4 Things To Consider When Choosing Between Side Navigation and Top Navigation:

1. How many main navigation items do you have?

• Top Navigation limits you to about 7 items
• Side Navigation doesn’t have a limit

2. How long are the names for your navigation items?

• With Top Navigation you need short names so you can fit them all in
• With Side Navigation you can go a bit longer: 2 or sometimes 3 words are ok. Longer names are more descriptive and make it easier for web visitors to find what they are looking for

3. Will you add more pages to your main nav in the future?

• With Top Nav you are incentivised to keep the status quo, because is the bar is already full it’s hard making compromises to fit one more item in
• With Side Nav it’s no problem

4. What about usability? Is side nav or top nav easier to use?

• To access 2nd level navigation, “Fly-outs” are harder for web visitors to use than “drop-downs”
• It’s easy for the mouse to slip off the navigation item and then you have to start the movement again

What Do You Think?

What’s your preference? Have your say in the comments below.

[This is Day #5 of 5 Plugins in 5 Days]

Unfortunately inserting tables of data into WordPress is quite difficult to do.

In fact there are only 3 ways you can do it:

1. Hand coding it in HTML view (no thanks!)
2. Copy/pasting it into HTML view from an HTML editor like Dreamweaver (annoying!)
3. Or by using the WP-Table Reloaded plugin for WordPress (yay!)

I chose the 3rd option every time.

Download the WP-Table Reloaded plugin for WordPress Now

Now, I will admit, the interface is a little tricky to use at first, but once you’ve got used to it, you’ll love it as much as I do for sure.

4 Reasons Why You Need the WP-Table Reloaded Plugin

1. Once you’ve added CSS styles it can look really cool
2. Row highlighting when your mouse hovers over is a cool effect and only takes a click to activate
3. Once you get used to the interface (which is a little bit crazy the first time), it is very easy to use
4. It is easy to duplicate a table you’ve created (so you don’t have to start from scratch)

Screenshots Of The Interface

Screenshot showing how you add data into the table cells

Screenshot showing the buttons for adding rows and columns

Screenshot showing the styling options

Screenshot showing changes to CSS to improve appearance

What’s Next?

• Install it and have a play
• Have you found a WordPress plugin for tables that’s even better? Tell us in the comments below
• Have you used WP-Table Reloaded? Tell us what you think about it in the comments below

[This is Day #4 of 5 Plugins in 5 Days]

The Facebook Fan Box plugin is the easy way to add a Facebook Like Box to your sidebar.

3 Reasons Why You Need the Facebook Fan Box Plugin

1. If you want “Likes” of your Facebook Business Page, a Facebook Like Box is essential
2. Facebook provides you with a Wizard to help you setup a Facebook Like Box, but if you want to change the dimensions or settings later you’ll have to keep going back to Facebook and restarting the wizard, which is a pain.
3. It’s pretty easy to set up, and easy to tweak to get it looking perfect

Download Facebook Fan Box Plugin For WordPress Now

How To Set Up The WordPress Plugin: Facebook Fan Box

1. Once you’ve installed the plugin, just add it to your side bar as a Widget (that’s where you configure it)
2. Title: I leave this blank because its obvious at a glance that it’s a Facebook Fan Box
3. API Key: You can get an API key or leave it blank (it still works!)
4. Profile ID: This is the ID for your Business Page. The easiest way to find it is Login to Facebook, find your Business Page and click on “Edit Page”. Copy/paste the 12 digit number in url – this is your Profile ID
5. Stream: Un-tick this box. If checked it would show your status updates which looks messy
6. Connections: The more the better. I like to display lots like 3 rows of 11 = 33 connections. It takes up about 980px in height. This motivates people to “Like” you because they see that they have a good chance of seeing their own profile photo in this panel
7. Width/Height: This takes a bit of fiddling to get it looking right. Keep at it until you are happy
8. CSS. Leave this blank
9. iFrame. Tick this box
10. Logo. Tick this box. But if it looks naff just un-tick it.  Facebook does a poor job of automatically resizing your logo so it’s up to you to decide if it looks ok
11. Language. Leave as default “en_US”

3 Things I Like About Facebook Fan Box

1. You can turn off the stream and everything else so your web visitors see what they really want to see – their own profile photo!
2. Web visitors can “like” you with one click
3. Web visitors can visit your Facebook Business page with one click

Screenshots of the Interface

Screenshot of the finished Facebook Fan Box

Screenshot of widget configuration panel for Facebook Fan Box

What’s Next?

• Install it and have a play
• Don’t have a Facebook Business Page yet? Here’s how to set one up
• Have you found a WordPress plugin for Facebook that’s even better? Tell us in the comments below
• Have you used Facebook Fan Box? Tell us what you think about it in the comments below

[This is Day #3 of 5 Plugins in 5 Days]

The Social Media Widget plugin for WordPress does just 2 things and does them really really well:

1. It provides nice big icons for all your Social Media platforms in your sidebar (either 64×64 or 32×32)
2. It provides individual hyperlinks for all those icons

One extra bonus is that this plugin acts as a useful reference list of all the latest Social Media platforms. The list keeps getting longer every time the plugin is updated.

2 Reasons Why You Need the Social Media Widget Plugin

1. Because it keeps your website looking smart because all the icons are the same style
2. The interface makes it dead easy to add more Social Media platforms later

Download the Social Media Widget Plugin for WordPress Now

How To Set Up The WordPress Plugin: Social Media Widget

1. Once you’ve installed the plugin, just add it to your side bar as a Widget (that’s where you configure it)
2. Simply type in the url of each Social Media platform you do use, and remove the default text for the Social Media platforms you don’t use (so that the icon is hidden)
   • I keep mine really simple: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Email
3. Icon Size: I like 64px. It’s nice a big so easy for users to click, and looks awesome
4. Other Settings: Either experiment with the other settings or leave them at their defaults

Bug Warning: One weird bug is that every time a new Social Media platform is added to the list (when you install an update to the plugin), a default url (eg http://yourname.deviantart.com/) will be added automatically, which will activate the icon!

Screenshot of the Interface

Screenshot of Social Media Widget Configuration Panel

What’s Next?

• Install it and have a play
• Have you found a WordPress plugin for Social Media that’s even better? Tell us in the comments below
• Have you used Social Media Widget? Tell us what you think about it in the comments below

[This is Day #2 of 5 Plugins in 5 Days]

The Subscribe to Comments plugin for WordPress does just 1 thing and it does it really really well:

• It provides people who are writing comments on your articles with a tick-box. If they tick the box, they will get emailed whenever a new comment is added to the article

3 Reasons Why You Need the Subscribe to Comments Plugin

1. How many times have you left a question on a blog article and forgotten to come back and check if the blog owner has left a response?
2. How many times have you replied to a question on a blog article and then realised that the question-asker is never coming back to read your eloquent and witty response?
3. And it’s good to get another hit on your article when they come back, right?

Download Subscribe to Comments Plugin for WordPress Now

Screenshot of what your web visitors will see

Screenshot of Tick-box for Subscribe to Comments plugin

What’s Next?

• Install it and have a play
• Have you found a WordPress plugin for Subscribing to Comments that’s even better? Tell us in the comments below
• Have you used Subscribe to Comments? Tell us what you think about it in the comments below

[This is Day #1 of 5 Plugins in 5 Days]

The Link to Post plugin for WordPress makes it easy for you to link to the other pages and posts on your website.

This is a plugin that is so good you wonder why it isn’t built into WordPress.

2 Reasons Why You Need the Link to Post Plugin

1. Because internal hyperlinks are great for SEO
2. Because linking to posts/pages without this plugin is a real pain

Download Link to Post Plugin for WordPress Now

How To Set Up The WordPress Plugin: Link to Post

1. Once you have installed the plugin, you’ll see this new icon appear on your console:
   
2. Next, select the word or phrase that you want to be a link, like this:
   
3. Now click on the Link to Post icon and you’ll see this pop-up box:
   
4. Notice the tabs along the top? You can choose from Posts, Pages, and even Tags and Categories!
5. Just click on the page/post you want and you are done!

What’s Next?

• Install it and have a play
• Have you found a WordPress plugin for linking to posts/pages that’s even better? Tell us in the comments below
• Have you used Link to Post? Tell us what you think about it in the comments below

Do you use a contact form on the “Contact Us” page on your website?

If so, check this list of common mistakes to see if you are making your prospective clients angry or just turning them away.

5 Ways Your Potential Clients May Be Reacting To Your Contact Form (And What You Can Do About It):

1. “That contact form is sooooo long! I feel tired just looking at it!”

• Does everyone type at 60 Words/Minute like you? No. Most people I know type with one finger. A long form looks like half an hour of work to them
• It doesn’t matter if some fields are “not required”. Visitors don’t notice the little asterix, and they feel obliged to fill in every field because of “form momentum”

What you can do:

• Trim back your fields to the absolute bare minimum. Do you really need their postal address, physical address, all their phone numbers and date of birth? No you don’t.

2. “Bah! Another error message: ‘Syntax of field 624 is invald’? WTF?”

• If prospects take the time filling in your form, click submit and they get an error box in their face they will get angry and hate you
• It’s worse if your form validation script doesn’t highlight the field in red and provide helpful guidance so the prospect knows exactly what to do next. They will feel lost and confused
• They will subconsciously ascribe these negative feelings to you. Is that the right way to start a business relationship?

What you can do:

• Keep the form super short. Less fields = less potential error messages
• Lighten up on the validation

3. “Does this contact form even work?”

• This is a fear of the message not being delivered at all
• Sometimes when you click the “submit” button does it feel like you are launching your message into space and you’ll never see it again? That’s because experience tells us that is exactly what we are doing. Sometimes the contact form is broken and no-one find out for months

What you can do:

• Regularly test that the contact form is working

4. “How long will I have to wait before I hear back?”

• Closely related to the fear of the message not being delivered at all is waiting an age for a response
• Perhaps part of the problem is that most contact forms go to generic email addresses like “info@yourdomain.co.nz”. How motivated is the recipient of emails sent to this generic address to respond fast when the message isn’t even addressed to them? If Bob gets these messages, which will he reply to first: Emails addressed to Bob, or emails addressed to “info”?

What you can do:

• Send your contact form messages to a real person not just “info” (yes, it may need updating when your staff change)
• Make a promise in your email receipt “we will respond within 1 normal business day. If you don’t hear from us, please call our tollfree hotline”

5. “What did I say? When? To Who? I can’t remember!”

• When you send a message from your own email system you can always check your “sent” box later to check:
  • That it was actually sent
  • Who it was sent to
  • The date/time
  • and most importantly: what you said
• With a contact form you get nothing. Sometimes you might get an email receipt that says “thanks for your message, we’ll contact you soon” – yeah right.

What you can do:

• Send the prospect a copy of their own message “here’s a copy of your message for your reference”
• Let them just click on your mailto hyperlink so they can send their message from their own email system

What Else You Can Do To Improve Your Contact Form

Double check that you provide a clear “mailto” link for your email address like this: “sheldon@firstbyte.co.nz“.

If you don’t, you may be forcing your web visitors to use your contact form and face all the problems listed above, or they may just give up and leave, and take their business to your competitors.

20% of google searchers see your .com result & think “how did that American website get into my search results? Google must have screwed up. Oh well, I’ll click on the next one”.

Use a .co.nz website address if you have a NZ business.

Even if your target customers are overseas, being a .co.nz adds to your brand story.

*The statistics in this article were made up for dramatic purposes

A client of mine has a huge list of testimonials (more than 50), and rather than counting down the list, it was appropriate to number them backwards so the latest testimonial (in this case, #51) is at the top of the list and numbered #51 rather than #1 (which wouldn’t make much sense).

The End Result: Reversed Order for the Ordered List

End Result: Reversed Order for the Ordered List

Here’s what the html code looks like:

<li value="51">Andrew Martin</li>
<li value="50">Carlene Sykes</li>
<li value="49">Lee Clifford</li>
<li value="48">Debrah Breedt</li>
<li value="47">Gina Sterling</li>

Because this testimonial page uses PHP I was able to do this dynamically in the code in 3 steps:

1. Set the start value by counting the total number of testimonials:

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM testimonials");
$testimonial_number = mysql_num_rows($result);

2. Then set the li value with this variable

<li value="$testimonial_number">$student_name</li>

3. Finally, subtract 1 from the counter

$testimonial_number--;

Clever huh?

I made this change because it makes the website just a little bit easier to use and a little more intuitive, and because I care.

Do you want a website developer who cares just as much as you do about your business?

You’ve found him.

Hire me.

Call (07) 575 8799 or email me.

Cheers,

Sheldon.

Don’t get me wrong, I love WordPress because it’s free. And the themes are free and the plugins are free. Fantastic!

But lately, I’ve been searching for more complicated plugins for my own websites and for clients, and the free ones just aren’t doing the job.

And support for these plugins is virtually non-existent.

The developers are too busy working on projects that pay them money, they haven’t got time to serve me for free. I don’t blame them.

So where do I turn?

I turn to Google of course and search for “Premium WordPress Plugins”.

Here’s what I found:

• Source: Tomuse’s list of 11 Premium WordPress Plugins
• 5 more Premium WordPress Plugins from WPHacks.com
• 13 more Premium WordPress Plugins from Sociatic.com

Are there really only 29 of them?

Let’s have a closer look at the more interesting ones:

1. Gravity Forms
2. Add-ons for WordPress e-Commerce
3. PhPurchase
4. Shopp

1. Gravity Forms

I’ve been using the free Contact Form plugin “Contact Form 7” for free on all my WordPress websites so what does Gravity Forms offer that Contact Form 7 doesn’t?

Here are 3 features that appeal to me:

1. Email Notification Routing – Now you can set up notifications to route to different email addresses based on rules that you define. Use one form to route form submissions to sales, marketing, customer service department
2. Create Autoresponder Emails to Users – Send automatic emails to users in response to a submission. Add any form field content to your message to create professional and personalised messages.
3. Easily Export Form Entry Data to CSV Format – Need your entry data for other applications? Easily export all or part of your entries to CSV. Our export tool makes it a breeze to export only the fields that are needed.

How much does it cost? US$39 for a single site license (US$99 for 5 websites, US$199 for unlimited websites)

2. WordPress e-Commerce

The base plugin is free (open source) and then you can choose from a list of add-ons like:

• Gold Cart & Grid Module (US$40) – product search, multiple images, more payment gateways (including DPS.co.nz)
• DropShop 2.0 (US$100) – drag and drop into shopping cart
• Fedex Shipping Module (US$25.00) – just that
• Members Only module (US$25.00) – just that
• Product Slider (US$25.00) – fancy product display
• MP3 Audio Player (US$10.00) – sell music
• NextGen Gallery Buy Now Buttons (US$10.00) – adds a buy now button to images

And the open source community has provided another bunch of free add-ons for WordPress e-Commerce.

3. PhPurchase

Another premium e-commerce plugin.

• US$49 single site license
• US$199 5 site license
• US$299 unlimited license

Can I distinguish between this one and the previous e-commerce plugin? No. No I can’t.

4. Shopp

Another premium e-commerce plugin.

• US$55 single site license
• US$299 unlimited license

And for another US$25 you can choose from a list of payment gateways.

“Is that all? Just 4?”

Yes. That’s about all I could find.

I must say I am pretty disappointed.

These premium plugins are mostly about advertising, classifieds, shopping carts & seo.

I don’t really need those.

To paraphrase one of elance’s top WordPress professionals “2009 was the year of Premium Themes, perhaps 2010 will be the year of Premium Plugins”.

Let’s hope so, because surely all the developers providing us with the free plugins in exchange for feeble requests for donations isn’t motivating them to continue to develop and update?

What Other Premium WordPress Plugins Do You Use?

Add them in the comment below.