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Becky Bruso

Why Use WordPress, Anyway?

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WordPress for Web Site Building

Written by Becky Bruso

A while back I wrote a short article with a link to support why WordPress is suitable to use as a tool to build any web site.  This earlier article can be found at this link. Today, I want to elaborate on this and talk more about why WordPress is a great tool to use to build your web site.

WordPress Helps You Stand on the Shoulder of Giants

I have always been a believer in finding what already works and leveraging this.  Especially when it comes to building code for a web site.  The decision factor for me has always come down to this:

Should I spend hours to try to learn to code this by hand? 

or

Can I find code which already exists to handle this task?

The cost benefit analysis is clear: finding and leveraging what already works allows me (and you) to move on to other tasks that need my (your) attention. And as we all know, in a solopreneur or self-employed or small business, these to-dos are many and never-ending.

Expert Support for Leverage of WordPress

003871673_Female Rock ClimberI recently listened to a podcast by Seth Price,VP of Sales & Marketing at Placester ( providing social media and content marketing advice and counsel to tens of thousands of real estate professionals & brands) on October 13, 25015. In this session, Seth inteviewed Michael Brenner, Head of Content Strategy at NewsCred and formerly of SAP, (find out more about Seth this podcast  here. ) This episode was jam-packed with tons of content marketing know how, tips, and insights which I would encourage you to go listen to or read about. For this writing, I want to hone in on what Michael said about WordPress.  He really framed some hardline figures about the real dollar savings you get when you leverage an existing solid long-standing community based software tool like WordPress. Micheal Brenner nailed the concept of standing on the shoulder of giants when he explained about content management tools.
WordPress has a decade of experience with over one million lines of code in place, in an open source fashion. The cost of entry for a publishing platform such as WordPress is so high. It would cost over 2 million dollars to reinvent the wheel and replicate what WordPress already has in place. LEVERAGE LEVERAGE LEVERAGE!! -Michael Brenner
Unless you have the money to reinvent the wheel, the best return for you money is to take Michael’s advice.  I have always thought about it this way as well.  It is great to hear that experts have the same opinions. 🙂 

WordPress Usage Statistics

WordPress implementations W3Tech.com Chart
Chart Sourced from W3Tech.com
The web site W3Tech.com provides a number of statistics about WordPress Implementations.  At the left is a clip of statistics they have gathered regarding the usage of  WordPress by web site size. If you take a look at the W3Tech.com site, it provides a wealth of information published about WordPress Implementations and also has a WordPress Market Report which is available for purchase.  This will really help frame the scope of WordPress usage today and its growth rate for the future. Some good supporting reading about WordPress and its history can be found at the WordPress site.    WordPress has been around since 2001 and as of April of 2015 there were 2,774 themes.  Since this time, there have been countless more themes added. The WordPress community consists of developers who create themes; plugins; widgets; and not the least of which, is the core WordPress body of code upon which all of these elements are built. The core code of WordPress is just like the foundation of your home; it pretty much stands no matter what sorts of renovations you add to it.  Themes and plugins are just such renovations.  Themes control the core look and feel of your site.  Thus, WordPress sites can change themes, just like you would change the paint and wallpaper in your home,  without altering the core behavior of a web site.  This provides an infinite number of possibilities for colors, styles, fonts, imagery and other display features (newpaper, gallery, articles, blogs, etc)  for your web site. Then there are the plugins.  These are semi-independent software packages of code which can be added to any WordPress web site.  They allow web sites to add,with relative ease, functions like searching a web site, social media sharing, and forms to fully e-commerece enabled stores with payment processing through payment gateways like PayPal. The majority of the themes and plug-ins are free to download and use.  The WordPress community who consumes these themes and plugins can rate them in the same way that ebay allows buyers and sellers ratings.  These ratings can and should guide your usage and download of these and direct you to the most popular and maintained themes and plugins; steering you away from those which might behave badly.

More About Web Site Creation with WordPress

From time to time, I will re-post information about WordPress and why using it makes sense.  I do want to caution you however, that it does take some skill to put together a web site with WordPress. Bottom line is that it pays to have someone who is familiar with the landscape guide your way through the various WordPress options that are out there.  It will save you countless hours of trial and error in your learning and setting up a WordPress web site.  
The BizPal Company, LLC is able to assist you with any web site decision from early start-up to completion.  We offer services to either teach you how to build it yourself or we will build it for you.  Contact us today to discuss your options.

Default

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Definition of the Word “Default”

The word “default” is often found used in computer-speak writing and instructions.  We have demystified the computer-speak and provided you with a very simple definition. default computer

WordPress: Post and Page Future Publish Features

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How to Schedule a Post or Page for a Future Publication Date

Written by Becky Bruso

In this post we will explore how to schedule a future posting date for WordPress posts and pages.   This article will detail how to schedule these with written instructions including images of the how-to process in action.   I have also added a short desktop video which demonstrates exactly how to add and change  scheduled posting dates for posts and pages.  It includes audio instructions as well. I wrote and recorded both methods to provide you with the ability to pick which method is best for you to see how scheduling works.   WordPress Posts and Pages have an awesome feature which allow you to write your content now and set it up for automatic publication at a future date.  This frees you up to do other things without worrying about going in and manually updating a post or page every time you want to publish.
Setting aside one day to write, edit, and schedule your posting efforts for a specific time period can free you up to do a lot of other business activities.  This will help you plan and organize your content and content updates to enable you to align with your strategic promotions and efforts. 
Let’s take a look at how to add a future scheduled date to a post or page.

Video Demonstration of Scheduling Posts and Pages for Automatic Future Publication Date

Written Instructions on How to Schedule Posts and Pages for Automatic Future Publication

To change the publication date or set the publication date to a future date, go to your WordPress dashboard.  Click on Posts, then select Add New (if you are adding a new post) or All Posts ( if you are working with an existing post).   The beauty of this feature is that it operates exactly the same way for WordPress pages.  Thus, if working on scheduling pages, click on Pages, then select Add New (if you are adding a new page) or All Pages ( if you are working with an existing page).   The Publish panel section looks exactly the same on posts as it does on pages.
WordPress - Post and Page Publishing Options
Post and Page Publishing Options
  Once within the post editing screen, you will note there is a Publish panel section which is usually to the right of your post or page editing screen. By default, posts and pages are set up to be published immediately upon clicking on the Publish button.  You can change this behavior to be more in line with your individual posting schedule.
WordPress-Schedule post or page
Scheduling Post or Page for Future Publishing Date
If the publish panel section is not visible, go to the upper right hand corner of your editing screen and click on screen options.  Under screen options, you have the ability to select whether you want your editing screen area to be one column or two columns.   The image below shows you where and how to change from 1 column to 2 columns.  These options only apply to your private editing area and not to the visual presentation that your web visitors will see on the front end of your web site.  
Wordpress publish options stacked into 1 column
Screen Options – 1 or 2 column editing view
Now that the screen options are set, let’s take a look at setting up a future publishing date.  You may select the month, day, year, and time of day you wish your post or page to be automatically published.   After you have selected a future publication date by clicking on okay, you will note that the Publish button changes to say Schedule.  Click on the button that says Schedule to confirm your future publication date.  
WordPress Schedule Post or Page Publishing
Schedule A Post or Page for a Future Publication Date
You will note that the button has changed from saying Publish to Schedule.  Click on the button that says Schedule to confirm your selected publication date.   Once this date is selected (by clicking on Schedule), your post or page will automatically be published on that date and time without any further need on your part to monitor or publish it.    
WordPress Scheduled Publish Date Change Button to Schedule
Selection of Date change to Schedule Button
After completing your scheduling selection, you will note that the button has now changed from saying Schedule to Update.   Should you need to change the publication date, you may do so by editing the post or page and going back into the published date by clicking on the edit link next to the scheduled publication date.  Once you have changed your publication date, you would then click on the Update button.  These steps are shown in the image below.  
WordPress- Change Scheduled Post or Page
Changing and Already Scheduled Post or Page
You should now have the knowledge of how to schedule your posts and pages to automatically publish when you want them to.  

What can go Wrong with Scheduled Publish Dates?

I have not run into any scheduling snafus with setting up future publication dates from a web site operational perspective.   The only gotcha I can think of is that you might be creating a draft and be actively working on something which you have set a future publication date for.   This is more of an individual workflow processing gotcha.  My workaround for this scenario would be to always keep your posts and pages that are work in process, as private, and not actually schedule them until such time as you consider them to be final and ready for world viewing.   😉 

United Way of Southbridge, Sturbridge, and Charlton 2015 Kickoff Luncheon

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Becky Bruso, BizPal and Karri Freeland, United WayOctober 1, 2015 Southbridge, MA Becky Bruso attended the United Way of Southbridge, Sturbridge, and Charlton 2015 Kickoff Luncheon on behalf of Woman in Business, Inc of Sturbridge on October 1, 2015. Becky serves as the Publicity Chair for Woman in Business, Inc. Also in attendance from Woman in Business, was Past President Carol Porra. [Read more…] about United Way of Southbridge, Sturbridge, and Charlton 2015 Kickoff Luncheon

WordPress 101 – How to Maximize Categories

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Unleash the Power of Using Categories in your WordPress Web Site

Written by Becky Bruso

In this post we will explore how to add categories and the way they are used in WordPress.   This article will detail how to add categories in WordPress and will have a visual image of the process in action.   I have also included a short desktop video which demonstrates exactly how to add and use categories.  It includes audio instructions as well. I wrote and recorded both methods to provide you with the ability to pick which method is best for you to see how categories work.   Categories are one of the best features of WordPress as they allow you to organize your information for your own use and for that of your web site visitors.
A well-organized web site provides a positive experience for those visiting your web site by helping them to easily locate the information they have come to find.  It can make the difference between someone staying on your site or clicking away in frustration.  
Let’s take a look at how to add and use categories.

Video Demonstration of Adding and Using WordPress Categories

Written Instructions on Adding and Using WordPress Categories

How to Add Categories in WordPress

To add a category, go to the WordPress Dashboard, click on Posts.  Here you will see the dashboard menu selections expand to show categories.  Click on Categories, simply type the name of your category in the box and save your changes by clicking on add new category. I don’t fill in the description here unless it is one which is intended for web visitors to see as well.  I choose not to add a description and document it outside of WordPress since some themes show the category description on the front end of your web site.  This may not be desirable for you to show this description to the world, unless you have created your category descriptions with your web site visitor’s needs in mind.   I also do not add a specific name as a slug, unless I have defined a need to do so.  One will automatically be assigned by WordPress anyway.
WordPress Add New Category
Add a Category

How to Assign a Category to a Post

Wordpress - Assign a category to a post
Assign a Category to a Post
Assigning a category to a post is a snap.  In your post editing screen, you will typically see the categories panel on the right hand side of the screen.  Sometimes this is either folded up or not visible due to screen options in effect.  In the event your categories panel is folded up, simply click on the downward facing triangle next to categories and it will expand to show you the most common categories in use on your web site. If the category panel is not visible, go to the upper right hand corner of your screen and look for the words “screen options“.  Click on this to expose more features for your editing panel.  If your categories aren’t visible in your editing panel, they are most likely unchecked under screen options.  Simply check the box next to categories under the screen options choices, and your categories will now be available in your post editing panel.  

How to Set a Specific Category to Auto Assign in WordPress

Suppose you always are writing about a specific topic and want to set it up so that WordPress will automatically use that category in your posts.  There is a way you can set it and forget it by using the WordPress default category settings.  In this case, you set up a default category so that your posts are automatically assigned to your preferred category when you begin to write.
Default is computer speak for something that automatically happens without any need for you to take action.  
To set your default categories, go to Settings, Writings on your WordPress Dashboard.  Locate the default category drop down box, then select your default category.  A visual of this screen is shown below.  Be sure to save your changes before exiting this screen.
Wordpress - Set up a default post category
Setting up a Default Category for Posts

How to Create a Parent-Child Category Relationship

Let’s assume that you have a category and sub-category relationship for some of the content on your web site.  Within WordPress, you can create a parent category for sub-categories of information.  To do this, you start by adding the category you wish to be the parent just as you would any other category.  Begin by selecting Posts then Categories from your WordPress dashboard, then select add category.   Next, you will need to edit each of the categories you wish to make children.  To assign a parent, locate the drop down box with the parent title, and select the category you wish to have as the parent.  The image below shows what the screen where this is done looks like.
WordPress - Adding category parent child relationships
Adding a Parent-child Category Relationship

How to Add A Menu Item Based Upon A Category

Once you have added categories and created posts and labeled them with specific categories, you are able to use these categories as a menu item for the main navigation of your site.  To add a category to your menu, go to the dashboard of your web site, pick Appearances, then Menus.  Once under menus, you will see that you have options of pages, links, and categories to choose from as potential menu items.  If you expand the downward triangle option next to categories, you will see a list of your most frequently used categories.  If the category you want is not shown,  click on the link to show all categories.
Wordpress - Adding a category as a menu item
Adding a Category as a Menu Item
Once the category you want to add is shown, click add to menu as shown in the above image.  The item you selected automatically gets put at the bottom of the menu list and is assigned a navigation label which is the same name as your category.  You can rename the menu item title to be anything that you want.  You can also move the position of the menu item to where you would like it to be in the list by clicking on it and dragging to the desired location.  Notice that you can create sub-menu items by clicking and dragging menu items slighty indented under the item you want to be its “parent” on the menu.  In the examples, we set up vegetables as the parent category, so it follows that all the other vegetables which were assigned a parent category of vegetable would be indented under the menu item vegetable.

How to Add Category Lists to Sidebars and Footer and Widget Areas

WordPress has some built-in features for categories.   It allows you to add your categories to other screen areas of your web site with little more than a click and drag and drop.  You also get the choice of how to display these.  You can select from a traditional list format, hierarchical format, and/or drop down list box format.
WordPress -category sidebar display choices
Category Sidebar Options
Next, I will talk about the three ways you may display your categories.  As already noted, these are as a hierarchy, as a drop down list box, or as a post count.  This example following in the next paragraph will look at adding categories to the right sidebar. To add categories to other areas of your site, go to the dashboard, select Appearance, Widgets.    The image to the left shows the three options you have to select from.  You will have the option to place categories on any of the sidebar areas your theme uses.  The behavior is the same no matter which widget area you select. The first image beneath this paragraph shows what the front end will look like when the parent category choice was selected and displayed as a hierarchy.  You will note that each parent category is shown with its “children” listed underneath it as a series of links.  In the example below, the uncategorized categories have been included.  If you don’t want to have your posts default to uncategorized, I suggest you set a default category for posts as I described above.  You might also consider deleting the uncategorized category so that it doesn’t show up in your widget sidebars if you opt to set up your widget sidebars as I just described.
Wordpress - Category Sidebar Hierarchy List Web Site Display
Category Sidebar Hierarchy List Web Site Display
The next image shows what the choice of using a drop down list box in the sidebar area will look like.  You will now see that the listing has been hidden until a web visitor clicks on it to expand the categories available.  
WordPress -Category Sidebar Drop Down List Web Site Display
Category Sidebar Drop Down List Web Site Display
The option to display as post counts is just like the hierarchy in that it shows up as a series of links.  The difference between this and the hierarchy is that this option will keep a tally and count the number of posts in your given categories and display this count as part of the link information. Whichever you select and where you place it on your sidebar widget or footer areas are entirely up to you!

 

What Can Go Wrong When Trying to Use Categories in Menus?  

I always like to include a what can go wrong section as the instructions I have provided work when WordPress is installed and templates and coding follow WordPress Best Practices.    Best Practices would mean that the web developer you used to create your web site followed the recommended approach to use a child theme if doing highly customized coding for your web site.  I realize this has no meaning to you as coding is not your thing.  It does come full circle; however,  when you try to follow instructions like I have provided here and your web site doesn’t behave the same way. I have run into issues with highly customized web sites where adding categories to the menu is not possible in the way I have described in this article.   I suspect the real reason behind this is that the web developer who built the site didn’t follow the Best Practices I outlined above.  The end result for the web site owner is completely frustrating as they are not able to take advantage of a very powerful feature which should be part of WordPress.

How to Find the Password you Saved in Chrome

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Today, as we all painfully know, passwords are required for everything.   The sheer number of passwords we have to remember is just overwhelming. Chrome, and other browsers, have made it simple for us to access sites we repeatedly visit by saving our passwords for us. The trouble is, it may not be so easy to find out the sites you have saved passwords for and more importantly what those save passwords are.   I put together this tip sheet for finding Google Chrome saved passwords for my clients and wanted to share it with you, my readers. If you find it useful, please share this link with your friends! Chrome Password Settings

The BizPal Company Volunteers for Day of Caring

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The BizPal Company Volunteers in The United Way Annual Day of Caring

United Way of Southbridge, Sturbridge & Charlton, Inc. 9th Annual Day of Caring Wednesday September 23, 2015 The BizPal Company was proud to participate in the United Way 9th Annual Day of Caring.  Together with fellow volunteers, we polished the wood pews and walls in the Elm Street Congregational Church in Southbridge, MA. It was great to get out to work side by side with others to simply do good and to meet new people in the community.  Below is the photo which appeared in Stonebridge Press on October 2, 2015. BizPal works Tri-Community Day of Caring