Posts Tagged ‘wordpress’

The latest custom cms web design project completed and placed online is the residential and commercial sprinkler and irrigation cms site launch for Hessenauer Sprinkler Repair & Irrigation who services the greater Orlando area and surrounding communities.

The project represents a redesign of their static do-it-yourself website.

In addition to the custom cms main website, the design includes a matching integrated WordPress blog to allow enhanced seo search engine optimization because the customer can add original quality content often without assistance.

A key aspect of this custom cms web design with matching WordPress blog is the files that automate much of the publishing are managed in a single database.

This cuts down on custom web development time, allows automated site backups, and includes advanced features that clients may use without professional web design skills.

Content publishes automatically from plain text to xhtml and meets W3C worldwide standards, plus represents a breakthrough in state-of-the-art evolution for custom cms web design.

Hessenauer Sprinkler Repair & Irrigation has been providing sprinkler and irrigation design, sales, installation, and service to customers in the greater Orlando area since 1979. Links in their home page sidebar take visitors to very favorable reports and customer feedback on Angies List and the BBB Better Business Bureau.

Part of having a WordPress platform to combine a blog format and custom cms web design is the flexibility to create content rich websites for a wide variety of business models.

When considering a suitable custom content management system for an online store, you may want to reference this list and 12 WordPress eCommerce plugin reviews.

Each is a summary of WordPress plugins suitable for running an online store except 1 which is designed to manage online auctions.

7 are free plugins and 5 are premium for sale by the developer.

User ratings are based on votes as of January 2011 on WordPress.org, and I have not yet tested or used any.

Plugins are listed in alphabetical order.

Dippsy User Rated: 3.5
Specialty: Digital Downloads
Author Description: An easy to use PayPal e-commerce solution with only downloadable goods in mind, hassle free installaton and many configurable settings.
Comments: Long list of features. Author is responsive to inquiries.

eShop User Rated: 4.5
Specialty: Products
Author Description: eShop is an accessible shopping cart plugin for WordPress, packed with various features.
Comments: Long list of features. Author is responsive to inquiries.

Image Store User Rated: 4.0
Specialty: Images
Author Description: Image Store(ImStore) is a image gallery and store plugin for WordPress with a slideshow and paypal integration.
Comments: Includes a feature for download after purchase. Author is responsive to inquiries.

PHPurchase User Rated: PAID (from $49)
Specialty: Products, Services, or Digital Downloads
Author Description: PHPurchase has a very rich set of features that lets you easily and powerfully manage your online store with WordPress.
Comments: Well documented online support. Multi-site and developer licenses available.

Shopp User Rated: PAID ($55 base and up)
Specialty: Products
Author Description: Shopp is an e-commerce plugin that adds a feature rich online store to your WordPress powered website or blog.
Comments: Necessary gateway and shipping options may add $50 or more to single (or multi developer) license.

ShopperPress User Rated: PAID ($79)
Specialty: Products, Services, or Digital Downloads
Author Description: This is the ideal solution for anyone starting their own online store selling their own products or services, affiliate products or even ebooks, music or file downloads!
Comments: Discounted from $199 to $79 for unlimited installations. Real Estate, Classifieds, others, too.

StorePress User Rated: PAID (from $50)
Specialty: Products
Author Description: StorePress is a premium WordPress theme, fully coded and packed with scripts that will allow you to transform your WordPress blog into a veritable e-commerce virtual store.
Comments: Single, mixed, or dev license plus offer other niche themes like auctions, classifieds, reviews.

WordPress Shopping Cart Plugin User Rated: PAID ($50 single, or dev $249)
Specialty: Products or Digital Downloads
Author Description: The WordPress Shopping Cart plugin gives you the ability to quickly and seamlessly integrate an online shop with a fully functional shopping cart interface into any WordPress website.
Comments: Excellent online support and documention, plus offer 12 other specialty e-commerce related plugins.

WordPress Simple Paypal Shopping Cart User Rated: 4.5
Specialty: Products
Author Description: Very easy to use Simple WordPress Paypal Shopping Cart Plugin. Great for selling products online in one click from your WordPress site.
Comments: Developer also has premium eStore plugin for digital products or eMember for membership sites.

WP Auctions User Rated: 3.0
Specialty: Auctions
Author Description: WP Auctions is a revolutionary plugin which allows you to host auctions on your blog or website and to sell anything.
Comments: Well documented. Free version is a sidebar widget only. Premium versions allow post/page auctions.

WP E-Commerce User Rated: 3.0
Specialty: Products, Services, or Digital Downloads
Author Description: WP e-Commerce is a free bolt-on shopping cart that lets customers buy your products, services and digital downloads online.
Comments: Excellent support documention, plus premium upgrades are available for downloadable, members, others.

wpStoreCart User Rated: 4.0
Specialty: Products or Digital Downloads
Author Description: Quickly and easily sell your physical and digital downloads using your new or existing WordPress website.
Comments: Well documented help files and forum, plus offer a $29 premium Pro version with bundled extended functions.

My advice is investigating each WordPress plugin that seems of interest. Most have links to demo stores or live websites that are using the plugin, so take the opportunity to do some comparison shopping before making a choice.

Recent completed web design work includes multiple cms and blog conversions done for the Mountridge LLC family of websites including: AdamsHomeownerServices.com, MainStreamMemorabilia.com, and AdamsFloridaServices.com.

Both Adams sites were converted from static pages to a custom cms content management system which allows the owner to add, edit, or delete content 24/7. The MainStream Memorabilia online store website was updated with a bolder look. All 3 Mountridge LLC websites include custom matching WordPress designs that were converted from Blogger.

Visit each blog for news or advice about products and services from the following links, and then use top navigation to view the matching look of their main websites.

Adams Homeowner Services handles Florida vacation or long term rental property, the MainStream Memorabilia e-commerce store offers movie and tv star autographed memorabilia, and Adams Florida Services specializes in residential or commercial Orlando area landscape and lawn service.

In anticipation of the production release of a stable version of WordPress v3.0 soon I registered a new domain and launched a WordPress live demo website earlier today. The initial design uses the pre-production WordPress v3.0 RC1 version (release candidate 1) introduced one week ago on May 28, 2010.

The following bonus extras included with a custom WordPress theme design from us in our standard package have been installed, tested, and passed functionality on the new demo website:

All in One SEO to optimize posts for search engines, Sociable to insert social site icons and links automatically on every post, WP dB Backup to automatically backup your WordPress installation plus email it to you, and finally SI CAPTCHA to place an anti-spam code and input box at the bottom of every post to help fight comment spam.

Follow this link to the new WordPress Road Test website that will eventually allow privileges for new customers to practice making WordPress posts and let them study advanced blog and cms tutorials. The site is not for v2.x or older WordPress installations. The May 2010 RC1 replaces the BETA version and is the next step towards release of a stable production version v3.0 of WordPress later in 2010.

Other than adding the plugins named above and a footer link to the WordPress design services on this site, the look and layout of the WordPress Road Test site use the default out of the box theme from WordPress v3.0 RC1. All that may change as the www.wpRoadTest.com site evolves.

A new video tutorial has been added to the main site. An advantage of owning a custom cms web design is you may add, edit, or delete content unassisted.

With a matching custom WordPress theme for your blog or podcast, you also have a comment spam magnet which prompted this WordPress anti-spam video tutorial.

Here’s an excerpt explaining results:

“Today’s tutorial using SI CAPTCHA solved my comment spam problem. The advice in this custom cms training video tutorial allowed me to reduce that 100 per day to zero instantly.”

Mini-review: The SI in SI CAPTCHA stands for Secure Image which is a spam solution I have used for years in custom cms web design. The WordPress plugin version uses many of the same files and was already proven to be an effective tool to fight spam robots from putting comment spam in contact forms, so it was an easy choice.

Watch the video to learn how you can download, install, and activate this WordPress anti-spam solution in less than 3 minutes! After making the video I used a stopwatch to time the installation on another blog and actual time from log-in to done was 1:23, yes 1 minute and 23 seconds.

A new custom WordPress design page addition was released earlier on the main site with details about WordPress design, setup, and installation services, plus extra bonus features for our clients.

The bonus content includes additional plugins with some of the best and highly rated options that are uploaded, installed, and activated. Here’s a summary quoting from the new Custom WordPress Design Services page:

All in One SEO to optimize posts for search engines, Sociable to insert social site icons and links automatically on every post, WP dB Backup to automatically backup your WordPress installation plus email it to you, and finally SI CAPTCHA to place an anti-spam code and input box at the bottom of every post to help fight comment spam.

Unlike off the shelf templates that are sold and resold to unlimited site owners, our custom blog designs are one-of-a-kind unique custom WordPress themes.

Contact us with any questions or to learn more about custom wordpress design services.

For clients interested in a custom cms web design with a matching custom WordPress blog, you may want to review the Custom WordPress Theme Portfolio.

This flash gallery presentation features 10 unique and one-of-a-kind custom WordPress blog themes with graphics linked to actual blogs. The flash gallery is inserted here for reference, also.

Each example custom WordPress theme is an integrated custom blog with graphics and navigation to match the main cms content management system web design. Use your back button to return to this review of the WordPress theme portfolio. View the examples then email us from any page with questions.

This entire website underwent a makeover recently with a cms redesign and blog conversion. I decided to stay with a similar beige color scheme to keep things familiar. The main site for custom cms web design, the custom cms websites advice blog, and the website design mailbag podcast were all redesigned. The advice blog and podcast were both converted from Blogger to WordPress, as well.

While a fresh look for this site is considered every 2-3 years, the blog format for the advice blog and podcast needed more immediate attention. Blogger announced a few months ago that they would no longer support ftp publishing of new blog posts effective May 1, 2010 which left some site owners wondering what to do.

I created custom WordPress blogs for several clients in the past, and one advantage of WordPress over Blogger is the open source software package that runs the blog is on the owner’s server. The real concern was for future changes in Blogger that would force some blog owners to redesign (again), so my advice to clients was moving from Blogger to WordPress to retain complete control over publishing.

In addition, I expanded the custom search engine (CSE) from Google to all pages in the top right sidebar of the main site, blog, and podcast. This advanced function allows visitors to search over 500 pages of content with advice for custom cms web design and related services.

Does your business involve visiting your clients to perform a service, install a product, or perform repair work? Consider your digital camera for WordPress blog ideas. A camera may be the perfect tool for collecting content for your website. From personal experience, many of my clients for custom cms web design with matching blogs need to invest more time in making blog posts. That camera may help.

My advice for creating new WordPress blog content is taking photographs. Before and after shots of the benefits of your product or service will make a great sales tool on your blog. Show prospects what you’ve done for customers. If you have techs or a repair staff, arm them with digital cameras to collect content, too.

Perhaps your business is all service providing intangibles like consultations, so you wonder if using photos makes sense. Consider a photo to illustrate the benefits showing you and the client in a meeting, and perhaps use the graphic for a testimonial. You might consider having them take a photo of you giving a presentation.

Maybe none of this seems appropriate for your business. Instead of photos, carry a notepad or voice recorder and take notes with as little as a simple phrase to remind you of a benefit or success that helped a customer. Use the real situation and write about it to show potential clients what you’ve done for others.

Ask your clients. You may find your happy customer would love to have their story told on your site, and maybe volunteer to have their photo accompany the blog post or testimonial. Make it easier for them. Take your camera for a ride.

Finally, online success does depend on adding original quality content often, so a cms web design or matching WordPress blog allows you to do just that, and easily. Add photos or graphics to keep your site more interesting.

The latest custom cms web design project just completed was a recruiting custom CMS and blog that went online earlier today for SynergyHire LLC of Atlanta, Georgia. The main site and matching blog allow the owner to add, edit, or delete content 24/7 without paying each time.

Here is a reduced size graphic screenshot of just one page:

Compare the main site to the matching Atlanta Recruiter custom WordPress theme used on their blog. As with all my designs, the custom integrated blog is a unique one-of-a-kind design for a consistent look moving between the main site and blog.

Other features to consider are the custom logo, clean layout, and special page with 12 audio players to demo their innovative automated candidate phone screen service. Upon review of the initial custom cms web design launch the owner commented “I give you two thumbs up… you did a GREAT job on this Jim!”.