Courtney Williams

Using SEO Features with WordPress Thesis Theme

admin — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:13:25 +0000

What is SEO?

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of improving a website’s visibility on various search engines, such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. SEO is important because the more visible your site is on a search engine, the more likely users of the search engine are to visit your website, which will increase your traffic.

Thesis, one of WordPress’ most popular themes, allows you to take SEO by the horns and change your settings yourself, without knowing anything about coding. Interested in making your website more visible? Just follow the steps below!

*This tutorial is for anyone who has their own website or blog, webmasters, web developers, or anyone else who is interested in search engine optimization.*

Things you’ll need before we begin:

A website or blog powered by WordPress.org
WordPress Thesis theme

Make sure your General Settings in WordPress are correct.

Basic information you provided in your WordPress General Settings during setup play a role in your site’s SEO ability. General Settings can be found:

Dashboard > Settings > General

The most important thing to remember for this step is to make sure that the Site Title, Tagline, and URLs have the correct information. The information you enter in these fields are what the site will show up as in search engines.

Make sure your Privacy Settings in WordPress are correct.

Your privacy settings can also play a role in your site’s SEO ability. Privacy Settings can be found:

Dashboard > Settings > Privacy

Based on what you choose for the site visibility option, search engines may or may not index your site. This means that if you choose ‘Ask search engines not to index this site’, there is a strong possibility that it will not show up (unless the particular search engine chooses not to honor your request). However, since we want to make sure our websites ARE showing up on search engines, we would select the ‘Allow search engines to index this site’ option.

Edit the Site Options in the Thesis administration panel.

Here’s the fun part. Thesis offers so many ways to customize your website, but one of the best features that Thesis offers is the ability to fine-tune the SEO settings without knowing any code or having to mark things up in HTML. You can set your SEO options up in Thesis’ Site Options:

Dashboard > Thesis > Site Options

We’re going to focus on the Document Head options and the Home Page SEO options (both highlighted below in red).

Document Head Options

Title Tag Settings

You want to make sure you do NOT check ‘Append site name to page titles’ under Title Tag settings, especially if you have a longer site name (more than 1 or 2 words). Checking this box could offset a search engine’s natural indexing.

Robots Meta Tags

The Robots Meta Tag settings consists of 4 parts. Noindex, nofollow, noarchive, and noodp and noydir. Noindex tells the search engine not to index a page, but to count the links that are on the page. Nofollow tells the search engine to index a page, but not to count the links on that page. Noarchive tells search engines not to make cached versions of a page. Noodp (Open Directory project) and noydir (Yahoo Directory) are used by search engines to pull title tags and meta descriptions from websites.

For my website, I decided to leave these tags with the default settings Thesis gave me:

Canonical URLs

You want to make sure you allow Thesis to add canonical URLs to your site. Canonical URLs give search engines the preferred URLs for a posts and pages in your site.

Home Page SEO Options

Home Page Title Tag

The title tag for your home page is very important. This is what shows up as a link in a search engine results page. When thinking of what to put in your title tag, just remember–less is more.

Home Page Meta Description

The meta descriptions for your home page are a pretty big deal, too. The content you put in your meta description is what shows up under your link in search engines, and in most cases, this description is what makes search engine users decide to visit your site or not. You should try to keep your meta description under 150 characters.

Home Page Meta Keywords

Meta keywords aren’t used by search engines often, as they have been abused in the past. However, feel free to enter a few keywords for your own satisfaction.

Noindex, Nofollow, Noarchive

As you’ve read above, the noindex and nofollow options dictate whether or not your pages, posts, or links will show up in a search engine’s results. You want to make sure you do not select these options. However, noarchive simply tells search engines not to keep a cache of your website’s history, which has little to no impact on your site’s visibility on search engines. The choice to select this option is totally up to you.

Edit SEO Features in each Page, Post, and Category.

Thesis allows you to change title tags, meta descriptions and keywords, and robots meta tags in each page, post, and category, making your entire website SEO-ready. Since we’ve already touched on the basics of Thesis SEO options, this portion will be a breeze.

To find SEO options in pages, simply go to:

Dashboard > Pages > [the page of your choice] > SEO Details and Additional Style

For posts, go to:

Dashboard > Posts > [the post of your choice] > SEO Details and Additional Style

For categories, go to:

Dashboard > Posts > Categories > [the category of your choice] > SEO Details

Just as you entered information for your Home Page SEO, you will enter information for each page or post using the same process.

That’s it! Now your website and all of its pages, posts, and categories will be easier to find by search engines, which may increase your traffic. If you want to optimize your site even more or see how visible it is to search engines, you can play with Google Webmaster Tools. To track traffic and stats, try using Google Analytics. Please comment below or contact me if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Works Cited

“The Ultimate Guide to Thesis SEO.” Remarkablogger. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. http://remarkablogger.com/2009/06/20/ultimate-guide-to-thesis-seo/.

“Using Thesis SEO Options and Settings.” DIYthemes. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. http://diythemes.com/thesis/rtfm/wordpress-thesis-seo-tutorial/.

Pet Store Application

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 05:59:33 +0000

I developed a PHP Application for a fictitious Pet Store using CodeIgniter, a model-view-controller PHP framework. This project was completed for a large project in a Web Development with PHP course I’ve taken. The application allowed users to view a complete listing of all pets in the store, view pet profiles, and submit inquiries about certain pets. The application also allowed users to log-in, add, edit, or delete pets and edit store information. All data was entered into a database that I created using MySQL.

As I was still learning the basics of PHP at the time, the hardest part of creating this application was learning how to apply what limited information I knew to a PHP MVC framework. This project required me to do a lot of research and self-teaching. Although it was frustrating at times, the end result was very rewarding. I learned a lot about PHP and started to get the hang of the model-view-controller concept and how it all works together. I also learned how to do perform research properly and use programming language documentation to debug and use code.

Take A Look at the Pet Store Application!

Transition as President

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:37:38 +0000

Today is the day I officially became the President of Project SPARTA. Although I had already been doing the majority of the administrative work, we had to follow proper procedures to make me the official President, according to SPARTA’s constitution. Members of SPARTA were given two weeks to vote, and the results came out today. Kathryn Rigsby also was voted in as SPARTA’s Secretary.

Transitioning may be a little harder than I thought, because I realized that I have to do a lot more than I thought I did. Since Project SPARTA is a recognized student organization at FSU, we have to follow certain guidelines and rules according to the SGA. For example, If we want to request money for anything–whether it’s for food, printing, or bringing someone in to speak, the President and Treasurer must be financially certified. I spent a few hours today studying SGA’s Financial Manual and taking the Financial Certification. In addition, FSU has so many rules in place that all organizations must abide by that I had no idea about before.

Becoming the President of Project SPARTA will definitely be a learning process for me. For the next month or so, I plan on working closely with SPARTA’s former President and finding out what tasks she was working on when she stepped down and bouncing ideas off of her to continue to make the organization successful. I can’t wait to start planning events and using my recruiting strategies for this semester. Hopefully my experience will be something I will always remember.

TeleHealth Trainer Web Site/Application

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:53:10 +0000

To demonstrate the ways health informatics is emerging, I developed a simple, fictional web site and application for a medical provider that would implement telehealth services. The TeleHealth Trainer, as my group and I called it, allows clinicians and healthcare professionals to monitor their patients remotely and hold appointments via video conferencing. I was responsible for developing this web site and the TeleHealth Trainer application using pure PHP (front-controller), HTML, and CSS. I was still in the beginner stages of learning PHP, so the most difficult part of this project was developing the code so that it would work properly. Although I mostly had the chance to expand on my PHP skills, I also learned a lot about Internet security and data integrity when it comes to telehealth.

Visit the TeleHealth Trainer!

Project Plan: Business Technology

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:16:05 +0000

While completing a semester-long project in an IT Business Communication course, my project team and I completed a comprehensive project management plan and proposal for a fictional IT organization, Omicron Web Company. Omicron was a small web development and design company that needed a large technology upgrade. Coders at Omicron were still using basic Notepad, employees had no real, reliable means of communication, and they were still using outdated desktop computers. It was our responsibility to find better technology for them to use and provide a proposal with our research and budget plans.

I, along with another team member, developed this project plan based off of the recommendations provided to us by team members who were responsible for finding the technology solutions Omicron could have benefited from. Once we gathered all of the information, we drafted the project plan. I was responsible for the the final organization editing of the information. Completing this project plan allowed me to utilize both my written communication skills and organization skills.

Business Project Plan/Proposal

John D. Chang Foundation

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:09:10 +0000

I redesigned and implemented a new web site for a client, the John D. Chang Foundation. The previous web site was pure HTML and CSS, so the client had to consult a web specialist every time they wanted to change the content. To alleviate the issue, I scraped all of the web site’s content and moved it to WordPress, a content management system that makes it easy for anyone to add, edit, or delete content at their discretion.

Using the WordPress Thesis theme, I was able to completely customize the CMS for the John D. Chang Foundation, using CSS, HTML, and PHP. I also took advantage of Thesis’ built-in search engine optimization features to make the web site show up faster in search engines. I had the opportunity to learn a few tricks in Adobe Photoshop, and I used the tool to recreate the logo, and to make the collage that is seen under the navigation. I also introduced the client to social media outlets, such as Facebook and YouTube.

The web site for the John D. Chang Foundation was my first opportunity to professionally develop and design a front-end user interface for a client. I learned a lot about web development and design, cross-browser compatibility, and social media. I also learned the importance of accuracy and neatness, since this was a relatively large web site that people visited often.

Visit the John D. Chang Foundation!

Leadership Assessment Results

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:26:09 +0000

As a part of my leadership experience, I am reading Tom Rath’s Strengths Finder 2.0. This book is related to Strengths Based Leadership, which is the precursor to the Strengths Finder. These books help people figure out what their leadership talents are and how to use them effectively. So often, people are told what their weaknesses are. I think it’s a great idea to focus on a person’s strengths.

This book allows readers to take an online assessment to help find their top 5 leadership strengths. I went through a series of what seemed to be over 100 personality questions that I only had about 20 seconds to answer. When I finally finished the questions, it took a few moments for the system to calculate my responses and come up with my results and a comprehensive leadership guide. It turns out that my top 5 leadership strengths are connectedness, discipline, belief, significance, and adaptability.

I think the leadership area strengths that the assessment found for me are very interesting. I also believe that the assessment hit the nail on the head with the descriptions for each area:

Connectedness: People strong in the Connectedness theme have faith in the links between all things. They believe there are few coincidences and that almost every event has a reason.

Discipline: People strong in the Discipline theme enjoy routine and structure. Their world is best described by the order they create.

Belief: People strong in the Belief theme have certain core values that are unchanging. Out of these values emerges a defined purpose for their life.

Significance: People strong in the Significance theme want to be very important in the eyes of others. They are independent and want to be recognized.

Adaptability: People strong in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.

I found it pretty interesting that I had strengths in both discipline and adaptability. I think that most people are one or the other, not both. However, although I generally prefer things to be structured and follow a certain routine or format, I am required to go with the flow at times, and I’m okay with that. Usually when it comes to school work, I am very disciplined and like to follow certain guidelines to complete assignments and projects. However, at work, and in Project SPARTA, we tend to “go with the flow” quite a bit.

I plan on using this guide to shape my leadership experiences this semester with Project SPARTA and in the future with other positions. Hopefully I can build upon them and make each area stronger than it has ever been before.

Courtney’s Leadership Guide (PDF)

Presentation: Parking at FSU

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:05:39 +0000

As the final step in a semester long group project focused on parking at FSU, my project team wrapped up the entire research plan, data, and analysis in a short presentation. The information included in this presentation was based off of data we collected from students who were interviewed and/or surveyed, field observations, and data given to us from FSU Parking Services.

I was responsible for creating the entire presentation in PowerPoint and preparing the narrator’s script based off of the data we collected. I’ve had a lot of experience with PowerPoint over the years, but creating this presentation was unique in that we had to add voice over it and sequence all of the slides accordingly. In addition, I had to make sure that the presentation was accessible even for those with disabilities.

This experience definitely helped me exercise and hone in on my communication skills-both written and verbal. It also allowed me to gain a little insight on making documents accessible and usable for others.

Parking Plan Presentation

AOA Diagram

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:40:01 +0000

I created this AOA (Activity on Arrow) Diagram for a semester-long group project in my Research and Data Analysis Course. We were planning a research study on whether or not FSU had a real parking problem. To figure out what steps we needed to take to complete the study and analyze our research, I was tasked with dividing all of our tasks up and creating an AOA so that we could determine the critical path.

The most difficult part of creating this diagram was determining task dependencies and relationships. To help us, we created a work breakdown structure and Gantt Chart in Microsoft Project. Once we were able to complete those, creating the AOA diagram was pretty easy for me. The diagram can be downloaded in PDF below.

AOA Diagram

Leadership Introduction

admin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:52:44 +0000

During my final semester here at FSU, I am taking on the task of becoming the President of an on-campus recognized student organization, Project SPARTA. In doing so, I will be working with Dr. Mia Liza A. Lustria, Assistant Professor, to develop a leadership plan and development activity that future leaders of organizations can follow and use to reflect on their leadership strengths.

Throughout this leadership experience, I will be posting blog entries to keep track of things that I have learned, problems that I have faced, and moments of pride in my own leadership strengths. I am hoping that this experience will eventually show how I’ve grown as a leader over time and what I can do to continue to evolve.