Author: Neil Johnson

  • Why You Should Never List Emails on Your Web Site

    It’s a bad idea to list any emails on your web site. Instead, direct visitors to use your web site’s Contact Us form. Here’s why:

    1. Spammers constantly scan web sites for email addresses, which they can find automatically. Once they do, the email address will be flooded with spam.
    2. You can’t track leads generated from your web site if people contact you by sending an email, even if they click on the email link. You can track leads collected through your Contact Us form or similar web.
    3. If you want to collect email addresses of prospective clients on your web site, not through your email server, there are ways to do this efficiently and accurately that will capture all of these customer emails in one central database, and won’t expose your email address to spammers.

    What if your site doesn’t have a Contact Us form, or a way to capture visitor’s email addresses? Contact us on this web site, and we can help.

  • Blog (defined)

    A Blog (short for web log) is a type of website that consist of discreet, text-based entries, or posts, that are typically organized in reverse chronological order, meaning the latest entry is listed first, and earlier entries are listed below.

  • Your Favorite Browser

    Since the ability to access the World Wide Web is so essential, all computers, smartphones, and tablets are pre-loaded with a default web browser. This is the browser that opens automatically when you click or tap on a hyperlink.

    Examples of Default Browsers

    If you use several devices, like a laptop, a desktop, a smart phone and a tablet, you might find yourself using several different browsers. This can be confusing and adds an extra layer of difficulty to the very common activity of browsing the web. If you find yourself in this situation, consider using one browser across all of your devices. There are several advantages:

    • Using one browser means you only have to remember how that one browser works, instead of learning and remembering how to use several different browsers.
    • Most modern browsers allow you to sync your browsing history, bookmarks, and other account information across all of your devices. If you find a page or site on your computer that you’re interested in reading later, using browser sync features means you can open that page easily later on your smartphone.

    The disadvantage of the single browser approach is that you have to configure all of your devices to use the same browser by default, which often means downloading new software and changing the default settings for each device. If you are using a company computer or smartphone, you might not even be able to do this. But if you can, and you’re willing to invest a little time and effort up front, using a single browser will save you a huge amount of time and mental energy down the road.

    The Best Browsers for Multiple Devices

    If you want to select a single browser to use on all your devices, there are really only two choices:

    These are the best two choices because these two browsers run on all of the major computer operating systems:

    • Windows
    • macOS
    • Linux

    They both also run on the major mobile operating systems, especially:

    • Apple iOS
    • Google Android

    This way, if you select, say, Firefox, as your default browser, you know you can use it on pretty much any device you will encounter.

    Which Browser Should You Use?

    Both Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome are very reliable, and perform well. They also both offer excellent developer tools.

    The best single browser option for most people is Google Chrome. If you are using an Android device, you are already using it as your default browser. Google Chrome also runs on Google’s confusingly named Chrome OS, which is especially useful if you use a ChromeBook.

    If you are concerned about privacy, however, Mozilla Firefox is one of the best choices. Because Google’s business model depends on learning as much as possible about you and your web browsing habits, Google’s computers are constantly watching and recording where you go on the Internet. If this is troubling to you (and there are many reasons to be troubled by this) consider using Mozilla Firefox to protect your privacy.

  • The WordPress Dashboard

    The WordPress Dashboard is your “home base” when you want to make changes or updates to your WordPress site, or change the settings for your site. This page appears by default when you log into your WordPress site.

    The Dashboard menu (on the right side of the page) gives you quick access to all of the features of your WordPress site. Some menu items will display sub-menus when you click on them or mouse over the menu item.

    More Information

    Read more about the WordPress Dashboard on the WordPress Codex.

  • Create a New Post in WordPress

    To create a new post on your WordPress site, first log in using your favorite browser to open the WordPress Dashboard. Once you log in, you can also use the handy WordPress Toolbar

    You can create new posts for your site with a smaller-screen device, like a tablet or a smart phone, but it’s much easier using a browser on your computer, or on a device with a larger screen, with a keyboard and a mouse. These instructions and screen images apply to that kind of setup.

    Create the New Post

    To create a new post in WordPress from the Dashboard, select Posts : Add New

    The Add New Post editor appears.

    Add the Post Contents

    On the Add New Post, you can add and format your selected post’s text, formatting, images, media, and post attributes.

    Enter the Title

    The post title appears on the browser tab or title bar when visitors open your post. WordPress also uses the post title in the Post lists and menus. Keep it short!

    Pro Tip: To improve post SEO performance, use important and relevant keywords in your Post Title

    To add a post title:

    • Click in the field labeled Enter title here
    • Type or paste your title

    Note that you can’t format the post title. WordPress formats the post title for you automatically.

    Enter Content

    The large white box below the Visual editor toolbar is where you will enter or paste the text for your new post. It’s also where you add images and other media, like video. Go ahead and start typing, or paste text from another source, like a word processor file. If you paste text, be sure to paste clean text to avoid formatting problems, and improve your new post’s performance and SEO.

    Post Editing Tips

    Save Your Edits

    By now, you’ve added some text to your new post, but you’re not ready to publish it so the whole world can see it. To save a draft of your new post, click the Save Draft button. Do this early and often!

    After you save your new post as a Draft, a message appears at the top of the screen:

    Post draft updated. Preview post

    This is a great opportunity to see what your new post will look like on your site. Just click the Preview Post link, or use the [Preview] button. Pro tip: always save your post as a draft before you preview it.

    Publish and Review Changes to Your Post

    After you’ve created your post, you’ll need to save your changes so that they are visible to visitors to your site. Since you’ve already saved your new post as a draft, you now need to publish your post to show it to your site’s visitors. Use the Publish box in the upper right to publish your post and change the Publish settings for your You may want to change the visibility of your post from the default setting (Public) but the other two settings (Private and Password Protected) will hide the post from most visitors to your site.

    To save and publish your post, in the Publish box (top of the right hand column), click the [Publish] button. Once you’ve clicked [Publish] this button will now be labelled Update

    Important: you must click Publish to save your changes and see your changes appear on your site.

    After your post saves (publishes), a message appears right below the Edit Post title:

    Post published. View post

    Click the View post link to see your changes as they appear to visitors to your site.

    Click Edit Post on the WordPress Toolbar to return to the post editor quickly. Once you’re done editing your post, click [Update], then click any menu item on the left menu to leave the post editor. You can always go to the Dashboard, or click Posts : All Posts to view the list of posts in your site and select another post to update.

  • Create a New Page In WordPress

    To create a new page on your WordPress site, first log in using your favorite browser to open the WordPress Dashboard. Once you log in, you can also use the handy WordPress Toolbar

    You can create new pages for your site with a smaller-screen device, like a tablet or a smart phone, but it’s much easier using a browser on your computer, or on a device with a larger screen, with a keyboard and a mouse. These instructions and screen images apply to that kind of setup.

    Create the New Page

    To create a new page in WordPress from the Dashboard, select Pages : Add New (you can also click the [Add New] button at the top of any Edit Page).

    The Add New Page editor screen appears.

    Add the Page Contents

    On Add New Page, you can add and format your selected page’s:

    • title and text
    • text formatting
    • images
    • media
    • page attributes

    Plus, you’ll find lots of other options — these  are the most important ones and what we cover below.

    Enter the Title

    The page title appears on the browser tab or title bar when visitors open your page. WordPress also uses the page title in the Page lists and menus. Keep it short!

    Pro Tip: To improve page SEO performance, use important and relevant keywords in your Page Title

    To add a page title:

    • Click in the field labeled Enter title here
    • Type or paste your title

    Note that you can’t format the page title. WordPress formats the page title for you automatically.

    Enter Content

    The large white box below the Visual editor toolbar is where you will enter or paste the text for your new page. It’s also where you add images and other media, like video. Go ahead and start typing, or paste text from another source, like a word processor file. If you paste text, be sure to paste clean text to avoid formatting problems, and improve your new page’s performance and SEO.

    Page Editing Tips

    Save Your Edits

    Not ready to publish your page? Click the [Save Draft] button. Do this often! This is the best way to save your new page while you are working on it, before you’re ready for the world to see it.

    After you save your new page as a Draft, a message appears at the top of the screen:

    Page draft updated. Preview page

    This is a great opportunity to see what your new page will look like on your site. Just click the Preview Page link, or use the [Preview] button. Pro tip: always save your page as a draft before you preview it.

    Publish and Review Changes to Your Page

    After you’ve created your page, you’ll need to save your changes so that they are visible to visitors to your site. Since you’ve already saved your new page as a draft, you now need to publish your page to show it to your site’s visitors. Use the Publish box in the upper right to publish your page and change the Publish settings for your You may want to change the visibility of your page from the default setting (Public) but the other two settings (Private and Password Protected) will hide the page from most visitors to your site.

    To save and publish your page, in the Publish box (top of the right hand column), click the [Publish] button. Once you’ve clicked [Publish] this button will now be labelled [Update]

    Important: you must click [Publish] to save your changes and see your changes appear on your site.

    After your page saves (publishes), a message appears right below the Edit Page title:

    Page published. View page

    Click the View page link to see your changes as they appear to visitors to your site.

    Click Edit Page on the WordPress Toolbar to return to the page editor quickly. Once you’re done editing your page, click [Update], then click any menu item on the left menu to leave the page editor. You can always go to the Dashboard, or click Pages : All Pages to view the list of pages in your site and select another page to update.

  • Paste Clean Text into WordPress Posts and Pages

    Avoid formatting problems when you update your posts and pages by pasting “clean text” into your pages.

    If you are pasting text in from a word processor such as Microsoft Word, your word processor may insert hidden HTML codes into your text to format it; for example, if text is bold or italic. Although this would seem to be helpful, word processors often add extra formatting codes that will mess up the appearance of your page. These unwanted codes may even look correct but interfere with SEO.

    Avoid all of these problems by stripping the formatting codes out, and then reformat the text using WordPress’s formatting tools. This ensures your page will load fast, display correctly, all while improving your page’s SEO performance.

    There are two ways to do this:

    • Use WordPress’ Paste as Text button
    • Use your browser’s Paste as plain text option (if available)

    Use The WordPress Paste as Text button

    WordPress already has a tool built into the Visual editor that will ensure you paste clean text into your pages and posts. It’s the Paste as Text button, on the second row of the Visual Editor tool bar, just below the B (bold) icon (you may need to click the Toolbar Toggle button on the right of the first row of the toolbar to see the second row of toolbar icons).

    To use it, just click on the suitcase icon with the “T” on it. When you mouse over this icon, the pop-up says “Paste as Text.” When Paste as Text is enabled, the icon appears highlighted in a box. Click the icon again and the highlight goes away, and anything you paste into the Visual Editor will contain extra formatting code, like “span” tags. When “Paste as Text” is enabled, WordPress will automatically strip out all HTML code embedded in the text in the clipboard.

    The first time you select Paste as Text, the following message may appear:

    Paste is now in plain text mode. Contents will now be pasted as plain text until you toggle this option off. If you’re looking to paste rich content from Microsoft Word, try turning this option off. The editor will clean up text pasted from Word automatically.

    Click the x in the upper right corner of this message box to dismiss it if needed. Click to place your cursor in the visual editor box. Paste your text using the keyboard command, Ctrl-V or Cmd-V; or select Edit : Paste from the menu bar.

    Use Your Browser’s “Paste as plain text” Command

    Most modern browsers let you paste text as plain (unformatted) text, effectively stripping all formatting codes in one step. If you are using Google Chrome,

    1. Right-click in the Edit Page text box where you want to paste your text.
    2. In the pop-up menu that appears, select Paste as plain text

    Or, if you prefer the keyboard:

    1. Click or use the arrow keys to position the cursor where you want to paste your text.
    2. Press Ctrl-Shift-V (Cmd-Shift-V on the Mac) to paste in plain text.

  • Format Text in WordPress Pages and Posts

    Well-formatted text is easier to read on screen and also improves the SEO performance of each page and post in your site. Use WordPress’ formatting tools in the Visual Editor’s toolbar to add:

    • Paragraph styles, including headings
    • Bold, italic and strikethrough text
    • Bullet and numbered lists
    • Block quotes and indentation for paragraphs and lists
    • Text alignment (left, center, and right)
    • Special characters (like: © ∑ — ♣ and many others)

    You can also use the formatting tool bar to:

    • Add or remove hyperlinks
    • Insert a “Read more…” tag
    • Spell check and proofread your text
    • Add a horizontal rule
    • Change the text color
    • Paste as plain text

  • Use Other Editing Options for WordPress Posts and Pages

    You can use the Code editor to edit HTML directly. The Code editor displays exactly what WordPress saves to the database.

    You can use this editor if you know HTML. But be careful when using the Code editor: one missing character can mess up your whole page!

    Plus, the built in Code editor is not a very good HTML editor. There’s no syntax coloring, matching of opening and closing tags, nor any of the other basic features that makes editing HTML directly a little easier.

    Stick to the Visual editor unless you are trying to fix a formatting problem that you can’t fix in the Visual Editor and you’re comfortable editing HTML directly.

  • Update an Existing WordPress Page

    To update an existing WordPress page on your site, first log in using your favorite browser.

    You can edit your site’s pages using a smaller screen device, like a tablet or a smart phone, but it’s much easier using a browser on your computer, or on a device with a larger screen, with a keyboard and a mouse. These instructions and screen images apply to that kind of setup.

    Find the Existing Page You Want to Edit

    To find an existing page to edit, from the Dashboard, select Pages : All Pages

    Pages are often organized by how they appear in your site menus. Pages with a dash prefix (like this: — Sample Subpage) appear as sub-menu items under the parent page’s menu item, which is listed above, with no dash next to the title (like this: Sample Page).

    If your site contains a lot of pages, you can also use the search box in the upper right corner to locate a page quickly by typing a search term. Type your search text in the box and click [Search Pages]. Shorter search terms will match more pages. Matching pages appear in the page listing below.

    To edit your page, mouse over the page title in the page listing and click Edit.

    Update the Page Contents

    On the Edit Page, you can update and format your selected page’s text, formatting, images, media, and page attributes.

    Page Editing Tips

    • Use the Visual editor to update the content on your page. The Visual editor is fast, accurate, and shows you a formatted version of your page. It creates pages that are quick to load and optimized for SEO. You can use other WordPress editing tools besides the Visual editor on your page, but the Visual editor is the first and best choice.
    • When you paste text into your page from other sources (like Word or other word processors) be sure to paste clean text to avoid formatting problems, and improve performance and SEO.
    • Format your text in WordPress so it’s easier to read, This will also improve your page’s SEO performance.

    Publish and Review Changes to Your Page

    After you’ve updated your page, you’ll need to save your changes so that they are visible to visitors to your site.

    To save and update your page, in the Publish box (top of the right hand column), click the [Update] button.

    Important: you must click [Update] to save your changes and see your changes appear on your site.

    After your page saves (updates), a message appears right below the Edit Page title:

    Page updated. View page

    Click the View page link to see your changes as they appear to visitors to your site.

    Click Edit Page on the WordPress Toolbar to return to the page editor quickly. Once you’re done editing your page, click [Update], then click any menu item on the left menu to leave the page editor. You can always go to the Dashboard, or click Pages : All Pages to view the list of pages in your site and select another page to update.