Building A Static Site Using WordPress - Part 2
Sarah is a Web Developer specialising in PHP coding and WordPress. She runs several blogs all accumulated at Blogging by Sarah.
Other Articles In This Series
First off, the following post assumes you are capable of installing WordPress onto your computer or own hosting. If you’ve never done this before then I have a post on Installing WordPress which I recommend you read first. This post shouldn’t be taken as an in-depth guide but more of a simple start to give you an idea of how you can use WordPress to power your standard website.
So, you’ve got WordPress installed and ready to get started. First off we need to get the content on the site. Don’t worry if you don’t have much content yet. WordPress makes it so easy to add further pages that you can start off with a few and continue adding as and when the content is ready. Of course I don’t recommend launching a new site which is only half finished, but if you can get away with it sounding/looking complete then the quicker is running, the sooner you can start getting visitors in and hopefully start making money!
Create the Front Page
To create a static page, in the admin area you go to Write > Page. The Write Page section is almost identical to the Write Post section. To create your page give it a title and add the content into the content area. At this point you could stop but there are a few parts of the section to understand when it comes to creating a static site.
First off is the Discussion options. I’m not sure why pages can have comments or pings, but I guess that’s left over from the blog side of WordPress. In your page template you can delete the comment form and comment display, however if you’re using the default page template then I’d recommend you untick these just to be on the safe side. Page Status is handy to allow you to preview your page before the world can see it. Save it as a draft and whilst you’re logged in as Admin you can still view the page, make corrections and then finally publish it when you’re ready. If you want to password protect the page then set a password for it. This is one password that you give out to anyone you want to allow access. It’s not a great way in my opinion to control page access and I’ll go into a plugin that’s much better for this.
Page Parent allows you to create sections or categories within your page structure, useful when your site is going to be quite large. You can either create the page as a main page or as a child of another page. The page slug is used in the URL when you’re using permalinks however it will automatically create the slug from the page title, so unless you drastically change the page title then you don’t need to touch this. The page author isn’t of much importance here, and finally the page order…
The Page Order allows you to control the order in which the pages are displayed in the menu on the front end. This allows for complete control over how the menu appears. The page order works for each ‘level’ of pages ie. parent, child, grand child and so on. Simply assign a number for each page and then, providing the correct template tag is used to display the menu, the pages will display in the ascending order of the numbers you’ve given.
Assign the Front Page
Now that you have a front page created you need to go to Options > Reading. The first option is the Front Page. Here you want to select that the front page displays a static page, and then select your newly created front page as the ‘Front Page’ option. You can leave the ‘Posts Page’ option as it is.
If you now go to the front end of your site you should see your front page as the welcoming page on the site. Now you need to continue adding your pages of content to pad your site out and create an actual site.
What about the Blog?
If you can have some sort of continuing information on the site, such as news stories or events, then this is where the blogging power of WordPress can still be utilised. Rename the category ‘Uncategorised’ to ‘News’ or something more appropriate, and then use this to add your stories. This is a great way to potentially get visitors into the site via blog searches and the blog world, and then hopefully from there your visitors will investigate the site further and get to the content you want them to see. The content that will make you money 
Building A Static Site Using WordPress
Sarah is a Web Developer specialising in PHP coding and WordPress. She runs several blogs all accumulated at Blogging by Sarah.
I often have the same conversation with people when they find out that I make my additional income from websites. It usually starts with them saying that they have a great idea but wouldn’t know where to start, how to set up the site and so on. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who surf the web, maybe looked at a bit of HTML and gave up dreaming of getting their idea online.
Forget all of that as it is possible with the right tool, and that’s WordPress. At this point I’ll also point out that WordPress isn’t just a blogging platform. Yes, it’s one of the most powerful blogging platforms out there, but get the idea of blogging out of your mind for a second and replace it with Content Management System (CMS). This is all you need to power your new site. WordPress is so simple to use, once you’ve got it up and running, and it allows you to concentrate on getting the content and information into the site and not having to worry about the foundations of the site.
Since WordPress version 2.1, you can easily change what the front page of your site is. This usually displays X posts - blogging style, however you can also create a static page and select this as the front page instead. By doing this you’ve turned your blog into a more standard website with a potential news section, powered by the blogging part of WordPress.
Why WordPress?
- It’s free
- Easy to use
- There are plenty of free templates out there for you to choose from
- It’s constantly kept up-to-date (don’t take this to mean they’re always fixing security exploits, improvements on the code to improve the efficiency and speed are done too!)
- There’s a large user base so if you need a question answering then someone will usually know the answer
- Plenty of plugins to extend and improve WordPress further
- It is lightweight and can work as a CMS
There are plenty of other CMSs out there such as Joomla, however most are not as tiny as WordPress, and definitely not as easy to install or upgrade. The default WordPress installation takes up just 2.76MB which is nothing really!
With WordPress you get an easy to use admin area, allowing you to create new pages with a WYSIWYG toolbar, similar to that of Microsoft Word. This allows you to easily write and format your page text as you like, without touching any HTML. Adding a page is just like adding a post except a page is not put in a category. Pages can be set up as top level, or as ‘children’ pages of a Top Level or Parent page. You can also control the order in which your pages are output on the front end in the menu simply by setting the ordering when you add the page. However, just because you’ve scrapped the blog posts from the front page doesn’t mean you have to scrap the entire idea of blogging on the site. We all know that search engines like fresh content so once you’ve set your site up you could still have a news section, powered by the blog, which would allow you to perhaps update the site once a week, create that little fresh content to keep both the search engines and maybe your repeat visitors interested.
When you’re ready to take things further then a few WordPress plugins can easily help to allow you to create paid for content that’s only shown to logged in users and not random visitors. A great way to sell subscriptions to people.
My business maintains 10+ WordPress powered websites for clients. Some had WordPress so that they could make use of the blogging feature for their news or events section, others just wanted a budget site and considering the time and ease for installing it, WordPress was the suitable choice. All the sites are maintained easily, some by the clients and some by my business. It makes it so easy to keep the site updated, regardless of where you are and which computer you’re using.
In my next post I’ll explain how to configure your WordPress installation to run as a static site along with additional plugins to enhance and improve the site. If you’ve never used it before and would like to have a preview then get yourself a free account at WordPress.com. It’s a little limited compared to the standalone version but it will give you an idea of the main core of WordPress.
Creating Effective 404 Error Pages for WordPress
Steven Snell designs websites and maintains a blog for Vandelay Website Design, where you can read his articles on design, marketing, blogging, and more.
Some visitors are inevitably going to come across 404 error pages on your site, regardless of how careful you are about preventing and correcting dead links. All it takes is a visitor making a typo when entering a URL or another blogger or webmaster incorrectly creating a link to one of your pages.
Error pages don’t have to be terrible experiences for your visitors, but you need to be prepared for the situation and make the necessary changes as soon as possible. Fortunately, WordPress users have a lot of options and potential for their 404 error pages.
Many WordPress themes already include specific 404 error messages, however, some themes do not. Even if your theme does include a 404 file, chances are it could benefit from some customization. Rather than simply displaying a non user-friendly message, why not try to provide the visitor with some help in finding the desired page/post?
If your WordPress theme includes a 404 file it will be contained in the theme’s folder and named 404.php. You can easily change the message that appears or add to it by editing the 404.php file. For example, you may want to add links to some of your most popular posts, or to your category pages. If your theme already includes a search function consider encouraging visitors to use the search to find what they are looking for. If your theme doesn’t already include a search function, consider adding one to make it easier for visitors.
If your theme doesn’t include a 404.php file, creating one is pretty simple. Of course the first thing you want to do is create a new file in your theme’s folder and name it 404.php. One option to create the page is to copy the code from you index.php file and then take out the part of the code that calls up recent posts. If you’re creating 404.php from scratch without using index.php, you’ll want to enter the following code to pull up the header, sidebar and footer:
<?php get_header(); ?>
<?php get_sidebar(); ?>
<?php get_footer(); ?>
After <?php get_header(); ?> you’ll enter the code for whatever div you use for the main body of your pages. For example, with the default Kubrick theme the code is:
Inside that Some other resources for WordPress 404 pages include: Adnan’s Points: Better 404 pages insert humour to try and cheer up the visitor and make them smile. A very cool 404 page which I came across is by Michael from ProBlogDesign, who wrote a poem - very thoughtful! Guest post by Michael Martin from Pro Blog Design, where he writes about creating profitable, usable and attractive blogs. The omnipotent blogger is everywhere. He knows everything, and he knows everyone. He is the master of his topic, and he is a fraud. To be an omnipotent blogger, you do not need to know everything. You need merely give off the impression that you do. How do you go about this? The key is to research each and every topic you post about. If you blog about blogging, don’t settle for a simple link to ProBlogger. Search deeper. There are thousands of blogs about blogging, and the chances are good that someone else has written something similar to Darren. The underdog’s blog post may not be of the same quality, or have the same wealth of knowledge in the comments, but it does have one pressing advantage. Your reader hasn’t read it before. Through simply linking to an article or blog that is new to them, you show that you know your topic. You know your niche, and you’ve done your homework. What’s more is that the underdog will appreciate your link more. ProBlogger gets dozens of links a day. Darren simply doesn’t have the time go through each and everyone of them, but an underdog does. The underdog will appreciate your link, will follow through to your blog, and may well comment or link back to you on their own blog in future. ProBlogger, John Chow, Copyblogger. What do they all have in common? Well, they’re all fantastic blogs, but aside from that, they all appear on virtually every blogging blogroll going. What purpose does the blogroll serve when all it is doing is list sites that your readers have already visited? By all means, link out to such great sites. They do deserve it, but make sure you include links to much smaller sites as well. Is there a relatively unheard of gem in your niche? A promising looking start-up? A helpful blog for newbies? Link to those blogs. Your readers will appreciate the links, and appreciate the diversity of your knowledge. Do you read every post written by every blog in your niche? Probably not, but it will appear that you do. The very nature of being an underdog makes them a little harder to find, but there are plenty of tools to help you find good posts on any given topic. My personal favourite is Google Blog Search, and occasionally Google itself, though it’s usually better to link to other blogs, because of the very nature of blogging and the blogosphere. You could use any number of other tools to help in your search. Even your feed reader is an invaluable resource, with dozens of links to click on each day. Everyone links to the big wolf on campus. Be different from the normal blogs. Give your readers real value. No-one can be everywhere, but a clever blogger can appear to be. Hi, I’m Edward Dowd. I own and write for my site The Blog Beat. The site focuses on marketing and promotion but covers all aspects of blogging. There can come a point in your site’s existence where you can no longer put all your heart, energy and effort into the project. You may want to move on, your interest may have changed. Selling your site is a definite exit strategy not only to see your efforts continued but also to earn some extra cash instead of letting your site sit and get old. The best place on the web to sell a site seems to be Sitepoint. It costs $20 - $40 depending on how successful your site is to post the auction. I’ve seen auctions posted and receive bids a few minutes later on Sitepoint, so there are definitely people attentively watching. When you go to sell a site the most important part of a site to buyers are traffic and revenue. Hopefully you’ve been successful at both. A good place to get a site estimate is dnscoop.com. The price dnscoop will probably be more than what you can get and from auction I’ve tracked in the past, you’ll get around half of the number DNScoop gives. 1. Description 2. Site Stats 3. Monetization 4. Buy It Now If you do decide to settle for a Buy It Now price, close your auction. Another person out of the blue might contact you offering to pay more than the other person, in which case you can go for that offer. Try to make the actual transaction as slow as possible to make sure something like that doesn’t happen. 5. How Long To Put An Auction Up For? Adnan’s Thoughts: Firstly, there are other places where you can buy and sell sites. I’ve had reasonable success with DigitalPoint in the sale of a forum and a proxy. For blogs and high established sites then I would recommend Sitepoint, but for smaller sites which you want to flip, DP is just as good. In terms of information, I agree with Edward in that make sure to give the most relevant details about your space which could help to shift a site. Google rankings, affiliate income and place of domain registration are all good things to include. Make sure when you are disclosing Adsense income to blockout most of details like CTR - you don’t want your account getting banned. Finally, I have a few issues with the Buy-It-Now price. In my own personal experience, it’s always best to put a BIN so that people know what you’re realistically expecting. But do exactly that, make the BIN realistic. In most cases, the BIN price won’t be used, but never undervalue yourself. A normal site is worth at least 10 times the monthly revenue and proxies are worth 6 times the monthly revenue. Set a high BIN just in case Mr. Rich comes along. Another point: If you do decide to settle for a Buy It Now price, close your auction. Another person out of the blue might contact you offering to pay more than the other person, in which case you can go for that offer. Please don’t do this. Once you’ve received a bid that you are satisfied with and have closed your auction, you can’t pick and choose when a better offer comes along. Stick to your guns, as a few extra $$ won’t make up for the hard feelings that the first buyer will have (who will then leave negative feedback). Your reputation is everything online.<div id="content" class="narrowcolumn">
div you can then enter anything that you want to appear on the 404 page.
- Guide to 404 Pages from the WordPress Codex
- 404 Search Function for WordPress
- Dunstan-Style Error Page Plugin
- 404 Notifier Plugin
- Doug Karr’s 404 Suggestions
As an example of what you can write on your 404 page, checkout Blogtrepreneur’s version. This came with the theme and gives the reader easy-to-follow instructions in order to help them navigate and recover from their error.How To Be an Omnipotent Blogger
Support The Underdog
Give Your Blogroll A Purpose
How To Find Underdogs
5 Steps To Attract High Bids When Selling A Site
You want your description to be detailed describing all the positives of your site. Give a good background of what your site is about and reasons for selling the site. A strong relevant domain name helps too.
To entice potential buyers, you’ll want to have good traffic. This isn’t the article to tell you how to get more traffic, but you’ll want to share high pageviews and unique visitors when you go to auction. Your bidders will want documented past stats and one of the best stats tools to share stats is Google Analytics. They let you export very nice PDF’s and even allow you to let people log in and view your stats. I would say share as much data as you can. Don’t forget to share RSS subscribers as well.
You’ll want to give great detail on how much, how you earned and what you earned on the site, but be careful you don’t want to violate your advertisers’ terms of service. For example, Google Adsense prohibits the sharing of actual money made. Give rough estimates if you deal in ads, but include all your revenue streams in your estimate.
Many potential buyers want to know a BIN (Buy It Now) price. I would advise against posting a Buy It Now Price right on the auction page. Get people who contact you to throw out a number, and try pushing them up a bit more. If the price they suggest is anywhere near what you will settle for, give them a higher number than you will settle for because they’ll probably come back with something in between the number you gave and they gave. It also helps to know who exactly you are deal with. If your dealing with a company of some sort, they’ll probably willing to fork over a good price.
Sitepoint allows you to put a bid up for a month, but I would advise against going for the full 30 days. I would suggest a week or two at most. This is because possible bidders will lose interest and might forget by then and your auction will fall below newer auctions on Sitepoint. Try to end the bid on a Sunday, because most people can attentively watch the auction end at that time.
After reading through some of Edward’s points, I’ve decided to post a little snippet at the end detailing my own thoughts about selling a site.
