Comments & Pingbacks Plugins: find & install plugins Popular and useful plugins Adding Functionality & 3rd party services

1. WordPress Site Design
ACE #CT01756 Intro to WordPress
By Adrian Mikeliunas
http://learnwp.us/week4/
SESSION# 4 of 6

2.  Comments & Pingbacks
 Plugins: find & install plugins
 Popular and useful plugins
 Adding Functionality & 3rd party services
Week 4 Agenda
WordPress #4 2 2/2016

3.  Do you want an interactive website?
 Wouldn't it be nice if the readers of a website could
leave comments, tips or impressions about the site or a
specific article?
 WP allows visitors or registered users to leave
comments on pages or posts…
 Posting comments is one of the most exciting features
of blogs, allowing 1 to 1 or 1 to group conversations…
2/2016WordPress #4 3
WordPress Comments

4.  Discussion Settings
 Affects NEW pages or posts from that POINT ON…
 IT does NOT CHANGE ALL PREVIOUS pages or posts!!!
 Individual Pages or Post Settings
 Affect only those pages or posts [manual process!]
 They can BYPASS the DEFAULT Discussion Settings!
2/2016WordPress #4 4
Discussion vs. Post Settings

5.  Dashboard
 Settings
 Discussion
 Allow people to
post comments
 Or in each page
or post!
2/2016WordPress #4 5
Comments Configuration

6.  Comment Approval
 Manual or Automatic?
 If you have time or low comments, manual may be OK…
 If not, Automate!
 Why? to filter spammers!
 How? with Plugins!
 Plugins
 Use this plugin if you don't want comments at all on your site:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/disable-comments
 Bulk deletion:
http://wordpress.org/plugins/bulk-comments-management
2/2016WordPress #4 6
Comments Management
NOT REAL PEOPLE!

7.  There are also nifty ways for authors of other blogs to
leave “comments” without even visiting the blog!
 A way of remote communication between bloggers
 Called "pingbacks" or "trackbacks", they can inform
other bloggers whenever they cite an article from another
site in their own articles.
2/2016WordPress #4 7
WordPress Pingbacks

8. 2/2016WordPress #4 8
Pingbacks Example

9.  Dashboard
 Settings
 Discussion
 Allow pingbacks
and trackbacks
 Or in each page
or post!
2/2016WordPress #4 9
Pingbacks Configuration

10. 2/2016WordPress #4 10
Plugins

11.  Plugins are like mini-programs that do
lots of things, from adding social buttons
to your post to installing a media player so
that you can play your own photo gallery,
podcasts, or videos on your blog
 Plugins can serve ads, play a slide show
suggest how to increase your Search
Engine Optimization (SEO) or visibility,
backup your site, protect from intruders,
point out frequent commenters, …
 They can filter SPAMMERS!
WordPress #4 11
Plugins for Everything
2/2016

12.  Plugins can extend WordPress to do almost anything you can
imagine!
 In this directory of more than 40,000 plugins you can find, download,
rate, and comment on all the best plugins the WordPress community
has to offer: http://wordpress.org/plugins
 Recommendations on which plugin to install:
 Rated 3+ stars out of 5 stars
 Version 1.0 or higher
 Less than 1 year old to be
compatible with your version of WordPress!
WordPress #4 12
Plugin Installation
2/2016

13. WordPress #4 13
Plugins Spam
 Akismet
 Used by millions, Akismet is quite possibly the best way in the
world to protect your blog from comment & trackback spam
 It keeps your site protected from spam even while you sleep
 Needs an activation key! http://akismet.com
ALTERNATIVES:
 Search for “spam” 1000+ results!
http://wordpress.org/plugins/search.php?q=spam
The All-in-One Anti-Spam Plugin for WordPress - Without CAPTCHAs
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-spamshield
2/2016

14. WordPress #4 14
WordPress Statistics
 How many visitors does my blog get?
 Which pages they read the most?
 Two major analytics services [both free!]:
 Google Analytics
 WordPress Jetpack Site Stats
2/2016

15. WordPress #4 15
WordPress Plugin Families
 Elegant Themes subscription $
 http://www.elegantthemes.com/plugins
 Jetpack by WordPress.com
 http://jetpack.me/
 Jetpack enables you to connect your blog to a
WordPress.com account to use the powerful features
normally only available to WordPress.com users
 Mostly FREE, 30+plugins
2/2016

16.  Statistics & Central Management
 Publicize - Free Connect your site to popular social networks and
automatically share new posts with your friends
 Simple, concise stats with no additional load on your server
 Email subscriptions for your blog's posts and your post's comments
 Social networking enabled comment system
 Monitor and manage your site's activity with Notifications in your
Toolbar and on WordPress.com
 Simple, Akismet-backed contact forms
WordPress #4 16
WP JetPack Components-1
2/2016

17.  Hovercard popups for your commenters via Gravatar
 Easily embedded media from popular sites like YouTube, Digg, and
Vimeo
 The ability to post to your blog from any email client
 Integration with social networks including Twitter, Facebook,
Tumblr, and LinkedIn
 For the Math geeks, a simple way to include beautiful mathematical
expressions on your site
WordPress #4 17
WP JetPack Components-2
2/2016

18.  A widget for displaying recent tweets
 Your readers can easily share your posts via email or their favorite
social networks
 An artificial intelligence based spell, style, and grammar checker
 Full-screen photo browsing experience (Carousel)
 A mobile theme that automatically streamlines your site for visitors
on mobile devices
 Mobile push notifications for new comments via WordPress mobile
apps
 Creative formats for your image galleries: mosaic, circles, squares,
and a slideshow view
WordPress #4 18
WP JetPack Components-3
2/2016

19.  SPEED, one stop shop!
 CONVENIENCE
 REVIEWS:
 http://websynthesis.com/jetpack-plugin
 www.shariff.org/wordpress-jetpack-plugin-review.html
 Too many OPTIONS? Try the Lite version:
 Jetpack Lite http://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack-lite
WordPress #4 19
JetPack Benefits
2/2016

20.  Akismet – register it & say goodbye to spam!
http://wordpress.org/plugins/akismet
 Content Aware Sidebars
 Display sidebars according to the content being viewed
http://wordpress.org/plugins/content-aware-sidebars
 Enhanced Text Widget
 enables a more feature-rich text widget
http://wordpress.org/plugins/enhanced-text-widget
 Digg Digg http://wordpress.org/plugins/digg-digg
 adds a floating box on your website that enables your users to
quickly and easily share the page
 WordPress SEO by Yoast - best SEO plugin
http://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo
2/2016WordPress #4 20
Top 5 FREE WordPress Plugins

21.  Backup Buddy ($80-$150)
 http://ithemes.com/purchase/backupbuddy
 Visual Composer for WordPress ($25)
 feature-rich editor that allows you to add columns, image galleries,
accordions, tour sections, videos: http://vc.wpbakery.com
 Gravity Forms ($39-$199) forms & directories
https://katz.co/plugins/
 Atlas Directory & Listings – $55
 the best directory and listings theme for WordPress
http://themeforest.net/item/atlas-directory-listings-premium-wordpress-
theme/5736374
 WP Security $80/year
 https://ithemes.com/security or https://www.wordfence.com
2/2016WordPress #4 21
Top 5 PAID WordPress Plugins

22.  Ecommerce
wordpress.org/plugins/search.php?q=ecommerce
 Membership
wordpress.org/plugins/search.php?q=Membership
 Marketing
wordpress.org/plugins/search.php?q=marketing
 Media Site
https://wordpress.org/plugins/meteor-slides
https://wordpress.org/plugins/contus-video-gallery
2/2016WordPress #4 22
Other Functionality
YOUR IMAGINATION!!!

23. WordPress #4 23
Woothemes.com
2/2016

24. WordPress #4 24
Plugins Directory
2/2016

25.  Comments & Pingbacks
 Plugins: find & install plugins
 Popular and useful plugins
 Adding Functionality & 3rd party services
Week 4 Review
WordPress #4 25 2/2016