approach is simple ‘spoken out-loud comments’. The next time you are in a public place, say something like:

• “It’s really freezing cold in here…”
• “I’ve been looking for this book everywhere!”
• “Now, that’s what I call great coffee!”

Just like the help question, these comments are innocent and they let others know that you are open to conversation. If someone else feels like talking, they will respond to your comment.

In conclusion, when approaching a stranger in public you need to:

• Strive to be put in the ‘friendly’ category by the other person
• Pay attention to the mood and body language of the other person
• Be simple and direct with open ended questions
• Ask leading questions
• Ask ‘help questions’
• Use ‘spoken out-loud comments’

By using the above methods, you will be able to overcome any natural resistance of talking to strangers in public. Happy Networking!

This concludes the article series on Networking. Hopefully it has given you ideas on how to improve your networking skills. As always, practice makes perfect so give these tips a whirl and I’m sure you’ll soon be a champ!

This post was published earlier on LinkedIn

In the first part of this 3-article series, you learned “5 Steps to Approaching a Stranger at a Networking Event.”

Now, let’s look into how to interact with several strangers at the same time.

Approaching a complete stranger at an event can be challenging, but it is quite common that people cluster into small groups of 2-3 people. Then what do you do?

You may feel intimidated and have thoughts like:

• “I am only one person and there are three of them. I’m too shy”
• “What if they feel I’m bothering them?”
• “What if they don’t let me into their conversation?”

We need to do the same mental visualization that was learned in last article Instead of programming yourself for rejection, inject a positive scenario into your head.

Below is the previous process that we learned, but this time we will add a small twist to it by adding the step in bold:

1. Visualize a positive outcome
2. Observe the group of 2-3 people first
3. Approach and SMILE
4. Make eye contact
5. Extend your hand
6. Introduce yourself.

So why are we observing the group of 2-3 people?

We want to take time to evaluate them.

EVALUATE
This gives you time to access how you should ease into the conversation with them. No one likes a person barging into a conversation and cutting everyone off. Easing into a conversation is a lot like double-dutch rope jumping, where timing is everything.

Take your time to notice the groups symmetry and makeup. See:

• Who is talking the most
• Who seems to smile the most
• Who is quiet
• Who is standing a little to the side

You do this to find a better moment to walk up and join them.

If you can, try to hear parts of the conversation to get something to address when you start speaking.

You are doing this to find a timely moment to walk up and join them.

Naturally, you don’t want to come off as a creepy person, standing in a corner eaves dropping, so you need to make it look natural.

Once you have made up your mind on how and when to approach them, walk up and introduce yourself.

A good approach is to walk up to the one person that is a little bit off to the side of the group, and make sure they are not talking at the time. You’ll find that 4 out of 5 times, there will be such a person in a group.

Here are some examples of things to say:

• “You guys seem like a fun bunch. Mind if I join you?”
• “I hear lots of laughter, may I join this happy bunch? I am Francis…”
• “Hi I am Francis, mind if I join you? I heard you mention California, I lived there…”

You have to trust your gut that people are receptive and that you will find the right time to join the group. It may cause you some anxiety in the beginning but practice will overcome that. If it doesn’t work the first time, try timing the rope and jump in somewhere else.

OVERCOMING ANXIETY
We are naturally shy when confronting a number of strangers and you may find it hard, but as mentioned in part 1: “we are all strangers at a networking event.”

Always remember that others feel just as shy or awkward as you.

Here is one more thing to keep in mind, to relieve any anxiety that you may have, the 2-3 people you are approaching have most likely just met each other. In this case, you will not be a outsider to the conversation. You don’t have to worry that you are breaking up a bunch of life-long friends. You are just another person trying to be friendly and network with others.

Smile, keep calm (relax) and believe in a positive outcome. No one is there to hurt you.

RELAXING
Networking is really more about relaxing and being able to make others feel you are relaxed. It is about demonstrating that you are ok with who you are. That you like people and don’t mind spending time with others. You will find that your confidence will attract others and help you become much more than ‘just another business card.’

AN INITIAL ALTERNATIVE - PARTNERING
In the beginning, if you are not used to approaching groups of people, you may want to partner with another person and walk around together. This way you can tackle new strangers as a team, and it might help you feel less intimated approaching a group.

Hopefully this article can give you further ideas on how to improve networking skills. Please let me know if you have any questions, you can post them in the Comments section below.

After practicing these networking tips, check out the next article on a similar topic: “Overcoming Shyness - How To Approach A Stranger In Public (outside a networking event)”

P.S. I love sharing what I know, that could possibly help others, so feel free to let me know what other networking topics you would like to see in upcoming articles.

This post was published earlier on LinkedIn

This is 1 of a 3 article series about Networking.

Approaching a complete stranger at a networking event is always scary when one isn’t used to it. If you are like myself, you may have thoughts run through your head like:

• “He/She doesn’t look friendly”
• “What if he/she doesn’t smile back?”
• “What if they feel I am bothering them?”

IT’S A NETWORKING EVENT
Let’s keep in mind that we are in a completely controlled setting. This is not like talking to random strangers on a street.You are at an event where networking is expected so let’s change your mindset accordingly.

Instead of programming yourself for rejection, inject a positive scenario.

Easier said than done?

On your next networking opportunity use the steps below and watch networking get easier.

1) Visualize a positive outcome This is really important. Take your time if you need to, but put an image in your head of you and the stranger getting along fabulously

2) SMILE, SMILE, SMILE A smile is non-threatening and does so much to put people at ease. Ask yourself, what facial expressions would you like from someone who is approaching you? I bet a smile would be high on that list.

3) Make eye contact Don’t stare. Just have that relaxed look, while you think: I am looking at you and want to share a moment together as mutual friends in a room full of strangers.

4) Extend your hand It doesn’t have to be some kind of power-move, with your hand on top. Make sure it is a normal (vertical), firm handshake that says: I am comfortable with who I am and I’d like to get to know you. Let’s chat.

5) Introduce yourself.
Your name and little bit about yourself, expressed in a relaxed and casual tone. For extra points, follow-up with a random question that turns focus to the stranger.

Here are some examples:

• “Hi, I am Francis and I had a real long day, today. How was yours?”
• “My name is Bob and I noticed your sneakers. Those are some neat colors. Where did you find them?”
• “Are you feeling awkward too? I am Jane and I’m always nervous at these things. How about you?”
• “Hi nice meeting you. I am Taylor. What brings you here today?”

WE ARE ALL STRANGERS
Remember to everyone else in the room, you are the stranger and others at the venue are just as nervous, awkward feeling and uncomfortable as you.

In fact, you may soon find that approaching people who are standing alone is easy because they are usually happy to meet someone that notices them. Many people are hoping that someone else will make the initial approach. Not only is it appropriate that you approach strangers, but it is most likely that it will be really appreciated.

Many of us regularly attend networking events but truth to be told, few of us actually take the time to study or practice effective networking. Networking is really about relaxing and being able to make others feel you are relaxed. It is about demonstrating that you are ok with who you are, that you like people, and you don’t mind spending time with them. You will find that your confidence will attract others and help you become much more than ‘just another business card.’

Like anything else when practiced, we become better over time. As you become better at starting conversations with strangers, you will find yourself less anxious and nervous. So:

1) Visualize a positive outcome 2) SMILE 3) Make eye contact 4) Extend your hand 5) Introduce yourself.

For additional tips, you may find this link useful:
http://www.wikihow.com/Talk-to-Strangers (with pics)

I hope this article was useful. Hopefully it can give you further ideas on how to improve your networking skills. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments section below.

After practicing this networking tip, check out the next article: “How to Approach 2-3 People at a Networking Event— Networking Quick Tip 2”

PS. I love sharing what I know that could possibly help others, so let me know if you have any specific topics you want addressed on Networking.

This post was published earlier on LinkedIn

On LinkedIn the caliber of posts and interactions has been rising steadily over the last few years, and I'd like to share with you what I've found to work for me.

If you are like me, chances are you are not as good at self-promotion as some of the wizards you see online. They are everywhere you look nowadays.

You may say to yourself:

“I did it, it is done, what is there to talk about?”

"I've done as much as anyone else out there..."

Often times we have accomplished many things without realizing we have and these things deserve mentioning.

So how do we get the word out, when it comes to our accomplishments?

Below is what I learned from other job-hunters, articles, resumes, and interview workshops. These learned skills worked for dozens of my friends, as well as myself.

It turns out after studying what others are doing, in its simplest form, can be summed up in the following 3 steps:

1) look at what you accomplished 2) break it down into its smallest components 3) list every component of the accomplishment as a separate entry

So what do I mean?

Let’s break down a real example and use that as a template for any future LinkedIn entries.

LET’S SAY THAT YOU:
Hired 12 sales people for a large local marketing drive.

Well, did you interview them? Chances are you did and you probably interviewed a lot more than just 12 people, so that is our first item to break out:

• Interviewed 50+ individuals for sales position

Did you assess their qualifications? Most likely you did, so these are our second and third items to break out:

• Assessed qualifications face-to-face
• Processing 100+ resumes

Finally, didn’t you get your co-workers input? You probably did, so that is your fourth item to break out:

• Listened to feedback and implemented changes that improved sales force efficiency by 20%

Basically, keep asking yourself questions of what it took to accomplish the end goal, which was to Hire 12 sales people for a large local marketing drive. If you hired people you have really done a lot. Don’t just say, “I hired some people”

As a good friend of mine said to me: "The most insightful piece of advice that should be shouted in Bold, red flashing text, (well, bold at least), is to provide a specific, measurable example of how you changed something, and add a timeline."

After using the 3-step method above, we could end up with the first example below:

EXAMPLE 1
“Hired 12 sales people for a large local marketing drive”

Possible breakout:

• Interviewed 50+ individuals for sales position
• Assessed qualifications face-to-face and by processing 100+ resumes
• Listened to feedback and implemented changes that improved efficiency of the sales force by 20%

Take a look at a few more examples below to get the hang of it.

EXAMPLE 2
“5+ years of engineering experience in cloud computing”

Possible breakout:

• Continuously assessed best cloud solution for the company based on required user functionality
• Over a 5 year period, analyzed required specifications to custom build server solutions
• Optimized database calls based on user feedback to double processing speed and shortened loading times by 70%

EXAMPLE 3
“Drove a taxi for 12 years in the Greater New York Area”

Possible breakout:

• Provided transportation/service for 12 years
• Successfully serviced 2,000+ clients
• Proven safe driver with exceptional driving skills
• Expertise in optimizing travel routes in the Greater New York Area

ISN’T THIS ALL A BIT SILLY?
Some may say we are ‘hyping’ the message (building it up to make ourselves look good) and that it may be silly that we have to break things out and explain further. But in all fairness, others are not inside our head and often times they cannot connect the dots. This must be done for them. Break down the effort, list every component and describe each thing you did. You’ll be surprised to find out how much work goes into it.

So where did I learn this? I looked at other LinkedIn profiles. One profile stood-out in the way he captured accomplishments and listed them in a manner that was easy to digest.

Guy Klages is an old friend that I hired in a previous company. He has a good profile, that you can go through and learn from. Knowing Guy, I’m sure he’d also be happy to connect with you. He is an author who has written some excellent articles that can further help you understand more of how to write a good LinkedIn profile.. I know I learned a few tips from his profile. You can find one of Guy's articles here: 13 Active Ways to Make Employers (or Clients) Find You on LinkedIn

A FINAL TIP
Before you start making drastic changes to your LinkedIn profile, turn off broadcasts. This will ensure everyone does not receive multiple email notices from every change made to your profile.

HOW TO TURN OFF ACTIVITY BROADCASTS

1. Hover over your photo/name in the upper right
2. Click "Privacy & Settings"
3. Re-enter your password
4. In the "Profile" section, click "Turn on/off your Activity Broadcasts"
5. Deselect the checkbox
6. Then turn it back on for the final change (optional)

Thanks for taking the time to read through this article. Hopefully it can give you further ideas on how to improve your own LinkedIn profile.

See my profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/morrisfrancis as an example (feel free to add me), and let me know if you have any questions in the Comments section below.

After applying these tips to your profile, check out my next article “How to Approach a Stranger at a Networking Event - Networking Quick Tip 1”

PS. Let me know if you have any specific topics you want addressed on Networking.

Meta data is used to help search engines find your content and rank it properly on search results. It is not as important as it used to be in regards to SEO, except for one aspect:
The search result preview - What you see when doing a search on Google.

You can basically control what you want Goggle to display in the search listing (marked in red above in the screenshot.) Above is an example of the article: 'Setting Up Ghost' that I wrote a while back.

Ghost has Meta Data built-in

So ghost has this nifty functionality built in, where you can add the meta data for each article you write and you can even add the meta data for tag sections.

What's nifty about it is that you can get a preview of how it will look like on Google. So basically changes you make can be seen instantly without waiting for google to crawl your site first.

I wasn't sure how it worked though, so I reached out to Ghost support and asked.

"CLARIFYING YOUR EXPLANATION
So Ghost IS taking the title of the post, along with the first 160 characters of the first paragraph and using it for the Meta Data EVEN if the meta data was not manually filled in?"

Yes. That is correct. :)

After talking to the good Ghost folks i found out that the default behavior of meta data should be that the title and first 160 characters are being automatically grabbed by Ghost to feed the Google search result listing.

Don't always trust automation though...

So without filling in any meta data, Ghost will just grab the title and description automatically from the post and use for the meta data for search result and that means, theoretically, you don't have to really do anything.

However, I still strongly suggest you manually add the meta data because according to my own tests it seems safer and yields more accurate results.

Since Google plays a large role in how the search result will look like you garner more control filling in the meta data manually and not rely completely on Ghost to do it for you.

What do you mean?

Well, let's take a look at the Meta Data function

This is the Ghost admin panel preview, (without me filling in the meta data). Notice how the preview shows a nice listing. I basically thought that was the listing Google would use by default.

This is what actually showed up in Google, (without me filling in the meta data), and that is clearly wrong...

This is the Ghost admin panel preview, (AFTER filling in the meta data)

And this is what shows up in Google, (after I manually filled in the meta data.) As we can see that looks more accurate.

Notice how now the Google description matches exactly what I wrote in the Ghost admin panel meta data

Is this a the way it should be?

Well Ghost is trying it's best but Google has some say, in what will be listed, therefore, it is better to not rely completely on the default Ghost Meta Data feature and STILL fill in the meta data manually for each post

CONCLUSION

For now make sure to remember adding the meta data manually to increase the chance that your content will be found and clicked on by users searching on Google.

Refs
https://help.ghost.org/hc/en-us/articles/223237728-Post-Settings-Overview#add-meta-data
https://www.ghostforbeginners.com/adding-a-custom-meta-title-and-description

When changing a theme or when editing theme files you will not always see the changes immediately. This has to do with how the Ghost works. Below are some answers on how to deal with this situation

SELF-HOSTED GHOST BLOGS

WHEN CHANGING A THEME - RESTART GHOST !

In production mode, the template files are loaded and cached by the server ready to send to the browser. This means that if you add a new theme OR just make changes to a theme, e.g. change a *.hbs file, you won't see those changes reflected UNLESS YOU RESTART GHOST. This doesn't happen in development mode, and so pages will take a little longer to get generated, but it makes creating your theme much easier.

This includes editing and making a change to any theme file (e.g. .css, .js, .hbs file)

HOW TO RESTART GHOST

service 'name-of-blog' restart

where 'name-of-blog' is the name, WITHOUT the quotation marks, of your startup script in /etc/init directory. (usually it is just 'ghost')
Running this command usually does the trick and should enable you to see your changes.

RUNNING GHOST IN DEVELOPMENT MODE TO SEE CHANGES IMMEDIATELY

When you develop a theme it is tiring to have to go through each step above. Not to worry, the Ghost folk's have you covered. You can put Ghost in Development mode and then you can work on a theme and see changes immediately. That is done the following way:

Provided that you have remembered to set your config.js properly you can start Ghost in development mode, when inside the Ghost folder, by running this command

npm start

CAVEAT

Ghost won't detect new files automatically, but it will pick up changes to those files once it knows about them (providing you're in development mode). Remember to restart Ghost if you add a new .hbs file. Apart from this, you'll only need to refresh the page to see your changes.

So basically, while edits to existing handlebars, js and css files are handled & updated on the fly when in development mode, you will need to restart Ghost each time you add or remove a file from the theme directory for it to be recognized and used.

UPDATE

Starting with Ghost 0.9 there is a new theme manager that is pretty cool and that allows you to upload zipped themes the same way Ghost(Pro) users do. Thanks to this new theme upload manager, you no longer need to restart Ghost each time you make a change. Just upload the theme, click 'activate' and the theme gets implemented immediately. See screenshot

GHOST(Pro) BLOGS

Just upload your theme as a zipped file and it will be detected automatically by Ghost. Once it is uploaded, click on either Activate now to activate the theme immediately or Close if you want to activate it later on.
No need to re-start Ghost

CAVEAT

Sometimes, (very very seldom), I have noticed this auto-detection is not happening or weird things occur with the theme. DON'T PANIC!

Usually it is the Ghost folk's that are rolling out a major theme update and that may affect the hosted customer systems. Just wait a few hours and the issues usually disappear. If you can't wait send an email to support@ghost.org

Reference Links:
http://themes.ghost.org
https://www.ghostforbeginners.com/how-to-install-a-ghost-theme
https://www.ghostforbeginners.com/how-to-configure-ghost-to-run-in-either-development-or-production

Every now and then you may want to just copy a Ghost blog so you don't have to set it up from scratch. This tutorial will explain how to do that. That said, this tutorial doesn't go into the 'why' of many commands and instructions.

There are already tons of great ghost tutorials that explain the inner workings of ghost and how to setup a ghost instance. Consider this post more like a reference document on what you need to remember to do when copying a Ghost instance.

WHAT TO UNDERSTAND

• the example is from a DigitalOcean droplet (Ubuntu) but can be used on any linux flavor
• this tutorial will show you how to copy a complete Ghost instance but whether that is the best thing you should do, (instead of starting from scratch), is up to you to decide
• I use this method when I want to make a new Ghost blog using a pre-made Ghost setup and then just make minor changes on the new copy.
• all commands are run as root

In this example we will copy one of my pre-existing Ghost blogs and rename it to 'lab' so I can use it as a test bed, in the future, to try new things on

The components of the instance that we will copy and modify:

• the Ghost directory (holds the database and images)
• the config.js file (the Ghost config file)
• the etc/nginx/sites-available file (nginx settings file for Ghost)
• the etc/nginx/sites-enabled symlink file (activates the settings file, making it available to nginx)
• the start file in the /etc/init directory (used to start the Ghost instance)

Ok, let's do it!

Using unix command line, navigate to the Ghost directory where you keep your blogs.
In my case it is /var/www

cd /var/www

The name convention I use for my Ghost blogs is based on the sub domain name but you can use any name convention you want.

Creating the new blog instance

I am going to copy the directory 'ghost.skillshub.info' into a new directory called 'lab.skillshub.info'

cp -R ghost.skillshub.info lab.skillshub.info

But since I am doing this as root the new directory and files will have the wrong owner and group.

We need to change that to the user 'ghost' - That is down this way:

[change user]
chown -R ghost lab.skillshub.info

[change group]
chgrp -R ghost lab.skillshub.info

So now we have an exact copy of our original Ghost blog. Basically, everything your original Ghost instance had is transferred to the new copy. (this includes, same admin login password, content, images and any kind of subscribers)

Changing the config.js file

But we need to change the config.js file to match this new instance of the Ghost blog

Open the config.js file with nano

nano lab.skillshub.info/ghost/config.js

We need to change the URL and the port to match our new Ghost instance

Let's change it to lab.skillshub.info and port 2050

The port can be anything you want. Just make sure it doesn't conflict with another Ghost blog that you have on the same server. I tend to use increments of 10 starting from the 2010

Activating the new Ghost instance

Now we need to activate the new Ghost instance and allow nginx to recognize it.

That is why we need to copy and modify the other files described above. This will enable nginx to start up the new Ghost instance for us. Let's go to the etc/nginx/sites-available folder

cd /etc/nginx/sites-available

The name convention I use for the nginx setting files is based on the sub domain name but you can use any naming convention you want.

Copy the settings file

cp ghost.skillshub.info lab.skillshub.info

Using nano, let's change the content of this new settings file to match the new Ghost instance

nano lab.skillshub.info

Let's change to lab.skillshub.info and port 2050

Now let's go to the etc/nginx/sites-enabled folder and enable the new Ghost instance, (lab.skillshub.info), by adding a symlink

cd /etc/nginx/sites-enabled

Create a new symlink file to enable the new Ghost instance

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/lab.skillshub.info

Creating the start file for the new Ghost instance

Lastly we go to the /etc/init directory where the start files are kept

cd /etc/init

The name convention I use for the Ghost start files is based on the 'gh-' + sub domain name + .conf but you can use any naming convention you want.

Copy the start file to make a new one

cp gh-ghost.conf gh-lab.conf

Using nano, let's change the content of this new start file to match the new Ghost instance

nano gh-lab.conf

Let's change the path to /var/www/lab.skillshub.info/ghost

YAY! - We are done!

We just need to tell nginx that we have added a new Ghost instance. We do that by restarting nginx.

service nginx restart

Now all we have to do to start the new Ghost instance is use are new startup file, (gh-lab), and run this command:

service gh-lab start

THE GOTCHA'S

DNS - You have to remember to set up a new sub-domain for this blog so that you can see it. That is explained at the bottom of this post.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

DNS MUST BE SETUP

Since I created a new Ghost instance that will live at the URL: lab.skillshub.info we need to make sure that the 'lab' sub-domain is set up. On DigitalOcean Droplets that is done through the Network tab of the admin Panel. We need to create a new CNAME.

You can read more on how to setup all things DNS on DigitalOcean here:
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-and-test-dns-subdomains-with-digitalocean-s-dns-panel

If you have a different hosting provider the procedure is pretty similar. Just find the DNS admin panel that your hosting provider offers and make your changes there.

ONE LAST REMINDER: when copying a ghost instance, the components that need to be modified are:

1. the Ghost blog directory (holds the database and images)
2. the config.js file in the ghost directory (the Ghost config file)
3. the /etc/nginx/sites-available file (nginx settings file for Ghost)
4. the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled symlink file (activates the settings file, making it available to nginx)
5. the start file in the /etc/init directory (used to start the Ghost instance)

Reference Links:
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-and-test-dns-subdomains-with-digitalocean-s-dns-panel

So if you look to your right on this page, you'll see one or two sidebars with posts. (Featured & Latest)

I spent hours making that work and was often scratching my head because no matter what I tried, it just wouldn't work. And that didn't make sense since the theme this blog is built with comes with this nifty sidebar feature.

After checking the theme code over and over again I stumbled upon the answer by mere chance. It turns out that Ghost offers extra functionality using something called a {{get}} helper. This is something new and below I include an extract from Ghost support docs:

In Ghost 0.7.2 we have added a first ‘beta’ version of API access, which gives you access to the new {{get}} helper and the embeddable ghost.url.api() helper for making ajax requests. This can be enabled via a checkbox on the labs page in your Ghost admin panel. See screenshot:

Don't make the same mistake I did so make sure to enable this functionality BEFORE you play around with themes as they may need it to make certain expected functionality work.

Reference Links:
http://support.ghost.org/public-api-beta
http://themes.ghost.org/docs/recent-featured-sidebar

Finding free non-copyrighted images can take a while and in my humble opinion, it just isn't worth spending that time just to avoid paying a few bucks for quality blog graphics.

That said, you also don't want to pay through your nose for a subscription that you'll never use or that you'll only need for a short while so finding a stock image library service that charges fairly is imperative. I recommend Stockunlimited

Stockunlimited is a great stock image library service

I signed up with Stockunlimited and I highly recommend you do too.

The reason I like them is because they don't charge a fee per image, like many other image libraries do, but instead they give you complete access to all images, graphics, photos, infographics and icons in their library, for as long as your account is active.

Other reasons I recommend them:

• They have never failed me in finding an image I needed
• The image searches are very fast
• The interface is very intuitive and easy to use
• They have a great licensing deal that is fair

Stockunlimited's library contains 600,000 Premium Vectors & Photos

• The monthly fee is only $9
• A lifetime deal is also available for $89

Check out the Stockunlimited FAQ to understand their service better.

Finding non-copyrighted images on Google

If you still want to find free graphics and don't minding spending the time, use Google image search in the following way to make sure that what you find is not copyrighted:

1. Go to www.google.com and click 'Images'.
2. Type the image you want to find then click search.
3. You will see the images related to your search but for a more refined search, click the crank wheel icon, (top right), and then choose ‘Advanced Search’.
4. You will see a page where you can type your specifications for a more refined search.
5. When looking for pictures to use for a published project, refer to the usage rights section and make sure they are NOT copyrighted by choosing 'free to use or share, even commercially'
   
6. When you’re done typing your specifications, click ‘Advanced Search’.
7. You are done! The results will follow the specifications that you have indicated in the Advanced Image Search Settings.

Google also offer courses where you can learn how to become a search master. See link below

Reference Links:
http://www.stockunlimited.com
http://www.powersearchingwithgoogle.com

Normally you login securely to your server using SSH on port 22. This port is often attacked by automatic bots trying to break into your server. By using SSH keys you basically 'tie' your work computer to the server and it will be the only device allowed to login to the server.

WHAT TO UNDERSTAND

• Most tutorials show you how to secure the root account only using this method.
• This tutorial will show you how to secure any user account on the server with SSH keys

Ok, let's do it! - Here are the commands:

TO DO ON YOUR LOCAL COMPUTER/DEVICE
(1) Create the RSA Key Pair. (On the client machine. Probably your computer)

ssh-keygen -t rsa

(2) Store the Keys and Passphrase
Once you have entered the Gen Key command, you will get a few more questions:

Enter file in which to save the key (/home/demo/.ssh/id_rsa):

You can press enter here, saving the file to the user home (in this case, my example user is called demo).

Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):

I usually leave the passphrase empty to keep login easy. (Just hit return)
After running the command:

the public key is now located in /home/demo/.ssh/id_rsa.pub 
the private key (identification) is now located in /home/demo/.ssh/id_rsa

(3) Copy the Public Key
Once the key pair is generated, it's time to place the public key on the virtual server that we want to use.

ssh-copy-id user@123.45.56.78

Now you can go ahead and log into user@12.34.56.78 and you will not be prompted for a password.

Most people will use above to protect the root account e.g. ssh-copy-id root@123.45.56.78 but you can use this command from your local computer to upload your SSH key to ANY user account. e.g. ssh-copy-id francis@123.45.56.78

Another way to get the public key on to the server is to login to the server and manually edit the 'authorized_keys' file that is in the .ssh directory of each users home directory. E.g. nano .ssh/authorized_keys (just paste the public key into this file)

TO DO ON YOUR SERVER (basically login with e.g. ssh root@123.45.56.78)
(4) Disable the Password for Root Login (optional)

This is done on the server by editing the sshd_config file

nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Within that file, find the line that includes PermitRootLogin and modify it to ensure that root can only connect with an SSH key:

PermitRootLogin without-password 

Don't get confused by the wording 'without-password'. It just means that password authentication is DISABLED for root. It does NOT mean that root can login with an empty password

Basically PermitRootLogin specifies whether root can log in using ssh(1). The argument must be “yes”, “without-password”, “forced-commands-only”, or "no”. The default is “yes”. IF this option is set to “without-password”, password authentication is DISABLED for root. Thus without-password allows root login ONLY with public key authentication

(5) Disable password authentication for all users (also optional)
In the same file, find the line that includes PasswordAuthentication and modify it to ensure that ALL users must have an SSH key to connect. (regular password authentication will be disabled)

PasswordAuthentication no 

Do not implement step 5 above until you have first uploaded the SSH key to EACH user account using the ssh-copy-id command (step 3.) Because once this has been implemented, NO user account can login using a password. ONLY logins using an SSH Key will be allowed.

Put these changes into effect by using any of these commands:

service ssh restart OR reload ssh

Most of above came from this great tutorial that you should read if you want to know more: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-ssh-keys--2

THE GOTCHA'S

LOCAL COMPUTERS - REMEMBER to implement above for each local computer that you are going to use to access your server

CONFIG FILE - Do not edit the sshd_config file until you have implemented SSH keys on all user accounts and on all computers you are going to use to connect to your server. If you do, the ssh-copy-id command will be blocked as you try to upload the SSH keys.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Security

You need to decide WHAT users you wish should be able to access the server and THEN you can decide how tight you want your security to be. Below are some scenarios listed for you that can guide you:

Who will access the server?

JUST YOU [most secure]
Implement all steps, 1-5

YOU AND A DEVELOPER/S [secure and flexible]
Implement steps 1-4

YOU AND THE REST OF THE WORLD [flexible]
Do nothing (not recommended)

Security and flexibility don't always go hand in hand.
You need to decide what is more important to you - flexibility or security.

Reference Links:
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-ssh-keys--2

Many people nowadays want to make a quick profile pic that is round. Often though, they don't have design software like Photoshop installed on their computers.

This post teaches you how to use an app that is already installed on your Macbook. It is called Preview and using it, you'll be able to make round profile images in less than 30 seconds. You can then apply your new image on your Ghost blog. (or anything else for that matter)

WHAT TO UNDERSTAND

• The recommended OSX app to use is the built-in app, Preview
• This will not work on a windows computer as Windows doesn't have the Preview app installed

WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO

We'll take this cute profile image [square image]

and turn it into this nice round profile image (in less than 30 seconds)

Ok, let's do it!

(1a) By double clicking any image on your computer, you should be able to open it in Preview. But if that doesn't work then just search for your Preview app

(1b) Open your image with the Preview app

NOTE: Make sure to always have a backup of your source image, in case something goes wrong and you want to start over.

(2) Once the image is opened in Preview, look at the Preview toolbar and turn on the toolbox by clicking this icon

(3) Look for the round lasso tool

(4) Draw a circle where you want a round version of your image

TIP: Hold down the SHIFT key to make an even and perfect circle!

(5) Now we will crop the pic to remove all the unwanted areas by clicking the 'crop' button

TIP: You can also use the keyboard shortcut '⌘K' key to crop the image faster

(6) Voilà, your round profile image is done!

(7) Save and you can start using your new round profile image anywhere you want

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

PREVIEW

Preview is also excellent to use when wanting to make image annotations. Have a look around in the toolbox to find other useful tools you can use to manipulate your images with.

OTHER METHODS

Of course, there are other ways to make round profile images. You can use various image software to accomplish the same thing. And there is online services now that you can use. One popular platform independent service many people seem to use is: PicMonkey
(Perfect if you are on a Windows computer and don't have a Mac around)

Reference Links:
https://www.picmonkey.com

So the internet is an ever-changing beast and many services on it, change as well. That includes Google Apps. Now it is called G Suite and many things that used to be free, just aren't anymore.

This isn't really a Ghost blog related post but it so happens I was doing this so I just decided to document it. Hopefully it will help somebody in the same situation

I few weeks ago I found myself needing to drop an old email domain and start using another one. Both of them were created during the free Google Apps days so they both have free email accounts under their respective domains.

To make that switch isn't that hard. A few changes at the DNS level and voilà you are done!
The issue kicks in when needing to MOVE all the emails in each account from the old domain to the new one. That is no longer something Google supports for free. Only the paid plans have an domain-wide import/export solution.

This article provides one solution you can use to transfer all your email fairly effortlessly between your old and new accounts.

WHAT TO UNDERSTAND

• The service to use is a pop3 function that Google offers in the account settings
• The function is called "Check mail from other email accounts"
• No emails are downloaded to your local computer
• All emails are transferred between Googles servers
• you can set it up, walk away and come back a few days later to have everything ready for you
• Google will automatically scan all your emails during transfer and stop any virus-infected emails from being transferred (you will also get a note from Google about which exact email is infected)
• Use two browsers at the same time. One to login to your source account and the other one to login to your destination account
• NOTE: this process will NOT transfer any labels you may have set up in the old account. (only emails are being transferred)

Ok, let's do it!

(1) Login to your Google source account

(2) Turn on pop3 on the source account for ALL email
(This will allow your other google account to login and start the email copy process, including attachments)

Make sure to choose the setting "keep a copy in the Inbox." That will make sure your emails are copied and not 'moved'. This way you still have a copy in the source account in case something goes wrong.

(3) Login to the receiving account (destination)

(4) Add the source account in the settings of the receiving account (destination), by going to the setting: "Check mail from other email accounts" and click: Add a mail account

Below are screenshots that show you what the process looks like

a) Add the email address to the source account

b) fill in the necessary access codes

You should always choose pop server: 'pop.gmail.com' and port '995'. The remaining check boxes are self-explanatory. I checked the box that says "Label incoming messages: because I wanted to, (in the future), be able to distinguish what emails came from old account. NOTE: There is no need to check "Leave a copy of retrieved message on the server" because we have already set that in the source accounts setting

c) if access codes are correct a new window will show up as per below

d) Once the access to the source account has been added, the copy process will begin

e) You can keep track of the process by clicking "View history" from time to time

At some point you'll see that no more mails are being fetched, which can take hours to days, depending on how many email you have in your account. It took 48 hours for one of my accounts to transfer 9 years worth of emails (around 94,000 emails)

(5) Once the process is done you need to do some clean-up work. In your source account, you should stop "Check mail from other accounts" by deleting the source account that you added earlier.
(Don't worry, this will NOT delete the source account or any emails. You are just severing the connection)

(6) BONUS FEATURE (optional) Although you will be using the new email account moving forward, you may still want to keep getting emails from the old source account. There is a way you can do that without having to constantly login to the old source account.

a) Login to the OLD SOURCE ACCOUNT and set up a forwarding address

b) Add the address to your receiving account (destination)

c) After typing in the email address of your new email account, a confirmation code will be sent to that email address.

d) Once you have retrieved the confirmation code, paste it in

e) Now all we need to do is activate the forwarding address we just created (don't forget to save your settings by clciking 'save' button at the bottom of the settings page)

(7) Since we are still in the source account we might want to also turn off pop3 access

You will know that pop3 is disabled when you see this:

THE GOTCHA'S

LOGIN PROBLEMS - You may run into some issues when you are able to login to pop3. When that happens you'll find possible answers at Google's great "Check emails from other accounts" help page: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/21289#gmail
(look at the section "Server denied POP3 access")

THE "USE LESS SECURE APPS" SETTING - Google may ask you to temporarily change a setting in the source account. That setting can be hard to find. Provided you are logged into your source account, below links should take you to the right place:

• https://myaccount.google.com/security OR
• https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

MORE TUTORIALS & HELP

This tutorial covers moving emails only. If you have more things you want to move between google email accounts, I recommend this article:
http://www.howtogeek.com/148036/how-to-migrate-your-google-account-to-a-new-one/

A different method is used but it works just as well AND this method also brings over email labels since IMAP is used instead of pop3.

Follow the tutorials step-by-step, have patience and you'll soon have all your emails safely moved.

Reference Links:
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/21289#gmail
http://www.howtogeek.com/148036/how-to-migrate-your-google-account-to-a-new-one/

Ok so you now have a blog and you want to interact with your users. When doing so, an email that comes from your own domain looks much better that just randomname@gmail.com.

Since G Suite, (formerly known as Google Apps), have stopped offering free email accounts, you need to find another service to use, if you are on a budget.

This post talks about a free option to Google but IF you don't mind paying USD50/year/account then G Suite is still, (in my opinion), the better choice.

WHAT TO UNDERSTAND

• The recommended service to use is Zoho Mail
• You use these email accounts to communicate with your subscribers
• Zoho is a free alternative to Googles G Suite

Ok, let's do it!

(1) Sign up for your free plan here: https://mail.zoho.com/biz/mailsignup.do?plan=free
Below is a screenshot of the sign-up page

If you want an additional 5 free users on your plan you can use my referral code: WX7rB1My and add it later, (once your domain is setup.)

(2) Just follow Zoho's instructions that are pretty clear and straight forward. You'll be taken through a setup process that looks like this:

(3) Once the setup process is done, you'll see this page:

THE GOTCHA'S

SUPER USER - When you set up an account with Zoho, the email you choose during the setup process WILL be the Super user and will be the email account used to control the whole domain. This can't be changed later so I suggest you pick a name like 'admin@yourdomain.com'

That said, if you are the only one that is going to use this domain and don't need to separate between admin a regular user, then go ahead and use your own name, just remember that you will be the admin as well and if someone hacks your account, they will not only have access to your email but also to the entire admin panel on Zoho.

TURN ON IMAP - Once the whole setup process is done, Zoho will give you the directions for how to setup an email client to connect to your email account/s using IMAP

What they don't tell you is that you must FIRST go into the admin panel for the domain, (using the Super User), and turn on IMAP for each user that is going to use it.

IF you do not turn this on for each user, the user will NOT be able to login to IMAP with an email client, no matter if the account credentials are actually correct.

MOBILE PHONE - To create an account on Zoho Mail you MUST provide a cell phone number. It doesn't necessarily have to be a US number. It can be from anywhere in the world. Zoho needs that to send you an authentication code that you use during the setup process.

What is important to remember that for the free plan you can only use ONE phone number per email domain that you are setting up. To set up another account on Zoho you'll need to use a different mobile phone number. Only paid plans can use one Zoho account, managing several email domains.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

GETTING MORE USER ACCOUNTS FOR FREE

If you want an additional FIVE free users on your plan, use my referral code: WX7rB1My to get it. (I also receive an 5 extra users.) - That is done in your admin panel here: Claim Your 5 Free Bonus Users

SPF & DKIM

What's DKIM and SPF? They're two effective email signatures against spoofing, phishing or impersonation. When recipients receive your emails, their spam filters automatically poke your domain to see if those signatures are real, (not forged), and then delivers your emails to the recipients without blocking them or marking them as spam.

During part of the setup process Zoho will guide you through how to setup some DNS txt records, (SPF & DKIM.) Here are some useful things to know that happened to me.

① Setting up SPS is the easiest and goes into effect pretty much immediately. BUT for some reason the Zoho admin panel will still tell you during the setup that it hasn't been set up properly, EVEN if you already have done it correctly on the DNS side. Give it a few hours and it'll be fine.

② DKIM is a bit more complicated to set up using Zoho's tools, (I found the interface to be a bit confusing). It will take longer to start working and again, the Zoho admin panel will still tell you during the setup that it hasn't been set up properly even if you have actually done it correctly.

You can use tools like https://www.mail-tester.com/spf-dkim-check to test your SPF & DKIM and if it says that they are fine, then everything IS fine EVEN if Zoho says otherwise. Just give the Zoho servers a few hours to catch up and then the warnings messages should stop.

③ Zoho also offers other functionality e.g. CRM and Google Docs alternatives.

Reference Links:
https://mail.zoho.com/biz/mailsignup.do?plan=free
https://mail.zoho.com/cpanel/referral.do

It is used to allow your users to contact you without you having to reveal your email address on the site.

Why set up this functionality?

Once users fill in the contact form, you'll get a notification via email with their message. And if you use an embedded form solutions provider, you'll get access to a form builder and a basic admin panel that keeps track of the users filling in your contact form.

What to understand

There are many embedded form solutions available, all of which can be integrated in the same way. I picked Wufoo but you could easily use below steps with any other embedded form solutions provider. And at the bottom I also recommend a new form provider: Paperform. (They easily blow everybody else out of the water)

The wonderful Ghost folks made a tutorial using a different provider - 123ContactForm.com. Below tutorial is based on theirs but using Wufoo instead.

How long will it take?

It took me 20 minutes and was pretty straight forward

Ok, let's do it!

Login to your Ghost blog

Using your admin user credentials, log in to your blog.

Create a static page

This page will be used to house your contact form on.

• Click on "New Post" from the top of your admin navigation menu
• Provide a title for your page
• Edit the post settings of your page by clicking on the "gear" icon next to the "Save draft" button and check "Turn this post into a static page"
• Publish your static page

Take note of what your static page's URL is. For example, if your contact page is called "Contact Us," the page URL would be /contact-us/. You will need to use this page URL in a later step.

Create a custom page template

In our theme folder we need to create template for the static page we just made. The fastest way is to copy the template 'page.hbs' and rename the copy to 'page-contact-us.hbs'. This way we can re-use all the code that is already in 'page.hbs'

Page templates must always start out with 'page-' and then include the page URL after the hyphen. So, for example: If you have a contact page with a page URL of "contact-us" your page template name would be "page-contact-us.hbs"

Create an account with Wufoo

Follow Wufoo's easy step-by-step form building process. It is really self-explanatory but if you want to see screenshots of the process, the Ghost for Beginners site has it in this tutorial.

Remember to setup email notifications

Wufoo will ask you to setup the email address you want the contact form to send the messages to. It'll look something like this:

Access the form embed code on Wufoo

Copy the javascript embed code
This embed code will need to be pasted into the page template we created earlier. ('page-contact-us.hbs')

Paste the embed code into your page template

Depending on where you'd like your form to appear on your contact page, you'll want either paste the form embed code before or after the {{content}}. E.g. if you'd like the form to display AFTER your contact page content, you would paste your form code after the bit of code that looks similar to this:

THE GOTCHA'S

RESTART GHOST - You have to remember to restart Ghost, once you have finished making changes to the 'page-contact-us.hbs' file.

CHANGE THEME - The default theme for Wufoo is pretty 'old looking' but in the form builder tool you have the option of changing the theme. Just click the 'Apply Theme' button and pick a new theme for your form. I suggest the themes: Kingfisher or Lilypad

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Contact form on your own server

Although I picked an embedded form solution, (mainly because it is easier and faster to set up), you can also build your own contact form powered by your own server. This guy has done it successfully and I strongly recommend his guide: Adding A Contact Form Using Mailgun by James Murphy

Why did you pick Wufoo?

I picked them because after taking a look at the forms from 123ContactForm.com, they felt 'old and outdated'. Wufoo seemed to have a lot more templates and they also came highly recommended on the web. e.g. by Zapier

The form came out ok and if you want to see it - go here: Wufoo Contact form

UPDATE

Early 2017 I implemented a new type of form provided by the WONDERFUL Paperform people

Here is that article: Using Paperform To Set Up A Form On Ghost

They blow any other form maker, out of the water, and I only have good things to say about them. Their pricing is very fair and making the switch was easy and painless. Embedding their code was faster and less confusing then adding the Wufoo form. Also, I find that the new contact form loads faster and is definitely prettier! CLICK HERE TO SEE THE NEW AND IMPROVED CONTACT FORM

Reference Links:
http://academy.ghost.org/adding-a-contact-form-to-your-ghost-blog
https://www.ghostforbeginners.com/adding-a-contact-form-to-ghost-with-wufoo
http://devangst.com/how-to-add-contact-form-to-your-ghost-blog-using-mailgun

This article talks about two different ways to start ghost and make it persistent on ubuntu using startup scripts. Ubuntu being a linux distribution belonging to the Debian family has gone a through a recent change between distributions 14.04 and 16.04 in terms of how startup scripts are implemented.

What to understand

In recent years, Linux distributions have increasingly transitioned from other init systems to systemd. The systemd suite of tools provides a fast and flexible init model for managing an entire machine from boot onwards.

Ghost used to be started at system boot with Ubuntus Upstart init system (14.04 and earlier)
Now Ghost is started using Systemd (15.04 and later)

How to start Ghost & have it start itself after a server reboot

Using the Startup method (Ubuntu 14.04 and earlier)

Starting Ghost - The command npm start --production only starts ghost from command line. It doesn't run Ghost persistently nor restart it after reboots. Follow these instructions to fix that:

NOTE: you have to make sure you run everything as the root user

a) cd /etc/init
b) nano NAME.conf (where NAME is the name of your ghost blog)
I use the prefix gh- for all my ghost blogs e.g. gh-heap.conf
c) paste below into the file:

# Ghost Blog Startup script - ghost.skillshub.info
start on startup
script
cd /PATH/TO/YOUR/GHOST/BLOG
npm start --production
end script

d) now start ghost by using this command: service NAME start

Here are some PATH EXAMPLES - substitute /PATH/TO/YOUR/GHOST/BLOG with e.g. "/srv/users/serverpilot/apps/APPNAME/public/" or "/var/www/heap.skillshub.info/ghost" or wherever your Ghost files are located on the server

Using the Systemd method (Ubuntu 15.04 and later)

Starting Ghost - Is done slightly differently with Systemd. You need to create a file NAME.service in /etc/systemd/system/ (where NAME is the name of your ghost blog) I use the prefix gh- for all my ghost blogs e.g. gh-heap.service.)

NOTE: Make sure you run everything as the root user and then follow below instructions.

a) cd /etc/systemd/system/   
b) nano NAME.service 
c) paste below into the file:

# Place in /etc/systemd/system/NAME.service
[Unit]
Description=Ghost Blog Startup script - ghost.skillshub.info 
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple  
PIDFile=/run/NAME.pid  

# WorkingDirectory is the directory you installed Ghost to
WorkingDirectory=/PATH/TO/YOUR/GHOST/BLOG
User=ghost  
Group=ghost  
ExecStart=/usr/bin/npm start --production  
ExecStop=/usr/bin/npm stop /PATH/TO/YOUR/GHOST/BLOG  
StandardOutput=syslog  
StandardError=syslog

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target  

d) now start ghost by using this command: service NAME start

PATH EXAMPLES - substitute /PATH/TO/YOUR/GHOST/BLOG with e.g. "/srv/users/serverpilot/apps/APPNAME/public/" or "/var/www/heap.skillshub.info/ghost" or wherever your Ghost files are located on the server

To make it start after a reboot we need to register the service you created so that it will start whenever the server gets rebooted.
Use this command: systemctl enable NAME.service

NOTE: You can always check the status of the service by running the following command: service NAME status e.g. service gh-heap status

THE GOTCHA'S

User & Group - for standard installs of ghost, the user and group is usually 'ghost' but if you are using Serverpilot , the user and group is probably 'serverpilot' - The NAME.service file needs the user and group that owns your ghost directory. Use these commands to quickly find out:

cd /PATH/TO/YOUR/GHOST/BLOG
ls -lah

According to this image the permissions of the folder containing all my ghost files belong to 'serverpilot'

But if you would need to change the permissions, just use the chown command in the folder that contains all your ghost files. Example: chown -R serverpilot:serverpilot *

Reference Links:
https://chrisebert.net/installing-ghost-and-nginx-on-ubuntu-server-16-04-lts/#step10
https://wiki.debian.org/systemd
Systemd Essentials: Working with Services, Units, and the Journal
http://docs.ghost.org/pl/installation/deploy/
https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/how-to-install-ghost-blog-on-ubuntu/