Archive for the ‘WordPress Themes’ Category

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.

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

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

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

I was going to release this video earlier this week but I’ve not been feeling very well.

I’m still not feel 100% but slowly on the mend.

Anyway, this is a very short one from me (unusually!).

It’s the Semi-Static Homepage technique taken to extremes.

Again, I hope Lorelle enjoys this as it was her that originally inspired me to share this “tip” - the last time she was left speechless. I wonder what the reaction will be this time . This video isn’t a tip as such, it’s more of a demonstration of how far you can push WordPress when you put your mind to it.

I hope you enjoy it.

I’m back off to bed now…

I’m a great fan of Lorelle. She writes some really interesting stuff about WordPress and Blogging and you should all check out her stuff.

Recently (well, last week - but I’m slow at getting round to things as I’m quite busy), she posted up an interesting “challenge” to “help kick [our collective] blogging ass” as she puts it.

Well, I thought I’d share with you all a tip on something that I’ve recently been working on. I’m quite pleased with the result even though the solution isn’t the most ideal and rather raw. It isn’t the most elegant solution as I’d have hoped it to be but it works…

This isn’t specifically a “blogging” tip - it’s more of a theme tip. Or rather a way in which you can push the boundaries of WordPress if you’re inclined to think of WordPress as something other than “a blogging tool”.

And I do.

Now, I know some of you WordPress and Blogging purists are going to hate me. But hey, screw that - WordPress is Open Source and the whole point of Open Source projects is that you can push them to become what you need them to do. Right?

I’m not about to get into a debate on the whole purity of the blog thing right now. Instead, I’m going to show you what’s possible if you put your mind to it.

As you may have gathered, I’m taking up Lorelle’s tips challenge on this one and this post is about creating a Semi-Static WordPress Homepage.

Are you ready? Are you confused? Read on and I’ll explain everything. Semi-Static WordPress Home Page: A How To Guide

This post is dedicated to all you tight-fisted, freeloading, miserly, penny-pinching, curmudgeonly, skinflints and tightwads.

John Godley from Urban Giraffe has just hit upon yet another *GENIUS* idea to start getting you penny pocketing cheapskates to pay up for the simply amazing work that he’s done.

Not only that, he’s created yet another mind-blowing plugin that’s going to help your WordPress sites. Kitten Pay: Cough Up Or Cry

Yeah, yeah, yeah… I know. My new theme isn’t quite working.

I’ve just had Andy Beard email me about it this evening (and Jane over at Cyres Cafe mentioned it as well) to say that the HTML Purified plugin isn’t working as expected on the comments (Thanks to both of you, btw!). PHP Warnings - ouch! The plugin is pretty new and will probably need a bit more testing - this is one of John’s plugins but he’s probably battling some other WordPress plugin issues at the moment… WordPress Theme and Plugin issues continued

Lately I’ve been having a hard time finding an excellent WordPress theme designer. I see some fantastic designs but no-one with any real understanding of design in relation to data architecture (or how to structure the content of a site). I know exactly what I’m looking for (and could probably teach these various aspects myself) but I simply don’t understand why is it so difficult to find excellent WordPress theme designers? Has the buzz of the CSS Zen Garden worn off?

And I *do* love working with excellent people. People who are passionate about what they do. People with drive and determination. People like our WordPress Plugin Developer, John, who’s probably one of the most motivated and determined people I’ve never met. You need only look at the quality of his plugins to understand the bar I’m trying to set in terms of excellence.

But after several weeks of putting my feelers out and getting in touch with some truly excellent old design colleagues and acquaintances, I have to admit I’m feeling a bit defeated. I’m beat. Done… for the moment.

So I’m putting this advert out. There’s good money in it (as quality costs) and potentially some future work as well. If you think you fit the bill or know anyone who you think might be perfect, then please do contact me at exceptionaldesigner[at]knowledgeconstructs.com (if I need to tell you replace the [at], then don’t email me ). Read more »