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RonnyMacMember
This highlights what is a common fallacy about SEO. High Page Rank and high rankings in search engines are mostly not the efforts of bells and whistles. Keywords, tags, social buttons, keyword density, plugins, and all the other items commonly used in blogs these days probably don't amount to 5-percent of what causes a site to get a good ranking, and, therefore, more search engine referral traffic.
It's back links.
Rankings come from sites with relevant content that link back to your site. Without those in a sufficient number there's not likely to be much search engine referral traffic.
The HeadsUpMotors site has a Google Page Rank of 1/10. That's not much and not likely to help generate much referral traffic because rankings in search engines will be low and limited. The Alexa Ranking is around 12-million or so; again, low, and the result of not many visitors coming to the site because there are few back links.
For example, HeadsUpMotors' pages are being indexed by Bing, Google, and Yahoo! But indexing content is not the same a high ranking, or back links. Alexa lists 7 back links, while Bing has 25, but Google lists zero. While it's important to use at least some of the basic SEO bells and whistles (keywords, tags, density, social, et al), what's most important, by probably 20 to 1, is relevant content back links.
Cultivating back links results in higher rankings and more traffic. Cultivating bells and whistles, not so much.
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
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http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberThis is a valid point but needs deeper consideration. Genesis themes do not have the same creative look and design esthetics as those you'll find on Elegant Themes, for example. ET's themes, right out of the box, are visually attractive and very well done. But the target user is different than Genesis. Try doing some of the simple customization that Genesis handles easily (Genesis Simple Hooks, Simple Edits, and built-in SEO functionality) in ET. It's a very pretty nightmare because the code and layouts are all aimed toward attractive design, not performance. It's truly different strokes for different folks.
The Genesis framework is rock solid, very fast, and exceedingly flexible. But it requires a different level of expertise to turn a Genesis child theme into anything that looks like a typical Elegant Themes theme. If all you need is pretty, ET is wonderful. If you need performance and flexibility, Genesis is difficult to beat.
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberThere's no reason not to implement all those 'diminishing returns' features: keywords, tags, link density, etc. Just remember that about 95-percent of all search engine traffic, presumably from higher rankings, comes because of links back to your site and not the cosmetic SEO efforts. That's what makes Genesis so good. All the 'diminishing returns' extras you'll ever need are there and easy to implement as you create content, but it's those valued links back to the site that result in higher rankings and more referral traffic from search engines.
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
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http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberRegular backup on a WP install may be the single most important function of a site developer. That said, there are umpteen twenty different ways to backup.
The key is to understand which files need to be backed up and where. The critical files are the site's database, config.php file, and images. Pretty much everything else can be duplicated and rebuilt rather quickly if you have those files backed up offsite.
I keep a replica of each site I manage (dozens) on my Mac using MAMP. That way, the entire site is backed up locally and can be used for offline development purposes (including plugins), too. Also, I use the Amazon S3 for WordPress plugin which replicates a site's images to an Amazon S3 account, and modifies links so Amazon acts as a mini-CDN (content delivery network), which reduces the site's server load on graphic intensive pages. And, because it uploads images to the site and Amazon, that serves as yet another backup for the site's images and assets (usually some JavaScript, and CSS files, etc.).
Automating the database backup is straightforward, and there are a number of apps which create a database backup daily, and will email the DB. I use WP-DBManager. That gets a fresh DB backup each day. The config.php file doesn't change much, so that's easily backed up manually.
The difficulty in automating a backup is getting files, especially image files, plugins, and themes, off the site's servers to a separate location; to your local backup, preferably. I use a combination of an sFTP app and an Automator function to make it as painless as possible.
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
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http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberAmen.
And that moved.mobi site is awful.
😉
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberI hear you. That's why I like the idea of the responsive site vs. a separate mobile site. Responsive can be tuned to the device yet still provides a full site experience (simply rearranged). One thing I didn't mention is advertising revenue. For bloggers, an extra expense of $10 a month can be prohibitive. For sites with plenty of ads, say, three or more per page, cramming them into a layout designed just for mobile is difficult.
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberI like the option to make quick changes (vs. a responsive site; which requires a lot more planning and testing), but recreating a completely new site, even one smaller for cell phones, is not a simple, easy effort which involves little time. It's a lot of work and the URL penalty could be severe. Has anyone had trouble finding out how to contact a site using a full site on a cell phone?
I don't see a silver bullet here.
For website developers, it's great to have to build a mobile site because there's extra billable hours involved. Site owners might think a mobile site is a requirement in the mobile age but a mobile site carries some baggage of its own.
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberYes, I'm sure they do. And I'm not trying to be snarky. It's a legitimate question.
Why go to the extra trouble to create a mobile site? What's the benefit? What value does the user get from a redesigned mobile site that differs from simply viewing the full site on a cell phone screen (and often has fewer features)?
With a responsive design, the site's URLs remain intact and don't double up as they do with many mobile sites (Google doesn't like doubled up content). With a WordPress plugin that recreates the design and layout to a mobile version much of the flavor of the site is lost (though navigation is easier) as the site simply looks like all other mobile sites.
However, with a completely redesigned mobile site, specifically made for cell phones, there seems to be a point of diminishing returns. Lots of extra effort and management, but only for small percentage of visitors. I've had some site visitors grumble and complain about a mobile site's inadequacies, but never had anyone complain about the standard sized site on a smaller device.
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberAnother good question to ask is, 'Why make a mobile site at all?'
For the most part, it's completely unnecessary for most tablets, especially the iPad.
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberYeah, that's what I mean. WordPress took out the visible option to select a specific, user selectable uploads directory in WP 3.5. Uploads all go to a single directory in wp-content/uploads with the option to sort uploads into folders or not. Selecting a specific directory can still be done but requires the Constant line to be added to config.php.
WPBeginner has a good tutorial.
I'm convinced Google doesn't care much about where the image files are located or how they're named. There's great value in using WP's built-in year/month folder arrangement for images (makes it easier to find images), as opposed to just naming an image and dumping it into a single folder. That's a recipe for confusion later on.
On my sites I name each uploaded image to start with the current date of upload. For example, the image waikiki-beach.jpg, would be named 20130201-waikiki-beach.jpg. That way images sort nicely in a directory of many images and they're easier to find for troubleshooting.
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberInteresting. Here's an image for a new install and the option to upload a file to a different directory is missing. Even WordPress said the field was removed in 3.5.x (but available again by using Constants).
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberIf you had the option prior to upgrading to WP 3.5, the option remains. It's simply not there in new installs of WP 3.5.x.
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberYeah, quite a few plugins do not get updated, upgraded for years, yet still work. Mostly. The problem with plugins is often a conflict with another plugin. There's no way to know which will conflict with what, and the only way to find a problem is trial and error.
That said, I have three or four plugins in common usage which haven't been updated in three years or so and yet still work just fine.
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberGoogle doesn't really care where the images are located. Putting them all in a single directory is probably an exercise of diminishing returns.
The option to upload files to a single directory was apparently removed in new installs of WP 3.5.x but can be changed by adding a constant to the config.php file.
See here.
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberWhat's your site's URL? Something is probably wrong somewhere in your setup. I'm running Genesis on dozens of sites, many high traffic, and it screams. It's as light or heavy as you want it to be. If you're using a caching plugin (Quick Cache, WP SuperCache, et al), then the 'weight', whatever that is, drops to next to nothing.
The problem is likely a plugin which doesn't play nice-nice with Genesis. I've run into a couple that didn't work at all in Genesis, but none that caused excessive RAM usage or visible conflicts.
Unfortunately, this kind of problem is resolved only with trial and error. Disable all plugins and check usage. Then, one-by-one, add a plugin until usage changes.
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberThe right font size.
Seriously, for iPads and other tablets I don't do anything at all. Even Apple says not to bother with mobile sites, and iPads render most web pages as intended. The only issue for iPhones and smart phones in general is the extra need to double tap to bring a column of text up to size.
That said, I'm moving plenty of Genesis sites to the responsive design. It's a bit of a pain, and it's not necessary to do a complete redesign (even setting up a site to have a slightly larger font in responsive is worthwhile), but that seems to be the future of webpage layout and design for most blogs and basic sites.
ronnymac
—
Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberFrom a decade of experience I can tell you that there's not much you need beyond Genesis' SEO settings. Anything else is overkill and amounts to diminishing returns for the effort involved. Besides, well over 90-percent of search engine results come from relevant back links to a site, not keywords, not keyword density, not keywords in the URL string. Those are valuable, but back links are far, far more important. Sticking with Genesis' SEO settings is the way to go.
ronnymac
—
Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberJust found a snippet of code for functions.php which adds a class to the first post, when then is used to hide the date for the first post. WP also has a date function which provides a single date for multiple posts on the same day, and the first post class limits the date to one for all the posts. Perfect.
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberThanks, Bill. I'll look into Nick's plugin. I've used a few of his in the past.
The plugin I found is Auto Excerpt Everywhere which works fine on the Category (not Archive page as I previously wrote) pages to do what I want, but it conflicts with another plugin (or, some functions.php code; not sure which yet). Worse, I had to hack it to get it to work the way I want anyway. I don't like to do that to plugins.
After reviewing your suggestions, unless I can find a very good functions.php snippet that puts excerpts only on the Category page, I'll probably work toward a custom Category page (I've done a few for home.php, archive.php, and 404.php) as the formatting is much easier than altering the home page.
I wonder if it's possible to drop some code into Genesis Simple Hooks? I use that extensively (first got turned onto hooks with Thematic, which still exists, and which seems to have inspired Genesis).
I'm digging through your posts now. Plenty to digest there.
ronnymac
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Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/RonnyMacMemberYeah, I see the value and efficiency, but it's more cumbersome to move elements and figure out where everything went.
It's not nice to move my cheese.
Although I picked up on rem font sizes and did a retrofit on a number of Genesis sites.
ronnymac
—
Ron McElfresh
Honolulu, HI
—
http://mac360.com/
http://mcelfresh.org/
http://mcsolo.com/
http://pixobebo.com/
http://noodlemac.com/ -
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