If after making a custom taxonomy, custom post type, or any other function that will require the creation of a new archival slug, you need to deactivate permalinks and reactivate. If you don’t you’ll get a “posts not found” warning.
How to Stop WordPress from Removing Your HTML Tags
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Using WordPress as a content management system (CMS) is usually a great choice. It provides you with everything you need to quickly make pages, posts, categories, and even custom posts – like a testimonial or portfolio item. However, sometimes we want to take over more control in our pages – so we use the HTML editor.
The HTML editor lets you insert HTML content into the content area of your page (designated by your page/post template). However, the editor that WordPress uses to accomplish this (TinyMCE) likes to help you out, sometimes a bit too much, and rearranges invalid HTML – especially when it comes to inserting empty HTML tags.
Sometimes users need an empty HTML tag to structure the look of a page. For example, if you need to clear a couple of floats, or if you want a purely CSS image. There are a few solutions to this problem:
- Make the HTML editor the default editor and NEVER switch to the visual editor. The behind the scenes magic of editing your HTML by the TinyMCE editor is only done in “Visual” mode. So avoiding it can be a quick solution. However this isn’t ideal for web designers developing a client’s website on WordPress so the client can avoid having to learn HTML to make edits.
- If you’re a developer, just go into the TinyMCE js file and turn off the “clean up” mode. However, not everyone using WordPress is a developer and this isn’t the easiest solution to perform.
- The middle ground here is a simple but effective solution I came up with when I needed a really quick fix and didn’t feel like messing around in the javascript files of TinyMCE. Here it is:
Quite simply, don’t use empty HTML tags. Put a bit of text in them (doesn’t matter what it is) and then add a class to the tag that will empty the text with CSS. Here’s what it actually looks like:
In your HTML editor
<p class="empty">This text will be emptied</p>
In your styles.css theme file
.empty {text-indent:-9999px;}
It’s as simple as that. Try it out and let me know how it works for you! Leave a comment if you have any questions.
What’s WordPress?
The majority of the websites I design and develop are powered off WordPress. Why do I do that? Besides saving time and development costs (you get your website faster and cheaper at the same great quality), this video explains its advantages:
Multimedia for Search Engines
Search engines like Google love to see multimedia content on your website. This includes video, audio and pictures. So make sure, whenever possible, to include them in your content. Not only will search engines likely boost your rank, but users (especially today’s ADD-caffein-powered-interwebz users) will be more attracted to your site and will spend more time looking around rather than bouncing after being overwhelmed by pages of monotonous plain text.
Don’t forget to keyword optimize your multimedia! The payment for a lot of multimedia is that you don’t get the keyword density and LSI keywords you would normally get with regular text content that search engines use to associate the relevancy of your site to the searched keyword. However, there are ways around this:
- Name the actual file name a keyword.
- Use “alternate text” to insert your keyword.
- Add descriptions beside the multimedia content that contain your keywords while giving the user a little overview of what to expect in the audio or video. You can also describe a photo to give the user additional information and increase keyword density around your embedded multimedia content.
- Use “tags” if you can.
- Link images either to other similarly keyword optimized pages (on your own site, or to other external authority sites), or to a page exclusively dedicated to the content that contains a good keyword optimized URL.
Increasing Conversions with Simple Website Adjustments
There’s a few simple things you can do to your website to increase the conversion of your visitors to customers. Consider these:
- Always have your primary means of contact prominent and available. The simplest way to do this is to keep, let’s say, your phone number in the top right hand corner in the header which will be the same for all pages.
- Include multiple “calls to action” throughout the content and even in the design. Things like “call now” or “contact us here.” Just don’t overdo it and make your website seem like a pushy car-salesman.
- Have a contact form, preferably somewhere easily accessible. A lot of people do their web searching at night and don’t want to call or fax. It’s also the quickest, most hassle-free method of contacting you so they’re more likely to think about it less and impulsively send you their question.
- If you’re a small local business, don’t try and look like you’re a huge corporate business. This is counter-productive because most people like to have a personal interaction with actual people. It makes them much more comfortable and more likely to approach you if they see you’re just another working-joe like them. Which brings me to my next point…
- Personalize your site. Include a picture of the owner or the place of business.
- TESTIMONIALS. People like to be led when making a purchase and testimonials are a great way to do this while reassuring confidence in their potential purchase. A great way to do this is have a sidebar (much like a header which is included on all pages) with testimonials (either in text or audio format) running down the side.
- Capture e-mails to get a second shot at converting.
There are many more things you can do to increase conversions but that ^ should get you started on the right path.
E-Mail Marketing for a Local Business
An often under-utilized tactic for increasing sales to your local business is the use of an e-mail list. Many SEO companies and other online marketers often forego the use of e-mail marketing because they think it’s not as useful for local businesses. I think this is a BIG mistake, because it’s an easy dependable way of increasing your customer conversions and upselling them.
Once you have established your website and are getting decent traffic numbers, you’ll have quite a few people popping in and out of your website. It’s naive to think that most of them will buy something immediately or even at all. This is where an e-mail capturing system comes into play. By collecting the e-mails of people visiting your site, you get a second chance at selling your products/services by e-mailing them in the future. You can also offer discounts to your e-mail list that will have customers and non-customers alike re-visiting your website to see if they should take advantage of this. It’s also a great way to keep in touch with your buyers/customers, offer them a bit of information, news, or discounts, and eventually upsell them with any new products.
Here’s a few tips you should keep in mind if you want to use e-mail marketing:
- To capture e-mails, offer some sort of incentive, like a free PDF download of tips customers should know related to your business; or a newsletter if you have one.
- Don’t ask for too much information, it’ll discourage visitors. An e-mail and a name is more than enough.
- Have the incentive and e-mail capture prominent.
- Capture e-mails at the purchase point if you sell through your website.
- Offer a customer support section where you can exchange your customer support for their e-mail. This one is particularly effective because most will assume it’s necessary to give their e-mail for customer support.
- Don’t e-mail your list too often, or not often enough. Too often will put you in the junk folder, and not enough will as well because they won’t recognize your company or remember giving their e-mail.
- Don’t try and sell something every e-mail you send. It’s good to mix it up with valuable information, discounts, news and upcoming events, etc.
- Put some space in front of your subject line. Many people have a “trash” email they use for things like this. However, they will check this email sometimes and this tactic will allow you to pop-out from all of the other spammy emails.
Learn How to Boost Your Local Business
Is business slower than usual? Do you think it’s about time you moved your local business online for more exposure? Keep reading to learn how.
In this digital age, more and more business is moving online and so are the people looking for it. However, most local businesses are being left in the dust, either because they just aren’t aware of what’s happening (usually blaming the recession), they don’t know how to go about it, or they’re doing it the wrong way. I’m here to help you become aware of these problems and fix them ASAP. Here are some of the common mistakes businesses are making:
1. They think just because a business operates locally, it must advertise locally in traditional ways. “The internet is for the big guys” is what they’re thinking.
This is absolutely FALSE. The first thing most people do once they’ve decided they need something is search for it on Google. Google will return their search with relevant businesses or directories in their area because it can locate them via their IP address. Also, most will put their location in the search in hopes of finding something in their area. For example, the first thing someone in Belleville craving some Italian food is likely to do is go straight to their laptop or iPhone and search “italian restaurant belleville.” If you’re at the top of the search results (over half of users will click one of the first two results), they’re going to click through to your website which is the best place a customer can be to make their choice.
2. They get a website designed and hosted, but do nothing with it!
A basic website is good to have for referring customers. But these are ALREADY likely customers if they are being referred by word of mouth or business card. People actively searching on the internet for your business will be NEW customers who are ready to buy your service. This is why it’s important to have a well optimized website at the top of the search engine’s ranks.
IT’LL DRIVE NEW CUSTOMERS WHO ARE LOOKING TO BUY!
Hello world!
Welcome to my WordPress powered website and blog! This is my first post.
I’m a proud user of WordPress. It’s realllllly powerful. Check it out for yourself: WordPress.org