Wordpress

Top 10 WordPress Plugins

When it comes to plugins on WordPress you have a TON of options. Thought I would help, and share some of the ones I have found to be useful. Here are the Top 10 WordPress Plugins.

Top 10 WordPress Plugins

Now I am going to skip the standard Jetpack & Askimet that are givens, and go with ones you may or may not have heard of.

Better Click To Tweet – This is a new one I found that I have really liked. It makes sharing your post on Twitter really easy. Check out how easy belowTop 10 WordPress Plugins Click To Tweet
CommentLuv – Have mentioned this one before on Best Comment Plugins, and I would still recommend it.
Contact Form 7 – I had built some forms for this site like the Tuesday Tutorial request form, and kept getting so much spam from them it was making me get notifications from SiteGround that my database was too big. After asking around this was recommended, and it totally works. Ever since I installed, and started using I no longer get the spam for my forms.
jQuery Pin It Button For Images – This is a must for making your images pinnable.
Nelio External Featured Image – This is a must if you store your images externally, and not in the media library on WordPress. I use this cause I store my photos on Flickr.
Page Builder by SiteOrigin – Just recently found this one, and it was a game changer. It allows you to build your pages using widgets. Makes it really easy to setup a pages, and no coding is required unless you want to. Used this to build my travel page.
Simple Share Buttons Adder – This is how I got share buttons to show on the bottom of my post like you see under my signature at the bottom of this post.
WP-DBManager – Found this one recommended on a ton of blogs to help you maintain your database, and it has been pretty easy to use. It does have features to repair, and optimize your database.
Yoast SEO – Great plugin for helping with SEO. When writing post you are able to see if you are on track with SEO, and helpful tips on what you could do to improve the post for SEO
Zip Recipes – This plugin is a must for any food blogger. Displays your recipe in a simple format, and allows your recipe to be printed. You can see this in use here or on any of my recipes.

What are your favorite plugins to use?

Hope you found these helpful. Something you want to know how to do to your blog? Fill out the Tuesday Tutorial Request Form and I will cover in a future tutorial.

Custom Comments Form: Tuesday Tutorials

Last week showed you how to add Custom CSS file to your WordPress Blog, and this week thought I would show you how to customize your comments form. Adding some simple code will let you change the header, and the button text. Now your heading and button will say what you want. Something real easy you could do that would just add a little flare to your blog.

In case you are not sure what the comment form is. This is what I am referring to.

Custom Comments Form

To customize your comments form you just simply add the following code to your functions.php. Then change the part in yellow to the text that you want to appear for your heading and button


//***Customize The Comment Form**/
add_filter( 'comment_form_defaults', 'bourncreative_custom_comment_form' );
function bourncreative_custom_comment_form($fields) {
        $fields['title_reply'] = __(  'Join the Discussion!', 'customtheme' ); //Changes The Form Headline
	$fields['label_submit'] = __(  'Submit Comment' , 'customtheme' ); //Changes The Submit Button Text
	$fields['comment_notes_after'] = ''; //Removes Form Allowed Tags Box
    return $fields;
}

If you want to change the color of the text you simply add some CSS


#reply-title {
    color: rgb(78, 177, 186);
}

Viola! It is that easy!

Now in conjunction with your custom comments form here are a few plugins that help enhance your comments.

If you need any help just let me know in the comments below.

What do you look for when you are looking at the comments section on a blog?

Something you want to see in a future Tuesday Tutorial? Just fill out this form.

Custom CSS for WordPress: Tuesday Tutorials

Started this blog using the Lifestyle Pro Theme, and then used CSS to make it look how I wanted. WordPress does come with a Edit CSS section for you to enter your CSS, or you can create your own CSS file that you attach.

Creating your own CSS file just gives you more flexibility. When I started I used the Edit CSS section, but have found the custom file has worked better for me. Adding the Custom CSS was really super easy just had to add a little bit of code (Please don’t be scared).

Custom CSS for WordPress – The Code

Just add this code to your functions.php, and replace the highlighted section with the the location of where you saved your file.
*Disclaimor* I am using a self-hosted WordPress Site with a Genesis Theme


/** Load Custom CSS File */
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'maj_load_custom_css' );
function maj_load_custom_css() {
    wp_enqueue_style( 
    	'custom-css', 
    	CHILD_URL . '/lewislanestyle.css', 
    	array(), 
    	PARENT_THEME_VERSION 
    )
}

After adding the code you should now see your custom file in WordPress.

This code I found after doing some searching, and sorry I can’t remember where. See pretty easy, and painless to do.

Feel free to drop me any questions you might have or feedback if you used it below in the comments section.

Any customization you would like to know how to do?.

Fill out the Tutorial Request Form if you have something you would like to see in a future tutorial.

Best Comment Plugins for WordPress: Tuesday Tutorials

Best Comment Plugins for WordPress

Recently got asked “How do you get an email to go out to comments gets a response?”. Thought this might be something helpful to others, and wanted to share. The answer is actually really simple I use a couple of plugins for WordPress. When in comes to plugins in WordPress you have several options. This weeks tutorial thought I would recommend the best comment plugins for WordPress that I have found.

CommentLuv

The first plugin I wanted to recommend to help improve your comments is CommentLuv.

The purpose of Comment Luv is to “Reward your readers by automatically placing a link to their last blog post at the end of their comment. Encourage a community and discover new posts”.

This plugin is fantastic. Personally I love it cause when I reply to comments the readers last post is right there making it easy for me to go visit. It really helps increase your comments

All you have to do is install the plugin and activate it. Very easy to use. Now there is a pro version and a free version. I have been using the free version and works perfect for me so far.

Go to Plugins on your Dashboard and click Add New
Search for CommentLuv
Click Install
Click Activate

Comment Reply by Admins Notifier

The next plugin I want to recommend is called Comment Reply by Admins Notifier. This plugin sends an email to the commenter when the author replies to their comment.

This is a very simple plugin to use.

Go to Plugins on your Dashboard and click Add New
Search for Comment Reply by Admins Notifier
Click Install
Click Activate

That is it. Now whenever you reply back to someones comment it will automatically send them a email. This is great cause it gets them to come back to your site to check out the reply.

Something you have been wanting to add to your blog just don’t know how to? Fill out this form, and I will try to cover in a future Tuesday Tutorial.

What are some other great ways to increase comments or other great plugins you like?

How to Add Instagram to your Blog: Tuesday Tutorials

Adding Instagram to your blog is pretty easy no matter what platform you use for your blog. Here are the steps on How to Add Instagram to your Blog for each platform.

Self-Hosted WordPress

Go to Snapwidget.com
Click on Get Your Free Widget
Fill in your Instagram Username in the first box
Select Widget Type you would like
All the rest of the fields are optional, and can adjust how it will display on your page
Click Get Widget, and copy the code in the box
Then go to your WordPress Dashboard
Select the Text Widget, and drag it to the area where you would like it to display
Then paste the code you copied from SnapWidget in the box
Fill in the title in the Title Box
Save Widget

WordPress.Com

Find the Instagram Widget in the widget list, and drag it to the box for the area where you would like it to display
Once you open the widget you will have to authorize your Instagram account
Give it any title you want in the title box
Then the rest of the options are up to you as to how you want it to display on the page, so adjust them to your liking
Save widget

Blogger

Go to Snapwidget.com
Click on Get Your Free Widget
Fill in your Instagram Username in the first box
Select Widget Type you would like
All the rest of the fields are optional, and can adjust how it will display on your page
Click Get Widget, and copy the code in the box
Go to your layout screen and select Add a Gadget in whatever section where you would like the Instagram to appear
From the list find the one that says HTML/JavaScript
Then paste the code you got from SnapWidget in the box
If you want a title to appear about just enter that in the Title Box above the Content Box
Click Save and it is added to the page

That is all you have to do and you will have your Instagram feed showing on your page. This will give your page a fun look, and automatically updates as you add pics on Instagram. Adding Instagram to your blog will easily display to your readers what you are sharing on Instagram, and hopefully entices them to follow you on Instagram.

Do you like seeing Instagram on a blog?

Click here to let me know if you have something you would like to see on a future Tuesday Tutorial.

Diva Challenge Day 2

Today’s theme for the Diva Challenge is Job Interview. Here is the outfit I put together for a job interview. The outfit will help you look confident and ready for the job.