The breadcrumbs (once enabled via the settings in the admin panel) display a breadcrumb trail on your product pages. by default is looks something like this:

Store Name » Products Page » Category Name » Product Name

To edit the output you need to edit the function in the theme files. The function is:

<?php wpsc_output_breadcrumbs (); ?>

You can pass an array of arguments to the function. Your options are:

'before-breadcrumbs' => '<div class="wpsc-breadcrumbs">',
'after-breadcrumbs'  => '</div>',
'before-crumb'       => '',
'after-crumb'        => '',
'crumb-separator'    => ' &raquo; ',
'show_home_page'     => true,
'show_products_page' => true,
'echo'               => true

Now simply pass your arguments to the function, for example:

<?php wpsc_output_breadcrumbs ( array (
 'crumb-separator'    => ' &gt; ',
 'show_home_page'     => false,   
) ); ?>

The above would display breadcrumbs with ‘>’ as a separator and removes the homepage:

Products Page > Category Name > Product Name

I also think its best to put your breadcrumb function in a separate file e.g ‘wpsc-breadcrumbs.php’ then include it in each instance:

<? include "wpsc-breadcrumbs.php"; ?>

This way you don’t need to edit it multiple times should you decide to change something in the future.

I hope this can be of help to someone!

It’s no accident that a lot of fast food restaurants use vivid red & orange colours.  Studies have shown that these colours tend to stimulate appetite, and large corporations spend vast sums on colour research for marketing purposes.

Choosing a Colour Scheme

Where do you begin? Let’s look at different types of colour combinations.

Monochromatic

Monochromatic colour schemes use variations of a single colour. Differing values of the chosen colour can be used to create the feel of different colours. Monochromatic colour schemes can feel harmonious and peaceful.

Analogous

Analogous colour combinations use colours that are related, but not the same, to create visually appealing schemes. A selection of blues and purples, or reds and oranges create an analogous colour scheme.

Contrasting colours

Contrasting colours are complimentary and distinguishable. Colours that are opposites create contrasting colour schemes. For example… yellow and purple or red and green are contrasting colours. Contrasting colour schemes generally use a warm colour and a cool colour, such as orange & blue.

In summary…

Colour choice is crucial. Sometimes the website will already have it colour scheme determined if the company already has one established, although generally it will need adapting for its web environment and many companies do not have any colour scheme in place, therefore the task is left to the designer.Thankfully, there are plenty of online resources from which to gleam inspiration and find that perfect colour scheme for your website.

Resources:

A multitude of resources related to colour picking, colour moods and more can be found by a quick Google. Here are a few of our favourites to get you started:

Sample Colour Schemes:

• ColourLovers.com
• Kuler from Adobe

Online tools to help you develop your own custom scheme:

• ColorSchemeDesigner.com
• DigitDesigns.com Color Picker
  

CSS can fix most visual problems however sometimes the javascript used by a plugin throws up an ugly error message, a common one in IE6 & IE7 versions is: “An error has occurred with a script on this page”. It prompts the user to choose whether to stop running all scripts or not.

The scenario…

You have just installed a brand spanking new plugin, everything looks great but then you decide to do some cross-browser compatibility checks. Lo and behold the older IE versions start spewing out error messages. Your options are:

• Ditch the plugin.
• Try and debug the error… but the chances are it will take a while and fixing it may limit the functionality of the script.
• Keep the plugin and curse the people still using IE6 or IE7 anyway.
• Display a friendly alternative to your widget to the users of older browsers, yet still keep the entire functionality of the widget for everyone else.

Thankfully by using a PHP browser detect plugin, it’s very easy to target specific browser versions in WordPress. I believe WordPress already has an inbuilt browser detect functionality, but unfortunately it only seems to be able to detect browser type and not version, e.g it can detect whether the browser is IE or Firefox, but not if its IE6 or IE8.

The solution…

Install the PHP Browser Detection plugin (Developed by Marty Thornley). Open up your sidebar or other template file containing the widgetized area, and edit the call to grab the widget. You current markup might be:

<?php if (function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') && dynamic_sidebar
('widgetarea1')) : else : ?>
<div class="pre-widget">
<p><strong>Widgetized area 1</strong></p>
<p>This panel is active and ready for you to add some widgets via the
 WP Admin</p>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>

This would display whatever widgets you place in your widget area 1 in the admin panel. To keep things simple for this process it would be advisable to only install one widget per area, so that each one can be specifically swapped out. Now to make a specifc browser version display a different widget you can use th following markup:

<?php if (is_lt_IE8()) : ?>
<?php if (function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') && dynamic_sidebar
('widgetarea1')) : else : ?>
<div class="pre-widget">
<p><strong>Widgetized area 1</strong></p>
<p>This panel is active and ready for you to add some widgets via the
WP Admin</p>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php else : ?>
<?php if (function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') && dynamic_sidebar
('widgetarea2')) : else : ?>
<div class="pre-widget">
<p><strong>Widgetized area 2</strong></p>
<p>This panel is active and ready for you to add some widgets via the
 WP Admin</p>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php endif; ?>

Using the code <?php if (is_lt_IE8()) : ?> all users of IE versions older than IE8 will see the widget displayed in the widget area 2, and all other browsers will see the widget you place in area1. You can choose a nice compatible version of the widget to display to the older browsers whilst retaining the full functionality for modern browsers. You don’t even need to replace it with another widget you could simply place some other content there.

Of course your not just limited to  targeting just browsers later than IE8, you can use <?php if ( is_IE6() ) { alternative content here }; ?> to target just IE6 for example, or you can even target mobile specific browsers e.g <?php if ( is_iphone($version) ) { alternative content here }; ?> will target iphones only. For a full list see the plugin page.

If you only have one widget area and need to add more for this simply add more dynamic sidebars to your functions.php file:

register_sidebar(array(
'name' => 'widgetarea2',
'id'   => 'widgetarea2',
'description'   => 'This is the widgetized area2.',
'before_widget' => '<div id="%1$s" class="widget %2$s">',
'after_widget'  => '</div>',
'before_title'  => '<h3>',
'after_title'   => '</h3>'
));

Once done you can rest assured that all visitors to your website regardless of browser still receive a fulfilling experience free of glitches and error messages.

Google Business Listings is basically Google’s version of the yellow pages. These listings appear on the top left hand side of Google search results, typically when a user types a service followed by place or city name. The image below shows the search results for the search phrase “dry cleaners york”. The search results page lists Local Business results at the top of the page alongside a map with a link and telephone number beside up to ten listings. Below that the regular search results are displayed.

How to add your business to Google Local Business Listings

It’s quick, easy and best of all completely free! to add your business to the Local Business index. Simply go to www.google.co.uk/lbc login with a Google Account if you already have one or alternatively sign up for one. Then all you have to do is submit your business details and your business will be added to the Google Local Business directory. With careful optimisation of the listing you can help yourself to rank highly in the local business results, gaining a valuable top spot on the search result pages.

How to rank highly in Google Local Business Listings…

It appears the rank of your local business listing is determined by the value and obviously relevance of your business listing page. Google gives the top spots to those feeding the search engine’s ever increasing need for content. Top tips for ranking highly:

1. Photos Add as many photos as you can and a company logo.
2. Multiple Reviews It’s important that these be from real customers. You can not have too many. Don’t fake them either, it’s easy to see. It’s quite likely the number of quality review will be the most important factor in how you rank compared to local competitors. Reviews show Google your business is active and lots of reviews more than likely means your business is an authority within it’s field.
3. Use Keywords in Company Description Keep your company description rich with your business related keywords.
4. Use Keywords in Company Name Don’t be deceptive by changing your company name, but if your keywords are in the extended business name or LLC, make sure this is the name in which you register.
5. Add a Coupon Google allows printable coupons to be added by your listing.
6. Create links to the listing Add a link from your homepage to the listing and encourage current customers or website visitors to review your company.
7. Add Videos If your company already has videos on YouTube you can place them right there on the page.

If you manage to incorporate all of the the above you should be able to guarantee yourself a top ten place in the local business search results dependant on the level of competition from competitors.

To try and stay one step ahead of your rivals it would be advisable to continually update and add to the listing frequently, and continue to ask clients if they wouldn’t mind writing a quick review of your services. It’s useful to note it also seems to fetch reviews from various “Review” websites such as TripAdvisor, Qype and more, so encouraging customers to review on those also will surely help.

E-commerce systems such as a website can be used to market and sell to customers, and to provide after-sales support. E-commerce can also be an important part of strengthening relationships and improving the efficiency of your dealings with suppliers and other key trading partners.

Benefits of selling online

Selling online has a number of advantages over selling by conventional methods, including:

• Relatively low set-up and operational costs. You don’t need to pay shop assistants, rent high-street premises, or answer a lot of pre-sales queries.
• Quickly process orders & reduce costs; Customer orders can automatically come straight into your order database, without the need for any manual data entry.
• Reach a global audience.
• Compete with larger businesses by being able to open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• Receive payments quickly from online transactions.
• Attract new customers who would not normally have been able to investigate your type of high-street outlet.
• Enjoy the benefits of being able to easily view and compare shopping trends.
• Use your online shop as a catalogue for existing customers.

Online selling will work best for you if you have:

• Defined products or services that can be sold without human intervention in the sales process.
• Fixed prices for all types of potential customers.
• Products or services that can be delivered within a predictable time-frame.

Avoid online pitfalls

Customers will be put off by:

• unprofessional designs
• websites that appear unsecured or dishonest
• out-of-date or incorrect information
• difficult and confusing site navigation and purchasing processes
• poor order fulfilment and late delivery
• lack of customer support
• lack of vital ordering information (payments accepted, returns, deliveries etc.)

Remember – when selling through an online shop, you don’t normally have any personal contact with your customers, so you need to try harder to make sure they can find the information easily without your help. Clear product descriptions, prices and estimated delivery times will help them feel secure in purchasing from your website.

Our top tips are:

1. Create an online community or wealth of information: Starting a forum or blog on your website should encourage people to to repeat visit if they are interested in the content. Once your website becomes established as a valuable resource people will feel inclined to link to your site further boosting search engine rankings.
2. Blog elsewhere: Write blogs or articles on other websites, therefore publishing your name and your business into the wider public domain. It’s important to make sure that your articles are original and resourceful otherwise they won’t be read.
3. SEO: Even the smallest of businesses will make gains though improving their search engine rankings. You do need to be patient to see results, but by following good standard SEO practices you will make progress against competitors, and increase the quality and awareness of your brand identity.
4. Engage in Social & business networking: Add your business to the popular social networks such as facebook and twitter, create a link back to your website and encourage people to follow your online business. Maintain regular updates with useful or interesting information for your followers, and perhaps reward them with unique special offers from time to time. Business orientated social networks such as LinkedIn and XING are a useful way to interact globally with related professionals within your field.
5. Directories: Relevant and reputable directories can increase there likelihood of your business being found by potential customers. These could be business directories, or interest and subject-based directories. You should also try to boost traffic by linking to other relevant sites.
6. Advertising: Like any other form of business you should expect to set aside a budget for advertising your website. Resources such as Google Adwords can be very helpful. Yes, you have to pay but the cost can be low and it could be the key to kick-starting a profitable business. You are guaranteeing exposure and you can also carefully measure how successful the campaigns are by using analytical tools.
7. Good, old-fashioned marketing: Websites don’t have to be marketed online only. Business cards, leaflets, posters, van-side promotion, headed notepaper and even word of mouth can also work wonders. Genereally such mediums are not overly costly and can be quick to distribute.

“Founded in 2002, opensourceCMS.com is the pre-eminent website concerning open source content management systems. The only website in the world that provides almost 200 demos of open source content management systems.”

OpensourceCMS.com is a handy website that lets you try over 300 CMS solutions before you decide whether you want to install it or not. Its a good chance to have a play, or just see if you like the features and control panel of a new CMS you’ve been hearing about.

Take a look at www.opensourcecms.com

Content

The search engines thrive on content. If they didn’t have good quality content to provide to their searchers they wouldn’t have any users, therefore they are highly targeted on providing the best possible results to the people searching. If your website contains poor irrelevant content then it is going to be of little value to the search engines and they will rank you poorly.

Good Web Content – Keywords and Phrases

The foundation blocks of you content is targeted keywords and phrases. These should be researched carefully to match the potential interests of your target audience, also taking into account competitors keywords and phrases. Try to find a niche selection of keywords that have less competition but yet still get a reasonable amount of searches.

Good Web Content – How To Write It

Writing for the Web is not that much different than writing for anything else: you need to make your content interesting, you need to give it a relevant purpose, and you need to give your readers a “call to action”, whether that’s buying something, signing up for something or even just enquiring.

Give the content links that point to other areas of interest on your site. Links also help the bots index more of your site and compel better search engine results. Make sure it contains evergreen content (info that won’t become outdated), as well as fresh updated content.

Keep your writing style natural and don’t simply stuff keyword in if they don’t fit.

In Summary

Make sure your content is relevant, unique and resourceful. Make it a valuable point of interest to your target audience, and the search engines will invariably reward you with high search result placements.

1. Identify Correct Keywords Every Internet marketing campaign should start with identifying the keywords that are searched for, and are relevant to what your website offers. You should consider keywords that your prospective clients would actually type into the major search engines.
2. Don’t Try To Trick Search Engines There really no quick tricks to getting and maintaining a high search engine position. The key technique is to develop a website rich in resources to your target market, and feed the search engines ever increasing demand for quality content.Trying to fool the search engines will only get you penalised or even blacklisted.Don’t spam, don’t use hidden text, avoid link farms, and don’t cram your keyword descriptions and META tags with keywords. The penalties will far outweigh the short-lived advantages. 

3. Ensure navigation is structured & meaningful A high-quality link structure on your site will not only help visitors browse your content easily, it can also ensure search engine spiders can find and index all pages on your site.Not every visitor will start at your home page, but most will and it is important to check that each page on your site is linked to the others. This helps the search engine spiders to quickly index all the content on your site. Use HTML text for navigation (not just pictures, or flash etc.), and use keyword rich relevant anchor text to help explain to the search engines what the linked page is about. 

4. Develop Inbound Links Developing high quality, relevant links to your site is vital to achieving prominent search engine rankings. They are used by Search Engines to evaluate how valuable a website is and consequently where the site should be ranked.Submitting your website to online directories can be a useful and relatively quick method of increasing your inbound links.You should also seek inbound links from other relevant and well regarded websites. Blog about your business, write articles, write comments and add your business to social networks to increase your inbound links.Use keyword rich anchor text for your links, vary the anchor text and keep it natural and meaningful to avoid looking like a spam bot. Try to be selective when choosing link partners. Certain sites, known as “link farms”, can harm your ranking and may even result in you being blacklisted by the major search engines. 

5. Optimise Page Titles & Header Tags Use your selected keywords in your page titles and header tags. Use your keywords, avoid prepositions and conjunctions where possible (the, and, for, with, etc.) and watch your punctuation.Keep titles short and to the point to avoid watering down your relevance. It can sometimes be better to rank highly for one specific keyword or key-phrase, rather than be ranked in a mediocre position for many.Ensure each page has a unique title tag and H1 tag. This will assist your search engine rankings and help users to find the relevant information they were looking for. 

6. Fresh, Unique Content Why do you have a website? Is it to provide information or entertainment? Is it to promote your business? Do you have an online shop? Whatever the function of your website, it is unlikely to be there just to attract search engine bots.Websites that are designed for people, offering easy navigation and fresh, unique content will attract search engine spiders that will want to index the pages.Visiting a site for timely information, only to find that it hasn’t been updated for weeks can be frustrating. 

7. Meta Tags There is much debate regarding the value of META tags. They are certainly not a very valuable method of SEO any more, but some search engines still regard META tags as important when ranking your site whilst others ignore them.The best advice is to still include META tags as part of your SEO strategy, but to understand that they are not the be-all-and-end-all, as some would have you believe. 

8. Optimise Every Page Each page should be optimised for the content it contains. Search engines see the internet as a collection of web-pages not websites.Optimising each page relevantly will allow potential visitors to find the information they are looking for. Ensure you have links between pages to ensure that you whole site is indexed. That way you will be in a position to compete for more than one keyword in order to attract people searching for your goods and services. 

9. Include A HTML Site Map for humans & XML Sitemap for the Search Engines A HTML site map can help your visitors and search engine bots to navigate pages on your website but should not be confused with an XML sitemap. An XML sitemap is primarily intended to manually inform the Search Engines of each webpage on your site (it is not really intended to be seen by humans).It will help your website pages get indexed quickly and efficiently and is also a useful means of updating the search engines as soon as you add new content. 

10. Use clean standards compliant markup, and optimise your code Validated standards compliant code will not only ensure your website displays correctly users, it will also mean your content is easier to read for the search engines. A good code to content ratio should always be maintained. Bloated code effectively dilutes your website content for the search engines.Separate your styling from the content, externalise javascript and put your most important keywords to the top of the page content. 

Summary:

Getting your website to rank highly in the search engines isn’t about quick tricks and hidden secrets. The search engines work by providing their users with the highest quality content relevant to the users search, therefore you simply need to make sure your website provides the content your target audience is looking for.

If you can create a wealth of relevant information that your audience wants to find, you will be rewarded with high search engine placements.

Pay per click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content sites, such as blogs, in which the advertisers pay their ad-host only when their ad is actually clicked (your ad can be displayed but if no one clicks it then you don’t ‘get charged). With search engines, advertisers will typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market and their ads will be displayed alongside searches or content pages relevant to the keywords.

Although there are many PPC providers, Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter are the three largest operators, and all three operate under a bid-based model. Cost per click (CPC) varies depending on the search engine and the level of competition for a particular keyword.

With PPC, you’re not paying for a promise, and you’re not paying to load an ad onto a page. You’re paying for an actual result, a click, and thus a targeted visitor to your website. With PPC, you don’t pay if nobody sees your ad, and you don’t even pay if someone does see it but doesn’t click. You pay only when someone clicks your ad (though it must be noted various plans exist where so many ad views will count as 1 click, i.e 1000 ad views costs one click).

Here’s how PPC works:

1. You join a Pay-Per-Click program e.g Google AdWords, and top up your account with some money i.e £20
2. You create a small text ad
3. You then specify which keywords should be associated with your ad
4. You then specify how much you are willing to pay each time someone clicks on the ad.
5. Prospective clients will then go to search engines, and enter one of the keywords or keyword phrases specified.
6. The search engine finds the matching ads and places them on the results page.
7. If the searcher clicks the ad, they are taken to your web site, and you are charged for the click.

The amount you pay per click can vary on how competitive the market is for that keyword or phrase. Generally speaking as long as you are confident that your website/service has the potential to sell itself to a user once they have arrived then PPC marketing can be a very valuable traffic source, offering excellent Return on Investment.