WordPress Consultant: Judith Kallos, At Your Service... » WordPress Plugins

“Yes, I’m Back in Black”

Judith — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:41:55 +0000

While the title of this post is lyrics from one of my favorite bands AC/DC, it fits today’s post. We used to change the background color of our sites to black in protest over various causes back in the day.

Here we are in 2012 and we are back in black. Today you may run into sites that are completely blacked out in protest of the SOPA (Stop Internet Piracy Act) that our government is toying with. Stop Internet Piracy Act — sounds good doesn’t it? But common, haven’t we learned that when the government creates something with a feel-good name that rarely turns out to be the case?

WordPress.org is black today:

Many websites are blacked out today to protest proposed U.S. legislation that threatens internet freedom: the Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). From personal blogs to Wikipedia, sites all over the web — including this one — are asking you to help stop this dangerous legislation from being passed. Please watch the video below to learn how this legislation will affect internet freedom, then scroll down to take action.

Have you checked out Google today?

SOPA will basically give the U.S. government the ability to control, censor and block content based on it’s discretion — this could include your site or Blog! Click on the info graphic to the right to get a visual of this craziness.

Are we really going to allow some of the most techno-challenged under-performing government personnel with the lowest job performance ratings in our history censor us? I don’t think so! Haven’t we had enough of government telling us what is good for us and playing big-brother as if, as if, they know better? I know I have!

In my case rather than going black, I thought I would help educate. On all my sites I now have that black STOP SOPA banner in the top right hand corner that when clicked on takes you the site where you can get informed and involved.

You can have your own ribbon by installing the Stop SOPA Ribbon WordPress plugin — easy!
You can black out your site by following the instructions here.

Get informed; become involved — this is that important!

At your service,

Your WordPress Consultant

“Yes, I’m Back in Black” is a post from: WordPress Consultant: Judith Kallos, At Your Service...

How to Update to WordPress 3.3.1

Judith — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:09:17 +0000

January 3, 2012: 3.3.1 WordPress 3.3.1 Security and Maintenance Release This maintenance release fixes 15 issues with WordPress 3.3, as well as a fix for a cross-site scripting vulnerability that affected version 3.3.

As always, when updating WordPress, themes or plugins, it doesn’t hurt to get in the habit of following the simple steps below…

Step-by-step instructions to help you safely and easily update to the most recent version of WordPress.

Before you update we need to do a little housekeeping:

First save a copy of all your WordPress files, pages and posts to your hard drive. You do this by clicking on the Tools icon in the left sidebar and then Export. On the next screen click on Download Export File. You might want to create a new Folder on your hard drive where you keep all you Web site files. Name it WP Backup so you know to save all backup files for WP there (and you’ll know where to find them if you need them). It is a good idea to back up this file once a month anyway regardless if an update is needed.
Second, backup your WordPress database. There is a nifty plugin that makes this process a no brainer, WP-DBManager. This plugin is also a must have for repairing and optimizing your database (which you should be doing minimally monthly to keep things running smoothly).
To be safe, deactivate all plugins before upgrading.

[ It is a good idea to Review my article: WordPress How To: Do the Mother of All Backups ]

Once you get the above tasks accomplished, follow the links in the nag bar (it’s called a nag because that yellow bar will be up there nagging you until you take care of the important issue noted) and update your site to the latest version of WordPress.

Then, don’t forget to reactivate and update your plugins. You’ll see with each WordPress update that plugin developers also update their plugins which you can also do with one click. You’ll see the now familiar yellow nag bar under the plugin name in the plugins area with a link to “upgrade automatically.”

If you find after an update that something is not working as it was, go through the systematic process of deactivating your plugins one at a time until you find the culprit. If the developer has not updated his/her plugin to work with the lasted update, find another plugin whose developer is on top of these things.

Updating should not be ignored or put off. When you keep up with WordPress, have a Premium Theme and Plugin updates, you are not only keeping up with technology, but you ensure your site is secure and functioning error free.

At your service,

Your WordPress Consultant

How to Update to WordPress 3.3.1 is a post from: WordPress Consultant: Judith Kallos, At Your Service...

WordPress Landing Pages Made Easy!

Judith — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 19:44:32 +0000

If you have a specific product, service or promotion that you want to convert — then you need targeted landing pages. “But how do I make an effective landing page?” That’s a question I get asked quite frequently and why I am going to recommend the following very cool application to help you get the answers you seek.

Premise is a high-powered plug-in for WordPress that is basically a bundle of software and education that lets you quickly and effectively create landing pages with WordPress as easy as 1, 2, 3:

1: Pages: Quickly and easily create 7 critical landing page styles in WordPress, add visual flair with included custom graphics, and control fonts, colors, and styles without code.
2: Copy: Make your words work with copywriting advice delivered directly from your WordPress interface for each type of landing page, plus the Premise Guide to Effective Copy.
3: Optimize: Detailed conversion optimization seminars, easy split-testing from WordPress, and SEO tools ensure that you’re getting the absolute most out of your landing pages.

Premise empowers you to quickly and easily build custom, graphically-enhanced landing pages without cost, code, or hassle.

Quickly create sales, email, video, SEO, tabbed, and pricing pages
Works with any WordPress theme
1,100+ custom graphics
Point-and-click design controls

Premise makes conversion and search engine optimization a snap, so you can get back to focusing on your business.

Easy split-testing from WordPress
Google and Visual Website Optimizer
Built-in SEO controls
Conversion optimization seminars from industry experts

How to Build WordPress Landing Pages that Work

With the Premise Suite of software and support you can easily create sales pages, e-mail opt-in pages, video landing pages, thank you landing pages, content (SEO) landing pages, pricing pages and even tabbed scroller pages.

Between the tutorials and the seminars that are available to you, you can’t help but create landing pages that sell. I’ve been playing around with Premise and am pretty much blown-away with the easy of use, tips and support offered.

If you want to work on targeted content that ensures a call to action which then leads to conversions, you’ll get a return on your $165 one-time investment with your first landing page — and this package includes unlimited pages. (It would cost you more to hire a developer to create just one quality landing page!)

Premise offers a 30 day risk-free trial — so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Why not check it out and tell me what you think!

At your service,

Your WordPress Consultant

WordPress Landing Pages Made Easy! is a post from: WordPress Consultant: Judith Kallos, At Your Service...