WordPress custom Theme Development Archives - Web Development Company | E-Commerce Development Agency

Google Juice: Update Services and Optimize Link Structure

Posted on April 7, 2022 by ioadmin

Hello again. So, after reading Part 1 do you still think getting that tasty Google Juice is all that difficult? No, it isn’t. You just need to be right with the basics. After talking about WordPress Plugins to assist you in SEO, today we’re going to talk about how to ping Site Update Services from your WordPress website and about tuning your web site’s link structure (permalinks).

Pinging Site Update Services

As this WordPress Codex page explains,

Update Services are tools you can use to let other people know you’ve updated your blog. WordPress automatically notifies popular Update Services that you’ve updated your blog by sending a XML-RPCping each time you create or update a post. In turn, Update Services process the ping and updates their proprietary indices with your update. Now people browsing sites like Technorati or Sphere can find your most recent posts!

There are several site update services up and running which you can add in WP-admin >> Settings >> Writing, in the update services section. Add one service URI per line. Once you update your WordPress website with a new post or new page, these services will automatically be pinged. Then these pings are processed and associated indices (plural of index) are updated with your update.

You can have a list of active update services from this WordPress Codex page and copy them into your update services section (WP-admin >> Settings >> Writing). As easy as that!

Tuning your website’s permalink structure

Having title of the post or keywords from the post in the URI of your web page is obviously better than having numbers, question marks and other symbols. Not only humans can identify the subject of the page from its URI but search engines also find it easier to identify and assort web pages in this manner. A link like this: https://www.iogoos.com/using-social-networks-to-get-more-google-juice/ tells you and Google bots clearly what the page is going to be about. However the WordPress default, which for the same page is //iogoos.com/blog/ (click to see that it’s actually the same!), which is not at all intuitive.

You can easily figure it out that if you are Google’ing from a specific keyword then obviously the results will list URI with these keywords in the link higher than the URI containing numbers and/or symbols.

Note that this tip is very effective for static websites as well. Always name and link your website and web pages with the title of the page, or keywords relating to the subject of the page instead of serial numbers.

Customizing permalinks in WordPress

You can learn furthermore about what permalinks are and how to use them on Using Permalinks page of WordPress Codex. The WordPress default link structure, also known as the Ugly permalinks structure is the least SEO-friendly link structure. However, changing your permalinks is easy.

On logoos and my other websites, I am using /%category%/%postname% structure which has remained pretty fruitful for me. You can optimize your own links by following these steps:

Log in to WordPress Admin Area
Open the Settings Menu and Click Permalinks
Click Custom Structure and customize the link structure.

Refer to the Using Permalinks page to see various tags that you can use.

Please note that websites hosted on Windows-based hosts (Microsoft IIS Servers) experience issues setting up SEO-friendly pretty permalinks. So in case you’re on such a one, stick to the ugly or almost pretty permalinks to avoid issues, or migrate to a Linux-based host.

Pinging a maximum number of Site Update Services and tuning your link structure play a good deal to get you listed in Google search results or other search engines in less than 30 minutes! Try implementing these magic tricks on your website and let me know how well did they work out for you.

And for the next part of this series, we are going to discuss how to use various social networks to promote our websites and blogs. We’ll talk about what all services you can use and how they are important for you and your website. Till then, see you.

Why I use WordPress as CMS?

Posted on April 5, 2022 by ioadmin

If you think WordPress is yet another blogging platform, take a quick look at other pages of iogoos.com (right from the homepage). Do you really think we could do this with “Just-Another-Blogging-Software”? Absolutely not!!

Custom Pages, Custom Widgets, Photo Galleries, Portfolio, eCommerce! What, out of these, and even more hasn’t been set up using WordPress.

Only recently, I updated my portfolio with more websites that I had finished, which were not under non-disclosure policy. After adding these projects in my portfolio, I realized that in accomplishing 90% of my work, WordPress plays the role of a CMS. With all the work done so far I am amazed by just how much of its capability I have discovered and how much of it is still unknown to me. Here are a few things that my clients ask when I recommend using WordPress, even for static websites, and what I’ve to say to back my recommendation.

Is it easy to use?

It is The Most Robust and Feature-Filled Platform, which is not only easy to use, but also, very much user friendly. So far all my clients are really happy with the decision to use WordPress as a backend. Moreover, WordPress.tv has made our lives much easier. I refer my clients to this website to learn the features and backend functionality while I am busy creating the best solutions for their requirements.

I need a blog as well…

I guess everyone has realized the value of blogging for their personal and professional web presence by now and most of my clients ask for a blogging platform with a unique and custom website design. It’s really easy to create a few custom pages within WordPress, rather than, creating a WordPress theme that matches the website design. And its really easy to embed WordPress features on these static web pages.

What about Search Engine Optimization?

I am pretty sure you are not new to this term and would want your website to be listed in top search results. With WordPress, you can use plugins like All in One SEO Pack, just to name some, that does most of the work without user intervention. SEO is a wide topic and there’s a lot that needs to be done to achieve good search engine rankings. However, a WordPress installation with a few plugins can help you get there without much hard work. You might want to check a few posts I have written on search engine optimization.

What all WordPress can do?

Honestly, I can’t deny that after using WordPress I haven’t even cared to search for any other CMS. WordPress is an amazing platform which can be customized to create Personal websites, Portfolio, e-Commerce, Galleries and Photo Blogs, Magazine or News websites, Article Libraries and a lot more. If you are comfortable with custom functions and template tags you can actually do wonders with just a single custom WordPress theme.

I don’t know programming?

While creating websites for my clients, I make sure they don’t have to spend their valuable time learning xHTML/CSS to update their websites. I have taken WordPress customization to next level where it provides a separate section in admin area to update the front end of our custom themes. It also has WYSIWYG capabilities where you can update and stylize the content which is not a part of WordPress post or page.

Moreover, these custom functions don’t save any data in core WordPress database tables (wp_options) so there’s no chance it won’t work with any other plugins and features.

Here’s a screenshot of Custom Theme Options I provide to make my client’s life a bit easier.

Theme settings

That’s not all, to add a few more features in the list…

WordPress is Free and Opensource
WordPress is easy to install and upgrade
WordPress is standard compliant
WordPress is Popular (CNET, Ford, ZDNET and various other popular sites has used WordPress as a CMS)
Free support from a vibrant and amazing community of developers and contributors
Huge amount of documentation is available
Plugins are available for almost everything you can think of

I bet no other CMS can compete with this master piece. If you are using WordPress as CMS please drop your website links in comments. Don’t try to spam as a very powerful spam protection plugin (Akismet) comes with its default installation 😀

Check Our Portfolio

An easy way to create Loading Bar!

Posted on April 1, 2022 by ioadmin

“People count up the faults of those who keep them waiting”
Seems like I kept them busy decoding this loading bar 😀

Recently, while browsing I landed on a page on StackOverflow.com where people were discussing how I implemented this loading bar on www.iogoos.com I could sense a lot of confusion in the discussion so thought I would take the mystery out as I love to share best practices. Here’s how you can create a loading bar in a few steps…

Things You’ll Need

A nice loading image: If you are good at creating animated GIF images that are nice, otherwise you can create a loading image with this cool Ajax Loading Gif Generator.
jQuery: We are creating this loading bar using jQuery so download the jQuery latest version here.

jQuery Code within <head>..</head> tags

<script type=text/javascript src=jquery.js></script>
<script type=text/javascript>
$(window).load(function(){
      $("#loading").hide();
})
</script>

HTML Code within <body>..</body>tags

<div id="loading">
    Loading content, please wait..
    <img src=loading.gif alt="loading.." />
</div>

Make sure you add this code just below the starting <body> tag so it should be downloaded first.

CSS Code for loading DIV

#loading {
    position:absolute;
    width:300px;
    top:50px;
    left:50%;
    margin-left:-150px;
    text-align:center;
    padding: 10px;
    font:bold 11px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
    background: #222222;
    color: #ffffff;
}

Use your imagination and create something nice & unique.

Your comment, suggestion, and feedback are highly appreciated. There’s more to come to stay tuned…

Check Our Portfolio

Enable Auto-Complete Search in WordPress Blog!

Posted on March 30, 2022 by ioadmin

“One sometimes finds what one is not looking for”

I am pretty sure that you are aware of Google Search Suggest and Yahoo Search Assist features. This feature helps you effortlessly find exactly what you’re looking for. No doubt, it lists a few suggestions to keep the user looking for more and more.

As you type something in the search box, it automatically offers search terms and phrases in real-time. How nice will it be to have the same feature on your website or blog. In this post, I am going to explain an easy way to add a search suggestion feature to your WordPress blog or website.

Things You’ll Need

jQuery: You can download the latest version from jQuery.com
Autocomplete Plugin: Download this plug-in by Jörn Zaefferer from //bassistance.de

Now let’s play with some code

Include this code within <head>..</head> tag.

<script type=text/javascript src=js/jquery.js></script>
<script type=text/javascript src=js/jquery.autocomplete.pack.js></script>
<link href="js/jquery.autocomplete.css" rel="stylesheet" media="screen" type=text/css />

Here I am assuming you are using “js” folder to keep all your java scripts and supported files. You may need to update the location of these files based on your folder setup.

Here’s the actual jQuery code to enable this feature on an input box:

<script type=text/javascript>
    var data = "Search Terms Separated With Spaces".split(" ");  
    $("#myInputBox").autocomplete(data);
</script>

Variable “data” hold the terms that you would like the user to see in the search suggestion list and $(“#myInputBox”) is the id of the search input box.

Let’s check out how we can automatically call WordPress tags in our search suggestions, using WordPress wpdb class:

<?php 
    global $wpdb;
    $search_tags = $wpdb->get_results('SELECT name FROM $wpdb->terms');
    foreach ($search_tags as $mytag){
        echo $mytag->name. ' ';
    }
?>

Here I am using WordPress wpdb class to fetch all tags assigned to the posts.

Here’s the complete code to enable this feature on your WordPress blog. Just replace the folder name with actual folder and the jQuery selector $(“#myInputBox”) with the actual id of search input box.

<script type=text/javascript src=PATH_TO/jquery.autocomplete.pack.js></script>
<link href="PATH_TO/jquery.autocomplete.css" rel="stylesheet" media="screen" type=text/css />
<!-- This goes in the head -->
<script type=text/javascript>
	$(document).ready(function(){  
		var data = '<?php global $wpdb; $search_tags = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT name FROM $wpdb->terms"); foreach ($search_tags as $mytag){ echo $mytag->name. " "; } ?>'.split(" ");
		$("#ID_OF_SEARCH_INPUT_BOX").autocomplete(data);  
	});
</script>

Don’t forget to add your inputs in the comments section below.

Let’s Check Our Portfolio

WordPress Themes & Why You Should Have Unique Design

Posted on March 25, 2022 by ioadmin

When you have a website or blog you want to stand out from all the other websites, which is why having a good WordPress theme that sets you apart is so critical. There are millions of websites that are run using WordPress and with that, there are many themes out there that are being used many times over. This can cause your website to look like many other websites if you are using one of the standard themes out there.

If you can find a theme or someone to create a WordPress theme for you that is unique, you will be one step ahead in terms of branding and making your website stand out. Free WordPress themes are not the best way to go because anyone can have the same exact design as you. Not only will it not stand out to your visitors, but search engines as well. If someone comes across your website and they have seen that design before, they may think twice about visiting your site again.

The search engines will also see your site as the same as many other websites on the web. This can play a role in your website ranking well for any keywords that you want to be ranking for. Search engines have been cracking down on all the non-unique, or otherwise spam-type websites. One way that the search engines will see your site as a spam site is the design and layout. If your website is the same as millions of other websites, they will automatically put your website on hold until it creates some authority.

In conclusion, the best way to create brand equity and build a brand for yourself or your company is to have a unique design. Visitors and search engines will see your website as a legitimate source for quality information or products.

Check Our Portfolio

Tag: WordPress custom Theme Development

Why I use WordPress as CMS?

Is it easy to use?

I need a blog as well…

What about Search Engine Optimization?

What all WordPress can do?

I don’t know programming?

An easy way to create Loading Bar!

Things You’ll Need

jQuery Code within <head>..</head> tags

HTML Code within <body>..</body>tags

CSS Code for loading DIV

Enable Auto-Complete Search in WordPress Blog!

“One sometimes finds what one is not looking for”

Things You’ll Need

Now let’s play with some code

Here’s the actual jQuery code to enable this feature on an input box:

WordPress Themes & Why You Should Have Unique Design

When We Work Together

Let Us Call You Back

Pinging Site Update Services

Tuning your website’s permalink structure

Customizing permalinks in WordPress

Is it easy to use?

I need a blog as well…

What about Search Engine Optimization?

What all WordPress can do?

I don’t know programming?

Things You’ll Need

jQuery Code within <head>..</head> tags

HTML Code within <body>..</body>tags

CSS Code for loading DIV

“One sometimes finds what one is not looking for”

Things You’ll Need

Now let’s play with some code

Here’s the actual jQuery code to enable this feature on an input box:

When We Work Together

Get In Touch

Let Us Call You Back

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