My Computer Back in Service

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The other day, I asked everyone What Do YOU Want to Know? Brooke from Snippets n Blurbs asked a couple of questions (I hope I answered the first one in comments Brooke).

The question, which is the subject of this post was:

“This might not be what you want posted here - but I think that people need to know more about SEO - the general stuff. Why it is important, some of the costs associated, not all web designers offer that…etc.”

In order to answer these questions within a question, I will break it down a little bit.

1. SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization. In other words, it is how people can best find your site when using Google, Yahoo, MSN or any of the other Search Engines by typing in certain search terms or “Keywords”.
2. Cost is not an object. It is free if you think you know how people will try to find the services, articles or products you offer. A suggestion I would make is to try to find your site on SE’s by using different terms to see what you get. Again, it’s free.
3. The unasked question is How to go about it. This is where the Meta Tags come in. They are located in the “head” php in the presentation portion of your template.

Most templates will include a Meta Description which is derived from your “tagline”. An example of this would be:

<meta name=”description” content=”<?php bloginfo(’description’); ?>” />
  <meta name=”author” content=”Joe Hauckes  / My Computer Back in Service - http://mcbsconsulting.com” />
(you can add your own description in place of the bloginfo, but don’t make it too long)

The other is the Meta Keyword which is where you put words and phrases you think people will use to find you. Another example from MCBS:

<meta name=”keyword”
content=”help,DSL,Setup,php,online,offline,adapt,programs,install,hardware,software,
computer,consulting,internet,” />

Probably the most important is not within tags, but using the right “Keywords” within your content. If you write good content with a good mix of what you want people to find, they will come.

Just remember, none of this happens overnight, it takes time.

If you have been here before, you may notice a little change in the Sidebar. In the top section for Newest Blog Posts there has been links to recent posts, but it was just the Titles. Nothing to let readers know what the posts were about other than a few words.

I have tried various ways to enhance the description but have always fallen short of what I wanted to give readers as a preview. Using a combination of 2 different plugins, I still could only come up with one excerpt for the newest post, but had to rely on the old fashioned Title for the rest of the current posts.

I finally found a plugin, SimplePie Plugin for WordPress, through the recommendation of a friend and thought I may as well try it because no combination of plugins would give me what I wanted.

It works really well, but they make it a little more complicated to get the download(s) than is necessary. When you get to the landing page, you download their .zip file, but it is only one of 2 that you need to run the php. You have to go to the “download” in the top navigation bar and download another .zip file separately in order for the plugin to work.

After unzipping both files (separately and in different folders) the one for the actual php file (simplepie_wordpress.php) is easy enough to find and upload from the 1.2.1 folder. The other file you need is the library of information to allow the whole thing to function. The file (simplepie.inc) in the 1.0.1 folder is a little more difficult to find because it is mixed in with a lot of files you don’t need for anything (unless you like to read). Once you find the .INC file, it is also easy to upload.

Then you have to create an empty folder, cache, to use as a holding place for the current information (new posts).

If they put everything you need in one download, it would be a lot simpler to install.

Once you get through the ordeal of this process, the rest is easy.

After you upload the 2 files and create the cache folder in your wp/plugin folder, activate the plugin on your WordPress Blog.

Go to the section you would like the excerpts to show and place the following code:

<?php echo SimplePieWP(’http://example.com/feed.xml’, ‘items: 5, shortdesc: 200, showdate: j M Y’); ?>

You can adjust the “items”, “shortdesc” if you would like you can even remove the date.

The output will default to an Ordered List (numbered). If your want to change it to an unordered list, you need to be comfortable with changing the Plugin php. Don’t attempt it if you don’t know what you are doing, you might break it.

I was asked by a few readers on my Working at Home on the Internet Blog about the procedure for putting a Drop Down Menu in the Sidebar for the Categories. It seems I’m not the only one who has too many categories and not enough room to show them all.

It is a fairly simple bit of code to add a Drop Down Menu…

• Go to your Sidebar php
• Locate the code <?php get_categories (); ?> or <?php wp_list_cats (); ?>
• Replace that code with the following:
   <h2>Categories</h2> 
   <ul class=”sellLi”>
   <form action=”<?php bloginfo(’url’); ?>” method=”get”>
     <?php wp_dropdown_categories(’show_count=1&hierarchical=1&orderby=name’); ?><br />
     <input type=”submit” name=”submit” value=”View” />
     </form>
   </ul>
• Save your Sidebar php
• Done

If you are using Widgets, you may need to get a plugin by Otto that allows the use of php code within a Widget! Go to his post Fun with Widgets and look for the execphp.zip file.

Download it, unzip it, upload it to your server wp-plugins file and you will be able to use the above php code in the Widgets and you will have the same DropDown Menu you see in my Sidebar on the WAHI Blog.

When your readers stop by on an individual post you probably would like them to read some of your other posts. But when they get to the end of your article the only thing they see is <- Previous or Next ->.

Why not give them an idea of what your “Previous post” is by adding the Title of the Article they would be reading?

First look in your Single Post php for your navigation class, it looks something like this:

<p class=”pagenav”><?php previous_post(’%',’« Earlier’, ‘no’); ?> | <?php next_post(’%',’Newer »’, ‘no’); ?> </p>

Using the same class designation (ie p class=”pagenav instead of div class=”navigation”) insert the following code:

<div class=”navigation”>
            <span class=”alignleft”><?php next_posts_link(’& la quo ; ‘. __(’Earlier Entries’)) ?></span>
            <span class=”alignright”><?php previous_posts_link(__(’Newer Entries’).’ & ra quo ;’) ?></span>
        </div>

Save the code and go look at the navigation links at the bottom of a post, it should give you the Titles of the “previous” and “next” posts. You may have to make some minor adjustments to get the look you want, but it should work just fine. (Be sure to remember, there are no spaces in (& ra[la] quo ; )

If you don’t have a single post php, look for the navigation code in your Index php right after your content info.

Something that I keep running into is customers having problems with differences in Various Browsers.

The most common problem I come across is the way a site renders one way on Internet Explorer and very differently on FireFox. The only real way to fix this type of situation is to test in each Browser and adjust as necessary. I have a copy of both on my computer for just such a purpose.

There are online services that provide screenshots, 2 that I know of are:

1. Browsershots.org which is fee to use, but takes a long time to load and get results from what I understand.
2. BrowserCam which is free for a short trial period, but seems to be a lot faster than most on rendering results.

Another problem I see fairly often is that a page will lock up or not load at all on one Browser and the other will be just fine. If this happens, the most likely cause is probably an incompatable Script of some sort. The most likely culprit could be either a recent Plugin or Add-on that you installed. Or maybe some code you added for a service of some kind.

In either case, what you need to do is:

1. Disable the New Script, Plugin or Add-on. If the problem is resolved then go to step 2.
2. Contact the Original Author or Company that supplied the code. Describe the problem in as much detail as possible. In most cases they should be happy to help.

These are just two of the reasons to always Cross Check Browsers and the easy solutions. Can you think of any more? Please share in comments.