Articles

Keep up with the latest tutorials, tips and updates

Display external URL in modal popup

Display content from an external URL in a pop-up modal in WordPress

I wanted a simple way to take payments, and to show the payment form in a modal window. I created a shortcode that displays a button, that then displays any external URL in a modal when clicked.

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Customise the WordPress Maintenance Page

How to customise the default WordPress maintenance page

When your site goes into maintenance mode during plugin and theme updates, WordPress loads a default page that is VERY basic and not very attractive or professional. You can control the look and feel of your WordPress maintenance mode page by creating a custom “maintenance.php” file that includes your branding, relevant images and contact details.

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Stop Gravity Forms Spam Entries Using the Comment Blacklist

Reduce Gravity Forms spam using common spammy terms via the comment blacklist

To further reduce Gravity Forms spam submissions, you maintain a list of spammy words in your Disallowed Comment Keys field and check all form entries against this list, using the custom code provided in your theme’s functions.php file.

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The Perfect Blog URL Structure

How to create the perfect blog URL permalink structure in WordPress (with examples)

I’ve been trying to create the perfect blog URL structure that appeals to my sense of order for more than 7 years. And I finally discovered the last piece of the puzzle. It’s time to lay out my entire solution for you, including examples.

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Remove Username from Comment Class in WordPress

Stop WordPress username appearing in comment classes

I recently discovered that my username was being exposed in the WordPress classes for comments as comment-author-[myusername] and being scraped and abused by some sharp spammers. Here’s how I fixed the issue.

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Custom Permalinks for a Single Category

Change Permalink URL Structure for One Specific Category including the Archive Page in WordPress

I’m working on a site where I want to pull out just one single category of blog post, “Case Studies”, into its own URL structure, so I can see how this category of content is performing in Analytics, and also to send a signal to Google about the importance of this content to this website.…

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WordPress Comment Blacklist Field

WPForms Spam Filtering Using the Comment Blacklist Field

I’ve recently begun getting spam messages through my contact forms that are submitted by humans, not bots, so they don’t get stopped by the standard honeypot setting in WPForms. I wanted to create a content blacklist for WPForms that was easy to maintain and add new terms to. I also didn’t want the overhead of…

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How to access your Facebook ad account

Where exactly IS your Facebook ad account?

So you’ve decided you want to start using Facebook ads. Great. Now what?! Well, the very first thing you need to do is find your ad account. I know this seems like a pretty basic thing, but you’d be amazed at: A) How many people struggle to find it, and B) How much of the…

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Video - How to Use the Real-Time View

Want to see what’s happening on your website right now?

Did you know that you can watch what your customers are doing on your site in real time using your Google Analytics account? I absolutely love this feature of Google Analytics. It’s like watching my website breathe.

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Video - What Is Bounce Rate?

Bounce Rate: What on earth is it and why does it even matter?

So you’ve heard about bounce rate, or you’ve seen it in your Google Analytics reports, but what is it, and why does it matter? Watch my video to find out what bounce rate is all about, and how you can get it headed in the right direction.

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Video - That Time I Nearly Destroyed My Business

That time I nearly destroyed my business

In 2009, I had a thriving business that was turning over more than 600K, and I almost lost it all because I got lazy. Watch my video to get the whole messy story on my business near-miss, and why I’ll never make that same mistake again.

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Video - Where is Your Traffic Coming From?

How to tell where your website traffic is coming from

It’s time for another dose of Measurement Magic, with the Data Fairy, and today’s topic is Facebook pixels. What on earth are they, and why would you even want one?

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