Mark Austin

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[surffab]

Hi

I want to have a squeeze page on my WP page. Actually i want visitors to start directly on this squeeze page to get emails. So I would define this
page or post as sticky, so it shows up anytime a visitor comes to my main page (let's say webpage.com). But then the page shows only as webpage.com
instead of for example webpage.com/get-free-abc-report which would help in a SEO perspective to rank better on google.
So what is better in your opinion, making the squeeze page sticky and have directly on the main page or having it with the name in the URL for ranking better?
Or can I kinda reroute the main page to the squeeze page which shows the full URL?

thanks for your sharings.
fabian

[magicman]

Hey Fabian -- sorry you question hasn't been answered yet. There's people her with a lot more knowledge than I have.

But, I'll give this a try. First I figured out how to not show the dates of the posts. Then I made my first post as an opt-in page as a sticky. (www.highbloodpressurenaturalcuresnow.com).

If I was starting it over, I'd probably make a page the landing page instead of the first post.

I don't know. Not really sure. However, the opt-in method I used seems to be working ok. Good luck. -MM

[surffab]

Hey Magicman

Thanks a lot, looks good your page.
How did you manage to get rid of the dates of the posts, this is also a thing I want to take out.

Fabian

[Wayne]

Fabian,

I think you've got some terminology confused, or at least it confused *me* which you wanted.
Sticky posts always show up at the top of the list of posts on the home page. If you only have 1 sticky post it is most likely to be "above the fold" when people land on your site.
There is also a way to set a post or page as the static "front page" which many would call the landing page.
Settings -> Reading is where you can tweak that.
If you set the front page to a static page/post, then you don't really have the page with the list of posts accessible easily. You could create a new page that does the same function as the "thank you" page after people subscribe.

What I have done at http://lifeloveandlearning.com is to put a redirect from the main URL to /blog/ with the intent of putting up a squeeze page on the root URL. That main page is outside of wordpress completely, so you don't have to wory about static front pages or whatever. In order to take advantage of WP's editor and SEO properties you could have the blog installed in /blog, and the /index.php redirect to an arbitrary squeeze page that is a page in wordpress. That would get you the best of both worlds -- let you send people to the main URL and still have the squeeze page with the keywords in URL if you want. It also allow you to change what squeeze page you redirect to for split testing, etc.

As far as removing the dates from posts, that is in the theme and, depending on what theme, is slightly more complicated than I can explain here in a post. Be careful editing your theme, it's real easy to make it completely non-functional! If you want a theme with *lots* of flexibility with a little bit of CSS knowledge, check out Atahualpa either at http://wordpress.bytesforall.com or in the Wordpress.org theme repository.

Hope that helps!

[magicman]

I really appreciate the information Wayne gave us....thanks, Wayne.

Fabian, here's the tip I got in another forum..

    * Report this post
    * Reply with quote

----------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a little hack for you to remove the post dates:

1- Go to Appearance >> Editor

2-Choose single.php in the right hand column

3-Locate this bit of code:

Code: Select all
    <?php the_time('F jS, Y') ?>

4-Delete it

5-Repeat the process for the index.php file found in the right hand column also.

Now you are all set!
------------------------------------------------------

I can't even pretend to know what I did. I followed this suggestion and it worked. The dates will show up in the archives but not on the post itself.

Hope that helps. - MM

[magicman]

What I have done at http://lifeloveandlearning.com is to put a redirect from the main URL to /blog/ with the intent of putting up a squeeze page on the root URL. That main page is outside of wordpress completely, so you don't have to wory about static front pages or whatever. In order to take advantage of WP's editor and SEO properties you could have the blog installed in /blog, and the /index.php redirect to an arbitrary squeeze page that is a page in wordpress. That would get you the best of both worlds -- let you send people to the main URL and still have the squeeze page with the keywords in URL if you want. It also allow you to change what squeeze page you redirect to for split testing, etc.

Wayne, this does sound like a perfect solution. Is there anywhere I can find step-by-step instructions? I realize this would be the step-by-step for most. Not me...I'm the blind mouse stumbling around and getting lucky now and then. - Magicman

[Wayne]

MM,

That is only step-by-step for the geeky who know WP and setting up redirects and things.

I will write up some instructions and share them with you. If you haven't heard back on this by the weekend drop me a PM so I'll see it reminding me every time I swing through the forum. (Gotta use all the tricks to work with the ADD, ya know! )

[surffab]

Hey guys

Thanks a lot for your feedack on this topic.
I'm also looking forward to the step-by-step from Wayne.

[Wayne]

... put a redirect from the main URL to /blog/ with the intent of putting up a squeeze page on the root URL. That main page is outside of wordpress completely, so you don't have to wory about static front pages or whatever. In order to take advantage of WP's editor and SEO properties you could have the blog installed in /blog, and the /index.php redirect to an arbitrary squeeze page that is a page in wordpress. That would get you the best of both worlds -- let you send people to the main URL and still have the squeeze page with the keywords in URL if you want. It also allow you to change what squeeze page you redirect to for split testing, etc.

• Install Wordpress into a subdirectory (/blog or something similar)
     Do it manually or you can use Fantastico (yes, even you Donald!)
• Create WP page you want to show up as the front page on http://example.com/
     Use one of the many squeeze page theme/template/plugins to create a page like http://mercs.net/free-reports/small-business-attitude-adjustor/
     (I could probably be convinced to share my page template for the right consideration. )
• Create an index.php to redirect to the WP page
     This would change the address in the address bar to show the full glory of the (hopefully keyword rich) page URL.

Code:

<?php header("Location:http://example.com/blog/keyword-rich-page-title/");
exit;
?>

• (Or) Create index.php to pull the WP page and show it as if it was the front page
     This would not change the address in the browser bar and would just pull the contents of the long URL and show them when people request the main URL. It does not get your keywords into the URL but it is nicer for the viewers who land on your site.
     If you use this technique, you can still backlink and/or send people directly to the long URL while taking full advantage of also having the squeeze page as the gateway on the front page.
     
     (And, no, this method wouldn't be a good thing for showing other people's affiliate offers since the cookies wouldn't get set in the viewer's browser in the process of showing that other page's contents.)

   

Code:

<?php print file_get_contents("http://example.com/blog/keyword-rich-page-title");
exit;
?>

• (Or) Setup your favorite split test software on the front page and split between various WP squeeze pages.
     This depends on your split test software, but as long as it lets you use two different pages to split between it should work just fine.

Is that step-by-step enough for y'all (except for the theme/template/plugin part)?
Do you know how to setup the permalinks and things like that in WP?
Or do you need/want a video and/or screen shots walking you through that stuff too?

Hmm, so how could I make the basic part of it easier on y'all?

I do have that paper template and a *blank* template that could work well for doing squeeze pages.
If you wanted to buy a copy of those, I'd prioritize my project of making them user friendly and get that done sooner than later.
PM me if you're interested.

Either way, I hope that helps.

[Donald]

Wayne,

What have I done, got a mention in your last post. lol

Donald

[Wayne]

Donald,

As I recall, you were wanting to learn to install WP manually (rather than using Fantastico) for some strange reason.
It was just a friendly nudge saying we're all allowed to use Fantastico.

Did I get confused at whom to nudge?

[joesal]

why not just have a fly in opt in form on your home page?

[Donald]

Hi Wayne,

How could I forget. I had heard from 2 or 3 people that Fantastico could be "dodgy". I've used it twice and no problem. As for installing manually, it would be an experience. I know it was a friendly nudge mate. There was no offence taken.

Regards

Donald

 

[surffab]

Hey Wayne

Thanks a lot for your step-by-step post.
Need to read this at home when I can concentrate and see if I get it :-)

[magicman]

Hi Wayne--- sorry I've missed this until now. Thanks much. I'll dig into this over the holidays. I really appreciate your help and thoughtfulness. -- MM

[Wayne]

You're both quite welcome.

Let me know what else you need.