So you’ve migrated your website or changed your permalink structure and now your users and SEO are all amuck and you want to know how to fix broken permalinks on your wordpress website.

There’s a simple fix for you to avoid a 404 page for visitors to land on.

Download and install Redirection plugin

Get it here

What are Permalinks?

This is default address to posts after installing WordPress – http://example.com/?p=123, WordPress calls this “Ugly” link and I cannot agree more.

Ugly permalink – http://example.com/?p=123

Pretty permalink – http://example.com/category/post-name/ or http://example.com/year/month/day/post-name

You can change permalink settings in Your admin panel Settings–>Permalinks. If Your settings are default I suggest and recommend to change it to – /%category%/%postname%/

Or more simplified (as I use) /%postname%/ – WordPress does this automatically for you if you are on the latest version (and you should be!) and just select “Post Name”.

Do this in every blog when You are starting out. Now Your address to post will be http://www.example.com/category/post-title – much better.

Even better in my opinion:

http://www.example.com/post-title – much much better.

Notice I’m not using the category slug. Why? Because “category” is not a keyword. Now if you want another slug there by showing categories in your URL structure, then fill out the box on the permalink settings marked: “Category Base”

Though I’ve had excellent returns on not doing this, but it’s there.

So if you fill out, “Sports Events” then your structure will return:

http://www.example.com/sports-events/post-title

Or you can set up a custom structure (see first screenshot) in the box below the “post name” selection:

/resources/%category%/%postname%/

However you do it doesn’t matter, though I believe the most simplified URL structure wins the day for users and SEO. Remember that Google needs to find your content easily when crawling your pages, and so do your users. So first optimize your site for your users, then Google.

Use your keyword in your /%postname%/ and save the time it’ll take to crawl to find the post you’re trying to get ranked for.

But What About My Old Links?

The Redirect plugin will help with that by performing a 301 redirect that tells Google to use the old URL’s value and users get to the page regardless without noticing. Though the best practice is to not change your permalinks, a little thinking ahead on your part will save so many headaches.

You can also modify your .htaccess file on your server, but be very careful. One wrong comma and your site is broke.

Conclusion

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. But if you have to use the methods above to match the links that are out in the wild so that performing a bunch of 301 redirects aren’t necessary. Another great solution is if all else fails, contact the site owners that are linking and ask them to change it.

Have a 404 page that is useful.

Instead of just identifying the problem, your 404 error page needs to offer a solution! Include a search box and some code (web guy required) to give suggestions by how the visitor arrives. There is a plugin call Smart 404 that automatically redirects users to what they are looking for, however it’s not been updated for over 2 years. If anyone knows of an updated version like this leave a comment below.

How To Fix Broken Permalinks Capstone Creations in Louisville, KY

So you Googled, how to create good content for a website and found this. Blogging is not really something I look forward to doing. However, it is necessary to self promote and spread word about you and your brand, mostly though, I hate seeing folks make unnecessary mistakes like I did.

“Don’t think about link building, think about compelling content and marketing.” – Google’s Matt Cutts

SEO is not all about rankings, your content should be about sharing value that helps you build a great community, then the SEO benefits will come as a result.

You need a content strategy and consistent effort. If it’s all about you all the time, no one will want to read it. Think about what your audience likes and could use.

Things to consider

Ask yourself, “Is this something that my audience, followers, or customers can use?” Share how to tips, like this post, or news about the latest thing happening in your organization.

No one wants to waste their time reading useless crap that isn’t interesting or pointless. Really follow through with your strategy and give something worth sharing.

Your Content Marketing Weapons

• Blog posts
• Infographics
• Guest posts
• Podcasts
• Comics
• Video content
• Webinars
• Ebooks
• Open discussions
• And counting…

Pick only those that you can excel at and have time for.

“Blogging is best learned by blogging…and by reading other bloggers.” – George Siemens

How to create good content for a website Capstone Creations in Louisville, KY

There is a such thing as a very simple Facebook strategy. The one thing I see a lot of people do is focus too much on Reach and not quality of content. Yet, still think that 20 posts a day is the way to go.

There Isn’t A Universal Truth

Facebook is too big and made up of too many people to say that there is a three point list of things you should post or do to get more likes and followers that will become customers.

Out of 900 million, of that there is a small percentage that are your followers. Of those, they like, share and are friends with not just you. So thinking that your strategic post at 3pm will be a win every time is a little presumptuous.

I like several blogs and other pages that post good content, and friends that share things from the annoying, “like this if you love Jesus” to the, “share if you are my real friend” all are competing for space on my feed like yours (assuming you are in the Facebook community).

Only a few make the feed at the exact times I check my Facebook, like you, and there are a lot more that go unnoticed. Nothing personal, just a lot of noise on there.

What Matters

You.

It’s sort of like high school. Silly but partially true. Affinity was part of the high school experience, if you call it that.

What shows up in the feed is based on that and a couple of other things I’ll get to shortly. If people show a preference for your content, the better your chances are of someone spotting it in their feed.

The two other things are, Weight and Time. Weight is comments and feedback. Obviously you want the positive feedback.

Time is when you post, yes it does matter, but it matters more to know your audiences timing (when they check their feed). Moreover, the longer ago a post was shared, the less likelihood it’ll get spotted and passed around.

Conclusion

Have unique, good stuff to say, pictures, videos and text posts, it doesn’t matter, just as long as its fun, useful, and upbeat.

If you are interested in social media and management Capstone Creations will help get you going.

Happy posting!

A Very Simple Facebook Strategy Capstone Creations in Louisville, KY

More and more WordPress Web Developers who create amazing quality (and more expensive) commercial themes, are moving toward the latest WordPress Web Development Trends.

Single Page Websites

Designed and optimized with the user in mind who is on an iPad or other mobile device, single page scrolling sites are becoming big.

Gone will be the website that has pages and pages of interior content that the user will have to click through. It does beg to question about SEO and click through rate. But I don’t think that is bad because of the ease that one can find what they’re looking for in a site designed this way.

Navigation is fixed at the top for ease of the user to immediately jump to the section of content that they need.

For an example, stay tuned to this website for a change in that direction soon.

Parallax Scrolling

A relatively new term in web, but not new at all, but cropping up in WordPress Theme development a lot. As a developer I have concerns over browser compatibility. But that isn’t stopping folks from doing it.

Parallax scrolling is two backgrounds moving at different speeds as the user scrolls through a page.

More technical explanation:

Parallax scrolling is a special scrolling technique in computer graphics, wherein background images move by the camera slower than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth in a 2D video game and adding to the immersion. The technique grew out of the multiplane camera technique used in traditional animation since the 1940s, and was popularized in the 1982 arcade game Moon Patrol.

- Wikipedia

Parallax is something that is best experienced rather than blogged about, so here’s a site featuring some sites that are cream of the crop.

Parallax Scrolling Websites from www.awwwards.com

Less Texture More Simple And Flat Colors

Is it just me or does the vintage and retro look seem to be heading out the door in exchange for more flat, app style, minimalist design?

The less images used and more of the browsers a ability to render color is a better way to design is responsive is the goal and for users that have a 3G device.

Unfortunately I’ve yet to experience 4G…. I know sad.

SVG and Responsive Techniques

Speaking of less imagery to create backgrounds and all.

SVG, web fonts, essentially design with typography and icon fonts are evolving and becoming more widespread.

What is better, a icon that is a font? Or a PNG file that is an icon (which is a image)?

Less images, more native browser solutions.

What are some of the things you like in a websites design?

WordPress Web Development Trends Capstone Creations in Louisville, KY

I’m never surprised by people that discover major brands that use WordPress for their corporate websites, and blogs.

I received a Facebook message from a friend bewildered how to answer a peer about their uninformed opinion of the use of the once just a blogging platform turned full CMS.

The comment was something like,

“Wordpress is primarily a blog tool… but could be a good addition to a main site.”

I laughed.

Sarcasm aside it’s not a uncommon belief that WordPress is just for whiny people in a basement with a axe to grind to blog on. Most don’t even think that something WordPress is used for something more substantial.

The Numbers and Facts

Nearly about 70 million sites use it (reference here). Major brands even host on WordPress’ VIP Hosting service, which is not for the small business and average user with monthly charges on average of $15,000 a month.

The most notable are CNN, Mashable, Forbes, Reuters, and The New York Times (reference here).

If you get a good Developer and quality content, WordPress can be the perfect platform to use.

To see a showcase of brands like, CNN, Ford and others that use WordPress, visit

http://wordpress.org/showcase

Brands That Use WordPress Capstone Creations in Louisville, KY

Break out the champaign WordPress is turning 10 years old!

Wordpress will be celebrating it’s 10th anniversary on May 27, 2013.

And it’s gets better. There are Tee Shirts at $10 each.

Order here

Some people are planning parties and organizing meetups for the WordPress 10th Anniversary.

The shirts are available in black or silvery gray. Why silvery gray? Because of trivia: the traditional gift for 10th anniversaries is tin or aluminum.

WordPress fans all over the world are encouraged to celebrate by throwing their own parties. WordPress is using Meetup Everywhere to coordinate, and will be putting up a website just for the 10th Anniversary so that they can collect photos, videos, tweets, and posts from all the parties.

The rules are very simple:

1. Pick a place to go where a bunch of people can be merry — a park, a bar, a backyard, whatever
2. Spread the word to local meetups, tech groups, press, etc and get people to say they’ll come to your party
3. If 50 or more people RSVP to your party, we’ll try to send you some WordPress stickers and buttons
4. Have party attendees post photos, videos, and the like with the #wp10 hashtag

We’ll be using Meetup Everywhere to coordinate parties all over the world, so get your city on the map and register your party now.

Register Here

Stay updated about WordPress News and Events for the 10th Anniversary at WordPress.org

WordPress 10th Anniversary Capstone Creations in Louisville, KY

If you’ve been over to Google Plus lately the business pages, there have been some changes to the Google Plus Banner size and avatar size.

Google Plus Avatar Size

Your avatar is in a CSS3 coded circle and floating next to the pages information and is about 120 x 120 pixels so keep it simple since it’s a circle some of your branding might get cut off.

Google Plus Banner Size

The wall feed is clean and the tabs are easily identified, but the biggest change is the Google Plus banner size. The sizes I’ve heard are up to 2400 and up in pixel width, but using a Google Chrome add-on (measure it) you can get 1241 x 760 pixels.

Like Facebook, make it exactly this size and do not scale down, and keep it under 240Kb, unlike Facebook that re-compresses your cover photos to 50Kb.

Animated GIF’s

Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support.

GIF’s can create simple animated images and are now supported by Google Plus.

See this Profile Page for examples of creative GIF’s:

Visit Google Plus Profile

Google Plus Banner Size & Business Pages Capstone Creations in Louisville, KY

Last time there was a WordCamp there were statistics of about 50-60% market share of CMS’s to 70 million websites. So it’s a good idea to know if you are hiring a person that understands WordPress beyond what you know.

A WordPress developer is not a person who has blogged for about 2 years.

A WordPress developer is not a person that has used (copy and pasted) the “title” PHP function once or twice in a template.

Best practices are something that a WordPress developer is aware of, not just opinionated about what they think is the best practice.

Code is Poetry. Meaning it is good.

Consumers think end product, a developer thinks Users. But bad code/ideas can lead to the poor performance of a website and it’s SEO is at stake as well leading to no one happy.

Honesty

Any good developer will be honest about their skillset and tell you their limits. Meaning turning away work. I don’t want my time wasted, so I assume you do not either.

For example:

I do not do databases. I know them and understand how they work fundamentally. But I’m not a MySQL (pronounced my seequal) person.

I don’t clean up after other developers. I’ll start fresh because cleaning up bad code is not a proper fix. Duct tape works in Nascar, not WordPress. Organization of code is key to proper fundamentals for development.

Template Hierarchy

When WordPress loads it looks for everything. So index.php is last. So a home.php code should not be in index.php

Knowing your template hierarchy is something that a developer should know.

Use Good Naming Conventions

If this isn’t there, then I will start from scratch because of the way WordPress is organized.

The Loop

Will throw any developer for a loop. Never use WP_Query for a loop, it’s evil. Use conditionals. If, Is, Else.

Template Tags

get_the_id – learn it love it, not get_post_id. There can be something there that a get_post_id will miss.

Action Hooks

Hooks are awesome. Understanding the basis for hooks is gold. Adding Action to a hook saves time to “do something” or “insert code here” Their defining functions and avoid hacking a theme.

Filter hooks are useful, to return a different color for a specific output.

That’s about all. It’s technical but a good developer is a technical person, not a salesman. So get to know your developer and listen when they tell you something, you’ll save each other headaches.

Which brings me to BE NICE

Don’t piss off a developer because we are a community, not some dude in a basement. We participate with each other and discuss and share ideas, and we are nice to each other because we don’t want to miss a opportunity to share in innovation and ideas and get help when stuck.

There are things we know, that we know you don’t know. But a good developer doesn’t do content, import data, ect. But we can teach you early and often to keep you updated and aware. Good communication from both makes good Development.

What Is WordPress Development? Capstone Creations in Louisville, KY

I haven’t written on SEO in while because like most web developers I’m reading up on it and doing it.

Web developers or designers need to get familiar with SEO it’s pretty much expected by the potential clients that you know something about it. Ongoing services though are another story as that takes time and effort. But initial coding can set up what any marketer or professional SEO will come in and use in the site.

SEO Is Not Hard

I say that because it comes down to time. The worst thing anyone in a tech related field is kick back, stop learning and reading and take it easy. That’s not the path to a better future, but to your end and being irrelevant. I know what I’m talking about here. I’ve seen it happen to people in this industry.

Always do and read. It’s that simple. You’ll find a lot of free resources out there about SEO but be critical and intelligent about what you read and find.

Titles

Titles are of course what you title your post or page. If you are lazy then Google will re-write that title using your content or meta description with your branding in the title if necessary.

You can read about this here

Keyword Density

Keyword density is not throwing up something on the wall and praying it sticks. I see places do this and just shake my head. It never works. Density is simply, less is more.

Content

“Content is KING”

Really? Because its really unique content and well thought out and written content. Blogging to just blog or create posts wont work as well as precise and unique content. In a world where a single person produces massive amounts of content on their Facebook page alone, you’ve got to be better.

WordPress SEO Plugins

Some people think this is a joke to use a plugin. Others follow the crowd with a common one like All In One, not saying its bad, but in my opinion there are better with more features that are free.

A plugin should give you a snippet preview of the title, meta description and URL link in the dashboard as you optimize it. Since custom post types can be incredibly useful to organize content on a WordPress site, it should create a XML sitemap that indexes that.

Conclusion

Don’t be lazy about SEO. It pays off and you’ll have your phone ring if you stay up to date and current. Fill out your titles and think about how people will search for your services, not you, but your services. Big difference.

All in all there are a lot of guys offering advice on SEO and many others with contradictory opinions. So it’s up to you who to trust. But definitely don’t trust someone that promises page 1 results no matter what. You cannot beat Google at their own game

Have fun!

My Take On SEO Capstone Creations in Louisville, KY

So I’ve been doing a lot of research and reading other blogs about how to create a crisp Facebook cover photo.

Facebook Cover Photo Size

851 x 315 pixels is the max width, it’s recommended that you get a photo (one you have rights to) and crop down to this size. Never scale up, that will cause it to be more blurry. Facebook resamples photos to resize to their banner area.

Compression

Compression is important when creating crisp Facebook cover photos. If you use photoshop save to “Web and Devices” in photoshop. In Photoshop go to, File > Save for Web and Devices…

Notice the compression in the bottom window (see photo at top). Facebook’s max is 50kb. So you’ll need to keep it under that to avoid blurry or fuzzy photos.

Hope that helps!

Creating Crisp Facebook Cover Photos Capstone Creations in Louisville, KY