Mozak Design Blog

Wordpress Plugin’s In Review: TinyMCE Advanced

Finally you can format your text the way you want!

I remember the first time I sat down to create a post on my new Wordpress blog. It was an exciting moment that quickly changed to frustration. All I wanted to do was change the font size!

Seemed to me like a reasonable enough request. But, I’d be darned if I could figure out how to do that with the default tool bar. Sure I could change from “paragraph” to “Heading 1″ or “Heading 2″ but none of these gave me the results I wanted.

This sent me on a quest for a good wordress wysiwyg editor. After hunting around for a while I discovered two that I liked. One is called “WP Super Edit” and the other is “TinyMCE Advanced”.  Since of the two I prefer TinyMCE Advanced, that is the plugin I will discuss today.

So with out further ado here are some of the features this plugin provides:

1. Change font size and font family !!!
2. Create and editing tables
3. Text justificati0n
4. Text hi-lighting
5. Subscript & superscript
6. Anchor links
7. Search and replace
8. Time & Date insertion
9. Emotions (Smilies)
10. ieSpell checked

40 new formatting buttons in all.

Needless to say this plugin has become a staple in each and every wordpress website & blog I design. To see the plugin installation in action I invite you to watch the video below:

Good Copy Tip #3: Linking within your website

One opportunity that is often missed is linking to internal pages within your website.

This is valuable in several ways:

1. It enables easier creation of scannable pages.
2. It creates Google optimized, topic specific, pages.
3. It allows you to guide readers into older blog posts.

By linking deeper into your website you can provide a readers with simple lists that they can scan; with the option to learn more on that topic if they follow the link. In addition, linking within your website allows you a way to continue using older posts in your blog. Most blog posts are not looked at once they are about 5 posts old. By guiding readers to older posts and series you have written, you are able to maximize your imvestment in them.

Finally, linking deeper into your site helps to guide your guest through your site to the information that interest them the most. This is crucial as web surfers have little patience hunting for what they are looking for.

Good Copy Tip #2: People do not read, They scan

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Often when we sit down to write our thoughts come on in the form of paragraphs. In fact this was how we were taught to write. The problem with this is your website readers have little patience to sit and wade through all your text. They want to be able to scan and quickly identify if what they are looking for exists on your website.

Here is a recipe for scannable text:

1. Break your page content into topic sections
2. Create a Header for your first section. Format it in color and with a large font.
3. Write a 2-3 sentence intro paragraph on the topic. Make sure your line height is set to 1.25x the font size for easier reading.
4. Next utilize numbered & bulleted lists to highlight the key points linking them deeper into your website
5. Finally repeat for your other topics on the page.

By following these tips your website will present your business in a way that caters to the needs of your visitors. By doing so, there is a much higher chance that your website visitors will become clients.

Good Copy Tip #1: It’s not about you

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I often see website homepage text that reads more like an “About Us” page. While the history of your business and all the services you provide have their place in; make sure the homepage is engaging to your viewer. Speak to them. Why have they sought out your business? What needs do they have? What solutions to you offer?

By writing content that speaks to clients on an emotional level you can connect with them. If they feel understood then they will think … Wow, this business gets me – I’d like to work with them.

Where to Host your Wordpress Blog

So you have decided to begin blogging with Wordpress … but now what to do. For most of us the next natural step is to Google the term “wordpress” and begin creating our blog.

When I type Wordpress into a Google search I get two results.

1. www.wordpress.org > Blog Tool and Publishing Platform
2. www.wordpress.com > Get a Free Blog Here
   

Humm … so what is the difference?

Wordpress.org is the true open source software avaliable for download. The benefit to this is that you will be able to install and customize you blog however you wish. You own the domain. You own the design. The downside, you need to install it in your hosting area.  Thankfully the majority of web hosts  have Fantastico or another Open Source software installer to simplify this task. Most hosts also have great customer service so feel free to give them a call and ask them to walk you though the process if you want the extra support.

Wordpress.com is a site that will host your wordpress blog for you for free. However, free is not exactly free.  With the free blog you will not be able to pick your own domain; you will be given a subdomain of www.{business_name}.wordpress.com. You will not be able to  customize the blog presentation beyond choosing one of seventy seven options and there will be  ads on your blog. Now, you can pay $55 a year to enable the custom domain, custom presentation and removal of ads; but why? You are already paying for hosting for your business’ website.

Give a choice between the two for a Business Blog I highly recommend wordpress.org. I’m a big fan of controlling all the strings when it comes to my business.