Popup plugin WordPress

October 17, 2019February 13, 2019 by Peter Hanley

Here we look at Popup plugin WordPress. I have tried quite a few of these without success and here I explain my choice and why.

Warning you are in popup territory

First of all, what is a popup? When on a webpage an unsolicited message will jump out in front of you. It might be a full page a Thumbnail in the middle, slide from either side, scroll down from the top usually making you an Offer or asking a question.

Many websites use them for a variety of reasons and many companies provide the way forward with paid and unpaid Popups.

What do Popups really want

Attention-grabbing is the principal aim of any popup. When something is thrust in front of you the idea is you respond to the offer or make a decision.

Here is an example that was taken at random.
Used on adult sites or age-related material. Ok. everyone probably presses yes but liability moves from receiver to sender. Clever.

Then the discount offer

What about the discount offer as a last minute attention grabber. If you are a fence sitter this will surely grab your attention and lead you to buy.

Example only

We could go on with examples but you will have seen quite a few if you have been on a website recently what we want to look at is why.

A nice way to wave a client goodbye after they have paid for the product. Customer touch is everything and this is really a nice one

The reasons for a popup

Attention-getting
a great offer
Perhaps a Thank you note
Go to checkout
You may also like?
Send to another site
Improve your SEO

Improve your SEO with a popup

Two of the critical factors in Website SEO are the time on a site and clicks and this grabs both.
On this site alone I reduced the drop out rate down from 90% to just 20% and the click through up by over 100%

What Popup did I use?

As I used several products from IM Income labs I chose a basic one of theirs. Traffic up.
Yes, there is an upfront payment and I would go for the unlimited version at about $16.99. One time payment as many sites as you wish. They offer a real 30-day money back guarantee and it is so simple to use.
If you are going to an affiliate site your clicks will be so many more, therefore, increasing your opportunity to make money.

TrafficUp

Peter Hanley

PS make sure you click through on my popup for more value

WordPress 5

October 20, 2019December 12, 2018 by Peter Hanley

WordPress 5 is not a bad word, in fact, I have found it really helps with building a blog page but you need to find your way around

First of all, you don’t need to be all in or all out. WordPress comes with an optional plug-in called Classic Editor. You will need this to modify your old posts and pages and if you are a scary cat about the new page builder.
You load the plugin to your site and then just turn it on or off.
Pretty simple stuff

Little boxes all in a row.

Just like the old song WP 5 is all about little boxes. You choose a box using the little + symbol and then follow the prompts. This allows the correct separation and aligns the work for you.

This really is a great time saver because it takes a lot of the manual work away from you and becomes second nature after a couple of runs.

The boxes start at headings and move to paragraphs then every element you want to include.

Fancy WP 5 being this easy
all to improve my marketing
So follow along and learn how

Yoast can help you

Having the Yoast SEO plugin installed still comments on both your writing and your SEO either at the end or along the way.
A quick check and I am told my sentences are too long so trim them back for easy reading.
I will also start to be more positive along the way.
Using Yoast as you go helps your structure.

Now the (i) button

You are going to just love this new addition.
It gives you a count of words, paragraphs, headings and blocks as you go.
Your headings should always flow down as your page builds.
Just yesterday I checked a blog and I had inserted a couple of H2 headings when I needed H3. Under the traditional system, this would never have been noticed and affected my SEO

I upgraded to WP5

I had tried Gutenberg and became disillusioned for some reason so trying 5.1 was an experience that I shared here

So I don’t want to go line by line because you will learn that on your own.
I want you to go in the deep end with a few things to help write your blog

The sidebarcontrol section

This takes a bit of getting used to as you go to the different section.
One is the current block you are working on where you have text, colour and advanced settings. This drop cap is an example.

Then the document settings showing information on the Post, then your categories, tags and picture header

In the old version, the feature image would not download unless 200 pixels deep. Now it matters not. I don’t know whether this will affect your SEO so to be a safe stay at 200 deep where possible. You can only crop down in the image window not up.

Writing or placing code

You can write in code or use a block. Here I have used a block

Here I have used code using a formatting block and what is difficult is the ability to place it on the page.

While you are looking at the right panel and changing the size etc You need to go back to the top panel to position the block and insert your link.
This was a bit confusing at first but easily learned.

In general, you have the ability to build a better post more quickly and far more accurate than before

I dropped this link in because your Keywords are still the most important item on the page. People search for Keywords. not good writing or nice pictures so do your research before you start. You will notice that this is an interactive block with just search regularly changing. When you insert your HTML code right-click the block and go to the top left and alt between HTML and preview

Another quirk in WP 5

When you pick a heading box it automatically selects H2 and you need to change each one to the size you want. You should work down as you complete the page. Fortunately, when you click the Info (i) it tells you what you have done and you can change it easily by just clicking on the box and picking the size you want

In conclusion

I can only find benefits in this new WordPress 5 product. There will be issues I have not communicated but you can gather those as you use the product. Remember you can always go back but I dare you, never!

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I upgraded to WordPress 5

October 20, 2019December 12, 2018 by Peter Hanley

I upgraded to WordPress 5, a very brave move considering the changes made but I came away with a positive feeling that all will be OK

I upgraded to WordPress 5

Considering that I upgraded to WordPress 5 a very brave move with the changes made but I came away feeling that maybe this is better than I initially thought.

If you are scared of WordPress 5 and Gutenberg take the journey slowly because it takes a considerable brain shift to get it going.
Gutenberg was a template to ease you into WordPress5 and no longer necessary.

The First thing to do on upgrading

Back up your website using a plug-in or save feature. This is just in case things go bad.
As I host at Wealthy Affiliate they back up for me so this is not a big concern

You can use WP clone or Update plus plugins as a great free service

Now to download classic editor

The classic editor is a plugin for WordPress5. You can change to the old or new editor simply by activating or deactivating. This is particularly useful when updating old posts. Let’s stick with the new editor for the moment as we whizz through some of the changes.

The little + at the top left

This allows you to add all sorts of boxes to your site and is used every time you want to change a box.

Paragraph; The most used writing block
Headings; start big and work down
Images; import or use library
Gallery: this is a group of images
Quotes, Adio, covers, files
Embed, this is new and for Youtube etc

When the little + appears you just select what you want to do. In the classic editor, this was fraught with problems as your paragraphs would blend with your headers requiring separation problems and fixes. This is one of my favourite fixes saving heaps of time.

Try to use every block

My first attempt was to try and use every block in my post so I could see how it worked. I could always delete later and you discover just how easy it can be.

We must remember to fill in the alt image and any links you want. You can go back and right-click the box and edit at any time.

Now for a Gallery

In the past, I had always found this to be hard work but now it is very simple, click on the gallery and add pictures relating to the post

word Press 5
my checklist
by Peter Hanley

You can see I added words to the pictures to explain why they were there. This took but seconds

Peter Hanley said;
WordPress 5 is really easy and saves you a lot of time.

Testimonials in pages work really well and this one was easy because I am the author of my own destiny.
I also use and recommend a product called Wealthy affiliate and have completed the university degree there.

I used the custom HTML box and inserted my affiliate code supplied by WA. Again a simple process.

The word count

Over 300 words in a post are necessary over 1000 is good and over 1500 is great if you believe the experts. Furthermore, I always use Grammarly that checks on my spelling and writing as an essential free tool.

Where to find the word count

This one had me bamboozled for a while as it has moved from the bottom left of the page in a little box to the top left with a little (i) it said 754 words, 9 headings 16 paragraphs and 22 blocks. A heading and 5H# headings.

This is certainly an advantage over the old counter as it checks all the important points.

Using Yoast

Yes, Yoast is still there in a big Y up the top right criticizing my writing and giving me suggestions to improve my SEO. Once you have two green lights you are good to go.
We all having writing styles and Yoast has made mine more positive over time to contribute to a better writing style. You just need to accept criticism and use it to your benefit.

Document panel in WordPress5

Before we finish here flip over to the document panel top right. Here you will complete your categories, tags, visual header and a quick excerpt all to help with SEO.

In conclusion

There are a few more things you can add in like music and embedded you Tube, but start with the easy stuff and get all that working before moving on. I hope I have given you some support in this new career as a WordPress blogger that has moved on.

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Top website hosting providers

January 10, 2019May 2, 2018 by Peter Hanley

Top website hosting providers

Top website hosting providers is a really diverse subject in a market that is saturated with offers, some good some not so good, here we talk through some of the reasons why.

Nowadays everyone wants to be a host, set up a couple of servers and away you go.

Or set up a shop front and be an affiliate of someone else.

Another way is when a company has a product like a page builder and single site hosting comes with that.

Finally, a pure hosting company that specializes in hosting your website. Word Press or other.

Problems with hosting

The problems I have with some of these are;

Longevity, they come and go or fail to maintain upgrades along the way.
Having limited websites or capacity.
The speed of page opening.
Free security certificates or dual HTTP and HTTPS codes.
Domain purchasing. If the host has a domain panel so you are not diverting from another host
Domain renewals. When you renew a domain has the price escalated.
Inbuilt spam protection.
Automatic backup included
Training on all aspects of the web sites, FREE.
management dashboard that is people friendly
Keyword Tool available.
Affiliate program.
uptime guarantee
Email addresses
Monthly and annual payment plans.
Support service 24-7
Web forum for open discussions.

Website offerings

Are any of these website offerings really necessary?

Yes, they are and every one of them must be considered when subscribing to a service.
You are rarely locked into a service but transferring content can be difficult or impossible
if you choose to move.

Over the years I have tried quite a few hosting sites until finally, I found one that ticks all the boxes.

I have one site that I used to set up a storefront. Try as I might I cannot log into the Dashboard of the domain and my host cannot help me. They blame the program and the program blames them.

I have also used a very cheap site that offered much but delivered little. I cannot transfer content now so I am locked in for the moment.

Another site, my original host continues to put pricing up every year so I transferred away to my new provider so all they have now is my domain at double the price.

I joined a company because I liked the offering although it was on the pricey end of the scale.

I have changed most of my sites over now and in the process of doing the others.

Changing the website host

Why did I change my hosting provider?

The number one reason was that they had appropriate training on what to do to ensure I got the best out of the service. Domain selection, keywords and SEO and of course writing skills.

If you are using Word press I don’t believe anyone gives as much value as Wealthy Affiliate.

Take for example the included Keyword search tool. ( about Keywords)

This is just one of the free offerings that they provide. They tick all the list boxes and add some to it.

Be you New at this or a seasoned expert there is something here for you.

Bonus.
Host two websites for free, yes and get everything we have discussed included in your package.

If you want cheap this is as good as it gets. The perfect fit for the” try before you buy” advocates

When you want a bit of extra income this could be the perfect home for you.

When your basic skill levels need a bit of polishing up, free training.

Setting up your first website without buying a domain or spending a penny, Yep, you got it

Furthermore your web hosting for WordPress must come with certain support items.

HTTPS security for free on all sites
Fast speed is essential for Google
Training on what to do and expect
Spam blocking included
Site reports on all aspects
More than one Website
Site builder
Able to load Elementor page builder

What else do you need

One of the better elements is the free Domain name host. This allows you to build a trial site and then move to a Domain name at a later date.

Buying Domains is also a skill in itself. Many companies start out low cost but increase the cost greatly on renewal. Wealthy Affiliate provides the renewal price at purchase and over time become very price competitive

In conclusion I chose and recommend Wealthy Affiliate as my web host

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