Ok…so you have to let me know what you think of that headline! As I took the 7 links challenge post that was on ProBlogger earlier this week I realized I really need to start paying more attention to my headlines! I have to be totally honest here…studying copy isn’t really something that I ever think to just DO…well, I think it’s come to the point where I have to do it. Mainly because I want to keep growing as a blogger and moving my business to the next level. Anywho…

When I saw the preview of this new plugin- I KNEW I was going to get it and give it a go! It’s called PopUp Domination. It was created by Michael Dunlop (I wrote about him in my first post on blogs I read and recommend). I’ll give you a few points about the plugin in the post- but think a video is the best way to demonstrate how much this plugin kicks arse! I’ve played around with other pop-ups (footer & regular)- and while some people don’t necessarily like them- the bottom line is they increase opt-ins! What’s SUPER cool about this plugin though is that you can set when and how often it actually pop’s up! So my regular readers won’t get hit with the popup every time they visit the site! WOO HOO!

Ok…enough of that. Here’s the video! And yes….I am an affiliate of this plugin- but hopefully by now you realize I promote things I use and trust! Let me know if you have any questions or feel free to share you success with pop-ups!

This past year I’ve been spending a lot of time looking into video and how to integrate it with WordPress. Much of this came from working with clients who wanted to integrate video into their WordPress site. What made me dig deeper into this ever evolving realm is that each client wanted something different…something I hadn’t necessarily done or come across yet. Which then presented the opportunity to find out how to make something work or come up with a solution to what they wanted.

It may seem pretty straightforward- but once you start getting into video it opens up a huge new world…one that’s pretty fun too (if I do say so myself….I swear I never knew I was such a techie! ).  There are SO many options and solutions out there for video that it can be overwhelming at times (where to host your video, how to create it, showing a playlist, using a lightbox, incorporating links, etc.)- just type video into the plugin directory at WordPress.org and you’ll get over 40 pages of plugins..yikes!

You may have noticed that my videos have evolved over time. Once you get one piece of the puzzle down it’s easy to start adding more features to your videos. The important thing about video is just to START! I’ll be incorporating some more personal style videos very soon… (me talking into the camera….I’ve avoided this a bit as I tend not to ‘get ready’ ….. who needs to when you work from home? But that’s another post, for another time). The more personal your videos are the better. And when I find an easy video solution- of course it’s time to share it!

I found this video lightbox plugin when I was working on a clients site. I had found a different solution- but it wasn’t something the client could easily do for himself – so I knew I needed to keep looking! This plugin will allow you to add a lightbox to your videos (when the reader clicks on the video, a lightbox pops up with the video, shading out the rest of the site). This plugin works for videos hosted on YouTube, Vimeo and Blip.tv. There are two steps to this plugin- the first is downloading & installing it…( I know, kind of obvious)- but then you have to add a few files to this plugin (super easy….I show you how in the video). Then voila! It’s ready to roll! The two things you’ll need to download for this are the plugin (Lightview plus) and the actual lightview file. You can get those here:

Lightview Plus

Lightview

Let me know what you think.

It seems like lately many of posts are about finally getting around to doing something I should have been doing a while ago..or maybe it’s just that I’m just now writing a post about it? Who knows…either way, this is one of those things!

In one of my recent posts I wrote about & created a video for the SEO Scribe plugin – which is about optimizing your posts and pages. Adding a related posts plugin is one way to add to your overall SEO efforts and increase your links. Obviously you don’t need to use a plugin to do this- but if you can (and aren’t running with too many plugins to begin with)- then it’s the easiest way to add related links to your posts without spending too much extra time. My posts tend to take me a little longer than I anticipate (almost every time)- but mainly because I want to make sure I’ve added  the right thumbnail, probably will add a video, make sure all the SEO stuff is done,etc. Which is why using a related posts plugin is TOTALLY the way to go…for me.

The plugin I use is called Microkid’s Related Post plugin. It makes it super easy to manually add related posts by searching your content and selecting the posts you want to link to. What’s so fab about this plugin though is that it automatically creates a reciprocal link to the post you’ve linked to. SO…if I link this post to my SEO Scribe plugin post, it will automatically link the SEO Scribe plugin post BACK to this post. Cool, huh?

Here’s a super quick video showing you how this works!

I’ve been debating for a while on whether or not I should invest in Scribe. If you’re not sure what Scribe is…you can watch the video I’ve done showing you how Scribe works.

What made me decide to bite the bullet and invest in Scribe? Besides the great free report Brian Clark gave away…I’m at that point with this site where it’s time to step things up a notch! Not that it isn’t ALWAYS time to step things up- I am always looking at ways to improve things with this site- whether it’s more videos, new content, sharing valuable resources or simply adding new free icons. But I think anyone who has a site/blog that has been around for a while knows the value in stepping back and re-evaluating how it’s doing and what YOU’RE doing to keep things progressing.

I spend a lot of time customizing WordPress themes for clients (primarily StudioPress themes…I’ll be updating the portfolio soon…it’s WAY out of date ) and with that have a tendency to put this site last in my order of priorities. Which is a little backwards at times considering many clients come to me through this site- and actually, it’s what I love MOST about my business.

Anyways…I’m at the point where I realize that I haven’t spent enough time on WordPress SEO, building backlinks, ensuring my posts and pages are correctly optimized, etc. – and in order to grow this site and my business, that is simply the next logical step! I wish I could say I’ve been doing this all along….but the reality is, this site has TOTALLY evolved on it’s own and I think I’ve just been going along for the ride. Now it’s time to get in the drivers seat! There’s NO way you can be good at EVERY aspect of building a successful blog/website right out of the gate. The important thing is to recognize your strengths, weaknesses and comfort level and commit to growing at a pace that is right for YOU!

Here’s the video on Scribe…btw, I JUST got this today….so this video is me walking you through it just as I’m going through it!

Here’s the great free report Brian is giving away- no opt-in required!

So this is one of the questions I get with just about EVERY single client that finds me via the web….(most local clients have no idea what a squeeze page is)…can I add a squeeze page to my current site? And before I found this plugin, the answer was “yes….sort of”. What we would usually do is install WordPress into a sub-directory and install a sales page theme that they would then edit under that install. As an example, if I wanted to do that with this site I would install WordPress in a sub-directory (or folder) called salespage (just as an example…you wouldn’t really want to call it ‘salespage’…crappy seo). Anyways….the url to that install would then look like this:

http://thewordpresschick.com/salespage

And to access WordPress you would login like this:

http://thewordpresschick.com/salespage/wp-admin

Make sense?
A little cumbersome, but it worked.

ALL that has changed now!!! That’s where the WP Squeeze Page Plugin comes in. This thing is OUTSTANDING! I’ve tested it out with a couple of my own pages- one was a sales page and one is a squeeze page (neither are live yet – they will be..soon).

Here’s a few great features about this plugin:

• Tutorial videos (they’re TOTALLY step by step)
• Squeeze Page layout
• 2 Column Squeeze Page layout
• Sales page layout
• Video Sales Page layout
• Power Squeeze Page layout
• Edit the page RIGHT in your page editor
• Upload your OWN custom header OR footer
• Easy place to drop in your opt-in code
• …..and more!

Honestly, I was more than happy to have found this! It was easier to use and easier to customize (you know me….it’s all about the graphics) than most of the sales page themes I’ve found.  I’ve installed this in a sub-directory as opposed to my primary site…mainly because this site is pretty full as it is (plugins, images, etc.) and because the editing options appear in your dashboard, I didn’t want it installed here (plus I was testing it first ).

Here’s a quick video I did on the page I installed. I didn’t go through the entire process- I just wanted you to see how easy it was to use! If you have questions about installing it in a sub-directory, let me know! You can get the WordPress Squeeze Page Plugin HERE.

If you visit many blogs (especially those of people in the ‘blogging’ or ‘internet marketing’ niche) you’ve probably noticed the square banners in the sidebar (or possibly the footer).

While you can copy and paste ads into your sidebar, this plugin will do the work for you! All you need to do is add the target link (ex: if this is an affiliate link you’ll use your affiliate link as the target url) and the image url (I’ll show you how to find this/get this in the video). Then you just designate which position you want the ‘ad’ or banner to go in and how long you want it displayed! What’s so great about this plugin is that you can have the images rotate so that it doesn’t look as static or like you haven’t changed the content in a while. You’ll even get an email reminder when one of your ads is about to expire. Pretty handy!

There’s just a few things to do when setting up the plugin initially- check out the video as I walk you through how to use this plugin!

One request I get EVERY time I do a customization for a client is to include a contact form plugin on their site. Obviously this isn’t some odd request out of left field- everyone SHOULD have a contact form on their site. There are a few different options out there that do the basics, are very easy to use and configure for any WordPress user. The reason I started looking for another option besides the two contact forms  I had been using was because a client was looking for something that did a lot more (AND was easy to use…..that’s kind of the key point to this whole review).

I also thought that it would make my life easier if I set up a customization form for new clients as opposed to the pdf that I would email them (which often came back without some of the required information I needed to do their customization…the form of course allows you to set certain fields as REQUIRED fields).  Besides using it for just a customization form, you can also use it as a registration form (which I’ve done on a site for a local event I”m hosting). It was also really easy to set up the confirmation email for new registrants.
Here’s a couple of the features that I LOVE about this plugin:

• Users can upload images (or files)
• Easily create drop down options or radio buttons to select choices
• Create auto responder emails WITHIN gravity forms
• Ability to download your entries as a CSV file
• Respond to entries from your WordPress Dashboard
• Drag & drop interface
• and SO much more!

Check out the short video I’ve done showing you how to set up a new custom contact form.

You can learn about Gravity Forms HERE

Because I primarily use StudioPress themes (for my sites and client sites)- I’ve gotten pretty familiar with how this plugin works. StudioPress makes it pretty simple because they’ve already put the code into the theme in order to have the featured content gallery show on the home page (you can see where the gallery will show up when looking at any of their theme demos).

One thing I’ve noticed whenever I visit the StudioPress forums (if you’ve purchased any of their themes you have access to the forum(s) ) is that there is usuallya  new question (daily) in regards to setting up this plugin. The people that answer the questions in the StudioPress forums are approved designers (approved by StudioPress) and donate their time to answer everyone’s questions. So, as a way to help other StudioPress and WordPress users (and hopefully alleviate some of the questions in the forums to thank the designers), I created this ‘How To’ pdf  for the Featured Content Gallery plugin. There is also a website for this plugin with installation ‘how-to’s’ as well. I tend to be a visual learner and thought the screenshots would help.

I’d love your comments/feedback and of course would appreciate any re-tweeting if you find the pdf helpful.

Click the download box to download the Featured Content Gallery pdf:

So this plugin isn’t actually called ‘Hide a Widget’ – but that’s exactly what this plugin does, sort of. It basically allows you to decide which pages you want specific plugins to appear on- so if you want to set up a sales page without any widgets on it (other than maybe an opt-in box or a video)- then this plugin will do exactly that. It really works great with all StudioPress themes as well since the StudioPress themes come with a few different page templates built right in (ex: if you don’t want any of the widgets to display on a specific page – you might want to select the ‘full width’ page template under attributes when editing or creating the page).

After you’ve installed the plugin, which by the way is called Widget Locationizer, the options or settings for the widget will appear in EACH widget. I’ll do a few screenshots here to show you what it looks like. Keep in mind that when you go to edit the actual widget, you’ll need to know the page/post id or category/tag that you don’t want the widget to appear on.

Here’s what the plugin settings look like once it’s installed:

The last option that got cut off there is the Do Follow/No Follow option – just select what you want and make sure you save changes! That’s it! super easy and now you can decide where you want your widgets to show up! To download the plugin, just go to plugins in your dashboard, select ‘Add New’, then type Widget Locationizer in the top search box. Just click install & activate and you’re good to go.

Here’s another great plugin from Josh Jones at eight7teen – who, if you didn’t know is the guy who created the sexy bookmarks plugin that I love (I can’t help it, I’m a total geek when it comes to the visual stuff!).

This plugin is called EZ Twitter Links. What it does is it allows you to link to a twitter user’s profile from within your post. So, to give a quick example of this plugin in action, here’s a quick thanks for another fabulous plugin to @eight7teen . So, where in the first line of this post I manually created a link to Josh’s site, the link to his twitter profile will be automatically generated once I publish this post!

Another cool feature of this plugin is that it works for twitter hashtags too! You just use the hashtag like you would in a regular tweet # – (put the name of the tag right after the hash symbol) and it will generate an automatic link to the twitter search for that tag. Cool, huh? All links are no follow and all you have to do is install it and you’re ready to go. Nothing to configure!
Thanks for another great plugin Josh!