WordPress Slideshow Plugin: Slider & Gallery Solution

In the WordPress world you can typically find a free plugin that does exactly what you need. But, occasionally circumstances warrant buying a premium plugin. Recently, I was looking for a really nimble, smart WordPress slideshow plugin. I tried and tried all of the usual suspects that have worked for previous clients, but the look I was going for on this current project just simply couldn’t be accomplished. So, I headed over to CodeCanyon, one of my favorite resources, and discovered Royal Slider.

Not gonna lie folks, this WordPress slideshow plugin rocks my socks. Not only is it easy to use, but the presentation is beautiful across every single device I’ve tested on. It’s full screen capabilities are particularly pretty.

As a web designer and developer my time is valuable. When I find a plugin that not only works beautifully, but saves me time, well…I fall in love. I highly recommend the Royal Slider.

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My Top WordPress Tip Ever: Screen Options

WordPress Screen Options

My biggest, most fantastic WordPress tip is actually super simple and will have you slapping your forehead, screaming at your computer “Are you kidding me, that’s where it’s been hiding all along?”

There is nothing more infuriating in WordPress then when something is supposed to be somewhere, but isn’t showing up. Custom fields? Can’t find ‘em. Page template selector? Gone. Special menu options? Missing.

The truth is, in 95% of cases these options aren’t actually missing. They just haven’t been checked to show up in your screen options. Say what?!

On nearly every screen in your WordPress backend at the tippy top is a WordPress screen options bar that looks like this:

Click on the down arrow next to Screen Options. You’ll be presented with a checkbox list of all of the different boxes/sections that are available to you in this particular area:

wordpress screen options

In this example, you can see that the Author section isn’t checked. So, if I’ve been going crazy looking for the author box to assign a post, but couldn’t find it, it’s because this one silly little box wasn’t checked.

What’s more, these options very on every section of your site. As such, don’t assume because you’ve checked boxes on your post editor that it will also change what comes up on your page editor. Two different things, my friends.

The WordPress support forums are full of people going absolutely bonkers because critical pieces are “missing” from their admin sections. In reality, they are just hiding in plain site.

Finally, knowing about the WordPress Screen Options menu is also great if you have a ton of plugins installed that automatically add boxes to your post/page editing screens. You can uncheck unnecessary items and clean up your editing screens.

Are you a solopreneur or small business owner looking for strategic insight on how to DIY your company’s website?

Check out Kate’s Tech Talks, our weekly video series dedicated to helping the website DIYer figure out how to make a smart, savvy and strategic site for their business.

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Friday Freebie: 5 Retro Script Fonts

Retro Script Font Free

Retro script fonts are all the rage right now — I’m seeing them used all over the interwebs for a fun and fresh look. A good retro script font is typically easier to read when compared with a traditional script or calligraphy font. This is a big reason for their popularity.

So, how to find a good retro script font? I’ve rounded up five of my favorites here. All free. All easily downloadable. Now, remember what I mentioned earlier in the week – free fonts don’t come with lots of bells and whistles, so if you need a retro script font with lots of glyphs and extras, you will need to go the commercial route.

Are you a solopreneur or small business owner looking for strategic insight on how to DIY your company’s website?

Check out Kate’s Tech Talks, our weekly video series dedicated to helping the website DIYer figure out how to make a smart, savvy and strategic site for their business.

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When Is it Worth Actually Paying for a Font?

when-to-pay-for-a-font

Something I struggled with for years was whether or not to fork out the money to buy commercial fonts. Now more than ever it is super easy to find beautiful fonts for free — but sometimes, the font that really speaks to a project/client/brand simply costs money…sometimes lots of money. So, the question arises: when it is worth actually paying for a font?

Let me turn this question around for a second and tell you what a commercial font typically offers that free fonts typically don’t:

Glyphs

Glyphs are alternate characters available for you to use. Glyphs are what can take a font and really make it look special. Glyphs are particularly handy for letters that look awkward, unfinished or disconnected in certain capacities. For example, I purchased Rosarian a few months back. Lets take a look at two images using this font.

In this first image, I use only the standard version of the font:

what's a glyph

In this second image, I use some of the glyphs available to me to spice up the type. Now, I’ve overdone the glyph usage to illustrate my point, but you can see that the text has gone from pretty run-of-the-mill script to something special.

Glyph-Ex2

If you don’t have the cash to have a logo created for you, buying a nice font with good glyph coverage can be a way to make a text logo look a little fancier and custom without breaking the bank.

Swashes & Decorative Elements

Particularly on script fonts, one of the big benefits of commercial fonts are lots of “extras,” which are often called swashes and/or decorative elements. These elements allow you add image-esque elements to your text treatment quite easily — and, they match. As a font nerd, I can totally tell when I visit a site and someone has used one font and then plopped random design elements from other fonts right next to it. Having a commercial font with swashes included gives you a more cohesive look.

Swashes

Complete Symbol & Punctuation

One of the hardest lessons that I’ve learned with free fonts is that you can’t always depend on them to have a complete set of symbols or punctuation. Case in point? One of my faves, Courtney Dorkling, didn’t have an apostrophe for the longest time. Can you believe that? It stinks to fall in love with a font — particularly a unique font — but not be able to use it often because it’s missing critical pieces. A paid font typically comes with bonus symbols, like TMs, Copyrights, etc.

font-symbols

So, when is it worth paying for a font?

When you really need a high-quality, beautiful and flexible font. Most of the time, free fonts do the trick. But, when I can’t find what I really need I always go right for commercial fonts. I have yet to regret a font purchase.

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WordPress Tips: How to Customize the Pinterest Button on Your Blog Post Images

How to Customize the Pinterest Button on Your Blog Post Images

On Monday I explained how to add an “Pin This” button to your blog post images. In today’s post, I’ll walk you through three easy steps for how to customize the Pinterest button on your blog post images.

The single most important step in the process is to find a nice button in the proper dimensions. Here’s my take: some people like big ‘ol buttons when you hover over the photo, but I prefer a subtler approach — about a 50×50 pixel image. I like square images because I think they are prettier Two quick things to keep in mind:

Make sure the image is a .png or .gif. You need an image with a transparent background so that you don’t have a fugly white border around the button on hover.
For the love of all that is design holy, if you find an image you like and need to resize it, make sure to resize it proportional. Do not start stretching an image all wicky whack.

Once you have an image selected and sized, go ahead and upload it to your media library.

After you upload the photo, copy its URL. Then, select Plugins > Editor. At this point, you might be like “Holy cow, that’s code on the screen” and start to panic, but trust me it’s easy peasy to change this image.

In the top right you have the option to “Select Plugin to Edit.” Choose Pinterest PinIt Button for Images. Next, in the right hand column of files, choose the one ends in “ppibfi_pinterest.css.” The CSS file is what controls the look and style of your button.

The CSS that you need to change is toward the top of this file. You only need to change two things and both in this block of CSS:

 .pibfi_pinterest .xc_pin {
	width: 80px; height: 50px; /* Please note that the button is 80px x 50px. If you use a different size button, change this */
	background-image: url('http://orginalbuttonurl.com/button.png'); background-repeat: none; /* This is the buttons image. Image can be found in the plugin folder */
	position: absolute;
	top: 5px;
	margin-left: -1px;
	opacity: 0;
	cursor: pointer;
	display: none;
}

You only care about two lines of that code. The first line is in regard to the width and height of the image you’re using. You need to change these numbers to the dimensions of the button you are using. For example, if you use a small square 50px image like me, your CSS should read:

 width: 50px; height: 50px;

Next, you need to change the background image. This is where you tell the plug-in the image to use for the button. Remember that URL you copied in step #2? You want to paste it here. It should look something like this:

 background-image: url('http://yourwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/pin.png'); background-repeat: none;

Now, click “UPDATE FILE” to save your changes. And, you’re done!

Are you a solopreneur or small business owner looking for strategic insight on how to DIY your company’s website?

Check out Kate’s Tech Talks, our weekly video series dedicated to helping the website DIYer figure out how to make a smart, savvy and strategic site for their business.

Want to know a really good tip? When you initially open the CSS file, copy and paste ALL the text in a simple TextEdit document. Why? That way if you goof up somehow and something doesn’t work right you can just paste in the good stuff and try again.

P.S. In case you’re wondering, I haven’t customized the button for this blog, but I have on my lifestyle blog.

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WordPress Tips: How to Add a Pinterest Button to Your Blog Post Images

One neat feature of both our personal and biz blogs is the little Pinterest button that pops up when you hover over most images. Want to know a secret? It’s super easy to add a Pinterest button to your blog. That’s good news right?

In this post I’m going to show you how to add a Pinterest button to your blog in under 10 minutes. Woot woot!
Step-1 From your WordPress dashboard navigate to Plugins > Add New. Search for Pinterest Pin It Button For Images. It should be the first result, but if not be sure to find the right one in the list. Then, click “Install Now.” Once the plugin is installed, click Activate.

Step-2 Now, when you hover the Setting option in the sidebar you should see the Pinterest Pin It option. Click it! The screen you now is your admin panel for this plug. Lets talk about your options…

Step-3

You need to customize the plugin a bit to work just right with your blog.

For content width, you want to put in the width of the content area of your site. Typically, this is around 600-700 pixels. If you’re unsure what to put, stick with the default number.
Now, you need to decide where you want the Pin It button to show. Do you want it on every single image on every single type of page or post? If so, check all the boxes. I stick with the defaults — Index/Home and Single Post.
The next box allows you to choose on a page-by-page basis whether or not use the button on that particular page. This is just more work for you and your workflow, so I say don’t check it.
The Advanced section is just what it says — advanced. The average user won’t need to worry about these. But, my travel blog is a good example of one that does use these options. Why? I don’t want every single one of my images to be pinnable, mostly because I share personal photos of my family. As such, I have checked the box that says “Show ‘Pin It’ button only on images with “pinthis” class. When I insert a picture into a blog post, I add a class tag if, and only if, I want the Pinterest button to appear. Here’s what the code looks like:
```
 <img class="pinthis" alt="" src="http://www.imagelocation.com/photo.jpg" />
```

So, that’s how to add a Pinterest button to blog posts. Easy peasy, no? If you notice on my travel blog I’ve got a pretty little circle Pinterest icon instead of the one included with the plugin. I’ll show you on Wednesday how to get all fancy and change yours, too!

Are you a solopreneur or small business owner looking for strategic insight on how to DIY your company’s website?

Check out Kate’s Tech Talks, our weekly video series dedicated to helping the website DIYer figure out how to make a smart, savvy and strategic site for their business.

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Friday Freebie: 5 Straight Talk Tips for Finding (and Working Well with) a Web Designer

Find a web designer

I’m currently enrolled in Marie Forleo‘s amazing B-School Program. It is rockin’ my world. Even when you’ve owned your own business for 7 years like me it’s nice to go back to the ground level and reassess everything. I feel like I am refining, re-imagining and reinvigorating our business.

This week’s B-School module is all about websites — my specialty! What I love about Marie is the straight talk she gives students on all the topics she covers, but particularly on websites. In an age when everyone wants to paint pink roses and tell you it’s easy, she gives you the hard facts you need to make smart choices.

In that respect, I thought it would be fun and helpful to use this week’s Friday Freebie post for something a little different: 5 tips for finding and working with a web designer.

Here are my five:

Question — as in seriously question working with — anyone that can quote you a price without hearing a word about your project. If you ask someone how much for a website and they respond “$1,000″ without skipping a beat it’s time to move on. Fast. Every single site is different. Everyone has different needs and challenges. We craft every single proposal that we write specifically for that client, and only after Rob has done at least one (but typically two or three) fact-finding meetings with client. People are often shocked that we can’t give an answer right away, so to illustrate our point we typically say something like “a new site can costs anywhere from $1,500 – $15,000 depending on your needs.” That usually does the trick!
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. One of the worst things you can do for your business is find a designer/developer that says yes to everything that you want to do. You will end up with your “dream” site, but one that most likely does not speak to your audience. A well-trained designer will have the cajones/ovaries to have those tough conversations with you that help make your website better. We do it because we love you, love your business and want you to succeed.
Be honest about your design eye. This is a tough one, but if autoplay music, flashing photos, black backgrounds with white text, or sites with 7 different fonts are your cup of tea…it’s time to leave the designing 100% to the professionals. Unfortunately, what you like isn’t always the same as what you customer expects. This ties in a lot with the bullet above, actually. If your designer/developer is treading softly and gently encouraging you not to do something this may be the harsh reality. It’s ok, because remember that your site and business will be better for it.
Find a tough as nails review team. When it comes to brainstorming, concepting and designing your site, nothing is more valuable than a few sets of extra eyes to review things every now and again. Here’s the key: it doesn’t help to have folks on your review team that will simply love it no matter what. You want discerning folks that won’t be afraid to say, “You know Jane, this look you are thinking about showing your designer as an example of what you like simply doesn’t speak to your brand.” Again, honesty in order to make your business better.
Take friendly “professional” advice with a grain of salt. We all have a friend that worked in online marketing 7 years ago and thinks you should change x, y and z on your new site. Here’s the thing: web design and development changes at a rapid pace. Taking seriously professional advice from someone that’s been out of the web game for anything over one year is not advised. They didn’t operate in the same world we do today.

Bonus advice: Don’t hesitate to interview lots of designer/developers. If you don’t jive with the first person that you talk to, interview someone else. It’s really important to find a designer that you get along with and that operates in a way that is comfortable for you. Sometimes it can take a few tries to find that person!

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Business Blogging: Are You Ready to Blog for Your Business? 5 Key Questions to Ask Yourself

Business Blogging 5 Questions to Ask
Now more than ever we see clients asking about adding blogs to their current business website. Typically, people see others in their industry blogging and wonder if they, too, should be blogging. While blogging can be an exceptional way to grow your audience, exposure and business, it’s critical to ask yourself 5 key questions before you get started with business blogging.

Ask yourself:

Why do I want to blog? A bad answer: because my competition is doing it. An example of a good answer: because I have knowledge about my industry that current and potential customers would be interested to know about.
How will I develop and writing content for my blog? The easy part is starting a blog — the hard part is coming up with content week after week, month after month. Think ahead about topics you will cover on your blog and how you will develop that content into post-worthy text.
Who am I writing for? The one piece that always gets left behind. People tend to write blogs for themselves, as opposed to thinking about who their ideal reader is and then writing specifically for that person. Your ideal reader can often be different than your ideal customer, so this is really important to think through.
What are my goals for my blog? The obvious answer is to attract new business via the blog, but try to go deeper. Do you want to expand brand awareness? Position yourself as an industry expert to raise the reputation of your brand? Connect with other industry leaders on an even playing field? Try to create actionable, trackable business blogging goals.
What action do I want readers to take? Do you just want your readers to read your blog with the sole purpose to bumping your rep? If so, you need to focus on informative, well-developed content. But, if your goal is to turn readers into buyers after a few weeks or months of readership, that’s a whole different set of challenges and your blog and content need to reflect that.

BONUS QUESTION:

What story do I want to tell? This is the question that connects the previous five questions. It can be easy when you have a blog (for business or pleasure) to forget the focus and purpose behind the blog. Before the blog goes live think about the narrative and story you want to convey and stick with it. Your blog will be better for it.

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5 Google Analytics Key Stats

google-analytics-key-stats

Google Analytics is overwhelming. Plain and simple. As heavy Analytics users, we have seen the depth and breadth of statistics available multiply over the past five years. For the average Analytics user it can be confusing to know what stats are most important…for them.

The biggest mistake we see clients make is worrying about all of their statistics. While it is important to know what your big traffic picture looks like, for the average business it can be much more valuable to hone in on a handful of key statistics that give you the most bang for your buck.

Here are five key Google Analytics stats we find particularly useful:

Audience: Average Visit Duration + Pages/Visit – Sure, the number of visits and unique visitors is important, but too often people get bogged down by those bigger numbers. Generally speaking, we find visit duration and page/visit much clearer indicators in the relative success and influence of a site. Why? It does no good to have 10,000 visitors a day if they each only stay 3 seconds. I’d take 30 super-engaged visitors (5 or 6 minute sessions) over passive visits any day of the week. Similarly, I like to see that my visitors are spending time engaged in the site clicking around and visiting numerous page per visit.
Audience: Technology - So, so, so important. Why? It is extremely difficult to get your site to look absolutely perfect in every single browser (ugh, don’t get me started on Internet Explorer). Knowing what technology your average visitor uses to visit your site can tell you a lot about what software you should be optimizing for. Case in point? Our lifestyle blog sees a ridiculously percentage of visitors on Safari (hello, Mac users), so we make sure our site looks baller in that browser. IE comes in around with only about 2% of visitors, so if something looks off in that browser we don’t stress. Likewise, you may find that a big/growing percentage of your visitors are on mobile, thus underscoring the importance of a highly-functioning mobile site.
Traffic Sources: Organic Search - Typically the most enlightening of all stats, this little gem can tell you what folks are searching on Google to find and click through to your site. Are they searching general or specific? For your name? Do you have one post with content that rocks in out on SEO? Knowing what people use to find you can help you craft post titles and content for the future.
Content: Exit Pages - For most businesses, your top exit pages are often your most popular pages. That’s just how it works. The key with this stat is to dig deep and find one or two pages that seem to be scaring folks away. Most sites have D.O.A. pages. For some reason, there are usually pages that send people running for the hills. Try to figure out what these pages have in common. Nix them if you can’t figure it out.
Content: All Pages – What are visitors to your site actually reading? Often we find folks really worried about sections fo their site that no one actually cares about. The facts can be cruel, but they are facts. You can take a lot of action based on knowledge about what pages are popular. First, you can create more content pages like these. Second, you can duplicate their structure to improve other pages. Third, you can add more content and calls to action on these pages to increase engagement.

These are just five of our favorites. There are endless opportunities for business growth when you dive into your analytics. To key lesson we want you to take away is that what’s most important for one business might be a useless stat to someone else. Take some time to learn about what stats are available, pick five that are most valuable to you, and learn how to use the information to improve what you offer.

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Friday Freebie: 5 Free WordPress Templates

free wordpress templates

Finding free WordPress templates is easy. Find free good WordPress templates is a bit more of a challenge. Free templates can often sacrifice good design or features or functionalities (or all of the above). Every project is different, too, so sometimes a theme that works great for one company is totally useless for another. The key is to know what you’re looking for.

In today’s Friday Freebie post we’re rounding up WordPress templates worth giving a try on your site.

1. Spun | Click here to learn more

free wordpress templates spun