by Claude Pelanne at November 11, 2010.

WordPress Plugin

How to Install Xml,Image and Video Sitemaps

How to Install XML,Image and Video Sitemaps in WordPress

Google Search Engine Optimization Guide

I am doing a series of videos about the Google Search Engine Optimization Guide.

In the section of the Guide about How To Make Your Site Easier To Navigate it suggests creating two sitemaps, an HTML sitemap and XML sitemap.

The HTML sitemap is covered in a previous post and video called How To Set Up An HTML sitemap.

This video below will show how to set up an XML sitemap. It also shows how to set up an Image sitemap and a Video sitemap as well. These last two are suggested in a section of the
Guide that covers image optimization, but I combined them in this video because the set up process is the same when using the add new WordPress plugin function.

How to Setup The Sitemaps in WordPress

To set up the sitemaps you click the Plugin Tab in the WordPress dashboard sidebar and then click add new button. Type in the sitemap you are looking for and then find it in the list of choices that appears on your screen.

The three that I recommend are:

Google XML Sitemaps

Google XML Sitemap for Images

Google XML Sitemap for Videos

Once you have installed and activated them, you want to go to the settings page for each plugin and click the Generate a Sitemap button.

Every time you generate a sitemap you will copy the extension that results in the url in the address bar of your browser into a notepad. You’ll need those extensions when you register the sitemaps in the Google Webmaster tools.

Google Webmaster Tools

The next step is to go the Google Webmaster Tools and add the sitemaps to your account so that you can get the analytics for your sitemaps.

Log in to your Webmaster Tools account and go to your main dashboard. Select the website from the website list that you are doing the sitemaps for.

In the dashboard for that website, select the sitemap button in the lower right corner of the dashboard screen. This will take you to the Sitemap dashboard.

At the top of the dashboard select Add Sitemap. A data box appears with the site url and an entry waiting for the extension for the sitemap. This is when you go to your notepad and select the extension you need and copy and paste it in to the data box.

You repeat this process for each sitemap, image and video.

Once you have done the data entry you will see the results in the dashboard for each sitemap.

You are done. Give it some time and soon you will be able to come back to the Google Webmaster tool and see the analytics for each sitemap.

The video below will show you step by step what I just laid out so you should be able to get yourself up and running in short order.

That”s it. I hope this has been helpful. Stay with it, stay well and may your travels be prosperous.

WordPress Archive Sitemap Generator

Web Site HTML Sitemap

Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide

In the Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, there is section on site navigation. In it Google highly recommends installing sitemaps.

One of those site maps is a visual site map, better known as an HTML sitemap, that you place on your site, preferably in the menu tab at the head of your landing page.

A lot of sites put their sitemaps in the sidebar or in the footer. But best practices suggests you make your sitemap easy to find. That tells me that up front and with the header menu is a place it can go.

What is an HTML sitemap?

An html sitemap creates a visual display in a list form of all the entries or content pages of your web site. They are listed in the order you designate, alphabetical or chronological, and appears as clickable links to a specific page of content.

Why have an HTML sitemap?

You want one because it offers your visitor a very easy way to navigate your site and find what they are looking for. That is very important to the user experience and to Google. So putting an HTML sitemap in an easy to find place is very good for the customer and very good for you. Your site quality score should register with google and that is a good thing.

How Do I Set One Up?

To set one up is easy in WordPress. Just go to your Plugin tab and click it. Go up to the add plugin box and type in sitemap. Go down the list of offerings and find WP Archive Sitemap Generator. Click the install link. Then click the activate link. Verify that the WP Archive Sitemap Generator is installed. In the copy of the description of the plugin it will give you a string of code ,<!–wp-archive-sitemap-generator–>,that you will copy to your notepad. Then go to your page tab in the dashboard sidebar, click add new to create a new page. Copy the code into the content area and make sure you have selected the HTML editor tab. Title your page. I recommend calling it Sitemap.

And you are done.

Verify Sitemap Install

Check out your page tab. Depending on your site theme it will be on the top menu bar, the sidebar or in the footer menu bar. Click the Sitemap tab and you should see a visual sitemap of your web site.

So there you have it. If you want to see the process of installing just check out the video below.

I hope this has been helpful. Stay with it, Stay well and May Your Travels Be Prosperous.

WordPress Plugin WWSGD

WordPress Plugin What Would Seth Godin Do -WWSGD

WWSGD Plugin

This plugin is designed on the premise of one of Seth Godin’s notes that you should treat your regular visitors differently than newbies showing up for the first time.

With that in mind this plugin was designed to do just that.

Once installed you can format where you want a greeting message to appear and what you want it to say.

You can also determine how many times you want to serve to your new visitors before it conveniently disappears.

The default message invites new found visitors to subscribe to your RSS feed. That way you can be sure they get notified anytime you add content to your site.

It’s a neat plugin.

If you want to see how it works check out the video below or check out my YouTube channel.

There you have it. WWSGD for your site.

Stay with it, stay well and may your travels be prosperous.

E-Junkie Shopping Cart WordPress Plugin

WP E-Junkie Shopping Cart WordPress Plugin

I did a video about the WordPress Plugin for E-Junkie.

It still requires that you go into your E-Junkie account and add your new products and set your parameters for pricing and shipping.

But it then lets you go into the plugin and set up a profile with your product id number you get when you add your new product to your main account.

This creates a product list in your WordPress back office plug in that let’s you manage the shopping cart button creation right from your WP dashboard with out having to go get code from your E- Junkie main account.

That makes it easy to set up your store right from the site itself.

If you want to see what I mean, just check out the video below.

WordPress Dashboard Video Series

WordPress Dashboard

I have put together a video series on my YouTube Channel, YouTube.com/ClaudePelanne, a fifteen part video series about the WordPress Dashboard and how to use it.

I did it because I remember what it was like trying to find a one stop shop to learn the basics for WordPress. And I remember I couldn’t find what I needed to know all in one spot.

So I created this series to get you information in short videos that would lead you through how to set up your WordPress site the right way from the very beginning.

Take a look at it and let me know what you think. Even better, give my videos a boost with a thumbs up if they help you any.

Remember, it’s all free, so take it and make things happen.

Below you’ll find a list of the current offering to get you there right now.

Links WordPress series