Posts
2
Questions
26
Dear all, I have realised, somewhat late, that although the searchbar appears at the top of the sidebar on my desktop site, it appears under all the posts on the mobile version
Check if you have a mobile menu.
If you can move it to the back office, this may be resolved by clearing the caches of both browsers and servers.
Your sidebar widgets on a mobile would appear at the bottom of your website.
You may have to change your theme if you believe it is malfunctioning; you may get a different result.
Thanks The Abie, yes it's a sidebar widget and it still puts it at the bottom of the mobile site. I tried clearing the caches a few times, but that didn't change anything. Here's the url https://ukgrammar.com
thanks
Your search bar is under your topics and above your Recent Posts on a mobile.
I use the Blocksy theme; the search opens up another page where folks can type what they want, which works both in the desktop and mobile view. It is right at the start. You may want to test that out on a siterubix subdomain to see how it looks first.
Thanks TheAbie. Yes, I think that is a really bad location for a search bar. People who come to the site might want to look for something straightaway. Blocksy looks like a good theme. Modern and with a lot more possibilities. Is it fairly straight forward to switch over?
Absolutely!
To change your theme, here is what to do.
You may go to Appearance > Themes and add new.
Input what you are looking for, install, and activate.
Your content will be left intact; you may lose out on CSS styles and social media icons if, however, with a bit of tweaking, you are done.
We always recommend leaving a backup theme; you may do so with the Twenty TwentyThree. (Default)
Or, as suggested, give it a go with a siterubix and see how it functions; the free version has many features that make it very versatile.
I hope this helps.
This is very helpful. Thank you so much for your time. I will switch it in a bit and see how it goes :)
Thanks again, TheAbie. I'm really so pleased with this. It looks much more professional. The only thing is: I can't see the sitemap at the bottom anymore. Does that matter? Does it need re-installing? Thank you so much.
If you have a page that has your sitemap, it can be inserted in your footer via Appearance > Customize. You'd see gaps where you can add and edit additional elements.
Otherwise, sitemaps are submitted to Google and Bing.
You're very welcome.
That's wonderful to hear, Michelle :) I also wish you and yours a joyful Happy New Year.
See more comments
Why can't I move my search bar to the right location?
Dear all, I have realised, somewhat late, that although the searchbar appears at the top of the sidebar on my desktop site, it appears under all the posts on the mobile version
Some themes allow you to place a search function in the main menu. Otherwise, if you’re placing it in the right sidebar that sidebar gets moved beneath your content on mobile.
One way of making your content easier to navigate is to add categories to your main menu so they can search by category 😎👍🏼
Check if you have a mobile menu.
If you can move it to the back office, this may be resolved by clearing the caches of both browsers and servers.
Your sidebar widgets on a mobile would appear at the bottom of your website.
You may have to change your theme if you believe it is malfunctioning; you may get a different result.
Thanks The Abie, yes it's a sidebar widget and it still puts it at the bottom of the mobile site. I tried clearing the caches a few times, but that didn't change anything. Here's the url https://ukgrammar.com
thanks
Your search bar is under your topics and above your Recent Posts on a mobile.
I use the Blocksy theme; the search opens up another page where folks can type what they want, which works both in the desktop and mobile view. It is right at the start. You may want to test that out on a siterubix subdomain to see how it looks first.
Thanks TheAbie. Yes, I think that is a really bad location for a search bar. People who come to the site might want to look for something straightaway. Blocksy looks like a good theme. Modern and with a lot more possibilities. Is it fairly straight forward to switch over?
Absolutely!
To change your theme, here is what to do.
You may go to Appearance > Themes and add new.
Input what you are looking for, install, and activate.
Your content will be left intact; you may lose out on CSS styles and social media icons if, however, with a bit of tweaking, you are done.
We always recommend leaving a backup theme; you may do so with the Twenty TwentyThree. (Default)
Or, as suggested, give it a go with a siterubix and see how it functions; the free version has many features that make it very versatile.
I hope this helps.
This is very helpful. Thank you so much for your time. I will switch it in a bit and see how it goes :)
Thanks again, TheAbie. I'm really so pleased with this. It looks much more professional. The only thing is: I can't see the sitemap at the bottom anymore. Does that matter? Does it need re-installing? Thank you so much.
If you have a page that has your sitemap, it can be inserted in your footer via Appearance > Customize. You'd see gaps where you can add and edit additional elements.
Otherwise, sitemaps are submitted to Google and Bing.
You're very welcome.
That's wonderful to hear, Michelle :) I also wish you and yours a joyful Happy New Year.
See more comments
Hi everyone, happy new year to you all in advance and thanks to so many of you for such great help and advice this year. My question is as above:
What is the engagement rate
This resource explains
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/12195621?hl=en
Also Ending Your Bounce Rate Nightmare
See more comments
What is the engagement rate % on google site kit?
Hi everyone, happy new year to you all in advance and thanks to so many of you for such great help and advice this year. My question is as above:
What is the engagement rate
This resource explains
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/12195621?hl=en
Also Ending Your Bounce Rate Nightmare
See more comments
Dear All, I am getting more and more visitors on Pinterest. Over eight hundred views per month. That is a far higher visitor figure than my website has. I notice that my blog p
You have FANTASTIC responses here; kindly let us know if you need additional assistance. All the best on your online journey :)
You're welcome; kindly let us know how else we can help. That's as and when. All the best on your online journey.
Hi - I have written several posts about Pinterest.
Start with this one, the most important in my opinion. Don't Follow WA Members on Pinterest! Make sure that each individual board has its own description, as Pinterest pays attention to this.
Next, if you have any boards not related to your niche, make them "secret" so that Pinterest knows that your account is an authority on your niche.
But, to attract attention, you need to create your own pins, by using Canva, to add a text overlay so that Pinterest knows what the pins are about, to have "branding," don't just pin directly from your website.
*Edited to add, I found your Pinterest account, and as an example, your latest pin shows a small image of a woman smoking.
It has no text and an irrelevant image, so how would Pinterest or potential visitors know that it relates to English grammar?
See attached for how you could make something more appealing.
Thank you so much, Diane. That's exactly what I mean. I realised that, in spite of my descriptions and titles, the images just appear as a board of random images with no words whatsoever! Absolutely nothing to do with grammar! Goodness knows where these visitors even came from. I shall 'secret' my other boards and get cracking with Canva. Thanks a million.
I was about to answer, but I can see Old Fluff typing and she's bound to say the same thing as me... if NOT, we will be dropkicking Old Fluff into 2024!
See more comments
Help to improve my pinterest appearance?
Dear All, I am getting more and more visitors on Pinterest. Over eight hundred views per month. That is a far higher visitor figure than my website has. I notice that my blog p
You have FANTASTIC responses here; kindly let us know if you need additional assistance. All the best on your online journey :)
You're welcome; kindly let us know how else we can help. That's as and when. All the best on your online journey.
Hi - I have written several posts about Pinterest.
Start with this one, the most important in my opinion. Don't Follow WA Members on Pinterest! Make sure that each individual board has its own description, as Pinterest pays attention to this.
Next, if you have any boards not related to your niche, make them "secret" so that Pinterest knows that your account is an authority on your niche.
But, to attract attention, you need to create your own pins, by using Canva, to add a text overlay so that Pinterest knows what the pins are about, to have "branding," don't just pin directly from your website.
*Edited to add, I found your Pinterest account, and as an example, your latest pin shows a small image of a woman smoking.
It has no text and an irrelevant image, so how would Pinterest or potential visitors know that it relates to English grammar?
See attached for how you could make something more appealing.
Thank you so much, Diane. That's exactly what I mean. I realised that, in spite of my descriptions and titles, the images just appear as a board of random images with no words whatsoever! Absolutely nothing to do with grammar! Goodness knows where these visitors even came from. I shall 'secret' my other boards and get cracking with Canva. Thanks a million.
I was about to answer, but I can see Old Fluff typing and she's bound to say the same thing as me... if NOT, we will be dropkicking Old Fluff into 2024!
See more comments
Hi all, I manage around three posts a week at the moment and I have some people who are already keen followers of my site. They occasionally send me messages saying things like
Hey Michelle,
There's NO "right time" and "wrong time", but there is, personal opinion.
Here's mine.
For me, having an email sign up form from day one is a bit of a waste of time (millions of highly successful bloggers would disagree with me).
I think what it is, when you first start blogging you have this perception of "I can't lose out on this visitor, I have to have something to promote NOW!" whenever you view your analytics for the first few months.
It's almost like, "I had an opportunity and I let it slip through my fingers".
Even if it's JUST ONE visitor (I get it, the excitement of seeing people coming to a website YOU created!! WOW!!)
I get it, when you're new to this business, finding your feet, EVERY visitor to your website feels like a goldmine!!!
BUT
Sure, in reality, it only takes ONE visitor to make a sale.
In fact, it only takes ONE visitor to purchase every single thing that you market to become a millionaire...
BUT
we ALL know that ain't gonna happen.
Things tend to happen on a website ONCE you are getting a "decent amount" of visitors.
It's almost like things totally change once you're getting regular traffic.
Personally, I would say that you want a "fairly decent amount of daily visitors" BEFORE you start with email marketing.
I would want at least 80-100 DAILY visitors before I start marketing to them via email (millions of SUCCESSFUL marketers would disagree with me).
As I say, things tend to happen when you have a "decent amount of regular visitors".
If you're still in the "I might get a daily visitor, I might not" your attention (and potentially your motivation and inspiration) will be drawn to watching your email subscriber sign up count (Wooohoooo, I got ONE sign up in the last 32 days of trying, BUT, I haven't actually written an email to send them, better do it quick WITHOUT planning it or thinking it through... UNsubscribe), and then your attention is taken away from adding content and getting more rankings, traffic, etc.
If you think about it, email marketing should NOT be treated with any less respect than your blog posts.
So, I would want to "pre-write" a decent "email series" prior to getting people to sign up.
Perhaps, put me a month or two "in credit".
This means that I have to write 30 emails (with AS MUCH RESPECT as I give to my blog posts) BEFORE I create an email sign up newsletter,
Sure, you can "write emails as you go", BUT, you will want to be creating emails regularly, perhaps 2-3 times a week, or even daily, dependng on how "hard" you want to hit email marketing.
So, in my mind, you need to be prepared FIRST.
It's pretty much exactly the same as PRE-writing 30 BLOG POSTS (it doesn't need to be that many, I just want to be "ahead of the game". 5-7 pre-written emails is enough to get you going)
.
So, much the same as MOST things in this business (signing up for ad revenue companies, signing up for affiliate networks, etc.) it MAY not be worth you while doing this before you have regular traffic, PLUS, it's another distraction from your main goal... it NEVER ends, Hahahaha!! keep writing (once more, MILLIONS of SUCCESSFUL marketers would disagree with me).
Next...
To "pop up" or Not to "pop up"....
Once more, this is entirely personal opinion.
People will tell they HATE pop ups and leave a page as soon as they see one.
People will tell you that they have achieved their greatest success by using email pop-up sign up boxes.
They are BOTH correct.
This is one "personal opinion" you CAN'T trust from another individual ( regardless of HOW successful they are, and I mean EVERYONE, IGNORE... Yes, even the BIG WA Chief).
There is only ONE way to know whether a pop-up email sign up box will work for YOU, in YOUR niche, with YOUR experience, on YOUR website, when YOU decide to add it, and where YOU decide to place it...
Test it for yourself.
As I say, the two differing opinions above (yes pop-up boxes are great and no pop-up boxes are the devil incarnate are BOTH correct for THE PEOPLE WHO SAY IT... Because they have TESTED it on THEIR sites for THEMSLEVES).
I know you "get me" Michelle!! :)
Partha
Hi Partha, thanks a lot for this.
The pop up things are quite annoying actually now I think about it.
Maybe I could just have a sign up option permanently placed at the top when the time comes and leave it for people who are actually looking to sign up to find.
I'm not so much wanting to do email marketing as to send people a message to say, "Hey, I have added a new post."
I thought it would save them having to keep checking and keep them sort of loyal to me, but, on reading your message, I suppose that's not what's important just now! I'm not even on a visitor a day yet ;)
Thanks as always for your very helpful input.
you can do it that way or have it on social media allowing them to follow you and hopefully promote your niche site...
jsut remember that when emailing a list you don't just want to send out - here's another post you need to keep them entertained with other information - extra for the privilidge of having their email address - they need to feel special...more work for you - have you the time for it....
with the social you treat it the same as the newsletter - add other content related to your niche within the social site or external links...
but congratulations on getting people excited about your content and looking for more...
Thanks Phil, that is true. I do put it all on social media anyway each time, as well as other bits and bobs. I don't want any more work right now just for a privileged few! Thanks for the congrats:) It's a very small number of followers, but it feels amazing!
You can do it right away if you like.
You can use Aweber, which is free for the first 500 subscribers and affiliate marketing friendly.
See more comments
When and whether to have an email sign up pop-up?
Hi all, I manage around three posts a week at the moment and I have some people who are already keen followers of my site. They occasionally send me messages saying things like
Hey Michelle,
There's NO "right time" and "wrong time", but there is, personal opinion.
Here's mine.
For me, having an email sign up form from day one is a bit of a waste of time (millions of highly successful bloggers would disagree with me).
I think what it is, when you first start blogging you have this perception of "I can't lose out on this visitor, I have to have something to promote NOW!" whenever you view your analytics for the first few months.
It's almost like, "I had an opportunity and I let it slip through my fingers".
Even if it's JUST ONE visitor (I get it, the excitement of seeing people coming to a website YOU created!! WOW!!)
I get it, when you're new to this business, finding your feet, EVERY visitor to your website feels like a goldmine!!!
BUT
Sure, in reality, it only takes ONE visitor to make a sale.
In fact, it only takes ONE visitor to purchase every single thing that you market to become a millionaire...
BUT
we ALL know that ain't gonna happen.
Things tend to happen on a website ONCE you are getting a "decent amount" of visitors.
It's almost like things totally change once you're getting regular traffic.
Personally, I would say that you want a "fairly decent amount of daily visitors" BEFORE you start with email marketing.
I would want at least 80-100 DAILY visitors before I start marketing to them via email (millions of SUCCESSFUL marketers would disagree with me).
As I say, things tend to happen when you have a "decent amount of regular visitors".
If you're still in the "I might get a daily visitor, I might not" your attention (and potentially your motivation and inspiration) will be drawn to watching your email subscriber sign up count (Wooohoooo, I got ONE sign up in the last 32 days of trying, BUT, I haven't actually written an email to send them, better do it quick WITHOUT planning it or thinking it through... UNsubscribe), and then your attention is taken away from adding content and getting more rankings, traffic, etc.
If you think about it, email marketing should NOT be treated with any less respect than your blog posts.
So, I would want to "pre-write" a decent "email series" prior to getting people to sign up.
Perhaps, put me a month or two "in credit".
This means that I have to write 30 emails (with AS MUCH RESPECT as I give to my blog posts) BEFORE I create an email sign up newsletter,
Sure, you can "write emails as you go", BUT, you will want to be creating emails regularly, perhaps 2-3 times a week, or even daily, dependng on how "hard" you want to hit email marketing.
So, in my mind, you need to be prepared FIRST.
It's pretty much exactly the same as PRE-writing 30 BLOG POSTS (it doesn't need to be that many, I just want to be "ahead of the game". 5-7 pre-written emails is enough to get you going)
.
So, much the same as MOST things in this business (signing up for ad revenue companies, signing up for affiliate networks, etc.) it MAY not be worth you while doing this before you have regular traffic, PLUS, it's another distraction from your main goal... it NEVER ends, Hahahaha!! keep writing (once more, MILLIONS of SUCCESSFUL marketers would disagree with me).
Next...
To "pop up" or Not to "pop up"....
Once more, this is entirely personal opinion.
People will tell they HATE pop ups and leave a page as soon as they see one.
People will tell you that they have achieved their greatest success by using email pop-up sign up boxes.
They are BOTH correct.
This is one "personal opinion" you CAN'T trust from another individual ( regardless of HOW successful they are, and I mean EVERYONE, IGNORE... Yes, even the BIG WA Chief).
There is only ONE way to know whether a pop-up email sign up box will work for YOU, in YOUR niche, with YOUR experience, on YOUR website, when YOU decide to add it, and where YOU decide to place it...
Test it for yourself.
As I say, the two differing opinions above (yes pop-up boxes are great and no pop-up boxes are the devil incarnate are BOTH correct for THE PEOPLE WHO SAY IT... Because they have TESTED it on THEIR sites for THEMSLEVES).
I know you "get me" Michelle!! :)
Partha
Hi Partha, thanks a lot for this.
The pop up things are quite annoying actually now I think about it.
Maybe I could just have a sign up option permanently placed at the top when the time comes and leave it for people who are actually looking to sign up to find.
I'm not so much wanting to do email marketing as to send people a message to say, "Hey, I have added a new post."
I thought it would save them having to keep checking and keep them sort of loyal to me, but, on reading your message, I suppose that's not what's important just now! I'm not even on a visitor a day yet ;)
Thanks as always for your very helpful input.
you can do it that way or have it on social media allowing them to follow you and hopefully promote your niche site...
jsut remember that when emailing a list you don't just want to send out - here's another post you need to keep them entertained with other information - extra for the privilidge of having their email address - they need to feel special...more work for you - have you the time for it....
with the social you treat it the same as the newsletter - add other content related to your niche within the social site or external links...
but congratulations on getting people excited about your content and looking for more...
Thanks Phil, that is true. I do put it all on social media anyway each time, as well as other bits and bobs. I don't want any more work right now just for a privileged few! Thanks for the congrats:) It's a very small number of followers, but it feels amazing!
You can do it right away if you like.
You can use Aweber, which is free for the first 500 subscribers and affiliate marketing friendly.
See more comments
I am still pretty clueless about all this so please forgive me. I have added the SEO Meta extension to my toolbar. For all my website posts it says "keywords are missing!" What
Hi - I presume it is looking for Meta Keywords, HTML code that you have entered on your site with a list of keywords.
However, this is an outdated and irrelevant practice that has no impact on your rankings.
So, in other words, just ignore it!
See more comments
No keywords on seo meta extension?
I am still pretty clueless about all this so please forgive me. I have added the SEO Meta extension to my toolbar. For all my website posts it says "keywords are missing!" What
Hi - I presume it is looking for Meta Keywords, HTML code that you have entered on your site with a list of keywords.
However, this is an outdated and irrelevant practice that has no impact on your rankings.
So, in other words, just ignore it!
See more comments
Some themes allow you to place a search function in the main menu. Otherwise, if you’re placing it in the right sidebar that sidebar gets moved beneath your content on mobile.
One way of making your content easier to navigate is to add categories to your main menu so they can search by category 😎👍🏼
Thanks Eric!