Archive for the ‘WordPress’ Category

Some of you may remember an article I did a while back called “WordPress Blogroll SEO Gray Hack ” where I explained how to search engine optimize (SEO) your WordPress blogroll and control the amount Page Rank juice flowing out of your external links.

Well, I was pretty pleased with that article – it got some really nice responses and the best bit is that out of 2,170,000 (two million, one hundred and seventy thousand – yes, you read that right!) pages with the keyword “WordPress blogroll seo” in Google.com, guess which site comes in first place?

Yup, that’s right, Knowledge Constructs. Not only that but my site comes up in the #2 slot too!

I’m pretty pleased with that – it means the money and time I put into Stompernet has paid off and it’s convinced me that I know how to rank well in the search engines . (Trust me… sometimes I *really* need to be convinced that I can do something!).

Anyway, those results are so good, I decided to take a screengrab of this moment.

(click thumbnail for a larger image)

No… don’t get me wrong – it’s not to brag about how well I’ve done (although it’s pretty awesome now I think about it). The reason is very simple. I just wanted to take a moment to enjoy the glory because the “Gray Hack” is now redundant (*sigh*… my page will never rank this well ever again!)

OR IS IT?!?

As I wrote the other day, I’m currently in the process of playing with WordPress 2.5 because I’m building the new FAQ-Tastic Pro site and came across *what I thought* was a really handy field in the new version of WP Breaker (well, for SEO) – it’s a “rel” field:

(click thumbnail for a larger image)

Initially, I thought “COOL! Now I don’t need to keep adding these darn hacks to sites I build to help them with nofollowing links on the blogroll!. Someone over at WordPress must’ve seen how much Internet Marketers and SEO experts need to be able to add nofollow links – they must know their stuff!”.

BOY WAS I WRONG!

On closer inspection, the field is only there to provide a visual display of the selection you’ve made. You CANNOT change the entries, like I thought it would. Try typing into the “rel” field and it won’t let you.

NUTS. Back to the Gray Hack then! Search Engine Optimize your WordPress 2.5 Blogroll: A How To Guide »

Yeah, I know… I’ve been away for a really long time. Too long. Don’t expect me to make up excuses and apologise for my absence.

I’m back with a renewed focus. I’ve been working on getting FAQ-Tastic properly released. And some of you may already know there’s a Pro version in the pipeline. Well… It’s nearly here. So sorry for the delay (nuts… I just apologised didn’t I? Damn my Englishness).

Well there’s a snag with the new FAQ-Tastic plugin… Last Saturday saw the release of WordPress 2.5 (a.k.a Brecker – after “an exceptionally talented saxophonist” Michael Brecker. Who knew? Who cares?). Now I got to test with this new version…

Anyway, I’ve only just managed to download WordPress 2.5 and start having a play with it today. This “Brecker” version *is* pretty cool and has some *really* (and I mean *REALLY*) cool features…But one thing troubles me:

HOW THE *&$( DO YOU EDIT THE PAGE SLUGS IN WP2.5?!?!

OMG, do you realise how serious it is for your average Internet Marketer if they’ve taken the slugs away?LOL… okay, don’t worry. They’ve not taken the page slugs away – it’s just not intuitively found. Most bloggers wouldn’t think of changing their page slugs but for anyone serious about Search Engine Optimization, changing the page slugs is ESSENTIAL!

So I’m going to show you how. And cause I’m nice, I’m going to give you pictures too (actually, they’re screenshots for a new ebook I’m doing) WordPress 2.5: Changing the Page Slug (with images)

In Part 1 of WordPress SEO: Top 7 Optimization Areas For Beginners I promised you that I would reveal the 1 WordPress plugin that I use to optimize at least 5 of the 7 areas that I outlined in the last article.

In this article I’ll tell you exactly what the WordPress plugin is, explain why it’s an all in one SEO plugin packed into a neat bundle and even show you how you use it.

Up until now, most people have been using several plugins to achieve the same job. Truth be told, you’re wasting time if you are having to handle several plugins.

In this post we’ll look at:

1. 7 Key Optimization Area: A Summary
2. How this WordPress all in one SEO management plugin can optimize 5 of the 7 key SEO areas.
3. How can an all in one SEO management plugin save you time?
4. Tips on Permalinks for SEO in WordPress.

WordPress SEO Video For Beginners » Read More »

Looks like Google has just updated their Analytics code from the legacy “urchin.js” file to a new file called “ga.js”.

Apparently, according to the Analytics website, this new tracking code will enable you to “to gain access to a wide range of exciting new features as they become available“.

Anyone have any ideas what the new features might be?

Whatever it is, just remember not to put *both* codes into your pages!

Looks like a few WordPress plugins might need a bit of a code revamp to ensure these changes are up to date… (naming no names – Mr Godley! ).

In this post, I’ll be taking you through the top 7 SEO areas you need to optimize in WordPress in order for your site to rank well in the search engines. Even if you don’t use WordPress, this post may be useful to you.

In Part 2 of this post I’ll be showing you the 1 plugin for SEO that I use on all WordPress sites I build for clients which makes it easy for them (as novices) to take control of their site (without really needing to know the technical aspects of what’s happening!).

If you’re relatively new to search engine optimization you might already know the Top 3 areas that you need to optimize (and if you don’t, then you need to start learning quickly!): 1) Page Title, 2) Meta Keywords and Descriptions and 3) Permalinks.

So… what are the other 4 you need to learn? Well, here’s a quick summary of what we’ll be covering:

1. Page Title
2. Meta Keywords & Description
3. Permalinks
4. First Paragraph
5. More links
6. H1 Site Name
7. H2 Site Description

This post will show you *WHERE* to optimize but won’t go into specific details on *HOW*. While the sites I create rank well, I would not pretend to be an SEO expert. Useful SEO links are provided at the end of this post.
WordPress Search Engine Optimization: Beginners Tips & How To Guide »

As regular readers may know from my last post I was a little disappointed at how things were on my site in general. I’d neglected it and not paid enough attention to it.

Well, “paying attention” is exactly what I’ve been doing recently – to my site; to my themes; to things that matter.

Having a chance to re-group, here’s a list of the top 5 things I’ve been doing recently:

1. Re-designed Site, WordPress theme and Content Ideas
2. New free WordPress Christmas theme for download
3. FAQ-Tastic and FAQ-Tastic Pro: News Update
4. Top Secret e-Book Project
5. Rich Schefren's Attention Age video contest

Attention Age video, FAQ-Tastic Pro, Free WordPress themes and more »

Just a reminder for those of you who read my post on the Free Aweber Segmentation Script but *didn’t* sign-up or download the script – I will be taking the script down from the system tomorrow (Monday) so this is your last chance to grab it. [note: sorry - that should read "Wednesday" - the original post was delayed by 3 days and I forgot to update this follow up! Durrr...]

If you want it that is!

The reason why I’m taking this script down is that it’s just “a script” – the aim of this is to determine whether or not there is enough interest out there (you lot) for a WordPress plugin that would enable you to easily create a simultaneous Opt-in box and WordPress sign-up form for your pages.

That’s right – a “single sign-on” system that has a double whammy of registering users while getting them into your auto-responder sequence!

Anyway… if that interests you, then let us know you are interested by taking action and signing up now.

Go to the previous post on the Free Aweber Segmentation Script, scroll down, add your name and email and be counted!

Today’s tip is on how you Internet Marketer’s can “pre-segment” your customers even *before* they’ve managed to get into your Aweber email list. In this post, I will be showing you a live example of this Aweber script working and also giving you the opportunity to download the script and give you an installation guide showing you how to use it.

The script that I will be providing today *could be* modified to be used on other systems – however, this tutorial will focus on integrating an Aweber auto-responder list with WordPress. Get the FREE Aweber Segmentation Script Now! »

Do you need a hack for your blogroll to be able to control to your blogroll and add a “nofollow” attribute to it? Don’t have time to scour the WP Plugin resources to find something which does this? I’m going to admit – I didn’t have time to check if there is a plugin but thought this is a nice tip anyway just to demonstrate how you can get some more control over your WordPress system if you know how.

And I do…

I call this the “WP Blogroll Gray Hack”, named after the Stomper who first showed me it. Gray H, you know who you are – thanks for this little tip. I owe you a beer.

The method I’m going to demonstrate has actually been slightly updated as the original meant losing some of the other XFN options. This version actually adds more to the existing hack and provides a new checkbox to easily add the nofollow attribute.

Here’s the quick how-to guide for WordPress newbies on how you can do this.
Hacking WP Blogroll Links for SEO »

Okay. I’ll admit it… I completely messed up. Regular readers may know that I recently wrote this pretty excellent guide on how to set up the Semi-Static WordPress homepage but no-one noticed the *huge* error that I had in the instruction.

No-one noticed *except* from a really amazing Texan Liberty Lady (Carol) who describes herself as *green, green, green* when it comes to WordPress and yet still attempted to take on the Semi-Static homepage. Now that’s really ballsy if you ask me – it’s quite an advanced technique.

Anyway, she emailed me and let me know that she’d followed the instructions and it wasn’t working.

That’s right people. I had a boo boo on my semi (I’ll let you imagination run with that one).

So she kindly let me have access to her site and I had a look around. And you know what? Completely my fault – my “how-to” guide was more of a “how-not-to” guide. DOH! A Homer moment – that’s what happens when you post just before bedtime… (never again!)

Well, guess what? Now that sent her new instructions, she’s successfully implemented it on her Ron Paul website (I was like “Ron Paul Who?“, as I don’t read newspapers and haven’t done for several years now and shy away from any type of political discussion as I find it really messes with my inner wellbeing, man…).

Also – credit where credit’s due – Carol also sent me a tip on updating the code I sent her. Yes, she even spent the time looking up the WordPress Codex to find out more about how to do this. Now, if someone this green spends this much time making sure her website is high quality when it comes to WordPress, then some of you other political bloggers should probably watch out – she’s determined and will probably be spending a lot more time promoting her candidate of choice!

Me… I’m staying out of the fray. I’m all for Democracy and freedom of speech, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah… but the last time Bush got in, so that’s that say about the so-called Democratic system. More of this to come – I’m currently re-writing a blog post that doesn’t make me sound an ideological fascist (cause I’m not! I’m politically apathetic with a tendancy to dislike the masses for their inability to differentiate between what sucks and what doesn’t).

I digress. As usual. Because it’s my blog and I’m tangential…

So… anyone up for a 3rd draft of the Semi for WordPress? Here’s proper instructions this time. An Updated How-To Guide for WordPress Semi-Static Homepages