Q and A ~ Reader’s Questions Answered
Jan 26
Lately there have been some questions asked previous topics and I thought I’d go back and answer them. Some have been answered in comments but not everyone subscribes to all the posts so I wanted to put them in a post so people could find the answers if they needed them.
Q Re Squidoo: is there a way to get a new module, not at the end of your lens, but between certain lenses. I think some of my lenses would look better if I had certain modules between the text lenses, but I cannot find out if this is even possible.
A Yes! It is absolutely possible. All you have to do is go to the sidebar of your lens where all the modules are listed. You can then click on the one you want to move around. Hold it down when you click and then move it into the order where you want it. When it’s where you want it just unclick. This is called “dragging and dropping”. So you just drag and drop it where you want it. Make sure to click “apply” so it will stay where you put it.
QMy footer code doesn’t say “body” anywhere for me to insert what I need to. And I can’t figure out how to make a text widget go to the location in the sidebar where I want it to go.
ATo add a widget you go to your dashboard and click appearance. You’ll see the widget option. Click that. When you get to your widgets you’ll see a bunch of different widgets to choose from. Choose the “text” widget. You’ll drag and drop it (as discussed above) to the sidebar you wish to put it in. Then open it up and paste your statcounter code there. Then save. There has been a weird glitch with WP lately where if you go view the blog and then click the back button to get back to the dashboard it deletes what you just did. So open another window to check any changes you’ve made. Just remember you won’t see anything on your blog that confirms you’ve installed the statcounter code ~ you’ll just have to wait until someone clicks to see the number move. You can also go to the Fanpage and ask someone to go to your site so you can see if your counter is working.
QClickthrough rates. Can you tell me, or suggest where I’d find the information, on what is considered a decent clickthrough rate from articles to one’s site? I’ve tried, but I cannot find this information. Please understand, I do not mean conversion rates (sales, I assume), I mean how to find out what an acceptable or even good clickthrough rate from articles would be.
AI did some asking around since I didn’t really know the answer to this and here’s what some of my twitter friends had to say: (read the bottom one first 
QOn my blog the newest posts come on top of the older posts. Can I make it so just one shows up on the homepage?
AThat is the nature of the blog. It gives the newest information at the top of the page. You can change how your homepage looks in a few ways. You can make it 1 new article ~ the whole article by going into your settings area and clicking the “reading” settings. You can change how many posts show up on the front page. If you want the posts to show up in the sidebar you can add the “recent posts” widget to the sidebar where you want them to show up.
You can also make it so only a portion or excerpt of your posts show up on your homepage. There’s a plugin called “homepage excerpts” that will allow you to do that. I use it on this blog. You’ll see I’ve chosen to show one whole post and then excerpts for the rest of the page. There’s plenty of flexibility with that plugin so play around with it until you get it the way you like it.
If you have more questions feel free to ask. I will answer them either in a post, on the facebook page or maybe in another Q and A post such as this one. Just keep in mind that all the tweaking in the world will not bring you traffic! It’s content and promotion that does that.
Keep taking action! There’s not much that can’t be changed as you go.
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I already belong to the squidoo tutorials. Would this be helpful or redundant?
Thanks,
jim
Not sure I know what you mean Jim ~ would what exactly be helpful?
I guess what I’m trying to ask is if I already belong to the tutorials, would being a member of the KISS club be beneficial, or would I just be getting the same information as I’m already getting? Or, would there be new stuff I’m not getting in the tutorials?
I see ~ The KISS Club is a community ~ it’s not lessons like the tutorials.
It’s a place to brainstorm, and get support and ask questions and have access to other people who are motivated and doing the same work you’re doing.
You’ll have to decide if that’s something that is of benefit to you.
Hi Kim~
you have to make sure you click save under the image. Then you have to republish your lens to make the changes visible on your lens. Hope that helps.
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Hi Jackie,
I guess that I am doing something wrong, because I am adding my affiliate URL link in the Link the Photo to this URL box and the code below is already there:
name=photo_link
I have tried using http://www.affiliateurl.com and just http://www.affiliateurl.com but for some reason it is not accepting it. I have been typing over the code that is already there – maybe that is what I’m doing wrong?
Thanks Jackie…I appreciate your help!
Kim
I’m not sure what the deal is. I would erase anything that is currently in the box that calls for the url. Then paste in your aff link using the http://.
It may be a squidoo glitch. It has been glitchy for me a few times ~ I’ve just gone in later and done it and it worked then. ??
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Hi Jackie,
There is a new option in the Text Module at Squidoo where you can insert the URL and it will link the picture to that URL. It looks like this:
To update just the label or URL without changing the current photo, leave the entry box above empty and simply change the values below.
Label this photo:
Link the photo to this URL:
But I have tried to insert a URL in the box and it doesn’t work. Do you know anything about this option and how to use it properly? I think that you were discussing this previously but I cannot seem to find it anywhere now.
Thanks so much!
Kim
Thanks Jackie that’s most helpful.
Hey Vance ~ if you check out the articles page at the top of any page you’ll find the process outlined in chronological order ~ you’ll find my plugin posts there as well ~ just scroll down to “build a niche blog” section. I do need to get up to date with those posts ~ maybe I’ll do that right now.
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Thought we better have a male point of view! I’m new to blogging so the widget explanation was helpful to me. I’m using the thesis theme that seems pretty cool. What are the must have plug in’s in your view as I’m not sure what to do next.
Regarding Squidoo: I recommend making a cheat sheet of the cool snipets of HTML and “how to” notes to keep handy when building a lens.
I have found this saves me a lot of frustration when building a new lens, plus it helps me remember different options I have to make my lens unique and interesting.
I wasn’t aware you could have one full post AND excerpts of the rest; I’ll have to look into that. I’m currently using the Post Teaser plugin for my excerpts.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/post-teaser/ – if you’re curious.
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Thanks Jackie for another great post… it was really helpful (especially the CTR question).
BTW, I always stumble your posts…
Thanks!
Cindy
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Tammy, delete it ~ no you don’t delete the backlink ~ you just delete the notification.
Bernita ~ no I don’t do that. If you’re using good keywords for all your hubs etc you can build links to them to help them rank ~ but I don’t do that personally.
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Jackie, I meant backling to the backlinks. Say, I’m building a lens for my sight, do I then go build backlinks for that lens, knol or hubpage?
Thanks!
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Hi Jackie,
When I have done posts on free sites for a backlink I will get an email with a pingback asking if I want to approve or delete this. If I approve this it will look kinda funny looking in my comments area. If I delete this will it also delete my backlink?
What are we suppose to do with these?
Thanks for your great posts and info!
Tammy
http://www.yoururl.com/wp-admin ~ it will take you to your log in page for your dashboard.
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Jackie,
First let me say Thanks for all your help!
I’m sure this is a stupid question, but…I loaded wordpress thru hostgator. If I type in my url I see the wordpress page, But I cannot seem to find the login page for WordPress so I can make some changes.
Any ideas where it went?
Lonnie
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Bernita ~ I find the more frequently I post to a blog the easier it is to get posts indexed. So if I’m working on a site I try to make posts regularly to get them indexed. If you’ve submitted your RSS feed to directories I don’t usually have to do much to get them indexed.
Sarah ~ not sure what you mean by make your blog look cool.
If you check out the “build a blog” category you’ll find lots of posts to help you customize your blog.
thanks Chad.
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Great post as always.
Thanks Jackie!
This post is indeed very useful on my part since i am new in blogging business. I just wanna ask, how do i get new variety of templates to choose from? and i wanna add a widget to make my blog cool. I’m sorry if i sound so stupid.. i just started to make blog last january 25. I wanna make my blog cool.
Jackie, when you use squidoo, hub pages and knoll etc. just to give backlinks to your site, do you still have to go and create additional backlink for them to get indexed as well?
Thanks, Great Job!
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Good deal Arlene ~ I am grateful I got some opinions from twitter friends.
Bea ~ you’re quite welcome. The other question you asked needs an entire post and I’ll work on it soon.
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Oh, thank you so much, Jackie. You’re a godsend to a newbie like me.
I wish you the greatest success in all your endeavors.
Good information Jackie. I liked the answer on CTR. Shows I am on course.
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That is a possibility ~ the only problem with doing that is you don’t give your posts a little bump by being on the front page for a little while.
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Great information! Also, thought I would add to the last question – If you are using WordPress.org (I am not sure on wordpress.com since I haven’t used it) you can choose to have a Static Front Page (in the Dashboard, go to Settings, Reading and select Static Page and choose which page you want as your front page).
You provide so much great information on this blog – so thanks
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