WordPress 3.3 was just released. What’s inside? Some nice improvements – watch my video for a quick tour. I’ll show you around the new interface changes, and some of the new features as well.

Quick list of new features in WordPress 3.3 for users

Here’s a short list of the new features in WordPress 3.3. I show many of these in the video above. You can see WordPress.org for their WordPress 3.3 announcement as well.

• Drag and Drop Uploader for all media types (and automatic file type detection). I mentioned in my post from WordCamp earlier this year that WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg said they were going to improve the media uploading capabilities in WordPress to be closer to how Google+ works.
• Hover menus for navigation in the WordPress Admin area
• Pointer tips for new features, and a welcome message
• Improved Admin Bar
• Improved Admin experience for iPad and Tablet devices
• Better Permalinks options, including improved performance for post-slug-only permalinks

SmallBiz – Tested

We’ve been testing the SmallBiz WordPress Theme with WordPress 3.3 since the early betas and everything works fine. So if you’re using SmallBiz, you should have no problems upgrading to WordPress 3.3.

Are you planning to upgrade to WordPress 3.3? What are your favorite features? Let me know in the comments below!

Welcome to the fourth post of a seven part series on building websites that target local keywords and create revenue generating opportunity for part-time web entrepreneurs.

So far I have discussed in detail how to identify a niche and setup a business plan to capture local search traffic with the intent to create value and advertising revenue. The next step is to begin building a website that will host the business listing for your niche.

I’ve recently built two websites with the SmallBiz Theme created here at Expand2Web.com for www.ballstonrestaurants.com and www.ballstonhotels.com. These sites are SEO friendly, easy to setup, and accomplish what I need from a design standpoint.

For those of you just joining now here are links to all of the posts so far.

• Part 1 – Generating Income Through Local Search Websites
• Part 2 – The Local Search Advertising Business Models
• Part 3 – How to Uncover Local Search Trends With Google

What a Site Platform Needs

The SmallBiz Theme isn’t the only path here but it handles a lot of the heavy lifting involved with creating a website and lowers the technical skills required to build a site. In addition the Expand2Web.com team has a great deal of support materials like a forum and tons of video tutorials that also make getting a website setup a lot easier.

Whatever platform you use, here is what you’ll need most in a site platform:

• Easy to Update and Add New Listings
• Easily Classify Listings Under Multiple Categories
• Easily Create New Categories
• Search Engine Friendly Out of the Box
• Easy to Create Custom Menus
• Easy Change Header Graphic
• A Design That Encourages Visitors to Browse More Than One Page
• Easily Change Out Advertisers & Ad Graphics
• Allows for Files to Upload Without a FTP Client (upload in backend of website)
• Minimizes the Need to Learn Any Complex Computer Language (basic HTML only)
• A Site Platform that Is Mobile Friendly
• Google Analytics is Easy to Add to Each Page & Tracks Actions
• A Contact Form for Inquiries About Sales
• A Site Platform that is Compatible with Facebook Pages
• Site That is Built With a Content Management Platform

About Jeff

Jeff Howard has delivered SEO results for major consumer oriented websites all the way down to local businesses and writes a column for Search Engine Guide.

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Think of the theme framework of your website as a freshman dormitory. Simple, basic, has exactly what you need, nothing more. You can decorate, hang posters and rearrange what is inside for style and flair, but the core structure of the room will remain unchanged, just like the theme framework of your WordPress website.

A theme framework includes the PHP, CSS and Javascript files that are likely to be included in every other theme. Theme frameworks often serve as the parent theme and allow for customization with the use of child themes.

Providers create and sell theme frameworks for WordPress that offer a wide variety of theme options to customize of the look and feel of your website to match the individual needs of your clients. Using a theme framework simplifies the process of creating your website without having to deal with the complexity of editing your CSS or PHP files via FTP.

Genesis, for example, is a very popular theme framework developed by Studio Press for WordPress websites. By purchasing Genesis, you have the option to use just about any child theme that you can think of without having to mess around with intricate code to create your own from scratch.

Pros of a WordPress Theme Framework

• By using a theme framework, you will have the key components for a very basic theme as well as the freedom to adjust the appearance with various child themes.
• Theme frameworks are easy to learn how to use and can save you valuable time by not having to deal with programming and code.
• Simplifies updates and search engine optimization (SEO).

What are the different kinds of Theme Frameworks?

WordPress frameworks can either be options-based frameworks or starter theme frameworks.

Starter theme frameworks are themes with optimized and documented template files that are designed to be used as the foundation of new themes. It’s unlikely that these frameworks will offer many, if any, theme options.

A basic theme framework may be more suitable for a blog instead of a website for a business. Thesis was an early example of a starter theme, and has evolved into offering more design and customization options, allowing you to produce a tailored and robust website.

Options-based frameworks make it possible for you to change the appearance of your website with child themes or a robust Options panel. A child theme has additional files that you layer on top of the theme framework, without requiring you to write any code or build your own CSS files.

Taking this back to our dorm room example – you go to Target and buy the full line of the “Preppy Room:” comforter, desk accessories, pictures, rug and chair, you then arrange your own favorite items, making the space your own creation.

With an options based website the emphasis is placed on the theme and page options (side bar on the right or left, no sidebar, color scheme, custom header, social media widgets, etc). You layer your specific content and graphics into the theme.

The major advantage of using an options-based framework is that the web designer can customize the look and function of the framework without having to deal with the complexity of code.

Genesis by Studio Press is a very solid theme Framework, with a multitude of child themes, which will allow you to produce an endless variety of websites tailored to a wide range of clients – from a local church through to a rock band.

The SmallBiz theme developed by Exapnd2Web is a great example of a specifically targeted, options-based theme framework. The SmallBiz Theme caters to Small Businesses and it is extremely straightforward in its Option Panel layout and design with many customization options, including a Facebook Application and Mobile enabled.

Theme frameworks include essential content that would take a lot of time and experience to create but by using Genesis or the SmallBiz theme, it is all provided for you at your fingertips!

What about Updates?

Using a theme framework will not only simplify customizing your website, it will reduce the hassle it requires to maintain your website over time. Technology is constantly changing and updates seem to be becoming more and more frequent. There are a lot of users who hesitate to update their theme because they have made so many modifications they are afraid of losing content and having to start from scratch, and who wants that?

If you are using a theme framework, when there is a WordPress update, you simply click update. The WordPress enhancements will be upgraded to the framework and the modifications you have made to your site will remain intact. Utilizing theme frameworks can make the fear of losing your site’s content when you see the daunting UPDATE AVAILABE notification essentially nonexistent.

In conclusion, a theme framework is the solid foundation of your website. By choosing one with many options (either child themes or plenty of built in options), you may modify your framework to suit the needs of a range of websites.

About Eileen

Eileen Lonergan is a WordPress website designer who has a concentration in SEO. To learn more about Eileen and see her work visit http://www.EileenLonergan.com

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If your company’s e-mail marketing efforts have had some trouble gaining traction, there is no better time than the present to take some time and review what you’re doing. The simple fact is e-mail marketing can open up countless doors for your small business.

Before opening those doors, however, it is important that your company be in tune with the proper ways to go about conducting an e-mail marketing campaign.

Assuming you’ve done some e-mail marketing blasts and the numbers are not where you want them to be, here are some reminders to make sure you’re following:

Make sure you have the green light – It is important when setting out on an email marketing campaign that your company has permission from those you’re targeting. Minus the permission, your company could run into the possibility of not only alienating a customer but also getting tagged as a spammer.

In order to get permission when sending out an informational newsletter, white paper or promotional item, simply provide an area where the customer can check off and agree to receive your company’s electronic messages.

Make sure the list is targeted – Sending out an e-mail blast to individuals and companies not interested in your products and services not only waste your time, but their time too.

The best way to go about this is by having those associated with your customers added to your list over time. Given you have the connection in place, the potential to add friends, family, co-workers of your current customers is higher than just sending out e-mails at random.

Make your readers want to come back – Much like a movie evolves over a few hours, you want your e-mail marketing campaign to relay a story to your audience.

If you’re mailing out a company newsletter, make sure it has valuable content that will keep the reader coming back. If you put all your eggs in one basket, what incentive does the reader have to return? A good subject area as an example is a tips section. Provide the reader with tips for the respective product and/or service, making them want to keep following along.

Make sure you follow people’s wishes – Just like if you haven’t heard from a relative in a while, you’re going to wonder why. The same holds true many times for e-mail marketers who continue to send out mailings but are not receiving responses. So, what happened to our audience?

More than likely they have not reached out to you because their interest in receiving such items has ceased or your company e-mails are no longer reaching them. Determine how many more attempts you want to make to reach them, then cease the emails so you do not become bothersome.

Make a promise to be up front with the audience – Be sure to tell your subscribers what and how often you will be sending them so there are no surprises. Too often, e-mail marketers send too much or too little material, along with sending it infrequently.

If you’re goal is to send an e-mail newsletter with valuable information, deals etc. out the first of each month, stick to that plan.

Make sure you set goals – Lastly, be on a schedule to see how your efforts are panning out. Set goals at the beginning of and for down the road with your campaigns.

The beginning goals should include: Participation from customers and spreading the word about your brand. The later goals should include: Customer loyalty and added traffic and revenue to your site.

E-mail marketing campaigns do not and should not be rocket science. Simply have a campaign in mind, target the audience, and follow through with it.

As your small business will oftentimes discover, e-mail marketing can be a real blast.

About Dave

Dave Thomas writes extensively for B2b lead generation online resource Resource Nation that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs. He is an expert writer on items like small business payroll services and is based in San Diego, California.

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Child themes derive their functionality from the parent theme, and then override the styles and functionality you want to modify without directly changing the parent theme. This way, when there is an update to the core features in the parent, you can update the theme without affecting the customizations that you’ve made in the Child Theme.

In Plain English

A parent theme has all of the structure and organization that you want and need – the full package.

If a parent theme were a person: 5’11, blond hair, blue eyes, smart, social, a solid all around athlete, a child theme inherits all of the qualities of the parent with their own unique characteristics:

• The first child has all of the above and is also incredibly artistic.
• Another child is a music prodigy.
• The third child is the relaxed one.
• The fourth, an all around overachiever.

Why the Parent/Child is compelling to a website designer:

1. Choosing a good Parent (the theme Framework), such as Genesis by Studio Press opens up the potential for you to build a huge array of websites by layering in Child Themes.
2. You can become very comfortable with one parent, which decreases your learning curve, improving your ability to deliver high quality websites for less time.
3. You can accommodate a wide range of clients based on their individual needs (ie with the purchase of the Genesis Theme Framework you could build for corporations as well as photographers – two vastly different projects).
4. There is a layer of accountability that comes with purchasing a theme framework and a child theme. A popular theme framework, with multiple child themes, is likely to have a team of dedicated professionals keeping current with WordPress updates and enhancements, which can give you piece of mind.

Upgrades

I’m sure many of you dread upgrading due to the disheartening WARNING notice that pops up and threatens to wipe out all of the modifications you have made to customize your theme. When you are using a child theme, it simplifies the complexity of upgrades because your modifications do not lie on the website itself, but in a separate FTP file.

When WordPress introduces a new feature, the Parent Theme (the theme framework) is enhanced. With a one click upgrade the child theme inherits these benefits, without affecting the primary structure of your website.

Back to our human example – if the parent is suddenly given the gift of bionic vision, with a one click upgrade, the child has it also. Their other gifts: artistic, musical, serenity, are unchanged, as those files are housed in a specific location that are not touched.

You can fearlessly upgrade your theme and not worry about losing all the specific customizations you have created. If a WordPress “enhancement” does not agree with your customizations, you simply restore the parent and work from your original foundation.

What if I’m not familiar with code or programming?

That is no problem! There is a way to gain access to themes generated by professionals for people like you to use on your WordPress website. The solution is to use a theme framework.

A theme framework has all of the capabilities you may need, while the child theme allows for modifications that truly make a site customized. With the click of your mouse you have the power to change the style of your website without having to dabble in complex code and programming.

The theme framework will take care of all the behind the scenes workings leaving you with numerous child themes available to revolutionize the look and feel of your site. How much easier can it get?

Why Bother with the Child Theme? I can edit my own CSS!

I hope you have not experienced the heart sinking moment when you refresh your screen to admire your tweaks and you are greeted with what now looks like a bomb exploded on your website. Failing to include one simple symbol or space can make what was supposed to be a link look like another language.

If you are like me, you are an experimenter and are a visual person, you want to see your ideas before you commit; yet you are somewhat risk adverse, unsure of how to back out of your mistakes.

Here is your solution! It’s called a Child Theme.

Working with a child theme is easy and can be done by editing singular files, which you upload via FTP (more on FTP in a moment).

Pros to using a child theme:

• One of the major positive features of using a child theme is that it eliminates the concern of causing irreversible damage to your website.
• Making a mistake in the child theme, no matter how large, does not affect your primary parent theme.
• If you are working with a child theme restoring the original files is painless. You revert back to the original file (the parent), start over and try again.
• Using child themes provided by theme frameworks will eliminate the need to work in FTP and file system work.

Never again will you experience the looming paranoia of permanently damaging your website. Since you did not touch the parent theme, the damage can be fixed simply by deleting that part of the child theme (file).

The primary challenge (not a con) to Child Themes

While child themes can provide a level of security to customizing and updating your WordPress website, there is one particular aspect that may feel daunting: FTP.

• In order to create and use your own child themes, the utilization of file system work is required.
• FTP (file transfer protocol, is used to transfer files between computers on a network, from your desktop to the server, or allows you to edit specific pieces of code or styling on your website.)
• You may be weighing the pros of creating a child theme, with the cons of tinkering with your files. You may feel as though one wrong move could cause a lot of potential harm to the foundation of your website.
• If don’t know where to begin with FTP there are several options: a free version that is popular with PC users is Filezilla, for Mac based users, Text Wrangler.
• Having little or no prior knowledge and experience with file system work may cause a potential setback for some, but like all other things, with time and practice you will become more comfortable and confident in a new arena.

Working with FTP may be daunting but do not let the apprehension of damaging your website keep you from feeling the empowerment of controlling customization at your fingertips. You will become a pro in no time and be able to create, modify and add to your WordPress theme with the click of a mouse. With a child theme you have the layer of security and stability that a good parent will always provide.

About Eileen

Eileen Lonergan is a WordPress website designer who has a concentration in SEO. To learn more about Eileen and see her work visit http://www.EileenLonergan.com

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This is the first guest post by WordPress designer Laura Heuer of Green Castle Web Design.

A photo gallery or photo slide show can be a beautiful addition to your website.  When made correctly, a photo gallery is a valuable business tool that can effectively promote and draw attention to your products, services and portfolios.

Here’s how to add a photo gallery to your WordPress blog or website.

Choose a photo gallery plugin

If you search for a photo gallery plugins in your WordPress dashboard, you will find sixteen pages of plugins to choose from. The choices can be overwhelming. Here are a few photo gallery plugins we have used and like:

• NextGen Photo Gallery
• NextGen Scroll Photo Gallery
• Lightbox Gallery

Choose Your Images

If you do not already have your own library of images to use in your photo gallery, you can begin by finding stock images through one of these resources:

• Deposit Photos – they have a great selection of images, backgrounds and vectors. They also have a free 7 day trial which out could get you hooked.
• Microsoft Office – Find free clip art, photos and animations.

Upload your images

When uploading images you may need to resize them. Resize your images to no larger than 1024×768 and save as 72dpi or save as a jpeg. Here are some free resizing tools that you can use:

• Picknik has free and premium paid options that let you crop and resize images, add frames and captions to your photos or images, add special effects, and more.
• Skitch is currently on the Mac only, but is promising a PC version soon.
• Windows users can use Microsoft Paint. Go to your Start menu>All Programs>Accessories>Paint or http://www.getpaint.net/

Add image descriptions

It’s important to optimize your images for search engines by filling out the ALT and TITLE tags for your image with relevant keywords. Optimized images can help drive more traffic to your website.

[click the image above to see an example]

Configure your Gallery

Next, decide how you would like to display your photos and images. With NextGen Photo Gallery you have several options:

• The slide show mode - Your images are shown in medium size and are showcased one at a time with no back and forth arrows.
• The gallery mode – All of your images will be displayed as thumbnails; when you click on one it will display as a larger image. You can then click on the back and forth arrows to see more images.
• The browser mode – Your pictures will be displayed in a large size, one at a time. This mode includes arrows for next and back displayed at the bottom of the page.
• Scroll – If you add the NextGen Scroll plugin your images will show as a beautiful scrolling bar with a larger image beneath the scroll as shown below.

[screenshot of the NextGen Scroll Gallery]

Add your Gallery

That is it! Now it is time to add your gallery to your website. Add the gallery to a new page or post.

[Adding your gallery to a WordPress Page or Post]

Video Screencast

Here is a video screencast I made showing you how to set things up:

You can also download my PDF guide that shows you how to create a photo gallery using the NextGen WordPress plugin.

I hope this guide helps you. Let me know what photo gallery or slide show plugins you have found and really like in the comments below.

Happy designing!

About the author

Laura is the owner of Greencastle Web Design. You can find out more about Laura and see her portfolio at her web site: GreencastleWebDesign.com

The good folks at ReadiPress have set up and optimized WordPress and the SmallBiz Theme together – and the site is loading in 1/3 of a second!

Wow, good work guys!

WordPress Jetpack is showing up on many WordPress installs now. In fact, if you use BlueHost for your hosting and install WordPress with SimpleScripts, Jetpack is installed automatically for you.

At first glance, it looks like a bundle of plugins. But it’s really much more than that.

So what is Jetpack?

I get a lot of questions from readers about Jetpack, so when I was at WordCamp San Francisco last weekend my mission was to dig in and get the scoop.

I had the opportunity to talk with Matt Mullenweg, creator of WordPress and co-founder of Automattic about it at Wordcamp San Francisco last week. I got the strategy and vision behind it from Matt, and then talked to some of the Automattic engineers for a demo and deeper dive.

As you may know, there are two ways you can run WordPress – WordPress.com or self-hosted from WordPress.org. See my article WordPress.com vs WordPress.org – which one should I choose? for details on the differences between the two.

Matt explained that the idea behind Jetpack was to bring the coolest features available in WordPress.com and make them available to anyone using WordPress, even if they are hosting it themselves. He has a vision of “closing the gap” between WordPress.com and WordPress.org functionality and ease of use.

Video Tour of Jetpack

WordPress Jetpack Functionality

So what kinds of functionality does Jetpack bring to self-hosted WordPress users? Here are the plugins that are part of Jetpack now:

• WordPress.com real-time stats – Simple, concise site stats with no additional load on your server.
• Shortlinks – WP.me-powered shortlinks for all of your Posts and Pages for easier sharing.
• Social Media Sharing – Sharedaddy plugin to share content with Facebook, Twitter, and many more.
• Spell and grammar checking – After The Deadline adds spell, style, and grammar checking while you edit
• Twitter integration – Display the latest updates from a Twitter user inside your theme’s widgets
• Gravatar Hovercards – Show a pop-up business card of your users’ gravatar profiles in comments
• Shortcode Embeds – Easily embed videos and more from sites like YouTube, Vimeo, and SlideShare.
• LaTex – Mark up your posts with the LaTeX markup language, for complex mathematical equations.

And there are others on the way. You can individually turn on or off these features too, depending on which ones matter to you.

The feature I’d really like them to bring over from WordPress.com is the ability to post to your blog via email.

It’s possible to set up on your own self-hosted site, but it is very complex and limited. I’d like to see it work Posterous – they have made it super easy to post all types of media to your blog via email.

The Problem with WordPress Plugins…

One of the great things about WordPress plugins is that you can extend the functionality of your blog to do almost anything. There are over 15,000 plugins available for WordPress as I write this. But if you’ve worked with WordPress for very long, you know this diversity and power comes with some problems.

Anyone can write a plugin, and many times plugins conflict with each other, break when a new version of WordPress comes out, or introduce a security risk. Some WordPress experts even suggest that you avoid using plugins altogether.

When I talked with the Automattic team they told me one of the reasons for Jetpack was to provide a rich set of functionality with Plugins that you can trust, that work together and are updated with each new version of WordPress. They are also coming up with core groups of contributors for other important plugins to make sure they are managed and updated properly too.

Jetpack and SmallBiz

We tested Jetpack with our SmallBiz WordPress Theme and everything works great. So if you are using SmallBiz, don’t hesitate to fire up Jetpack, and turn on or off the features you want!

So what about you. Are you using Jetpack? What is your favorite plugin that you wish was included?

So you’re settled in for the evening at your favorite spot on the couch with your laptop, finally ready to write that awesome blog post that’s been percolating in your mind for the past week while you watch your favorite show.

You fire up Microsoft Word and start writing.

Wait – Don’t Do It!

Why? Because after you write your manifesto and spend all that time formatting it how you want it, you’ll be in for a nasty surprise when you try to cut and paste it into your WordPress blog.

You WILL nuke your blog!

It’s fine to write your blog post in MS Word, especially since it’s much easier to read than if you used a plain text editor. But MS Word has an extensive set of XML tags that represents all of the content and formatting in your Word document.

If you cut and paste your blog post directly from MS Word into your WordPress visual post editor, it will generate something like this behind the scenes.

Microsoft Word Styling XML Codes

OK, so what will happen?

These XML codes will break style elements on your blog and ruin the look of it when viewing this post. After you spent all that work creating the perfect layout for your blog and crafting the perfect blog post, why risk ruining it all?

The Solution

There are three very simple solutions to avoid blowing up your blog.

#1: Write your post in MS Word, then copy and paste it into a plain text editor, such as Notepad, then copy and paste the Notepad version into your WordPress editor.

Sure, there are 3 steps here but how long does it take to copy and paste, really?

Then you format the subheadings and fonts to your liking, hit publish and voila!

Picture perfect blog post with no issues!

#2: Use the “Paste from Word” button that you’ll find in your WordPress Visual Post Editor.

Paste from Word Button in WordPress

Click this button just once to bring up the following editing box.
Copy and paste your text from MS Word into this pop up box. Click Insert.

Wordpress Paste From Word Editor

Now you’ll see that copy appear in The WordPress Visual Post Editor.

The WordPress Visual Post Editor

#3: Publish your blog post direct from MS Word 2007. Yes, it seems after years of having people blowing up their blogs, there’s a fix direct from Microsoft!

First, open up MS Word 2007 and click New from the Office icon in the upper left corner. Instead of choosing Blank Document, choose New Blog Post.

New MS Word Blog Post

Next you’ll be asked to register your blog so input your WordPress blog information as promted. This MS Word option also supports other blogging platforms but here at Expand2Web we highly recommend WordPress.

Once registered, start typing your post. The MS Word 2007 editor has the same essential look as when you create a blank document but notice the Blog Post tab where the Publish button is located.

MS Word Blog Post Editor

How To Check Your Blog Post HTML

Prior to publishing your blog post, click the button in your WordPress blog post editing screen that is labeled HTML.

You’ll notice right away that all your formatting is gone. Don’t panic…it’s still there in the Visual Editor. But here in HTML is where you should look for those funky XML codes from the earlier photo.

You should see your basic formatting HTML codes but if there’s anything that looks suspicious, delete it.

Switch back to the Visual Editor to check your formatting and then click Publish.

Now you can use Microsoft Word and WordPress together Without Nuking Your Blog!

Your only job now is to create quality content for your readers.

What do you spend most of your time on? Driving traffic right? You are building backlinks, developing new content for the search engines and working your social media in order to bring new traffic to your website. And the reason you’re doing this? New traffic equals new opportunities for sales.

But what if I told you there was a way to double your leads, sales and revenues without bringing in the first new visitor. Not only that, but you can implement this exciting new strategy in less than a day. So what is it.

Clean house.

Okay it may not be terribly exciting and it certainly isn’t a new concept but it is one that is often overlooked. We live in a world where technology is changing every day and there’s some new “must have” improvement that we can’t wait to implement on our website. Web technology has made it so much easier to be in the Internet marketing business but it has a dark side as well.

Avoid overdosing on WordPress

When I first started out in this business over a decade ago I was using Drupal the converted almost all of my sites to WordPress because of the amazing content management system the platform offers. It was perfect for me. I’m a non-techie and to be able to build professional looking websites by dragging and dropping really appeal to me.

But as WordPress matured and more and more plug-ins became available I found myself overloading my sites with all these features. I almost became addicted to all of these new fabulous plugins that I knew would take hours and hours of code if I had not been using WordPress.

The developer second. Where else can you get these kinds of features simply by dragging and dropping?

• unlimited pictures and video capacity
• ad serving solutions
• social media buttons
• sidebars
• tag clouds

And on and on.

Too much of a good thing

The temptation to add the latest and greatest widget is almost too much to resist but think about what you’re doing. In the affiliate marketing business we make money by converting visitors into customers. That’s the mission. We have to make our offer clear and we have to lead the visitor by the hand to make the purchase.

If your website is generating leads, selling products or something as abstract as offering consumer reviews for best wood router you simply can’t allow your customers to become distracted.

When we load the site down with tons of options the visitors can become confused, or they can become engaged in one of those options and even leave the site, our message can be diluted and not as effective or, worse yet, someone who wanted to buy can’t figure out how. All the features we add don’t necessarily help in converting a visitor to a customer. In fact many are simply distractions.

Cleanup your website and kick up your conversions

As I mentioned earlier I became victim to this WordPress addiction myself and I finally decided I had to find out why my sales weren’t what I had expected. So what I did was a little experiment. I looked at every page on my website and counted the number of actions a potential visitor could do. That means clicking on advertising, clicking on social media buttons, navigating using two or three separate widgets etc. What it boiled down to was I was offering too many distractions from my main message.

Where I was really going over-the-top was in graphics and photographs. These have a lot of I appeal but they distracted from the message. So why did was simply eliminate those features that didn’t contribute to leading to a conversion. When I was done I had much cleaner page that was far easier to read. But more importantly I saw a significant increase in my conversion rate because visitors knew what I wanted them to do.

5 areas to check when cleaning up your website

1. Have a plan for every page.

Every page that you publish should have a purpose. There has to be a reason for being and you have to tell the visitor what to do next. If you’re not certain what role the page plays in your business you can’t expect a visitor to do what you want them to do.

2. Take your visitor by the hand.

Have your content read in such a way that what you suggest in the call to action appears to be the logical next step. For example if they land on an opt-in page their next action should be a sign up not paging back to achieved articles.

3. Make it clean and simple.

Keep your page design clutter free. Sometimes a simple white background and black text along with an engaging header graphic is all you need.

4. Tell them what you want to do.

I said every page has to have a purpose and to follow up on that, you have to tell your visitor just what that purpose is by including a strong, compelling call to action. Build your case with content and then direct them to the next logical step with the call to action.

5. Don’t eliminate all of your social media links.

Social media is very useful in getting new, referred traffic from your visitors. However it can also be a distraction and you have to weigh the benefits and risk. As a general rule, use social media in moderation. It’s better to keep the reader on the page and following your calls to action than going off on a Tweet or Facebook binge.

But wait there’s more!

One last tip but it’s an important one. People read left to right.

Here’s a fact. When visitors land on your page their eyes will immediately focus on the top left of your page. Your most important content should be parked there, not a sidebar like so many sites have.

This clean up strategy can work for any website from infrared cameras to e-books on relationships to video tutorials on golf to router table reviews. And the format of the site doesn’t matter either. You can use them on review sites, daily deal sites or even on your blog.

Take the challenge and check out just how many “options” a visitor has on your site and get rid of stuff that is detracting from your message.

About the Author

James Martell discovered the lucrative world of affiliate marketing in 1999. He is a self-taught Internet entrepreneur and a leading expert in affiliate marketing, outsourcing and SEO. James is the host of the “Affiliate Buzz”, the first and longest running affiliate marketing podcast. James is the host of the “Affiliate Marketers SUPER BootCamp”, a continually updated affiliate training best known for turning affiliate newbies into success stories. James resides in White Rock BC, a seaside suburb of Vancouver on the West Coast of Canada with Arlene and their 4 children.

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